Poll: Who Wins, '15 vs '14 Nebraska?

[Guy Chamberlin]

Tommy Armstrong would be playing for both teams, right?

 

Hmmmm.....

[darkhorse85]

2015......Riley outcoaches Pelini

 

Up until the point where the 2015 teams needs a first down in a critical situation near the end of the 4th quarter.

[Redux]

The hypothetical is if this were a bowl matchup. So you have to take what 14 did vs USC and what 15 did vs UCLA.

 

Doing that:

 

Cross and Ozigbo hang 400 yards on 14 defense

Ameer hangs 200 on 15 defense

Edge: 2015

 

14 Tommy passes for 400 against 15 pass D

15 Tommy passes for 150 against 14 pass D

Edge: 2014

 

Really, it comes down to determination. Bo's 2014 squad got really used to going through the motions and their drive was shattered by his firing. The 2015 squad had nothing to lose and played lights out once the motor got running in their bowl.

Edge:2015

[RedDenver]

Depends who has the better fan support. So I'm going with 2015. Also, if we're looking at bowl games, then the 2015 team probably rushes for 400+ yards and the 2014 team passes for 400+ yards and the final is something like 56-55 decided on the final play.

[zoogs]

Really, it comes down to determination. Bo's 2014 squad got really used to going through the motions and their drive was shattered by his firing. The 2015 squad had nothing to lose and played lights out once the motor got running in their bowl.

Edge:2015

Despite being outgained 600-350? That's the crazy sort of finish that could be right up the alley for this past year's team.

 

You make a good point about end-of-season mentality though. Arguably by the USC bowl, it had been rejuvenated a little after the break and working under an interim HC.

 

I still think '14 has a strong matchup edge on paper, but I definitely would be rooting for the '15 team.

[RedDenver]

Despite being outgained 600-350? That's the crazy sort of finish that could be right up the alley for this past year's team.

Do you mean 600-550?

[knapplc]

The hypothetical is if this were a bowl matchup. So you have to take what 14 did vs USC and what 15 did vs UCLA.

 

Doing that:

 

Cross and Ozigbo hang 400 yards on 14 defense

Ameer hangs 200 on 15 defense

Edge: 2015

 

14 Tommy passes for 400 against 15 pass D

15 Tommy passes for 150 against 14 pass D

Edge: 2014

 

Really, it comes down to determination. Bo's 2014 squad got really used to going through the motions and their drive was shattered by his firing. The 2015 squad had nothing to lose and played lights out once the motor got running in their bowl.

Edge:2015

No way do Cross & Ozigbo combine for 400 yards against 2014 Nebraska. Aside from Wisconsin, no 2014 opponent ran for 300 yards against that team, and only two (Wisconsin & Minnesota) ran for more than 200 yards. The average of the other 11 opponents against that run defense was 132 yards per game, on an average of 34 rushing attempts.

 

2015 Nebraska averaged 38 rushing attempts per game, earning an average 180 yards per game. While the 2014 rush defense was suspect, it wasn't THAT suspect.

 

More realistic expectation would be Riley would run the ball 40 times & gain about 200 yards, with two rushing TDs. Newby would carry the ball a fair chunk of those 40 attempts, too.

[Tomhusker64]

I think which ever team reaches 21 points first will lose the game. Neither team could put anyone away. But both teams made some pretty impressive late game heroics.

[zoogs]

 

Despite being outgained 600-350? That's the crazy sort of finish that could be right up the alley for this past year's team.

Do you mean 600-550?

 

Oops, I added the wrong numbers. Yeah, that's it

[84HuskerLaw]

I would say you've posed a very interesting question. I would lean heavily toward favoring the 2015 squad. I am assuming that you intended Bo to remain as HC through the bowl game and you are asking which team is better: Bo's 2014 vs. Riley's 2015. This assumes the year end team, not the September bunch. Bo's teams never seemed to improve much as the year went along while I feel Riley's got much better. But Bo's teams were better in September consistantly and made little improvement. I blame the QB play for much of the disappointment as the seasons proceeded for Bo's teams as most were battling injuries, etc. However, I also think that teams were figuring out ways to attack Bo's defensive schemes as the years went by and he didn't seem to want to change in response.

[Redux]

 

The hypothetical is if this were a bowl matchup. So you have to take what 14 did vs USC and what 15 did vs UCLA.Doing that:Cross and Ozigbo hang 400 yards on 14 defenseAmeer hangs 200 on 15 defenseEdge: 201514 Tommy passes for 400 against 15 pass D15 Tommy passes for 150 against 14 pass DEdge: 2014Really, it comes down to determination. Bo's 2014 squad got really used to going through the motions and their drive was shattered by his firing. The 2015 squad had nothing to lose and played lights out once the motor got running in their bowl.Edge:2015

No way do Cross & Ozigbo combine for 400 yards against 2014 Nebraska. Aside from Wisconsin, no 2014 opponent ran for 300 yards against that team, and only two (Wisconsin & Minnesota) ran for more than 200 yards. The average of the other 11 opponents against that run defense was 132 yards per game, on an average of 34 rushing attempts.2015 Nebraska averaged 38 rushing attempts per game, earning an average 180 yards per game. While the 2014 rush defense was suspect, it wasn't THAT suspect.More realistic expectation would be Riley would run the ball 40 times & gain about 200 yards, with two rushing TDs. Newby would carry the ball a fair chunk of those 40 attempts, too.

Are you really using actual stats to discredit my made up hypothetical numbers?

 

The 2014 squad on paper matches up against the 2015 squad better in almost every area, sure.

 

But when you look at a meltdown @ Camp Randall it really isn't hard to see that by the end of each season which team could outplay the other.

[zoogs]

I would say you've posed a very interesting question. I would lean heavily toward favoring the 2015 squad. I am assuming that you intended Bo to remain as HC through the bowl game and you are asking which team is better: Bo's 2014 vs. Riley's 2015 (...)

Huskerlaw, would your feelings be different if it were Cotton, not Bo, coaching the '14 team?

[kchusker_chris]

I'd lean toward 2014 with Gregory and Ameer. 2015 Nebraska didn't face a RB of Ameer's caliber all year.

 

 

Interesting sidebar - does 2015 Tommy throw an INT against 2014 Nebraska, who barely had any interceptions?

 

Limited to <= 1, because as QMany said - Pelini is going to defend the pass and dare Langsford to run...and I think he runs 75/25 split so TA's attempts (opportunities for mistakes) are greatly reduced. 15' wins if Pelini drops 6-7, and rushes only 4 w/ his "contain" DL scheme - which you know is how he would play it.

 

This is the thing with Pelini's D that bothered me, it was easily exploited because it was defended in such a lopsided way to one component of the game. It became glaringly obvious when the BTN did the interview w/ the Minnesota DC (IIRC), I think before our game, and he essentially spelled out how he was going to beat us with motioning a man out of the backfield then run up the middle and use short crossing routes across the middle all game. Sure enough, it was there all day.

 

Plus, lets not forget the jet sweep...a huge component of Riley's offense and essentially a guaranteed 10 yards against Pelini's D.

[bale]

'14 squad has Abdullah, Gregory, Bell, and (a healthy) Pierson-el. I'd take '14 by 2 scores.

[beorach]

My stats take the whole season into consideration. I think I have to go with '14 because the team's stats overall that season were above average on the whole...as opposed to about exactly average...and the big difference is a -12 turnover margin to a -2.