How far are we behind the top teams in Big Ten

[Vince R.]

 

 

 

We will see the direction of our program on NSD. If we can get some of the big fish we are after, I think Riley can and will lead this team to at very minimum a West title in the next 3 years.

Penn State is coming off the worst scandal in College Sports history, they won the B1G and are #5 in the Nation. Glad we can compete for a West title with in three years.

I said at very minimum. I think we will be in the conference championship game next year

 

 

Nebraska could have been in the Big 10 title game this year.

 

But I forgot....

 

Getting to the Big 10 title game requires heart, effort, and commitment.

 

Something these current Pelini recruited players know NOTHING about.

 

Yeah and a locker room that has been divided for a decade does not help either.

[Moiraine]

 

 

We will see the direction of our program on NSD. If we can get some of the big fish we are after, I think Riley can and will lead this team to at very minimum a West title in the next 3 years.

Penn State is coming off the worst scandal in College Sports history, they won the B1G and are #5 in the Nation. Glad we can compete for a West title with in three years.

Ya. It's a real Cinderella story how they looked the other way while an employee raped children and then the NCAA let them off the hook for good behavior.

[Scratchtown]

 

 

 

We will see the direction of our program on NSD. If we can get some of the big fish we are after, I think Riley can and will lead this team to at very minimum a West title in the next 3 years.

Penn State is coming off the worst scandal in College Sports history, they won the B1G and are #5 in the Nation. Glad we can compete for a West title with in three years.

Ya. It's a real Cinderella story how they looked the other way while an employee raped children and then the NCAA let them off the hook for good behavior.

The guy in charge of the program at that time is dead you know.

[jaws]

 

 

 

We will see the direction of our program on NSD. If we can get some of the big fish we are after, I think Riley can and will lead this team to at very minimum a West title in the next 3 years.

Penn State is coming off the worst scandal in College Sports history, they won the B1G and are #5 in the Nation. Glad we can compete for a West title with in three years.

I said at very minimum. I think we will be in the conference championship game next year

 

 

Nebraska could have been in the Big 10 title game this year.

 

But I forgot....

 

Getting to the Big 10 title game requires heart, effort, and commitment.

 

Something these current Pelini recruited players know NOTHING about.

 

I can't tell if this is a serious post.

[MyBloodIsRed16]

Eveyone bringing up Penn St maybe isn't realizing that Penn St is considered to be located in a recruiting hot bed. Their 500 mile radius is full of talent. They have the same luxury of OSU and Michigan of not having to travel very far to find elite athletes. It helps when the home grown talent is very good and wants to play for your school. Makes it easy to reload after a scandal that had nothing to do with anyone who still works for the school. Depending on how this recruiting class turns out I think Nebraska will be closer to the top of the conference than people think.

[Moiraine]

 

 

 

 

We will see the direction of our program on NSD. If we can get some of the big fish we are after, I think Riley can and will lead this team to at very minimum a West title in the next 3 years.

Penn State is coming off the worst scandal in College Sports history, they won the B1G and are #5 in the Nation. Glad we can compete for a West title with in three years.

Ya. It's a real Cinderella story how they looked the other way while an employee raped children and then the NCAA let them off the hook for good behavior.

The guy in charge of the program at that time is dead you know.

 

And they still honor him at games.

[beorach]

We're talking about a sport played by young adults and there are going to be ups and downs in any season. Even the big boys slip up sometimes... With that said, I like to track the stats of all the B1G programs to answer questions like these. The statistical performances of all the programs, relative to national averages for all FBS schools ONLY in games against other FBS schools, can be measured over the course of a season. I did not include stats from this past (championship) week. Categories used were: pass d&o; rush d&o; scoring d&o; total d&o; and turnover margin.

 

BIG Team Average Z-scores Overall (weighted for strength of schedule)

Ohio State 1.44 or 93rd percentile

Michigan 1.29 or 90th percentile

Wisconsin 0.76 or 78th percentile

Penn State 0.57 or 71st percentile

Iowa 0.39 or 65th percentile

Minnesota 0.23 or 59th percentile

Northwestern 0.21 or 58th percentile

Nebraska 0.19 or 58th percentile

Indiana 0.12 or 55th percentile

Michigan State -0.17 or 43rd percentile

Maryland -0.33 or 37th percentile

Illinois -0.74 or 23rd percentile

Purdue -0.82 or 20th percentile

Rutgers -1.19 or 12th percentile

Penn State is playing better now but their overall season stats didn't measure up to those of Wisconsin. I.e., their grade for the season was below that of the Badgers but they rocked the final.

[TGHusker]

For me it was sad to watch the B1G ccg and seeing that Wisc plays like NU of old, and PSU has so quickly recovered from basically a death spiral.

Where we spoiled by TO and the BobFather, yes, but doesn't NU have the resources to be on that level or even the OSU level- still yes. I'm still hoping/expecting MR to be successful

and believe the next 2 years will tell the story whether he will be. Our schedule gets tougher in the next 2 years - so next year may be a down year wt so many key players leaving. He'll need

to really step up in year 4. If we are still middle Big 10 - that just won't cut it. If PSU can turn it around, no reason we cannot.

We wasted too many years on Bo after a wasted 4 years on BC.

[Making Chimichangas]

I watched the Big Ten Championship game last night after Volleyball was over and I kept thinking to my self wow we are no where close to Penn St or WI at this point in the year and we are even further behind MI and Ohio State. We are a middle of the road team in the Big Ten.

 

WI will dominate the West the next few years and we seem to have no clue?

 

I never was sold on Riley and I am still not, he is a great guy but wow I cant help but wonder if we can ever really compete with him as Coach?

