ESPN - Bill Connelly: What will it take for Texas and Nebraska football to really be back?

[Saunders]

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I understand the reflex. I've had it myself once or twice. "Oh look, the media is propping up [insert fallen blue blood here]. What a surprise." My Twitter mentions got hit pretty hard when my 2020 SP+ projections declared Texas a top-15 college football team and Nebraska a top-25 team earlier this offseason, and I'm sure those associated with ESPN's Stats & Information Group Twitter account had the same experience when the updated FPI rankings placed Texas at 11th.

 

Instead of lingering on whether something is #typicalmedia and whatnot, let's move past that and on to something more constructive: What will it take for the Longhorns and Cornhuskers to live up to these semi-lofty projections? (And yes, calling Nebraska in the top 25 or Texas in the top 15 lofty in any way tells its own story.)

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/29040498/what-take-texas-nebraska-football-really-back

 

 

 

 

[Vince R.]

This sport is hard, and I want to avoid being a reductionist as much as possible. That said, if Nebraska just hits on the majority of their upper echelon recruits to go along with their above average development of lower ranked guys, then they will be just fine. Guys like Caleb Tannor or Zavier Betts cannot be busts or needing three years to play well.

 

I'm thinking of a guy like Jackson Hannah. He needs to start showing flashes now. I know some of you will scoff at that, but I am telling you if you want to compete, Nebraska cannot live by the three year development rule in this day and age. They actually recruit too well to play that angle. A decent chunk of guys need to hit by their freshman year or Rfr year.  

 

The Demayrion Houston and Jamie Nance situations cannot happen again. Their lack of development was pretty bad, and their inability to get in for 4 games is inexcusable. 

[NUance]

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Losing all three starters on the line also makes it hard to feel too optimistic about improvement in run defense, even if there's a low bar. Beef certainly isn't a problem -- junior Damion Daniels is 6-foot-3, 340 pounds; redshirt freshman Ty Robinson is 6-foot-6, 315 pounds; and juco transfer Keem Green is 6-foot-4, 315 pounds -- and the linebacking corps is experienced. 

 

 

This snippet hits the nail on the head.  The 2020 season (if it happens!) is going to depend on whether we can field a D-line worthy of Big 10 play.  Will we have the D-line we need?  I am skeptical.  

[BIG ERN]

I think we should look better this year, but we aren't quite there yet. Losing JD will hurt if he doesn't come back. I have a lot of faith in the young O-linemen we have on the roster, but they are just that - young. I like the young WRs and RBs we got as well - Volk will be a force at TE. Overall, I see the offense only getting better going forward. 

Now for the defense I see more issues. We will have 5 starters next year that aren't where we need them to be. I really hope we see a lot of young guys get reps this season if there is one. We need the veterans to play well if we want to get to 7 wins. People don't realize outside of a handful of players our most talented players are still underclassmen. 

[Toe]

37 minutes ago, NUance said:

This snippet hits the nail on the head.  The 2020 season (if it happens!) is going to depend on whether we can field a D-line worthy of Big 10 play.  Will we have the D-line we need?  I am skeptical.  

 

I'm still more worried about the LBs than the DL. The DL will be pretty green, but I mostly like the guys we have coming up. The LBs, on the other hand, still need a ton of help, and I don't know if we've recruited enough there to really shore things up.

[NUance]

1 hour ago, Toe said:

 

I'm still more worried about the LBs than the DL. The DL will be pretty green, but I mostly like the guys we have coming up. The LBs, on the other hand, still need a ton of help, and I don't know if we've recruited enough there to really shore things up.

 

Oh great.  Now I'm worried about THAT too.  

 

lol

[Toe]

@NUance Keem Green (juco), Ty Robinson, and Tate Wildeman are all 4* DL guys from the 2018 and 2019 classes that we haven't seen much yet. Ben Stille was an 'or' starter last year, and he's back, along with Deontre Thomas, plus Damion Daniels, who backed up his brother last year. They'll be green, but I think we should be able to get three solid starters out of that bunch plus the others on our roster.

[NUance]

59 minutes ago, Toe said:

@NUance Keem Green (juco), Ty Robinson, and Tate Wildeman are all 4* DL guys from the 2018 and 2019 classes that we haven't seen much yet. Ben Stille was an 'or' starter last year, and he's back, along with Deontre Thomas, plus Damion Daniels, who backed up his brother last year. They'll be green, but I think we should be able to get three solid starters out of that bunch plus the others on our roster.

