Athlon sports ranks the Big Ten coaches so you don't have to.

[The Dude]

Where's my speculation? I'm looking at schedules, common opponents, and the head to head matchup. People seem to be pretending that we are heads and shoulders better than Northwestern here, but the data doesn't support that.

People are pointing out that we are better than them. Not pretending that we are heads and shoulders better, but realizing that we are, in fact, better. You just asked everyone if they thought we would win the same amount of games if we played their schedule. You are inviting speculation as to whether or not we are any better than they are. Asking a question without a real answer is the definition of speculation.

Now HERE is where I will speculate: Now given the program prestige, academic entrance requirements, history, fan bases, and resources of the two programs, should Nebraska be a finger tip better than Northwestern? So who's done the better coaching job? Fitzgerald or Pelini?

Fitzgerald, without question.

 

[Landlord]

Now HERE is where I will speculate: Now given the program prestige, academic entrance requirements, history, fan bases, and resources of the two programs, should Nebraska be a finger tip better than Northwestern?

Wait wait wait ...

Wasn't your original disagreement with me that I was coming to a firm conclusion based on incomplete evidence? Yet here you are considering it accepted knowledge that we are "a finger tip better".

 

[Junior]

Now HERE is where I will speculate: Now given the program prestige, academic entrance requirements, history, fan bases, and resources of the two programs, should Nebraska be a finger tip better than Northwestern?

Wait wait wait ...

Wasn't your original disagreement with me that I was coming to a firm conclusion based on incomplete evidence? Yet here you are considering it accepted knowledge that we are "a finger tip better".

Yep.

3 matchups decided by a total of... 1 point.

 

[Landlord]

Well stop being an inconsistent hypocrite, then. Please?

 

[Junior]

Well stop being an inconsistent hypocrite, then. Please?

Nah, I just actually put thought into the process. You just looked at records. Follow the logic, I have faith you can do it.

 

[NUinID]

I guess I would have BP at around 5. You could probably interchange Kill, Fitz, BP, Hoke and Anderson at this point and put them in any order.

No, you couldn't. There's no factual basis for it. I'm not going to waste my time presenting the entire resumes of each coach, but just look at the credentials:

Franklin hasn't coached a single game in the Big Ten. His wins in the SEC over the last two years consist of Georgia (8-5), Florida (4-8), Kentucky (2-10), Tennessee (5-7), Missouri (5-7), Auburn (3-9), Kentucky (2-10), Ole Miss (7-6), and Tennessee (5-7). He might turn out to be a great coach, but being ranked at #3 isn't actually based on anything - it's a prediction. He should be an asterisk on the list.

Pat Fitzgerald has had losing conference records three of the last four years, and five of his eight years total. Bo owns head-to-head on him, and coming off his best season in school history, they were a field goal away from going winless in the Big Ten. I get that they don't have the resources, fair point. I also get that they don't have the expectations, not a fair point. Surpassing lower expectations doesn't mean you're a better coach than another who doesn't reach higher expectations.

Gary Andersen seems to be a solid coach, but that's after one season. For a while they were two plays (one the official's fault) away from being undefeated on the season, but then they got spanked by Penn State and beat confidently by SC. Not much else to go off of, but he seems like a good one.

Kirk Ferentz has a losing conference record over the last four years, and is barely over .500 lifetime. They had a good, not great and not even really good, season last year after going 4-8. So kudos for turning it around, but Ferentz is the coach that got them to 4-8 in the first place. Once again, Bo has head-to-head. Still have head-to-head here as well.

Jerry Kill has done....what, exactly? His team had a decent season, but he wasn't even coaching for 75% of it. Jerry Kill has a long and successful coaching career, but is 17-21 at Minnesota even considering last year's success that he only had a fraction of a part of. Bo has head-to-head and it's not really even close.

Brady Hoke had a good first season, but has failed to win his division even once, and instead of getting better his teams have gotten worse, going from 11 wins, to 8 wins, to 7 wins. With all the resources in the world, and with the best recruiting in the conference, Brady Hoke has done next to nothing. Bo has head-to-head on him, and also made him look like an absolute fool in his own house.

Your not going to get any disagreement form me, truthfully I was just trying to look at it logically.

Hoke IMO has underachieved big time.

Kill is a good coach with a staff that has a core that has been together for upwards of 20 years. If he can get the Gophers to be a consistent 7-8 win team with that occasional 9th win I think he would be doing great. He needs to keep the really good players in Minn. home and that will help a lot. His situation reminds me of Dan McCarney at ISU. He got them playing really well but the fans thought that they could take that next step up and be that consistent 9 win team and that just is not going to happen at ISU. I don't think Minnesota will ever be a consistent contender for the Big 10 title.

Fitzgerald gets a lot out of his kids, but I don't ever see them being a consistent 9 win team.

I agree there is not enough info a Anderson to know one way or the other.

Ferentz I think is a good coach but he doesn't recruit very well all the time. His team are solid and fundamentally sound but he can't get that difference maker on offense to really take them to another level.

I think Pelini is a good to great coach who is only finally figuring out recruiting and how to recruit to what Nebraska needs to be really successful. I think going forward he is going to recruit very well to his system and we will see a jump in performance. Just my opinion.

