HuskerJen

Well I was thinking more along the lines of re-establishing the pipeline. A kid comes in, redshirts, waits his turn and by the time he's a redshirt sophomore or junior he's around 300 pounds and ready to play. And maybe 3-4 every year from in-state is a stretch but still... However, we have Ryne Reeves from instate for the 2011 class. I would think that in the entire state of Nebraska there are at least 2 more capable OL recruits.

But does the playing of this type of game skew a fan's perception specifically towards how one views recruiting? If yes, why and if no, why not? (There's no "wrong" answer here...I simply want your well-thought out, rational opinion.)

Okay I know that Nebraska as a state isn't exactly a "speed" state, meaning teams don't come looking for WR, RB, DB, LB, QB's, etc. Furthermore I get that the state's limited population pretty much means the coaches have to look elsewhere for the majority of talent. However, what I don't understand is why Nebraska needs to go to other states to find offensive lineman. Surely in the Cornhusker state there are 3-4 kids every year who are 6'2"-6'4" 240-270 pounds with quick feet who can learn how to pass block. I say pass block because it's a lot harder to do than run blocking although both require explosion and quickness. I mean I get the whole having to recruit nationally but why do we need to find offensive lineman from other states?

It should be noted that this topic of debate is exclusively from the "Nebraska" perspective because obviously fans of teams like USC, Texas, Florida, etc don't have these kinds of worries. And really here's another way I think that recruiting on the video game NCAA College Football skews perception of how things happen in real life: The recruiting class rank. I need a volunteer to conduct an experiemnt... Here's the setup... 1. Start a new Dynasty Mode. 2. Use two teams in the same division of the same conference to ensure they play every season: Nebraska-Missouri, Oklahoma-Texas, Florida-Tennessee, etc. Oh, and to even the playing field even further pick the same type of offense and defense for both schools. 3. Take one team and recruit predominantly nothing but 3 's and lower. Then, with the other team, recruit 4 and 5 's exclusively. Do at least 10 seasons to get some good trend analysis. 4. Simulate all the games because if you play it skews the outcome. My hypothesis is that the consistently recruited 3 squads will be 7-5, or worse, consistently while the 4 and 5 's will be consistently 10+ wins every season. Track the head to head record between the teams, conference and overall W-L records. If you really want to get in-depth track PPG, YP, YR, and total YPG. The purpose: To see just how much it matters on a video game in signing consistent 1-3 versus 4 and 5 classes. Any takers? P.S. Please note what platform and version (year) of the game you're using. And, if someone else wants to run a concurrent 10 year stretch with the same year version but on a different platform and track the same results that might prove to be an interesting academic discussion.

Well the 20 seasons I recently deleted occured from the time I bought NCAA '09, when it came out, to about a month and a half ago. So it's not like I did this in a couple of weeks.

I agree with your post in theory, however I do want to point out a few things here... Mark Mangino at Kansas, Gary Pinkel at Missouri, Dan Hawkins / Chris Peterson at Boise State, Urban Meyer and now the current coach at Utah, etc, are all examples of schools who have achieved success consistent on the field despite recruiting "lesser" talent. Now I do realize that there is somewhat of a connection between a higher rated a class and the potential for success. The part in red: Nebraska has never been a recruiting power. Oh sure we've had some excellent players come through here, but for the most part Nebraska's recruiting classes under TO were usually ranked in the mid 20's or lower. You can literally count one one hand the number of times a recruiting class of TO's was in the top 5. Heck, numerous former players have openly said that, even during the 90's when we had our dominant run that there were many times the opposing team had better talent across the board and yet were beaten 56-7 because they didn't work as hard, prepare as well or put forth the kind of effort for 4 quarters that the Husker did. Then, our former HC, whose name shall not be uttered here, started bring in lots of 4 rated talent and we, as Nebraska fans, saw more lop-sided losses in four years than we saw in the previous 40. Here's the way I look at it: Recruiting the best talent and combine it with great coaching you get USC, Florida, et. Recruit the best talent and mix it with poor coaching and you get Notre Dame. The part in green: I think if we lived in a perfect world every five and four star kid would be heads above every three or lower star rated kid. However, since we don't live in a perfect world we have numerous instances were a two star nobody ends up being an all-american and playing on Sundays. The part in blue: I agree 100%. However, are we taking our coaches view or the recruiting services view? For example, Tyler Evans from Waverly, Nebraska. He's currently rated as a two player. What if the recruiting services evaluate him and decide he will remain a 2 ? Does that mean Nebraska has just given a scholarship to a marginal player? What about the 4 and 5 WR's who never pan out? (I honestly think that if the recruiting services honestly evaluate Evans he'll be a 5.6 or 5.7 rated 3 . He could have the potential to be a 4 but he's a kid from rural Nebraska...no way in Hades he gets 4.) The part in purple: I agree 100% that we live in a society/culture where flash is more important than substance. In summary, I think that the NCAA College Football video game has skewed real life perceptions of how recruiting should go. I mean after all, on the game it's relatively easy to sign 5-7 5 's and the rest of the class be 4 's so why can't it be done in real life?

If it's the same replay it's the NU-TT game from 2001 and Nebraska won that game...just FYI.

