Musing about 2010

[Billyball]

With 3 games left there is a lot of Football for this year's Huskers to play. But I was just thinking about next year this morning. This is not an elite season unless we win the next two games, then regardless of the earlier losses or what happens in our BCS bowl game, this is one of the better Husker seasons, because they would have come back from the death bed and proved everybody wrong. Likely won't happen but one can dream. Likely we split the next two and see what happens in a bowl game.

 

Next year we have a whole lot of starters coming back. I counted 10 on offense coming back and 6 on defense. Unfortunately as we all know our offense sucks and our defense is arguably the best in the country. The losses on defense are huge and it is overly optimistic to think that we will be as good without Suh, Turner, Dillard, Asante and O'Hanlon.

 

KSU who was our opponent for going to the Big 12 championship, return 7 on offense losing their QB, Gregory and playmaker Banks and 6 on defense. It is obvious that the old man can coach and it is possible they could be as good next year, but I don't see them being a lot better.

 

Iowa State has 8 coming back on offense and just 5 on defense. Arguably the best coaching job in the conference, it is hard to see anything but a spoiler out of Ames next year.

 

I'm throwing out KU and CU, because there is going to likely be coaching changes and turmoil at both that should not help their chances of vying for a North championship next year.

 

Misery has 8 returning on offense and 8 returning on defense. There is our "rival" that many wanted to find in a thread yesterday, at least for next year. The good news, their defense was not very good against any passing team. The bad news, their offense has improved as the season went on while ours has not. Good news, they lose the top WR in the conference other than Shipley and I'm not sure that he is not better than the Texas WR. There will likely be a huge drop off in talent at that WR spot. Bad news. Gabbert is going to be a very good QB and he returns. Should be the top QB in the conference in 2010.

 

Looking at the South teams--Texas is Texas until proven otherwise and if they go to the NCS game, there is no reason to necessarily expect a North team to beat them next year--though it will be much more likely without McCoy and Shipley. OU obviously has big holes to fill and are experiencing things they have not in a good while. Losing McCoy to the NFL will hurt them just as losing Suh will our defense. So the big two of the South have to be considered down next year from the norm. Whoever wins the North should have a much better chance to compete....maybe. The maybe is because of the difference in talent that Texas and OU recruit and has access to. There is no comparison to the rest of the league. They are the only two teams that truly "reload" rather than "rebuild".

 

TT loses only 3 on offense and 4 on defense and have to feel pretty good about their chances in the south next year--but until they prove otherwise they will remain a Bridesmaid. And Pirate Leach is mentioned in a lot of rumors to leave. If that happens they won't get it done. It seems the guy could take any QB and have him throw for 400 yds pg. But like the North, next year will be the best chance in a while for them.

 

I would give us the edge to win it all if we had a top QB and had shown some life offensively. As it is, I fear we will have trouble scoring enough points for another season. The good news is that we play Missouri early and at home. That game, everything else being equal will be huge.

 

I realize that super sophs we have not heard of and some fantastic freshman on any team may make this whole thing look silly. But my take is that our big rival or "problem" if you prefer for taking the next big step in 2010 is Misery. I think whichever of those two teams is best will have the best chance in years to win the Big 12 title and go to either a BCS or an outside chance at a NCS game. GBR

[WCHusker]

The B12N is pretty much garbage this year and will probably be worse next. As bad as our offense is, we have to be the 2010 fav to win it by default.

[HuskerfaninOkieland]

I disagree. I think the B12 South next year will be considerably weaker. Texas loses Colt and Shipley. Two key players for them. OU loses Gresham and Bradford (though Landry will be a good QB). Okie Lite loses Robinson and they've already lost their key receiver. TTU is gonna be...well....TTU. Good but not great. A&M may be better but I don't expect much out of them. Baylor on the other hand, could be a team to be on the look-out for.

 

I think next year is the year the North starts to dominate. MU returns a lot of starters, we return a lot of starters on O and I don't think the losses on D will have as big of an impact and people might think. KSU will probably be better simply because Synder is a good coach. KU is going to be the big question mark in the North simply because Mangino may now be on the hot seat...a rather large hot seat I might add. Colorado...unless they get rid of Hawkins, they're going to be the bottom dwellers next year. I expect ISU to be a better...not much...but better nonetheless.

[Hunter94]

as soon as we know who the O coordinator will be next year, things will make more sense.

[bshirt]

as soon as we know who the O coordinator will be next year, things will make more sense.

