Nebraska Championship Potential

I think it's unrealistic to ever expect to see another run like we had in the 1990s. We went 108-16-1 in a ten-year span. There are teams who won't get 108 wins in 30 years. There are "good" teams who won't get 108 wins in 20 years.

If we're comparing ourselves to the Huskers of the 1990s, it's a completely unrealistic comparison. If we look at the 80s, when we were always in the hunt but never quite got the job done, that's a team we can aspire to, legitimately so. And there's nothing wrong with that aspiration - we finished in the top ten eight out of ten years in the 1980s, if I'm not mistaken. If we can replicate THAT success, I'll be happy.

 
knapplc said:
I think it's unrealistic to ever expect to see another run like we had in the 1990s. We went 108-16-1 in a ten-year span. There are teams who won't get 108 wins in 30 years. There are "good" teams who won't get 108 wins in 20 years.

If we're comparing ourselves to the Huskers of the 1990s, it's a completely unrealistic comparison. If we look at the 80s, when we were always in the hunt but never quite got the job done, that's a team we can aspire to, legitimately so. And there's nothing wrong with that aspiration - we finished in the top ten eight out of ten years in the 1980s, if I'm not mistaken. If we can replicate THAT success, I'll be happy.
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Well if we played the same number of games a year as in the '90's I may agree, but in this day and age where NU will most likely play 12 regular season games, and sometimes 13, plus the Conference Title Game and a Bowl game 13-15 games a year is the new length of the season. Used to be that NU played 11 and 1 bowl game. With an extra 1-3 games a year, really good teams should win 10 each year. OU seems to do it.

 
And OU in this decade is directly comparable to Nebraska in the 1980s. Good teams. An occasional conference championship. One national title. Several failed national title attempts.

We can get there. But replicating the 1990s is not going to happen.

 
Totally agree, and I agree with Jen, we can win it again.

I am not much on this history and tradition crap. It does not win games, and most we are recruiting have no idea who Tom Osborne is let alone the offense and defense that totally dominate college football.

Now facilites is the key to most. They need to say Oh My God this place is great. We are one of the top programs for facilities, but we have to keep up. TEXAS dominates the facility war in the Big 12, but we are close enough to fight the battle.

 
I'm another Cubs fan. We'll never win anything as long as the Trib has their stupid hands on our team. This has to be the most ridiculous sale of any major sports franchise in the history of everything. Typical Trib. Morons.

 
jayhawker said:
HuskerJen said:
Now it appears that the rest of the Big 12 is finally starting to notice that Nebraska is really on the way back to the top and they're scared. JMO.
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I do not think this is true. The north might be worried, but I doubt the south even cares.
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Of course they care. I talk to several OK fans and they're interested in Nebraska returning to respectability. A healthy Nebraska is good for the whole Big XII, just like a healthy Kansas is good for the whole Big XII. I don't know about them being "scared," but they are taking notice. And in a good way.

 
skersfan said:
Totally agree, and I agree with Jen, we can win it again.

I am not much on this history and tradition crap. It does not win games, and most we are recruiting have no idea who Tom Osborne is let alone the offense and defense that totally dominate college football.

Now facilites is the key to most. They need to say Oh My God this place is great. We are one of the top programs for facilities, but we have to keep up. TEXAS dominates the facility war in the Big 12, but we are close enough to fight the battle.
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Facilities are key, but I think the gameday atmosphere is the biggest factor Nebraska has working for them.

I remember hearing alot of recruits remarking how amazing it was to be there during gameday and that it was a pretty big factor as to why they will be playing football with a red "N" on the side of their helmets.

 
knapplc said:
jayhawker said:
HuskerJen said:
Now it appears that the rest of the Big 12 is finally starting to notice that Nebraska is really on the way back to the top and they're scared. JMO.
Click to expand...
I do not think this is true. The north might be worried, but I doubt the south even cares.
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Of course they care. I talk to several OK fans and they're interested in Nebraska returning to respectability. A healthy Nebraska is good for the whole Big XII, just like a healthy Kansas is good for the whole Big XII. I don't know about them being "scared," but they are taking notice. And in a good way.
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i didn't mean it that way. I meant that I doubt they are worried about any North teams right now or in the near future.

 
Gotcha, jayhawker. You're right - Oklahoma, Texas, Tech... none of these guys are scared in the least when they play any of us in the North. But that's going to change. Mangino is going to keep the momentum going in Kansas, Bo is building respectability in Nebraska, Pinkel isn't 100% inept and could field some more decent teams in MO, and (God help us) Hawkins may be able to develop something like a winning team in Colorado. Somehow.