 

I have no definitive knowledge on where we are talent wise in the Big 10.

 

I tend to take the boringly pragmatic approach: we're not as far away as the pessimists think and we're not as close as the optimists think either.

 

I am sold on Mike Riley. I think he's a very good coach and as he has shown with terminating Hank Hughes last season and Bruce Read (a long time friend no less) this season, he is committed to winning and he definitely wants to win at an elite level. He wants to end his coaching career on top.

 

The problem with Nebraska is that there is no single element we can point to and say, this is what's wrong.

• We have roster issues still affecting this team because of the former coach's inability or rather unwillingness to recruit.
• We have no viable back-up at QB this season.
• The depth along the OL is shaky.
• We're still pretty thin at DT, and DE.
• We have an offensive coordinator whose abilities to call plays is extremely questionable. Can anyone say for sure that all the 40+ yard passes we've seen on 3rd and 2-3 were the OC calling that or the QB making the decision to bomb it downfield and purposefully not even look at the guy wide open 7-9 yards downfield?
• Then there's the defense. I think our CBs mostly play too far off.
• And we're still building depth at LB.

And, I have heard rumors that the effort this team gives is questionable. Certainly the lame duck performance put forth in Iowa City two Saturdays ago didn't quell those rumors.

 

So in essence, where Nebraska is in terms of talent is largely in the eye of the beholder.

[BigRedBuster]

 

We lost three games this year. Clearly OSU is at another level right now yo us.

 

Michigan is a question mark. They can be really good but I don't see them quite at the same level as OSU yet.

 

I think we can play with and beat everyone else.

 

We lost to Wisconsin on the road in over time. I don't see why they are so much better than us.

 

The Iowa game was just plain pathetic. Winning that game clearly meant more to their players. On top of that, our running QB couldn't run. That's a huge problem for an offense that relies on your QB to run.

 

PSU lost a game early they shouldn't have just like us.

 

I don't think we are that far behind them.

Michigan dominated OSU for 3 quarters. They aren't a question mark. Just because they lost a game when they didn't have their starting QB doesn't put a question mark behind them, imo.

 

Also regarding PSU. Losing early and improving like crazy is completely different from folding late, which is what NU did. That's not even remotely comparable. NU got worse through the year. Penn State got 100x better.

 

You misunderstood my "question mark" on Michigan. I'm not sold on them being quite at the level of OSU yet. Proof of that is that OSU was able to come back and beat them. Still with Harbaugh, Michigan hasn't won any championships.

 

Yes, they are better than us right now.....and...they are closer to OSU than we are to them. From there, I'm not sure exactly how far behind we are from them.

 

No...I'm not sold on that PSU is head and shoulders above us. We took Wisconsin to overtime when our players were mostly healthy. Wisconsin was winning that game by 21 at one point.

 

I still say we are in the ball park of Wisconsin, PSU and Iowa.

[LumberJackSker]

How many of Nebraska's starters could start at Ohio State? Maybe Gates or Gerry? Westy? Nebraska is not very close to OSU but doesn't need to be to win the West.

[BoNeyard]

If we could actually get some big time lineman we would be fine. We have the skill positions covered, we just need guys up front.

[chamrocck]

Shore up the lines and get some good QB play and we could make a big jump, like PSU did this year.

 

Need more NFL caliber guys throughout the roster. We have maybe 10 NFL guys right now and half of those are too young to be that type of player this year. Need more like 20. Those mid 90s NU teams had 30.

I agree with this completely. Yep, both lines. That is what separates us...superior line talent on top teams and we don't have it, especially has not been there on OL. DL has had some players jump early to NFL but we don't have depth needed on both lines.

[Kiyoat Husker]

We are a QB with decent passing skills and an oline away.

 

A QB who can make throws.......If we are incapable of being a threat to complete a pass, any scheme is doomed to fail.

 

We are a strong O-line away

 

if we have an accurate qb and keep bringing in talented wr then we can finally use our perimeter athletes to our advantage.

 

Shore up the lines and get some good QB play and we could make a big jump,

 

They need a good QB. That changes everything.

 

If we could actually get some big time lineman we would be fine. We have the skill positions covered, we just need guys up front.

 

Bingo.

[marko polo]

 

 

We lost three games this year. Clearly OSU is at another level right now yo us.

 

Michigan is a question mark. They can be really good but I don't see them quite at the same level as OSU yet.

 

I think we can play with and beat everyone else.

 

We lost to Wisconsin on the road in over time. I don't see why they are so much better than us.

 

The Iowa game was just plain pathetic. Winning that game clearly meant more to their players. On top of that, our running QB couldn't run. That's a huge problem for an offense that relies on your QB to run.

 

PSU lost a game early they shouldn't have just like us.

 

I don't think we are that far behind them.

Michigan dominated OSU for 3 quarters. They aren't a question mark. Just because they lost a game when they didn't have their starting QB doesn't put a question mark behind them, imo.

 

Also regarding PSU. Losing early and improving like crazy is completely different from folding late, which is what NU did. That's not even remotely comparable. NU got worse through the year. Penn State got 100x better.

 

You misunderstood my "question mark" on Michigan. I'm not sold on them being quite at the level of OSU yet. Proof of that is that OSU was able to come back and beat them. Still with Harbaugh, Michigan hasn't won any championships.

 

Yes, they are better than us right now.....and...they are closer to OSU than we are to them. From there, I'm not sure exactly how far behind we are from them.

 

No...I'm not sold on that PSU is head and shoulders above us. We took Wisconsin to overtime when our players were mostly healthy. Wisconsin was winning that game by 21 at one point.

 

I still say we are in the ball park of Wisconsin, PSU and Iowa.

 

If we are we are in right field