Nebraska vs Michigan

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Boy of the Corn

Three-Star Recruit
Why is Michigan always considered a premier program and Nebraska not? I completely get Nebraska has struggled the last 20 years but truth be told so has Michigan. In fact it may interest you to know that since 1997 when Nebraska and Michigan shared the National Championship game, Nebraska has won 171 games to Michigan's 165. Our win percentage is 66.02% to Michigan's 65.48% and we have beaten them head to head 3 out of the 4 times played (since 1998) including the last two. 

With this being said why is Michigan continually placed amongst the elite teams and Nebraska not?

 
Boy of the Corn said:
Why is Michigan always considered a premier program and Nebraska not? I completely get Nebraska has struggled the last 20 years but truth be told so has Michigan. In fact it may interest you to know that since 1997 when Nebraska and Michigan shared the National Championship game, Nebraska has won 171 games to Michigan's 165. Our win percentage is 66.02% to Michigan's 65.48% and we have beaten them head to head 3 out of the 4 times played (since 1998) including the last two. 

With this being said why is Michigan continually placed amongst the elite teams and Nebraska not?
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It's just always been that way. Their very early success stuck with them, I guess.

Recently adding Harbaugh has boosted their perception. I think adding Frost has already done that a little for us before even playing a game under him.

 
Moiraine said:
It's just always been that way. Their very early success stuck with them, I guess.

Recently adding Harbaugh has boosted their perception. I think adding Frost has already done that a little for us before even playing a game under him.
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This. They were headed downhill fast then they hired Harbaugh and everyone was back on the Michigan train.

 
Moiraine said:
One thing I remember, going back a little further, is the media was absolutely in love with Shoelace, meanwhile Martinez had insane numbers too and, comparatively, barely got mentioned.
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If you look at the stats you'll see why. Martinez was electric for us and likely would have gotten more hype if he hadn't gotten injured, but Shoelace was ballin and deserved all of the attention he was getting. 

 
Nebfanatic said:
If you look at the stats you'll see why. Martinez was electric for us and likely would have gotten more hype if he hadn't gotten injured, but Shoelace was ballin and deserved all of the attention he was getting. 
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I remember it from before the injury. But I don't remember how much different the stats were at that point.

 
Moiraine said:
I remember it from before the injury. But I don't remember how much different the stats were at that point.
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Robinson was getting the press early because he gashed Notre Dame to the tune of 500 yards in his second start when his team gained 530 total which was a Michigan school record. Martinez was showing out early, but he was never really put on the same stage and it gave Shoelace an early boost in the media.

 
Boy of the Corn said:
Why is Michigan always considered a premier program and Nebraska not? I completely get Nebraska has struggled the last 20 years but truth be told so has Michigan. In fact it may interest you to know that since 1997 when Nebraska and Michigan shared the National Championship game, Nebraska has won 171 games to Michigan's 165. Our win percentage is 66.02% to Michigan's 65.48% and we have beaten them head to head 3 out of the 4 times played (since 1998) including the last two. 

With this being said why is Michigan continually placed amongst the elite teams and Nebraska not?
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Since 2001:

Michigan

Top 25 Finishes: 10

Top 10 Finishes: 5
Major Bowl Appearances: 5
Major Bowl Wins: 1

Conference Championships: 2

Nebraska

Top 25 Finishes: 7

Top 10 Finishes: 0
Major Bowl Appearances: 0
Major Bowl Wins: 0

Conference Championships: 0

Moiraine said:
One thing I remember, going back a little further, is the media was absolutely in love with Shoelace, meanwhile Martinez had insane numbers too and, comparatively, barely got mentioned.
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I remember that differently. Robinson was getting more love (deservedly so), but Taylor was also getting a ton of media attention through the first half of the season.

 
Landlord said:
Since 2001:

Michigan

Top 25 Finishes: 10

Top 10 Finishes: 5
Major Bowl Appearances: 5
Major Bowl Wins: 1

Conference Championships: 2

Nebraska

Top 25 Finishes: 7

Top 10 Finishes: 0
Major Bowl Appearances: 0
Major Bowl Wins: 0

Conference Championships: 0

I remember that differently. Robinson was getting more love (deservedly so), but Taylor was also getting a ton of media attention through the first half of the season.
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So basically Michigan has been more up and down than Nebraska, seeing as we have similar winning %.

 
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Moiraine said:
So basically Michigan has been more up and down than Nebraska, seeing as we have similar winning %.
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Yes, but the ups are what make people remember or think of your program as being elite or relevant.

Same thing with how people threw around Bo Pelini's stat of us being only one of 4 schools to win 9+ games for the last X amount of seasons (I think Oregon, Alabama, and Boise were the others). Like...so what? It didn't do anything for us. Top 10 finishes, major bowls, conference championships. Those are the metrics of success for big time programs. Michigan's had a few over the last 15+ years - just enough to keep the prestige there. We've had none.

 
1.  They have a rival. We haven’t had one since the destruction of the Big8 

2. They have like what, 50,000 students in a largely populated state, we have half that. 

3. They are the winningest program ever and the media knows that. They’ll always be on a major TV stage. 

4. They’ve won more important games and bowls than us as proved by the above post. 

5. We’ve been completely blown out several times in national TV; I watch enough college football to know I can’t really remember UM’s giant collapses.  

6.....we’ll beat them this season. It’s the one I “have a feeling about”...that’ll put us in people’s faces. 

 
Landlord said:
Yes, but the ups are what make people remember or think of your program as being elite or relevant.

Same thing with how people threw around Bo Pelini's stat of us being only one of 4 schools to win 9+ games for the last X amount of seasons (I think Oregon, Alabama, and Boise were the others). Like...so what? It didn't do anything for us. Top 10 finishes, major bowls, conference championships. Those are the metrics of success for big time programs. Michigan's had a few over the last 15+ years - just enough to keep the prestige there. We've had none.
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This reminds me of a fun debate we used to have on this board in recent years - were we satisfied with all the #9win seasons from '08 to '14, or would we have trade one of those for a bad season (like 5ish wins) and a really good season (11-12 wins plus a major bowl victory).

The latter is what we see with regularity in college football now. Wisconsin has been a poster child for this despite some more recent, consistent success. They spent much of the early 2000's sucking one year and then having a really good season the next.

 
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Landlord said:
Yes, but the ups are what make people remember or think of your program as being elite or relevant.

Same thing with how people threw around Bo Pelini's stat of us being only one of 4 schools to win 9+ games for the last X amount of seasons (I think Oregon, Alabama, and Boise were the others). Like...so what? It didn't do anything for us. Top 10 finishes, major bowls, conference championships. Those are the metrics of success for big time programs. Michigan's had a few over the last 15+ years - just enough to keep the prestige there. We've had none.
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THIS. People only remember the GREAT things you've done, not the GOOD. Frost will turn this narrative around and have us back to being in love with Nebraska football again 

 
Probably because Michigan is to Ohio State as Nebraska was to Oklahoma. We lack that big time rivalry game. I think it'll happen naturally once we become the hunted again, as Bill Moos once said.

 
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