PreSeason Rankings - your turn

[knapplc]

So many preseason polls coming out, with Nebraska ranked anywhere from the top five to the top 15. Where do we belong? If you'd rank us up in the top five, why would you put us up there? If down in the upper teens, what's holding us back?

Personally, I still have my doubts about QB play and the O Line. I have high expectations for the defense once again and I think we're in good hands at RB. While we should be better and more healthy at O Line, the depth we're adding isn't experienced - Sirles, Hardrick and Ash are talented, they just haven't played. No matter which QB starts, we're still looking for consecutive good games vs. BCS opponents.

That said, I think it's fair to put us about 10th-12th in the country. I think a fair top 25 would be:

1. Alabama - The Tide return a ton of talent. They belong here for now, but the SEC gauntlet makes a repeat title difficult

2. Boise St - I cringe putting them here, but they have the offensive weapons to dominate. VA Tech will make or break the Broncos.

3. Ohio St - Terrelle Pryor is a Jr. with the tools and the talent to lead the Buckeyes all the way to the championship.

4. VA Tech - Tyrod Taylor is a SR. His experience, a good O Line and a great stable of RBs will keep VA Tech atop the rankings.

5. TCU - Oregon St will give them their only real challenge of the early season. They could be in the top five all year.

6. Florida - No Tebow? No problem. Look for talent-rich Florida to challenge Alabama for the league crown.

7. Oklahoma - Stoops has trouble with the big games, so early dates with FSU and Cincy will show whether the Sooners belong here.

8. Oregon - I've never understood the lack of respect the Ducks get at HB. This is a talented, well-coached team.

9. Texas - This is could be a team that plummets FAST facing Texas Tech, UCLA, Oklahoma and Nebraska in four consecutive games - three of them on the road. They're talented, sure, but that's a hell of a four-game stretch.

10. Iowa - Defense wins championships, but having a competent offense helps. Iowa has both, and less questions than Nebraska.

11. Nebraska - We know about the Blackshirts. Let's see the offense hold up their end of the bargain, and this will be the lowest the Huskers are ranked all season.

12. Wisconsin - They return 10 starters on offense. It's their D Line that has to reload. The Badgers should contend with OSU for the Big 10 title.

13. Miami - It starts to get pretty fuzzy here, and Miami is a confusing team. Jacory Harris needs to be better.

14. Pittsburgh - Three of their first five games are against Utah, Miami and Notre Dame. We'll see what they're made of then.

15. Arkansas - Ryan Mallett will once again star, and the Razorbacks could be a sleeper SEC Championship pick.

16. Penn State - After the top 15 it gets really difficult, and these next ten could go any number of ways.

17. Georgia Tech

18. USC

19. Texas Tech

20. LSU

21. Cincinnati

22. Florida St

23. Oregon St

24. Georgia

25. Clemson

 

[RockyMountainOySker]

You are spot on knapplc. I say 11-13 is exactly where we deserve to be.

 

[Apathy]

You are spot on knapplc. I say 11-13 is exactly where we deserve to be.

:yeah

I'd say that we should be #12 but thats just me.

 

[Scratchtown]

I said 16-20.

QB no matter how much cool aid we drink, its a freakin issue.

Defense without suh, meaning Dline. Is crick the player everyone THINKS he is.

if we didn't have alex henery I would have voted 21-25.

Missouri will be good, explosive (without the rain). KSU will be good, their record will be better than what they are though, keep that in mind. They have a WEAK schedule. Texas A&M will be pretty darn good. Texas, until we beat them...they are the better team. Oklahoma is alot better than most people think. Washington, at Seattle is going to be hella tough.

 

[ADS]

I also said 11-15.

Defense will win us some games again this year. The quarterback situation still bothers me, and some tough road games at Washington, Texas A&M, Kansas State (thursday night), and Oklahoma State worry me.

 

[deedsker15]

how good are we...don't know...how hard is our schedule...not very...tallies in the win column mean more then playing well against good teams to voters...nebraska is a top 10 team

 

[BGREDSTUCKN IA]

I have liked us to start outside of the top ten in all polls. And I do see the side of all of these Iowa fans I have to deal with, that they SHOULD be ahead of us in the polls.

 

[MUTigerFan]

I said 16-20.

QB no matter how much cool aid we drink, its a freakin issue.

Defense without suh, meaning Dline. Is crick the player everyone THINKS he is.

if we didn't have alex henery I would have voted 21-25.

Missouri will be good, explosive (without the rain). KSU will be good, their record will be better than what they are though, keep that in mind. They have a WEAK schedule. Texas A&M will be pretty darn good. Texas, until we beat them...they are the better team. Oklahoma is alot better than most people think. Washington, at Seattle is going to be hella tough.

I think this is about right. It will be interesting to see Crick without Suh eating up 2 or 3 blockers.

Mizzou has a lot of questions to answer, but there is a lot of talent, especially on offense, and most especially at receiver. They're thick as ticks.

Who's the go-to receiver? Who's the possession receiver? Who's going to step-up on the D-line? Can the corners cover .... ever?

We'll start to find out at 11:30 next Sat. morning.

