Does anyone think we'll be better next year?

[Undone]

If Riley were 7-2 right now, there would be a lot of complaints that he was not a significant upgrade over Bo Pelini and should never have been hired.

Might be noteworthy, but doesn't answer the question I had.

 

[Undone]

As for Enhance89's comments above, I don't always agree with him, but from what I can tell he is a poster who calls it like he sees it. I don't think he pulls punches from either the coaches or the players if it looks like their effort is lacking.

I agree with that assessment of Enhance, yes.

 

[NUinID]

I think we will be a marginally better football team. Honestly, how could we not?

However, the schedule gets much tougher, so I think our record will be similar to what it is this year. 4-8, 5-7 something along those lines.

I don't think MR makes it to the 2017 season. (If he loses out in bad fashion, he may be lucky to get to 2016 season)

I am curious where are schedule gets "much tougher"? I just want to know your reasoning. NU swaps MSU for OSU I guess you can view Ohio St. as being a ton better than Sparty, but it is swapping one really good team for another really good team. Are you seeing Oregon that made the NC game last year or the team that will have a hard time finishing 7-5 this year? I don't see an over all tougher schedule. Wisconsin is Wisconsin, NW is NW, Minnesota is Minnesota. Is Maryland and Indiana better than Rutgers?

I am just interested why you think so.

who was our toughest road game this year? Miami, who fired their coach mid season? Next year:

AT OSU

AT Wiscy

AT Iowa

and yes, I think Oregon 2016 is will be tougher than Byu and Miami because their offense stats are still top 15 tange, but I admit that is debatable.

I guess just because a game is on the road I don't see it as being tougher. Playing Iowa and Wisconsin on the road is just the way it is. Yes, I agree Oregon may be tougher than BYU or Miami this year. But I would rather play Oregon at home next year than BYU on the road. BYU should be pretty good again next year.

 

[cm husker]

out of curiosity, what is the difference between "bad luck" and "bone head plays"?

is "bad luck" a euphemism for bad coaching? Or is bad coaching caught under bone head plays?

just trying to track the rationalizations accurately.

I guess you're asking me since I used those terms in my post above. Although I really don't know what you're getting at in asking this. I find it hard to believe that you don't know the difference between a boneheaded play and just plain bad luck. Really, you don't know the difference?

Okay then, here you go. Let's look to the Miami game for a couple of examples.

Bad luck play: Miami's interception at the end of the third quarter. Tommy threw a decent pass to Brandon Reilly right at the 1st down line. It hit Reilly in the hands right as the defender made contact, and bounced up in the air. The two Miami defenders collide with Reilly, and #2 goes rolling on the ground. He rolls over, laying flat on his back, and the ball falls right in his lap. That pick was just due to an unlucky bounce for us. LINK

Boneheaded play: First play in OT. Tommy rolls right. He has Taariq Allen headed to the corner of the endzone. Instead of throwing it to the back corner of the endzone where it will either be a TD or fall incomplete, Tommy throws it about 10 yards short. Corn Elder picks it off and runs it back to midfield. You can see it here at 12:12: LINK

I hope this helps.

Nope, it doesn't. You're arbitrary assigning bad luck to one play failure and bone headed to another.

 

[NUance]

out of curiosity, what is the difference between "bad luck" and "bone head plays"?

is "bad luck" a euphemism for bad coaching? Or is bad coaching caught under bone head plays?

just trying to track the rationalizations accurately.

I guess you're asking me since I used those terms in my post above. Although I really don't know what you're getting at in asking this. I find it hard to believe that you don't know the difference between a boneheaded play and just plain bad luck. Really, you don't know the difference?

Okay then, here you go. Let's look to the Miami game for a couple of examples.

