What did we learn? Colorado edition

Crusader Husker said:
I watched some of the USC game.  Colorado is going to have issues.  I think they are good, but not great.  
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I think NU had what...8 sacks? Put Ms front 7 up there and they get 12. CU won't survive. If NUs offense was serviceable they would have won that game. I have no idea if any team in the PAC2 including USC has a defense...Utah maybe... but if they do CU won't  survive. 

 
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huskerfan702 said:
It’s funny that the last decade majority of the fan base has felt the sky isn’t falling and we will figure it out. Hindsight is 20/20 and now we know the talent and operational process hasn’t been close. I’m not rooting against Rhule but I’m not giving his “builder” label justification based on a few winning seasons. The most alarming to me is he seems to say what the fan base wants to hear and at this point of constant failure he isn’t getting the patience that frost got so he better show some life fast. Attaching this season to Sims and our other incapable QBs is baffling considering he literally said he wished he went after an elite QB sooner in Carolina. I do like the explosive athletes he has recruited and it’s nice to see D lineman who actually do something. The future still might be decent but can he find a real QB and can he actually coach well enough to justify that salary I’m not betting on it
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I jumped off the Frost bandwagon about a couple years in, so I feel fair in saying that obviously it would be insane to even consider firing Rhule at this point. I think what a lot of this comes from for you and other fans is justified though in being concerned, because the fact is this:

For the past 20 years, we have watched other programs immediately jump from being garbage to excellent in the span of one or two seasons. Heck, even Pelini took us immediately to 9 wins his first season (his problem being that his floor and his ceiling were one in the same). Every year, we watch a program who has floundered suddenly put it together and succeed again. Look at Tennessee last year. Hell, look at Texas, who fell down and now is back up again.

The simple fact is, of all the blue bloods who had a tumble, outside of maybe Miami (which to me is inexplicable) we are the only one who has continued to struggle for so long. We haven't even gotten the joy of one truly great season. We have had to essentially eat s#!t for 20 years, with only two seasons even approaching what I'd consider great in 2009 and 2010, and even then they did not get there. I was 8 years old when we last even won a conference championship, and I am 32 now. That's absurd to me. Literally no one save a few non-traditional students in UNL's undergraduate program was alive when we were last good. None.

So, this fanbase is right to be absolutely frustrated, because frankly, it does seem like horses#!t that everyone else gets to actually bounce back, even if just for one season, but we don't.

 
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This is probably wishful thinking, but I do still think Colorado is going to collapse in the second half. They are a lot better than I expected, but I just don't think they can hold up. Shedeur was super impressive, he was freakishly poised back there. But he took some shots, and if he goes down teams are going to feast on the freshman backup who is less mobile, less experienced, and likely less turnover-averse. If the OL takes a hit even Sheduer might not be able to save them, and Dylan Edwards doesn't have a college build yet. Plus better offenses will put more stress on them.

They have absolutely proven me wrong so far, but I still think depth is going to be their downfall. And that will always be the issue - while Deion probably can reload next year with similarly talented guys (and some like Hunter and Edwards will still be there), none of those impact transfers will show up just to be depth. So they'll always be susceptible to injury or key guys underperforming, but even the 2 games so far are probably enough to get top-end portal guys to jump in again next year.

 
presidentjlh said:
I jumped off the Frost bandwagon about a couple years in, so I feel fair in saying that obviously it would be insane to even consider firing Rhule at this point. I think what a lot of this comes from for you and other fans is justified though in being concerned, because the fact is this:

For the past 20 years, we have watched other programs immediately jump from being garbage to excellent in the span of one or two seasons. Heck, even Pelini took us immediately to 9 wins his first season (his problem being that his floor and his ceiling were one in the same). Every year, we watch a program who has floundered suddenly put it together and succeed again. Look at Tennessee last year. Hell, look at Texas, who fell down and now is back up again.

