Are we the same as Nebraska

#27
#27
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.
So it has nothing to do with conference affiliation. Hmmm
 
#28
#28
Paul Finebaum rips Nebraska football, takes jab at 'delusional' fanbase

They are similar to us except their HOF coach won more and retired then came back as a success as an AD.
Given the recruiting demographics of Lincoln, I wonder why Nebraska hasn't gone back to their formula for success-recruit enormous lines from the farm kid base and add a few athletes in at the skill positions. This formula still works for Wisconsin. Given the remote nature of Lincoln, I think this is perhaps the only strategy that makes sense. Now, UT, they ought to be able to recruit much of the South given the UT campus and the attractiveness of Knoxville.
 
#29
#29
1. Knoxville > Lincoln and it aint close.
2. Huskers should have stayed in Big 12, they recruited TX much better when being a rival of OU and Horns.
 
#30
#30
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.
Spurrier's 2010-13 run at South Carolina was caused by a once-in-a-generation pool of in-state talent that, and give him credit, he landed most of. Their predicament today is that if (and that is a huge if) that state had another run of in-state talent, basically all of it would go to Clemson.

Also, your point about Michigan vs. Ohio talent is something I was thinking about the other day. It is really interesting how Ohio hasn't been negatively affected by the concentration of talent in the South, despite them being a midwestern Rust Belt state just like Michigan.
 
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#31
#31
1. Knoxville > Lincoln and it aint close.
2. Huskers should have stayed in Big 12, they recruited TX much better when being a rival of OU and Horns.
I miss watching the old Nebraska games I watched in high school versus their natural rivals like OU, Colorado, even Mizzou. I remember one crazy game with Mizzou where they lucked out after a ball deflected off a guys foot and they went on to win in OT or something crazy.
 
#32
#32
I miss watching the old Nebraska games I watched in high school versus their natural rivals like OU, Colorado, even Mizzou. I remember one crazy game with Mizzou where they lucked out after a ball deflected off a guys foot and they went on to win in OT or something crazy.
Yup - the Flea Kicker game. One of the dumbest things I've ever seen. I was 10 and remember watching it, wanting Nebraska to lose.

Flea Kicker - Wikipedia
 
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#34
#34
No. Nebraska has been a lot better than us over the last decade or so. Hope that is gonna change and we can all pretend it was a bad dream in the near future tho.
 
#35
#35
Nebraska is in a worse situation but really I think it's a "6 of one/half dozen of the other" situation. We have the better situation to improve but I don't think either school is getting back to their glory days anytime soon, if ever in my lifetime.
 
#36
#36
No. Nebraska has been a lot better than us over the last decade or so. Hope that is gonna change and we can all pretend it was a bad dream in the near future tho.
They might not have been as bad as us overall, but I wouldn’t trade spots with them at all. I think we have a much quicker route to getting back to where we want to be than they do . They really seem like they are just out there wandering around. Plus, Butch Jones was put on players shoulders after we beat them in the Music Bowl. There’s no coming back from that.
 
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#37
#37
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.

Back in the Days of the Big 8 in the 70's and 80's the only programs that really was vested heavily in football was OU and Neb. they built facilities and did what was necessary to win.... Come the 90's KSU/CU and Finally Mid 90's Mizzou started to try and compete. Then the Merger with the SWC happened and a lot of the landscape of college football changed.

Neb. also got a lot of Recruits from Calif./Texas and any legit player from the Mo/Kan. region in their heyday. If there was a Good player in Missouri / Kan. and even Iowa to a degree they often went to Neb. Couple that with Texas and Calif. and they had a pretty good recruiting base.

When Mizzou finally started to actually try in compete and recruit and players started to stay home a bit more it hurt Neb. as well as the merger with the Texas schools which slowed that pipeline. If you look at the GP era a lot of former Neb. players Son's, brothers and Uncles didn't end up going to Neb. The rise of Mizzou under GP and the Fall of Neb. to a degree are intertwined. They no longer Cherry Picked KC and St. Louis as before.
 
