RedDenver

Second DaveH

Fixed it for ya.

Tim Griffin is an obvious B12 south homer (especially OU and UT). He'll give the north teams some props occasionally, just to try and seem unbiased, but if you follow him for any length of time, you'll see the big bias. I still like his take on the conference and he's a good writer, but the bias does get old at times.

I really like the multi-colored nested quotes. New site looks pretty good. Are there any cosmetic changes still planned?

Agree. Cally worked hard and maintained discipline and academics from all accounts. The guy I blame is Pedey. He's a Nebraska guy and should have known better. Plus his handling of Solich and the 2003 season ending really fractured the fanbase and did Cally no favors.

Yep. And it's reminscent of the 2003 NU-MU game (except the good guys won in 09 ). NU enters the 4th quarter leading 24-14 and ends up losing 41-24 because of some big plays on offense by MU and turnovers.

Yeah, and I would guess the accuracy of those measurements makes them roughly the same height. I seem to remember the board talking about how Bo really liked short DT's when he first got here. Now it seems like the complete opposite.

At 6'7" he's the tallest DT I've ever heard of. I'm sure there are examples, just can't think of any.

Forgetting Zac Taylor and Sam Keller are we? And Lee is probably a better runner than Dailey, but it's debatable.

NU's offense and special teams were certainly playing poorly for the first 3 quarters, but the defense was playing quite well. As another poster mentioned, the score was actually 12-7 when Gabbert threw the first INT, so it wasn't like Mizzou could simply run out the clock with an entire quarter left to play. The fact is none of us will ever know what would have happened if MU runs the ball instead of the costly INT's. NU mounted a strong rushing attack for our last score, so that might have happened and Mizzou loses anyway. Or MU gets their running game going and puts up some points. No way to tell. But NU had scored before the INT, so it's not as cut-and-dried as you're making it out to be.

I can't even imagine the meltdown on this board if NU offers Marsh ahead of the other QB's. I'm not saying it's going to happen or anything, just imagining the reaction.

The recruiting services are first and foremost business ventures. Never forget that. Evaluating talent stirs up interest both with the fans of the schools in the discussion and with the local populace where the recruit is located. Couple that with the fact that large population centers will have more prospects, and the services rarely venture out to the low population areas or even spend much time evaluating those players. Brent Qvale is a classic example of being overlooked.

I'm curious what position(s) NU is looking at him for.

And the stars/rankings debate/war continues. <sigh> All I'll say about that is correlation does not equal causation. And statistics are based on large populations of data, so trying to pick an individual result (Cooper vs Marsh) based on the statistics isn't very useful. And far as Cooper and Marsh, if the coaches like Marsh well enough to offer him a schollie, then I'm not upset about it. Instead it makes me curious about how good Marsh might be and whether we got a good one nobody knew about. Either way, I'm more interested in what happens with the guys we get than what happened with the ones who got away.

That's pretty much what I said a couple of posts ago. I very much agree with that assessment. My love and respect for Barry Turner and his comeback from injury aside, Meredith outplayed him statistically last year. The upgrade from Turner to Meredith, or Ankrah if he wins the spot, will be significant. I already think Meredith's raw skills are better than post-injury Turner's. If Ankrah is better than that, look the heck out. Regarding the stats from 2008 and 2009, Tuner's injury in 2008 and Allen's subsequent thrust into the starting gig would easily account for the statistical lag. Allen just wasn't ready to start in 2008. He filled in admirably, but not explosively. Turner's return in 2009 was great to see, but he clearly wasn't the same player. His step was gone, and (projecting here) his confidence kept him from performing to the best of his abilities. He still had a fine year - just not the kind of complete havoc I thought he'd have. I think Meredith/Ankrah will have that kind of year next year. Now, if Allen can progress from this year that's great, but he's going to have to keep on his toes. Meredith, as we've discussed, is ready for a starting gig. Ankrah is a beast waiting to be unleashed. Allen needs to keep progressing or he could find himself backing up Meredith or Ankrah. No matter what, this is a pretty good D Line coming back, even without Suh. I guess I'm not sold on Meredith automagically being a better player next fall than a 3-year starter in Turner. In fact Barry Turner had a very impressive FR season coming off the bench that he came no where close to equally as a starter the following year. Meredith may very well be the next coming of Grant Wistrom, but I'm just not convinced he's even going to equal what Turner did in 2009. And I did watch Turner this past season and he got better with every game, as you'd expect from a player coming off a major injury. Go back and watch the last few games, especially against Texas and Arizona, and Turner was very impressive. He was mostly overshadowed by Suh and never got much pub for it. I certainly hope Meredith and Ankrah turn out as you suggest, but the evidence isn't compelling enough for me just yet. I think both will be fine DE's but maybe not until the end of 2010 or even 2011.

i respectfully disagree. the ranking is based on next year's team and next years expectations, not what we have or haven't done "in years". And yet we still have no clue how our offense is going to be. No way we deserve to be ranked higher until otherwise. Preseason polls aren't about how "deserving" a team has been, they're about how much "potential" a team will have.

LOL, no he just destroyed every team he played. Lead my team in tackles and broke the single season NCAA sack record. I've won with several defensive players including a DE. You can win with almost any defensive player if you take control of them and get sacks and turnovers. Of course, playing them on offense or returning kicks makes it easier. The most bizarre I ever saw was when one of my OL finished second in the Heisman voting. I did nothing unusual to help him out either.

Note: this is not meant to be directed at the poster but rather at the concept in the post. Here's the problem I have with fans and recruiting every year. There is absolutely no way to know whether one player is really "better" than another. Do the recruitniks here really think they know better than the staff whether a player will fit into the system? I'm all for differing opinions and discussions on who projects where and how good we think they'll be, but to get "pissed" about an offer or recruit coming to NU just doesn't make sense to me.

This. I just don't understand how anybody can reasonably say that our DL will be better. Our LB's can certainly be better, and the secondary could be a little better (only a little because of how well they played this season). The overall defense could be better (and the coaches have said they expect it), but I doubt even that will be true. We had the best defense in the country (IMO) and one of the best EVER at NU. And the DL was one of the best ever. And we had possibly the best DT ever. I just don't understand where the projected improvement is to come from. As for this analysis: I'd argue (using the same notation): Allen > Allen Steinkuhler (or Moore/etc.) <<< Suh Crick > Crick Meredith (or Ankrah/Williams/etc.) <= Turner

In before the lock!!

Not to mention we've already got lots of talented DB's on the team.

He didn't have as tremendous a bowl game as the other players did. I thought the players on the list were all deserving. He could have put Suh on there, but I agree with his choices (might be the first time).

The bolded part is important. Even if Suh is "only" better at using his hands, that may still make him a better player than Crick. As others have said, it is very unlikely Crick is even equal to Suh let alone better. Anything is possible, but this reminds me of fans who expected Frost to be better than Tommie Frazier. Frost ended up being a tremendous QB, but few would say he was equal to or better than Tommie.

Actually, if you give it to a junior walk-on this year, then the scholly is freed by the next recruiting class (like Koehler this year). Good point. Same for the 3 JUCO's that we have coming in.

Although that will help with 2011 recruiting late, I'm of the opinion that it will affect the 2012 class more. Just as this season will affect the 2011 class more than the 2010 class. But we should recruit very well for 2011 regardless (and already have).