How far we are from the elite of college football

[Billyball]

How far? So far that you can't get there from here.

 

Never say never. I think NU will be a top 5 team again, just maybe not as soon as we all thought. The talent at WR and QB simply isn't there. Apparently.

 

 

I never said never.

 

QB and receiver are just two positions where they are behind the right ball.

 

Everything else looks pretty darn kosher to me.

 

 

NU has one RB and he is a Glass Nancy like Murtha was. They need more than Helu x 4. Also some killer TE's and o-linemen that don't get beat by guys they should be blowing away.

 

The D looks good this year but they need to learn to be faster and hit with tremendous power. Oh, and they need to stop falling asleep and getting burned for the big plays.

 

Add those guys to the new QB's and WR and we have something to move forward with.

 

Maybe I should be recruiting coordinator and spell this out for the coaching staff as they are not getting these types of players.

Shamwow...you make a most salient point regarding Florida! Bottom line is: we have a Bo Pelini defense and a Bill Calahan offense. We will obviously never get anywhere with a BC offense. I never really did understand the logic in keeping Watson and Cotton. It's time to get something new, and in the meantime, send Zac Lee's "prettyboy" act back to the fraternity house and start developing Cody Green. Nebraska needs to quit with this one or two year quarterback stuff and get someone in there, who by the time they are a junior, are performing at their peak because they thoroughly know the system and have improved incrementally by repeated game experience. With freshman Cody Green,we now have an opportunity to do just that. They burned his redshirt, now use him and develop his talents the next four years. Just my two cents along with the many other points of view.

 

When you say we have a "Bo Pelini defense and a Bill Callahan offense" you of course realize that for all practical purposes these players on both sides of the ball are all Bill C's and a big case could be made that Bo has no better record than Bill C would have this year. Now don't get all worked up. I don't espouse that we would be better off under Bill C at all. I am just saying that we have someone who has never been a head coach. Our defense is playing pretty well, but when the chips were down they let an Iowa State team without a QB and their leading rusher move the ball very easily. When the chips were down they let VT win the game. They let TT beat us like a rented mule when that team lost big to a very average ATM team without Bo's great defensive strategy.

 

Now this is not to be anti-Bo. But the idea that he has made a great defense in Lincoln is not really true to this point. He has a great player recruited by Bill C. that accounts for a huge proportion of our defensive effectiveness. There are few like him in college football. Like a great horse makes a trainer look smart, a number one NFL pick on your DL makes you a much better defensive coach. Until Bo recruits and year after year shows a better defense than we have now, the jury will be out.

 

Until Bo shows that he can have an offense that can beat a team that would be characterized as undermanned and then lame as can be, the jury will be out.

 

He seems to be paralyzed to making effective moves on the offense. Perhaps there are none to make and our personnel is so bad that we cannot do any better. But he has done nothing to change the offense even though it has become obvious there are huge problems.

 

Will he be able to put a defense on the field next year that is up to this years unit? Doubtful

Will he be able to put an offense on the field that is better than this year's unit? One would sure hope but why would we think that would happen? Right now it looks like the growth of this team is dependent on Lee becoming less scared and more capable of a QB and our OL becoming at least mediocre, and our wideouts improving 1000% . I don't see that happening.

 

Freshmen recruited this year are not going to change this thing. Remember we were the ones that were the overwhelming favorite in the North. We may still win it, by default and an easier schedule than some. But so what. We get killed by Texas and then what? More likely we are going to lose more games to teams better than Iowa State and not have to worry about the Big 12 CC.

 

Sorry to be pessimistic but I think this "Bo knows" thing has run it's course. We have major defeciencies that are not being addressed and I fear there is no plan to address them.

 

Maybe I'm wrong and the rest of the season will be like playing the Sunbelt teams we beat. Hope so but don't count on it. We are right close to the cliff

[DRAINO]

Heck if Iowa can turn things around then anything is possible.

 

Iowa is well coached. They rely on a power run game and play action off of it. Stanzi is an average Qb but they do not rely on him. Pelini and Watson should take a look at how they run the ball / control the game and rely on their defense. They do play in the little 11 which helps, but Ferentz goes in with a great gameplan for the players he has.

[DRAINO]

How far? So far that you can't get there from here.

 

Never say never. I think NU will be a top 5 team again, just maybe not as soon as we all thought. The talent at WR and QB simply isn't there. Apparently.

 

 

I never said never.

 

QB and receiver are just two positions where they are behind the right ball.

 

Everything else looks pretty darn kosher to me.

 

 

NU has one RB and he is a Glass Nancy like Murtha was. They need more than Helu x 4. Also some killer TE's and o-linemen that don't get beat by guys they should be blowing away.

