ESPN: First 2019 Way-Too-Early Top 25

brophog said:
A lot of it is UCF. That’s what gives a neutral observer the benefit of the doubt on those last 6 games. Some of that is the success they had under Frost, some of that is the continued success they had this past year. It paints the picture that he knows how to get there, even if he hasn’t yet at Nebraska.

Minnesota also finished 4-2 after losing 4 straight. It just doesn’t feel like it because while Frost continually tries to raise the bar, Fleck seems to lower expectations. It diminishes his accomplishments, which were rather significant during the last half of the season.
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Maybe a little is UCF but if you look at what Frost brings to the table, you can see that forming in Lincoln.  You have a QB that is a Heisman caliber type QB that this offense can build around.  You have a running game that went from the laughing stock of the B1G to being towards to the top.  All things point to continued offensive improvement which is expected from a Frost led team.  While the defense was far from great, they also showed improvement without having the personnel to run that scheme.  Recruiting rankings also show that talent level should be trending up. 

Minny had a nice finish to their year, but I am not sure they have quite the identity formed to place them in the top 25.  They havent found a QB to take the reins of their program.  Right now I would much rather face the Fleck version of the Gophers than the Kill version.  We will see if this year Fleck can get over the hump, but I would bet on Nebraska over Minny right now.  

 
We are finishing inside the top 15 at the end of 2019, mark it.  This team is about to make a big jump, our schedule is softer than it looks, and teams are again going to not look forward to playing us.

 
Nebraska and Minnesota are going to be the two big surprises in the Big Ten next year.

I don't want to take anything away from Nebraska, or diminish them in any way.  Let me just point out that our defensive personnel were too good to give up 53 points to Nebraska in 2018.  Our pts given up in Big Ten games before firing DC Robb Smith: 42, 48, 30, 53, 31, 55.  Pts given up after replacing Smith with Joe Rossi: 10, 24, 15, 10.  Things will be different in 2019.

 
Head Coach Scott Frost said:
It's cool and trendy to put Nebraska in the top 25, but we have not earned it yet.
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For the most part, I agree. I'm betting this is a dynamic we'll experience all off season. Local fans/analysts/journalists tend to be harder or more critical on Nebraska because of the day-in, day-out nuances. The national folks are more inclined to put weight on 'year two' improvements or some relative surface level variables, whereas we'll let the little things weigh on us. The truth will probably be somewhere in the middle.

I'm expecting the team to be a fringe Top 25 team next year, but if we take this most recent preseason poll at face value, there's no way I could say Nebraska is the 17th best team in the country and I think that's fairly objective.

 
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We will get to 8-9 wins this year, the schedule def helps us. I truly think we will get 10+ wins for 2020 and then the trend of always being a good football team will continue from there. Not saying we are going to win Natties, but we will def be the team to beat in the West more times than not. Think of the Bo Pelini standards with a few great seasons mixed in every few years. We should be able to finally break the trend of a conference title before Martinez leaves Lincoln. 

 
BIG ERN said:
We will get to 8-9 wins this year, the schedule def helps us. I truly think we will get 10+ wins for 2020 and then the trend of always being a good football team will continue from there. Not saying we are going to win Natties, but we will def be the team to beat in the West more times than not. Think of the Bo Pelini standards with a few great seasons mixed in every few years. We should be able to finally break the trend of a conference title before Martinez leaves Lincoln. 
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Completely agree for the most part. I've tempered my expectations for this season pending the health/availability of our skill position players. However, if Spielman and Robinson are healthy and Mo and Mills are available/on the team I think we can get to 10 wins this season. 

 
bugeater17 said:
Completely agree for the most part. I've tempered my expectations for this season pending the health/availability of our skill position players. However, if Spielman and Robinson are healthy and Mo and Mills are available/on the team I think we can get to 10 wins this season. 
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I’m still very skeptical of the defense before I can get to that point. Some good this spring, but there is still a big drop off in results between full throttle and not. Some defenses are talented enough to get away with that, but this one can’t. With the numbers we have, a guy like Alex Davis needs to be the Ozigbo of this defense. 

The offense, minus some setbacks, should be enough to get a winning record. The defense has to be pretty exceptional to hit double digits.

 
brophog said:
I’m still very skeptical of the defense before I can get to that point. Some good this spring, but there is still a big drop off in results between full throttle and not. Some defenses are talented enough to get away with that, but this one can’t. With the numbers we have, a guy like Alex Davis needs to be the Ozigbo of this defense. 

The offense, minus some setbacks, should be enough to get a winning record. The defense has to be pretty exceptional to hit double digits.
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The addition of Daniels and Green will def help up front. I think outside of Barry, the LBs were not good last year either, Gifford played solid at times. Ferg is now healthy so hopefully he can be that guy, but now that we have 4 LBs on the field at all times we need more than one good one. Another year for Tannor and hopefully a breakout year for JoJo. On offense as long as we get Mo and Mills we are in good shape. The big concern is the interior line play and Woodyard/Williams. We need at least one of them to step up this year. All four losses below were due to letting someone running all over us, Illinois we won thankfully since they had no defense. Gotta man up this season. I think we will be improved on the d line. 





CAR


YDS


AVG


TD


LONG






J.K. Dobbins


23


163


7.1


3


42











CAR


YDS


AVG


TD


LONG






Mekhi Sargent


26


173


6.7


1


32











CAR


YDS


AVG


TD


LONG






Karan Higdon


12


136


11.3


1


46












CAR


YDS


AVG


TD


LONG






Jonathan Taylor


24


221


9.2


3


88











CAR


YDS


AVG


TD


LONG






AJ Bush Jr.


25


187


7.5


3


41




 
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