With hard part in the past, Nebraska football expects bright future

[marko polo]

Saban went to Alabama at age 55, he was at an age where he can still invest a lot of time and energy into rebuilding that program. I don't know if Saban is slowing down or not as energetic at 64. He may be an outlier, or he may be handing off more responsibilities to his assistants as he gets older.

Riley is 62 and is being asked to rebuild a program at NU. That's going to require a lot more time and energy and brainpower than continuing a program at its peak.

Oh how true.

 

[GBRFAN]

I am trying to say that we were competitive in every game we played and lost, couldn't say the same about the last few years.

Nothing wrong with a little pride about being competitive with Illinois, and competitive (ish) with Purdue.

Nothing wrong with being happy that we didn't get torched by a 3rd or 4th best team in the Big Ten East by 50+ and seeing the bigger picture that with a couple adjustments by the staff and some depth at key positions - we could consistently win 8/9/10/11/12 games and have our butts kicked zero times per season.

It's fine to feel that way, but there's no real evidence supporting that view.

90% of the post on this board are opinions - thanks for pointing that out.

If you look at the scores of 13 games this year it is pretty easy to see that what I stated "could" happen.

 

[boach_clack]

Sometime, the season doesn't always go the way you planned. Yes, a single play can take the wind out of your sail, especially when you are a team in transition with a new coach. I hate when fans "throw the baby out with the bath water". Its a knee jerk reaction. You want to complain about being 6-7, go ahead. I dont like it either, but it could have been much much worse. Anyone who has been around football knows how hard it is to keep a locker room focused on winning and getting the ship going in the right direction. Yes there were ugly loses (Purdue & Illinois), yes we turned the ball over, but the kids never gave up.

I am excited about what this seasoned staff can do with this team in the off-season. I think with better QB play (whoever that may be), we will have a chance to contend for the Big 10 title.

Its not what you do, its how you do it.

 

[Hunter94]

Saban went to Alabama at age 55, he was at an age where he can still invest a lot of time and energy into rebuilding that program. I don't know if Saban is slowing down or not as energetic at 64. He may be an outlier, or he may be handing off more responsibilities to his assistants as he gets older.

Riley is 62 and is being asked to rebuild a program at NU. That's going to require a lot more time and energy and brainpower than continuing a program at its peak.

Oh how true.

Bill Snyder says hi. Rebuilt K State in his 70's.

I say this because age is just a number...experience is often times a major advantage versus a handicap. I still go to my grandpa for advice and he is 92...there is a reason for that gentlemen and it isn't because I think he's incapable of thinking.

Snyder is the exception......Riley has no idea what it takes to build and maintain a top 20 team.........i doubt he puts in the same hours as Sabin does....even Sabin admitted earlier in an interview what a grind the season was.......takes a lot out of a coach.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

Saban went to Alabama at age 55, he was at an age where he can still invest a lot of time and energy into rebuilding that program. I don't know if Saban is slowing down or not as energetic at 64. He may be an outlier, or he may be handing off more responsibilities to his assistants as he gets older.

Riley is 62 and is being asked to rebuild a program at NU. That's going to require a lot more time and energy and brainpower than continuing a program at its peak.

Oh how true.

Bill Snyder says hi. Rebuilt K State in his 70's.

I say this because age is just a number...experience is often times a major advantage versus a handicap. I still go to my grandpa for advice and he is 92...there is a reason for that gentlemen and it isn't because I think he's incapable of thinking.

Snyder is the exception......Riley has no idea what it takes to build and maintain a top 20 team.........i doubt he puts in the same hours as Sabin does....even Sabin admitted earlier in an interview what a grind the season was.......takes a lot out of a coach.

Snyder also went back to a situation he was familiar with and is basically a Demi-God in Manhattan. They aren't comparable.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

How many 60+ year old coaches have been hired at a brand new school they have no history with and have been successful at that school? I would love to see some examples.

 

[marko polo]

If Mike was 40 I don't see the qualities in him that I listed above that it will take to be successful here. IMO

 

[ColoradoHusk]

How many 60+ year old coaches have been hired at a brand new school they have no history with and have been successful at that school? I would love to see some examples.

That's not my point...burden of proof on the person who puts forth the theory (not many 60+ year old coaches hired new)....I won't do your work for you. You want to see examples, start googling.

