*** 2022 Husker Previews: The Athletic - Is Nebraska closer to a breakthrough or breakdown? ***

[The Dude]

Would would a breakdown look like?  3-9, except the bad kind of 3-9?

[Dogs In A Pile]

1 hour ago, The Dude said:

Would would a breakdown look like?  3-9, except the bad kind of 3-9?

Right. Going from the best 3-9 team in the country to the worst 3-9 team in the country would kill recruiting.

[Cigarman]

On 4/26/2022 at 8:11 AM, knapplc said:

I know it was only a Spring Game, and I know we were missing some parts on the O Line, but that was not the kind of performance that leads me to think 8+ wins, or even "bowl game."

Especially against a bad defensive line. 

[Red Five]

The Athletic has a podcast today with a national (Andy Staples) and local (Mitch Sherman) views on Nebraska.  Not a full season preview, but a lot of the focus is on how the transfer portal and NIL can help Nebraska this coming year.  Worth a listen if you subscribe.

 

https://theathletic.com/podcast/83-the-andy-staples-show/?episode=583

[84HuskerLaw]

Basically, Nebraska football has a very big fan base across the country, even after a decade of mediocre/poor football teams.  There always remains a degree of hope and wishful thinking amongst some die hards that keep on thinking that somehow, someway the team will miraculously wake up and go back to the way they were in the Devaney-Osborne era.  This explains the odds makers with Huskers so positive despite very little, if any, real evidence that things will get dramatically better. 
 

Frost and his overseers have seemingly identified those areas of most dire need of drastic change for the better.  The steps taken are by no means certain to be positive difference makers. And, there are no guarantees that last year’s ‘strengths’ will remain so.  
 

Untried, untested and almost unknown are many of the changes we’ve heard about - coaches, players lost and found, team chemistry and morale, fan support was off 10,000 per game attendance wise and apathy abounds. Recruiting has become NIL buying (renting month to month frankly), and new turf and more fan amenities won’t score TDs vs Big Ten bruisers.   But apparently enough dreamers remain to keep the betting balanced at a point much above the realistic expected outcomes.  How many seasons has it been since NU exceeded our win expectancy as indicated by preseason lines?  
 

I want to believe and used to be confident enough in the season outcome that I would of bet, had the win number been at or below 8-10.  Not anymore.  I’m not pessimistic nor optimistic - just realistic. At this point, the traditional high school recruiting class was nothing special.  The attrition (graduation, transfer, etc) has been quite substantial.  The walkons hardly noticed. The transfers, comprised largely of backups from respectable programs, are big ? marks at best.   On balance, we’ve probably lost more ‘stars’ than we’ve picked up but that may not be all bad.

 

Attitude and effort are undervalued while recruiting hype and flashy social media gets all the attention.  The team attitude has been better than it’s game product.  That is critical to having any hope that major schematic changes coupled with personnel replacements will tip the scales.  
 

So far, Frost has produced a lot more stars off the field than on it.  His players have been good students as far as we know. They’ve come with starry résumés as judged by third party gurus. Nearly all have been good ambassadors for Husker Nation.  We can be proud of the team and it’s many members for many of the most important reasons they exist.  But, winning and playing better than our opponents as a general rule is not one.   Will it turn around someday?   Hopefully, possibly, maybe but Idk?   This fall?  Who knows?   But I wouldn’t bet any money I didn’t expect to lose.  The spring ‘game’ didn’t inspire confidence certainly.  
 

At this point, I’d say a win- loss record of 4-8 is most probable, plus or minus a couple.  Chances are about the same of 2 wins as 8. Imo.  And I want to believe!  And maybe I’m still a tad optimistic, as painful as that is to admit.