Go Balls Deep

Solid, maybe. But if you want to compete for national titles, you have to do better than solid. Even TO had top 10 classes when he finally won his national titles. You need difference makers to win titles. Difference makers are the difference between 10-2 and 12-0. Think of our national title years and the amount of legitimate stars we had on that team. Tommie Frazier was not a 3-star Grand Island kid who TO coached to greatness. He was a huge prep star who everyone recognized as special coming out of high school. The best coach in the country cannot win a national title without those players. TO couldn't and neither can Bo. Owa is the type of difference maker we need. We will not win a national title with classes consistently ranked outside of the top 20. That's just how it is. Not true at all. I can't find the link anymore, but another forum had gone back and found national team rankings for pre-Rivals years. The idea that Osborne never had good recruiting classes is just a myth. The classes that contributed to our national titles were mostly highly ranked. But the main point is, difference makers are necessary. Top 100 type players are necessary to make the jump from a very good, 10-2 type team to a national title contender. Guys like Grant Wistrom (HS all-american by just about every publication) are needed, and Owa seems to be one of those guys. I agree that TO recruited much better than many fans would have you believe, but he wasn't an elite recruiter by the standards that the recruitnics go by. Here is the link you are referring to I think: HuskerPedia - Historical Recruiting Rankings. They only found the SuperPrep rankings, which became Scout.Com in 2002, but if you look at the 5 year averages for the championship years I think you will be surprised. The 5 year recruiting ranking average for 1994 was 18, the 4 year average was 20. The 5 year average for 1995 was 17.6, the four year average was 15. The 5 year average for 1997 was 14.2, the four year average was 13.25. The highest ranking TO had from 1987 to 1997 was 6, that was in 1996. Thanks for the link. I understand TO was not elite, but even the worst numbers you posted there are considerably higher than Bo's average thus far, which is around 26. More importantly though is that the real difference makers are the ones that win championships. We had great coaches in the 90s, but we still needed a handful of prep all-americans to make us elite. Bo could win the North 90% of the time and still not be quite to national title contender level if he isn't able to get 1-3 elite recruits every season. What is your definition of an elite recruit? Top 250, 100, 10? Bo got a few in the Top 250 this year and a Top 100 RB. Tough to put an exact definition on it, but I would say roughly top 100. Of course, rankings aren't always accurate, and anyone with 4 stars or higher could be a potential "difference maker", but if I had to put a number on it, I would say top 100 guys all have a really good potential to be special players. In three classes so far (granted, one class was mostly Callahan's), Bo has signed two Rivals100 players (Steinkuhler and Heard). I think you'll see that teams that play for national titles will get two per year at the very least (and I think our teams in the mid-90s reflected this standard as well). So far Bo is averaging 0.67 of them per year. I highly doubt that is going to be good enough to lead us to a national title. I hope, but I doubt. I'm happy with a Big 12 North title and hopefully a Big 12 title soon, but if we want to really be considered national title contenders, I think we should hope to start getting at least two difference makers every year. Bo will get the elite recruits to come to Lincoln. Come on he is about to start his 3rd year and considering what Nebraska was before he got there it may take a little bit to get the elites to come to Lincoln.

You can add Dietrich Riley ( :star :star ,S, 110 National) to that list. Man, they cleaned up today! Not just UCLA, the whole pac10 had a great day! The conference may have had a great day but with Carroll gone which coaches do you think are good in the Pac-10? I still believe it is a conference with great athletes but very soft and I do not see anything that happened today changing that.

I only root for one team in the Big XII. My hatred for Texas rivals my hatred for Carolina hoops. ROLL TIDE ROLL!

osborn was not too smart recommending solich as head coach..or have you forgotten...that was one of his few mistakes I don't think that Dr Tom was the AD when Solich was hired. I do think Dr Tom was instrumental in hiring Bo Polini two years ago. I think when Dr Tom recommended Solich as his replacement back in 2003 it was out of loyalty. Polini didn't have any the experience or tenure/history that Solich had. I have been happy all day that Dr Tom made this hire. I hope I don't get hammered for mis-spelling a word or last name. Seriously do you know anything? Osborne retired after the 1997 season not 2003.

