OWH: Can Nebraska Be Nebraska Again?

[RedDenver]

states where last 20 national title winners have come from:

Alabama

Ohio

Florida

Alabama

Alabama

Alabama

Alabama

Florida

Louisiana

Florida

Texas

California

California

Louisiana

Ohio

Florida

Oklahoma

Florida

Tennessee

Nebraska

You think it is a coincidence that only two of those states are in the midwest, one of which being Ohio and the other being the last year of a dynastic that is now dead?

You forgot Oklahoma.

Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma prove you wrong. Those 3 teams have won a combined total of around 21 national championships in football.

Elite players follow elite coaches. That Alabama would have such a large number of those championships is not because of their location it's because they've had an elite coaches.

Only Oklahoma and Nebraska are not in recruiting hotbeds. Ohio is among the top states for D1 football players produced.

You're just wrong and wont admit it.

Oklahoma and Nebraska have 13 national titles = FACT.

Your just making excuses. Why would you do that ?

It will take a complete regime change for Nebraska to get back to elite level football.

What am I wrong about exactly? Are you claiming that Nebraska or Oklahoma are recruiting hotbeds or that one of the other states on that list is not a recruiting hotbed? Is Ohio not among the top states in producing football players?

The number of titles between OU and NU has nothing to do with my statement. I am in FACT (do caps make it more true?) including them in the list of teams that have won a title in the last 20 years.

Claiming my statement is an "excuse" and then stating an opinion about the Husker regime (which has NOTHING to do with the recruiting debate here) does nothing to refute my statement.

 

[RedDenver]

states where last 20 national title winners have come from:

Alabama

Ohio

Florida

Alabama

Alabama

Alabama

Alabama

Florida

Louisiana

Florida

Texas

California

California

Louisiana

Ohio

Florida

Oklahoma

Florida

Tennessee

Nebraska

You think it is a coincidence that only two of those states are in the midwest, one of which being Ohio and the other being the last year of a dynastic that is now dead?

You forgot Oklahoma.

Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma prove you wrong. Those 3 teams have won a combined total of around 21 national championships in football.

Elite players follow elite coaches. That Alabama would have such a large number of those championships is not because of their location it's because they've had an elite coaches.

Only Oklahoma and Nebraska are not in recruiting hotbeds. Ohio is among the top states for D1 football players produced.

Oklahoma isn't close to a recruiting hotbed?

190 miles to Dallas.

I meant the state of Oklahoma, but your point is well taken.

 

[MichiganDad3]

Well, short of Urbs or Saban, not sure there are any coaches out there that are as good or better than Riley. Of course, we'll have to wait for a larger sample size of Riley & Co., but I remain optimistic.

That's absurd. You're living in a dream world.

Tom Herman and Houston... this year... Bob Stoops at Oklahoma... Harbaugh... and the list goes on.

What's your agenda for making absurd claims like that ?

Completely agree. If MR is the 3rd best coach in the country and can only win 6 games, then Bo must be among the greatest coaches of all time.

 

[84HuskerLaw]

I think many of the points being made about locationk recruiting 'hot' beds, etc are all very valid and give strong support to the proposition that certain programs such as Bama, USC, UCLA, Texas, Florida three, etc. are more favorable in location and proximity to talent, etc. They are therefore more desirable places for top notch coaches to choose. It is easier, arguably, to win a National championship at a big name school in a prime location with large populations of good players nearby. It is NOT impossible for Oregon or Nebraska or BYU or Arizona or Penn State or even Colorado to win a national title to the contrary. However, arguably, it is more difficult. But, Nebraska is a a big time, big name, legendary football school and is as a matter of fact a great place for a great coach to be. Nebraska fans are very loyal to successful coaches (Oz, Devaney, Solich, Pelini, etc are all good examples). Pelini simply blew his popularity and goodwill by his own actions and misdeeds. He could have been every bit as popular as the others, IF he had done the right things and avoided a handful of blow out defeats and NOT made fools of himself and the school and fans with his ugly behavior and words.