The simple fact is, of all the blue bloods who had a tumble, outside of maybe Miami (which to me is inexplicable) we are the only one who has continued to struggle for so long. We haven't even gotten the joy of one truly great season. We have had to essentially eat s#!t for 20 years, with only two seasons even approaching what I'd consider great in 2009 and 2010, and even then they did not get there. I was 8 years old when we last even won a conference championship, and I am 32 now. That's absurd to me. Literally no one save a few non-traditional students in UNL's undergraduate program was alive when we were last good. None.

So, this fanbase is right to be absolutely frustrated, because frankly, it does seem like horses#!t that everyone else gets to actually bounce back, even if just for one season, but we don't.
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No one wants to hear this, but our success for 30+ years was the epitome of lightning in a bottle.  The fact that we can't figure it out now is pretty much explained by the fact that we don't border, or are even near, one of the recruit hot spots (California, Florida/Georgia, Ohio/Pennsylvania).  We were ahead of the curve in being on TV, with inventing strength and conditioning, with the partial qualifiers and having extra scholarships to use.  That is all gone now and we aren't ever going to get back to that level again in all reality.  We are struggling to even win 6/7 games currently, and our realistic ceiling is Iowa/Wisconsin levels unless a recruiting miracle happened.  IMHO, that miracle was Dylan Raiola and the guys he could have brought with him in 2024, and we needed to throw anything and everything at him, but we didn't.  You have to capitalize on opportunities like that to get back, plain and simple.  We are never again going to have a legacy recruit who is the #1 ranked QB overall who has the potential to change the direction of a program. Here is an article from 2015, talking about states with schools that have won national championships, and the states they border. 

https://www.teamspeedkills.com/2015/2/10/8013855/college-football-recruiting-map-explained

We are the asterisk and outlier in the history of college football, and the reasons are what I explained before with our advantages. 

 
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runningblind said:
No one wants to hear this, but our success for 30+ years was the epitome of lightning in a bottle.  The fact that we can't figure it out now is pretty much explained by the fact that we don't border, or are even near, one of the recruit hot spots (California, Florida/Georgia, Ohio/Pennsylvania).  We were ahead of the curve in being on TV, with inventing strength and conditioning, with the partial qualifiers and having extra scholarships to use.  That is all gone now and we aren't ever going to get back to that level again in all reality.  We are struggling to even win 6/7 games currently, and our realistic ceiling is Iowa/Wisconsin levels unless a recruiting miracle happened.  IMHO, that miracle was Dylan Raiola and the guys he could have brought with him in 2024, and we needed to throw anything and everything at him, but we didn't.  You have to capitalize on opportunities like that to get back, plain and simple.  We are never again going to have a legacy recruit who is the #1 ranked QB overall who has the potential to change the direction of a program. Here is an article from 2015, talking about states with schools that have won national championships, and the states they border. 

https://www.teamspeedkills.com/2015/2/10/8013855/college-football-recruiting-map-explained

We are the asterisk and outlier in the history of college football, and the reasons are what I explained before with our advantages. 
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If the day comes where we accept this, I can finally stop being a fan and move on with my life.

 
Joel Klatt said this morning, there were more viewers of Colorado/Nebraska than Texas/Alabama, on Saturday. Don't think that was a positive for our recruiting!

 
presidentjlh said:
I jumped off the Frost bandwagon about a couple years in, so I feel fair in saying that obviously it would be insane to even consider firing Rhule at this point. I think what a lot of this comes from for you and other fans is justified though in being concerned, because the fact is this:

For the past 20 years, we have watched other programs immediately jump from being garbage to excellent in the span of one or two seasons. Heck, even Pelini took us immediately to 9 wins his first season (his problem being that his floor and his ceiling were one in the same). Every year, we watch a program who has floundered suddenly put it together and succeed again. Look at Tennessee last year. Hell, look at Texas, who fell down and now is back up again.