I would also bet you they know Pete Carroll, Bob Stoops, Jim Tressel, Mack Brown. How is it after year after year these coaches can reload and rarely have a bad season? Nebraska hasn't had a well known coach since T.O. Frank Solich and Bill Callahan are reasons why we haven't had the same talent in the last 10 years or so. I would guarantee you that they know Pelini better than those two. Course he probably wears his LSU national championship ring when he recruits. People move around so much they hardly stay in one spot. This isn't the 50's where nobody knows other teams outside their conference. yes there are more educated people than me when it comes to recruiting but don't sit there and tell me it's strictly the conference we play in which is the deciding factor when it comes to recruits. Those coaches recruit in some of the most football fertile regions of the country. Say what you will about Tressel but Ohio has some of the best football talent in the country year in and out. Carroll has CA locked down and Brown and Stoops control Texas. Nebraska will get the talent from various spots in the country like they did back in the 90s. The recruits will come especially on defense it is just getting those one or two difference makers on offense.

Archie Griffin won two Heismans, 1974 and 1975. I cannot believe McCoy finished ahead of Suh that was crap. I agree with the others here that said most of the voters who mailed in their ballots before the conference title games voted McCoy #1 and that was the difference. I was glad to see the university represented by such a great kid and it was great to see Nebraska being talked about on the national level again. For those who want the Big 12 to represent in the title game, sorry if it was OSU or Oklahoma then maybe I would pull for them over 'bama but there is no way in hell I will root for Texas against anyone. I hope 'bama rolls them up by 3 TDs and Cody goes Suh, Jr on McCoy.

I would go with Hugh Green in 1980. I think he finished 2nd to George Rogers. Before that our own Rich Glover finished 3rd the year Johnny Rodgers won it.

I enjoy reading Feldman's columns. I know he has a history with the Canes but I will take his insight over any of the morons on TV (Corso, Herbstreit, May, et al.) Here is his write up about #93: " 1. Ndamukong Suh, DT, Nebraska Cornhuskers: Despite what you may have heard, this isn't quite the perfect storm for a D-lineman to win the stiff-arm trophy. It would've been if it was Alabama RB Trent Richardson -- not Mark Ingram -- who burned Florida on a big screen pass and rolled through the No.1-ranked Gators' D as the Tide romped in Atlanta. Still, if you watched the Big 12 title game, you saw the single most dominant performance of the entire season. Suh ate up what had been a prolific Texas offense. Despite lots of double-teams, Suh was unblockable and unstoppable for 60 minutes. He had 7.5 tackles for loss, a dozen tackles and four sacks. When was the last time you saw a better performance by a defensive player on such a big stage? I doubt Suh wins the Heisman or even finishes in the top two, but I know he got at least one first-place vote. The biggest thing holding defensive players back in the Heisman race is stats. For QBs and RBs, we have better gauges of their worth. With linemen, especially, it's a different story. What is the comparative value for what Suh did against UT, if he were a QB? A 47-of-50 night for 600 yards? If he were an RB, is it a 400-yard game with seven TD runs of 40 yards or more? And, if you ask rival coaches, this has been the way Suh has been disrupting their offenses all season. Twelve sacks and 10 passes broken up for an interior lineman?!? The Heisman outlines its voting criteria as seeking "the most outstanding player." That's Suh. He is a lot better at what he does than anyone else is at what they do. You could make a legit case for any of three RBs -- Ingram, Toby Gerhart or C.J. Spiller -- but try naming one DT who was anywhere near as dominant as Suh." I agree with him that he doesn't finish in the top 2 but this groundswell of support in the 11th hour for our guy has been fun to follow.

The final margin between Tebow and Bradford in 1st place votes was 3 I believe. If Suh continues to get all these 1st place votes his margin could be much bigger. Would be interesting to see if he outpaces Ingram with 20 or more 1st place votes if there will be a controversy on the weight of the votes.

What about if you have a milkshake and Ndamukong Suh has a milkshake?

