Did the Big Ten change your expectations?

[Kernal]

Our expectations are lower because we keep losing games that take us out of contention for championships. The fact we joined the Big Ten is coincidental, and irrelevant. It's not like we're winning the Big Ten and now satisfied with that; we're nowhere close to winning the Big Ten.

 

At this point, going to the Rose Bowl wouldn't be the "lowering of standards" consolation prize many of us used to believe it would be; going to be the Rose Bowl would be the BIGGEST accomplishment for Nebraska football in the last 15 years. Geez, do it a few times and then we'll talk about how that's not a high enough standard.

[JJ Husker]

I think the gist of the OP is more like; Has Nebraska dominated the B1G conference like perhaps we might have thought we would when we first joined? I think the answer to that is readily apparent. I think most Husker fans thought we would perform much better than we have in the B1G, I know I sure did. And I believe True2tRA hit on the reason why a couple posts up; We have not stopped the run very well and a team won't fair well in this conference without controlling the line of scrimmage in both directions. That used to be our thing. It isn't anymore.

 

As far as expectations.....In a way, yes, they get whittled down, little by little, each and every passing year that we win nothing of substance. That is exactly why we fired a perennial 9 win coach in search of hopefully doing something greater than some hollow paper statistic. But personally, I will never be happy with less than winning them all and conference and national championships. But don't confuse that with not being realistic about where we are at on the national scene and also having realistic achievable shorter term goals. i.e. This year, eliminating blowout losses and winning our division would seem to be about the best we can hope for at this point in time. So, I guess that is a form of lowered expectations.

[Creed]

I used to listen to Bill King on XM. He was great. I remember him always saying it comes down to getting the right coach. It took Bama 30+ years between Bear and Saban with many disasters in between. I guess Stallings had a title but that program was terribly dirty and he was gone shortly. Tennessee is struggling since Fulmer (3 head coaches). USC, OU in the 90s, Mich.

 

Nebraska needs to find that coach that will restore things. It is not the B1G change it is the coaching debacles. I don't think Riley is your answer. Is he really going to do dramatically better at NU than at Oregon State?

[hskrfan4life]

My expectations never change. They shouldn't either. National Championship or bust.

 

If we win a conference title, i'm fine with it, but until we win a National title it's a failure of season.

 

To not fail is to be on top of the college football world with me.

[ColoradoHusk]

My expectations never change. They shouldn't either. National Championship or bust.

 

If we win a conference title, i'm fine with it, but until we win a National title it's a failure of season.

 

To not fail is to be on top of the college football world with me.

Man, you sound like the worst fan ever.

[NUinID]

My expectations never change. They shouldn't either. National Championship or bust.

 

If we win a conference title, i'm fine with it, but until we win a National title it's a failure of season.

 

To not fail is to be on top of the college football world with me.

 

Wow, you must really enjoy watching the Huskers play on Saturday, or have you quit watching because they most likely won't be making the playoffs this year. I was just thinking Nebraska has played football for what, about 125 years or so. All but 5 have been failures in your eyes.

[ColoradoHusk]

 

My expectations never change. They shouldn't either. National Championship or bust.

 

If we win a conference title, i'm fine with it, but until we win a National title it's a failure of season.

 

To not fail is to be on top of the college football world with me.

 

Wow, you must really enjoy watching the Huskers play on Saturday, or have you quit watching because they most likely won't be making the playoffs this year. I was just thinking Nebraska has played football for what, about 125 years or so. All but 5 have been failures in your eyes.

 

No kidding, what a terrible way to go through life.

[junior4949]

 

I never had much respect for the members of the Big Ten. I thought the games were slow and boring. When NU joined the conference, I thought NU would have no problem beating teams like Northwestern, Iowa, and Minnesota. It's upsetting that NU is basically at the same level as Northwestern, Iowa, and Minnesota and a level below Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Michigan State. I think Michigan will soon be at the top tier level with those schools, as long as Harbaugh coach there. I have serious doubts if Riley can get NU to the level of those teams. It will be interesting to see if Wisconsin can stay at that level under Chryst, and if Penn State can get to that level under Franklin.

