Who really gives a sh*t about 9 wins?! It's about quality wins and quality losses too. Everyone is so caught up in the BS of 9 win syndrome for way too many years now. And especially since the regular season went to 12 games, 9 wins doesn't even come close to same meaning as it did in the 80's and 90's.
As far as 9 wins, do you feel the Huskers had a great season or even a good season last year? Unranked and got blown out in two of their most important games and lost their 3rd most important game in OT. Name one really quality win in 2016? Oregon? At the moment the media played the game up as a huge win, but the "experts" knew Oregon was a joke and the season proved it. Nebraska beat zero teams in the Top 25. The season was a mess. Arguably 2015 was better at 6-7.
Same thing happened in 2003 when Solich got fired. People still want to go back to this and b!^@h and moan about firing a coach that had 9 wins. But they had zero quality wins and were blown out in their 3 most important games, 41-24 to Mizzou, 31-7 to Texas and 38-9 to Kan St. In 2002, they lost to Penn St 40-7, Iowa St 36-14, Kan St 49-14, Colo 28-13 and a close loss to Texas and OK St and lost 5 of last 7 games. Solich teams were lazy like their coaching staff had become. They didn't bust their a$$ recruiting anymore, because they just thought, "Hey, we're Nebraska, the recruits will come here to play". That's why Solich got fired.
The same stuff has been happening ever since. Do we have lowered expectations? Hell yes we do, if we were born before 1980. Just think about the kids that will be Freshman this year at Nebraska. They are 18 years old. What do they know of Nebraska Football? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING BUT MEDIOCRITY!!! No Conference Titles. A BS National Title appearance when they were one year old! They basically might remember the last year of Callahan, then start to get excited during Bo's tenure, but saw the roller coaster ride that he brought, and now Riley. They have seen nothing but mediocrity. So I suppose if you're one of them, these are their expectations.
Preseason 36th?!! If that is not lowered expectations for everyone involved then why do we spend the money we do on this program? YES, EXPECTATIONS HAVE TO BE DISAPPOINTING. And by hiring a lifetime .500 coach in Riley, that is what our expectations should be. MEDIOCRITY AT BEST.