McKewon: The Great Nebraska Talent Debate

[spurs1990]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, it should be pretty easy to explain:

 

- new system, new coaches; acclimation period

- one hell of a lot of razor-close games

 

The interesting thing is the W/L causes a perception that the '15 team was so much worse than the '16 team. They weren't so far apart. Frankly, I think the '15 team might have the edge (though part of that is due to injuries causing the fade at the end of last year). What do you hate about such pieces?

The acclimation excuse is just that. An excuse that is 'easy' to throw out there while there are other coaches who inherited/took on new teams only to have them miraculously do better. (Scott Frost, Jim Haraugh) and that's just a few off the top of my head. Also while Nebraska might have only had 1 player drafted this year there are a number of guys who are also getting serious looks/interest from NFL teams right now. For me the bottom line is Riley's teams have not been as talentless as McKewon makes them out to be and 2015 especially should never have been that bad.

 

uhhh, Michigan just put 11 players in the draft...

 

So that means Nebraska only had 1 talented player on the entire team last year?

 

It means Michigan was still pulling in guys like Jabrill Peppers (who at one point was considered the top prospect in his class) before Harbaugh was even hired. Per 247, they had 25 four star players and 2 five stars between the '13 and '14 classes (17 of those fours stars being in '13!!). Compare that to our 9 four stars between the '13 and '14 classes (with only 2 of those guys in the '14 class). I get that stars don't mean everything, but come on.

 

To compare Riley situation here to Harbaugh's Michigan tenure thus far is asinine.

 

First off the article isn't about comparing Michigan to Nebraska but if you want to go there then in case you couldn't figure it out Brady Hoke couldn't do what Jim Harbaugh stepped in and did with the very same talent.

 

you were the one who brought up michigan, and my point is that we don't have that kind of talent.

 

You missed the point entirely (acclimation period) with my mentioning of Harbaugh but sure.

 

Harbaugh and Riley inherited two completely different situations, a fact you regularly dismiss out of hand.

 

 

 

What kind of situation did Scott Frost inherit?

 

Well if I'm looking at it correctly, last year's senior class season by season records were:

 

2012: 10-4 (If redshirted)

2013: 12-1

2014: 9-4

2015: 0-12

2016: 6-7

 

They had quite a bit of success there outside of the one year I'm sure you're referring too.

[suh_fan93]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, it should be pretty easy to explain:

 

- new system, new coaches; acclimation period

- one hell of a lot of razor-close games

 

The interesting thing is the W/L causes a perception that the '15 team was so much worse than the '16 team. They weren't so far apart. Frankly, I think the '15 team might have the edge (though part of that is due to injuries causing the fade at the end of last year). What do you hate about such pieces?

The acclimation excuse is just that. An excuse that is 'easy' to throw out there while there are other coaches who inherited/took on new teams only to have them miraculously do better. (Scott Frost, Jim Haraugh) and that's just a few off the top of my head. Also while Nebraska might have only had 1 player drafted this year there are a number of guys who are also getting serious looks/interest from NFL teams right now. For me the bottom line is Riley's teams have not been as talentless as McKewon makes them out to be and 2015 especially should never have been that bad.

 

uhhh, Michigan just put 11 players in the draft...

 

So that means Nebraska only had 1 talented player on the entire team last year?

 

It means Michigan was still pulling in guys like Jabrill Peppers (who at one point was considered the top prospect in his class) before Harbaugh was even hired. Per 247, they had 25 four star players and 2 five stars between the '13 and '14 classes (17 of those fours stars being in '13!!). Compare that to our 9 four stars between the '13 and '14 classes (with only 2 of those guys in the '14 class). I get that stars don't mean everything, but come on.

 

To compare Riley situation here to Harbaugh's Michigan tenure thus far is asinine.

 

First off the article isn't about comparing Michigan to Nebraska but if you want to go there then in case you couldn't figure it out Brady Hoke couldn't do what Jim Harbaugh stepped in and did with the very same talent.

 

you were the one who brought up michigan, and my point is that we don't have that kind of talent.

 

You missed the point entirely (acclimation period) with my mentioning of Harbaugh but sure.

 

Harbaugh and Riley inherited two completely different situations, a fact you regularly dismiss out of hand.

 

 

 

What kind of situation did Scott Frost inherit?

 

Well if I'm looking at it correctly, last year's senior class season by season records were:

 

2012: 10-4 (If redshirted)

2013: 12-1

2014: 9-4

2015: 0-12

2016: 6-7

 

They had quite a bit of success there outside of the one year I'm sure you're referring too.