 

I think that's the key.

[kansas husker]

as soon as we know who the O coordinator will be next year, things will make more sense.

 

I think that's the key.

 

 

It will be and should be watson he has had success everywhere he has been including here untill this year. Does that help it make sense?

[irafreak]

Ok but lets suppose Watson gets a HC job somewhere....

 

I think the south will still be much more powerful. Texass always loads up. Joining the big 12 (or creating it in reality) was the best thing to happen to them. They attract the top talent year in and out. Snyder will scrounge up some juco's to be a major player in the north again and missouri will still be in the mix. If leech stays, TT has a shot at Texas and I'm glad they're not on the schedule next season. I'm also not convinced that CU will be dead in the water with hawkins here. His young qb is a stud.

[808Husker in KCMO]

I disagree. I think the B12 South next year will be considerably weaker. Texas loses Colt and Shipley. Two key players for them. OU loses Gresham and Bradford (though Landry will be a good QB). Okie Lite loses Robinson and they've already lost their key receiver. TTU is gonna be...well....TTU. Good but not great. A&M may be better but I don't expect much out of them. Baylor on the other hand, could be a team to be on the look-out for.

 

I think next year is the year the North starts to dominate. MU returns a lot of starters, we return a lot of starters on O and I don't think the losses on D will have as big of an impact and people might think. KSU will probably be better simply because Synder is a good coach. KU is going to be the big question mark in the North simply because Mangino may now be on the hot seat...a rather large hot seat I might add. Colorado...unless they get rid of Hawkins, they're going to be the bottom dwellers next year. I expect ISU to be a better...not much...but better nonetheless.

lol wut? That dude is the worst QB for OU in 15-20 years.

[Husker4lif3]

I disagree. I think the B12 South next year will be considerably weaker. Texas loses Colt and Shipley. Two key players for them. OU loses Gresham and Bradford (though Landry will be a good QB). Okie Lite loses Robinson and they've already lost their key receiver. TTU is gonna be...well....TTU. Good but not great. A&M may be better but I don't expect much out of them. Baylor on the other hand, could be a team to be on the look-out for.

 

I think next year is the year the North starts to dominate. MU returns a lot of starters, we return a lot of starters on O and I don't think the losses on D will have as big of an impact and people might think. KSU will probably be better simply because Synder is a good coach. KU is going to be the big question mark in the North simply because Mangino may now be on the hot seat...a rather large hot seat I might add. Colorado...unless they get rid of Hawkins, they're going to be the bottom dwellers next year. I expect ISU to be a better...not much...but better nonetheless.

 

Stopped reading this when i saw that OU will lose Gresham. I didnt know he played a snap this year.. OU can only go up.

[Enhance]

I disagree. I think the B12 South next year will be considerably weaker. Texas loses Colt and Shipley. Two key players for them. OU loses Gresham and Bradford (though Landry will be a good QB). Okie Lite loses Robinson and they've already lost their key receiver. TTU is gonna be...well....TTU. Good but not great. A&M may be better but I don't expect much out of them. Baylor on the other hand, could be a team to be on the look-out for.

 

I think next year is the year the North starts to dominate. MU returns a lot of starters, we return a lot of starters on O and I don't think the losses on D will have as big of an impact and people might think. KSU will probably be better simply because Synder is a good coach. KU is going to be the big question mark in the North simply because Mangino may now be on the hot seat...a rather large hot seat I might add. Colorado...unless they get rid of Hawkins, they're going to be the bottom dwellers next year. I expect ISU to be a better...not much...but better nonetheless.

TTU might have a pretty good chance of winning the South next year.

[knapplc]

TTU might have a pretty good chance of winning the South next year.

 

Assuming Leach stays, I would very much agree with this.

 

People were saying all summer long how TT stood to be as good on offense and better on defense than last year, and a lot of people weren't listening. You simply cannot judge a team SOLELY on who they lose year to year. Tech's defense is remarkably better this year than last, but their offense is off a bit.

 

2008

Total Offense - 4

Scoring Offense - 13

Total Defense - 79

Scoring Defense - 74

 

 

2009

Total Offense - 6

Scoring Offense - 7

Total Defense - 49

Scoring Defense - 42

 

Tech is better on defense, but a little worse on offense. I'm not sure who they return on defense next year, but if it's most of their key players, they'll be a force to be reckoned with in 2010.

