Are we the same as Nebraska

#3
#3
I believe that Nebraska is actually in a worse situation than us. While the Vols primarily recruit Georgia, Florida, the Carolinas, and other southern states, Tennessee at least has some decent in-state recruits. Nebraska thrived in the Big 12 because they recruited the state of Texas and have very little as far as in state recruits. Since moving to the Big 10, they have made lots of money, but the good Texas recruits are not wanting to go to Nebraska because the Huskers no longer play games in Austin, Lubbock, Ft. Worth or Waco so families would be forced to travel long distances within the Big 10 to see their kids play.
 
#4
#4
I believe that Nebraska is actually in a worse situation than us. While the Vols primarily recruit Georgia, Florida, the Carolinas, and other southern states, Tennessee at least has some decent in-state recruits. Nebraska thrived in the Big 12 because they recruited the state of Texas and have very little as far as in state recruits. Since moving to the Big 10, they have made lots of money, but the good Texas recruits are not wanting to go to Nebraska because the Huskers no longer play games in Austin, Lubbock, Ft. Worth or Waco so families would be forced to travel long distances within the Big 10 to see their kids play.
Nebraska used to get great offensive linemen from Nebraska
 
#5
#5
That SMU documentary posed the question of how they got kids to go to freezing Lincoln Nebraska.

The understood answer was $$.$$$.
 
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#6
#6
No. They are terrible while being in the weakest division of a bad conference.

Every year we play three teams that are always at or around the Top 10, two of those are usually around the Top 5.

If we had Nebraska’s yearly schedule every year we would be griping about 8 win seasons, not hoping for them.
 
#9
#9
We are similar. Maybe this is orange-colored glasses, but I think their situation is worse for 2 reasons:

1 - Poor conference fit
2 - (related to the conference fit) It is even harder for them to recruit than it is for us. The traditional Big 12 recruits they used to go after don't want to play in the Big Ten.
 
#11
#11
They basically had to from a financial perspective. The Big 12 came *this* close to disintegrating, the uncertainty was too high, and they had to land somewhere.
They can’t escape Texas financially either.

They were struggling to recruit in the BigXII because of geography as well. It’s not a Big Ten vs Big XII thing.

from a performance perspective, Tennessee and end Nebraska are the same. Tennessee has way better resources to be in the same situation though.
 
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#13
#13
They can’t escape Texas financially either.

They were struggling to recruit in the BigXII because of geography as well. It’s not a Big Ten vs Big XII thing.

from a performance perspective, Tennessee and end Nebraska are the same. Tennessee has way better resources to be in the same situation though.
Texas is so big they could still go down there and get players. Not all the 5-stars, but could get guys. Now they have a really hard time going down there because no Texas kids want to play in the Big Ten.
 
#15
#15
#16
#16
Maybe culturally, but Nebraska’s dominance was the result of the option and really good defenses. TN wasn’t really doing anything groundbreaking offensively during their run in the 90s, just had better players than most other teams.
...and their walk-on and "strength and conditioning" program.
 
#18
#18
Nebraska’s recruiting classes have been steady between the teens to around 30th since 2006. Everyone loves to say moving to the Big Ten killed them in recruiting, but facts (which I know are banned on VN) don’t back it up.
 
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#19
#19
Nebraska’s recruiting classes have been steady between the teens to around 30th since 2006. Everyone loves to say moving to the Big Ten killed them in recruiting, but facts (which I know are banned on VN) don’t back it up.
What conference makes more sense for them to be in geographically - the Big Ten or the Big 12? Their recruiting rankings (both nationally and within the conference) are similar both places but which conference is an easier sell for the players they traditionally recruited?
 
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#20
#20
Geographically, they’re in no man’s land for a p5 conference. They’re almost 600 miles from Amarillo. Further than that to get into the heart of Texas. And Nebraska is nothing like Texas either culturally or from a climate perspective. They are 400+ miles to most Big Ten schools.
As for recruiting, several big 10 schools recruit Texas, the southeast, and the southwest heavily with great success. It’s not a conference thing anymore.
 