 

 

 

He inherited a team that didn't win a single game the season prior...

[BigRedBuster]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, it should be pretty easy to explain:

 

- new system, new coaches; acclimation period

- one hell of a lot of razor-close games

 

The interesting thing is the W/L causes a perception that the '15 team was so much worse than the '16 team. They weren't so far apart. Frankly, I think the '15 team might have the edge (though part of that is due to injuries causing the fade at the end of last year). What do you hate about such pieces?

The acclimation excuse is just that. An excuse that is 'easy' to throw out there while there are other coaches who inherited/took on new teams only to have them miraculously do better. (Scott Frost, Jim Haraugh) and that's just a few off the top of my head. Also while Nebraska might have only had 1 player drafted this year there are a number of guys who are also getting serious looks/interest from NFL teams right now. For me the bottom line is Riley's teams have not been as talentless as McKewon makes them out to be and 2015 especially should never have been that bad.

uhhh, Michigan just put 11 players in the draft...

So that means Nebraska only had 1 talented player on the entire team last year?

It means Michigan was still pulling in guys like Jabrill Peppers (who at one point was considered the top prospect in his class) before Harbaugh was even hired. Per 247, they had 25 four star players and 2 five stars between the '13 and '14 classes (17 of those fours stars being in '13!!). Compare that to our 9 four stars between the '13 and '14 classes (with only 2 of those guys in the '14 class). I get that stars don't mean everything, but come on.

 

To compare Riley situation here to Harbaugh's Michigan tenure thus far is asinine.

First off the article isn't about comparing Michigan to Nebraska but if you want to go there then in case you couldn't figure it out Brady Hoke couldn't do what Jim Harbaugh stepped in and did with the very same talent.

you were the one who brought up michigan, and my point is that we don't have that kind of talent.

You missed the point entirely (acclimation period) with my mentioning of Harbaugh but sure.

Harbaugh and Riley inherited two completely different situations, a fact you regularly dismiss out of hand.

 

What kind of situation did Scott Frost inherit?

Well if I'm looking at it correctly, last year's senior class season by season records were:

 

2012: 10-4 (If redshirted)

2013: 12-1

2014: 9-4

2015: 0-12

2016: 6-7

 

They had quite a bit of success there outside of the one year I'm sure you're referring too.

 

He inherited a team that didn't win a single game the season prior...

And one with players that were perfectly fine that there was a coaching change.

[Big Red 40]

1. There are really people on here who blame Tommy for the losses? Wow the Iowa game where he couldn't run at all was the only game i would even come close to saying that. Even that game was two long running plays and one long pass and play game over! Bad O line play and defensive lapses cost us as many games as Tommy ever did

.2. We've had a lot of prize recruits not work out, transfer, or never make it to campus in recent years . It happens in college ball. Hopefully Riley and staff can keep their recruits here and develop them into NFL talent.

3.College talent doesn't always transfer into an NFL career . Some of the best football players we've ever had here never made it in the NFL. Most times NFL teams are looking to fill a position and if you don't fit that you don't get drafted. I like Nate Gerry but i don't think he was the best football player on our team this year. He filled a need for a team well see where that goes.

[JJ Husker]

1. There are really people on here who blame Tommy for the losses? Wow the Iowa game where he couldn't run at all was the only game i would even come close to saying that. Even that game was two long running plays and one long pass and play game over! Bad O line play and defensive lapses cost us as many games as Tommy ever did

.2. We've had a lot of prize recruits not work out, transfer, or never make it to campus in recent years . It happens in college ball. Hopefully Riley and staff can keep their recruits here and develop them into NFL talent.

3.College talent doesn't always transfer into an NFL career . Some of the best football players we've ever had here never made it in the NFL. Most times NFL teams are looking to fill a position and if you don't fit that you don't get drafted. I like Nate Gerry but i don't think he was the best football player on our team this year. He filled a need for a team well see where that goes.

I don't blame TA for the losses. He was the best we had and he gave a helluva effort every time he stepped on the field. Unfortunately he was not a good passer and never really had the benefit of an offensive line or a supportive defense. And it certainly wasnt his fault we had nobody else suitable to step in when he wasnt full speed. I don't really think a person can argue with the logic that a more pure passer, pro style qb will do much better in the system Langs and Riley want to run. That's not blaming Tommy, it's just being realistic.

