Nebraska in the eyes of another

[NUpolo8]

As we move past the 4th, the offseason gets smaller, and with that, we get season previews! Actually we've been getting them slowly trickling in for the past few weeks or so, but I haven't exactly thrilled by the depth in how Nebraska has been covered. It seems it just was too easy to look at Nebraska, predict four losses (or so) and move on. And, obviously, I'm in the camp of wanting -something- to change. 10-2 or better? Awesome. Something worse than 9-4? Obviously not awesome, but at least now we have something different and can regroup.

So then, I stumbled across this preview from Hondo Carpenter.

http://spartannation.com/2014/07/03/b1g-football-preview-nebraska-cornhuskers-b1g-west/

The funniest thing about this article is that it managed to be simultaneously complimentary and harsh to Nebraska. Here are some quotes that caught me.

Nebraska was never known to have the best recruiting classes, but every year you knew the best coaching would produce some of the best players. It was hard work, respect the game, and wear the red N with pride.

Hell yes. Is that model successful today? Well yes and no. This guy supports a MSU team who doesn't pull Ole Miss style recruiting classes, but they consistently have great players and are coming off a great season, but obviously they have some off years too. Either way, great nod to NU's history.

The Huskers still have the proud red N. They still have the best game day experience in football and still have great players

Yep. I think this team has some pretty damn nice talent coming in. So much so that I have a hard time swallowing the default "four loss" previews we've been seeing.
That is not the thought of this writer, who then predicts a 7-5 season for Nebraska.

Now, there's a lot about that I do not agree with, he has a loss at Fresno and I don't think there's even a 2% chance of that happening. But it's very clear that he thinks it's coaching related. Stupidly, he goes into the Tommie Frazier issue from last year, which if you know anything about the recent antics of the man, that spat doesn't quite carry the shock he makes it out to be.

But the one takeaway quote from an anonymous B1G coach that got me was this.

One Big Ten Coach told me last year after MSU survived with the help of the Huskers staff, They (Pelini and company) have to try to prove they are smarter than everyone and that is why every year they have a couple of losses that dont make sense.

Ouch. I think that's is dangerously accurate and has been echoed here. Particularly in the recent Tim Beck thread. At times we simply try to do too much.
I recommend reading the article. Then you can comment about it here!

 

[True2tRA]

The last part is accurate. All you have to do is watch and listen. People will argue and defend these coaches no matter what the subject, but to me that point is not debatable. The stubbornness is apparent, and has been apparent when listening to Bo and staff discuss their coaching style and approach. The reluctance to change has been evident multiple times. The scheme has been crammed like a square peg in a round hole even when we clearly did not have the players with the ability to execute it successfully. Even with the talent on the field, this scheme has resulted in six of the top ten worst defensive performances of all time. The sad thing is, many times you can tell opposing teams have clearly exposed a weakness in either the scheme, or an individual defensive player, yet we seem very reluctant or late to adjust. When I say adjust, I mean we don't adjust the scheme or don't even adjust the roster. We hear the "next man up" propaganda all the time, yet how often in the past did we allow the next man an opportunity to "step up"? Offensively, we know all about the concept of being multiple. That too has been beaten to death. I hope there is a commitment to the run game this year, especially when it is working so well. Nebraska can run the football, and Ameer Abdullah is a monster. Do not go away from it if we are having success. Just another example of this staff out-thinking themselves.

That said, those things were in the past. Though it took us six years, we saw some of these things finally being changed. Bo and staff clearly made some changes in the defense halfway through last season. We became aggressive, we let the p,ayers do more of what came natural to them. Less thinking, more attacking. If course, a guy like Gregory makes that decision easier, but it was a good decision and a nice change. Offensively you hear Beck talk more about simplifying. You heard him say we ran a single play almost ten times in a row at certain points in the season, just because it was working. I like to hear that. We keep that up and we are going to be successful. We saw a lot of young players get on the field. No more watching the same guys get beat up repeatedly. Yes, still some holes out there, but where we had depth, we utilized it for the most part. Valuable experience and reps on game day, when it counts. That will be beneficial to not only the current players and young players at that, but also incoming recruits may now see that if they are competing and working hard, they will find time on this team. That is important.

As negative as the first part of my rant here may sound, I feel like it was all true, but I truly believe we see a young staff evolving and learning here. It took awhile yes, but it appears to be happening. The question is now, do we take a step back to the old ways, or do we build on what we began to establish at the end of last year?

 

[Saunders]

This guy says we'll suck because he doesn't like Bo (even though he's 2-1 vs Dantonio) because he's not nice (something Mark can appreciate).

CFBMatrix has us going 10-2 or 11-1 and has Bo as the #15 coach due to his "coaching effect" formula.

The pre-season picks have us anywhere from 1st to 4th.

So, basically, they're all saying: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Abdullah the Butcher]

Vegas has us at 7 & 8 wins and 80-1 odds of being in the national title. Vegas people are generally pretty good because they have money invested.

 

[Redux]

Its too easy to say 8-4 and move on. History says bet the house on that result and our road schedule is ready to solidify it. But the scary part of he season is we have jo freakin clue what to truly expect at QB, THAT imo is what gives these mags and writers the greenlight for penciling in another 4 loss year.

