State of the Program: Nebraska

[Hunter94]

From an outsider's perspective, I feel that the "sideways" trajectory was about right. After a coaching change that brings in a guy with a 93-80 record, I'm not sure you could say the Huskers are on an upward trajectory.

I don't think anyone claimed it was upward. It's unknown. Things have changed. As others have said, there was no real thought or analysis put into this column.

actually it is a perfect column to stir up sh#t among the fans!

 

[knapplc]

It must suck to have to churn out copy about football in late February. No Spring Camp, no major recruiting news, certainly no games. So you have to come up with something, and Rittenberg came up with this.

It's gotta be hard writing about Nebraska. Nobody knows what we'll be, what'll happen with Riley, or how to approach anything. But some conclusions are just plain silly. Like a recruiting statement of, "...Nebraska must make some inroads in the Big Ten footprint."

Ummm... no we don't. We could win the conference and a national championship without a single guy from the Big Ten footprint on the roster. This is a lazy groupthink idea that has no basis in reality, but has that feel of truthiness about it.

Or how about "It might be tough for Riley to replicate Pelini's standard records in Year 1..." Yes, it might. It'd be tough for Riley to climb Kilimanjaro, but I'll bet he might. Riley might do anything, including giving birth to the second coming of Dominic Raiola. But that might also be tough.

Finally, we get, "Many felt Riley got the most out of Oregon State for much of his tenure, but this is a different stage..." Props to Adam for soldiering on through a dreary dead season, but pointing out that Nebraska is different from Oregon State is pretty weak sauce. Next he'll be writing that we don't have a rodent for a mascot, or that Riley will have to learn to enjoy corn on the cob.

You're going to criticize the article for that? Unless Nebraska starts to pull some bluechip recruits out of California, Texas or Florida (which isn't happening) then it might be wise for Nebraska to do better in states like Illinois, Ohio, New Jersey and Maryland.
Seems to me that you're complaining for the sake of complaining. You're basically knocking Rittenberg for being too literal with the use of the word 'must'. Get over it. It's not a secret that recruiting success is dictated by geography, which is to our disadvantage, and your best bet is to recruit kids in your conference footprint to pitch the idea of playing closer to home.

Should he just not write articles between signing day and spring practice?

I made an observation. You made a complaint. Note the difference.

(edit - and despite the terse tone, I'm not mad at ya'. I think the terseness comes from using twitter - compromising on space but still getting your point across)

 

[RunMickeyRun02]

A lot of good points here.

Just to add my 2cents, I think the sideways thing is a bit lazy.

True, nobody really knows what to expect from us next year and that's exciting, but a true sideways trajectory is so rare in football. The 9/10 win 4 loss streak was so rare in the world of sports.

I think you could make a case for either an up or down trajectory. Pick one, irk some people no matter which way you go, generate some more clicks. Tada! Offseason article complete.

 

[junior4949]

How many coaches in the history of college ball win big at power conference programs of Oregon State caliber? Bill Snyder? ...

KSU has how many conference and National championships?

Snyder has done wonders there for what they were before. However, I think Nebraska expects more.

We might expect more, but do we get more? KState beat OU like a rented mule in the 2003 Big 12 Championship game to win the conference. When was the last time we won a conference championship? They also won the Big 12 in 2012. KState has won two conference championship games since the last time we won one. Let that sink in for a while before we start chastising a program. Snyder has done just a bit more than wonders. He took over a program that had the worst record in FBS history. He took over a team that hadn't had a victory in 27 consecutive games.

 

[junior4949]

From an outsider's perspective, I feel that the "sideways" trajectory was about right. After a coaching change that brings in a guy with a 93-80 record, I'm not sure you could say the Huskers are on an upward trajectory. You also have to factor in what he's up against; limited ties to the Midwest, a cut-throat approach to recruiting among top B1G coaches, and a newfound pressure to win. There's also the first year woes that come with new coaches trying to change a culture. A 9 or 10 win season in year one would be quite the success, but not necessarily an improvement.

With all of that being said, had the article been about the FUTURE state of B1G programs, you'd have to say that Nebraska is on an upward trajectory. Riley has shown his ability to build a program (Oregon State went from nothing to respectable). NU certainly doesn't need rebuilt; they need to be rebranded. The only question is whether or not he can do that.

The guy has a quiet confidence to him that reminds me of Tressel. I have a feeling he will have his championship-caliber teams every few years or so, he just has to be able to bring in the talent to do it.

If the article had been about the future state of B1G programs, I'm not quite so sure I'm as optimistic about us being on an upward trajectory. After reading the article where Jamais Winston is pimping Michigan and how much better their facilities are than Florida State's, Harbaugh's job recruiting probably just got that much better.

I really believe the reason Eichorst brought Riley in as coach has to do with being realistic. In order to be successful, we have to have a guy in charge that has the ability to do more with less comparable to what Snyder does at KState and Dantonio does at Michigan State. Going forward, I highly doubt we're at the top of the conference year in and year out. However, Riley does give us the ability to be in the conversation every few years. There are several fans who don't like Riley bringing in most of his old staff. However, I see this as comparable to what TO enjoyed here for years which was little staff turnover. One of the reasons we had the pipeline was because of coaches being here year after year after year.

The level of play and player development will more than likely be the best we've seen in over a decade. I highly doubt we see the thumpings we became used to under Bo. However, we'll just have to wait and see how that translates in the win loss column.

 

[Hunter94]

From an outsider's perspective, I feel that the "sideways" trajectory was about right. After a coaching change that brings in a guy with a 93-80 record, I'm not sure you could say the Huskers are on an upward trajectory. You also have to factor in what he's up against; limited ties to the Midwest, a cut-throat approach to recruiting among top B1G coaches, and a newfound pressure to win. There's also the first year woes that come with new coaches trying to change a culture. A 9 or 10 win season in year one would be quite the success, but not necessarily an improvement.

With all of that being said, had the article been about the FUTURE state of B1G programs, you'd have to say that Nebraska is on an upward trajectory. Riley has shown his ability to build a program (Oregon State went from nothing to respectable). NU certainly doesn't need rebuilt; they need to be rebranded. The only question is whether or not he can do that.

The guy has a quiet confidence to him that reminds me of Tressel. I have a feeling he will have his championship-caliber teams every few years or so, he just has to be able to bring in the talent to do it.

If the article had been about the future state of B1G programs, I'm not quite so sure I'm as optimistic about us being on an upward trajectory. After reading the article where Jamais Winston is pimping Michigan and how much better their facilities are than Florida State's, Harbaugh's job recruiting probably just got that much better.

I really believe the reason Eichorst brought Riley in as coach has to do with being realistic. In order to be successful, we have to have a guy in charge that has the ability to do more with less comparable to what Snyder does at KState and Dantonio does at Michigan State. Going forward, I highly doubt we're at the top of the conference year in and year out. However, Riley does give us the ability to be in the conversation every few years. There are several fans who don't like Riley bringing in most of his old staff. However, I see this as comparable to what TO enjoyed here for years which was little staff turnover. One of the reasons we had the pipeline was because of coaches being here year after year after year.

The level of play and player development will more than likely be the best we've seen in over a decade. I highly doubt we see the thumpings we became used to under Bo. However, we'll just have to wait and see how that translates in the win loss column.

good observations..........