Huskers NOT in SI Post Spring Power Rankings

[deedsker]

Nebraska could play some terrible football this year and still be 8-4. That's scary in many ways.

[Count 'Bility]

Nebraska could play some terrible football this year and still be 8-4. That's scary in many ways.

We played some pretty terrible football at times last year and still wound up 10-4. Were 10-2 at one point. That was pretty scary too.

[Saunders]

I guess it depends on what criteria you think "Power Rankings" or preseason polls are judged on.

 

You could say they should be a reflection of a team's final ranking from the season before. In that case, Nebraska would be in the neighborhood of 25/23 (AP/Coaches).

 

Or you could say that they should be in anticipation of where the team might end up this next season. Nebraska has finished the last four seasons ranked 25/23, 24/24, 20/19, and 14/14, so that's probably a pretty good predictor of what we'll do this year too.

 

Or you could say that Vegas does a better job at predicting things than anyone else (which is completely true), and then note that we have the 19th best odds at winning the national championship. We are also not even favored to win the Legends (and tied with Michigan for 2nd place), and tied with Wisconsin for 4th place in the conference.

 

So, actually, it doesn't really matter what criteria you want to judge a preseason poll on and the conclusion remains the same: he's more or less right.

 

While I'm not sure if we deserve to be completely unranked in his poll, I wouldn't say we really deserve to be much higher than 20th either. I also don't think there's really too much of a difference between being anywhere around the 20's, so I don't see the big deal. Our preseason ranking in each of the last four seasons was 17/16, 10/11, 8/9, and 24/22, so we've been moderately overrated each of the last three seasons. Maybe they're just reacting to the fact that we've underperformed relative to expectations lately.

Yes, I honestly don't know too much about Michigan St. and what they have coming back, but I think it's funny how some use the argument that we should be ranked because our schedule is so easy and we will surely go 10-3 and a solid chance at 11-2 or better but at the same time say Mich st. will only win 6-8 games. Has anyone looked at MSU's schedule? It's easily arguably that it is easier than ours or, at best, equally as easy as ours.

 

As KJ pointed out, Vegas knows more than any of us, and they have Mich St. favored to win the division. Of course that doesn't mean it is a shoe-in for them to win, but I think they are worth a little more attention than simply saying they are sure to go 6-6 because they lost a few key players. They still return 8 starters on defense (according to Scout) and 8 starters on offense including 4 of their o-lineman.

MSU lost their 3 best players, arguably the most important piece on offense (Le'veon Bell) and don't have a QB. That's why.

[Blackshirts007]

Why are people saying they don't have a QB? Andrew maxwell

[Saunders]

Why are people saying they don't have a QB? Andrew maxwell

Andrew Maxwell is um.... not good.

 

http://www.cfbstats.com/2012/leader/827/team/offense/split01/category02/sort02.html

http://espn.go.com/college-football/statistics/player/_/stat/passing/sort/collegeQuarterbackRating/count/81

[AllNRed]

Mich st could have won every game but Notre dame and have an easy schedule this year. Defense should be better this yer. That is the logic they r using. I do not agree with it, but my opinion means about as much as his preseason poll

Coulda woulda shoulda.

Their D might be better this year, but their O will be worse than last year when they were abysmal.

 

I don't understand how the defense might be better this year, honestly. They lose 8 players from their two deep. 4 of those players were consistent starters the past two seasons, including their star DE William Gholston. Michigan St will be rebuilding this year, IMO.

[knapplc]

Mich st could have won every game but Notre dame and have an easy schedule this year. Defense should be better this yer. That is the logic they r using. I do not agree with it, but my opinion means about as much as his preseason poll

Coulda woulda shoulda.

Their D might be better this year, but their O will be worse than last year when they were abysmal.

 

I don't understand how the defense might be better this year, honestly. They lose 8 players from their two deep. 4 of those players were consistent starters the past two seasons, including their star DE William Gholston. Michigan St will be rebuilding this year, IMO.

 

They'll be reloading, not rebuilding. They've got something going on over there on defense. Kinda like Wiscy's offensive line. They just plug a new body in when someone graduates.

