CollegeFootballNews: Big Ten Predictions
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B.B. Hemingway
All-American
I think we get Wisconsin, and Minnesota (maybe Oregon). 9-3/10-2.... Ho-hum
I AM FOOT FOOT
Starter
Isn't Minnie really thin on oline this year or am I wrong?
HuskerPowerVA
Special Teams Player
At first glade this made me a little angry. That was my heart doing the analysis. But the more you look, it appears to be a very honey and unbiased prediction that might very well ring true. Losing to PSU would suck, especially because I will probably be there. I agree this that is a critical year for MR to start producing. So far, he has mended fences with his nice guy personality. I just wonder if he will ever bring a tradition of intensity and winning back to become the Big Red Machine. More of the same in that we beat the weaker teams but do not compete against elite competition.
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Touchdown Tommie
All-Conference
Yes. Didn't even have a full line for spring ball I believe. They will be young. The whole Fleck thing has people believing the Goofs will be great...or shall I say, elite!
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OH HSKR FAN
Special Teams Player
This is opinion.
Nebfanatic
All-American
I think we are just as talented if not more talented than last year. This prediction is reasonable I suppose but I don't get the "where is this teams talent" take when we had so much offensive talent last year according to experts.
84HuskerLaw
All-Conference
I guess predicting 7-5 is not beyond the realm of the possible considering that's about the 'average' of the past two seasons under Riley and we are not returning a bunch of all conference honorees. We do have to face the fact that we are NOT overloaded with talent, based on the past 5 years of recruiting and overall performance. I really believe we will be better overall at QB despite the loss of one our NU's all time QB leaders in terms of yards, games, experience, etc.
Beyond QB, I think you can reasonably argue that our receivers, as a group, ought to be as good or maybe better in terms of overall playmaking ability and pure speed. The RBs as a group, every bit as talented and with another year of experience, learning, strength and condtioning, should be a little better. Nothing against T Newby but he was only marginally better than those pushing him and he was not all conference. I doubt seriously any of this year's bunch will earn that honor either but I do see the group being better overall. TEs should be more than adequate for their role insofar as we've seen it thus far in Riley's offensive systems. Our FB spot should be better (maybe not Jano good) but better than last year. The O line is admittedly a little hard to assess but I am of the view that the guys who will make up the 2 deep will have more time and practice and time in development and confidence and unity / cohesion building time than any in the past several. I base this on the fact that Riley and company have been building and planning for this point for over two years and presumably have done more things right than wrong in this regard. Again, injuries are going to be a real issue in the line so we need a lot of luck to avoid the kind of depth problems we've had for several years.
All things being considered, I see much better QB play (perhaps Lee will play upto his potential and if so we'll be quite capable there), and he will be surrounded by a 'no name' bunch who can contribute and make plays and we can and should be able to get first downs and will be quite capable of scoring from almost anywhere inside the opponents 35. This gives us a real chance to sustain drives and we'll get plenty of field goals from Brown if we get inside the 30. Field goals help us on defense as we get to put the opponent in long field positions more.
Will we be overpowering? Not likely. Will we be more overpowering than last year? Not likely. Will we be a weaker offense? Not likely.
Will we be efficient on offense? Very likely. More so than last year? Very very likely. Will we score more? Quite likely.
On defense, we replace some playmakers but nobody who was all conference or All American caliber. We should be more athletic. If our D line play is even modestly better, we should be better on defense.
Special teams offers excellent place kicking returns with a quality player, punting has to get better as it can't be worse surely, and coverage and so on has every chance to improve as we should be quicker and more aggressive, and our punt returner should be MUCH improved.
Will we be national title contender on defense? NO. Can we win the Big Ten West? Certainly.
Will we be national title contender on offense? NO. Can we win the Big Ten West? Quite certainly.
Special teams national title conder calibert? NO. Can we win the Big Ten West? Certainly.
Can we win the Big Ten? It is NOT impossible but the odds have got to be about 1 in 10 at best.
Are we better than 7-5? Quite probably.
