Early expectations for this year.

[jsneb83]

It's hard to predict how we will do this season right now because it's hard to accurately judge other teams, unless you actively research them and I'm too lazy to do so, but how I feel about Michigan and Michigan St right now, I think we will win the division, not sure about the conference, though. But I will say switching conference, although for the best in the long run, set us back a couple years.

[skersfan]

If we do not figure out a way to recruit with Ohio State and Michigan, this move will end Nebraska as a power. We are so far below those two in overall talent and their recruiting again is killing us. 1 recruit out of the top 300 in the Big Ten, not national, but the Big Ten. Michigan has already locked down 17 I think, could be more, Ohio State killed it last year and now has 5 locked down already. We have 1. Some how that needs to change.

 

Where will we recruit, if the big two dominate, Texas and California, but the lure of recruiting kids from Texas is dying with out playing there anymore I think.

[zoogs]

No, but you can't look at 9 wins minimum as a "failure" either.

 

If it's 9, fine. If it's less, then it's not good. I mean, 8 is OK but it'd have to be a really rare down or transition year. And we're talking about year 5-6 of the coach's tenure.

 

I agree fully with people who say the next year(s) are going to be defining for Bo. 9 ain't bad but it's not the kind of performance that gives a guy the unlimited job security that seems to be expected. I think carlfense put it well when he called it a circle-the-wagons response.

[Moiraine]

If we do not figure out a way to recruit with Ohio State and Michigan, this move will end Nebraska as a power. We are so far below those two in overall talent and their recruiting again is killing us. 1 recruit out of the top 300 in the Big Ten, not national, but the Big Ten. Michigan has already locked down 17 I think, could be more, Ohio State killed it last year and now has 5 locked down already. We have 1. Some how that needs to change.

 

Where will we recruit, if the big two dominate, Texas and California, but the lure of recruiting kids from Texas is dying with out playing there anymore I think.

Just going to post this before I get on with my point:

 

2008: 6th in the Big 12 in recruiting

2009: 4th

2010: 5th

2011: 2nd in Big 10

2012: 3rd in Big 10

 

 

I think several people need to just admit to themselves that Nebraska is NEVER going to be a consistent top 10 recruiting team. Callahan came close, but his teams' rankings (on rivals) were 5, 13, and 20. I'm very happy being consistently in the 10-30 bracket. We're in Nebraska. We lack sheer numbers of good in state players, and we have to convince people to come to Nebraska. Look at Michigan and Ohio State's lists of recruits:

 

2012 Ohio: 15 out of 25 from Ohio 60% (8 4-stars from OH, 1 5-star from OH)

2011: 12 out of 24 from Ohio 50% (6 4-stars from OH)

2012 Michigan: 8 out of 25 from Michigan 32% (4 4-stars from MI)

2011: 5 of 20 from Michigan 25% (3 4-stars from MI)

2012 Nebraska: 1 out of 17 from Nebraska 6% (3 star from NE)

2011: 3 of 20 from Nebraska 15% (2 4-stars from NE)

 

Michigan actually looks somewhat similar, but they aren't. They are in a much more highly populated area in general. Nearly half of their recruits come from Ohio.

 

People need to stop deluding themselves. We are at a disadvantage in recruiting. We have to do what we can to make up for it, but trying to compare ourselves to Michigan and Ohio and say we must be doing something wrong is just going to lead to depression. Michigan and Ohio State have to convince players to travel an hour or two away from home to play for them. Nebraska has to convince people from areas with nice weather and tons of different, fun activities to do to come and live in Nebraska. I don't care how awesome we think Nebraska is, we're not going to convince lots of 18 year olds of it. The "end of Nebraska as a power" isn't going to be because we aren't a consistently top recruiting team. That's been the case for years and it always will be.

[skersfan]

It was the case when Tom was here, but he did have some great recruiting years to.

 

We have to compete somehow, we have to have the numbers, qualified players, Bo does not wave a magic wand and they go from being able to play to All American.

 

We are in far worse situation with recruiting now than we were. We could get the Texas kids that did not go to Texas or Oklahoma, now that we never set foot in Texas it will be harder to recruit those kids, they want to play in front of their familes and friends. We had actually lost out on that as the end grew near, Missouri was taking far more Texas kids than we were.

 

Unless we come up with an offense that we can grow our own, similar to what we did when Tom was here or like Wisconsin ,we are going to strugle to get the fire power to be competitive I think, we have been for the last ten years it seems to me. Nebraska used to be the home of top running backs with national attention. We do not get that level of back anymore, yea I know Rex is good, but he is not the WOW kid that we used to pull. But we had something to offer them then, now we are just another spread offense(sorta).

 

This year is very improtant for this program, not only Pelini. We talked trash last year, about how our speed would destroy the Big Ten, we saw how that turned, and they are taking every single one in Ohio and Michigan it seems.

 

You can live in the past, because Tom was able to do it, but we have not been able to since he left other than Franks couple of appearances.

 

How do you feel we will beat Michigan and Ohio State at they continue to put top player after top player on their roster. Do you thin we have better coaching than Ohio State or Michigan. Hoke is the real deal, he made San Diego state win, which has been pretty much impossible for quite awhile. We may be getting more money and we maybe in a more stable conference, but I really do not think we did our football program any favors with this move. It is going to be a very tough road to hoe.

[Moiraine]

We are in far worse situation with recruiting now than we were.