I don't care if the North suddenly dominates the South. I just want competitive games. I want them to walk away from games with us, whether they win or lose, knowing they've been in a dogfight. If we can all do that, wins will come.

 
knapplc said:
Gotcha, jayhawker. You're right - Oklahoma, Texas, Tech... none of these guys are scared in the least when they play any of us in the North. But that's going to change. Mangino is going to keep the momentum going in Kansas, Bo is building respectability in Nebraska, Pinkel isn't 100% inept and could field some more decent teams in MO, and (God help us) Hawkins may be able to develop something like a winning team in Colorado. Somehow.

I don't care if the North suddenly dominates the South. I just want competitive games. I want them to walk away from games with us, whether they win or lose, knowing they've been in a dogfight. If we can all do that, wins will come.
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100% agree with you on that one. I am hoping Mangino keeps things going but I've been a KU fan to long to get my hopes up. I am just looking at this season. Only good thing about 2010 is that we go back to aTm, OSU, and Baylor for our south schedule.

 
It would be a stretch to expect results like the 80's, much less the 90's. College football is much different now - heck, the complaints get pretty loud when the Huskers aren't televised today even in the 90's I remember only seeing the Huskers maybe 3 games a season on TV, including the bowl game.

Parity, hyper-commercialism, and coaching changes are a few factors as to why things will never be like they were. Some schools are able to put it together for a season or two, and have experienced skill players combined with an easy schedule (KU 07). After that, though, they have to spend a few or several years trying to get that combination. Before I catch any flack, congrats again, jayhawkers, on the Orange Bowl win.

One of the biggest reasons, though, has to do with Osborne, his staff, and his way of doing things. As was mentioned, the walk-on program was huge, and they were able to pick up some great athletes to make the Big Red Machine roll. We weren't a passing team for a reason - with that style of offense, we just weren't going to get the athletes we needed all the time, but with the power option, we could basically reload lineman, blocking receivers, and even QB's. This way, Osborne and staff were able to concentrate more on finding athletes (a lot of whom ended up dominating as Blackshirts) than coaching all the nuances of an effective passing game.

All that said, in an response to the original question, I would say that we should be in contention for at least a BCS bowl before long, but as far as sustained dominance over even the North is unlikely. I think Misery, NU, KU, CU will all take turns, with KSU and ISU sneaking in there every decade or so. The Huskers could win another national title, but it's hard to say - there are so many variables. I didn't think Florida had a chance when they lost to Ole Miss last year.

 
This is why I love College Football not because I'm a Nebraska fan but you NEVER know what team will beat who really. It doesn't matter if you have players on your team that were 4 or 5 stars coming out of high school or were your school is located at..........it all comes down to the coach and how you coach players. How many people predicted that Ole Miss would've beat Florida this past year or that Kansas and Mizzou would be in contention for the Big 12 North title every year know or know that Baylor could be a threat in the Big 12 South.

Look at Florida a few years ago wait a few decades ago they weren't really in in the NC title spot but now they're are constantly in the BCS title shot. They are in a good location for great players to go play because obviously Florida has beaches, nice weather, beautiful women etc. Florida hasn't done crap in 70's, 80's, somewhat of the 90's but once they landed Urban Meyers they are tearing it up because Urban knows how to coach his players.

I could go on and on with other college football programs that really weren't in the title shot every year but now after landing a coach they're constantly in the title picture. A few that come to my mind is OU, LSU, Ohio State, USC, Texas. Those are a few schools that just landed new coaches within the past decade and they are in the Title picture every year and they were maybe mediocre during the 90's.

I believe that with Bo as our Head Coach I really believe that he could bring at least 2 titles back home in Lincoln. He's got that heart, determination, and knowledge to do a lot of good things here. I believe that Bo will be here 10+ years. What Bo did to this team within a 8-9 month span is just incredible, he brough this team together to make them believe in themselves. Now that he's been with this team for over a year and getting to know them better is gonna make this upcoming season more exciting and enjoyable to watch.

If Bo is our coach all the way up to 2010, I think that Nebraska will be in the Title picture at least twice winning it once but time will tell and GO BIG RED!!!!!

 
knapplc said:
I'm another Cubs fan. We'll never win anything as long as the Trib has their stupid hands on our team. This has to be the most ridiculous sale of any major sports franchise in the history of everything. Typical Trib. Morons.
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Sorry for OT. You are right. Make it final already.

 
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