Nebraska...not feeling Frosty anymore

[Jeff Buchanan]

The college football landscape is so drastically different from the haydays of Bo and TP. I think one of the biggest and most disquieting changes is the separation of the institutions student body from the game despite attempts by administrators to keep them together.

Following the path of professional sports, CFB has become big time entertainment I feel to the detriment of the game. Rising ticket prices, huge coaching salaries, billion dollar Broadcast contracts that cover every aspect of the way the entertainment reaches the viewer is making it hard for average man to access it.

Does that mean it is still not attractive? No, there are plenty of folks out there willing to shell out $2000 or more if family is involved travel, stay, eat, see the game and party for a weekend. Kinda like going to an NFL game to see Beyonc? at half time ...... which I have no interest in paying $150 per ticket to see the Falcons or Beyonc? in person.

Anyway, CFB, as something to be enjoyed as a weekend activity, is no longer connected to the audience I think it should be connected to and I see the distance just getting larger as time passes. Despite the efforts of some institutions to keep it connected to the student body and alumni, there are just too many stake holders who see dollar signs in their dreams of where CFB should go.

[Hannibal]

Need a guy who can recruit AND coach. Not a whole lot of guys who can do both at a high level. Handful as a matter of fact. Maybe Riley was the best we could get. It's not 1995 anymore sadly.

Riley can't recruit, judging by the evidence at both Oregon State and early returns at Nebraska, and his coaching has been above average, at best. Not to mention, he's maybe five years away from his age being a serious issue. He's the quintissential low ceiling hire who isn't going to leave a ton of talent for whoever his predecessor is. When you send him on his way in five or six years, you will probably be starting over again. Bleh. You guys should have just taken "swing for the fences" approach and gone after somebody like Tom Herman.

Yeah, we tried that already...the last three times in fact...

How do you figure? Solich wasn't a young up-and-comer. He was a career coordinator with no track record of his own. Callahan was an LOL and that leaves Pelini, who at the end of the day wasn't a complete fiasco. Certainly not a bad decision at the time the decision was made.

[Wild Hoss]

How do you figure? Solich wasn't a young up-and-comer. He was a career coordinator with no track record of his own. Callahan was an LOL and that leaves Pelini, who at the end of the day wasn't a complete fiasco. Certainly not a bad decision at the time the decision was made.

I figure that we pretty much ran the gammut of AC hires and it got us nowhere. Time for a different path.

You guys should have just taken "swing for the fences" approach and gone after somebody like Tom Herman.

Or like Rich Rodriguez maybe?

[Hannibal]

That's the nature of a "swing for the fences" hire. You can strike out. If 9-4 every year isn't good enough, then it's the risk that you've got to take, unless you've got a super slam dunk hire who is already winning 11 games a year somewhere else and wants specifically to come to Nebraska. If you were afraid of striking out then you should have just hung onto your 9-4 machine. Riley isn't going to improve over that. At best, he might make the losses less embarrassing. At worse, he could give you guys the occasional 4-8 team.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Riley was hired because he is a decent coach...decent recruiter...and a really nice guy. He can survive 9-4 because he's a good face for the program. Bo's problem wasn't necessarily 9-4...the blowout losses didn't help...but the fact he is a an asshammer did him in.

[Wild Hoss]

That's the nature of a "swing for the fences" hire. You can strike out. If 9-4 every year isn't good enough, then it's the risk that you've got to take, unless you've got a super slam dunk hire who is already winning 11 games a year somewhere else and wants specifically to come to Nebraska. If you were afraid of striking out then you should have just hung onto your 9-4 machine. Riley isn't going to improve over that. At best, he might make the losses less embarrassing. At worse, he could give you guys the occasional 4-8 team.

The problem there is the assumption of a "9-4 machine". A lot of people, including most of the ones who matter, realized that Bo was more of a "7-5 machine" with good fortune. Maybe we'll look back in hindsight and think it really is better to be lucky than good...but its not a mantra to run a football program on.

Like I said, Riley is here to stabilize and improve so that next time we can swing for the fences...but we'll be able to wait for the right pitch when we do so.

[entropy]

You guys also assume it's a matter of just saying come to UNL and coaches will come. Our location scares a lot of coaches...


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[froot loops]

Most hirings after firings are corrections for the previous hire. Riley was exactly that, it probably isn't that they hired him, its that he appeared to be their #1 option. At least the #1 realistic option.

I don't know much about Nebraska and their inner workings, but I thought Pelini was the home run hire. It seemed like he had 80 percent of what they needed but the 20 percent they didn't need overwhelmed everything. Sometimes guys are not ready to be a head football coach at a major program.

Also, there is something to be said to having an 8-4 machine as a coach. It is an anathema to the fans but not to the administration. For fans, it is championship or bust. To administrators 8-4 may be disappointing but it keeps the coffers filled. If you have the occasional 11-2 season, its all the better.

[entropy]

Bo would still be at Nebraska if he doesn't get routed once or twice a year. I firmly believe that... Nebraska fans want to be proud of their team and represent the idea of hard work and never giving up. Oh.. And win the way TO won.


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[Wild Hoss]

Bo would still be at Nebraska if he doesn't get routed once or twice a year.

Agree.

2010 Texas was his apex...IMO his popularity was increasing up until day, and flatlined thereafter. He'd have been fine, but then in 2011 the blowouts began and he started losing people. Lost a big chunk after the 2012 CCG blowout to Wisconsin, and the 408 game put him into a spin that was unrecoverable.

Psychologically, the Wisconsin losses were especially damaging beyond the score IMO. Watching a team in our colors do to us what we used to do everybody else was unforgivable for many fans/

[entropy]

nice to read...

===========

Junior Defensive Back Roman Buchanan

On Nebraska's running back and offensive and what they were doing

Anyone can have a great game if their offensive line is really playing well. We saw that on film. Honestly that is probably one of the best offensive lines I've played since I've been in college. We play Mississippi State, Tennessee and South Carolina, and I knew from the beginning just from watching this team that they are fundamentally sound. In some places they weren't as athletic as some of the other teams we've played. But as far as technique and good effort, everywhere, I mean their receivers blocking. They played real team ball. He had a good game because of those 10 guys in front of him. We just have to do our jobs, and we can't just work with one guy we have to fill our gaps. He had a good game because his team played hard than our team. That's what happened with that."

[entropy]

nebraska road games since 2011... interesting stats:

http://www.omaha.com/huskers/blogs/nebraska-s-success-rate-on-the-road-since-and-what/article_31ec73c2-5d7b-11e5-b6d4-0ff38198126b.html

[whodean]

Pathetic huskerz

[Wild Hoss]

Maybe could have won this one if we'd played better out of the gate, but the first road game for a new staff is going to have some bugs. Made some good adjustments, and kept our poise until the end there when Armstrong got greedy.

Really need to get more athletic in some spots...need to clear out some losers too. I'd like to see the staff hit the JUCO ranks this winter for 3-4 signees.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Watched the entire game with a bunch of drunk Miami fans at a post wedding party. Idiots.

That was a great comeback by Neb and Golden got frigging panicky. If he doesn't pull that out, the chants for firing him get louder. He owes Armstrong some of is salary for next year.

Anyway, that was a mindbogglingly bad throw that didn't need to be made. One guy on that team gave away the mo that was going to bury Miami. Good. How many guys err, thugs, got ejected for targeting in that game ..... 2, frigging2!. That's unheard of but not fully unlike a Miami football team.

I hope the players rally around Armstrong who was fully responsible for leading the comeback. One aw-shit should not overcome some amazing play just before it but that's usually the way things go.