 

That is because it doesn't compute with you that they could and can play good football. We are Nebraska, we have always been better than those teams and we will always be better than those teams.

 

It would be no different if we were still in the big 12 beating TCU, Baylor, Okie St, W. Va. should be no problem. This is what all the Texas fans are saying right now.

 

I already said it, NU is not as good as they used to be. combine that with other teams being better and you have what you have. The football world has changed. The worst thing that happened to Nebraska was TO retiring.

 

 

I think to some degree, the formation of the Big 12 is what caused TO to retire. We definitely gave up some things when the conference went from the Big 8 to the Big 12. For starters, we could no longer bring in prop 48 players. This was somewhat of a big hit considering three of the starters on the 95' NC team were brought in as prop. 48 recruits. When haggling over everything leading up to the formation of the Big 12, it seemed like TO basically lost every battle. The prop 48 recruits was lost 11-1. The championship game was lost I believe 10-2. Nebraska didn't get the commissioner it wanted, and we didn't get the home office in Kansas City like we wanted. When we joined the Big 12 or merged into it or whatever, I believe it was a wake up call to TO that his time was basically up.

[hskrfan4life]

 

 

My expectations never change. They shouldn't either. National Championship or bust.

 

If we win a conference title, i'm fine with it, but until we win a National title it's a failure of season.

 

To not fail is to be on top of the college football world with me.

 

Wow, you must really enjoy watching the Huskers play on Saturday, or have you quit watching because they most likely won't be making the playoffs this year. I was just thinking Nebraska has played football for what, about 125 years or so. All but 5 have been failures in your eyes.

 

No kidding, what a terrible way to go through life.

 

I enjoy watching the Huskers every Saturday, that's my expectations for them every year. It shouldn't be anything else.

 

I'm not going to jump off a bridge if they don't win the national title or anything, it's just that the team didn't meet my expectations and failed for that year.

 

Also my life only stinks from August to January (if they don't win the NC)

[hskrfan4life]

Should Nebraska's expectations be any different?

[ColoradoHusk]

Should Nebraska's expectations be any different?

I think goals and expectations are two different things. I am sure NU has the National Championship as a season goal, but I don't think those are the team's expectations. Expectations for a National Championship are realistic for the teams in the early 1980's and mid to late 1990s. Those expectations haven't been realistic since 2001.

[NUinID]

 

 

I never had much respect for the members of the Big Ten. I thought the games were slow and boring. When NU joined the conference, I thought NU would have no problem beating teams like Northwestern, Iowa, and Minnesota. It's upsetting that NU is basically at the same level as Northwestern, Iowa, and Minnesota and a level below Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Michigan State. I think Michigan will soon be at the top tier level with those schools, as long as Harbaugh coach there. I have serious doubts if Riley can get NU to the level of those teams. It will be interesting to see if Wisconsin can stay at that level under Chryst, and if Penn State can get to that level under Franklin.

 

That is because it doesn't compute with you that they could and can play good football. We are Nebraska, we have always been better than those teams and we will always be better than those teams.

 

It would be no different if we were still in the big 12 beating TCU, Baylor, Okie St, W. Va. should be no problem. This is what all the Texas fans are saying right now.

 

I already said it, NU is not as good as they used to be. combine that with other teams being better and you have what you have. The football world has changed. The worst thing that happened to Nebraska was TO retiring.

 

 

I think to some degree, the formation of the Big 12 is what caused TO to retire. We definitely gave up some things when the conference went from the Big 8 to the Big 12. For starters, we could no longer bring in prop 48 players. This was somewhat of a big hit considering three of the starters on the 95' NC team were brought in as prop. 48 recruits. When haggling over everything leading up to the formation of the Big 12, it seemed like TO basically lost every battle. The prop 48 recruits was lost 11-1. The championship game was lost I believe 10-2. Nebraska didn't get the commissioner it wanted, and we didn't get the home office in Kansas City like we wanted. When we joined the Big 12 or merged into it or whatever, I believe it was a wake up call to TO that his time was basically up.

