Do husker fans today have lower expectations?

[Redux]

How many coaches have to be fired before Head Coach _______ is the one being held accountable for hiring them in the first place? Nobody made ______ hire those coaches.

There, now this could be about any team!

[Enhance]

The day the sell out streak ends, is the day we are content with mediocrity.

See, I completely disagree for reasons mentioned previously. Sustainability, sellouts and interest are NOT up to the fans. That's the responsibility of people running the program and the players.

 

It's also a product of marketing and seat manipulation as much as it is fan interest.

[Enhance]

How many coaches have to be fired before Head Coach Mike Riley is the one being held accountable for hiring them in the first place? Nobody made Riley hire those coaches.

This is a fair criticism, IMO, even though we can cite plenty of reasons/excuses (depending on your perspective) for why he's had to make several changes.

[commando]

T.O.somehow managed to survive years of the expert husker fans calling for him to be fired for not winning enough.....guess those husker fans had kids to take their place pissing and moaning about the huskers.

[Big Red 40]

i don't think we have top 10 talent so i don't "expect" us to beat top 10 teams. I do hate when we get beat by teams who are less talented than us, or get blown off the field by teams we should compete with, In 1995 we had top tier players at every position, now its Alabama, Ohio State etc that have 2 deep 4 and 5 star rosters. I want us to beat the teams we "should" beat ,compete with better teams, and eventually rack up some top 10 wins.Were going the right direction. i think. but we're not there yet.

[Mavric]

i don't think we have top 10 talent so i don't "expect" us to beat top 10 teams. I do hate when we get beat by teams who are less talented than us, or get blown off the field by teams we should compete with, In 1995 we had top tier players at every position, now its Alabama, Ohio State etc that have 2 deep 4 and 5 star rosters. I want us to beat the teams we "should" beat ,compete with better teams, and eventually rack up some top 10 wins.Were going the right direction. i think. but we're not there yet.

 

That's pretty much how I would define expectations as well. Not necessarily a specific W-L record, but you can get pretty close to that based on a general idea for how we compare talent-wise.

 

This will be the third year in a row that the talent match-up will be about the same. We have one team on our schedule that has noticeably more talent, a couple teams that are basically the same as us and we have a talent advantage over the rest. There's a lot more that goes into winning games than just having talent but it should give you a pretty good idea. I wouldn't "expect" to beat the teams that have a noticeable talent advantage on us, though I think we should still be competitive. The games where the talent is roughly even we should be able to win about half of them. And we should win the vast majority of the games that we have a decided talent advantage.

 

So that would tell you that a 10-2 year wouldn't necessarily be the "expectation" but would be very possible if we play well. A 9-3 year would be a pretty fair "expectation". An 8-4 year wouldn't be shocking but should be a bit of a disappointment. And anything less than that would have to be seen as not a very good year.

 

The reason why it's contentious is that it's a semantics argument. If you try to tell yourself that you're taking a reasonable look at our current state and think 7-5/8-4 is about all the better that we can do, it's not that it's an unrealistic expectation. But our situation as a program has not changed so drastically in the last 4-7 years that having that view shouldn't be viewed as a lowered expectation. If you think you didn't think a 10-2 season and a division championship was what we should be looking for in 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2002 and about every year before that, you're kidding yourself. So if you're "expecting" less than 9 wins now, that would seem to be - by very definition - a lowered expectation.

[suh_fan93]

 

i don't think we have top 10 talent so i don't "expect" us to beat top 10 teams. I do hate when we get beat by teams who are less talented than us, or get blown off the field by teams we should compete with, In 1995 we had top tier players at every position, now its Alabama, Ohio State etc that have 2 deep 4 and 5 star rosters. I want us to beat the teams we "should" beat ,compete with better teams, and eventually rack up some top 10 wins.Were going the right direction. i think. but we're not there yet.

 

That's pretty much how I would define expectations as well. Not necessarily a specific W-L record, but you can get pretty close to that based on a general idea for how we compare talent-wise.

 

 

The problem is people usually stop right there. At what our supposed 'talent level' is like. Wiscy and Iowa are just two examples of teams who NU out recruits yet somehow they seem to be pretty successful against us and as a whole and there's more examples than just these 2 teams. At some point you have to hold the coaching staff accountable.

[Redux]

 

 

i don't think we have top 10 talent so i don't "expect" us to beat top 10 teams. I do hate when we get beat by teams who are less talented than us, or get blown off the field by teams we should compete with, In 1995 we had top tier players at every position, now its Alabama, Ohio State etc that have 2 deep 4 and 5 star rosters. I want us to beat the teams we "should" beat ,compete with better teams, and eventually rack up some top 10 wins.Were going the right direction. i think. but we're not there yet.

 

That's pretty much how I would define expectations as well. Not necessarily a specific W-L record, but you can get pretty close to that based on a general idea for how we compare talent-wise.

 

The problem is people usually stop right there. At what our supposed 'talent level' is like. Wiscy and Iowa are just two examples of teams who NU out recruits yet somehow they seem to be pretty successful against us and as a whole and there's more examples than just these 2 teams. At some point you have to hold the coaching staff accountable.

That would be years 3 and 4. Congrats, you've made it! If the wheels fall off you'll have a new guy to crap on in no time.

[moveitforward]

i don't think we have top 10 talent so i don't "expect" us to beat top 10 teams. I do hate when we get beat by teams who are less talented than us, or get blown off the field by teams we should compete with, In 1995 we had top tier players at every position, now its Alabama, Ohio State etc that have 2 deep 4 and 5 star rosters. I want us to beat the teams we "should" beat ,compete with better teams, and eventually rack up some top 10 wins.Were going the right direction. i think. but we're not there yet.

