What is your Realistic, Rosiest, Kool - Aid Drinking Prediction for 2024?

[TGHusker]

Ok, so we have the minimum expectation thread discussing the bottom-line threshold for us to claim a successful season.

I thought we could have the other side of the coin.  Most of us are afraid, shell shocked, or embarrassed by past seasons (7 in a row) of failed optimism.  This may be the first year

since FHCSF arrived where there is a glimmer of hope that optimism and kool aide drinking could last all the way to the end of the regular season.   It is hard to go on record

with a real positive prediction if we know that there is a 90% chance our legs will be cut out from underneath us.   So, here is a safe place to argue your top ceiling expectation.  Yes, we'd like to all say we will go 12-0 but that is unrealistic unless you can argue with sound reasoning on how we get there. 

 

For me, my minimum expectation was 7-5.   So my over the top prediction is 9-3. 

 

How we get there:

We win   6 of the first 7 - yes that includes   We beat Colo but lose to one of these Purdue, Indiana or Rutgers - in a team learning from adversary game. 

 

Lose to OSU - but not in a blowout. 

We beat the downtrodden UCLA team which is totally unprepared for the Big 10 with new coach, diminished roster, and lack of fan support.  The game is in Lincoln on a cold Nebraska day. 

We lose to USC - barely at their place

We finally beat Wiscy - game here in Lincoln.  I'm not convinced Luke has the Big 10 figured out yet.

We beat Iowa.  For the first time get the Iowa/Wiscy monkey off our back in one season.   

 

Yes it take a lot of hubris to predict 7-5 much less  9-3 after 7 years of below .500 performance.  But there is a time to turn the corner and hope for some success. GBR!

[RedDenver]

11-1 regular season and then conference champs.

[Lorewarn]

Realistic yet rosy kool aid is definitely 9-3.

 

Even if this team really gels and the talent and development really improve and we have good luck with injuries, we still don't have the instilled confidence and comfort of a winning football team.

 

As much as people keep bringing up the "we could start 7-0" narrative, that on it's own is still highly unlikely. We might be favorites in all seven, but there's a good chance some of these teams will end up being a good bit better than people think (Rutgers is a great example), and while looking at each one individually would make you think we should win, looking at 7 in a row shows that we will probably falter or come out flat at some point because human beings do that type of thing.

 

Conversely, I think we are primed and ready to jump up and surprise someone we're an underdog to once or twice. So kool-aid but keeping it pragmatic, I think we could start 6-1, then finish 3-2, and that would mean we likely either beat WISC and IOWA, or knockoff USC or OSU, and either (paired with a winning record and beating CU) would be a hell of an accomplishment.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Realistically, I think Nebraska finishing 8-4 with a win over Wisconsin is achievable. 

 

If they manage to do that while simultaneously scaring Ohio State by staying competitive late into that game, I think the faith in Nebraska Football would instantly reach levels we haven't seen for almost 15 years.

[brophog]

Think really, really big.

 

It'll take some luck to post a 11 or 12 type regular season, both in terms of injuries and we'd need a ball or two to bounce our way. We are building great depth in many places, but we don't have the depth of talent that some programs have that better allow them to absorb key injuries. If Raiola went down, the win total probably plummets. We like to play a lot of man coverage so if the top 3 corners go down, that would really hurt.

 

I think this schedule is quite a bit tougher this year, and generally speaking, tougher than it's given credit for. A lot of other Big 10 teams are on the upswing, too, and while you shouldn't be surprised if Nebraska has that darkhorse type season, Rutgers and Wisconsin could do the same. Despite that, I think this team will be night and day better than a year ago. I fully expect we'll make that big Year 2 jump, but just how high it gets will depend on fortune to some degree.

[Moiraine]

10-4

[Moiraine]

5 minutes ago, Moiraine said:

10-4

 

I might've been high when I wrote that (my math was bad).

 

I guess I'll go with it anyway: we were 9-3 and got picked for the playoffs, won the first-round game and lost in the quarterfinals.

To be honest... if we are 9-3 there is a small chance we'd get into the playoffs.

 

Another possibility is we're 10-2, lose the conference championship game, then lose our bowl game.

[brophog]

4 hours ago, Lorewarn said:

we still don't have the instilled confidence and comfort of a winning football team.

 

True. We don't have the ability to walk onto the field and win the game before it's snapped. That shouldn't be overlooked.

 

What we do have is an incredibly hungry team. These guys are done losing. It's 100% buy-in and player led. Everyone wants to be there and wants to do whatever it takes to succeed. As much as top teams can win before the game is snapped, sometimes they lose because they've lost the hunger.

 

When we start winning, that confidence will build. They'll learn that if they do what they're taught, it gets results. If they don't, they'll learn there's enough depth in most positions that we'll find someone that will.

 

I think the culture and that stuff is really good, we just need to validate it all by winning. Once we start winning, it'll just build momentum from there.

[Mavric]

[Undone]

Eating a (formerly Jeff Simm's) combo meal at Amigo's and then washing it down with a 40oz Mickey's malt liquor in the parking lot.

[UniversalMartin]

We will be at minimum a .600 win%...with the last 4 games taking us to .600 or above