 

 

I would say that was part of the problem, but not the main one.

 

TO IMO retired for three reason's

 

1. I think he felt he owed it to his wife to step down and be more of a husband. Of coarse his Type A personality wouldn't allow that as his stint in congress showed.

2. He promised FS the job and set up a time table to do it. He wanted to pick his successor.

3. His health, I truly believe he thought his health was going to start failing soon. It didn't of coarse.

 

I think TO regretted retiring fairly soon after he did. I think he would have liked to have stayed another 5 years or so.

[ColoradoHusk]

 

 

 

I never had much respect for the members of the Big Ten. I thought the games were slow and boring. When NU joined the conference, I thought NU would have no problem beating teams like Northwestern, Iowa, and Minnesota. It's upsetting that NU is basically at the same level as Northwestern, Iowa, and Minnesota and a level below Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Michigan State. I think Michigan will soon be at the top tier level with those schools, as long as Harbaugh coach there. I have serious doubts if Riley can get NU to the level of those teams. It will be interesting to see if Wisconsin can stay at that level under Chryst, and if Penn State can get to that level under Franklin.

 

That is because it doesn't compute with you that they could and can play good football. We are Nebraska, we have always been better than those teams and we will always be better than those teams.

 

It would be no different if we were still in the big 12 beating TCU, Baylor, Okie St, W. Va. should be no problem. This is what all the Texas fans are saying right now.

 

I already said it, NU is not as good as they used to be. combine that with other teams being better and you have what you have. The football world has changed. The worst thing that happened to Nebraska was TO retiring.

 

 

I think to some degree, the formation of the Big 12 is what caused TO to retire. We definitely gave up some things when the conference went from the Big 8 to the Big 12. For starters, we could no longer bring in prop 48 players. This was somewhat of a big hit considering three of the starters on the 95' NC team were brought in as prop. 48 recruits. When haggling over everything leading up to the formation of the Big 12, it seemed like TO basically lost every battle. The prop 48 recruits was lost 11-1. The championship game was lost I believe 10-2. Nebraska didn't get the commissioner it wanted, and we didn't get the home office in Kansas City like we wanted. When we joined the Big 12 or merged into it or whatever, I believe it was a wake up call to TO that his time was basically up.

 

 

I would say that was part of the problem, but not the main one.

 

TO IMO retired for three reason's

 

1. I think he felt he owed it to his wife to step down and be more of a husband. Of coarse his Type A personality wouldn't allow that as his stint in congress showed.

2. He promised FS the job and set up a time table to do it. He wanted to pick his successor.

3. His health, I truly believe he thought his health was going to start failing soon. It didn't of coarse.

 

I think TO regretted retiring fairly soon after he did. I think he would have liked to have stayed another 5 years or so.

 

I think you are correct in that TO regretted quitting coaching. When did the Michigan State AD offer their job to TO? Was that after Saban left Michigan State for LSU? TO was very close to taking that job.

[NUinID]

 

Should Nebraska's expectations be any different?

I think goals and expectations are two different things. I am sure NU has the National Championship as a season goal, but I don't think those are the team's expectations. Expectations for a National Championship are realistic for the teams in the early 1980's and mid to late 1990s. Those expectations haven't been realistic since 2001.

 

 

Let's look at the root word for expectations "expect". Expecting something to happen all the time only leads to disappointment. You said it yourself because you expect to win a National Title every year your life stinks from August to January.

[hskrfan4life]

 

 

Should Nebraska's expectations be any different?

I think goals and expectations are two different things. I am sure NU has the National Championship as a season goal, but I don't think those are the team's expectations. Expectations for a National Championship are realistic for the teams in the early 1980's and mid to late 1990s. Those expectations haven't been realistic since 2001.

 

 

Let's look at the root word for expectations "expect". Expecting something to happen all the time only leads to disappointment. You said it yourself because you expect to win a National Title every year your life stinks from August to January.

 

hmm maybe that's why I'm an alcoholic...

 

*FWIW My life doesn't stink from there, just very depressing...