My point is that it's a combination of age and situation which makes Riley a questionable hire here. You come up with examples which are completely different than Riley's situation at NU.

 

[raw1]

I like Riley's last quote, though I don't really understand what he means by "self-indicating." If he means that NU shouldn't have been in that many close games that could come down to a final drive, I agree with him. I like a lot of the quotes from Riley in that article. I just wish he wasn't married to Langs as his OC, because I don't see that system of offense ever producing a championship at Nebraska. And it certainly doesn't lend itself to consistent results over a period of seasons.

He didn't say self-indicating. He said self-indicting which means the team put themselves in the position to lose that way.

 

[funhusker]

Riley's big embarassing loss is to Purdue on the road with a "backup" QB. Sorry but he hasn't even sniffed Bo's sh#t show of losses yet

In Pelini's first year, he had embarrassing losses to #4 Missouri and #4 Oklahoma. Riley certainly sniff's those sh#t shows with Purdue and Illinois...

Yeah you're right, it's far more impressive he let Iowa State beat Ndamukong Suh in Lincoln by scoring 9 whole points the following year.

Wait a second...this isn't fair...Everyone says the Purdue blowout was not really that bad because of all the turnovers...so wouldn't that be the same for ISU?
Look...We hired Riley NOT to have crappy losses like Bo Poloser...We hired Riley to fix those problems and to be a smarter coach with smarter game plans.

Who is saying turnovers make that loss acceptable? It wasn't acceptable, neither were. Purdue should never beat us by scoring 50 and Iowa State should never beat us by only scoring 9.

Purdue became palatable because we actually responded to it and finished the year off stronger than we thought we would by beating a playoff team.

Pretty sure the '09 team finished off pretty strong too. They were :01 from beating a team that actually played for the title and then went on to beat a mediocre PAC12 team to build optimism for the following year....

 

[cm husker]

How many 60+ year old coaches have been hired at a brand new school they have no history with and have been successful at that school? I would love to see some examples.

That's not my point...burden of proof on the person who puts forth the theory (not many 60+ year old coaches hired new)....I won't do your work for you. You want to see examples, start googling.

You do realize it's not possible to prove a negative, right?

 

[skersfan]

You are here every day, could not be much more proof of a negative.

 

[Redux]

Riley's big embarassing loss is to Purdue on the road with a "backup" QB. Sorry but he hasn't even sniffed Bo's sh#t show of losses yet

In Pelini's first year, he had embarrassing losses to #4 Missouri and #4 Oklahoma. Riley certainly sniff's those sh#t shows with Purdue and Illinois...

Yeah you're right, it's far more impressive he let Iowa State beat Ndamukong Suh in Lincoln by scoring 9 whole points the following year.

Wait a second...this isn't fair...Everyone says the Purdue blowout was not really that bad because of all the turnovers...so wouldn't that be the same for ISU?
Look...We hired Riley NOT to have crappy losses like Bo Poloser...We hired Riley to fix those problems and to be a smarter coach with smarter game plans.

Who is saying turnovers make that loss acceptable? It wasn't acceptable, neither were. Purdue should never beat us by scoring 50 and Iowa State should never beat us by only scoring 9.Purdue became palatable because we actually responded to it and finished the year off stronger than we thought we would by beating a playoff team.

Pretty sure the '09 team finished off pretty strong too. They were :01 from beating a team that actually played for the title and then went on to beat a mediocre PAC12 team to build optimism for the following year....

Sure, then what happened in 2010? Or the 4 years after that.

Point is we know how that story ends, this one is just beginning.

 

[beorach]

Someone needs to figure out how it is all these posters have seen the future with Mike Riley. If I was going to start a poll, I guess I'd start with these reasons for how they know:

1 - called Miss Cleo

2 - it's the record, dummy (6-7)

3 - doesn't know how to run the ball

4 - it's still the record, dummy (~.500 lifetime winning percentage)

5 - he's too old

6 - he's too nice

7 - Mark Banker

8 - I never heard of him before he was hired

9 - Shawn Eichorst

10 - I'm still pissed about a former coach's firing

11 - Because I said so before the kids laced them up this season

12 - Because I said so before the kids finished the season

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

I don't know how much work Mike Riley is willing to put in at this point in his career.

Then again, if he wanted the easy way out he wouldn't have traded the safe job in his hometown of Corvallis for unfamiliar Lincoln and the crushing expectations of Nebraska.