Iowa - Nebraska Talent Comparison

BIG ERN

BIG ERN

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Something I've heard way too often after getting beat by the Hawkeyes was how much more talent we have than they do. I think as of right now that is completely untrue. While most times you can go by stars on recruiting services you also have to go by how they are coached up and how much they progress as a player on the field. People can disagree, but below is the true story on talent levels. It all comes down to who you would want on your team more to help you win football games. I live in Iowa so I feel I keep up on their team pretty well, and was constantly annoyed by the loss as anyone trust me. Stats don't always tell all, just had some to also see that side as well. I will always be an eye-test film guy first.

QB: Iowa
This one is fairly close, but Beathard showed more consistent play in his two years starting with far less receiving options and a run first offense.

Beathard - 1,874 yds 17 TD 7 INT 58.6% (2 rush TD)

Armstrong - 2,180 yds 14 TD 8 INT 51.4% (8 rush TD)

RB: Iowa

They had the better 1-2 punch for sure. We have better 3rd & 4th options but that didn't matter much.

Wadley and Daniels - 2,022 yds 20 TD (5.87 ypc)

Newby and Ozigbo - 1,210 yds 12 TD (4.46 ypc)

TE/WR: Nebraska

Westerkamp, Morgan, Moore, Reilly, and Carter are for sure better than Vandenberg, McCarron, Smith, and Kittle. The production and catches by more receivers also shows the depth Nebraska had this year.

OL: Iowa

If there is one unit you can always count on for Iowa, that is the offense line. Their unit got better each week while the progress seemed to stay the same or actually got worse for the Huskers this season.

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DL: Iowa

Starting DL for Iowa had 163 tackles, 25 TFL, 20.5 sacks - also had the most talented player in Johnson

Starting DL for Nebraska had 131 tackles, 24 TFL, 15 sacks

LB: Iowa

Jewell leads the B10 with 114 tackles. Banderas led Nebraska with 89 tackles. Their production was overall higher as well.

DB: Nebraska

Iowa has the best overall DB in King, but Nebraska from top to bottom has more talent, depth, and production.

SP: Tie

Drew Brown was the better kicker, but the punting game for sure goes to Iowa. Return games were similar

I will say however that we currently have the better younger talent that hasn't gotten their time on the field yet. I think that Iowa probably has 2 players who will go in the top 3 rounds for the draft while Nebraska more than likely will have zero. Overall, I just didn't see the talent in the team this year. Were we bad? Of course not, just not enough playmakers who could change the game for us. Westerkamp was a great go to player but slowly turned into glass. Defensively we didn't have anyone who I was waiting for to take over and change the game like King, Jewell, and Johnson could do for Iowa. The biggest concerns at the start of the year were what hurt us the most ... upfront on both sides of the ball has to get better. We won all 9 games we were favored in, and lost all 3 we were the underdog. 9-3 is probably where we all saw us being this year, it just hurt that we had two embarrassments vs OSU and IA.

 
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I would probably say that Beathard and TA are a toss up normally but TA was playing on a bum hamstring that day so I'd give the edge to CB on that day.

I actually thought this team overachieved to be 9-3 this year. Iowa likely underachieved a bit overall this year to go 8-4 after being the near unanimous pick to win the West. They overachieved last year to go 12-2.

We just didn't have the horses upfront this year. Not much in the way of difference makers at the other positions either. Just an average football team talent wise. Hopefully that will get rectified through recruiting/player development/player retention or the ceiling on this program is 9 or 10 wins as it was under Pelini.

 
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.... While I respect your analysis, and admit we got outplayed on Friday...

Your opinion is literally, "You guys should take my opinion on what I thought after watching over the opinion of multiple teams from multiple recruiting services who are paid to scout and analyze".

You can skin the cat multiple ways. But to say "We were more talented than Iowa is just completely untrue" - that's probably not a solid way to prove it.