[Hilltop]

I certainly am not blaming TA for the losses. I am just stating that Tommy was one of the main limiting factors to the past 2 years teams. From a coaching standpoint, your play calling is frustrating and limited. His lack of accuracy and poor decision making, as pointed out previously, made many other positions jobs much harder. Rough QB play also has a negative effect on team moral... including the defense. If you don't have confidence in your QB you don't typically have the right mindset for championship football. There was a reason he wasn't voted a captain. Have no idea if the next guy will be the fix but I'm sure excited to see if he is.

[girlknowsfootball]

If anyone thinks Nebraska is in any shape to compete with Ohio State, Michigan, or Penn State right now, it's a very skewed perception. We don't recruit or have the athletes we had in the late 90's and early 2000's. when Bo arrived, Callahan had stocked the cupboard with NFL talent and mismanaged it. Bo inherited a crazy amount of talent. When he started to hate his job 4-5 years in, his recruiting efforts dropped and the talent they signed went way down. His last few years here he was miserable. He was not focused on recruiting, the entire staff was disorganized. This is why you see a major drop off in 12,13,and 14 talent. His 11 class looked good on signing day but half of them transferred out or never made it to campus. Those last fe years Bo was here set us up for several years of depth issues... which we are feeling now and have been the past couple of years. Bo's talent that he did recruit, were players who wanted to play in the system Bo ran. Some of them did not have the skill sets or want to play in Mike Riley's system, which was the complete opposite of Bo's. Yes we had some talent... but it was sporadic and not enough to gel together to really make a great team at each level.

 

What Mike Riley has done, is get guys to play together. Get them to work hard with good attitudes. He's created consequences for drugs and academic failures (Randy Gregory had been allowed to fail multiple drug tests and then we were told he was injured when he was really suspended. We had been lied to about TMartinez's injury and media noticed his boot wasn't always on the same foot. Etc)

Mike has built his culture and hired guys to recruit hard. He's rebuilding. And that is going to take at least a couple more years. He is just now getting quarterbacks who can run his system. The skills players he needs are just now redshirt freshmen and sophomores. He realized he had a defensive line issue and made changes to accommodate. Parella has really only signed one class so far. They are young and need time.

I find what Mike Riley has done so far to be a great job with improvement each year. That's all you can ask for. Nebraska is not going to dish out $5-6million a year for a coach. We never have and just won't. Mike is a really good option for his price point. His assistants like working for him and work hard for him. We are slowly restocking the DL, DB's, QB's, WR's, and TE's. OL and RB need to be strong now to get some players in there.

I do have concern about Cav... he has several 4* players on his line (5 I think), yet he can't get any of them to play at a next level caliber. Why is that? He has talent on his line, but they struggle so much. It may be a mental thing. They may be thinking Cav's teachings aren't working. I dunno. But it's definitely something to keep an eye on. In an NFL Pro Style Offense it is essential to have a good line. If we don't have a good line, we just check down all the time and then the defense plays the checkdown because we can't let plays develop downfield. The NFL quarterbacks who look great are the NFL QB's who have great lines... look at Carr with Oakland last year, look at Prescott with Dallas, etc. If we can't get this line playing with dominance then we can't have an explosive offense.

[NUinID]

If anyone thinks Nebraska is in any shape to compete with Ohio State, Michigan, or Penn State right now, it's a very skewed perception. We don't recruit or have the athletes we had in the late 90's and early 2000's. when Bo arrived, Callahan had stocked the cupboard with NFL talent and mismanaged it. Bo inherited a crazy amount of talent. When he started to hate his job 4-5 years in, his recruiting efforts dropped and the talent they signed went way down. His last few years here he was miserable. He was not focused on recruiting, the entire staff was disorganized. This is why you see a major drop off in 12,13,and 14 talent. His 11 class looked good on signing day but half of them transferred out or never made it to campus. Those last fe years Bo was here set us up for several years of depth issues... which we are feeling now and have been the past couple of years. Bo's talent that he did recruit, were players who wanted to play in the system Bo ran. Some of them did not have the skill sets or want to play in Mike Riley's system, which was the complete opposite of Bo's. Yes we had some talent... but it was sporadic and not enough to gel together to really make a great team at each level.

 

What Mike Riley has done, is get guys to play together. Get them to work hard with good attitudes. He's created consequences for drugs and academic failures (Randy Gregory had been allowed to fail multiple drug tests and then we were told he was injured when he was really suspended. We had been lied to about TMartinez's injury and media noticed his boot wasn't always on the same foot. Etc)

Mike has built his culture and hired guys to recruit hard. He's rebuilding. And that is going to take at least a couple more years. He is just now getting quarterbacks who can run his system. The skills players he needs are just now redshirt freshmen and sophomores. He realized he had a defensive line issue and made changes to accommodate. Parella has really only signed one class so far. They are young and need time.