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#38
#38
I miss watching the old Nebraska games I watched in high school versus their natural rivals like OU, Colorado, even Mizzou. I remember one crazy game with Mizzou where they lucked out after a ball deflected off a guys foot and they went on to win in OT or something crazy.


The Flea Kicker.....they won the NC that year. We had them beat.....in OT Grant Winstrom a Missouri Boy made the Final play with a Sack.

Between that Play and the 5th down....which led to CU NC season....It's hard to be a Mizzou fan sometimes.
 
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#39
#39
The Flea Kicker.....they won the NC that year. We had them beat.....in OT Grant Winstrom a Missouri Boy made the Final play with a Sack.

[

That game was over. I was mad for you. I was even more
Upset whe. They beat us to win the National Title.
 
#40
#40
Back in the Days of the Big 8 in the 70's and 80's the only programs that really was vested heavily in football was OU and Neb. they built facilities and did what was necessary to win.... Come the 90's KSU/CU and Finally Mid 90's Mizzou started to try and compete. Then the Merger with the SWC happened and a lot of the landscape of college football changed.

Neb. also got a lot of Recruits from Calif./Texas and any legit player from the Mo/Kan. region in their heyday. If there was a Good player in Missouri / Kan. and even Iowa to a degree they often went to Neb. Couple that with Texas and Calif. and they had a pretty good recruiting base.

When Mizzou finally started to actually try in compete and recruit and players started to stay home a bit more it hurt Neb. as well as the merger with the Texas schools which slowed that pipeline. If you look at the GP era a lot of former Neb. players Son's, brothers and Uncles didn't end up going to Neb. The rise of Mizzou under GP and the Fall of Neb. to a degree are intertwined. They no longer Cherry Picked KC and St. Louis as before.

You are spot on. Nebraska did recruit California as well as KC/STL. I coached a kid in SWMO in the late 90s who chose Nebraska. It took Pinkel a little while to break that stronghold on KC/STL, especially the KC suburbs. I recall Pinkel just about did not survive until they started turning the corner that 4th season under Brad Smith. It's too bad Nebraska got butthurt over the LongHorn Network and University of Texas in general. The rivalry they had with Oklahoma was always fun to watch around the Thanksgiving holiday.
 
#41
#41
I think Frost could have built a dynasty at UCF and have boosters throwing dollars at him, but the lure of the alma mater was too tempting. The Golden Boy returned to Lincoln to revel in the moment, and take the reins of...a Chrysler Cordoba. Nebraska is, well, Nebraska. This season had better be special, or the honeymoon could be over.
 
#42
#42
I think Frost could have built a dynasty at UCF and have boosters throwing dollars at him, but the lure of the alma mater was too tempting. The Golden Boy returned to Lincoln to revel in the moment, and take the reins of...a Chrysler Cordoba. Nebraska is, well, Nebraska. This season had better be special, or the honeymoon could be over.
I think the honeymoon is definitely over. I’d say Frost and Nebraska are probably in the early stages of couples counseling.
 
#43
#43
You are spot on. Nebraska did recruit California as well as KC/STL. I coached a kid in SWMO in the late 90s who chose Nebraska. It took Pinkel a little while to break that stronghold on KC/STL, especially the KC suburbs. I recall Pinkel just about did not survive until they started turning the corner that 4th season under Brad Smith. It's too bad Nebraska got butthurt over the LongHorn Network and University of Texas in general. The rivalry they had with Oklahoma was always fun to watch around the Thanksgiving holiday.
The entire Big 12 got butthurt over LHN, not just Nebraska, and is the reason the Big 12 almost totally disintegrated.
 
#45
#45
Nebraska was more upset in the beginning. Others followed their lead. They left first.
A bunch of schools all wanted to leave in 2011. It was actually Colorado who left for the Pac 12 first, followed by Nebraska a day later. At that same time Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma St were all about to join the Pac 10 until Texas decided they didn't want to leave the Big 12 after all, then the other 3 also decided to stay.
 
