Nebraska in the eyes of another

[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.

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.

I think we could argue about our experience on o-line, QB and WR. We're losing quite a bit of experience from OL and lost our best WR. The rest of our WRs have been inconsistent (Turner) and even Bell to some extent. Our QB is probably as far from being counted on as a returning QB can be.

We do have several talented RBs on the roster, many of them would be the featured back in most Big 10 offenses outside of Wisconsin and Ohio State. Our defense has a chance to be top 3 in the conference. Outside of that, I don't see our turnover or field position issues being alleviated enough to think we won't drop a game we shouldn't (repeat of Minnesota last year) on top of several tough road games. I see 4 losses this season, but obviously I hope I'm wrong.

 

[TAKODA]

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.

For the year in question for sure Polo, other than that, it would be speculation.

 

[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.

For the year in question for sure Polo, other than that, it would be speculation.

Um, what?

 

[TAKODA]

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.

For the year in question for sure Polo, other than that, it would be speculation.

Um, what?

You heard me! LOL, just messing with you and using the fact that we can't predict as the basis. Can't assume anything can we?

 

[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.

I think we could argue about our experience on o-line, QB and WR. We're losing quite a bit of experience from OL and lost our best WR. The rest of our WRs have been inconsistent (Turner) and even Bell to some extent. Our QB is probably as far from being counted on as a returning QB can be.
We do have several talented RBs on the roster, many of them would be the featured back in most Big 10 offenses outside of Wisconsin and Ohio State. Our defense has a chance to be top 3 in the conference. Outside of that, I don't see our turnover or field position issues being alleviated enough to think we won't drop a game we shouldn't (repeat of Minnesota last year) on top of several tough road games. I see 4 losses this season, but obviously I hope I'm wrong.

Im not sold on Armstrong as the answer at QB yet and even then I dont see us losing more than three games. If we lose all three tough conference road games it will be a huge letdown of a season. If we lost two it better be competetive the whole way through. If we lose one of them , my prediction, it will be an improvement.

You really dont think we have the talent to win 11+ games this year?

 

[NUpolo8]

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

Maybe antics was a bad choice of words.

I just remember him piling on Frost after the Asu loss in 96, and I'm bringing in his time coaching at Baylor and Doane, plus his attitude towards the program for the past few years.

In other words Frazier comments post UCLA were not in a vacuum, as some have suggested.

 

[Ulty]

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...

You really dont think we have the talent to win 11+ games this year?

I wish my Kool Aid was as strong as yours, but a lot of us have burned out on the notion that we are going to be world beaters every year. Most of us didn't look at the schedule each of the last few seasons and see 4 losses on there without going "out of our way to do so," yet here we are. Year after year. There are some baffling losses in there, and some embarrassing showings.

I think we've always had the talent to win 11 games, not just this year, but since 2009. Hell, I'm not a huge fan of Pelini, but I'd also say we've even had the coaching to win 11 games. There's been a lot of good things in front of us as fans every year, and we get our hopes up. The potential is always there. But it hasn't worked out. They can't stay consistent. They either can't put it all together or they can't keep it together. That leads to going out of our way to earn 4 losses, despite having the talent available to do better. It keeps happening. So now many of us are predicting it to continue.

I reeeeeally hope you are right and can rub it in our faces at the end of the year.

This is another one of the same discussions that have been all over this board for months now, so for now I'll say "Go Big Red" and toast to Redux's optimism.

 

[Redux]

No rubbing of faces would be necessary, only high fives and rounds of beer shared.

Ill admit, last year I was convinced that 4 losses was impossible. But the injury bug bit an Bo lost his sh#t a couple tjmes and TaDaa, 4 losses. I just dont see any way we have that same problem again this year. And lets face it, even three less turnovers on the year would be a massive improvement and probaby an extra win.

 

[Ulty]

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

Maybe antics was a bad choice of words.

I just remember him piling on Frost after the Asu loss in 96, and I'm bringing in his time coaching at Baylor and Doane, plus his attitude towards the program for the past few years.

In other words Frazier comments post UCLA were not in a vacuum, as some have suggested.

