Nebraska’s downfall will be studied for generations

[Kirby Jackson]

Nebraska is a historically great program. They have an insane fan base and tons of $. They have the top QB recruit and Mahomes doppelgänger. They have a former NFL HC. It looked like this year, was the year that they started to climb back into respectability. 
 

Then they go and lose, at home, to Illinois. I realize that Illinois is ranked but that’s not a game that Nebraska should lose at home. They entered the game as a 7.5 point favorite. Anyone paying attention should have pounded the Illini on the money line. The Huskers haven’t beaten a ranked team in 2,926 days!!! That’s over 8 years!!! 

[RoscoeParrish]

It’s very sad. Blue bloods in CFB and college hoops seem to be a thing of the past. 
 

Teams like OSU and Alabama will still

be ranked, but we won’t see them alternating Natty appearances ever again imo. 

[Kirby Jackson]

1 hour ago, RoscoeParrish said:

It’s very sad. Blue bloods in CFB and college hoops seem to be a thing of the past. 
 

Teams like OSU and Alabama will still

be ranked, but we won’t see them alternating Natty appearances ever again imo. 

I don’t know. Those teams are back in the top 5 again. The elite of the elite will remain elite in the portal/nil era. Texas will be good for the forseeable future. There will be others that come and go but those programs won’t allow themselves to become Nebraska. 

[dpberr]

Nebraska had a terrible AD in Trev Albert and he and the school made terrible choices in HCs post Bo Pelini because they were trying to do it on the cheap.  That school was blinded by the fact that despite being a hometown hero, Trev Albert was terrible at the job.  

 

Mike Riley - mediocre everywhere he's been.  Then they try the hometown hero again in Scott Frost who had just one winning season at UCF?  Come on. 

 

They paid money to get Matt Rhule and he's doing work.  I think he's an above average college coach.  With Raiola at QB, they should be able to recruit solidly for the next two seasons at least.  

 

I wouldn't discount Illinois - they will likely be ranked all year, but yes, Nebraska could have won that game.  The penalties did them in, and that offensive line was out of gas by OT.    

 

 

[gonzo1105]

It’s not hard to understand why they fell off at all. They are in the middle of nowhere, in a cold city, in a state that lacks top end talent. 
 

The decision to go to the Big 10 hurt recruiting because Texas kids couldn’t go there and have their families see them at home against a plethora of Texas schools. 
 

They were a program that back in the day with limited college coverage was the game of the week or players saw them in the national title game and wanted to be apart of it but with the expansion of television rights kids saw other opportunities. 
 

Nebraska was also slow getting their schemes up with the times. As other teams were implementing the spread offense the Cornhuskers were stuck in the Stone Ages 

[Kirby Jackson]

The University at Buffalo has beaten a ranked team more recently than Nebraska (by 2,927 days).

[Bill from NYC]

18 hours ago, Kirby Jackson said:

I don’t know. Those teams are back in the top 5 again. The elite of the elite will remain elite in the portal/nil era. Texas will be good for the forseeable future. There will be others that come and go but those programs won’t allow themselves to become Nebraska. 

Agreed, especially wrt Texas. They seem to have unlimited money, and Sarkisian is a GREAT coach. I consider him to be one of the great offensive minds in all of football, college and pros. 

Btw, the Arch Maning mania is quite premature imo. If Ewers doesn't come back, I don't expect Texas to win the title.

Jmo.

[Kirby Jackson]

3 minutes ago, Bill from NYC said:

Agreed, especially wrt Texas. They seem to have unlimited money, and Sarkisian is a GREAT coach. I consider him to be one of the great offensive minds in all of football, college and pros. 

Btw, the Arch Maning mania is quite premature imo. If Ewers doesn't come back, I don't expect Texas to win the title.

Jmo.

There has been so much hype around Arch. Last week he was outstanding. Yesterday was a reminder that it’ll take some time. He was okay but made some mistakes. If Ewers gets healthy, they are the team to beat IMO. The playoff will be interesting though. There’s going to be a bunch of good teams battling it out. 
 

Agree on Sark as well. That guy is a genius. He landed at the right spot. Give him those Texas resources to get players and he will be good for a while. 

[Mike in Horseheads]

Nebraska vs Oklahoma used to be a premier game every year, do they even play since CFB turned into a chaos money grab and conference changes?

[GunnerBill]

On 9/22/2024 at 12:19 PM, Bill from NYC said:

Agreed, especially wrt Texas. They seem to have unlimited money, and Sarkisian is a GREAT coach. I consider him to be one of the great offensive minds in all of football, college and pros. 

