don't get why people are freaking out

[BoSolich]

most people would have been fine being 5-5 at this point before the season started.

 

we knew raiola would take some bumps as a true freshman so not sure what people were expecting from the offense.

 

the defense has exceeded expectations in every game except indiana.

 

so what are people so made about? we have a top 18 recruiting class and on track to make a bowl if we win a favored matchup against wisconsin.

 

[Caliborn72]

I understand your point and I don’t blame you one bit for feeling that way. But I will say, from my perspective that was not how the season was packaged at all to me through the offseason. We felt competent QB play would have given us an 8 or 9 win season last year and that with a relatively easy schedule this year, we might have a real outside shot at the playoff.

 

Vegas had our line at 7.5. I really thought we’d have at least 6 wins by now with a chance to hit our over.

[runningblind]

It is all about trajectory.  5-1 with a big win over CU and an OT loss to a ranked and solid Illinois team.  Now we have lost 4 straight, and are looking at a real possiblity of ending the year on a 6 game skid and missing a bowl for an 8th straight year.  Rhule would be 0-10 in games trying to clinch a bowl at that point, he is 0-8 right now.  

 

This program is not trending up under Rhule, that is why people are freaking out.  Rightly so IMO. 

[lo country]

1 minute ago, runningblind said:

It is all about trajectory.  5-1 with a big win over CU and an OT loss to a ranked and solid Illinois team.  Now we have lost 4 straight, and are looking at a real possiblity of ending the year on a 6 game slid and missing a bowl for a 7th straight year.  Rhule would be 0-10 in games trying to clinch a bowl at that point, he is 0-8 right now.  

 

This program is not trending up under Rhule, that is why people are freaking out.  Rightly so IMO. 

What area have we improved in?  I'm looking at overall or position group.  Just not seeing any discernible area we have.   That's what is concerning for me.  What guy, not graduating, is a DUDE?  A team leader? The guy with the intangibles?  Barney maybe?  Thought Williams might start to be that guy, but he like Lloyd appears to have gone AWOL.  No idea.  

[TGHusker]

1 hour ago, lo country said:

What area have we improved in?  I'm looking at overall or position group.  Just not seeing any discernible area we have.   That's what is concerning for me.  What guy, not graduating, is a DUDE?  A team leader? The guy with the intangibles?  Barney maybe?  Thought Williams might start to be that guy, but he like Lloyd appears to have gone AWOL.  No idea.  

Same here -  QB play might be slightly better when we factor in Sims from last year and DR's first few games but overall, we are not trending up in any position.   I thought before the season that with the super seniors coming back on D and the turnaround the D made last year, that this would be a lights out defense.  Outside of Colo and the "give me" games, the D has failed to rise up to the occasion.   When the game is on the line, they cannot get a stop - except that one goal line stand what seems like an eternity ago.  The senior leadership isn't what I thought it would be.   So up and down.  Don't show up vs Indiana and then play well against OSU and then come in flat against UCLA.  I can't just point to the players, there just have been too many cycles of good/bad play.  That is on the coaching.  

 

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

2 hours ago, BoSolich said:

most people would have been fine being 5-5 at this point before the season started.

 

 

 

I think if you go back to the pre-season posts here on HuskerBoard, you'd realize that isn't true.

 

Even the unsentimental oddsmakers in Vegas had the over/under on Nebraska wins at 7.5. 

 

It's also the way Nebraska is losing, continuing the one-possession loss bug that is actually making college football history. It doesn't look good and it doesn't feel good, and acting like Husker fans are expecting too much flies in the face of dozens of programs that manage quicker and better turnarounds. 

 

The story of Nebraska football on every broadcast or article concerns the hole the program now finds itself in -- a level of futility that no other Power 4 team shares. And "freaking out" isn't the right phrase. It's mostly just sadness, given the hopes we had for the latest coaching and culture change. 

 

What are you seeing that gives you such hope, BoSolich? 

 

I'll grant you that one or two more regular season wins and a bowl game could make a difference, but any Husker fan not hugely discouraged by the last two losses doesn't really understand the game.  

 

 

 

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

On 11/17/2024 at 9:40 AM, BoSolich said:

rhule should encourage every offensive player outside of raiola to hit the portal. 

^ sounds like a bit of a freakout, eh?

