Phil Steele says Nebraska will be #17 heading into the season

[whateveritis1224]

The team needs to get over the hump on road games in the Big 10. The only top tier road venue we've won has been at PSU the week Sandusky came to light. That is why, at this point in time, Michigan is favored. But it's also going to be the second time to Ann Arbor.

 

So who knows, but it's a very real possibility that NU and OSU can be undefeated going into the B1G Championship.

[ADS]

17 seems about right, good offense but soo many question marks on defense where it would've been tough to rank us in the top 15.

[Hooked on Huskers]

I don't really trust Phil's prediction from now on because he said in the middle of 2012 season, Phil's extrasensory perception said Purdue will be a Leaders crown. Thus I predict less than 70 points against it if Purdue/Huskers CG tussle.

[Haspula]

Phil Steele loves us

[Count 'Bility]

I would also like to add that Texas will not be 18. They will be easily top 15. Probably top 10. Most likely like 7 or 8. Just because that's the way it is.

[EZ-E]

I think we start about where he's saying. Hopefully we finish higher than that.

[huskerinacaveman]

There is a pretty solid chance for the Big 10 title game to have an undefeated NU and undefeated OSU. That would be a sweet conference championship game. No, I am not sold on Michigan and the WCO they are trying to run this year, yikes.

Bo should know how to defend against that WCO.

 

Exactly, that is playing into his hands, it is also forcing Michigan to put in a new offense and to take away a lot of the QB runs. I am super happy about that!

I don't know about that, they will be running the WCO with a pretty good passer and an excellent runner at QB. The latter being our major weakness of course.

Glad you said that because that is exactly what I was thinking.

Think about how good those Niner's were in the 90's with Steve Young. Remember all of the running room Young had? Michael Vick wouldn't have been nearly the culture shock to the NFL if Steve Young had half the speed that Taylor has. Would of probably stretched several super bowls.....errrrr he turn concussion prone with the hits he took, and wouldn't of lasted as long as he did, if he ran like a present running QB.

 

Mobile QB + (insert offense type) Offense = Dangerous

[Chaddyboxer]

Phil Steele loves us

Yeah, usually Phil Steele tends to talk up the Huskers almost every season. He usually tells it how it is when it comes the Skers.

I always like reading Phil Steele's predictions.

[lo country]

Fair spot to start. We have potential to be better on D per our recruits and supposed "upgrades", but many of these guys have yet to see any significant playing time. We lose 8 starters on D, we are coming off 2 blow out losses. I think the woeful performance on D last year and the inexperience this year gets us the lower ranking.

 

Win and we move up. Like Evans said (IIRC) time to shut up and play.

[teachercd]

There is a pretty solid chance for the Big 10 title game to have an undefeated NU and undefeated OSU. That would be a sweet conference championship game. No, I am not sold on Michigan and the WCO they are trying to run this year, yikes.

Bo should know how to defend against that WCO.

 

Exactly, that is playing into his hands, it is also forcing Michigan to put in a new offense and to take away a lot of the QB runs. I am super happy about that!

I don't know about that, they will be running the WCO with a pretty good passer and an excellent runner at QB. The latter being our major weakness of course.

Glad you said that because that is exactly what I was thinking.

Think about how good those Niner's were in the 90's with Steve Young. Remember all of the running room Young had? Michael Vick wouldn't have been nearly the culture shock to the NFL if Steve Young had half the speed that Taylor has. Would of probably stretched several super bowls.....errrrr he turn concussion prone with the hits he took, and wouldn't of lasted as long as he did, if he ran like a present running QB.

 

Mobile QB + (insert offense type) Offense = Dangerous

 

Agree but I don't see them running him with zero backups behind him. They will be pretty conservative. Of course, I could be super wrong as usual.

[tmfr15]

Preseason polls mean zero. Nebraska would rise from unranked to the top so long as we keep on winning. If we were to be unbeaten at the end of the season, the BIG title game would also have national title implications. Sure, there is always a chance that there will be three unbeaten teams, with one of them being left out in the cold, but that is a rarity. If the Huskers go unbeaten and win the BIG title, they'll play for all the marbles.

[Count 'Bility]

Preseason polls mean zero. Nebraska would rise from unranked to the top so long as we keep on winning. If we were to be unbeaten at the end of the season, the BIG title game would also have national title implications. Sure, there is always a chance that there will be three unbeaten teams, with one of them being left out in the cold, but that is a rarity. If the Huskers go unbeaten and win the BIG title, they'll play for all the marbles.

Preseason dont mean a lot, but they do mean something. For instance, last year. Alabama. If theyre not a preseason #1 or #2 or whatever they were, they would not have made the title game after that one loss. That preseason ranking gives you that boost in national perception to start the year. Obviously there have been teams to overcome that. But if you go back to 2007 when LSU won the NC with two losses, would they have even been in the title discussion after that 2nd loss if they had started the season ranked say, 15?

 

Now these examples are a little off and i admit that becuase the teams accomplished something of substance in immediately recent seasons, so they deserve to be ranked high to start the next. That's just common sense. But what about Florida St? What about Texas? What have they done in recent years to continually deserve that free pass into the top 10 or 5 every preseason. Yes, Florida St won a BCS game (against Nebraska high school all-stars by the way) last year, but what about years prior to last?

 

I guess i'm just saying that preseason polls dont mean zero. They do mean a little. But I too think they should be done away with. There's just too many teams that get free passes to the top 10 preseason wise that end up crapping the bed, and in turn, make it just a little more difficult for teams starting in the 10-20 range that actually are deserving of it.

 

No, Nebraska is NOT deserving of a top 10 right now. I would prefer to see us in the 20-25 range because I think that's about where we belong. I dont want anyone to think my comments are heading towards some sort of "Nebraska is getting screwed in the polls" mindset.

[knapplc]

Preseason polls are a reflection on several things. They are not accurate at all, but they give a broad sense of how good a team could/should be. They're wildly inaccurate at times, like when Auburn started the season unranked in 2010, or when Notre Dame is ranked at all (last year being the exception).

 

I'd rather there be no polls at all until a couple of weeks into conference play, but preseason polls are never going away.

[tmfr15]

You are so right accountability! Teams getting a free pass and a great rating based on having done nothing for years is bunk. And the poll does provide those near the top to lose and still have a very real chance of playing for the title. That being said, a spot in the title game, in most cases, means you have to win all your games. Nebraska is high enough profile that we can win and advance in the poll quickly. And that, in part, is because the poll is so lame. Teams that are over hyped bite the bullet, leaving all kinds of room for the winners to advance up the polls, especially since the over hyped tend to reside in the top 10 of those preseason or early season polls.

[StPaulHusker]

With consistent 9/10 win and 4 loss records, this is probably close to the right assessment.