#21
#21
Geographically, they’re in no man’s land for a p5 conference. They’re almost 600 miles from Amarillo. Further than that to get into the heart of Texas. And Nebraska is nothing like Texas either culturally or from a climate perspective. They are 400+ miles to most Big Ten schools.
As for recruiting, several big 10 schools recruit Texas, the southeast, and the southwest heavily with great success. It’s not a conference thing anymore.
I totally agree that they are in a no-man's land and aren't really a good fit in any conference. However I'd argue that they have more in common culturally with Oklahoma or Texas than Michigan, Ohio, or Pennsylvania.

Personally I think they are screwed regardless of what conference they played in.
 
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#22
#22
Nope.

Nebraska can't win any more because:

(a) not much talent within a 500 mile radius of Lincoln,
(b) leaving the Big 12 hurt them in Texas recruiting, and
(c) their 80s / 90s recruiting strategy can't work in modern game

They've had some good coaches (Pelini, Frost) and some bad coaches (Callahan, Riley), but it's going to be extremely difficult for them to ever get back to 80s / 90s levels due to the recruiting difficulties there. Even if they hired Nick Saban, they'd still struggle to win the Big 10, much less a national title.

Tennessee, on the other hand, actually has better recruiting fundamentals now than we did back in the 80s / 90s. Not saying we should be winning as many titles as Saban, but we probably should've won at least 2 over the past 2 decades with the improvement in our recruiting environment. Our problem has just been bad coaches. I think Bo Pelini and Scott Frost both would have / had success here. Much easier to recruit national title level talent here; and in fact, we have done that at times (see 2015 / 16 --- where we underperformed with an absurd collection of talent).
 
#24
#24
Nope.

Nebraska can't win any more because:

(a) not much talent within a 500 mile radius of Lincoln,
(b) leaving the Big 12 hurt them in Texas recruiting, and
(c) their 80s / 90s recruiting strategy can't work in modern game

They've had some good coaches (Pelini, Frost) and some bad coaches (Callahan, Riley), but it's going to be extremely difficult for them to ever get back to 80s / 90s levels due to the recruiting difficulties there. Even if they hired Nick Saban, they'd still struggle to win the Big 10, much less a national title.

Tennessee, on the other hand, actually has better recruiting fundamentals now than we did back in the 80s / 90s. Not saying we should be winning as many titles as Saban, but we probably should've won at least 2 over the past 2 decades with the improvement in our recruiting environment. Our problem has just been bad coaches. I think Bo Pelini and Scott Frost both would have / had success here. Much easier to recruit national title level talent here; and in fact, we have done that at times (see 2015 / 16 --- where we underperformed with an absurd collection of talent).
Again, their recruiting results haven’t changed in 15 years. It’s an easy excuse, but not reality.
 
#25
#25
Again, their recruiting results haven’t changed in 15 years. It’s an easy excuse, but not reality.

They haven't been elite in 20 years.

Their 2001 team was the last time they finished top 10. Which would've been made up of recruits going back to 1997 and '98 (Tom Osborne's last classes). They recruited JUCOs pretty heavily in the 80's and 90's. It's not as viable of a strategy today due to all the scholarship limits and NCAA rules.

Moreover, football talent has become much more concentrated since the 80s / 90s, in the South and California. The Midwest has probably suffered the most from this trend. Which is also why Michigan is tougher to win at now than it was 30 years ago. (Ohio, btw, has not suffered at all; but Michigan / Illinois / Great Plains have.)

That said, Osborne was also outperforming to a crazy extent. Nebraska basically had lightning in a bottle during that period. It seems very unlikely to repeat in the near future.

I think South Carolina has an easier path to a national title than Nebraska at this point in time. Albeit, SC arguably made the worst coaching hire in the nation this offseason.
 

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