It'sNotAFakeID
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Consistency: Where does Nebraska rank?
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It'sNotAFakeID
All-American
A Model of Consistency?
Bo Pelini took over the reigns at the University of Nebraska when he was announced as the new head coach in 2008. Nebraska was coming off the heels of one of its more disappointing seasons, and the future of the program was for the most optimistic of us rather hopeless. Nebraska couldn’t recruit the talent to make it a college football powerhouse anymore. 7 win seasons were going to become more common than 10 win seasons. But that future took a turn towards the brighter side when Nebraska, one year after missing a bowl game, finished the year 9-4 and emerged victorious in a Gator Bowl matchup against Clemson. Bo Pelini was, after all, just a first time head coach in his first year of being a head coach. The typical predictor of the future success of a head coach is where that coach has his team in his third season. Nick Saban led Alabama to a national championship in his third year running the Tide. Brian Kelly led Notre Dame to an appearance in the national championship game in his third year in charge of the Irish. What about Bo Pelini? Where was Nebraska in his third season? Just one win better at 10-4; no conference titles, just a couple of bowl wins. However, Nebraska hasn’t dropped below 9 wins, nor risen above 10 wins. We seem to be cemented into this position. And it’s irritating. 10 wins nowadays isn’t good enough to win a conference championship or a BCS bowl, something that fans, myself included, yearn for.
But this pattern of 9-10-10-9-10-9 puts Nebraska in a company with just two other teams: Oregon and Alabama as the only teams to win at least 9 games in the past 6 seasons. And while Oregon and Alabama have some more serious hardware to accompany that consistency, Nebraska can still place itself at the same table with those two programs. A common argument against the above fact is that it’s much easier to win 9 games a year than in the past. All that needs to be said to counter that is to mention that if it was indeed so easy, why have only 3 teams accomplished it?
But I digress, so instead of looking at how many teams have won 9 games per year in the past 6 seasons, let’s take a look at the number of times teams have finished in the final Top 25, and look at the breakdown of those teams appearing in the final 25 more times than Nebraska in the past 6 seasons. Nebraska has finished in the final 25 four times under Bo Pelini.
Here are the teams with the same or more seasons finishing in the Top 25 than Nebraska, as well as how high they’ve finished, how low they’ve finished, their last time in the Top 25, and their average ranking when finishing in the Top 25.
USC 4 H3 L22 2013 12.5
Oklahoma 5 H5 L16 2013 9.6
Alabama 6 H1 L10 2013 4.3
TCU 4 H2 L14 2011 7.3
Ohio State 5 H3 L12 2013 6.8
Oregon 6 H2 L11 2013 6.5
Boise State 5 H4 L18 2012 10
Virginia Tech 4 H10 L21 2011 15.5
Oklahoma State 4 H3 L17 2013 12.3
Florida State 5 H1 L23 2013 14.4
Michigan State 4 H3 L24 2013 13
Wisconsin 4 H7 L22 2013 13.8
LSU 5 H2 L17 2013 11
Clemson 4 H8 L24 2013 16.3
Stanford 4 H4 L11 2013 7.3
South Carolina 4 H4 L22 2013 10.8
Nebraska 4 H14 L25 2012 20.8
These are the teams who have achieved the same level of success or higher levels of success as Nebraska under Bo Pelini these last 6 seasons. Out of these teams, I would rank Nebraska near the bottom, ahead of TCU and Virginia Tech, but that’s it. Our average ranking when we do finish in the Top 25 is the highest out of all the teams on this list. The only reason I’m putting us in front of TCU and Virginia Tech is we have the more recent appearance in the Top 25.
Bo Pelini took over the reigns at the University of Nebraska when he was announced as the new head coach in 2008. Nebraska was coming off the heels of one of its more disappointing seasons, and the future of the program was for the most optimistic of us rather hopeless. Nebraska couldn’t recruit the talent to make it a college football powerhouse anymore. 7 win seasons were going to become more common than 10 win seasons. But that future took a turn towards the brighter side when Nebraska, one year after missing a bowl game, finished the year 9-4 and emerged victorious in a Gator Bowl matchup against Clemson. Bo Pelini was, after all, just a first time head coach in his first year of being a head coach. The typical predictor of the future success of a head coach is where that coach has his team in his third season. Nick Saban led Alabama to a national championship in his third year running the Tide. Brian Kelly led Notre Dame to an appearance in the national championship game in his third year in charge of the Irish. What about Bo Pelini? Where was Nebraska in his third season? Just one win better at 10-4; no conference titles, just a couple of bowl wins. However, Nebraska hasn’t dropped below 9 wins, nor risen above 10 wins. We seem to be cemented into this position. And it’s irritating. 10 wins nowadays isn’t good enough to win a conference championship or a BCS bowl, something that fans, myself included, yearn for.