Btw, the Arch Maning mania is quite premature imo. If Ewers doesn't come back, I don't expect Texas to win the title.

Jmo.

 

He is a great college coach. He was a bad OC in Atlanta. Went from 1st in points the year before under Shanahan to 15th with Sark and the same players. 

[Bill from NYC]

2 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

He is a great college coach. He was a bad OC in Atlanta. Went from 1st in points the year before under Shanahan to 15th with Sark and the same players. 

Maybe. Remember, Sark went through some serious personal problems. When he came to Alabama his salary was $35,000 per year. At Alabama, he needed to make 50K  to have medical benefits for his family. Saban went in an got him the raise. 

As I'm sure you remember, when Kiffen was the OC at Bama, he accepted a head coaching job shortly before the championship game. Surprisingly, Saban told Kiffen to just get out and replaced him with Sark, who won a title the following season.

 

Sark's play calling against an excellent Ohio State team was the best I ever saw in a college football game. He lost Davonta Smith (who had 212 yards in the first half iirc) and he didn't miss a beat. He was sending Najee Harris in motion every different way and nobody knew how to stop the Tide that night.

 

Tbh, I am unsure how much harder it is to coach in the NFL than on a top college program, especially when you are facing another premier college program. People can point to Saban failing at Miami all they want, but; Saban wanted Drew Brees and was given Dante Culpepper.

 

In any event, I of course don't know for sure what Sarkisian would do now in the NFL. What I do know that if I owned a team I would offer him a job (which he would surely turn down because I think that he makes more than 10 mil per season). 

 

 

[GunnerBill]

5 minutes ago, Bill from NYC said:

Maybe. Remember, Sark went through some serious personal problems. When he came to Alabama his salary was $35,000 per year. At Alabama, he needed to make 50K  to have medical benefits for his family. Saban went in an got him the raise. 

As I'm sure you remember, when Kiffen was the OC at Bama, he accepted a head coaching job shortly before the championship game. Surprisingly, Saban told Kiffen to just get out and replaced him with Sark, who won a title the following season.

 

Sark's play calling against an excellent Ohio State team was the best I ever saw in a college football game. He lost Davonta Smith (who had 212 yards in the first half iirc) and he didn't miss a beat. He was sending Najee Harris in motion every different way and nobody knew how to stop the Tide that night.

 

Tbh, I am unsure how much harder it is to coach in the NFL than on a top college program, especially when you are facing another premier college program. People can point to Saban failing at Miami all they want, but; Saban wanted Drew Brees and was given Dante Culpepper.

 

In any event, I of course don't know for sure what Sarkisian would do now in the NFL. What I do know that if I owned a team I would offer him a job (which he would surely turn down because I think that he makes more than 10 mil per season). 

 

 

Being an OC in the NFL is a TON harder. The talent discrepancy isn't nearly as big and the complexity of defensive schemes in the NFL compared to college is a totally different level. 

 

I know Sark has had personal problems off the field, but I just don't think he was a good NFL OC. His performance in Atlanta where he made an offense definitively worse (like 11 points per game worse) was quite instructive IMO. He belongs in college and as you say he has no reason to leave anyway. Texas is a great job, he is well remunerated for doing it, and if he can break their national title drought he will have pretty much a job for life there. 

[Harold Jackson]

They haven't been relevant for 20 years. And especially the last 8 years.

 

The coach is just another run of the mill football lifer.

 

[CaseyatBat]

This thread is ironic because Nebraska is on an upswing and will return to prominence in the coming years. They have a huge NIL collective and an AD that is all in on that, on top of having one of the best young QBs in the nation already. They will be on top of the Big 10 soon

Edited Monday at 05:06 PM by CaseyatBat

[Kirby Jackson]

18 hours ago, CaseyatBat said:

This thread is ironic because Nebraska is on an upswing and will return to prominence in the coming years. They have a huge NIL collective and an AD that is all in on that, on top of having one of the best young QBs in the nation already. They will be on top of the Big 10 soon

They’ve tried to sell us on that over the last few years. I realize Raiola is a freshman but think that we are at 3,000+ days since a ranked win. Basically 8+ years without beating a ranked team. They’ve lost 27 consecutive games vs. ranked opponents!! Only 1 power 5 team has a longer streak, Rutgers. Maybe they just aren’t going to be good again?

[SoonerBillsFan]

On 10/14/2024 at 12:25 AM, Mike in Horseheads said:

Nebraska vs Oklahoma used to be a premier game every year, do they even play since CFB turned into a chaos money grab and conference changes?

Nope. We haven't played Nebraska in years.  That was a bad ass rivalry, Barry vs. Tom.