How many years did it take

[knapplc]

What are people going to do when we do have that down season and go 5-7? I do not want it to happen, but a season of bad luck, injuries etc. can happen to even the great programs. Hopefully we do not over react and pull a Pederson...

That could happen as soon as next year.

 

[Joe_5700]

What are people going to do when we do have that down season and go 5-7? I do not want it to happen, but a season of bad luck, injuries etc. can happen to even the great programs. Hopefully we do not over react and pull a Pederson...

That could happen as soon as next year.

I fully agree. Now tell me why you think it will happen? The loss of David, Crick, and Dennard coupled with some bad defensive efforts in 2011? Is there anything the coaching staff could fix to prevent it or is it based on what we have and what other teams will have in 2012?

 

[junior4949]

How long did Solich last? Four years or five? He was fired after a 10-3 season.

Yeah, but LOL Steve Pederson.

One of the great burning questions that I've had in my mind for 5 years now is, Where would the program be had Solich not been fired? Would he still be coaching? How successful would he have been? Too bad we'll never know.

From what I have read in the past is that the talent pool was draining under Solich which was pretty evident in Callahan's first couple years, also that Solich didn't have much of the attention and respect from the players during his stint. But to also answer your question is that it would have been interesting to see what he "could" have done, but at the same time probably not bring in the talent that Callahan did, Taylor, Lucky, Suh, Prince etc...

Spare me the silly recruiting stars BS.

There's about a mathematical and statistical zero chance Frank/Bo would have racked up losing seasons, worst losses in the history of NU cfb, 0 - 19 when down at halftine, etc, etc. It was a monstrously bad move in every single way that NU fans should never have had to endure. Thanks Pedey. I hope you rot forever at Pissburg.

We were damn lucky TO came back and saved our ship at it was listing badly to say the very least.

How did you feel after Solich went 7-7 during the goalpost tour in 2002? Or after 2003 when we had three losses by a total margin of 110 - 40? Those were also moments that a lot of us never thought we'd see. I never had a problem with firing Solich, it was everything after that up until Callahan's firing that I disagreed with.

We went 7-7 in 2002 for basically the same reason Texas didn't go bowling last season. Frank put everything into 2001 trying to bring home the trophy and his second team players saw very little action. Jamal Lord looked like a deer in the headlights in the 2002 season. In 2003, each and every team that beat us by that margin was a better team than we were. Again, look at Texas this year compared to us in 2003. I'd take our 2003 any day of the week and we didn't even have to pay Frank 5 million to get it. How do you feel about the two loss margin we sustained this year to Michigan and Wisconsin? Wisconsin is better than us, but I don't think Michigan is. If we're going to go down this road, then it appears Bo needs fired before the bowl game.

I don't have a problem if Frank was fired for off the field encounters. I have a huge problem if he was fired for his coaching ability. For those who questioned him as an OC, he wasn't even the OC in 2003. He didn't call the plays in 2003. The infamous Barney Cotton did. We will never know where we'd be today if Solich wasn't fired, but what we do know is that Frank's DC is now our HC. BC inherited more first three round NFL players from Solich than Solich inherited from TO. The biggest problem with Frank's talent is that it was all loaded on the defensive side of the ball.

I have never gotten how everyone is enamored by what Gill did at Buffalo claiming him to be this good/great coach all the while Frank has done just as much if not more at Ohio. In his seven years at Ohio, he's won his division in the MAC three times. In only his second year at Ohio, he took them to a bowl which was the first time they'd been invited to a bowl since 1968. I think some people tend to forget the players BC inherited from Solich. He inherited Matt Herian, Cory Ross, Richie Incognito, Stewart Bradley, one of the Bullocks twins, Adam Carriker, Jay Moore, Barrett and Bo Ruud, and Fabian Washington. How many of these guys have or are still playing in the NFL?

Bo Ruud shouldn't be on that list if you're trying to point out talent that Solich left behind.

Your point about the Mich and Wisc losses this year is valid, except that qualitatively I don't think either has markedly better athletes than NU does this year. I definitely thought we were athletically outclassed by both UT and KSU in 2003. I thought at the time, and still do, that Solich's ceiling as a coach and recruiter was very low. The team as a whole lacked speed, and remarkably it seemed as if Solich didn't have the understanding of the offensive scheme he'd been a part of for decades. It's debatable whether firing him after the 2003 season was poor timing, but in my opinion he wasn't getting any better as a coach, and that was a tough pill to swallow for us fans after dominating for nearly a decade.

