Lee B. on Wisconsin

To get to the next level, we need to accomplish what Wisky has the past 8 years.  Look at us, look at them. Look at us, look at them.  Yea, I'd take their success.  In a minute.  We aren't even at that level of consistency and people think we should be winning the conference?  Really.  I'm a huge homer fan, but until we start winning our division and/or competing for it year in and year out I don't think the conference (or greater) is a reality.

Barry took the NU blueprint and turned it into pretty constant success.  Per the "rankings", NU consistently recruits better than the teams in the West and better than most in the East.  The difference  is in coaching, development and system.  What is our identity?  What system do we even run?  I truly haven't had an idea since Solich got fired.  Multiple, spread, WCO with spread elements, spread with inside zone/outside zone etc....Develop a definitive articulable system.  Recruit for it and develop players in it.  Oh, and play sound, fundamental football.  Play disciplined in all three phases....Excel at the basics.....Something that has been absent from NU for years....

 
brophog said:
That team was not what they seemed, as I showed time and again that year. They may have won the title game, but they're a lousy example for "best". Winning does not denote best, it means you simply scored one more point than the other team. You get into a logical fallacy if you try to equate the two.

That said, any two teams are not as far a part as generally viewed. It's more middle with a few outliers in each direction. 
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All of that is another great example of why thinking that we are so terribly far from competing for the conference championship is terribly flawed.  

They won the east.  We beat them.  That's all we'd have to do to win the B1G.  

And spare me the logical fallacy mumbo jumbo.  "Best" is a subjective term.  If someone else was overall a better team, they would have won the division.  They had the "best" conference season of anyone in the East that year.  That's what actually matters.

 
runningblind said:
We can all keep saying that all we want but winning multiple conference titles and having consistent top 15 finishes over a decade span would be perfectly acceptable in my eyes. 
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Same here. I'd still want for more, but it'd be a hell of a lot better than what we have. I still wouldn't trade in the national championships, but ask me that 20 years from now (if we still haven't won the conference) and I might change my mind.

 
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brophog said:
That team was not what they seemed, as I showed time and again that year. They may have won the title game, but they're a lousy example for "best". Winning does not denote best, it means you simply scored one more point than the other team. You get into a logical fallacy if you try to equate the two.

That said, any two teams are not as far a part as generally viewed. It's more middle with a few outliers in each direction. 
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There is a chasm between Nebraska and Wisconsin right now. We have multiple seasons of losses to show this difference; not just individual wins and losses. Good teams consistently win, bad teams consistently lose. Wisconsin is a good team. We are a bad team. 

We might end up beating them this week, but that doesn't mean we're at the same level they are. It just means that this is the week that a Riley teams punches above its weight. But to say that we're not that far apart is ridiculous.

 
I think that as more and more time passes since the enacting of the roster and scholarship limits that the "Nebraska/Alvarez" comparisons honestly get thinner and thinner. It's pretty good clickbait to draw in views from the Nebraska fan base, though.

The blueprint of running the ball and chewing up clock is only one side of the ball. Wisconsin's real accomplishment as a program over the last decade specifically is having such great defensive units. 

Scoring wasn't a huge problem for our team since we entered the B1G. But defense was. Look at all of the blowouts we experienced under Bo in conference play in the Big Ten and now under Riley. We've struggled so much on defense. Wisconsin practically never struggles on defense. And I don't think that there's any correlation to their defensive side of the ball and things that Osborne & McBride did at all at this point post-scholarship/roster limit.

 
Branno said:
We might end up beating them this week, but that doesn't mean we're at the same level they are. It just means that this is the week that a Riley teams punches above its weight. But to say that we're not that far apart is ridiculous.
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Question....

Is there a specific point in beating them where you would reconsider this opinion?

 
BigRedBuster said:
Question....

Is there a specific point in beating them where you would reconsider this opinion?
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Not me who posted, but can I chime-in and ask if the following is fair?

Wisconsin has been, nearly, an annual participant in the B1G Championship Game.  They've been there four out of the six years of its existence.  Have to imagine the option starts being reconsidered if Nebraska can steal a couple trips over the next three or four years.  I don't know if beating Wisconsin is enough if the Badgers continues to represent the West in the B1G Championship Game.  Wisconsin and Northwestern have played near evenly head-to-head for the last decade, though the two programs' on-field success is still, relatively, far apart. 

Am I looking at this too simplistically?

 
badgers007 said:
Not me who posted, but can I chime-in and ask if the following is fair?

Wisconsin has been, nearly, an annual participant in the B1G Championship Game.  They've been there four out of the six years of its existence.  Have to imagine the option starts being reconsidered if Nebraska can steal a couple trips over the next three or four years.  I don't know if beating Wisconsin is enough if the Badgers continues to represent the West in the B1G Championship Game.  Wisconsin and Northwestern have played near evenly head-to-head for the last decade, though the two programs' on-field success is still, relatively, far apart. 

Am I looking at this too simplistically?
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As another poster said the on field difference between these programs probably isn't that drastic game to game. But the programs themselves are light years apart right now. Wisconsin has struck on a formula which keeps them relevant and competitive year in and year out for years now. 

The problem is I'm not sure getting to Wisconsins level would satisfy a large portion of this fan base. There have been too many championships and people want that back. Wisconsin never had it and their fans seem to be able to appreciate a good season for what it is. 

Personally, even though I lived through the glory years I would be very happy with Wisconsins level of success right now. 

 
BigRedBuster said:
Question....

Is there a specific point in beating them where you would reconsider this opinion?
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In a season where it would matter. In a season in which we aren't 12 point underdogs at home. A season where we didn't almost lose to Arkansas State. A season where we don't struggle against Rutgers. A season where we can score more against Illinois than 28. A season where we didn't lose to f'ing NIU.

 
So what i am gathering from this thread is the fans need to stfu so the coaches can develop continuity and an identity. I mean their system has been in place for around 30 years now.

 
olddominionhusker said:
As another poster said the on field difference between these programs probably isn't that drastic game to game. But the programs themselves are light years apart right now. Wisconsin has struck on a formula which keeps them relevant and competitive year in and year out for years now. 

The problem is I'm not sure getting to Wisconsins level would satisfy a large portion of this fan base. There have been too many championships and people want that back. Wisconsin never had it and their fans seem to be able to appreciate a good season for what it is. 

Personally, even though I lived through the glory years I would be very happy with Wisconsins level of success right now. 
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The Wisconsin level of success is exactly what Nebraska should strive for, IMO.  The next higher level would be a program like Alabama with Saban with top 5 finishes yearly.  I doubt many fans expect us to be there.  With the 4 team playoff Wisconsin makes it into that discussion even if they don't pull it off by the end of the season.  Every 10 years or so they could very well break through and be in the playoffs.  I thought it was strange when Bielema left for Arky and said something about he wanted to compete for championships.  2011(?) with Wilson is probably the closest to a NC he'll see.  I think you're putting too much weight on the fact that Wisconsin hasn't won a NC.

 
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