I met personally with with an Oregoian who is quite personally familiar with Riley just yesterday. Although he was a Duck fan, he strongly believes Riley is a fine coach and we did well by hiring him. He is confident he will be very successful if given the opportunity and support. I remain a believer in Riley and this recruiting class reaffirms my feeling that, over time, he will bring us up to a more comfortable level and restore respectability on the national CFB stage to the Huskers. We will become relevant. I believe the difference between 6-7 and 11-2 in 2015 was a matter of a couple dozen plays and the team buying in and playing with more confidence. The schemes are in place and the playbook is no longer "Greek" to so many. We may not run the table in 2016 but we will be relevant in the Big Ten race and the odds are, in my view, about 65% probability of Huskers in the Big Ten championship game. We will have a chance to compete and won't be embarrassed, barring injury decimation of multiple positions or the QB spot.

 

[Enhance]

short answer is: no. we will never replicate the success we had in the 90s. Fans need to let that go, and I think most have.

We could do it again... but not with the people we have running the program now (with the exception of Boyd Epley).

It will take a complete and total regime change... from top to bottom.

I disagree. Even if we had Nick Saban & Co. I don't think we would be able to win 3 titles in 4 years. What Saban is doing in the south cant be "copied and pasted" to Lincoln, NE this day and age.

You're wrong.

Success in college football has nothing to do with location ( as evidenced by Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne).

It has to do with coaching, recruiting and commitment.

I think you need to start changing your narrative about location and recruiting having "nothing" to do with one another because the current state of college football does not support your claim whatsoever. Most of the recruiting analysts I've ever listened to, read or seen talk about recruiting has said that location plays a pretty big role in recruiting. If it didn't, then why, historically speaking, have the highest rated recruiting classes come from places outside the Midwest, when teams in the Midwest (like Nebraska) were powerhouses?

You keep mentioning all the titles teams like Ohio, Oklahoma and Nebraska have. Well, Army has five national titles, too. I can tell you with complete assurance that the current state of college football suggests they'll never win another. Times change.

Saying location has nothing to do with recruiting is like saying there are a similar number of great middle class houses to choose from in Omaha as there are in Firth.

Talent follows great coaching and great programs, but seriously... location plays a role and saying it it has "nothing" to do with anything is, I'm sorry to say, flat out ignorant.

 

[cm husker]

For those saying talent followed TO to Nebraksa, go back and look at who he recruited as the bulk of his team. Nebraska kids.

We need a tier 1 coach who runs a system adapted to Nebraska's realities if NU is going to climb back up the rankings.

 

[olddominionhusker]

Well, short of Urbs or Saban, not sure there are any coaches out there that are as good or better than Riley. Of course, we'll have to wait for a larger sample size of Riley & Co., but I remain optimistic.

Look, I think it's great to support Riley and I'm hopeful he can turn this thing around, but that statement is insane. He is a .500 career guy. He's never won anything of consequence in ~25 years of coaching.
At some point, your record and accomplishments matter.

If you want to say MR is the best coach for NU right now and there is no one else you would rather have leading the team, im cool with that. But that doesn't erase his lifetime record and lack of results.

I'm not saying this to dump on Riley, I think he represents the school and program well, but the list of better coaches is a hell of a lot longer then 2 guys.

Honestly, if your intent is to be supportive of Riley, statements like this do nothing but undermine your position because they are so out of touch.

I think even most of the more even handed posters here who support MR wholeheartedly would admit the delusional nature of saying Riley is clearly the third best coach in college football.

 

[junior4949]

I think many of the points being made about locationk recruiting 'hot' beds, etc are all very valid and give strong support to the proposition that certain programs such as Bama, USC, UCLA, Texas, Florida three, etc. are more favorable in location and proximity to talent, etc. They are therefore more desirable places for top notch coaches to choose. It is easier, arguably, to win a National championship at a big name school in a prime location with large populations of good players nearby. It is NOT impossible for Oregon or Nebraska or BYU or Arizona or Penn State or even Colorado to win a national title to the contrary. However, arguably, it is more difficult. But, Nebraska is a a big time, big name, legendary football school and is as a matter of fact a great place for a great coach to be. Nebraska fans are very loyal to successful coaches (Oz, Devaney, Solich, Pelini, etc are all good examples). Pelini simply blew his popularity and goodwill by his own actions and misdeeds. He could have been every bit as popular as the others, IF he had done the right things and avoided a handful of blow out defeats and NOT made fools of himself and the school and fans with his ugly behavior and words.