I have insider on ESPN and for the life of me I don't know why. They have their updated Heisman predictor and their stat nerd doesn't even have Suh in the top 5. In fact he has him 10th behind Shipley, Tate, Keenum. Here is this Mensa's reasoning behind Suh being ranked low: "Before we count down the Heisman Predictor's top five, I'd like to address Nebraska DT Ndamukong Suh's candidacy. Suh will finish in the top 10 of the voting, possibly even top five, but he rates poorly in the Heisman Predictor standings. The Predictor's primary purpose is to determine the winner; the ranking of the other candidates is a secondary goal. Because of this, offensive players are given a sizable advantage over defensive players in the formula. This is to ensure the highest likelihood that the winner is predicted correctly. And as we know, it is a near certainty that the winner will be a quarterback, running back or receiver. This does not mean that defensive players are ignored. In past years, the Predictor has accurately ranked defensive players. For example, Ohio State linebacker A.J. Hawk finished eighth in the standings in 2005, just ahead of Memphis running back DeAngelo Williams. The increasing sentiment that Suh is a viable candidate is a product of the failures of those around him. Had the top quarterbacks reproduced their 2008 numbers, his name would not even be brought up in this conversation. The Heisman Predictor doesn't have him in the top 10, but as a result of this season's circumstances, his actual finish likely will be higher than 10th." At the end of the column it states that he has predicted the last 6 Heisman winners and this year it is picking none other than Mr. Clock Management Colt McCoy.

I have insider on ESPN and for the life of me I don't know why. They have their updated Heisman predictor and their stat nerd doesn't even have Suh in the top 5. In fact he has him 10th behind Shipley, Tate, Keenum. Here is this Mensa's reasoning behind Suh being ranked low: "Before we count down the Heisman Predictor's top five, I'd like to address Nebraska DT Ndamukong Suh's candidacy. Suh will finish in the top 10 of the voting, possibly even top five, but he rates poorly in the Heisman Predictor standings. The Predictor's primary purpose is to determine the winner; the ranking of the other candidates is a secondary goal. Because of this, offensive players are given a sizable advantage over defensive players in the formula. This is to ensure the highest likelihood that the winner is predicted correctly. And as we know, it is a near certainty that the winner will be a quarterback, running back or receiver. This does not mean that defensive players are ignored. In past years, the Predictor has accurately ranked defensive players. For example, Ohio State linebacker A.J. Hawk finished eighth in the standings in 2005, just ahead of Memphis running back DeAngelo Williams. The increasing sentiment that Suh is a viable candidate is a product of the failures of those around him. Had the top quarterbacks reproduced their 2008 numbers, his name would not even be brought up in this conversation. The Heisman Predictor doesn't have him in the top 10, but as a result of this season's circumstances, his actual finish likely will be higher than 10th." At the end of the column it states that he has predicted the last 6 Heisman winners and this year it is picking none other than Mr. Clock Management Colt McCoy.

A paragraph on Suh by Mel: "Nebraska DT Ndamukong Suh (12 tackles, 7 tackles for loss -- 4.5 of which were sacks). As you go through the postseason all-star games, the combine and individual workouts, player ratings are constantly changing. Where I do not envision this taking place is at the top of my draft board, where Suh is as productive a DT prospect as I can remember in my 32 years in the business."

If you read the story they say that Ingram is the favorite based on a heisman pundit poll. I think they just put the McCoy headline there to drive traffic.

He's going so ESPN can make it a slurpfest for 2 hours.

Have a beer at the KC BBQ. It was the bar in Top Gun where Goose is playing the piano. For great food and atmosphere hit up Croce's. It is run by the widow of the singer. The zoo is always fun and I'm sure the December weather in San Diego will cooperate and while at the zoo make sure to walk around Balboa Park. The Hotel del Coronado in Coronado is a good place to visit.

Saunders and Spielman didn't include Suh on their ballot. They should lose their jobs over that. I'm not joking. Their job is to know football. If they don't even include Suh on their ballots, they do not know football. Period. Speilman probably voted all Big Televen guys and Saunders is a Canadian who has been in the studio to long. Let them leave Suh off their ballot that way they can feign surprise when he is top 3 in the voting.

I hope Bama destroys the Horns. I don't want to be selfish but if the Horns join the Tar Heels and the Yankees as champions I may stop following sports for a while.