[HuskerfaninOkieland]

I disagree. I think the B12 South next year will be considerably weaker. Texas loses Colt and Shipley. Two key players for them. OU loses Gresham and Bradford (though Landry will be a good QB). Okie Lite loses Robinson and they've already lost their key receiver. TTU is gonna be...well....TTU. Good but not great. A&M may be better but I don't expect much out of them. Baylor on the other hand, could be a team to be on the look-out for.

 

I think next year is the year the North starts to dominate. MU returns a lot of starters, we return a lot of starters on O and I don't think the losses on D will have as big of an impact and people might think. KSU will probably be better simply because Synder is a good coach. KU is going to be the big question mark in the North simply because Mangino may now be on the hot seat...a rather large hot seat I might add. Colorado...unless they get rid of Hawkins, they're going to be the bottom dwellers next year. I expect ISU to be a better...not much...but better nonetheless.

lol wut? That dude is the worst QB for OU in 15-20 years.

Not really. What Bradford benefited from was great receivers and a good offensive line. Landry didn't have those two luxuries this year. Landry was a highly rated QB coming out of high school.

[wilber24]

With 3 games left there is a lot of Football for this year's Huskers to play. But I was just thinking about next year this morning. This is not an elite season unless we win the next two games, then regardless of the earlier losses or what happens in our BCS bowl game, this is one of the better Husker seasons, because they would have come back from the death bed and proved everybody wrong. Likely won't happen but one can dream. Likely we split the next two and see what happens in a bowl game.

 

Next year we have a whole lot of starters coming back. I counted 10 on offense coming back and 6 on defense. Unfortunately as we all know our offense sucks and our defense is arguably the best in the country. The losses on defense are huge and it is overly optimistic to think that we will be as good without Suh, Turner, Dillard, Asante and O'Hanlon.

 

KSU who was our opponent for going to the Big 12 championship, return 7 on offense losing their QB, Gregory and playmaker Banks and 6 on defense. It is obvious that the old man can coach and it is possible they could be as good next year, but I don't see them being a lot better.

 

Iowa State has 8 coming back on offense and just 5 on defense. Arguably the best coaching job in the conference, it is hard to see anything but a spoiler out of Ames next year.

 

I'm throwing out KU and CU, because there is going to likely be coaching changes and turmoil at both that should not help their chances of vying for a North championship next year.

 

Misery has 8 returning on offense and 8 returning on defense. There is our "rival" that many wanted to find in a thread yesterday, at least for next year. The good news, their defense was not very good against any passing team. The bad news, their offense has improved as the season went on while ours has not. Good news, they lose the top WR in the conference other than Shipley and I'm not sure that he is not better than the Texas WR. There will likely be a huge drop off in talent at that WR spot. Bad news. Gabbert is going to be a very good QB and he returns. Should be the top QB in the conference in 2010.

 

Looking at the South teams--Texas is Texas until proven otherwise and if they go to the NCS game, there is no reason to necessarily expect a North team to beat them next year--though it will be much more likely without McCoy and Shipley. OU obviously has big holes to fill and are experiencing things they have not in a good while. Losing McCoy to the NFL will hurt them just as losing Suh will our defense. So the big two of the South have to be considered down next year from the norm. Whoever wins the North should have a much better chance to compete....maybe. The maybe is because of the difference in talent that Texas and OU recruit and has access to. There is no comparison to the rest of the league. They are the only two teams that truly "reload" rather than "rebuild".

 

TT loses only 3 on offense and 4 on defense and have to feel pretty good about their chances in the south next year--but until they prove otherwise they will remain a Bridesmaid. And Pirate Leach is mentioned in a lot of rumors to leave. If that happens they won't get it done. It seems the guy could take any QB and have him throw for 400 yds pg. But like the North, next year will be the best chance in a while for them.

 

I would give us the edge to win it all if we had a top QB and had shown some life offensively. As it is, I fear we will have trouble scoring enough points for another season. The good news is that we play Missouri early and at home. That game, everything else being equal will be huge.

 

I realize that super sophs we have not heard of and some fantastic freshman on any team may make this whole thing look silly. But my take is that our big rival or "problem" if you prefer for taking the next big step in 2010 is Misery. I think whichever of those two teams is best will have the best chance in years to win the Big 12 title and go to either a BCS or an outside chance at a NCS game. GBR

With next years schedule and players coming back, I think the chances are good for a bigger rise next year

BUT, the QB situation has to be worked out!!!