While clearly not to be mistaken as evidence necessarily, it is worth noting that Frank Solich has not been on any major program's radar (as far as I know) in terms of head coaching searches.

How many major program's radar was TO ever on? Take players off the list if you will, but the fact remains BC inherited more top three round NFL draft players from Solich than Solich did from TO. As far as speed, I believe Fabian Washington at the time posted the fasted 40 ever run at the combine. In six years at Nebraska, Solich was conference coach of the year twice. We ended up #2 in the polls in 99', and we played for a NC in 01'. Mack Brown played for a title and followed it up with a five win season and stayed home for the holidays. Solich didn't do this. Solich is a solid coach and was on the verge of surrounding himself with some great assistants. Who's to say our recruiting wouldn't have gotten a lot better? I guess if playing for championships and ending high in the polls is having a rather low ceiling, then I'll gladly take a coach with a low ceiling.

 

[HeyBurke]

Enough with the comparisons. Not even a direct correlation. Maybe, just maybe, if Bo hadn't proclaimed, quite loudly, that he was sick of Nebraska, we wouldn't be in this mess. His problem is not 100% due to on-field performance. It is because of his nature of an egotistical, paranoid bad guy that is his problem. FACT.

Care to back up this completely false claim with some evidence that a dude on Rivals made up to stir the pot?

 

[knapplc]

What are people going to do when we do have that down season and go 5-7? I do not want it to happen, but a season of bad luck, injuries etc. can happen to even the great programs. Hopefully we do not over react and pull a Pederson...

That could happen as soon as next year.

I fully agree. Now tell me why you think it will happen? The loss of David, Crick, and Dennard coupled with some bad defensive efforts in 2011? Is there anything the coaching staff could fix to prevent it or is it based on what we have and what other teams will have in 2012?

That is exactly why. We lose the three best play-makers on our defense. If our defense could take a step back from 2010 to 2011, it can take another in 2012. The aura of Bo's defensive genius took a major hit this year. He has a lot of work to do to shore up some gaping holes at all three levels of the defense.

Combine that with a schedule featuring nine teams in the top 55 of Sagarin's current ratings (I know the danger of using this year to project next year), and four teams with a minimum of ten wins this year, and you're looking at a schedule that could be more difficult than this year's.

We are scheduled for 11 games so far. Presuming #12 is some fill-in chump, that means that 10 of our 12 opponents next year will have gone to bowl games this year. At the moment the only team on our 2012 schedule that will definitely NOT be bowling this year is Minnesota.

Could the staff do something to fix this? Sure, but then they could have done something after last year as well. We have the players in the locker room. For whatever reason, that talent on paper didn't translate to a solid defense this year. I have no explanation why, but if it happened once it can happen again. Only next year there will be no Lavonte David to save our butts up front and no Alfonzo Dennard to lock down half the secondary.

We CAN do it. I just don't have as much confidence that we will as I did this time last year.

 

[Mavric]

That is exactly why. We lose the three best play-makers on our defense. If our defense could take a step back from 2010 to 2011, it can take another in 2012. The aura of Bo's defensive genius took a major hit this year. He has a lot of work to do to shore up some gaping holes at all three levels of the defense.

Combine that with a schedule featuring nine teams in the top 55 of Sagarin's current ratings (I know the danger of using this year to project next year), and four teams with a minimum of ten wins this year, and you're looking at a schedule that could be more difficult than this year's.

We are scheduled for 11 games so far. Presuming #12 is some fill-in chump, that means that 10 of our 12 opponents next year will have gone to bowl games this year. At the moment the only team on our 2012 schedule that will definitely NOT be bowling this year is Minnesota.

Could the staff do something to fix this? Sure, but then they could have done something after last year as well. We have the players in the locker room. For whatever reason, that talent on paper didn't translate to a solid defense this year. I have no explanation why, but if it happened once it can happen again. Only next year there will be no Lavonte David to save our butts up front and no Alfonzo Dennard to lock down half the secondary.

We CAN do it. I just don't have as much confidence that we will as I did this time last year.