[Hagg]

23 hours ago, BoSolich said:

most people would have been fine being 5-5 at this point before the season started.

 

we knew raiola would take some bumps as a true freshman so not sure what people were expecting from the offense.

 

the defense has exceeded expectations in every game except indiana.

 

so what are people so made about? we have a top 18 recruiting class and on track to make a bowl if we win a favored matchup against wisconsin.

 

 

The "freak out" is more a big disappointment following the huge helping of hope we were experiencing after the Buffs game and after each other win.  It went downhill game after game from then on.  So... it's not a freak out in Husker Nation so much as that "here we go again" thing (Frost, Riley, etc)  after those early wins. 

[The Dude]

We may not be winning, but we're not winning the right way.  It could be worse, could be Colorado or Indiana, who is winning the wrong way.

 

I won't be truly worried until we're still not winning in year 3.  That's when the magic usually happens for Rhule.

[HuskerInLostWages]

I hate to say it, but i'm used to it now so nothing surprises me with this team anymore.  If they can find a way to lose they normally do and it's at this point, expected.  How many of us called an INT in that last series last week(I saw at least 10 saying INT or fumble) and what do ya know, an INT(though blatant hold that wasn't called twice in the same game).  At this point, the team folds under the pressure and we should know better until they prove us wrong, which they haven't done in years now.  They expect to lose at this point, and it's like they will it now.

[Moiraine]

I'm freaking out because my basement has a leaky area.

[DefenderAO]

29 minutes ago, The Dude said:

We may not be winning, but we're not winning the right way.  It could be worse, could be Colorado or Indiana, who is winning the wrong way.

 

I won't be truly worried until we're still not winning in year 3.  That's when the magic usually happens for Rhule.

It’s looking like his “magic” is against mid tier opponents and coaches. Top 25, B!G, NFL all looking as good as Houdini’s final act. 

[Street Novelist]

Rhule will be on the hot seat entering season 3, especially if he loses the last 2 games and does not make a bowl game. If we play like this next season with similar results, I don't see him making year 4, especially if all of our wins are against unranked teams. I know he has a massive buyout, but you can't let fan apathy set in. That would be the worst thing to happen.

[HuskerNation1]

 

 

 

[gossamorharpy]

8 hours ago, BoSolich said:

most people would have been fine being 5-5 at this point before the season started.

 

we knew raiola would take some bumps as a true freshman so not sure what people were expecting from the offense.

 

the defense has exceeded expectations in every game except indiana.

 

so what are people so made about? we have a top 18 recruiting class and on track to make a bowl if we win a favored matchup against wisconsin.

 

lol, we're ranked 101st in scoring offense in the nation and that is heavily skewed by our cupcake non- con schedule against the likes of northern iowa and UTEP.  We havent scored more than 21 offensive points since sept 20th against illinois.

 

Our defense?  I'd argue has been a massive disappointment.  Fans that rely on stats will cherry pick certain stats to make the case theyre a top 15-20 unit yet casually ignore our cupcake schedule is a massive part of that.  1/3 of our schedule is in the bottom 10 in offensive scoring.  The remaining portion is largely not in the top 50% offensively.  Sure, they've been hung out to dry by this limp d!(k offense, but let be real, no one has confidence they will make a key stop when we have the lead... how many missed turnover opportunities did we gift USC this past weekend?  Simply put, there isnt a single difference maker to be had on this defense and all of them have displayed numerous examples where the moment was simply too big to make a play

 

We heard all offseason about the receiving room and transfers- they've been a complete failure.

 

All offseason we heard nothing but rave reviews about the stout defense, senior laden.  One could make the case not a single one of them has progressed since last year, majority of them have in fact regressed.

 

Our special teams unit continues to be one of the worst ran in the nation.  

 

Our schedule, actually setup to be pretty friendly, one of the easiest we've had since joining the big ten.  USC is way below what everyone expected, we had a meh UCLA team at home.  And yet here we are stuck at 5 wins for a month and a half.

 

Fans and media are literally questioning whether dylan raiola should be the qb to end the year to not shake his confidence further and go to a qb who couldn;t throw last year and led the worst offense in our progrum history.

 

There is quite possibly not a single thing about this progrum that has been displayed on the field that fans are optimistic about moving forward and Coach Rhule is now starting to use the "players need to make plays" response because he doesnt have the answer either.

 

But yeah, why is everyone upset lol