Now that the Non-conference is over, what are your thoughts/expectations for this season?

[Nebhawk]

With some players injured and not seen in action yet its really hard to make a bold prediction. We have some playmakers not on the field yet Morney-Pierson is a game changer. He alone give Nebraska that missing downfield receiver that can go deep each and every time. Put him on the field against BYU, Nebraska wins. Miami, NU wins. The issue is lack of speed on both sides of the ball. Westerkamp can't be the leading receiver, at least deep threat. He is a possession receiver 10 to 15 yards, slants, crossing routes,etc.

 

Frankly, Nebraska is easy to gameplan for. Stop the run, stop the easy pass routes and try and make Tommy beat you. Armstrong hasn't shown that he can lead a team to win a game when the game is on the line.

 

Defense is lacking talent. Lacking depth. Lacking Speed to cover deep routes. They have to play bend but don't break defense, otherwise they would get burned worse than what has already happened.

 

Last point to this small rant is TALENT. No one wants to believe this, and its been this way for 10 years, but talent is a concern. We haven't had top notch talent for years now. Where are the cornfed lineman? If Nebraska is to ever get BACK, just back to at least a conference contender, the pride of in state, prideful players that bleed NU red will have to be the ones suiting up and playing. Your lineman, on both sides of the ball. Thats what made Nebraska so great for such a long time, and still those few make Nebraska fans proud. Regardless, lack of talent is and will be the number one issue. Once that is fixed, coaching is not the biggest issue. Pelini won, but couldn't beat better coaches, and teams with more talent. I honestly think that Riley is a really classy and good coach, better than Bo, but the lack of talent that was created by BO will take some time to get back. One season, isn't long enough, neither will two seasons, but I think we will at least see some improvement next year.

[Nebhawk]

We need to support Riley for a few seasons. I think he will upgrade the talent level overall. I think this team is two years away from contending for the West. As far as the Big 10 conference, thats another story, but I think if at least we can have a chance to playfor the conference title, thats a major improvement.

 

Big 10 conference in the next few seasons will be a beast once Harbaugh gets things rolling. Ohio St and Michigan will be hard to beat, but only one of them will make the conference champ. game.

 

Unfortunately, Bo shoulld have been fired two seasons ago. This would have paved the way for the next HC to get a head start on Ohio St and Michigan before Michigan got Harbaugh, and Ohio St won a title.

 

Now it will take a perfect storm of recruiting, violations, and other unknown circumstances for Nebraska to claim any kind of hierarchy in this conference. Hate to say this, but stayed in Big 12, could have been big dog faster. Texas and OU fading some, and Baylor and TCU trying to act the part of Big dog, would have put Nebraska right back into the mix sooner.

[LumberJackSker]

 

 

Illinois, Purdue and Rutgers are wins, after that I'm hoping for one of those signature Mike Riley upsets to get us to 6 wins and a bowl game.

At this point I don't think there are any guarantees. Unfortunately I think we're at the beginning of an even further slide towards mediocrity. Hopefully the AD will learn the correct way to do things from the Michigan hire and will follow that formula when the time comes again in 3 years.

I don't think the wins will be pretty but we should be able to out score those 3.

[Bowfin]

Nebraska has no more South Alabamas or Southern Miss teams left on the schedule. All but Rutgers are BYU caliber or higher. But no one is tied to past performances, so let's just watch and see...

[TheBigRed1]

Nebraska has no more South Alabamas or Southern Miss teams left on the schedule. All but Rutgers are BYU caliber or higher. But no one is tied to past performances, so let's just watch and see...

"All but Rutgers are BYU caliber or higher"….that, imo, is a real stretch. Illinois, Purdue, Minnesota and most years Iowa are not the caliber of BYU and then we could go into the few teams in the east that are not the caliber of BYU. Don't let the fact that Michigan caught them at the end of a very tough non conference schedule, all in their opponents house, without their all world QB (all except for us), and some other key injuries sway you into thinking they couldn't play with much of the Big Ten. Not to take anything away from Michigan's dominating performance but they were due to come crashing down to earth, especially with a freshman QB against a very good Michigan defense. Again not enamored with the Big Ten except for those odd few top teams, same as every conference. Michigan will rise to be good again and maybe quicker than us but Harbaugh wasn't left with the cupboards bare by any stretch. I agree that no one is tied to past performances, so will just have to watch and see….time will tell all things.

[Blackshirt316]

We will be 9-3 and heading to a winnable bowl game.

[Kiyoat Husker]

Great topic. Since joining the B1G in 2011, the Huskers have finished conference play with records of 5W-3L, 5W-3L, *7W-1L, 5W-3L. *Won the division once and lost badly in CCG (or as badly as you can lose a football game IMO) to finish 7-2.

 

So to me I think it's a safe bet to go with the trend and say 5W-3L this year.

 

I look at our schedule and see three tiers.

 

Tier 1 - Wisconsin, Michigan State

Tier 2 - Minnesota, Northwestern, Iowa

Tier 3 - Illinois, Rutgers, Purdue

 

I look at our record against these teams since joining the B1G

 

Wisconsin 1-3, MSU 2-2

Minnesota 2-2, NW 3-1 (Hail Mary saves us!), Iowa 3-1 (OT last year)

Illinois 2-0, Rutgers 1-0, Purdue 2-0

Record: 16-9

 

I see the Huskers in the Tier 2 group unfortunately. It is somewhat reasonable to see Nebraska upsetting a Tier 1 opponent this season (Wisconsin, maybe, MSU, no). So other than excitement for those games, will not expect it.

 

The competition among the second group has improved. Those opponents have gotten tougher to play over the years. So these games should be closely played.

 

I would not be surprised if the Huskers go 6-2. I would be surprised if they did worse than 5-3.

 

 

I pulled this post from page 1 without reading the whole thread. Sorry, no time.

I really like this analysis. Simple and true. Hard to argue against.

7 or 8 wins seems about right. I went with 8 cause I got that koolaid.

[r06ue1]

8-4 is my pick, lose to Michigan State and Wisconsin.

 

Riley inherited a pretty bad team from Bo and I don't believe Bo would have fared any better with this team. Let Riley get a few years to get his type of players on the field through recruiting and then we can better judge his performance.

[Caven]

Beat Illinois, Rutgers, Purdue and Minnesota

Pull off one of NW, Wiscy and Iowa (hope not Iowa...)

5-3

 

I think there is a better chance of pulling off 2 of the toss ups and going 6-2 than of going 4-4. Nebraska has more talent than they have shown on pass D and that is the biggest weakness so if they can get scheme and talent on the same page I think they will be OK.

[StPaulHusker]

My expectations are the same as they have always been. Be competitive in games and give the team a chance to win.

[BaytownHusker]

We lose to Mich St or Badgers. But we will beat one of them. Finish 9-3 and lose the bowl game to finish 9-4. Defense will start playing better here in the conference.

[Hayseed]

How about now?