I find what Mike Riley has done so far to be a great job with improvement each year. That's all you can ask for. Nebraska is not going to dish out $5-6million a year for a coach. We never have and just won't. Mike is a really good option for his price point. His assistants like working for him and work hard for him. We are slowly restocking the DL, DB's, QB's, WR's, and TE's. OL and RB need to be strong now to get some players in there.

I do have concern about Cav... he has several 4* players on his line (5 I think), yet he can't get any of them to play at a next level caliber. Why is that? He has talent on his line, but they struggle so much. It may be a mental thing. They may be thinking Cav's teachings aren't working. I dunno. But it's definitely something to keep an eye on. In an NFL Pro Style Offense it is essential to have a good line. If we don't have a good line, we just check down all the time and then the defense plays the checkdown because we can't let plays develop downfield. The NFL quarterbacks who look great are the NFL QB's who have great lines... look at Carr with Oakland last year, look at Prescott with Dallas, etc. If we can't get this line playing with dominance then we can't have an explosive offense.

 

 

Nice post, I agree with most of it. The issue of the offensive line and Coach Cav is a dicey one and one that requires patence.

 

In 2016 Nebraska was set to start 3 sophs a walk on and a Jr that played only a couple of years HS ball in Canada. One player gets hurt (Foster) before the season starts, they move the back up walk on senior transfer left tackle into that spot a week before the first game. They actually don't play too bad not great, but are making progress. Then the injuries start. The right guard (Farmer) goes down and misses a couple of games with and ankle injury causing a little used 5 year senior (Whittiker) to be used. The rt tackle (Knevel) goes down with an ankle injury and is hobbled the rest of the year. A walk on Sophomore (Conrad) with very little experience comes in and plays pretty well all things considered and ends up starting 5 games. The Lt tackle (Gates) hurts his ankle misses the rest of the game, doesn't miss a start, but is pretty limited the rest of the year. The starting Rt guard (Foster) actually makes a fantastic recovery and plays in the last 3 games of the season.

 

That is last years offensive line in a nut shell.

 

Playing injury free or relatively injury free is most important on the offensive line. Ankle injuries are killers on the offensive line. Look back at the great offensive lines NU had in the 90's and they were starting the same guys the whole season and they were old guys. In 1994 considered one of the greatest O-lines ever they started 4 5th year seniors and a 4th year junior.

 

The next year the line was younger but they were still guys that were om third 3rd year of learning from upper classmen and from a legendary O-line coach that was working the same basic system that had been done since 1962.

 

Everyone loves what they do at Wisconsin and Iowa on the offensive line. I sure do. Those offensive lines have been doing the same thing since 1990 at Wisconsin, that was Alvarez's first year, and 1999 for Iowa, Ferentz first year. For the most part they start older Jr's and Sr's that have been in the system and learned from the older players about how to do things and things don't very from the system in place.

 

Cav is trying to do this exact thing. Build depth and gain experience working as a unit. Offensive line is the hardest position in football to play and the hardest position to coach. If we don't see steady improvement this year than I will start to worry, but if they can keep the injury bug down I do expect the line to be better and to improve as the season progresses.

[NM11046]

Wait .... what was the deal with Martinez?

[Saunders]

Wait .... what was the deal with Martinez?

Weekend bender in Vegas, ala The Hangover.

[BigRedBuster]

 

If anyone thinks Nebraska is in any shape to compete with Ohio State, Michigan, or Penn State right now, it's a very skewed perception. We don't recruit or have the athletes we had in the late 90's and early 2000's. when Bo arrived, Callahan had stocked the cupboard with NFL talent and mismanaged it. Bo inherited a crazy amount of talent. When he started to hate his job 4-5 years in, his recruiting efforts dropped and the talent they signed went way down. His last few years here he was miserable. He was not focused on recruiting, the entire staff was disorganized. This is why you see a major drop off in 12,13,and 14 talent. His 11 class looked good on signing day but half of them transferred out or never made it to campus. Those last fe years Bo was here set us up for several years of depth issues... which we are feeling now and have been the past couple of years. Bo's talent that he did recruit, were players who wanted to play in the system Bo ran. Some of them did not have the skill sets or want to play in Mike Riley's system, which was the complete opposite of Bo's. Yes we had some talent... but it was sporadic and not enough to gel together to really make a great team at each level.

