So... as we head into the Big 10 next year there are certain things know from this season..
The good part....
the Blackshirts will still be very good (especially if Dennard & Crick stay)--- L.David, B. Steinkuhler, C. Meredith, A. Cassidy, C. Osborne, PJ Smith, E. Martin... and add Fisher... so long as Dennard and Crick stay, NU will have one of the top 3 defenses in the B12.
The maybe not so good part... Special teams? How will we replace Kunalic and especially Henery? We cannot possibly be as good next year in this realm... but hopefully we'll be ok
The bad part...
poor offensive coaching and game plan. An embarrassing head coach whose demeanor and lack of professionalism has, and will even more so, continue to degrade the Huskers reputation nationally (the reason being the enhanced exposure we will get next year).Undisciplined team in general... penalties, lack of consistent preparation for games, turnovers, poor offensive line fundamentals, well below average WR'ers, seemingly an unknown at QB. Literally an unknown at QB. Martinez is looking less likely to be the man in the future than ever before (that may change, who knows). Cody Green is not a D1 QB. So... the offense... is likely to be a bottom dweller relative to the rest of the B10 (somewhere around what 8,9,10 or so in the conference. We will miss Helu a great deal --- and if TMart is out of the picture (who knows? that is possible... maybe probable) big play potential will be missing.
Overall... things do not look really good or... really bad. I'd guess based on now... and, of course, many things could change before we start next year... but NU looks like a mid-level B10 team (not a top 4 in conference but middle/upper middle of the next 4) going into next year. If things go well, NU could be a fringe top 25 team, perhaps?
In any event, next year our record will not be nearly as good as it is this year. I'd think that eight wins next year would be good.
We, as Husker fans, need to be realistic... the people on this board, generally, project onto our team what they desire and wish for the team to be. We are... this year... right now ranked at #16... and I think that there are more than 16 teams that are better than us. Does anybody really see NU as a BCS-caliber team? Come now... really?!
Lets just root for these guys and hope for the best. The state of NU football is that we are a fringe top 25 program... no more.. no less. The people on this board are manic --- one week NU is invincible the next week NU is horrible. No need to ride the roller-coaster if you see NU for what it is and adjust expectations accordingly. We have a solid program --- not a national contender.. but a solid program. Don't expect more than 8 wins next year... or expect that we win out this year.
The good part....
the Blackshirts will still be very good (especially if Dennard & Crick stay)--- L.David, B. Steinkuhler, C. Meredith, A. Cassidy, C. Osborne, PJ Smith, E. Martin... and add Fisher... so long as Dennard and Crick stay, NU will have one of the top 3 defenses in the B12.
The maybe not so good part... Special teams? How will we replace Kunalic and especially Henery? We cannot possibly be as good next year in this realm... but hopefully we'll be ok
The bad part...
poor offensive coaching and game plan. An embarrassing head coach whose demeanor and lack of professionalism has, and will even more so, continue to degrade the Huskers reputation nationally (the reason being the enhanced exposure we will get next year).Undisciplined team in general... penalties, lack of consistent preparation for games, turnovers, poor offensive line fundamentals, well below average WR'ers, seemingly an unknown at QB. Literally an unknown at QB. Martinez is looking less likely to be the man in the future than ever before (that may change, who knows). Cody Green is not a D1 QB. So... the offense... is likely to be a bottom dweller relative to the rest of the B10 (somewhere around what 8,9,10 or so in the conference. We will miss Helu a great deal --- and if TMart is out of the picture (who knows? that is possible... maybe probable) big play potential will be missing.
Overall... things do not look really good or... really bad. I'd guess based on now... and, of course, many things could change before we start next year... but NU looks like a mid-level B10 team (not a top 4 in conference but middle/upper middle of the next 4) going into next year. If things go well, NU could be a fringe top 25 team, perhaps?
In any event, next year our record will not be nearly as good as it is this year. I'd think that eight wins next year would be good.
We, as Husker fans, need to be realistic... the people on this board, generally, project onto our team what they desire and wish for the team to be. We are... this year... right now ranked at #16... and I think that there are more than 16 teams that are better than us. Does anybody really see NU as a BCS-caliber team? Come now... really?!
Lets just root for these guys and hope for the best. The state of NU football is that we are a fringe top 25 program... no more.. no less. The people on this board are manic --- one week NU is invincible the next week NU is horrible. No need to ride the roller-coaster if you see NU for what it is and adjust expectations accordingly. We have a solid program --- not a national contender.. but a solid program. Don't expect more than 8 wins next year... or expect that we win out this year.