The good stuff looks reeeeealllly good, maybe even great. But the bad things are consistent enough the college football world isnt ready to get their hopes up we turn the corner this year. Luckily we sit in the shade sipping cherry kool aid. Corner gets turned in 2014.

 

[Saunders]

Vegas has us at 7 & 8 wins and 80-1 odds of being in the national title. Vegas people are generally pretty good because they have money invested.

Vegas creates odds based on public perception, solely to get an even betting line.

 

[NUpolo8]

Vegas has us at 7 & 8 wins and 80-1 odds of being in the national title. Vegas people are generally pretty good because they have money invested.

Vegas creates odds based on public perception, solely to get an even betting line.

This.

The national perception of that is what gets me though. There's pretty much a consensus here and nationally on the following.

Abdullah is a beast and Cross is a very good compliment.

Gregory is potentially a top five pick

The OL all had guys see time last year.

The QB's will be at minimum serviceable.

Those pieces don't equal a 7.5 win team. If it goes that badly, there are other things at play.

 

[Redux]

For us to tack on 4 losses this year I think we would have to go out of our way to do so, like 2010...

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

For us to tack on 4 losses this year I think we would have to go out of our way to do so, like 2010...

Really? I think it's easy to see road losses to Wisconsin and Michigan State. You can throw in a few toss-up games like Miami, Iowa, and Northwestern (who plays us close every year). Drop one or two of those and we're at 4 losses. Let's say we lose one of those three, finish at 9-3 and play a tough SEC team in a bowl game, say LSU or S. Carolina. Boom, 4 losses again.

Do I think this will happen? I dunno, but we certainly don't have to go out of our way to find 4 losses with our schedule.

 

[junior4949]

Trying to compare what used to be to now is somewhat foolish. The game and everything about it has changed so much. Take OU and Bob Stoops for example. They pretty much owned the Big 12 for so long, but now they are losing out to the Baylor's, KSU's, etc. even though they have the same commander and recruit very well. Mack Brown is what he is, but wow did he fall out of favor fast. With Mack, you knew what you were going to get with a really talented group and some mediocre coaching. In the past five years, this just wasn't enough and Mack found himself losing almost as much as he won. So much emphasis has gone into winning that NC coaches are ousted within two years of winning it all. College football is speeding towards being in parallel with the NFL. This era is something totally new and different from those in the past.

Is Bo stubborn? Yes, but so are most coaches. Do we try to do too much at times? Yes we do, but so do most coaches. TO came out firing in the bowl game at the end of the 1994 season with an extremely rusty QB who hadn't played in months. Frazier threw an INT, and it appeared the game was going to get away from us. TO tried to do too much at times as well. It was the stubbornness of going back with the grind it out offense that got us there that helped us prevail. I'm not the greatest Boliever out there, and I do get very frustrated at times. However, I do believe he has as good if not better shot at winning it all that all the rest of the B1G coaches except for Urban Meyer.

 

[Redux]

For us to tack on 4 losses this year I think we would have to go out of our way to do so, like 2010...

Really? I think it's easy to see road losses to Wisconsin and Michigan State. You can throw in a few toss-up games like Miami, Iowa, and Northwestern (who plays us close every year). Drop one or two of those and we're at 4 losses. Let's say we lose one of those three, finish at 9-3 and play a tough SEC team in a bowl game, say LSU or S. Carolina. Boom, 4 losses again.
Do I think this will happen? I dunno, but we certainly don't have to go out of our way to find 4 losses with our schedule.

With valuable experience on our o line, talented QBs WRs and RBs galore, and a defense thats beter than they should be yeah I really think losing four should be a challenge. We stack up fine with wiscy Iowa and Sparty, the fact its a road game is the hardest challenge to overcome at least it should be. We should expect to win all or most of them.

Can we lose four? Absolutely. Should we lose four? Absolutely not. I would expect a damned good reason for it.

 

[Saunders]

Vegas has us at 7 & 8 wins and 80-1 odds of being in the national title. Vegas people are generally pretty good because they have money invested.

Vegas creates odds based on public perception, solely to get an even betting line.

This.

The national perception of that is what gets me though. There's pretty much a consensus here and nationally on the following.

Abdullah is a beast and Cross is a very good compliment.

Gregory is potentially a top five pick

The OL all had guys see time last year.

The QB's will be at minimum serviceable.

Those pieces don't equal a 7.5 win team. If it goes that badly, there are other things at play.

Holy crap... we agree.

 

[NUpolo8]

For us to tack on 4 losses this year I think we would have to go out of our way to do so, like 2010...

Really? I think it's easy to see road losses to Wisconsin and Michigan State. You can throw in a few toss-up games like Miami, Iowa, and Northwestern (who plays us close every year). Drop one or two of those and we're at 4 losses. Let's say we lose one of those three, finish at 9-3 and play a tough SEC team in a bowl game, say LSU or S. Carolina. Boom, 4 losses again.
Do I think this will happen? I dunno, but we certainly don't have to go out of our way to find 4 losses with our schedule.

And at that point it would be safe to assume we've seen a ceiling.

 

[beanman]

What are the recent antics of Tommie Frazier that you referred to Polo?

 

[hskrfan4life]

I don't know about anyone else but I don't want another four loss season. In regards to Bo and company trying to outsmart everyone we saw that in his first year at home against Missouri. However I'm not a football coach so if his game plan doesn't work at the start we need to adjust.