ColoradoHusk

Northwestern is due for a regression this year. They had a favorable schedule last year, and they got lucky in a few wins (NU, Wisconsin, and Penn State). They should have been a 3-5 or 4-4 team in conference last year, and I expect them to be near the bottom of the West division this year.

All the previous rumors about expansion were that the Texas schools wouldn't want Houston because they didn't want another Texas school in the conference. Well, it seems like the Texas schools are in favor of Houston, while the non-Texas schools aren't as enthusiastic with Houston, and want to expand the conference into another geographic footprint.

This is what some boosters wanted. Probably won't happen When the "firing" of Briles was initially announced, it was called a suspension, and like you have said, some boosters went to the school to have Briles reinstated after a year's suspension. The school met and realized that it wouldn't be good to bring Briles back, no matter what boosters are wanting this, so he was officially fired. Grobe was probably given the interim tag and told to keep the assistant coaches to ease the transition this season. It would be nearly impossible for a permanent head coach to be hired and bring a staff full of assistants in the middle of June.

Markets are good and all, but what is the actual following of these schools. In most cases these teams are dwarfed by much bigger and prominent state schools. It just doesn't seem any of them add much to the table. I just posted a very similar thought. I would think that Nebraska games get a bigger local share in the Denver market than Colorado State games.

CSU plays second fiddle to CU in Colorado and the Denver market. Plus, so many people living in Denver and Colorado are transplants that have their alma mater from another school (me with Nebraska for example).

I disagree that the 50:50 ratio is the best you can do. Except for Baylor in recent years, the best offenses have a specialty in terms of being a running team or a passing team. The offense should have a strength that can be relied on.

IMO, Michigan State is more of a flash in the pan than TCU. Michigan State has had its 5 best years in the past 5 years, while TCU has had more sustained success over the past 15 years. It will be interesting to see how MSU does if/when Michigan comes back to prominence. Of course the same could be said for TCU remaining near the top of the Big 12 if/when Texas returns to being great. I give TCU a better chance with its better recruiting base in Texas, and especially the DFW Metroplex.

I would prefer going to the Big 12 schools for road games rather than the Big 10 schools. Going to Oklahoma or Texas is just like going to Michigan or Ohio State, and it's easier to go to Norman and Austin. TCU and Michigan State are basically the same, and spending a weekend in Dallas-Fort Worth sounds a lot cooler than going to East Lansing. Yeah, Northwestern is in Chicago, which is kinda cool, but nobody in Chicago cares about Northwestern. I went to Minnesota a few years ago. It was freezing cold in the morning, the campus area was lame, and nobody really cared about the Gophers. I have absolutely no desire to go to a game at Illinois, Indiana, Purdue, Maryland, or Rutgers. I know Ames, Manhattan, and Lawrence aren't the best atmosphere for college football, but they are all easy drives to a lot of Nebraskans.

TAMU is one of them I bet TAMU is enjoying being in the SEC and out of UT's shadow.

I think it's just Snyder blowing smoke at this point. It could be fans, donors, or school associates for NU or Missouri who live in the area saying "I wish we were back in the Big 12, so we could play you every year again." I doubt that there are Athletic Department officials or high-up school admins who are telling Snyder "can you get us back in the Big 12?"

It looks pretty similar to stuff that Adidas has produced for Nebraska, except for the Jumpman symbol instead of the 3-stripes.

If Riley gets his guy at QB, I would expect him to run a pretty pass-happy offense. That's just the type of offense he likes to run. He has said numerous times that he prefers to use the pass to set up the run, and he has a lot more patience in the passing game than the run game.

I have seen this discussed in other boards. Although the money, academic reputation, and national aura is nice in the Big Ten, I liked being in the Big 12 better. I just don't feel like Nebraska fits culturally with many Big Ten programs. This is especially true after the addition of Rutgers and Maryland. I have an old soul, so I feel like the old Big 8 schools were a family. Yes, it was dysfunctional and they stabbed NU in the back in the mid-90s, but I still like those schools better than the Big Ten schools. I grew up thinking the Big Ten was a bunch of old curmudgeon schools, who played boring football, with gray college stadiums. I would rather make trips to KU, Oklahoma, Texas, and TCU than Michigan, Ohio State, or Wisconsin.

Grobe was only given the Interim Coach tag, so he is probably going with the company line that he was told to do when he was offered the job.

Can we please stop with the charade that the Illinois loss and the Purdue BLOWOUT are acceptable and excusable? Those 2 teams were AWFUL in 2015. Other than beating NU and when they played each other, Illinois and Purdue were winless in the Big Ten. They were colossally bad!!! Riley lost to both of them.

It's truly amazing isnt it? NU had a ridiculous stretch of success. Are you just now realizing that?