 

[Igetbored216]

I picked 16-20. I realize Bo has a great resume in defenses, but the fact that we lost the best player in the country and the entire middle of our defense is kind of concerning. It's a huge question mark.

On the other side of the ball, we have even bigger questions:

Our o-line was a big problem last year and was average in 2008. What will they be this year. Depth will help, but whenever you are starting a rFr at LT (assuming Sirles is the one starting...which I think he will be), a center that has had limited experience, and two RTs that have done nothing to prove to me that they can actually perform when facing speedy DEs, well, I get a little concerned.

Then, the main emphasis is at the QB position. Who's it going to be? How will he do this year? Can he win us games?

There are also questions at the WR position. Yeah, Niles Paul can be great, but he hasn't been consistent since they day he arrived here. Will Kinnie take the next step? Will our receivers actually be able to catch this year?

I realize many teams have many questions marks, and I think Nebraska will be in for a ten win regular season. However, to be as high as six in some people's eyes is just absurd. Alabama has alot of questions, but guess what? They have won big games. The program has done something that is relevant. They won the national championship last year.

Nebraska on the other hand has beaten a bunch of average teams, but really haven't taken that next step. Therefore, these questions are amplified.

I also think it's pretty ridiculous Mizzou didn't make the top 25.

Just my take...

 

[sd'sker]

I picked 16-20. I realize Bo has a great resume in defenses, but the fact that we lost the best player in the country and the entire middle of our defense is kind of concerning. It's a huge question mark.

On the other side of the ball, we have even bigger questions:

Our o-line was a big problem last year and was average in 2008. What will they be this year. Depth will help, but whenever you are starting a rFr at LT (assuming Sirles is the one starting...which I think he will be), a center that has had limited experience, and two RTs that have done nothing to prove to me that they can actually perform when facing speedy DEs, well, I get a little concerned.

Then, the main emphasis is at the QB position. Who's it going to be? How will he do this year? Can he win us games?

There are also questions at the WR position. Yeah, Niles Paul can be great, but he hasn't been consistent since they day he arrived here. Will Kinnie take the next step? Will our receivers actually be able to catch this year?

I realize many teams have many questions marks, and I think Nebraska will be in for a ten win regular season. However, to be as high as six in some people's eyes is just absurd. Alabama has alot of questions, but guess what? They have won big games. The program has done something that is relevant. They won the national championship last year.

Nebraska on the other hand has beaten a bunch of average teams, but really haven't taken that next step. Therefore, these questions are amplified.

I also think it's pretty ridiculous Mizzou didn't make the top 25.

Just my take...

i think getting beaten, badly, by navy really hurt people's perception of them.

 

[HuskerJosh]

I picked 16-20. I realize Bo has a great resume in defenses, but the fact that we lost the best player in the country and the entire middle of our defense is kind of concerning. It's a huge question mark.

On the other side of the ball, we have even bigger questions:

Our o-line was a big problem last year and was average in 2008. What will they be this year. Depth will help, but whenever you are starting a rFr at LT (assuming Sirles is the one starting...which I think he will be), a center that has had limited experience, and two RTs that have done nothing to prove to me that they can actually perform when facing speedy DEs, well, I get a little concerned.

Then, the main emphasis is at the QB position. Who's it going to be? How will he do this year? Can he win us games?

There are also questions at the WR position. Yeah, Niles Paul can be great, but he hasn't been consistent since they day he arrived here. Will Kinnie take the next step? Will our receivers actually be able to catch this year?

I realize many teams have many questions marks, and I think Nebraska will be in for a ten win regular season. However, to be as high as six in some people's eyes is just absurd. Alabama has alot of questions, but guess what? They have won big games. The program has done something that is relevant. They won the national championship last year.

Nebraska on the other hand has beaten a bunch of average teams, but really haven't taken that next step. Therefore, these questions are amplified.

I also think it's pretty ridiculous Mizzou didn't make the top 25.

Just my take...

i think getting beaten, badly, by navy really hurt people's perception of them.

And losing to Baylor. It's hardly "ridiculous". You could argue they should be in the top 25, but they're far from a lock.

 

[corncraze]

Im I the only one who thinks Terrell Pryor hasn't proved much????

I mean sure he's athletic but there still is decision making and accuracy that go into factor as well.

 

[bleedNUred]

I voted for the 11-15 range considering how questionable our offense is.

 

[sd'sker]

I voted for the 11-15 range considering how questionable our offense is.

i think we should be in the 8-11 range (i was going to say 9-11 range, but did not want to "go there"). i know our offense, especially o-line and qb are the big question, but does anyone think our offense will be worse this year? as bad as they were last year, we still had a pretty good season.

 

[bleedNUred]

I voted for the 11-15 range considering how questionable our offense is.

i think we should be in the 8-11 range (i was going to say 9-11 range, but did not want to "go there"). i know our offense, especially o-line and qb are the big question, but does anyone think our offense will be worse this year? as bad as they were last year, we still had a pretty good season.

True but even if they've improved a little bit from last year then we'll be a top 10 team maybe and if they're just as bad then a 11-15 team. As of now we don't know so I'll go with 11-15, hope they prove otherwise by stepping up the offensive production.