Explain how we are in a "far" worse situation than we were, because I'm not seeing that in the numbers yet. If our recruiting this year is on par with what it was last year then I can concede that it's a possibility, but we can recruit more players this year than we were able to last year. Ohio is a great place to recruit and we're focusing on it more now. The 2013 class has 3 commits from there already (and one from Texas).

 

How do you feel we will beat Michigan and Ohio State at they continue to put top player after top player on their roster. Do you thin we have better coaching than Ohio State or Michigan. Hoke is the real deal, he made San Diego state win, which has been pretty much impossible for quite awhile. We may be getting more money and we maybe in a more stable conference, but I really do not think we did our football program any favors with this move. It is going to be a very tough road to hoe.

I don't see it as being drastically tougher than it ever was before. I just listed our recruiting ranks vs the Big 12. IMO, we were competitive, and Texas/Oklahoma/Texas A&M out-recruited us almost every year. We can still be competitive now.

 

As for coaching, I agree with you. I haven't once argued that Nebraska will be consistently better than Michigan/Ohio State. I think Hoke is the real deal. He turned around two teams. I'm merely pointing out that thinking we can and should be a top 10 recruiting team that competes, in recruiting, with teams who have loads of talent in their backyards is going to give you an ulcer because it's not going to happen.

[Saunders]

my point, exactly..thank you......i hope he makes the grade, constantly bringing in new coaches is not good for any program, but you can't ride the coat tails of potential forever....

 

No, but you can't look at 9 wins minimum as a "failure" either.

 

 

tell you what....i will give him not 3 but 4 more years to win a CC, if not he is a failure in my book...fair enough?

So, Tom Osborne was a failure.

 

Got it.

[Saunders]

It was the case when Tom was here, but he did have some great recruiting years to.

 

We have to compete somehow, we have to have the numbers, qualified players, Bo does not wave a magic wand and they go from being able to play to All American.

 

We are in far worse situation with recruiting now than we were. We could get the Texas kids that did not go to Texas or Oklahoma, now that we never set foot in Texas it will be harder to recruit those kids, they want to play in front of their familes and friends. We had actually lost out on that as the end grew near, Missouri was taking far more Texas kids than we were.

We took more kids from Texas after the move to the Big 12 than we ever did before, by far. And we won all of one CC with them.

[AFhusker]

my point, exactly..thank you......i hope he makes the grade, constantly bringing in new coaches is not good for any program, but you can't ride the coat tails of potential forever....

 

No, but you can't look at 9 wins minimum as a "failure" either.

 

 

tell you what....i will give him not 3 but 4 more years to win a CC, if not he is a failure in my book...fair enough?

So, Tom Osborne was a failure.

 

Got it.

 

Nice try, Tom won two conference championships (1975, 1978) in his first 8 years as HC. An Bo is no Tom Osborne, IDK why everyone tries to compare the two.

['SkersRule]

Again . . . I hope that you're right but I don't think someone who expects Nebraska to win the Big 10 this year has much room to accuse others of being disconnected from reality.

 

You do understand that if Nebraska would have beaten Northwestern last year they would have been in Indianapolis playing Wisconsin in a rematch for the inaugural Big 10 championship...right?

 

Of course you do being so grounded in reality as you are.

 

[Hunter94]

my point, exactly..thank you......i hope he makes the grade, constantly bringing in new coaches is not good for any program, but you can't ride the coat tails of potential forever....

 

No, but you can't look at 9 wins minimum as a "failure" either.

 

 

tell you what....i will give him not 3 but 4 more years to win a CC, if not he is a failure in my book...fair enough?

So, Tom Osborne was a failure.

 

Got it.

 

 

oh sorry, we gave Tom 9 years to make a CC, i am only giving Bo 8 years.......excuse me.

[Hunter94]

Again . . . I hope that you're right but I don't think someone who expects Nebraska to win the Big 10 this year has much room to accuse others of being disconnected from reality.

 

You do understand that if Nebraska would have beaten Northwestern last year they would have been in Indianapolis playing Wisconsin in a rematch for the inaugural Big 10 championship...right?

 

Of course you do being so grounded in reality as you are.

 

 

 

i think you made his point for him........we couldn't even beat Northwestern......

you didn't really want to see us lose to Wisconsin a 2nd time, did you?

[NebraskaShellback]

Scheduling and injuries will have a LOT to do with how our year turns out. Like every year. Our schedule isn't nearly as brutal as it was last year. We face Michigan, Penn State and Wisconsin in Lincoln. Playing those teams on the road last year was brutal. The worst road game we have this season is Ohio State. And I'll guarantee you that Bo will have our guys up for the Buckeyes. As for injuries, well that 's just a crapshoot. If we stay healthy, have a few breaks fall our way--then sure we *could* win the B1G 10. We're not the favorite. But it could happen.

 

 

unfortunately, Urban will own Bo in this match up..........

I do not think so. Urban will have a good welcome to the B1G this year. He all ready ruffled feathers on the recruiting trail, and he knew he was going against the rules.

[Excel]

This thread is fascinating, football definitely needs to start!

[carlfense]

You're the one who claims anyone who expects NU to win the Big10 is "disconnected from reality".

Yep. And I stand by it. Could we win the Big 10? You bet. Absolutely. Are we the favorites or should we expect to win the Big 10? No. Believe what you want. We'll find out soon enough and I hope that you're right and I'm wrong.

So you're saying that in realty, we could win the Big 10. Who is "disconnected from realty" now?

There is a difference between possible and likely.