Carl Pelini: Hokies 'great measuring stick'

[robsker]

good lord why am I the only one I know that thinks Nebraska will win that game ?

 

VT has advantage in special teams, no doubt ... they also have Tyrod Taylor who scares the heck out of me.. but honestly , is there more they have that I'm missing ??

 

NU has home field , a better offense , and we all know the D will be better because they'll be flying to the ball and giving 110 % every down. Home field might neutralize VT special teams..

 

seriously , what's the line going to be in that game ? i'd say NU by 3

 

I would guess that the line will be VT by at least 3. I'd be stunned if NU is favored. And, it is not so much what VT has (though they are likely a solid top 20 team, maybe top 15 --- who knows -- talk is that they will be down from their previous level of play, and, if so, they still should be fringe top 25 anyway). rather, it is what NU has (or rather has not).

 

NU comes in with a defense that was near the worst in all of NCAA football --- and 7 of their starters from that defense are gone (among them at least 3 or 4 of the top 5 or 6 we had on defense). Yes, expect 100% effort and expect better coaching from that defense. But.... talent. The LB's are inexperienced and slow. The DL has not a single proven talent on the crew (yes, one could argue that as a freshman that DE Barry Turner showed promise --- but since then? --- and Suh, potential sure, performance, no). At best NU will have a top 50 defense (that is, mid-lower to lower major conference-level defense). We need realize that NU's talent is #6 or 7 or so in the conference --- and such talent rarely beats a VT team --- even at home. Now, maybe the injuries and attrition has made it such that VT is not a typical VT team --- if so, there my be a chance. But VT should and will be favored.

 

Maybe we'll shock them. I do hope so. But if so --- well, it would be an upset.

 

you're "expect the worse-case-scenario guy" aren't you ? I know this because I'm the same way sometimes but I just don't get why seemingly everyone and their dog is marking that VT game down as a loss...I see that game's final score at like 13-10 or 14-13 or something like that ... i see your points on the Husker D though too..

 

Bob:

 

I think you can safely say that I am an "expect the worst-case-scenario" kind of guy --- though I'd add that I am as well an "if anything better than the worst-case-scenario happens we can all be happy" kind of guy. My whole Husker view is really colored by such thinking --- at least currently. Part of me just does not want to see too high of expectations and the Husker fans first being disappointed when it does not happen --- and then the worst case scenario (there I go again) and the fans turn on the new coaching staff and run them out of town. This whole process of rebuilding NU into a competitive team will take time --- at least we should expect that it will be a three or more year process.

 

As to the VT game, well if it were not the Huskers (who we all love) involved and you just took at some team , say team X, who had the #100+ defense in the nation last year, who loses 7 starters from that defense, who was 5-7, was blown out by every good team they faced, and hasn't had a quality win in 4+ seasons (as defined by a nationally important victory) --- and even though they have a new coaching staff that is promising --- is it reasonable to favor them over a team that has averaged 10 wins a season for a long period, who has been ranked for a long period of time, that is well coached and who will likely be ranked and ranked pretty highly at the time of the game? I'd say it is not.

 

Chalk it up as a certain loss. No. It is not like we are playing say LSU, Florida, USC, or someone like that --- those would be certain losses (though Stanford had chalked it down I'm sure as a certain loss against USC). So rather than certain, since anything can happen (though the one Stanford win against USC must be seen against the 10's of losses in which the little guy gets crushed by the big guy) --- it is instead an issue of low probability. I'd give it a 75% chance of a loss --- maybe if we played them 4 times we might win once. Maybe it will be that one time.

 

Then again, I'm a worst-case scenario kind of guy.

[huskered17]

good lord why am I the only one I know that thinks Nebraska will win that game ?

 

VT has advantage in special teams, no doubt ... they also have Tyrod Taylor who scares the heck out of me.. but honestly , is there more they have that I'm missing ??

