There remain far too many on this board and I suppose among the fan base at large that just don't understand or recognize the team is just not very good. There have been mistakes in coaching strategy during some of the games or portions thereof, but the O line getting manhandled by the majority of our opponents this season, and last season, and the season before that, and the season before than, repeat as necessary, is one of the bigger issues. It is certainly NOT the only issue. We have lacked the quality and quantity of top notch college football players to compete on the national stage for a decade plus. We began the slide into mediocrity 18 years ago with a dramatic decline in recruiting for any number of reasons. Tom's retirement hurt recruiting as Frank was NOT Tom in terms of recruiting gravitas. We have suffered through some major administrative blunders in terms of staffing, management, etc. There are many reasons why we are in the mess we are in and as some have pointed out, this next hire, or whatever major changes are made, MUST ABSOLUTELY be right this time. The next coaching staff is going to have a huge challenge and will need undivided, dedicated and continuing support and trust. The lynch mobs have got to throw their torches and pitchforks in the celebratory bonfire when the changes are made. A minimum of 5 years and probably longer is clearly required to get things significantly better.
With this mob mentaily, I would think Scott Frost would be exceedingly concerned and cautious about taking over the Husker team right now. He has personally felt the wrath of Husker fans after his very first start as the QB. Frosty the throw man was not a friendly nickname nor a term of endearment. He got that after some (more than a few fans) felt he threw away the Arizona game and some would have liked to see him left behind on the plane ride back home. I am quite sure he remembers his not so loving welcome home.
How quickly will the mobsters turn on him if the first season goes 6-6. The same fans who scream "we have plenty of talent to win the Big Ten west easily" right now will want to defend him at first by arguing the talent is not there. But soon, the debate will swing to why didn't we run the dam ball on 3rd and 4 instead throwing that interception, or in the alternative, why did we not throw when we had run so many times in a row and the defense 'knew' we were going to run that exact play and stuffed us.
There are some good coaches, good recruiters, good people and good players on this year's team. Not enough. We surely can all agree on that much. There are many reasons why we lack enough of all of the above, not all of which are Mike Riley's fault. Two recruiting seasons is hardly enough time to transfer a team that got blown out by the Badgers and Buckeyes, Hawkeyes, etc. Has this year's team progressed or regressed? In my view we've certainly not made progress but we all knew Ohio State would gut us and there was a strong likelyhood that Oregon and Wisconsin would as well.
One major area of disappointment this year is QB play. But that has been the case for many years, absent Taylor Martinez's frosh year (half anyway). We have NOT played our back ups and built for the future because, precisely, the coaches then and there didn't believe they could afford to invest in the future as for far too many fans, the future is NOW and we can't wait for the good times to come. This is just not working in getting us back to where we all want to be. Far too many were clueless about the decline in Solich years, followed by the NFL mentality of Callahan which won't work in Nebraska, followed by the who gives a s#!t mentality of Pelini, to the It is not winning or losing but how you present yourself mentality of Riley.