I can't cite specific examples, but I remember hearing Frazier on the radio (or on the Internet perhaps) giving some commentary or analysis a few times over the previous couple of years on the latest game or Pelini's coaching, or the state of the program - and largely, Tommie came off as angry, incoherent, and rather unhinged. A hot mess. He wasn't really the voice of reason at all, and if I didn't know it was the best QB of all time, I would have dismissed it as the ramblings of a lunatic.

This was all before UCLA, and knowing how well Pelini takes criticism (especially when he is in one of his moods), whoever confronted Pelini with Frazier's words probably got what he expected.

 

[Ulty]

Ill admit, last year I was convinced that 4 losses was impossible. But the injury bug bit an Bo lost his sh#t a couple tjmes and TaDaa, 4 losses. I just dont see any way we have that same problem again this year. And lets face it, even three less turnovers on the year would be a massive improvement and probaby an extra win.

Oh god, don't jinx it. My fear is that we won't have the exact same problems as last year, there will be some new ones. And some fans will be quick to excuse said problems as another anomaly...
2009: wellllll, the games were close and we had no offense. So 4 losses is okay.

2010: wellllll, the refs and Beebe were out to get us because of leaving the conference. So 4 losses is okay.

2011: wellllll, we are in a new conference and have to prepare for a bunch of unfamiliar opponents. So 4 losses is okay.

2012: wellllll, we got blown out a few times, but the defense was slow and we had all those comebacks. The defense will be younger and faster next year. So 4 losses is okay.

2013: wellllll, the defense was young so what do you expect, plus we had a lot of injuries. So 4 losses is okay.

2014: ?????

That's not to say these excuses were bunk, most of them were legitimate hurdles that were tough to overcome. But at some point, we gotta bust through these challenges, no matter what they are, and get over the hump. Even if the excuses are legitimate, is still leads to diminished enthusiasm.

 

[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...

You really dont think we have the talent to win 11+ games this year?

I wish my Kool Aid was as strong as yours, but a lot of us have burned out on the notion that we are going to be world beaters every year. Most of us didn't look at the schedule each of the last few seasons and see 4 losses on there without going "out of our way to do so," yet here we are. Year after year. There are some baffling losses in there, and some embarrassing showings.

I think we've always had the talent to win 11 games, not just this year, but since 2009. Hell, I'm not a huge fan of Pelini, but I'd also say we've even had the coaching to win 11 games. There's been a lot of good things in front of us as fans every year, and we get our hopes up. The potential is always there. But it hasn't worked out. They can't stay consistent. They either can't put it all together or they can't keep it together. That leads to going out of our way to earn 4 losses, despite having the talent available to do better. It keeps happening. So now many of us are predicting it to continue.

I reeeeeally hope you are right and can rub it in our faces at the end of the year.

This is another one of the same discussions that have been all over this board for months now, so for now I'll say "Go Big Red" and toast to Redux's optimism.

I feel exactly the same way. I think we have to make serious strides on offense for me to think we can easily break the 4 loss streak. Could we? Sure, but I just don't see the offense putting up enough points on a consistent basis to think we're going to win enough games.

 

[Redux]

2012 was inexcusable, and 2010 should have been at most a 1 loss year.

Turnovers need to improve this year and injuries mustbbe minimal. Granted thats not all on the staff. To be looked at as a real challenger of anything this year we need to make some noise early and hold that momentum down the stretch. Im not gonna lie to myself and say were undefeated material. But 11 wins is a bar that needs to be set, even if its a postseason win that gets us there.

 

[suh_fan93]

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.

Going 11-2 and beating Alabama in the Sugar Bowl last year isn't anything to sneeze at. Just saying.

 

[beanman]

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

Maybe antics was a bad choice of words.

I just remember him piling on Frost after the Asu loss in 96, and I'm bringing in his time coaching at Baylor and Doane, plus his attitude towards the program for the past few years.

In other words Frazier comments post UCLA were not in a vacuum, as some have suggested.

Ah ok, thanks for clearing that up. I thought maybe something else happened this summer that I missed.

 

[RedDenver]

So the writer did a preview of the Huskers for the upcoming season - and never mentioned any players? Or maybe I just missed it in the ridiculous rant. Not worth the 2 minutes it took to read.