Sporting News: Bo Pelini, Huskers confident 2012 can be their year

I just briefly skimmed some of the responses, so forgive me if I reiterate - I agree with some that we hear this often, and it's now time to put it on the field.

That said, I don't think we have to win the B1G in order to have improvement. For example, if we can avoid the glaring meltdowns (Wisconsin, USC, Michigan), lack of execution at home (tOSU for three quarters) and losses at home to teams we shouldn't really lose to at home (NW), then I'll consider that improvement without necessarily having improved our w/l record. Although losing a close game hurts, it's far better to do that than being competitive for one quarter and then blowing it all away the rest of the game. I'd rather lose three games down to the wire than three games in embarrassing fashion.

 
'SkersRule said:
DT: Steinkuhler, Peat, Rome, Williams, Guy, and Randle with Curry and Valentine coming in as freshman. That's eight pretty darn good kids manning that interior DL. I agree about the questions at LB. I'm not entirely sold on Compton as a Mike LB. We recruitied one JC LB we also have three true freshman coming in with two, Santos and Pirman, who redshirted last season. On paper the quality is there. Judging by what I've heard our new DB coach is going to be very good and preliminary indications are he's a heck of a recruiter. I guess what I'm saying is that things at least to me don't look all that bleak certainly not 8 wins bleak.
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On the defensive line we're starting to look decent on paper, you're right... But I'm still waiting on those guys to come into their own. You can't expect guys to turn into studs (I wish it worked that way :/), it has to happen first.

I say 8 wins because the climate of college football is so dam competitive its insane. Unless you have proven clear cut elite athletes, who knows whats gonna happen.

 
accountability said:
Nobody said:
I say 8 wins, no less. We may be able to pull together and do some special things, but i think the writing in the sand would suggest to not hold your breath. Taylor hasn't proven to me that he is capable of living up to his potential, way too inconsistent thus far. There are a lot of questions at linebacker. We will all see this year just how big of a deal it is losing Vonte. Anderson seems to be the quick fix, but there's not enough there to hang our hat on yet. Defensive line has me the most worried. I don't see the bodies there we need to compete at an elite level. The secondary was young, but that doesn't mean they graduate to being elite by default. Like I said, we may be able to rally together... but there is not enough there to expect anything substantial. just me.
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Taylor Martinez was the least of our worries down the stretch a year ago. He threw what, 2 whole picks, the remainder of the year following the Wisconsin game. I just dont see why he is drawing so much negativity. We have more glaring issues than our quarterback play right now.
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I agree, that's valid. He wasn't losing us games... But he also wasn't putting the team on his shoulders when games were on the line. That may not be entirely fair though given the amount of crucial drops by our receivers.

 
I'm not convinced Michigan is for real yet. They certainly had a good first year under Hoke, but I thought they'd have done almost as well under Rich Rod. Losing those senior DT's will hurt Mich quite a bit, as will losing their best WR. Robinson is certainly a weapon, but I doubt he'll get away with as many lobbed balls where his WR's manage to come down with them. I think they'll be more consistent but will drop some of those close games they pulled out last season.

 
Hoke's a good coach and his coaching staff is upgraded. Most of their defense returns. But the reason why I'm not as worried about them as I am against Ohio State is because we're at home and barring all those turnovers, Michigan would not have beat us the way they did, a game like that is not going to happen twice. So I think the game will be much closer and heck, we might even pull off a win (we'll be at home).

I'm worried about Ohio State because:

1) The defense hasn't entirely proven that they can stop a mobile QB. I hope Coach Kaz can help with that (and it looked like he did when because the D-line did a pretty good job containing Shaw)

2) tOSU has Urban and a loaded coaching staff.

3) Their defense returns in almost its entirety

4) Much the same reasoning as Michigan, Braxton will not get hurt again. Their offense will be on the field more later and it will be up to our defense to completely shut them down.

5) It's a road game

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Furthermore, here's [perhaps] a little aside about Bo and defense. When he came over from LSU (the SEC runs a different offensive style than the Big XII) our defense wasn't great in his first year. We allowed 28.5 PPG and 350 YPG. Not exactly stellar numbers.

Fast forward to 2009, Pelini's second year in the Big XII (his chance to make adjustments and play defense to stop the Big XII offense) We allowed 10.4 PPG and 272 YPG. That's a pretty steep learning curve. Could we see something like this as he tries to match the B1G offensive style?

2010: Pelini's D allowed 17.4 PPG and 306 YPG.

The first year in a new conference is always the toughest. Let's see how he adjusts.

 
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^^ interesting

There is a variable in that equation though too.

Ndamukong Suh. We don't have any game changers like that on defense right now.

 
saunders45 said:
Michigan will lose 3 games.
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I see them losing to Bama, tOSU, and maybe another game they are not supposed to lose. They seem to always struggle with Iowa, and MSU. Michigan fans will be taken back to reality this year.

 
Michigan suffered on the road last year just like all B1G teams did. They did lose at Iowa and at MSU, two teams we handled at home. Robinson struggled on the road, threw a lot of picks. He played his best ball against NU and OSU at home. He didn't look good in the bowl game. MU also loses several key pieces such as their all everything DT and C. Hoke has already challenged Robinson to be more consistent, sound familiar?

 
Just read this article, the boys seem to be bursting with confidence. Hopefully they are right, some big expectations being built by themselves...

 
Nobody said:
^^ interesting

There is a variable in that equation though too.

Ndamukong Suh. We don't have any game changers like that on defense right now.
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2010's defense was very solid as well w/o Suh, the secondary was incredible. 2011=2008. I think 2012 will = 2010 defensively (it takes Suh-like stardom to have a 2009, dont think this unit has that, as of right now anyway).

 
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