Athlon Sports: Can Mike Riley Make Nebraska Football Great Again?

[raw1]

I have lived in many states and became friends with college football fans in all of them. The thing about Nebraska football that virtually every one of those folks believed is that Nebraska does things the right way. Real fans respect Nebraska for the integrity and the academics and the methodic way of playing the game successfully. The people I know in Minnesota, where I now reside, want to know "What has happened to Nebraska? The simple red N on the helmets alone is intimidating to those folks. When Nebraska (Used to) comes to town they knew they were in for a real fight. Even if the other team wins the feeling is always "we got away with one....don't want to do it again".

Of course now the Minnesota crowd has lost that respect and frankly my respect since they don't know how to win gracefully. Act like you been there before is what always comes to my mind when I hear their stupid taunting. We have lost that respect throughout the conference and if Riley can't bring it back, I don't know who can. It is going to take hard core smash mouth football to do it. We don't recruit good enough athletes to get cute with the offense. The players must hit the weight room and they must be in better physical condition than any other team for us to regain our place at the top of college football.

 

[skersfan]

Not my quote

 

[raw1]

Not my quote

Yeah....my fault. I wanted to comment on your statement but it came out looking like I wrote what you had. So I edited mine by deleting your comment. Still learning the protocols here. Sorry about that.

 

[VectorVictor]

I feel that Riley has surrounded himself with a GREAT staff as well. Literally guys that are experts at what they do. Also feel like we have some position coaches that are happy with being position coaches.

Hell, last year we had a position coach that was happy with being a DC

I don't think Bo Pelini was happy being Defen--oh, sorry, nevermind.

 

[MasterPulverizer]

Who cares what Skylar Taylor thinks?

The odds of a return to national prominence are much higher now than ever because of the playoff system. Yeah this years playoff featured 4 historically talented teams but the one that had the lowest odds ended up winning. Granted OSU was a powerhouse stacked with talent and caught Bama by surprise, but nevertheless they still won the NC.

Prior to the playoff it's like KB said, sometimes its not in the cards. With the exception of Bama and maybe the Ducks, there hasn't been a team that year after year replicates results at that high of a level. I know Bo won 9 games but comparing NU to those teams is a false equivalent. The point is that the stars have to align, they have to win some upset games and win the conference championship. If Riley is able to at least contend for the conference championship every year (which I think the division is set up to do), I count that as a great.

The huskers of 94-97 were a dynasty, and as evidenced currently by Bama, that is extremely rare. Dynasties are just that - they're rare and only last for a certain amount of time. To say that NU will be as good as they were in the 90's is silly because they would literally have to reinvent their own current version of a dynasty.

 

[junior4949]

I would always be interested to see if Alabama had a streak like ours. Or any top teir program. Always finding a way to lose four games, and not coming close to competing in a championship. I think in each case it would be like ours.

There are several examples of this. Bama had a streak similar to ours from 97'-06'. However, it must be noted almost all of their woes were created by NCAA sanctions. OU is another example of a streak similar to ours, but again they were created by sanctions. Miami is another program going through similar circumstances.

Florida is currently going through a similar streak to ours, but it was created by a coach retiring rather than being fired. Another top tier program to have a streak similar to ours comes from none other than Michigan. Lloyd Carr was basically forced out of Michigan which is similar to Solich being fired here. Michigan has since floundered around since then. The program closest to resembling our streak under the same criteria would be Tennessee. After Fulmer was ousted, Tennessee hired a former Oakland Raider head coach. Sound familiar?

 

[Landlord]

I would always be interested to see if Alabama had a streak like ours. Or any top teir program. Always finding a way to lose four games, and not coming close to competing in a championship. I think in each case it would be like ours.

There are several examples of this. Bama had a streak similar to ours from 97'-06'. However, it must be noted almost all of their woes were created by NCAA sanctions. OU is another example of a streak similar to ours, but again they were created by sanctions. Miami is another program going through similar circumstances.

Florida is currently going through a similar streak to ours, but it was created by a coach retiring rather than being fired. Another top tier program to have a streak similar to ours comes from none other than Michigan. Lloyd Carr was basically forced out of Michigan which is similar to Solich being fired here. Michigan has since floundered around since then. The program closest to resembling our streak under the same criteria would be Tennessee. After Fulmer was ousted, Tennessee hired a former Oakland Raider head coach. Sound familiar?

We are definitely in fairly unique waters. Everyone wants to know if we'll be back, and they start looking for other teams to create analogies towards, but I don't know if you can, and if you do really try, you might be left more worried than not.

Is Tennessee ever going to be a top tier team again? Seems the world has left them by a bit doesn't it? Michigan will be back to good, but then again, they only have one half of a national championship since WWII, and no conference championships in well over a decade, so to what level will they 'return'?

 

[junior4949]

Well, no one knows who will return or when. However, I think one has to both have hope and then look to see what other programs that faced severe adversity and what they've done. At one time, both Bama and OU were hit with pretty severe penalties. I still remember when it was being bantered around whether they'd face similar punishment to what SMU was handed, the "death" penalty. Both have reemerged into powers winning NCs. If they can come back from the brink, then one must have hope we will as well.

I don't know if Harbaugh will win a NC at Michigan. However, one has to assume from his track record that Michigan will get significantly better. He did great things while at Stanford and at the 49ers. The bar has definitely been raised in the B1G with the additions of Harbaugh and Meyer. I know early on most fans were uncomfortable with the hiring of Riley. However, the man is an outstanding coach. While most sneer at his two Gray Cups, they're championships in their own right.

Before the 1993 season, a lot of people including myself had given up on TO ever winning the "big one". Given how the seasons in the late 80's and early 90's went, it was almost hard not to. Yet, I think we all knew what followed. It wasn't just the NCs in that time period. We really were on the cusp of winning a NC the 93', 96', and 99' season.