ESPN: Is Nebraska back?

[Moiraine]

 

 

 

 

 

So the fact Ohio State did nothing nationally from 1980-2000 and Nebraska won 3 national championships doesn't count for either program because they were barely alive.

 

OSU routinely won 9-11 games a year and finished in the top 15 from 1980-2000. Pretty similar to what Nebraska did all those years minus 94-97.

 

And since then they've won two national championships, played for four, and had umpteen 11+ win seasons, conference championships, etc. Where we haven't had any of that.

 

 

 

So sure, I guess they can't match our mid-90's run, but they've got 16 years and counting of better success from 2000 onwards. When does that catch up for them?

 

What saunders said.

 

And it never catches them up. Unless they win national championships.

 

Also, does playing for national championships count for Nebraska too? Ok. Let's add 3.

 

 

So if we have 20 more seasons never winning conference championships, never finishing ranked in the top 15, never playing in major bowls, and they continue to do all of those things routinely but don't win any more national championships, then we'd still be the better program?

 

All of their all-time numbers are comparable to ours, and they've done a lot over the last 15 years that we haven't, and are poised to continue to be an elite program, whereas we either aren't, or we can't really tell one way or the other.

 

Why did people complain about Osborne not winning a national championship?

 

 

because people are generally ungrateful and lack healthy perspective. all it takes is looking through any alabama messageboard for a few minutes to see that - there's still constantly plenty of fans talking about how they suck and Saban should go.

 

We just have different perspectives. To me, 12 wins isn't that different from 9 if you don't have a national championship to show for it. if Ohio State wins a couple more in the next 5 years then I would agree with what you've been saying.

 

But if Nebraska continues with its post-Callahan win rate and Ohio State continues with its post-2002 win rate and neither win a national championship, I wouldn't in my lifetime trade our national championships for anything they've done.

[Landlord]

But if Nebraska continues with its post-Callahan win rate and Ohio State continues with its post-2002 win rate and neither win a national championship, I wouldn't in my lifetime trade our national championships for anything they've done.

 

 

Even though they have more of them?

 

 

I can respect that even though I don't understand it. Football is more entertainment than anything for me, so several decades with conference championships, 11-13 win seasons, top 10 finishes, etc. without a national championship is just fine with me. Especially since that's generally the best case scenario for pretty much everyone except Alabama. Even the top 10 programs of all time pretty commonly go several decades without a title.

[Saunders]

Ohio state doesn't have more real national championships. The "everybody gets a trophy" ties in the 40's, 50's, and 60's when OSU lost games do not count.

[Landlord]

Ohio state doesn't have more real national championships. The "everybody gets a trophy" ties in the 40's, 50's, and 60's when OSU lost games do not count.

 

 

 

They were undefeated in 1961 when the FWAA named then national champs, as well as being consensus and undefeated in 1968. Their 57 championship they lost the first game of the season, but the coach's poll named them champs after they beat #2 Oregon in the Rose Bowl. I don't know the ins and outs of all that, but it doesn't seem like they're reaching a tremendous amount to make legitimate claims to at least as many as we have.

[Saunders]

Yeah, those aren't AP or coaches. Nobody counts those.

[Redux]

A&M probably already claims the 2017 National Championship.

[Johnny Eutaw]

We won't be "back" in my mind until we win a championship of some sort.

[Hayseed]

No, we're not back. We have a senior team with most of our offensive fire power leaving after this year. The rest of the team is spotty and could go either way; that's up to them.

​We'll be back when we're in the Top 10 consistently and can beat other Top 10 teams at least 50% of the time.

​Maybe after this shaky NW game, the seniors will put their heads together and figure out how to get it done right now (the time they have their best shot). We have a bunch of talented guys on the team whose talents appear to be poorly utilized, if they're utilized at all. I doubt we're gonna see a bunch of coaching magic that's gonna change that and I think the players are gonna have to start communicating if they want to be back.

[stargazer]

Oregon lost of Colorado too, haven't really played anyone yet. We're better than we were last year, that is for certain. I'm content with steady progress.

 

Obviously next year is going to require some re-tooling on offense. I'm curious if the success Tommy has had thus far, might be leaving coaches thinking about long term philosophy at all. You take away that QB run threat, and you lose a lot.

[Bowfin]

So far, so good.

[Hayseed]

It looks like Nebraska could move up to #16......but even at 4-0 there are still four Big Ten teams ahead of us.

I'm gonna go ahead and question the validity of the Michigan State ranking.

And as always, it's hard to know how conferences match up....whether all the teams in that conference are really that good or whether they all suck equally.

Our schedule gives us all the time we need to prepare for the top teams, while at the same time not really giving us any indication whether we're worth a damn. Their field, big underdogs......beating Wisconsin and Ohio State in their house would be really sweet.

[Bowfin]

If Nebraska beats Wisconsin, then the answer is "Yes!".

 

Right now, the answer is "Could be..."

[BoNeyard]

Yeah the Wisconsin game then the Ohio State game will be very telling on where this team is. So far I am highly pleased beacuse we cant be better then 4-0.

 

Wisconsin may be demoralized after their brutal stretch of October by the time they play Nebraska, or they may be hungry for a win, or they may be the #2 team in the country, if Nebraska beats Wisconsin and battles a close one vs Ohio State I will say Nebraska wins the division and rematches the Buckeyes in the B1G title game, where as long as we dont get hosed 70-34 I will say we are at the beginning stages of being back.

 

Regardless, so far you have to love the improvement and changes from this staff. They are showing they are dedicated to winning.

[Hunter94]

Nebraska will be back when a conference title is won.

this

[r06ue1]

Making progress but not back yet. Give Riley another season or two and he will have this team in the top tier in college football.