He may, but he won't. Why, why does this keep coming up?! UCLA was an ANOMALY because of UCLA's inability to defend the rush. They didn't just all of a sudden say "hey, I think I wanna run the ball.". They ran the ball because of the weakness of the defense. Langsdorf is on record saying that they attack a defenses weakness. In the Big10, those weaknesses are usually against the pass. Unless you are Indiana or Purdue. Remind me why it was such a good idea for NU to pass the ball so much against Purdue with a backup QB last year? Oh yeah, Purdue was NU's toughest opponent last year, according to some posters on here.

It's pretty crazy - in a bad way - how little football talent Class A has produced over the last few years. No idea what happened but it's not a good trend. Class B has been pretty good. Maybe better than Class A over the last couple years. Class B may be producing more individual talent, as many Omaha-area families now prefer to attend schools in Elkhorn, Gretna, Ashland-Greenwood, and other smaller towns just outside of Omaha, instead of having their kids attend OPS schools. Throw in Skutt Catholic, and there are plenty of growing schools outside the traditional Class A schools from Omaha and Lincoln. However, the top Class A schools are going to have much more depth and overall talent than Class B schools and would probably beat them handily on the field. Yeah, I was talking about legit Power 5 players. Class A definitely has better overall talent but they haven't been producing much as far as elite guys. In 2017, that looks to be true, but the best players in 2015 and 2016 were from Omaha and Lincoln. I am not sure why Bubak attended Lincoln Christian, other than his parents wanting him to attend a parochial school. http://247sports.com/Season/2015-Football/RecruitRankings?State=NE http://247sports.com/Season/2016-Football/CompositeRecruitRankings?State=NE But, as others have stated, there doesn't seem to be a lot of stud recruits being produced in-state right now.

I think Cincinnati, Houston, UCF, and Memphis are the front-runners to be added to the Big XII.

It's pretty crazy - in a bad way - how little football talent Class A has produced over the last few years. No idea what happened but it's not a good trend. Class B has been pretty good. Maybe better than Class A over the last couple years. Class B may be producing more individual talent, as many Omaha-area families now prefer to attend schools in Elkhorn, Gretna, Ashland-Greenwood, and other smaller towns just outside of Omaha, instead of having their kids attend OPS schools. Throw in Skutt Catholic, and there are plenty of growing schools outside the traditional Class A schools from Omaha and Lincoln. However, the top Class A schools are going to have much more depth and overall talent than Class B schools and would probably beat them handily on the field.

I know NU's talent isn't amazing, but it still should be good enough to easily win 8 or 9 games this season. If that doesn't happen, it's because of a coaching deficiency, not a talent deficiency. I just don't like lowering my standards and expectations as a fan to accept anything less.

I realize that you aren't the first person or Nebraska fan to make that mistake. It just boggles my mind that a "Nebraska fan" can make that simple mistake. Call me weird, but I get bothered when people spell Tommie Frazier's first name "Tommy". How hard is it to get a name right?

Regarding Lee, I think he will be an ok fall-back option in 2017 if POB, Bush, or Gebbia don't beat him out. Is it ideal? Not really, but he is another option and gives competition at the QB spot. If POB does win the #1 job in 2017, I think having Lee as a "veteran backup" is only a positive. Gebbia would be allowed to redshirt in 2017. I don't have an issue with POB redshirting in 2016. If he is way behind the current QB's on the roster and is the 3rd or 4th best guy, why waste a year of eligibility and play him? The only situation where playing POB would be a positive this year is if the season starts out so poorly that Riley doesn't care about the 2016 results and throws POB to the wolves.

So.... They want to shift strategy to smaller schools rather than elite schools in order to be more efficient with money and have more schools overall. I guess that makes a little sense. Doesn't bode well for NU's contract, though. What I don't understand is the part where they say they shouldn't have lost the schools they did. It seems to run counter to the argument they make earlier in the article. Maybe I am missing something... I agree that the statement is oddly worded. Maybe he is referring to Adidas' strong sales and financial results the past year would have enabled the company to make a more competitive offer to Wisconsin and Michigan. With the strong results, Adidas may be able to offer a school like Nebraska more money when the bidding comes up next year (NU's contract runs through 2018, but the negotiation usually is done a year prior), especially with the long relationship between Nebraska and Adidas.

Which kind of puts a hole in Grobe's claim. I would have been very disappointed if Grobe was hired in '08. He's never impressed me. Would have felt a lot like the Riley hire... maybe it would have worked out, but not particularly exciting. p.s. Dodd must need some clicks if he's digging up stories that are 10 years old... Husker fans are reliable in that way. I asked Severe about the 3 assistants on Twitter, and Severe made it seem like it also included other assistants that Osborne wanted brought back from the 2003 staff (Brown & Cotton).