Our conference schedule is exactly the same next year. So why is it such a big deal that we have to play a tough schedule next year but not acknowledge that's part of the reason for a tough year this year?

On paper the non-conference schedule looks to be tougher but I'm not really sure. Southern Miss and Arkansas St. have good records but look at their schedules. Who's Southern Miss' best win? Virginia? At best the third-best team in the fifth-best conference. And Southern Miss lost to UAB and Marshall. And Arkansas St.: Both Virgina Tech and Illinois handled them and their best win is probably Western Kentucky. UCLA only beat one team with a winning record (7-5 Cal) and, barring a miracle this weekend, will need a waiver to go to a bowl at 6-7.

Washington and Wyoming don't have as good of records as Southern Miss and Arkansas St. but most of their losses have come to Stanford, Oregon, USC, Boise St., TCU and us. I don't see many of those teams on the Southern Miss and Arkansas St. schedules. And trading Washington for a UCLA team in it's second game under a new staff is at worst an even trade.

The bright side of next year's defense is we loose a lot of quality but not a lot of quantity. Crick and Dennard only played half a year each (basically) and we'll hopefully have several healthy bodies to replace Crick. To hear a lot of people talk, it'll actually be an upgrade to be rid of Cassidy and Thorrell (I don't fall in that group). David is not replaceable but we should have at least four guys (Santos, Pirman, Whaley and JUCO Anderson) to fill in beside Compton.

Speaking of Compton, how about the improvement we saw in-season from several players? Compton, Steinkuhler, Green, Evans and Ankrah were all coming on strong as the season wore down. Throw in steady play from Meredith and Stafford (except for the Michigan game) and that's a very solid and experienced group to build around.

 

[knapplc]

I'm not sure what your first question is getting at. I'm not talking at all about this year, so acknowledging the difficulty of this year's schedule would be moot in my post. I agree it was difficult. Next year will also be difficult, but without three potential all-americans, one at each level of the defense.

And to reiterate, we CAN do it. I just don't have as much confidence that we will as I did this time last year.

 

[Jason Sitoke]

How long did Solich last? Four years or five? He was fired after a 10-3 season.

Yeah, but LOL Steve Pederson. One of the great burning questions that I've had in my mind for 5 years now is, Where would the program be had Solich not been fired? Would he still be coaching? How successful would he have been? Too bad we'll never know.

From what I have read in the past is that the talent pool was draining under Solich which was pretty evident in Callahan's first couple years, also that Solich didn't have much of the attention and respect from the players during his stint. But to also answer your question is that it would have been interesting to see what he "could" have done, but at the same time probably not bring in the talent that Callahan did, Taylor, Lucky, Suh, Prince etc...

Spare me the silly recruiting stars BS. There's about a mathematical and statistical zero chance Frank/Bo would have racked up losing seasons, worst losses in the history of NU cfb, 0 - 19 when down at halftine, etc, etc. It was a monstrously bad move in every single way that NU fans should never have had to endure. Thanks Pedey. I hope you rot forever at Pissburg. We were damn lucky TO came back and saved our ship at it was listing badly to say the very least.

How did you feel after Solich went 7-7 during the goalpost tour in 2002? Or after 2003 when we had three losses by a total margin of 110 - 40? Those were also moments that a lot of us never thought we'd see. I never had a problem with firing Solich, it was everything after that up until Callahan's firing that I disagreed with.

We went 7-7 in 2002 for basically the same reason Texas didn't go bowling last season. Frank put everything into 2001 trying to bring home the trophy and his second team players saw very little action. Jamal Lord looked like a deer in the headlights in the 2002 season. In 2003, each and every team that beat us by that margin was a better team than we were. Again, look at Texas this year compared to us in 2003. I'd take our 2003 any day of the week and we didn't even have to pay Frank 5 million to get it. How do you feel about the two loss margin we sustained this year to Michigan and Wisconsin? Wisconsin is better than us, but I don't think Michigan is. If we're going to go down this road, then it appears Bo needs fired before the bowl game. I don't have a problem if Frank was fired for off the field encounters. I have a huge problem if he was fired for his coaching ability. For those who questioned him as an OC, he wasn't even the OC in 2003. He didn't call the plays in 2003. The infamous Barney Cotton did. We will never know where we'd be today if Solich wasn't fired, but what we do know is that Frank's DC is now our HC. BC inherited more first three round NFL players from Solich than Solich inherited from TO. The biggest problem with Frank's talent is that it was all loaded on the defensive side of the ball. I have never gotten how everyone is enamored by what Gill did at Buffalo claiming him to be this good/great coach all the while Frank has done just as much if not more at Ohio. In his seven years at Ohio, he's won his division in the MAC three times. In only his second year at Ohio, he took them to a bowl which was the first time they'd been invited to a bowl since 1968. I think some people tend to forget the players BC inherited from Solich. He inherited Matt Herian, Cory Ross, Richie Incognito, Stewart Bradley, one of the Bullocks twins, Adam Carriker, Jay Moore, Barrett and Bo Ruud, and Fabian Washington. How many of these guys have or are still playing in the NFL?