The only way we can prove there are teams that we "should" beat, is by beating them. After many average seasons, I believe our "should" beat list has become quite short, and every opponent needs to be given full respect. I do agree that we are moving forward, but it is a journey.

[Landlord]

Return Nut-O

[I am I]

 

HS football participation is down (at least in the areas where I coach and the schools in the area.) but I don't know how much of it has to to with head injuries as much as it has to do with how freaking long football has become. It is brutally long and some coaches really have a hard time "getting" it.

 

Example: 9th-12th graders where I coach at are expected to meet 4 days a week in the summer. 1 hour of on the field conditioning and plays...1 hour in the weight room.

 

That is all summer with the exception of two days off for the 4th and one week off before real practice starts. Then real practice is 5 days a week with games on Friday, so a 6 day commitment. Season ends...two weeks off (sort of) and back in the weight room 4 days a week and more conditioning.

 

It is brutal.

We've done this to almost all sports. Hockey, volleyball, softball, baseball, basketball even dance. And it's sad, but that is what it takes for those who want to compete at the highest levels. When I was a kid and into high school, a person could participate in multiple sports. i.e. Football, basketball or wrestling, track then baseball. I don't see very many kids doing that anymore. If they don't focus and specialize on one sport they won't make their HS varsity team or the club team they want. I'm not sure exactly what has caused this. My guess is its the culmination of parents living vicariously through their children. Both of my kids could've continued with 2 or 3 sports but they were forced through circumstance to really focus on only one and treat another as a sideline. Granted neither had/has D1 talent but it's sad that they could not participate in all the sports they would've liked to. If you don't commit to a sport year round, chances are you won't be playing that sport for very long.

Agree 100%.

 

I coach my sons team, this will be the 4th year. This season we moved into to the top division because we went to the Championship 2 yrs in row.

 

I've conveyed that conditioning (once a week) isn't mandatory but encouraged, we've sent emails and texts to parents about upping their commitment. We have kids that I think Nebraska should be looking at now, (5'10" 175 lb kids going into 7th grade who can MOVE. Their parents are 6'5+!!) that also play at the highest level in Denver at basketball, baseball, and lacrosse. Year round non stop.

 

These kids never take a break. They play 2-3 sports year round and travel to Utah, LA, Las Vegas, Arizona and beyond for sports. Football demands participation and it's hard, as we move up to get them to show up and be here.

 

These are elite athletes and their parents pay for trainers, travel costs, and diets. It's insane. And yet....weirdly necessary at even a youth level.

 

Have my expectations changed? No. I want Nebraska to be in the top 15 every season with the occasional top 5-8 ranking. I want them to realize their place amongst football elite. But...something's been missing. We just can't create a steady flow of talent and coaching and catching good breaks. We all know the stories of OU CCG and the hosing at aTm, and the Hail Mary v BYU etc.

 

I think we should be winning 10 games a year, going to a good bowl, be in the conversation. But getting kids on campus who can compete at that level is hard. So, like others have said: my expectations aren't down, but when reality strikes my reaction is different.

[The Dude]

Without Armstrong and Banker holding the team back 7-8 wins would be disastrous.

[southernoregonhusker]

Not getting worked up about partying is your right. But how does it help the program when players think they can just do whatever they want whenever they want and not be held accountable? And then the coaches looking the other way at everything?! This is on the coaches and the AD. No team can succeed when the team as a whole can't held accountable. Other teams are making their players accountable and sending messages to the rest of the team that if you break the rules you will be suspended or worse. Look at Oregon's WR Carrington, dismissed from team for his DUI. That's how you send a message.

Carrington sat out their championship game appearance because he was busted for MJ for the umpteenth time. That wasn't even close to Carrington's first time breaking team rules and that's why he was shown the door. Bad example.

[southernoregonhusker]

As for the original question, the answer is a hard yes. Of course my expectations are lowered. It's called reality. We don't have the program we used to and that probably won't change. Certainly not in the near future. We are a middle of the pack program and proven so the past 15 or so years.

 

As for this year, I think we win 7 or 8 games. Does that make me a bad fan? No, it makes me a realist. New QB. New D. Average at best O and D lines. Thin in the defensive backfield. Average linebackers. Runningbacks who haven't shown us anything yet. We have some talented players. Just not enough of them yet.

[returnnutoglory95]

Harrington is not a bad example, it's a show of leadership from above, that no matter who you are, doesn't matter here. If you don't like our rules, then go elsewhere, but you aren't playing here anymore. We will not stand for it. We are better that that and one guy will not be treated differently anymore.

 

You're OK with a slap on the wrist for Keith William's 3rd DUI after they full on knew about the 1st two DUI's AND the third one happened a couple of hours after recruiting a 5 Star recruit and his family? ...And god only knows how many hundreds of other times he drove drunk before this one too.

You're OK with Keyshawn coming there every other week last Fall while still in High School because of the lax oversight and all of the drugs and parties? Getting blitzed out of his mind on alcohol and many other types of drugs. This was very well known, he was seen constantly at these parties and the coaching staff just looked the other way.

These are the accountability issues. If you don't care and you think it's OK, then that is the biggest problem of all. These are MAJOR ACCOUNTABILITY issues. There has to be accountability to teammates...on a football team, in the military, in the business office and at home. If you don't have these things then everything is broken from the inside on up.

And if you don't think that other coaches and teams around the country aren't telling other recruits about what's happening inside this broken down joke of an administration, then you're just blind to what's happening out there in the world of college sports and the world in general. They are recruiting as hard as possible and will use whatever tactics available to take from Nebraska and everyone else. And if we just hand them the ammunition AND the gun, then it's our own suicide that we are committing.