 

What Mike Riley has done, is get guys to play together. Get them to work hard with good attitudes. He's created consequences for drugs and academic failures (Randy Gregory had been allowed to fail multiple drug tests and then we were told he was injured when he was really suspended. We had been lied to about TMartinez's injury and media noticed his boot wasn't always on the same foot. Etc)

Mike has built his culture and hired guys to recruit hard. He's rebuilding. And that is going to take at least a couple more years. He is just now getting quarterbacks who can run his system. The skills players he needs are just now redshirt freshmen and sophomores. He realized he had a defensive line issue and made changes to accommodate. Parella has really only signed one class so far. They are young and need time.

I find what Mike Riley has done so far to be a great job with improvement each year. That's all you can ask for. Nebraska is not going to dish out $5-6million a year for a coach. We never have and just won't. Mike is a really good option for his price point. His assistants like working for him and work hard for him. We are slowly restocking the DL, DB's, QB's, WR's, and TE's. OL and RB need to be strong now to get some players in there.

I do have concern about Cav... he has several 4* players on his line (5 I think), yet he can't get any of them to play at a next level caliber. Why is that? He has talent on his line, but they struggle so much. It may be a mental thing. They may be thinking Cav's teachings aren't working. I dunno. But it's definitely something to keep an eye on. In an NFL Pro Style Offense it is essential to have a good line. If we don't have a good line, we just check down all the time and then the defense plays the checkdown because we can't let plays develop downfield. The NFL quarterbacks who look great are the NFL QB's who have great lines... look at Carr with Oakland last year, look at Prescott with Dallas, etc. If we can't get this line playing with dominance then we can't have an explosive offense.

 

 

Nice post, I agree with most of it. The issue of the offensive line and Coach Cav is a dicey one and one that requires patence.

 

In 2016 Nebraska was set to start 3 sophs a walk on and a Jr that played only a couple of years HS ball in Canada. One player gets hurt (Foster) before the season starts, they move the back up walk on senior transfer left tackle into that spot a week before the first game. They actually don't play too bad not great, but are making progress. Then the injuries start. The right guard (Farmer) goes down and misses a couple of games with and ankle injury causing a little used 5 year senior (Whittiker) to be used. The rt tackle (Knevel) goes down with an ankle injury and is hobbled the rest of the year. A walk on Sophomore (Conrad) with very little experience comes in and plays pretty well all things considered and ends up starting 5 games. The Lt tackle (Gates) hurts his ankle misses the rest of the game, doesn't miss a start, but is pretty limited the rest of the year. The starting Rt guard (Foster) actually makes a fantastic recovery and plays in the last 3 games of the season.

 

That is last years offensive line in a nut shell.

 

Playing injury free or relatively injury free is most important on the offensive line. Ankle injuries are killers on the offensive line. Look back at the great offensive lines NU had in the 90's and they were starting the same guys the whole season and they were old guys. In 1994 considered one of the greatest O-lines ever they started 4 5th year seniors and a 4th year junior.

 

The next year the line was younger but they were still guys that were om third 3rd year of learning from upper classmen and from a legendary O-line coach that was working the same basic system that had been done since 1962.

 

Everyone loves what they do at Wisconsin and Iowa on the offensive line. I sure do. Those offensive lines have been doing the same thing since 1990 at Wisconsin, that was Alvarez's first year, and 1999 for Iowa, Ferentz first year. For the most part they start older Jr's and Sr's that have been in the system and learned from the older players about how to do things and things don't very from the system in place.

 

Cav is trying to do this exact thing. Build depth and gain experience working as a unit. Offensive line is the hardest position in football to play and the hardest position to coach. If we don't see steady improvement this year than I will start to worry, but if they can keep the injury bug down I do expect the line to be better and to improve as the season progresses.

 

I agree with your post.

 

The bolded is huge. We have got to get to the point where we are starting mostly guys who have been in the program 3-4 years and their backups are the guys in the program 1-2 years.

[Guy Chamberlin]

This isn't an explanation of anything, just interesting to see where the old Big 8/Big XII teams are right now.

 

 

And I just read this morning that Utah had 8 players drafted in the NFL, tops in the Pac 12 and just behind Alabama.

 

All the excuses we have for handicapping Nebraska's ability to recruit top talent apply to Salt Lake City....and then some.

 

Utah football has quickly gotten to the point where a 9 win season is a disappointment.