Bad luck play: Miami's interception at the end of the third quarter. Tommy threw a decent pass to Brandon Reilly right at the 1st down line. It hit Reilly in the hands right as the defender made contact, and bounced up in the air. The two Miami defenders collide with Reilly, and #2 goes rolling on the ground. He rolls over, laying flat on his back, and the ball falls right in his lap. That pick was just due to an unlucky bounce for us. LINK

Boneheaded play: First play in OT. Tommy rolls right. He has Taariq Allen headed to the corner of the endzone. Instead of throwing it to the back corner of the endzone where it will either be a TD or fall incomplete, Tommy throws it about 10 yards short. Corn Elder picks it off and runs it back to midfield. You can see it here at 12:12: LINK

I hope this helps.

Nope, it doesn't. You're arbitrary assigning bad luck to one play failure and bone headed to another.

So which is it: Do you think Tommy made a boneheaded throw to Reilly that bounced off his hands and into the lap of the defender lying on the ground (in my bad luck example)? Or do you think it was just bad luck that Tommy underthrew Taariq Allen in the endzone and hit Corn Elder squarely in the chest for an interception (in my boneheaded play example)?

I'll bet I could post these two plays on the front page of HB and ask members to select one as a boneheaded play and the other as a bad luck play, and 99% of our members would pick them the way I've described them. That and the fact that you have two warning points in the last two days leads me to believe that this conversation, like many of your other recent conversations, is just a feeble attempt at trolling. Perhaps you should consider changing the way you interact with other HB members.

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

If Riley were 7-2 right now, there would be a lot of complaints that he was not a significant upgrade over Bo Pelini and should never have been hired.

Might be noteworthy, but doesn't answer the question I had.

I'm merely suggesting Mike Riley would have been blamed rather than credited by some for "motivating" his team to a 7-2 season, as I suspect any two losses prior to MSU would have been unacceptable to the people who didn't like the hire.

I think the eyeball test is always required. You want to see effort for all four quarters and new players stepping up, especially when things go south. That's why the continued penalties bugged me more than the close losses early in the season. Now it's more the losses themselves. And no newcomers stepping up to fill the vacuum.

Mike Riley would have gotten credit if the scrappy team that suffered two last second losses had rebounded to score a couple last second wins. Then built on that to score an upset of an unbeaten Michigan State. But that doesn't appear to be happening.

 

[Enhance]

I don't think all the players have given up, but, some of them appear not to care as much as they did early season. I can't say I completely blame them; however, attitude really comes down to the individual.

And will you say the same thing if at the same point next season we're 3-9? Serious question.

If there's an obvious attitude problem, yes. I believe there is one right now.

As I said earlier, I'm not saying attitude or lack of effort are the only problems. There are several, too numerous to list out. Some mental, others physical. I think the season started out with close losses because of coaching - not just bad coaching decisions, but also players still trying to learn and understand what's being asked of them. Now, given all that's happened, a lack of effort seems to be just icing the cake.

Nebraska does not go down 42-16 against Purdue because their secondary is poor or their running game is inconsistent. IMHO, Nebraska goes down 42-16 against Purdue because some of the team has given up. However, it really is a combination of so many things.

 

[NebraskaShellback]

Who knows, ask Shawn, he will pump you up for next year.

2016 ??

Fresno State ??

Wyoming??

Oregon ??

at Northwestern ??

Illinois ??

at Indiana ??

Purdue??

at Wisconsin L

at Ohio State L

Minnesota ??

Maryland??

at Iowa??

?? = Unknown

It will be interesting next year is for sure, that we all know at this point with this team.

 

[MichiganDad3]

If MR and staff are here next year things will get slightly better. I predict a 500 season. If MR is gone along with SE, then I predict at least 9 wins.

 

[Undone]

If MR and staff are here next year things will get slightly better. I predict a 500 season. If MR is gone along with SE, then I predict at least 9 wins.

Doesn't make any sense or have any grounding, but thanks for weighing in.

 

[HuskerShark]

Yes, I do. How much better, I don't know. At this point, we have no idea how much progress will be made teaching the offensive, defensive, and special teams schemes, as well as the mental aspect of our players.

I really do think HCMR knows how to develop a winning program, and I want to give him a chance to do so, but the total failure of this season has made that really hard. There really need to be some changes with his assistants.