 

True enough.  I'm just thinking about the guys we lost from last season.  And how unimpressive our run stop defenses was even when we had them.  

[Toe]

@NUance That's the thing: the problem last season was mostly the linebackers, not the linemen. Other than Jojo, who's kind of a hybrid guy, Barry was probably our only LB of note, and even he had his weaknesses. And of course, he's gone now.

 

I'm not totally doom and gloom, though. At OLB, Caleb Tannor could be ready for a big year, and Jackson Hannah is a redshirt freshman with some potential. At ILB, juco Mauga might be the steal of this year's class, and Nick Henrich will hopefully be ready to rock after being injured last season. But... we need more than just these guys. Hopefully some of the less heralded guys can step up.

 

And of course, it's worth remembering that we just ditched our OLB coach and brought in a new one. Fingers crossed that we'll see some improved results there. And honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if Ruud is on the hotseat this year...

[GBRFAN]

5 hours ago, NUance said:

 

 

This snippet hits the nail on the head.  The 2020 season (if it happens!) is going to depend on whether we can field a D-line worthy of Big 10 play.  Will we have the D-line we need?  I am skeptical.  

I actually think our d line this year will be better then last year in the since that we will be 6-9 deep couple that with our o line being 8 deep on the exterior - feel cam will be in shape to handle full duty.

 

With this we will finally see an offense that plays FAST - the length and speed of our d line will t.ump last year

[Fru]

What will it take for Neb to be back? I'd say consistency and stability among the coaching staff, an effective strength and conditioning program, defined identity and philosophies on both sides of the ball, and strong recruiting classes.  If we have a full 2020 season I think we probably make a bowl. 2018 and 2019 were a handful of plays away from being bowl eligible seasons. I think we get over the hump for bowl eligibility in 2020. Neb needs a bowl game and a win over an Iowa, Wisconsin, Penn St or Minnesota in the worst way. There's no reason to think that Nebraska can't become a program that consistently challenges for the West. 

 

What will it take for Texas to be back? Who knows. I'm baffled at how mediocre they've been for so long. Every advantage one could hope for and they still can't put it together. 

 

Edit: Wrong years 

[Toe]

15 minutes ago, Fru said:

2017 and 2018 were a handful of plays away from being bowl eligible seasons.

 

2017 was not a handful of plays away from being a bowl-eligible season.

[Fru]

17 minutes ago, Toe said:

 

2017 was not a handful of plays away from being a bowl-eligible season.

 

*Facepalm* My bad. Meant 2018 and 2019. 

[84HuskerLaw]

The biggest concern I have is the area of strength and conditioning.  While basic talent has been a real underlying issue for a decade, the team has not been in great physical shape imo.  I think we were getting better since Frost “cracked the whip” so to speak, and the attitude and effort was much improved among most players (the ones who didnt quit and transfer etc), the ground the team may have gained in these areas could be all but lost after a 5 month layoff.   

If theyre not in top condition and lose their strength gains, we will be hard pressed to compete for 4 quarters in the close games.  And we know most games on the schedule are matchups with fairly equivalent talent.  Those games are typically decided by effort, coaching and better execution.  

Sloppy play is expected when young, inexperienced teams are out of shape and lackadaisical.  

We have potentially all the above.  

 

On the other hand, our opponents should face most of the same problems.  This season could come down to coaching as the difference maker.  

[TonyStalloni]

To me there are several areas we need to improve.

 

1. Special teams.  Kickoffs where the ball rarely went into the end zone which allowed to many long returns. Coverage much of the time looked poor. Hopefully the new coordinator can make improvements and use better athletes here as depth improves.

 

2. Receivers. We need more than 2 guys with the ability to make big plays. One of those may not be back in 2020.  Unfortunately the players who need to step up won't have spring ball and all summer to practice together.

 

3. Pass rush.  We need more than JoJo Domann with the ability to affect the opponents QB.  

 

4. QB play. Hopefully this is addressed by better receiver depth. Having only 2 reliable receivers, both of which were hurt or overused all season, contributed to the QBs being less than efficient often.

 

Looking at last season there were 5 winnable games that we lost due to these four categories. Colorado, Indiana, Purdue and Iowa were all winnable with a key stop on one or two plays, a key first down or a special teams breakdown..  Wisconsin was also winnable in my opinion.  If we win 4 of those 5 games our record is 9-3, we play in a bowl game and our angst for this season is not as high.