[Guy Chamberlin]

If anyone thinks Nebraska is in any shape to compete with Ohio State, Michigan, or Penn State right now, it's a very skewed perception. We don't recruit or have the athletes we had in the late 90's and early 2000's. when Bo arrived, Callahan had stocked the cupboard with NFL talent and mismanaged it. Bo inherited a crazy amount of talent. When he started to hate his job 4-5 years in, his recruiting efforts dropped and the talent they signed went way down. His last few years here he was miserable. He was not focused on recruiting, the entire staff was disorganized. This is why you see a major drop off in 12,13,and 14 talent. His 11 class looked good on signing day but half of them transferred out or never made it to campus. Those last fe years Bo was here set us up for several years of depth issues... which we are feeling now and have been the past couple of years. Bo's talent that he did recruit, were players who wanted to play in the system Bo ran. Some of them did not have the skill sets or want to play in Mike Riley's system, which was the complete opposite of Bo's. Yes we had some talent... but it was sporadic and not enough to gel together to really make a great team at each level.

 

What Mike Riley has done, is get guys to play together. Get them to work hard with good attitudes. He's created consequences for drugs and academic failures (Randy Gregory had been allowed to fail multiple drug tests and then we were told he was injured when he was really suspended. We had been lied to about TMartinez's injury and media noticed his boot wasn't always on the same foot. Etc)

Mike has built his culture and hired guys to recruit hard. He's rebuilding. And that is going to take at least a couple more years. He is just now getting quarterbacks who can run his system. The skills players he needs are just now redshirt freshmen and sophomores. He realized he had a defensive line issue and made changes to accommodate. Parella has really only signed one class so far. They are young and need time.

I find what Mike Riley has done so far to be a great job with improvement each year. That's all you can ask for. Nebraska is not going to dish out $5-6million a year for a coach. We never have and just won't. Mike is a really good option for his price point. His assistants like working for him and work hard for him. We are slowly restocking the DL, DB's, QB's, WR's, and TE's. OL and RB need to be strong now to get some players in there.

I do have concern about Cav... he has several 4* players on his line (5 I think), yet he can't get any of them to play at a next level caliber. Why is that? He has talent on his line, but they struggle so much. It may be a mental thing. They may be thinking Cav's teachings aren't working. I dunno. But it's definitely something to keep an eye on. In an NFL Pro Style Offense it is essential to have a good line. If we don't have a good line, we just check down all the time and then the defense plays the checkdown because we can't let plays develop downfield. The NFL quarterbacks who look great are the NFL QB's who have great lines... look at Carr with Oakland last year, look at Prescott with Dallas, etc. If we can't get this line playing with dominance then we can't have an explosive offense.

 

I agree with everything, except I do believe Nebraska would be willing to pay $5 million for a football coach -- or more -- if the right coach was available and willing to accept the job. I believe the University is already paying more than that in the combined salaries of Pelini and Riley.

 

It would have to be a slam dunk hire, and there just aren't many of those. The $5 million coaches at Texas, Texas A&M, Auburn & Ol' Miss have fueled their share of fan dissatisfaction, and three are on the hot seat. We would have had to pay more for Les Miles, who LSU saw fit to fire.

 

It appears that Mike Riley really wants to be here — from his recruiting efforts to his willingness to fire close friends. I'm good with our return on the investment so far.

[Enhance]

1. There are really people on here who blame Tommy for the losses?

This has been a routine scapegoat around here for years, and is popular at other universities, too. People like to ignore the less glamorous parts of the team (i.e. of the offensive line) while paying far too much attention to what the quarterback does. Part of that is the nature of the position but also the average fan's football knowledge - it's often easier to tell when a quarterback does something wrong over other positions, especially in the moment.

[Guy Chamberlin]

 

1. There are really people on here who blame Tommy for the losses?

This has been a routine scapegoat around here for years, and is popular at other universities, too. People like to ignore the less glamorous parts of the team (i.e. of the offensive line) while paying far too much attention to what the quarterback does. Part of that is the nature of the position but also the average fan's football knowledge - it's often easier to tell when a quarterback does something wrong over other positions, especially in the moment.

 

 

Also....I'm honestly not seeing people blaming Tommy for the state of Nebraska football. He was an erratic quarterback who could be hero or goat from game to game, or even within the same game. It's totally possible to salute Tommy for all he did well, and still wonder what a more reliable quarterback could do with the team. That's where most fans seem to be.

 

When I think of the losses that really hurt or embarrassed us, I'm thinking of a defense that looked out of its league and an offense that couldn't compensate for that.