Tempered expectations . . .

[carlfense]

DB was on Sports Nightly the other night . . . and he said a few things that made me step back from the koolaid for a bit. He said basically that he didn't understand Nebraska's pre-season hype. He expects us to be solid . . . but said that "there are at least as many question marks as answers within the program."

 

Did anyone else hear this? DB has solid connections to the program and that has me somewhat concerned.

[typ3kal]

DB was on Sports Nightly the other night . . . and he said a few things that made me step back from the koolaid for a bit. He said basically that he didn't understand Nebraska's pre-season hype. He expects us to be solid . . . but said that "there are at least as many question marks as answers within the program."

 

Did anyone else hear this? DB has solid connections to the program and that has me somewhat concerned.

 

 

There are just as many people with solid connections to the program hyping it as there are debbie downering this year.

 

Take it for what it's worth. Our defensive secondary should be excellent this year. We have big question marks at QB, linebacker, and Oline still a few questions to be answered about the Dline's play this year without Suh. Are we a MNC contender this year? Probably not, are we a solid contender for the Big12- absolutely.

[Captain K]

DB saw Lee at quarterback last year, just like everyone else did. Why should you be surprised?

[huskerscott]

Im really not surprised at his comments. DB is a former player and now a high school coach. He is right saying we have just as many questions as answers. Our offense didnt exactly light it up last year. Everybody expects our offense to be better, but how much better??? Oline didnt play well last year. Their was a crap ton of injuries. We've been hearing that Zac Lee's elbow isnt healing as fast as they thought. Our defense has to replace the 4 best players we had on that side of the ball, which isnt an easy task.

 

With the progress Bo has made in 2 years raises everybody expectations for 2010, including mine. With success breeds the expectations for more success. But looking from the outside, their is alot of unknown heading into 2010 season.

 

just my 2 cents

 

45 days till kickoff

[Lil' Red]

I think the major question mark is at QB. If Lee plays above expectations we could be a national title contender, if he's injured or plays below expectations we could do a little worse then what we did last year.

[carlfense]

DB saw Lee at quarterback last year, just like everyone else did. Why should you be surprised?

 

I never said I was surprised . . . it was just a change of pace from the media hype. I think I'm still a bit gun shy after having high expectations in 2007

[HuskerJosh]

Im really not surprised at his comments. DB is a former player and now a high school coach. He is right saying we have just as many questions as answers. Our offense didnt exactly light it up last year. Everybody expects our offense to be better, but how much better??? Oline didnt play well last year. Their was a crap ton of injuries. We've been hearing that Zac Lee's elbow isnt healing as fast as they thought. Our defense has to replace the 4 best players we had on that side of the ball, which isnt an easy task.

 

With the progress Bo has made in 2 years raises everybody expectations for 2010, including mine. With success breeds the expectations for more success. But looking from the outside, their is alot of unknown heading into 2010 season.

 

just my 2 cents

 

45 days till kickoff

 

Neither Barry Turner, Larry Asante, or Philip Dillard are better than Prince Amukamara. Probably not Jared Crick either, for that matter. I do agree with the rest, we have questions to answer on both sides of the ball...much like every team.

[Husker_x]

The only question we have on defense is exactly how awesome are they going to be? Like fifteenth in the nation awesome, or top five?

 

Offense is a whole other series of questions, starting with does our alleged starting quarterback have an arm he can throw with? Or a line which will block for him? Or supporting running backs that can survive an entire season?

 

The enthusiasm surrounding the program is justified. National championship predictions are very premature.

[typ3kal]

The only question we have on defense is exactly how awesome are they going to be? Like fifteenth in the nation awesome, or top five?

 

Offense is a whole other series of questions, starting with does our alleged starting quarterback have an arm he can throw with? Or a line which will block for him? Or supporting running backs that can survive an entire season?

 

The enthusiasm surrounding the program is justified. National championship predictions are very premature.

 

 

I think the first question on offense is the line. With a good enough line and run blocking you can take a lot of pressure off of a QB. I'm sure Green or Martinez could come in if we had a top 15 rushing offense this season and look like Joe Montana without doing much. Even a heisman QB would've been blown up and held to few yards last year behind our line.

[deedsker15]

we have every right to think we can win a national title...just don't expect one...we can win a big 12 title...that is what you should be eyeing

[EZ-E]

I dont think that there is a football team in the nation right now that doesnt have a few questions.

[bbeerma2]

I dont think that there is a football team in the nation right now that doesnt have a few questions.

 

Boise returns 21 of 22

[carlfense]

I dont think that there is a football team in the nation right now that doesnt have a few questions.

No doubt . . . but a few questions is different than "as many questions as answers."

[knapplc]

Whoa. We are most definitely NOT national title contenders this year. Not unless this offense makes miraculous strides from last year.

 

Our legitimate expectations this year are:

 

Win the Big XII North - not a guarantee, but very possible. Missouri will be stout, and we'll have to avoid getting tripped up by A&M, OSU, Texas and Missouri. These are all losable games.

Win the Big XII Championship - If we get in the title game, and we play with the same heart we played it with last year, I give us one chance in two to win the Conference Title. There isn't a team in the Big XII that I'm afraid of. There are a lot of pretty decent teams, though.

Win a BCS Game - Definitely our biggest hurdle, and not just because even getting here depends on one or both of the first two expectations coming to fruition. I give us one chance in ten to be playing in the MNC game. I give us one chance in five of just making a BCS game. Once there, our defense should keep us within striking distance of just about anyone (barring a Texas Tech-like collapse like last year), but the questions on offense are what concern me.

 

Any talk of a national title run ignores the disaster that constituted our offense last year, and presumes that all the areas of weakness we had will have been fixed in the offseason. While possible, it is not likely that they are all fixed, and we would need every one of them fixed to make a run.

[Igetbored216]

Yes, there are as many questions as answer. Who will be the QB and how will they play? Can our o-line step up and provide better pass/run support? How will our d-line perform without Suh? Can we get some consistent safety play with the loss of O'Hanlon & Asante? Will our linebacker play improve?

 

However, I would like to point out that DB said the same thing before last season started too.