It's not hard to say. I've been to most of the states, just not the actual campuses. Sorry to bash UNL but it's just not a great campus. KU vs. UNL (in my impartial opinion since i'm not an alumni)...KU wins in nearly every category (except gameday during football season, and they make up for it during basketball). I'd take 4-5 FL schools over Nebraska any day, mainly because the cities they are in. Same way with Cali schools, and a few Washington schools. The city is as much a part of the campus as the couple hundred acres it sits on. The city contributes to the campus culture. Culture is certainly something that UNL is extremly lacking. I grew up in Nebraska. Going to visit friends at UNL was no different than my life growing up. Plain, mundane, and the whole place was beef eating, republicans. (which I'm one of but still...).
Arizona State, amazing. Duke, NC, NC State, Ole Miss, LSU, Alabama, Virginia Tech - all awesome campuses. Notre Dame - nuff said. Even the Ivy league schools all have campuses that put Nebraskas to shame. How about Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, etc in the Big10? Head and shoulders above UNL.
UNL's campus lacks the architecture that makes numerous other campuses unique. (-1) It lacks the city. (-1) O st. bar scene is nothing to be impressed by, and everything else within 3 miles of the campus is borderline industrial-ghetto. It lacks beauty. (-1) There are more weeds in the grass than lawn. Arizona St. almost has more trees than UNL's campus. The party scene is fairly week in comparison to a campus like Columbia. (-1) History (-1) Weather (-1) Public transportation (-1) Diversity (-1) local jobs post-graduation (-1) Although Omaha is helping with this. Outdoor life (-1)...you could go on an on. There are many great things about the school like some of the facilities for athletes...but since I'm about 75 pounds and 5 inches shy of ever being an football player, me personally...I'd pick another campus to spend my 4 years at. And I could name 50-100...regardless of every seeing them
I'm glad you and SkerChicago don't recruit for the Big Red. Your sales pitches suck. I personally disagree with much of what both of you say, but I'll leave it at that.
Don't get your panties in a bunch just cause someone disagrees with you. I've been to campuses all over and UNL is very average.
I love UNL, but honestly your post hits the nail on the head. Players will come to Nebraska because of the football and the fact as an academic school we are vastly improving....but not because of the town or the architecture or anything else. In fact I got my first degree from UNO because I didn't have any idea what I wanted to do and UNO's campus was just as nice and that part of Omaha was much more attractive (in fact the whole city of omaha>>>>>>>>>lincoln (besides game days)). I am now getting a degree from Lincoln as well, but that is mainly because of in-state cost and the fact I am going into broadcast/media and UNL's journalism college is one of the best in the country. But I am not going because of the town or campus....in fact if tuition out of state wasn't so much I would have probably been headed to KU (Lawrence is an awesome town).