Bo Ruud shouldn't be on that list if you're trying to point out talent that Solich left behind. Your point about the Mich and Wisc losses this year is valid, except that qualitatively I don't think either has markedly better athletes than NU does this year. I definitely thought we were athletically outclassed by both UT and KSU in 2003. I thought at the time, and still do, that Solich's ceiling as a coach and recruiter was very low. The team as a whole lacked speed, and remarkably it seemed as if Solich didn't have the understanding of the offensive scheme he'd been a part of for decades. It's debatable whether firing him after the 2003 season was poor timing, but in my opinion he wasn't getting any better as a coach, and that was a tough pill to swallow for us fans after dominating for nearly a decade. While clearly not to be mistaken as evidence necessarily, it is worth noting that Frank Solich has not been on any major program's radar (as far as I know) in terms of head coaching searches.

How many major program's radar was TO ever on? Take players off the list if you will, but the fact remains BC inherited more top three round NFL draft players from Solich than Solich did from TO. As far as speed, I believe Fabian Washington at the time posted the fasted 40 ever run at the combine. In six years at Nebraska, Solich was conference coach of the year twice. We ended up #2 in the polls in 99', and we played for a NC in 01'. Mack Brown played for a title and followed it up with a five win season and stayed home for the holidays. Solich didn't do this. Solich is a solid coach and was on the verge of surrounding himself with some great assistants. Who's to say our recruiting wouldn't have gotten a lot better? I guess if playing for championships and ending high in the polls is having a rather low ceiling, then I'll gladly take a coach with a low ceiling.

Who's to say Bill Callahan wasn't about to become a cutting edge player development coach? No one can prove it wasn't going to happen, but the evidence was to the contrary. Bottom line is that we were slipping in recruiting and at the time, it was unfathomable for the NU fanbase to accept the idea that we weren't among the big boys anymore. You can argue that Solich was a good coach. I tend to think there are many more that are better.

 

[Mavric]

I'm not sure what your first question is getting at. I'm not talking at all about this year, so acknowledging the difficulty of this year's schedule would be moot in my post. I agree it was difficult. Next year will also be difficult, but without three potential all-americans, one at each level of the defense.

And to reiterate, we CAN do it. I just don't have as much confidence that we will as I did this time last year.

Yeah, I wasn't very clear with that. You were pointing out (I think) that next year's schedule looks to be fairly tough and, combined with losing our three best defenders, we might be looking at taking another step back on defense. I was trying to point out that I think this year's schedule was at least as tough and has something to do with the step back we took this year.

However, I don't think this year's defense is as bad as some think. Obviously not as good as the last couple but we were improving by the end. We had plenty of trouble early on while breaking in five or six starters who had played very little before this year (I know, that's a coversation for another thread).

For as much as the offense improved from last year, they didn't help the D out in the three losses where we had 8 of our 17 turnovers for the year in those three games - plus another one and a half by the special teams against Michigan that don't officailly count as turnovers but have basically the same effect (the roughing the punter and the fake field goal). Those turnovers led to 21 points against Wisconsin, cost us 10-14 points against Northwestern and led to 35 points against Michigan. Yeah, the defense still had chances to make their own plays but that's a lot to overcome.