But this pattern of 9-10-10-9-10-9 puts Nebraska in a company with just two other teams: Oregon and Alabama as the only teams to win at least 9 games in the past 6 seasons. And while Oregon and Alabama have some more serious hardware to accompany that consistency, Nebraska can still place itself at the same table with those two programs. A common argument against the above fact is that it’s much easier to win 9 games a year than in the past. All that needs to be said to counter that is to mention that if it was indeed so easy, why have only 3 teams accomplished it?
But I digress, so instead of looking at how many teams have won 9 games per year in the past 6 seasons, let’s take a look at the number of times teams have finished in the final Top 25, and look at the breakdown of those teams appearing in the final 25 more times than Nebraska in the past 6 seasons. Nebraska has finished in the final 25 four times under Bo Pelini.
Here are the teams with the same or more seasons finishing in the Top 25 than Nebraska, as well as how high they’ve finished, how low they’ve finished, their last time in the Top 25, and their average ranking when finishing in the Top 25.
USC 4 H3 L22 2013 12.5
Oklahoma 5 H5 L16 2013 9.6
Alabama 6 H1 L10 2013 4.3
TCU 4 H2 L14 2011 7.3
Ohio State 5 H3 L12 2013 6.8
Oregon 6 H2 L11 2013 6.5
Boise State 5 H4 L18 2012 10
Virginia Tech 4 H10 L21 2011 15.5
Oklahoma State 4 H3 L17 2013 12.3
Florida State 5 H1 L23 2013 14.4
Michigan State 4 H3 L24 2013 13
Wisconsin 4 H7 L22 2013 13.8
LSU 5 H2 L17 2013 11
Clemson 4 H8 L24 2013 16.3
Stanford 4 H4 L11 2013 7.3
South Carolina 4 H4 L22 2013 10.8
Nebraska 4 H14 L25 2012 20.8
These are the teams who have achieved the same level of success or higher levels of success as Nebraska under Bo Pelini these last 6 seasons. Out of these teams, I would rank Nebraska near the bottom, ahead of TCU and Virginia Tech, but that’s it. Our average ranking when we do finish in the Top 25 is the highest out of all the teams on this list. The only reason I’m putting us in front of TCU and Virginia Tech is we have the more recent appearance in the Top 25.
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HuskerNationNick
All-Conference
Honestly, the only thing that we are constant at, is turning the ball over and shooting ourselves in the foot.
I would put money on it, that we win most of the games we have lost in Pelini's tenure if we limited them. Not blaming this on coaches, as you can only do so much, but its a signature here, which isn't good.
I would put money on it, that we win most of the games we have lost in Pelini's tenure if we limited them. Not blaming this on coaches, as you can only do so much, but its a signature here, which isn't good.
Guy Chamberlin
Heisman Trophy Winner
Nine wins is nothing to sneeze at and I guess the numbers don't lie, but as far as passing the eye, ears, nose and gut test, Nebraska doesn't sit at the same table as Oregon and Alabama.
RedRedJarvisRedwine
All-American
People keep using Oregon and Bama in the same sentence! I just don't get it. They've had some success but IMO they are nowhere near the same caliber as Alabama. Ask the powers that be at Oregon if they would trade their last decade of success for 5 national titles and 3 heisman trophies in their trophy case.
JJ Husker
Assistant Coach
I agree, but if we're going to play which one of these doesn't belong, Nebraska over the past 6 seasons doesn't merit mentioning with either Bama or Oregon. I think we all realize that and want something much more substantial than a 9 win paper lion stat that is highly attributable to a plethora of less than stellar competition. Maybe I'm strange and have some bygone sense of entitlement but I am really not impressed at all with this nine win deal. Sure it's better than eight or fewer but it loses it's luster when you factor in the games where we beat ourselves, got blown out, and have no signature wins or hardware to show for the effort. Here's to hoping for brighter and better in the immediate future.
It'sNotAFakeID
All-American
It's another take on knapp's thread. Perhaps it should've gone in there.
EbylHusker
Banned
It's impressive and nothing to sneeze at, but also not quite as impressive as it appears on the surface (like if you're just looking at stats and not analyzing patterns that we see season after season). The end result for me is that although some recurring problems were not fixed, there were definite signs of improvement in the second half of the season. Doubly so considering the injuries we had. So I'd like to see what this staff can do next season.
It'sNotAFakeID
All-American
NUance
Assistant Coach
It'sNotAFakeID
All-American
Remember that they had that good season a few years ago. I think they ended up beating Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl. Of course, it was a lot easier to achieve better records when the teams they were playing on a regular basis weren't Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, etc... That's evidenced by the last time they finished in the Top 25 being two years ago.