 

NU has home field , a better offense , and we all know the D will be better because they'll be flying to the ball and giving 110 % every down. Home field might neutralize VT special teams..

 

seriously , what's the line going to be in that game ? i'd say NU by 3

 

I would guess that the line will be VT by at least 3. I'd be stunned if NU is favored. And, it is not so much what VT has (though they are likely a solid top 20 team, maybe top 15 --- who knows -- talk is that they will be down from their previous level of play, and, if so, they still should be fringe top 25 anyway). rather, it is what NU has (or rather has not).

 

NU comes in with a defense that was near the worst in all of NCAA football --- and 7 of their starters from that defense are gone (among them at least 3 or 4 of the top 5 or 6 we had on defense). Yes, expect 100% effort and expect better coaching from that defense. But.... talent. The LB's are inexperienced and slow. The DL has not a single proven talent on the crew (yes, one could argue that as a freshman that DE Barry Turner showed promise --- but since then? --- and Suh, potential sure, performance, no). At best NU will have a top 50 defense (that is, mid-lower to lower major conference-level defense). We need realize that NU's talent is #6 or 7 or so in the conference --- and such talent rarely beats a VT team --- even at home. Now, maybe the injuries and attrition has made it such that VT is not a typical VT team --- if so, there my be a chance. But VT should and will be favored.

 

Maybe we'll shock them. I do hope so. But if so --- well, it would be an upset.

 

you're "expect the worse-case-scenario guy" aren't you ? I know this because I'm the same way sometimes but I just don't get why seemingly everyone and their dog is marking that VT game down as a loss...I see that game's final score at like 13-10 or 14-13 or something like that ... i see your points on the Husker D though too..

 

Bob:

 

I think you can safely say that I am an "expect the worst-case-scenario" kind of guy --- though I'd add that I am as well an "if anything better than the worst-case-scenario happens we can all be happy" kind of guy. My whole Husker view is really colored by such thinking --- at least currently. Part of me just does not want to see too high of expectations and the Husker fans first being disappointed when it does not happen --- and then the worst case scenario (there I go again) and the fans turn on the new coaching staff and run them out of town. This whole process of rebuilding NU into a competitive team will take time --- at least we should expect that it will be a three or more year process.

 

As to the VT game, well if it were not the Huskers (who we all love) involved and you just took at some team , say team X, who had the #100+ defense in the nation last year, who loses 7 starters from that defense, who was 5-7, was blown out by every good team they faced, and hasn't had a quality win in 4+ seasons (as defined by a nationally important victory) --- and even though they have a new coaching staff that is promising --- is it reasonable to favor them over a team that has averaged 10 wins a season for a long period, who has been ranked for a long period of time, that is well coached and who will likely be ranked and ranked pretty highly at the time of the game? I'd say it is not.

 

Chalk it up as a certain loss. No. It is not like we are playing say LSU, Florida, USC, or someone like that --- those would be certain losses (though Stanford had chalked it down I'm sure as a certain loss against USC). So rather than certain, since anything can happen (though the one Stanford win against USC must be seen against the 10's of losses in which the little guy gets crushed by the big guy) --- it is instead an issue of low probability. I'd give it a 75% chance of a loss --- maybe if we played them 4 times we might win once. Maybe it will be that one time.

 

Then again, I'm a worst-case scenario kind of guy.

 

 

I under stand your thinking, but lets look at what we lost. 7 guys on a defense that wasn't very good. A linebacker core that was slow and not very good. A lot of people said Ruud was terrible, hmmm he's on a pretty good NFL team now. Bowman at Da Bears I think. The players were there, the right coaching staff was not.

Bo is light years ahead of Coz as far as teaching defense. This team could turn out to be better than a lot of you think it will. We may not beat V.Tech, but we won't be embarrassed by them either. Heart plays a big part in any sport, after last years debacle it shouldn't be to hard to get these kids motivated. With a few Lucky bounces for a change 9 wins is possible, 8 at the worst.

 

GBR!!!