Beyond QB, I think you can reasonably argue that our receivers, as a group, ought to be as good or maybe better in terms of overall playmaking ability and pure speed. The RBs as a group, every bit as talented and with another year of experience, learning, strength and condtioning, should be a little better. Nothing against T Newby but he was only marginally better than those pushing him and he was not all conference. I doubt seriously any of this year's bunch will earn that honor either but I do see the group being better overall. TEs should be more than adequate for their role insofar as we've seen it thus far in Riley's offensive systems. Our FB spot should be better (maybe not Jano good) but better than last year. The O line is admittedly a little hard to assess but I am of the view that the guys who will make up the 2 deep will have more time and practice and time in development and confidence and unity / cohesion building time than any in the past several. I base this on the fact that Riley and company have been building and planning for this point for over two years and presumably have done more things right than wrong in this regard. Again, injuries are going to be a real issue in the line so we need a lot of luck to avoid the kind of depth problems we've had for several years.
All things being considered, I see much better QB play (perhaps Lee will play upto his potential and if so we'll be quite capable there), and he will be surrounded by a 'no name' bunch who can contribute and make plays and we can and should be able to get first downs and will be quite capable of scoring from almost anywhere inside the opponents 35. This gives us a real chance to sustain drives and we'll get plenty of field goals from Brown if we get inside the 30. Field goals help us on defense as we get to put the opponent in long field positions more.
Will we be overpowering? Not likely. Will we be more overpowering than last year? Not likely. Will we be a weaker offense? Not likely.
Will we be efficient on offense? Very likely. More so than last year? Very very likely. Will we score more? Quite likely.
On defense, we replace some playmakers but nobody who was all conference or All American caliber. We should be more athletic. If our D line play is even modestly better, we should be better on defense.
Special teams offers excellent place kicking returns with a quality player, punting has to get better as it can't be worse surely, and coverage and so on has every chance to improve as we should be quicker and more aggressive, and our punt returner should be MUCH improved.
Will we be national title contender on defense? NO. Can we win the Big Ten West? Certainly.
Will we be national title contender on offense? NO. Can we win the Big Ten West? Quite certainly.
Special teams national title conder calibert? NO. Can we win the Big Ten West? Certainly.
Can we win the Big Ten? It is NOT impossible but the odds have got to be about 1 in 10 at best.
Are we better than 7-5? Quite probably.
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SuperBigFan69
Head Coach
7-5 this year...with next year being the "Oh my gosh, super hard schedule" year...well MR might as well get ready to "retire"
SE is a smart man. I would imagine he has already sat down with MR and let him know something like this..."Coach, here it is, if you don't have a good season we will work out a nice retirement story for you, I want nothing more than for you to kick a$$ this year but some 6 or 7 win season is going to be a really hard sell"
SE is a smart man. I would imagine he has already sat down with MR and let him know something like this..."Coach, here it is, if you don't have a good season we will work out a nice retirement story for you, I want nothing more than for you to kick a$$ this year but some 6 or 7 win season is going to be a really hard sell"
Eh, I would say 7-8 wins will get the "we're acquiring more talent and have some new coaches" drum getting beat pretty hard. And they'll have plenty who will play along with the "that's pretty much what everyone expected pre-season" line. I would be shocked if Eichorst did anything as long as he has a winning record.
Now, it might get interesting if it's six or fewer.
SuperBigFan69
Head Coach
Yeah, you could be right. It also might depend on the 7 wins. Toss in one "upset" in there, an OSU, PSU maybe Wisconsin and Riley is probably okay.
OH HSKR FAN
Special Teams Player
I see 3 swing games, Wisconsin, Iowa and Oregon. Two losses in Ohio State and Penn State. The other 7 games I feel pretty good about.
Would like them to go 2-1in the swing games. Penn State and Ohio State have to be competitive.*
How I feel at 10:19PM, 7/19/2017.
Would like them to go 2-1in the swing games. Penn State and Ohio State have to be competitive.*
How I feel at 10:19PM, 7/19/2017.
Seems pretty obvious to me MU and tOSU are going to have more swag and finish ahead of NU in the Big-14. Then the question is how many other teams are going to be better? Haven't shown the ability to beat lowly Wisconsin, an Penn St. has recent momentum (disgusting) to make me think they also will finish ahead of NU. I've heard good things about the new gopher too.
My crystal ball says NU 5th or 6th in conference.
My crystal ball says NU 5th or 6th in conference.