 

[Minnesota_husker]

Well stop being an inconsistent hypocrite, then. Please?

Nah, I just actually put thought into the process. You just looked at records. Follow the logic, I have faith you can do it.

You can make a point without being a d******d.

 

[Saunders]

People are criticizing Northwestern for their win/loss last year,but they played Ohio State, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Michigan State (and Nebraska). We only played 2 of those 4. Do you think we would have won 5 Big Ten games if Wisconsin and Ohio State were on our schedule?

See: 2011, 2012

So 2011 OSU is the same as 2013 OSU? K....

Gonna steal the "moving the goalposts" statement from NUPolo8 here....

what? the initial question was, essentially, "how would neb. have done with nw's schedule last year." you brought up 2011 and 2012 (frankly, not seasons i really want to remember, even for purposes of demonstrating we did better than nw). so the goalposts were moving from the get-go.

He asked if NU could win 5 games with OSU and UW on our schedule. We did the previous 2 years, while NW did not.

 

[Saunders]

Where's my speculation? I'm looking at schedules, common opponents, and the head to head matchup. People seem to be pretending that we are heads and shoulders better than Northwestern here, but the data doesn't support that.

People are pointing out that we are better than them. Not pretending that we are heads and shoulders better, but realizing that we are, in fact, better. You just asked everyone if they thought we would win the same amount of games if we played their schedule. You are inviting speculation as to whether or not we are any better than they are. Asking a question without a real answer is the definition of speculation.

Now HERE is where I will speculate: Now given the program prestige, academic entrance requirements, history, fan bases, and resources of the two programs, should Nebraska be a finger tip better than Northwestern? So who's done the better coaching job? Fitzgerald or Pelini?

This is a dumb argument. Should a national champion Nebraska be a toe kick better than Mizzou?

 

[sd'sker]

People are criticizing Northwestern for their win/loss last year,but they played Ohio State, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Michigan State (and Nebraska). We only played 2 of those 4. Do you think we would have won 5 Big Ten games if Wisconsin and Ohio State were on our schedule?

He asked if NU could win 5 games with OSU and UW on our schedule. We did the previous 2 years, while NW did not.

i do not think that is what he asked. it seems like he was only referencing nw's schedule last year and how we would have done with it. it is a difference between "would" and "could". that is how i read it at least.

 

[jsneb83]

People are criticizing Northwestern for their win/loss last year,but they played Ohio State, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Michigan State (and Nebraska). We only played 2 of those 4. Do you think we would have won 5 Big Ten games if Wisconsin and Ohio State were on our schedule?

He asked if NU could win 5 games with OSU and UW on our schedule. We did the previous 2 years, while NW did not.

i do not think that is what he asked. it seems like he was only referencing nw's schedule last year and how we would have done with it. it is a difference between "would" and "could". that is how i read it at least.

Would we have won 5 conference games with that schedule last year? Probably not. But are we comparing the coaches on last year only? Or would you compare their whole body of work, including 2011 and 2012, which we did have that same conference schedule and won more than five those two years.

 

[sd'sker]

Would we have won 5 conference games with that schedule last year? Probably not. But are we comparing the coaches on last year only? Or would you compare their whole body of work, including 2011 and 2012, which we did have that same conference schedule and won more than five those two years.

i think both.

 

[Junior]

Where's my speculation? I'm looking at schedules, common opponents, and the head to head matchup. People seem to be pretending that we are heads and shoulders better than Northwestern here, but the data doesn't support that.

People are pointing out that we are better than them. Not pretending that we are heads and shoulders better, but realizing that we are, in fact, better. You just asked everyone if they thought we would win the same amount of games if we played their schedule. You are inviting speculation as to whether or not we are any better than they are. Asking a question without a real answer is the definition of speculation.

Now HERE is where I will speculate: Now given the program prestige, academic entrance requirements, history, fan bases, and resources of the two programs, should Nebraska be a finger tip better than Northwestern? So who's done the better coaching job? Fitzgerald or Pelini?

This is a dumb argument. Should a national champion Nebraska be a toe kick better than Mizzou?

It's not based simply on one game. Look at the shared opponents and head to head. If we had beat MSU, Michigan, Minnesota, and Iowa, but lost to Northwestern we wouldn't be having this discussion. But when you look at the shared opponents and head to head, you can see that last year, the two teams were very close.

 

[Junior]

People are criticizing Northwestern for their win/loss last year,but they played Ohio State, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Michigan State (and Nebraska). We only played 2 of those 4. Do you think we would have won 5 Big Ten games if Wisconsin and Ohio State were on our schedule?

He asked if NU could win 5 games with OSU and UW on our schedule. We did the previous 2 years, while NW did not.

i do not think that is what he asked. it seems like he was only referencing nw's schedule last year and how we would have done with it. it is a difference between "would" and "could". that is how i read it at least.

Yep.

 

[sd'sker]

Yep.

yeah, people are trying to discredit fitz because he had a bad year. but his bad year was arguably an anomaly and definitely a tough situation. they had a lot of hype, went all in against osu, and got their hearts broken. the season spiraled from there. but a lot of their losses were still close.

however, say what you will of 2013 nw, that is not indicative of fitz's coaching ability on the whole. at least in my imo.