 

The D looks good this year but they need to learn to be faster and hit with tremendous power. Oh, and they need to stop falling asleep and getting burned for the big plays.

 

Add those guys to the new QB's and WR and we have something to move forward with.

 

Maybe I should be recruiting coordinator and spell this out for the coaching staff as they are not getting these types of players.

Shamwow...you make a most salient point regarding Florida! Bottom line is: we have a Bo Pelini defense and a Bill Calahan offense. We will obviously never get anywhere with a BC offense. I never really did understand the logic in keeping Watson and Cotton. It's time to get something new, and in the meantime, send Zac Lee's "prettyboy" act back to the fraternity house and start developing Cody Green. Nebraska needs to quit with this one or two year quarterback stuff and get someone in there, who by the time they are a junior, are performing at their peak because they thoroughly know the system and have improved incrementally by repeated game experience. With freshman Cody Green,we now have an opportunity to do just that. They burned his redshirt, now use him and develop his talents the next four years. Just my two cents along with the many other points of view.

 

When you say we have a "Bo Pelini defense and a Bill Callahan offense" you of course realize that for all practical purposes these players on both sides of the ball are all Bill C's and a big case could be made that Bo has no better record than Bill C would have this year. Now don't get all worked up. I don't espouse that we would be better off under Bill C at all. I am just saying that we have someone who has never been a head coach. Our defense is playing pretty well, but when the chips were down they let an Iowa State team without a QB and their leading rusher move the ball very easily. When the chips were down they let VT win the game. They let TT beat us like a rented mule when that team lost big to a very average ATM team without Bo's great defensive strategy.

 

Now this is not to be anti-Bo. But the idea that he has made a great defense in Lincoln is not really true to this point. He has a great player recruited by Bill C. that accounts for a huge proportion of our defensive effectiveness. There are few like him in college football. Like a great horse makes a trainer look smart, a number one NFL pick on your DL makes you a much better defensive coach. Until Bo recruits and year after year shows a better defense than we have now, the jury will be out.

 

Until Bo shows that he can have an offense that can beat a team that would be characterized as undermanned and then lame as can be, the jury will be out.

 

He seems to be paralyzed to making effective moves on the offense. Perhaps there are none to make and our personnel is so bad that we cannot do any better. But he has done nothing to change the offense even though it has become obvious there are huge problems.

 

Will he be able to put a defense on the field next year that is up to this years unit? Doubtful

Will he be able to put an offense on the field that is better than this year's unit? One would sure hope but why would we think that would happen? Right now it looks like the growth of this team is dependent on Lee becoming less scared and more capable of a QB and our OL becoming at least mediocre, and our wideouts improving 1000% . I don't see that happening.

 

Freshmen recruited this year are not going to change this thing. Remember we were the ones that were the overwhelming favorite in the North. We may still win it, by default and an easier schedule than some. But so what. We get killed by Texas and then what? More likely we are going to lose more games to teams better than Iowa State and not have to worry about the Big 12 CC.

 

Sorry to be pessimistic but I think this "Bo knows" thing has run it's course. We have major defeciencies that are not being addressed and I fear there is no plan to address them.

 

Maybe I'm wrong and the rest of the season will be like playing the Sunbelt teams we beat. Hope so but don't count on it. We are right close to the cliff

 

Completely Agree... Great Post

[flynlow]

We (Mizzou and you all) are just circling the drain. Our schedule gets easier, yours gets harder. At least we are done with the South. Some of us have the same concerns you do with our coaching. Will the obvious issues be addressed. At least right now, you have a defense. We don't seem to have either an offense, or a defense. No game left on our schedule is a gimmie. The way your team is playing, I doubt you can be real confident either. It sure seems like no one wants the North this year. take solace in the fact that you have a relatively new staff. We have had Pinkel now for 9 years. I don't think he has a lot more left in the tank. The stars aligned the past two seasons for him. It has become pretty obvious that Chase Daniel was the mastermind behind the offense. It was the exact offense he ran in HS, they let him override plays and call his own. That doesn't bode well for our future.

 

Good luck on getting your problems worked out. I think you are closer than we are.

[robsker]

By the end of the season we'll have losses to 4 or 5 QBs who started the year as backups. Our backup QBs can't even get on the field when the starter throws pick after pick. What does this say about our offense? Here's a hint, it's smelly and comes out of a bull's ass.

 

We are far, far, far from the elite of college football.

 

Agreed. Perhaps the better question is how far are we from being a top 25 team (I assume by elite one means top 5 --- and we are light years from that --- some 30 programs or more are closer).

 

To answer my own question, we may be just a year or two away from a top 25 .... but who knows?