I think this is part of the problem and developing a niche to recruit to was the genius of Dr. Tom. With the challenges of recruiting to Nebraska to think we are going to go head to head doing the exact same thing as everyone else means we'll probably be middle of the road at best. No top program would recruit an Aaron Taylor now.
That said, I think another part of the of the problem is everyone, from the administration to the fans, are getting ahead of themselves with goals. Sure it's great to want to play in the CC and playoffs but this team needs to master the basics of blocking, tackling, assignments, and execution first. This was another of TOs genius. It was about competing with yourself to perform the basics to perfection and with that the wins will follow.