Starting at halftime of the Ohio St. game, the defense gave up 45 points in the 4 1/2 games that we ended up winning - 10 points per game. Those weren't the greatest teams ever but, as you said, all but Minnesota are bowling and all in the Top 55. We were ahead of Wisconsin with just over two minutes to go in the half and down by 4 and 7 at half of the other two games before the wheels came off. We basically played three bad halves in conference play (second half @ Wisconsin, first half vs. Ohio St. and second half @ Michigan). In those three halves, we were outscored 70-32. In the rest of the conference schedule, we were very competitive if not dominant and we outscored our opponents 163-116.

I think our defense was coming around by the end of the season (for the most part) and I think we had about seven starters who will be back next year playing at a high level (in addition to Dennard and David). With a lot of experince returning and more depth on the D-line and at linebacker, I think things are headed in the right direction.

 

[junior4949]

How long did Solich last? Four years or five? He was fired after a 10-3 season.

Yeah, but LOL Steve Pederson. One of the great burning questions that I've had in my mind for 5 years now is, Where would the program be had Solich not been fired? Would he still be coaching? How successful would he have been? Too bad we'll never know.

From what I have read in the past is that the talent pool was draining under Solich which was pretty evident in Callahan's first couple years, also that Solich didn't have much of the attention and respect from the players during his stint. But to also answer your question is that it would have been interesting to see what he "could" have done, but at the same time probably not bring in the talent that Callahan did, Taylor, Lucky, Suh, Prince etc...

Spare me the silly recruiting stars BS. There's about a mathematical and statistical zero chance Frank/Bo would have racked up losing seasons, worst losses in the history of NU cfb, 0 - 19 when down at halftine, etc, etc. It was a monstrously bad move in every single way that NU fans should never have had to endure. Thanks Pedey. I hope you rot forever at Pissburg. We were damn lucky TO came back and saved our ship at it was listing badly to say the very least.

How did you feel after Solich went 7-7 during the goalpost tour in 2002? Or after 2003 when we had three losses by a total margin of 110 - 40? Those were also moments that a lot of us never thought we'd see. I never had a problem with firing Solich, it was everything after that up until Callahan's firing that I disagreed with.

We went 7-7 in 2002 for basically the same reason Texas didn't go bowling last season. Frank put everything into 2001 trying to bring home the trophy and his second team players saw very little action. Jamal Lord looked like a deer in the headlights in the 2002 season. In 2003, each and every team that beat us by that margin was a better team than we were. Again, look at Texas this year compared to us in 2003. I'd take our 2003 any day of the week and we didn't even have to pay Frank 5 million to get it. How do you feel about the two loss margin we sustained this year to Michigan and Wisconsin? Wisconsin is better than us, but I don't think Michigan is. If we're going to go down this road, then it appears Bo needs fired before the bowl game. I don't have a problem if Frank was fired for off the field encounters. I have a huge problem if he was fired for his coaching ability. For those who questioned him as an OC, he wasn't even the OC in 2003. He didn't call the plays in 2003. The infamous Barney Cotton did. We will never know where we'd be today if Solich wasn't fired, but what we do know is that Frank's DC is now our HC. BC inherited more first three round NFL players from Solich than Solich inherited from TO. The biggest problem with Frank's talent is that it was all loaded on the defensive side of the ball. I have never gotten how everyone is enamored by what Gill did at Buffalo claiming him to be this good/great coach all the while Frank has done just as much if not more at Ohio. In his seven years at Ohio, he's won his division in the MAC three times. In only his second year at Ohio, he took them to a bowl which was the first time they'd been invited to a bowl since 1968. I think some people tend to forget the players BC inherited from Solich. He inherited Matt Herian, Cory Ross, Richie Incognito, Stewart Bradley, one of the Bullocks twins, Adam Carriker, Jay Moore, Barrett and Bo Ruud, and Fabian Washington. How many of these guys have or are still playing in the NFL?

Bo Ruud shouldn't be on that list if you're trying to point out talent that Solich left behind. Your point about the Mich and Wisc losses this year is valid, except that qualitatively I don't think either has markedly better athletes than NU does this year. I definitely thought we were athletically outclassed by both UT and KSU in 2003. I thought at the time, and still do, that Solich's ceiling as a coach and recruiter was very low. The team as a whole lacked speed, and remarkably it seemed as if Solich didn't have the understanding of the offensive scheme he'd been a part of for decades. It's debatable whether firing him after the 2003 season was poor timing, but in my opinion he wasn't getting any better as a coach, and that was a tough pill to swallow for us fans after dominating for nearly a decade. While clearly not to be mistaken as evidence necessarily, it is worth noting that Frank Solich has not been on any major program's radar (as far as I know) in terms of head coaching searches.