 
BIG ERN said:
I will say however that we currently have the better younger talent that hasn't gotten their time on the field yet.
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Yeah, we have some O-line and D-line guys coming off redshirt seasons that should help out. The lines, on both sides of the ball, are the biggest areas we need to improve in. IMHO

 
AFhusker said:
NUance said:
BIG ERN said:
I will say however that we currently have the better younger talent that hasn't gotten their time on the field yet.
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Yeah, we have some O-line and D-line guys coming off redshirt seasons that should help out. The lines, on both sides of the ball, are the biggest areas we need to improve in. IMHO
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Consistent QB and LB play would help a lot too.
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Agreed. We're going to miss Banderas next year. But Weber is good so maybe we'll be okay. We missed Tommy a lot when he went down this year. But I think (hope?) our O-line improves enough next year that we won't need Tommy's mobility to keep our QB alive. If that's the case maybe our offense will benefit from an improved passing game.

 
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Watching their Center/Guards combination come off the ball and just mash our interior DL....I knew after the first 3-4 plays of the game that unless we caused a couple turnovers we were going to lose the game. Their interior push was envious.

Superior talent level overall started and stopped at their O-line for me. I thought our skill guys were better than theirs, but they owned us up front.

 
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Atbone95 said:
.... While I respect your analysis, and admit we got outplayed on Friday...

Your opinion is literally, "You guys should take my opinion on what I thought after watching over the opinion of multiple teams from multiple recruiting services who are paid to scout and analyze".

You can skin the cat multiple ways. But to say "We were more talented than Iowa is just completely untrue" - that's probably not a solid way to prove it.
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I'm okay with people disagreeing with me, but please let me know what you don't agree with. If you were choosing a team please tell me what players you would take over who....

Beathard (3*) or Armstrong (4*)?

Wadley (2*) or Newby (4*)?

King (2*) or Jones (3*)?

Jewell (2*) or Banderas (4*)?

I would say most other positions are accurate where they were both 3* for both teams. Our WRs were more talented out of HS and they have proved that. Our OL is similar in talent, but we have more youth. 10/22 starters were SRs for us this season. I think if we had higher caliber players you would hear their names talked about more in the draft. CBS (major scout service) has 1 player inside the top 20 for their position...Gerry - 220 overall. Iowa has 3 players ahead of Gerry who was our highest.

 
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Damon Benning talked about this yesterday. When people talk about talent, they mean the natural ability of the guy you get to come to your school. What you're seeing, is that Iowa is developing and maximizing it's talent, while Nebraska is not.

Over the last 5 years, Iowa has recruited an average class ranked 52, and Nebraska has had an average class ranking of 25.

It's not really debatable. Nebraska has brought in better guys on Day 1 (ya'll really wanna go down the rabbit hole and compare offers?), but hasn't maximized them.

 
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BIG ERN said:
QB: Iowa

This one is fairly close, but Beathard showed more consistent play in his two years starting with far less receiving options and a run first offense.

Beathard - 1,874 yds 17 TD 7 INT 58.6% (2 rush TD)

Armstrong - 2,180 yds 14 TD 8 INT 51.4% (8 rush TD)

RB: Iowa

They had the better 1-2 punch for sure. We have better 3rd & 4th options but that didn't matter much.

Wadley and Daniels - 2,022 yds 20 TD (5.87 ypc)

Newby and Ozigbo - 1,210 yds 12 TD (4.46 ypc)
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As others have pointed out, you are conflating talent with production.

QMany said:
Tommy Armstrong was #6 Dual Threat QB and #293 Recruit in 2012. Beathard was #49 Pro Style QB and #1100 in the same class.

Terrell Newby was #11 RB and #124 Recruit in his class. LaShun Daniels was #97 RB and #1590 in his.

We'll need Alabama-quaility recruiting to cover up for some of this staff.
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And since you included the other RBs, Devine Ozigbo was the #56 RB and #744 Recruit in his class (0.8560 247 composite). Akrum Wadley was #156 RB and #2532 in his (0.7683 247 composite).

Maybe we should be talking about how Kirk Ferentz is getting more out of lesser talent than Mike Riley.

 
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