Ground and Pound

speedtoburn said:
Exactly, and I agree that it would be an easier job to retool/recruit for a nasty OL.

Why on earth can't we eventually be as good as Wisconsin is now? The notion that we can't is absurd. 
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I mean, Wisconsin's not even all that good, so I think that is doable. The thing to realize is that when we were in the big 8, we had some stud athletes playing for us that wouldn't pass a 3rd grade entrance exam. Times have changed. When we were in the big 12, we were lucky enough to be the only decent school in the North, even when we weren't that good.

Things are quite a bit different now. Wisconsin is consistently good. Iowa is inconsistently good. From a wins perspective, we would probably be having more successful seasons having stayed in the Big 12.

Nebraska just isn't what it used to be and hasn't been for a long time. The recipe for success has changed since Tom Osborne was coaching. 

Again, I want to reiterate that there is no reason Nebraska can't be as good as Wisconsin is now. But there is also no reason to believe that we will be any time soon. We're just a has-been program at this point until someone changes that. And who knows who and when that'll be and what it will take. If it were easy, we'd already be there...

 
HuskerMav11 said:
I mean, Wisconsin's not even all that good, so I think that is doable. The thing to realize is that when we were in the big 8, we had some stud athletes playing for us that wouldn't pass a 3rd grade entrance exam. Times have changed. When we were in the big 12, we were lucky enough to be the only decent school in the North, even when we weren't that good.

Things are quite a bit different now. Wisconsin is consistently good. Iowa is inconsistently good. From a wins perspective, we would probably be having more successful seasons having stayed in the Big 12.

Nebraska just isn't what it used to be and hasn't been for a long time. The recipe for success has changed since Tom Osborne was coaching. 

Again, I want to reiterate that there is no reason Nebraska can't be as good as Wisconsin is now. But there is also no reason to believe that we will be any time soon. We're just a has-been program at this point until someone changes that. And who knows who and when that'll be and what it will take. If it were easy, we'd already be there...




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Mav,

Sadly, I can't disagree with this statement, which is pretty awful to admit.

 
I've always believed this was the most efficient way for Neb. to be successful.

I don't think anyone will argue that there is a strong correlation between O-line success and overall team success.

Teams like Wisc., Iowa, Neb. etc. aren't going to be able to grab those rare tall, mobile, flexible pass blocking tackles you need for a pro style offense. Those guys are gonna go to USC, Ohio St., Mich, etc.

We can get big strong guys that are willing to work hard, put in the time (which can be years), and want to hit and play hard nosed football.

I want to believe that there are young guys in the mid-west region that have a dream to play for NU, and not just have a dream to play div. 1 football anywhere. There are guys that are willing to give it there all for 3 or 4 years just to start for 1 year because its an honor just to wear that N on the side of your head.

 
brophog said:
Those three teams sure have their fair share of them in the NFL. 

But I don't know what you guys mean by "pro style offense". Maybe the pros don't run one.
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Most NFL teams are throwing roughly 35 times per game. They are looking for tackles (especially on the blind side) that fit the characteristics that I mentioned; unfortunately, there are only so many of those rare athletes that come around every recruiting class and they normally want to play for teams like USC, Mich, Ohio St., ND, (basically teams that have a tradition of running NFL style offense, that traditionally  send lots of tackles into the NFL early in the draft).

Wisc., Iowa, Mich St. Neb. are better suited towards recruiting bigger bodied lineman and developing them for 3+ years. At that point, there is certainly a place for guys like that in the NFL, as well (usually on the interior of the line, and later in the draft)

Key word is "develop." Wisc. seems to be winning at that dept. at this point.

 
Both wiscy and iowa do this.  Big guys on both sides of ball.  Keep the pressure off the qb so he can have time to make a good decision back there.  

 
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