Will NU return to National Dominance again - next 10-15 years

[Landlord]

 

No team will be on the level of the Huskers of the 1993 to 1998 level as no team will ever accumulate that much talent.

Guess you didn't watch the game last night.

 

 

 

 

I watched it. That Alabama team is outrageously loaded. What's your point?

[NebraskaHarry]

Nebraska will be lucky to make the playoffs once in the next 10 years unless some dramatic changes happen.

[KazLong]

This poll ask about the next 10 to 15 years, will the NCAA even exist in 10 to 15 years? Will players be paid by then? Will there just be super conferences?

 

Hard to answer this question. My crystal ball is hazy at best. I voted yes because I want to believe. However my gut says no.

 

Like other posters pointed out, if we had the hiring luck that OSU had we could.

[TGHusker]

Nebraska will be lucky to make the playoffs once in the next 10 years unless some dramatic changes happen.

what is the dramatic action that you propose should happen?

[DomiNUs]

After seeing Bama win another championship, it makes me wonder if NU could get back to that kind of dominance. Thus the poll question.

 

My take: No.

1.We were fortunate to have Coach Bob and Coach Tom for such a long period of time. In today's world, it is almost unheard of a young coach staying at someplace like NU for 25 years. Coaches ladder climb to the SEC or to the NFL or to some glamour job like USC. If the head coach sticks around, the assistants are taking on new jobs and rising on their own career ladder. Not too many coaches keep assistants like Tom did. Coach longevity is the key to long term dominance.

2. Recruiting disadvantages: we've talked before about this many times - does NU have natural recruiting disadvantages - yes. Location, location - far away not only from the warmer climates but from the hot recruiting area.

3. Scholarship limits, cultural & demographic shifts all have affected NU negatively over the past 20 years.

 

 

Because of our "brand", I do believe NU can be successful and eventually compete occasionally for and win a national championship. However, there has been a whole new generation that has never experienced the NU that us older guys experienced - when NU was the bama of its day. There has got to be a total cultural shift in the perception of what NU football is. That will only come by winning something of worth, consistently - like conference championships which we haven't done since 1999. We also shouldn't forget that it wasn't just the 1990s in which we were one of the few dominant players - one could easily argue that NU was the team of the decade for the 1970s (2 national championships and high winning %) and even though we did not win a national championship in the 1980s - we were always in the discussion - perhaps more than any team except maybe Miami or Oklahoma.

 

 

I voted yes. Anything is possible and history has a tendency to repeat itself.

 

You say that it is unheard of for a young coach to stay at someplace like NU for a long time. With Bob and Tom, it's happened twice already, and the others that have tried since were all let go by the university. I think with a Scott Frost or Turner Gill type of legacy coach, they would be happy to stay here for a very long time. It all depends on the coach. The other NU's Pat Fitzgerald says hi.

 

Nebraska has always been at a disadvantage location wise, this is nothing new. I would say it was probably harder to get a player to Nebraska in the past than now. With the rapid advancements in technology, distance doesn't mean as much as it used to. I agree though, it is still not as easy as say a Texas or USC.

 

In order to get back to that type of dominance we need to get back to finding the right players and developing them. Nebraska almost has never had the flashiest recruiting classes, what set us apart from everyone else was we found the right players to fit our system and developed them better than everyone else. In my opinion, that is the single most important factor that fueled our dominance. I think that bringing the athlete assessment testing back was a step in the right direction to getting the player assessment and development thing turned around.

[marko polo]

The real issue with is going from 9-4 seasons to a 6-7 season is that we could always say "Yeah, we won 9 though. We aren't quite back yet, but we will be!".

 

Now that we have taken the first step towards getting back to relevance, it feels unfamiliar. The first step was a hard one, hopefully the next step can be smoother.

what exactly were those steps? I wasn't aware we were trending or walking that way

[BigRedBuster]

Well....I answered yes.

 

Now that there is a playoff, (thank you),what we need to go is win our conference.

 

We have been close to that several times just in the last 7 years.

 

I believe we could do that in that time frame.

[Redux]

 

The real issue with is going from 9-4 seasons to a 6-7 season is that we could always say "Yeah, we won 9 though. We aren't quite back yet, but we will be!".Now that we have taken the first step towards getting back to relevance, it feels unfamiliar. The first step was a hard one, hopefully the next step can be smoother.

 

what exactly were those steps? I wasn't aware we were trending or walking that way

 

See above

 

 

 

The real issue with is going from 9-4 seasons to a 6-7 season is that we could always say "Yeah, we won 9 though. We aren't quite back yet, but we will be!".

Now that we have taken the first step towards getting back to relevance, it feels unfamiliar. The first step was a hard one, hopefully the next step can be smoother.

I don't see how we have taken the first step towards getting back to relevance. What was that first step?

Dumping the staff that couldn't get over the hump. If Riley isn't the gut to get us back in the discussion he can be the catalyst.