How many major program's radar was TO ever on? Take players off the list if you will, but the fact remains BC inherited more top three round NFL draft players from Solich than Solich did from TO. As far as speed, I believe Fabian Washington at the time posted the fasted 40 ever run at the combine. In six years at Nebraska, Solich was conference coach of the year twice. We ended up #2 in the polls in 99', and we played for a NC in 01'. Mack Brown played for a title and followed it up with a five win season and stayed home for the holidays. Solich didn't do this. Solich is a solid coach and was on the verge of surrounding himself with some great assistants. Who's to say our recruiting wouldn't have gotten a lot better? I guess if playing for championships and ending high in the polls is having a rather low ceiling, then I'll gladly take a coach with a low ceiling.

Who's to say Bill Callahan wasn't about to become a cutting edge player development coach? No one can prove it wasn't going to happen, but the evidence was to the contrary. Bottom line is that we were slipping in recruiting and at the time, it was unfathomable for the NU fanbase to accept the idea that we weren't among the big boys anymore. You can argue that Solich was a good coach. I tend to think there are many more that are better.

Callahan had a history of completely losing his team. This is why he was fired in the NFL. He lost his team at Nebraska as well. I think people need to take Callahan for what he really was. He was a last ditch effort by Pud because time was running out and the masses were restless. It's not like BC was at the top of the list of candidates. Coincidentally, Pud wanted Dave Wanstedt. He inherited him at Pitt, and we all know how that turned out. As unfathomable as it may be, I hold no illusions we're among the big boys now. Look at Texas, they're not exactly running with the big boys either last year or this year. It just takes time.

 

[CornfedChris]

What are people going to do when we do have that down season and go 5-7? I do not want it to happen, but a season of bad luck, injuries etc. can happen to even the great programs. Hopefully we do not over react and pull a Pederson...

That could happen as soon as next year.

I fully agree. Now tell me why you think it will happen? The loss of David, Crick, and Dennard coupled with some bad defensive efforts in 2011? Is there anything the coaching staff could fix to prevent it or is it based on what we have and what other teams will have in 2012?

That is exactly why. We lose the three best play-makers on our defense. If our defense could take a step back from 2010 to 2011, it can take another in 2012. The aura of Bo's defensive genius took a major hit this year. He has a lot of work to do to shore up some gaping holes at all three levels of the defense. Combine that with a schedule featuring nine teams in the top 55 of Sagarin's current ratings (I know the danger of using this year to project next year), and four teams with a minimum of ten wins this year, and you're looking at a schedule that could be more difficult than this year's. We are scheduled for 11 games so far. Presuming #12 is some fill-in chump, that means that 10 of our 12 opponents next year will have gone to bowl games this year. At the moment the only team on our 2012 schedule that will definitely NOT be bowling this year is Minnesota. Could the staff do something to fix this? Sure, but then they could have done something after last year as well. We have the players in the locker room. For whatever reason, that talent on paper didn't translate to a solid defense this year. I have no explanation why, but if it happened once it can happen again. Only next year there will be no Lavonte David to save our butts up front and no Alfonzo Dennard to lock down half the secondary. We CAN do it. I just don't have as much confidence that we will as I did this time last year.

Forget to mention the struggles of other B1G programs all the starters they will be losing as well? Gotta look at the whole picture....

Nebraska (2 Offense, 4 Defense)

OT Jamarcus Hardrick, C Mike Caputo, S Austin Cassidy, CB Alfonzo Dennard, LB Lavonte David, DT Jered Crick

Ohio State (4 Offense, 0 Defense) (Coaching Change after recruiting scandal)

RB Dan Herron, C Michael Brewster, OT Mike Adams, OT J.B. Shugarts

Penn State (7 Offense, 6 Defense) (Coaching change after sex abuse scandal)

WR Derek Moye, FB Joe Suhey, OT Quinn Barham, OG Johnnie Troutman, OG DeOn'Tae Pannell, OT Chima Okoli, TE Andrew Sczcerba, DE Jack Crawford, CB D'Anton Lynn, CB Chaz Powell, S Nick Sukay, S Drew Astorino, DT Devon Still