Okay, so I've been kicking around this thought that I just can't seem to shake...allow me to clarify. The rationale is that the way we recruit on that video game has an impact on the way we perceive how recruiting should go in real life. There seems to be much angst, gnashing of teeth and general complaining among certain sectors of Nebraska fans about how recruiting has gone thus far and that has me wondering about the "PlayStation2" effect. Now, on PlayStation2 in order to even be competitive when simulating games in Dynasty Mode you have to recruit nothing but 5 's and the absolute highest rated 4 's that you can. This, in my opinion, leads certain segments of the Husker fan base to believe that if we are not signing every kid that USC, Florida and Texas wants then there's no way we'll ever be able to beat them or even be able to compete with them. Personally, I think this line of thinking is pure and utter hogwash. Here's why: Go back and look at the recruiting rankings from 2004-2007 and contrast Nebraska's classes compared to our two biggest north rivals, Kansas and Missouri. According to the recruiting services Nebraska was far and away the better team talent wise. And yet, during that time Nebraska suffered more embarrassing lop-sided losses than almost in the entire history of the program. In NCAA College Football I recently deleted a dynasty I had been playing. I simulated 20 seasons: won 18 national championship, 20 conference championships and signed the #1 class 17 out of 20 times. The other 3 times I had the #2 class. Now I ask you...how fricking unrealistic is that? Of course the question is rhetorical because anyone with a half way functioning brain knows that kind of success is literally impossible. And yet, I get the impression that that's the kind of success, both in terms of recruiting and on the field that certain fans have come to demand and expect. Maybe this idea of the "PlayStation2 Effect" is hogwash itself, maybe there's some truth to it. Thoughts?

I'm not worried one iota. I have a feeling, and it's based purely on intutition, that we, as Nebraska fans, are going to be REALLY happy about this class once it's all said and done. Now of course I realize that it could very well go south as well, but I prefer to remain optimistic, trust the coaches and just wait and see how everything pans out. Now if it's the middle of December and we're still sitting at four commits...then yes...that's probably the time to at least begin reaching for the panic button.

Someone here on this site has this in the signature line...the name of who it is exactly escapes me.

Hindsight is definitely 20/20. I watched the NU-TT game from 2001 today as well and I saw Texas Tech repeatedly use draw plays with their version of Ricky Williams and gash the Blackshirts for big yards. As I rewatched the game, my mind immediately flashed forward to the game against Colorado. I could just picture then Colorado OC Shawn Watson, watching film, seeing the huge gaps in Nebraska's defense and formulating that 2001 game-plan.

That sounds reasonable.

I'm curious as to why you would be worried or think that something like this doesn't bode well for the team.

He landed at a school whose current sports programs are comparable, or, arguably, better than NU. So.... yeah, he landed on his feet. If I recall correctly, Pitt has a national championship in football from 1976...and they haven't been relevant since. And you're saying that "accomplishment" is on par, or better than, Nebraska?

You're probably thinking of Will Ferrell...

I was mulling this over and came up with the name "Google". What does everyone think? Here are some other potential names for this yet to be created web search thingy: Yahoo, Bing, AltaVista...

I think you're framing this debate wrong. First of all, you're assuming via blanket statement that Nebraska won't play true freshman and you're using the one specific case of Cody Green. Second, why would you play a true freshman if there isn't a dire need? Especially if the guys already at the position are just as good, or better, than the true freshman in question. Redshirt the kid, save him a year of eligibility. Third, even at schools like Texas and USC kids still redshirt and you don't see mass transfers out of those programs. Fourth, if you were a coach and let your players dictate who saw the field and who did not you'd be an ineffective coach: your players wouldn't listen to you, they wouldn't practice hard, they wouldn't do the little extra things needed to be great, performance on the field would suffer, losses would result and you would be fired. Edit: You can be a players coach and still not let the inmates run the asylum.

O, O, O "You know what I'm talking about...."

Vernon Miles? Are you talking about the football program? I'm sorry, I must not have been paying attention the past 20 years. Who is Vernon Miles? I remember a Barron Miles...

Mike Grant got hurt, some kind of shoulder injury I believe. That's why Tommie Frazier was able to step in. And, if I recall correctly TO had Coach Gill lobbying for Frazier-which never hurts. Did Frazier threaten to transfer? Don't know and don't care. The part in green...players do not run the team. The coaches do. And, the fastest way for a coach to lose control of his team is to let the players make the decisions.

Because at some point, as an individual, you have to stand up and say that the reason your life is f'ed up is because you're stupid. Phillips has never, to my knowledge, done that. Blaming mommie/daddie only goes so far before it becomes grossly pathetic. LP is a grown man and it's WAY past the time for him to stop blaming everyone around him for his failures and take a long hard look into the mirror. Furthermore, LP received way more "passes" for his violent, aggregious conduct than any other nobody would ever receive, simply because he was a star football player.

Just like herpes.

Oh I have no doubt he is "that good." I also know that true freshman only play, as a general rule, when there is a dire need at a position. I'm certainly not against C. Green playing this year and skipping the redshirt. However, if he does play and skips the redshirt season, then I hope he plays quite a bit to make it worthwhile. All things considered though...with the depth we have at QB...Green redshirts.

No hate...

I thought that was what band camp was for.