#46
#46
A bunch of schools all wanted to leave in 2011. It was actually Colorado who left for the Pac 12 first, followed by Nebraska a day later. At that same time Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma St were all about to join the Pac 10 until Texas decided they didn't want to leave the Big 12 after all, then the other 3 also decided to stay.

Wonder what the college football landscape would be like had the old SWC not disintegrated?
 
#47
#47
Wonder what the college football landscape would be like had the old SWC not disintegrated?
I think the landscape would be pretty much the same; the schools that are major programs today would still be major programs if the SWC was still around. The disintegration of that conference I think was really hard on the smaller schools in it, like TCU/SMU/Baylor/Houston/Rice. Of course SMU blew itself up, but perhaps some of those other programs would have had better fortunes over the last 25 years if it remained together.
 
#48
#48
I think the honeymoon is definitely over. I’d say Frost and Nebraska are probably in the early stages of couples counseling.

I agree. I'm wondering if any ultimatums have been issued yet, as , "there'd better be more wins than losses by season's end, or we will be forced to revisit this again in December."

But really, in this age, Lincoln, Nebraska is one tough sell. They can pull out the grainy film and show evidence of old glory days:
COACH : " and THAT son, is how you play center!".
RECRUIT: "But Coach, isn't Dave Remington like 60 years old now?"
COACH: "Well maybe, but have I showed you my Orange Bowl ring?"
RECRUIT: " Whoa! 1998! Was the Internet even around then?"
COACH: " Son, how'd you like to visit Silo-Land, Nebraska's answer to Disney World?"
RECRUIT: " But Coach, it's like 20 below zero outside!" It sure snows a lot for April!
COACH: " Maybe so, but you kind of get used to it all suited-up in Big Red! So, can we count you in?"
RECRUIT: "Um, maybe, but I have a few more visits in Florida and California before I commit."
COACH: " Son, let's go discuss this... over the BEST Salisbury steak you've EVER had! And did I mention the CORN PUDDING? WOW!
 
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#49
#49
I agree. I'm wondering if any ultimatums have been issued yet, as , "there'd better be more wins than losses by season's end, or we will be forced to revisit this again in December."

But really, in this age, Lincoln, Nebraska is one tough sell. They can pull out the grainy film and show evidence of old glory days:
COACH : " and THAT son, is how you play center!".
RECRUIT: "But Coach, isn't Dave Remington like 60 years old now?"
COACH: " Have I showed you my Orange Bowl ring?"
RECRUIT: " Whoa! 1998! Was the Internet even around then?"
COACH: " Son, how'd you like to visit Silo-Land, Lincoln's answer to Disney World?"
RECRUIT: " But Coach, it's like 10 below zero outside!"
COACH: " Maybe so, but imagine yourself suited-up in Big Red! Can we count you in?"
RECRUIT: "Um, maybe, but I have a few more visits before I commit."
COACH: " Let's go discuss this over the best Salisbury steak you've ever had! "
And this is why we are not Nebraska, or at least why our ceiling is higher and our ability to keep the program at a high level is greater than theirs. I feel bad for their fans because they are a loyal group just us.
 
#50
#50
A bunch of schools all wanted to leave in 2011. It was actually Colorado who left for the Pac 12 first, followed by Nebraska a day later. At that same time Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma St were all about to join the Pac 10 until Texas decided they didn't want to leave the Big 12 after all, then the other 3 also decided to stay.
Colorado had wanted to join the PAC 10 since the late 80s and early 90s. It was no surprise and no one really cared about losing Colorado. The final straw for Nebraska was just what you mentioned - the Nebraska chancellor was tipped off at a meeting that Texas was shopping the southern contingent of the Big 12 to other conferences and Nebraska wasn't part of the contingent.
 
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