I met personally with with an Oregoian who is quite personally familiar with Riley just yesterday. Although he was a Duck fan, he strongly believes Riley is a fine coach and we did well by hiring him. He is confident he will be very successful if given the opportunity and support. I remain a believer in Riley and this recruiting class reaffirms my feeling that, over time, he will bring us up to a more comfortable level and restore respectability on the national CFB stage to the Huskers. We will become relevant. I believe the difference between 6-7 and 11-2 in 2015 was a matter of a couple dozen plays and the team buying in and playing with more confidence. The schemes are in place and the playbook is no longer "Greek" to so many. We may not run the table in 2016 but we will be relevant in the Big Ten race and the odds are, in my view, about 65% probability of Huskers in the Big Ten championship game. We will have a chance to compete and won't be embarrassed, barring injury decimation of multiple positions or the QB spot.

The only coach you listed where Nebraska fans were loyal to was TO. I guess you could argue Devaney, but I think we both know better. Prior to Devaney, Nebraska endured seven consecutive losing seasons. The Bobfather's first year, we went 9-2. He did even better the following year. The fans were loyal because he single handedly resurrected Nebraska football.

Solich was only given a whopping total of six seasons. The fans weren't loyal at all to a man who won a conference title and played for a national title. To this day, there are still fans that continue to spew crap about Solich.

Pretty much the same can be said about Bo as Solich other than he didn't quite accomplish as much and was given one year longer.

The fans were not loyal to Clownahan either.

Considering the threads on here throughout the season, it's quite apparent that some/a lot of fans are not loyal to Riley either. There's been quite a few calling for his head since the day he was announced as head coach.

We really aren't a lot different than a lot of other places. Loyalty to coaches only exists when we're winning and when we're winning enough. A coach here or a lot of other places that doesn't do that is terminated. For the majority of the past two decades, we have become a coaching carousel.

 

[cm husker]

I generally agree with your post.

I'd take it a step further and say that perceptive "loyalty" is treally a function of an AD's wherewithal and intestinal fortitude. Devaney was in a position to and did lay down a ton of cover for TO, who many people did want fired in the late 80s and early 90s (based on the same arguments of "it's easy to win X at NU; we need someone else to get over the "hump").

Unfortunately neither solich nor pelini had an AD with either the years they were fired.

 

[admo]

states where last 20 national title winners have come from:

Alabama

Ohio

Florida

Alabama

Alabama

Alabama

Alabama

Florida

Louisiana

Florida

Texas

California

California

Louisiana

Ohio

Florida

Oklahoma

Florida

Tennessee

Nebraska

You think it is a coincidence that only two of those states are in the midwest, one of which being Ohio and the other being the last year of a dynastic that is now dead?

This pretty much confirms to me what I have been thinking the past several years: We are Tennessee and Tennessee is Nebraska. Both are blue blood schools with a long history of winning and success, great stadiums and game day environments, classic traditions (Go Big Red, Rocky Top), had iconic head coaches in the past, and both had fantastic runs during the 90's. But both have been misfiring (ups and downs) and have not been what they used to be. I have been telling myself for some time that college football would be even better if NU and UT were top 10 teams again. And for the similarities I mentioned, it is why the Vols are my favorite SEC team (I don't care for the rest of them).

I don't know who posted it (my money would be on Mavric) that showed a big difference in recruiting between the two the past three or four years. The Vols have been getting top 15/top 10 players lately. So from a recruiting stance, they should be making a heavy push through this long rebuilding process into a top 8-12 team again (or at least somewhere around there). With NU, we have talent and several special players scattered throughout, and after one year with a new staff, I really think we can make a jump into the top 25 again this season. The momentum has to build with the current players but hopefully the recruiting will improve even more. Winning will bring better players and attention to the Huskers (more games like MSU and less like Purdue/Illinois, etc).