Wisconsin (7 Offense, 5 Defense, 2 Special Teams)

QB Russell Wilson, G Kevin Zeitler, FB Bradie Ewing, K Philip Welch, P Brad Nortman, WR Nick Toon, TE Jake Byrne, T Jake Ogelsby, G Kevin Zeitler, DE Louis Nzegwu, DT Patrick Butrym, LB Kevin Claxton, CB Antonio Fenelus, S Aaron Henry

Michigan State (6 Offense, 1 Defense)

QB Kirk Cousins, FB Todd Anderson, WR B.J. Cunningham, WR Keshawn Martin, G Joel Forman, S Trenton Robinson, QB/WR Keith Nichols*

Michigan (6 Offense, 4 Defense, 1 Special Teams)

C David Molk, RB Michael Shaw, FB John McColgen, WR Junior Hemmingway, TE Kevin Koger, OT Mark Huyge, DE Will Heininger, DT Mike Martin, DT Ryan Van Bergen, CB Troy Woofork, LS Tom Pomarico

Illinois (4 Offense, 3 Defense, 1 Special Teams)

OT Jeff Allen, K Derek Dimke, RB Jason Ford, WR A.J. Jenkins, G Jack Cornell, LB Trulon Henry, LB Ian Thomas, CB Tavon Wilson

Northwestern (6 Offense, 6 Defense)

QB Dan Persa, DE Vince Browne, RB Jacob Schmidt, WR Jeremy Ebert, HB Drake Dunsmore, OT Al Netter, G Ben Burkett, DT Mike Mafuli, DT Jack DiNardo, CB Jordan Mabin, CB Jaravin Matthews, S Brian Peters

Iowa (3 Offense, 6 Defense, 1 Special Teams)

CB Shaun Prater, WR Marvin McNutt, OT Markus Zusevics, G Adam Gettis, DE Broderick Binns, DT Mike Daniels, DT Thomas Nardo, LB Tyler Nielsen, S Jordan Bernstine, P Eric Guthrie

Minnesota (7 Offense, 6 Defense)

RB Duane Bennett, WR Da'Jon McKnight, FB Eric Lair, TE Colin McGarry, G Chris Bunders, G Ryan Orton, C Ryan Wynn, DT Anthony Jacobs, DT Brandon Kirksey, LB Gary Tinsley, CB Troy Staudermire, S Shady Salamon, S Kim Royston

Indiana (3 Offense, 2 Defense, 3 Special Teams)

TE Max Dedmond, OT Andrew McDonald, OT Justin Pagan, LB Leon Beckum, LB Jeff Thomas, LS John Finch, K Carson Wiggs, PR W. Gravesande

Purdue (3 Offense, 4 Defense)

WR Justin Siller, OT Dennis Kelly, G Nick Mondek, DE Gerald Gooden, LB Joe Holland, S Albert Evans, S Logan Link

Take a look around the league and you will see 3 great QBs, (Wilson, Persa, Cousins) many great WRs (Nick Toon, Keshawn Martin, B.J. Cunningham, Junior Hemmingway...) and many others all graduating which could completely change the way their teams will operate. Based on the amount of returning starters Nebraska has compared to other B1G schools and the depth we have behind them we will be fine. Sure it sounds bad to think that we will have to part ways with arguably the best line-backer and cornerback in the country, but we will manage.

Bo will survive and Nebraska will too.

 

[knapplc]

Great breakdown. Unfortunately, none of that matters one whit to what happens in our locker room. That's the point I was making - IT'S ABOUT US. I don't care how shelled or stacked the rest of the Big Ten is. If we can't get our players to perform, we're screwed.

 

[CornfedChris]

Great breakdown. Unfortunately, none of that matters one whit to what happens in our locker room. That's the point I was making - IT'S ABOUT US. I don't care how shelled or stacked the rest of the Big Ten is. If we can't get our players to perform, we're screwed.

Bo, is that you? lol But very true.

That's why it's nice we have a great role model/leader on our team named Rex Burkhead. Guarantee everyone will want to play like him next year. Everyone seems to play out of their mind when they play us so we will need to figure something out to fuel the fire.