[AllNRed]

The dudes coming in will have a lot to say this coming year as well. I wouldnt be surprised to see trevor roach start with santos and ZA

 

IMO, Trevor Roach should have gotten the nod over Fisher/Whaley. Roach looked good in his minimal amount of time he stepped in to relieve L.David a couple seasons ago. He was a sure tackler and had decent speed, yet we went with S.Fisher/A.Whaley whom seem to sometimes be afraid of breaking a nail while tackling. Will Compton did his best to replace the legend known as L.David. His experience and leadership was the core of our defense. But the talent needed an upgrade overall. We have a strong and athletic group of LBs coming in. I think with experience, maturity, and understanding they may be the strength of our defense in the coming years. Our DBs aren't too shabby either. If we can take care of the depth issue in the trenches, we may get a chance to see why Pelini's mind is so respected as a defensive guru once again.

[AllNRed]

Mich st could have won every game but Notre dame and have an easy schedule this year. Defense should be better this yer. That is the logic they r using. I do not agree with it, but my opinion means about as much as his preseason poll

Coulda woulda shoulda.

Their D might be better this year, but their O will be worse than last year when they were abysmal.

 

I don't understand how the defense might be better this year, honestly. They lose 8 players from their two deep. 4 of those players were consistent starters the past two seasons, including their star DE William Gholston. Michigan St will be rebuilding this year, IMO.

 

They'll be reloading, not rebuilding. They've got something going on over there on defense. Kinda like Wiscy's offensive line. They just plug a new body in when someone graduates.

I wouldn't necessarily put MSU in the "reloading" category just yet. Since 2010 MSU's recruiting classes were a lot more talented on the offensive side than defense.

 

A loss of offensive players like QB Kirk Cousins, TE Garrett Celek, WR B.J. Cunningham, RB Edwin Baker, WR Keshawn Martin, & RB Le'Veon Bell over the past two draft classes will put MSU in a deep hole on offense.

 

They haven't had a bunch of star studders on defense in their recruiting classes. Losing guys to the NFL over the last 4 seasons like CB Jeremy Ware, CB Chris Rucker, LB Greg Jones, FS Trent Robinson, DT Jerel Worthy, & DE William Gholston. None of these guys were drafted before the 6th round with the exceptions of Worth/Gholston.

 

Their head coach a defensive minded coach so I think they will still be sound on that side of the ball at least, but you still have to have talent to be playing at the level they have the past couple of seasons.

[Count 'Bility]

I see Michigan St and Dantonio being a lot like Iowa and Ferentz. Go gung-ho for a few years, have some success, never really get to the highest peak, and then slowly dwindle back down to where they belong.

[ADS]

I think as soon as Narduzzi leaves for a HC job (which will come sooner rather than later) then MSU will start to slide back like Iowa.

[AllNRed]

I see Michigan St and Dantonio being a lot like Iowa and Ferentz. Go gung-ho for a few years, have some success, never really get to the highest peak, and then slowly dwindle back down to where they belong.

 

This is how I see it also. Yes, they could luck up and find a 2* recruit who becomes as important to their production on either side of the ball like Le'Veon Bell or Darqueze Dennard, but the odds of that continuously happening isn't worth the bet.

[AllNRed]

I think as soon as Narduzzi leaves for a HC job (which will come sooner rather than later) then MSU will start to slide back like Iowa.

 

I agree. But Pat won't leave his boy D'Antonie unless it's for a HC job. I can see him becoming a HC at Miami (Ohio) or something. I don't think Don Treadwell will be there too much longer.

[Vince R.]

The dudes coming in will have a lot to say this coming year as well. I wouldnt be surprised to see trevor roach start with santos and ZA

 

IMO, Trevor Roach should have gotten the nod over Fisher/Whaley. Roach looked good in his minimal amount of time he stepped in to relieve L.David a couple seasons ago. He was a sure tackler and had decent speed, yet we went with S.Fisher/A.Whaley whom seem to sometimes be afraid of breaking a nail while tackling. Will Compton did his best to replace the legend known as L.David. His experience and leadership was the core of our defense. But the talent needed an upgrade overall. We have a strong and athletic group of LBs coming in. I think with experience, maturity, and understanding they may be the strength of our defense in the coming years. Our DBs aren't too shabby either. If we can take care of the depth issue in the trenches, we may get a chance to see why Pelini's mind is so respected as a defensive guru once again.

According to PJ Smith, Roach should've been starting.

[swmohusker]

Roach cant cover. Our lbs need to be able to play some man coverage. Would not want to see him matched up with a te or rb. He is not very fast and stiff in the hips. If roach is better than he would have played. He might be pretty close to being the the same level as fisher but seniority wins if all is equal.