I'm really not trying to be snarky here, but what would make you think Riley knows how to develop a winning program based on a pretty extensive resume over 30 years where he never built a consistent winner and certainly not a champion?

I hear what you're saying, but here's my answer:

His run at Oregon State from 2006 to 2009.

2006: 10-4

2007: 9-4

2008: 9-4

2009: 8-5

All 4 of those seasons:

OC: Danny Langsdorf

DC: Mark Banker

Those seasons might seem very average to us as Husker fans, but for Oregon State, that's phenomenal.

His team finished 2nd or 3rd each of those 4 seasons. At a school like OSU with so few resources, he was able to compete and win big games. Even last year, his team was able to knock off Arizona State. My hopeful thinking is that he's able to put something together here and catch lightning in a bottle and go get a conference championship, and I think that he deserves some time to show whether or not he can do that.

 

[Tomhusker64]

Let me add: it had better be better if MR and Co want to have a third year

 

[GOAT]

I'm going to say that yes it will be better, at least record-wise, only because it'd be nearly impossible to be worse. Im sure that Riley has been saying "just wait til Patrick O'Brien gets here" to anyone who will listen, and because of that Patrick O'Brien will be thrust into the starting role, and that we'll finish in the 7-5 range. Because of that, the AD will be sure to emphasize our "marked improvement" and Riley will save himself yet again. Riley has actually put himself into the perfect position, because he knows he's going to be retained this season no matter what, and from here there's nowhere to go but up. It's a scary thought, but true.

 

[Husker Psycho]

out of curiosity, what is the difference between "bad luck" and "bone head plays"?

is "bad luck" a euphemism for bad coaching? Or is bad coaching caught under bone head plays?

just trying to track the rationalizations accurately.

I guess you're asking me since I used those terms in my post above. Although I really don't know what you're getting at in asking this. I find it hard to believe that you don't know the difference between a boneheaded play and just plain bad luck. Really, you don't know the difference?

Okay then, here you go. Let's look to the Miami game for a couple of examples.

Bad luck play: Miami's interception at the end of the third quarter. Tommy threw a decent pass to Brandon Reilly right at the 1st down line. It hit Reilly in the hands right as the defender made contact, and bounced up in the air. The two Miami defenders collide with Reilly, and #2 goes rolling on the ground. He rolls over, laying flat on his back, and the ball falls right in his lap. That pick was just due to an unlucky bounce for us. LINK

Boneheaded play: First play in OT. Tommy rolls right. He has Taariq Allen headed to the corner of the endzone. Instead of throwing it to the back corner of the endzone where it will either be a TD or fall incomplete, Tommy throws it about 10 yards short. Corn Elder picks it off and runs it back to midfield. You can see it here at 12:12: LINK

I hope this helps.

Nope, it doesn't. You're arbitrary assigning bad luck to one play failure and bone headed to another.

So which is it: Do you think Tommy made a boneheaded throw to Reilly that bounced off his hands and into the lap of the defender lying on the ground (in my bad luck example)? Or do you think it was just bad luck that Tommy underthrew Taariq Allen in the endzone and hit Corn Elder squarely in the chest for an interception (in my boneheaded play example)?

I'll bet I could post these two plays on the front page of HB and ask members to select one as a boneheaded play and the other as a bad luck play, and 99% of our members would pick them the way I've described them. That and the fact that you have two warning points in the last two days leads me to believe that this conversation, like many of your other recent conversations, is just a feeble attempt at trolling. Perhaps you should consider changing the way you interact with other HB members.

Both plays were bone head plays. Reilly should have caught the pass... he didn't. Bone head play on his part... and his bone head play resulted in an interception.

Neither play had anything to do with luck or bad luck.

Assigning "bad luck" to Nebraska's mistakes and failures in just another example of the endless excuse making we've seen for the last 18 years.

 

[GOAT]

I have the perfect scenario: If Banker is still here, Oregon may drop 80 on us at home. Hopefully afterwards they'll tell Riley to get on the plane back to Oregon, and they'll let Frost stay and take his place.