The simple fact is, of all the blue bloods who had a tumble, outside of maybe Miami (which to me is inexplicable) we are the only one who has continued to struggle for so long. We haven't even gotten the joy of one truly great season. We have had to essentially eat s#!t for 20 years, with only two seasons even approaching what I'd consider great in 2009 and 2010, and even then they did not get there. I was 8 years old when we last even won a conference championship, and I am 32 now. That's absurd to me. Literally no one save a few non-traditional students in UNL's undergraduate program was alive when we were last good. None.

So, this fanbase is right to be absolutely frustrated, because frankly, it does seem like horses#!t that everyone else gets to actually bounce back, even if just for one season, but we don't.
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As you say...we got that bounceback in Bo Pelini, so I think it's unfair to say that everyone else gets to bounce back and we don't.  In my humble opinion, the AD, Big donors, the media, and some of the fanbase have learned next to nothing since firing Solich.  If you want a great bounceback you need an up and coming coach with fire in his belly and an indomitable will to win.

Instead we got Matt Rhule.  We have already tried the mediocre NFL coach before...Bill Callahan...why would we expect anything different the 2nd time around?

 
JeffKinney87 said:
If you want a great bounceback you need an up and coming coach with fire in his belly and an indomitable will to win.
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Yeah...but look at the talent that fell into Bo's lap for that 2008 season that Callahan brought in. Like, way different situation than we have now. Suh, Ganz, Amukamara, the list just goes on.

Now on the other hand, the transfer portal exists now. So if Sims winds up being a complete dud it'll be a black eye for what these coaches are doing here, IMO. But some of these conversations we're having this week probably wouldn't be happening if we just would have avoided a couple false starts in the Minnesota game, also.

 
JeffKinney87 said:
As you say...we got that bounceback in Bo Pelini, so I think it's unfair to say that everyone else gets to bounce back and we don't.  In my humble opinion, the AD, Big donors, the media, and some of the fanbase have learned next to nothing since firing Solich.  If you want a great bounceback you need an up and coming coach with fire in his belly and an indomitable will to win.

Instead we got Matt Rhule.  We have already tried the mediocre NFL coach before...Bill Callahan...why would we expect anything different the 2nd time around?
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Matt Rhule could have coasted on his guaranteed NFL salary for a couple years, then pick and choose the program he wanted to rebuild. Every college football expert considered him a top candidate. I've seen nothing but will to win and a passion for coaching from Matt Rhule, who is only 48 years old. We're all sorry Nebraska is 2-0, but you're both early and wrong in your assessment. 

FYI....Nick Saban, Steve Spurrier, Lou Holtz and others were mediocre (or worse) NFL coaches before returning to the college ranks. 

 
Undone said:
Yeah...but look at the talent that fell into Bo's lap for that 2008 season that Callahan brought in. Like, way different situation than we have now. Suh, Ganz, Amukamara, the list just goes on.

Now on the other hand, the transfer portal exists now. So if Sims winds up being a complete dud it'll be a black eye for what these coaches are doing here, IMO. But some of these conversations we're having this week probably wouldn't be happening if we just would have avoided a couple false starts in the Minnesota game, also.
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I respect that opinion...and even though I really liked Bo Pelini as NU Head coach, I have no desire to relitigate that. I am simply saying if you want a bounceback coach I just don't think a .500 lifetime coach like Matt Rhule is the guy to go to.

 
Guy Chamberlin said:
Matt Rhule could have coasted on his guaranteed NFL salary for a couple years, then pick and choose the program he wanted to rebuild. Every college football expert considered him a top candidate. I've seen nothing but will to win and a passion for coaching from Matt Rhule, who is only 48 years old. We're all sorry Nebraska is 2-0, but you're both early and wrong in your assessment. 

FYI....Nick Saban, Steve Spurrier, Lou Holtz and others were mediocre (or worse) NFL coaches before returning to the college ranks. 
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For what it's worth I do hope I am wrong...that said there are far more duds than Nick Sabans among mediocre NFL coaches...so we might be waiting a long time if we stick with this strategy.  Mike Riley and Bill Callahan both come to mind.

Time will certainly tell if I am wrong.  As far as being too early...if we are going to honor a 8 year contract for this coach...it may way way too late.

 
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