Because the B1G office did the cross divisional games to draw more $$$ (getting the TV contract extended at highest possible amount) instead of a rotation of teams from the other division. I understand why they did that, but then I think that the cross divisional games should not count towards your conference record (ie the winner of the B1G west should only be crowned based only on games w/in the west).
Agree with this and i feel like more of those big cross games have been away games - the unbalanced schedule would be more tolerable if we saw more action in memorial stadium.
I expect us to be a better team overall next season, but our overall record won't be much different than this years. So a big step back in 2018 could be the straw that breaks the camels back into retirement.
Next year is a toss up. We could easily be 8-4 at season's end. We lose a lot of leadership and experience while breaking in a new look offense. We do have more favorable home games which helps though. 2017 is a lot like 2015 - I won't be surprised on how it all pans out if that is good or bad.
What exactly do you mean by "up"? Barely cracking the Top 25 in recruiting and being ranked 5th or 6th in the conference is not what I'd consider "up." Started off strong but it has fizzled out in a big way.
"up" is getting classes that have 22/23 players that rank in the high 87 to low 88 range. That would put the class around 20-22. If MR can continue to improve the product then those numbers should climb to players in the 89-90 range, however NU has not had a history of top 10 recruiting classes even back during the glory years and the top 2 spots in the big10 are not currently on our radar top 4 would be ideal for now.
Miles won with Sabans guys and he didn't win the big one with mostly 4 or 5 star guys. Miles is a good Coach but he wouldn't just be able to reel in 5 stars from all over the country at nebraska. Any Coach at LSU will recruit well bc they are in one of the most talented areas in the country and the only big show in the state.
To this point (and obviously it can change between now and NSD, although it can go up or down) Bo's last 4 classes had a better "average player rating" than Riley's 2. I wouldn't say, as of now, it's "up".
Les' name value alone would lure in better classes than what Riley has shown. Les would land plenty of Louisiana talent. He's won a NC. He's landed dozens of players in the pros. That's what recruits want to hear.
Not only that, but all of them are on the road.