 

 

 

 

The real issue with is going from 9-4 seasons to a 6-7 season is that we could always say "Yeah, we won 9 though. We aren't quite back yet, but we will be!".

Now that we have taken the first step towards getting back to relevance, it feels unfamiliar. The first step was a hard one, hopefully the next step can be smoother.

I don't see how we have taken the first step towards getting back to relevance. What was that first step?

Dumping the staff that couldn't get over the hump. If Riley isn't the gut to get us back in the discussion he can be the catalyst.

I agree that Bo and the last staff wasn't going to get us over the hump. But, I don't see how Riley is the "catalyst" at getting NU over the hump. The hiring of the coach after Bo was just as important as firing Bo in the first place. If Riley isn't the guy that gets NU to that next step, we are in the same boat as we were with Bo.

We are hardly in the same boat.

I say he is the catalyst because if he ends up being a success here (compete for conference trophy and win one) before retiring the next guy has an easy task continuing the work. If he fails, we will fire him and finally make that big name hire that turns heads and sparks recruiting (if Riley hasn't already sparked it).

Bo made the program complacent. We knew what we were getting year in and out, so did the media. Recruiting was average, just like our win/loss record. He had the passion, just not all the proper skills and personnel. We may have that in Riley but it's still too early to tell.

[Ulty]

Sadly, as I see the stretch of Callahan/Pelini/Riley take us further away from prominence every single year, its going to become harder and harder for NU to return to glory. We haven't had the leadership or checkbook to commit to Championships. If it goes much longer, it may be never again. Sorry guys, just not optimistic about the future of the program.

[Hunter94]

i see us once again................... in transition. sigh

[Mavric]

 

No team will be on the level of the Huskers of the 1993 to 1998 level as no team will ever accumulate that much talent.

Guess you didn't watch the game last night.

 

 

Unless my math is off, Alabama didn't beat Clemson by 38 points.

[skersfan]

I hated to do it, but I voted no. Too far out of the beaten path, too many miles to travel unless the recruiting system is evened out.

 

History, tradition, past NC mean nothing to todays kids, unless it was the year before or at least while they were in high school.

 

With Urban Meyer at Ohio State, Harbaugh at Michigan, Nebraska will never be on an even playing field with them. Too much local talent, far less time to get it to the school.

 

I love Nebraska, have since I was 5-6 years old, lived through some great times and 5 MNC's. But reality is, we have fallen too far out of the main stream. We really aren't an option for most kids anymore

 

I am hoping Riley can recruit to get us back to being a competitive team on the National scene. But we are so far below the main programs in talent and depth it seems impossible for Nebraska to be that shining star

 

Never say never, but winning a bunch of games does not make you competitive, beating the top teams make you competitive. We are a rung below the Michigan States and Iowa's currently. We are so far from the top schools it is not funny. It would take a good 5 years of top 5-10 classes to be on par with Bama/Clemson/Ohio State/LSU.

 

We have lost our real recruiting advantage in Texas, Maybe Riley can bring the kids from California. And on that note, I do not know who we could hire that would be a guaranteed improvement and winner.

 

Coach Riley thinks he can do it, I am hoping he can, but would not bet the farm on him or anyone else I can think of now.

 

I hate being negative on this, as I truly have hope for this staff, but the numbers just do not add up.

[NoLongerN]

+1 to Post #27. I don't think this opinion is negative. Pretty realistic.

[Xmas32]

I went 'no' because I don't think NU will ever be able to be consistently dominant but I really wanted to answer 'maybe' because I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. As shown with Iowa, if the schedule lines up, you can get into the national discussion. To me, the biggest thing is nailing the QB position. We've seen first hand @ NU what a high end RB covers up with AA. A high end QB would extrapolate that, it covers up some line deficiencies, makes your WRs better since the ball is where it needs to be, it just makes thing so much easier offensively. The good thing is, look at all the CFB teams that seemingly pop up out of nowhere...they all have stud QBs. I think the reason we as posters are probably trending down is lack of a stud QB. A good QB=hope. TA is largely a known quantity and I really hope he turns the corner and plays great because I would be tickled if we were able to either RS POB for eligibility reasons or ease him in and get him some work in mop up duty as a true FR. Now, if POB turns out to not be that stud QB that we're hoping for...well then things are going to get murky.

[Blackshirt96]

 

No team will be on the level of the Huskers of the 1993 to 1998 level as no team will ever accumulate that much talent.

Guess you didn't watch the game last night.

 

I did, Special Teams is the only reason Alabama has another title.

 

Alabama has been lucky to win the titles they have.

 

2009 - Their only undefeated season under Nick Saben.

2011 - LSU rematch, that was a joke & that game should have never happened.

2012 - SEC Title game, bad clock management by Georgia won them the game. Then played a highly over ranked Notre Dame team for the title.

2015 - Was a solid title.