Are you surprised at where we are at?

Toe said:
How do you know we don't have a Suh on this squad? It's not like anyone was expecting Suh to emerge as an absolute monster at this point in 2008!
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Your right its possible. But I think a guy like Suh comes around once every 10 years or so and the chance lightning strikes twice at Nebraska is unlikely. Regardless- I think this staff and Scott Frost are pretty much superior in every way to Pelini and his staff. So I dont think they need 1 all world player to help- they will get more out of everyone.

 
Huskers93-97 said:
True but pelini has the luxury of SUH 
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This is a good jumping off point for me saying a big part of this year will come down to just what kind of talent they have. Yes, there has been plenty of roster turnover, but the team will still largely be reliant on returning players. My gut reaction is there isn't quite the same level of talent defensively now that they had in comparison to 2008, so that's part of the reason I'm not predicting anything close to double digit wins.

 
Moiraine said:
Nick Saban went 6-6 his first season at Alabama but it’s “unacceptable.” Kay.

(I realize the comment was “not unacceptable” but I’m assuming that was a mistake.)
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It was a mistake, and these 2 situations are not similar.   O ya and it wasn't acceptable he went 6-6, go back and read what the fans thought about that season. 

6-6 wasn't acceptable for

Frank

Bill

Bo

Mike

There is no pass on win total expectations, or appearance in the conference championship game.   There is no pass because of his past history or this team's previous outcomes.  Bo won 9 games his first year, Bill and Mike didn't.   Guess who was the better coach out of those 3?  The one that didn't let excuses such as personnel, style, what "should" happen take over what he thought.   6-6 isn't an acceptable record for any coach here regardless of situation, period, end of story.  I have listened to this mantra of BS for 15 years about system, we need to give it time, wait for his quarterback, recruiting will improve, if they just don't get blown out, beat the teams we should.   Well we have had the top recruiting in our division every single year over that span.  The talent us on the team.  It is tiring listening to excuse after excuse about not being able to win.  So no, not too many of us 6-6 isn't acceptable, and the arguement that it will get better from there doesn't stand a chance in my book because we have never seen that happen.  Husker fans need to stop tying their fandom to years down the road and be living in the season now, and expect that football team to be good, 6-6 isn't good!

 
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Comparisons of 2008 and 2018 are interesting.  No one knew what would happen there was a lot of ups and downs in that season.  I remember watching Nebraska get pummeled by Missouri in about the 4th game of the year at night in Lincoln. I thought man it is going to be a long season.  The next week we see NU go toe to toe with a TT team that was ranked pretty high at that time and lose in OT.  For there 3rd loss in a row.   At one point that team was 5-4 and then they win their final 3 and beat a pretty good Clemson team in the Bowl that was suppose to beat them handily.  The defense got better as the season progressed.  They really played well in the Clemson game.  It wasn't just Suh on that line.  Ty Steinkuhler, Baker's older brother played really well down the stretch of that season. 

I would take a season like that in a heart beat this year.  I think overall the schedule is tougher this year, but Missouri, TT and OU were both highly ranked and they also played VaTech in the non conference. I am not sure there is a Suh on this team, but I think overall there is a lot more depth at most positions than in 2008.  Which can be a big difference. 

 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but in 2008, wasn't it after the Missouri debacle and before the Texas Tech game that the coaches changed the entire offensive scheme to more of a ball control/milk the clock scheme in an effort to keep the defense of the field since the D was such a liability at that point? I recall 2008 being largely underwhelming and disappointing early in the season before things started to get exciting.

Pelini showed the ability to make some bold in-season and in-game adjustments in his first couple of years that really worked out, but either lost that ability or ran out of luck later on.

In 2018, I wonder what kind of adjustments Frost will make if the offense sputters or defense has growing pains. Do we slow it down a bit to rest the defense? Or bite the bullet and maintain the tempo? Frost comes off as smarter than Pelini, so I look forward to seeing how the tough decisions are made.

 
Ulty said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but in 2008, wasn't it after the Missouri debacle and before the Texas Tech game that the coaches changed the entire offensive scheme to more of a ball control/milk the clock scheme in an effort to keep the defense of the field since the D was such a liability at that point? I recall 2008 being largely underwhelming and disappointing early in the season before things started to get exciting.

Pelini showed the ability to make some bold in-season and in-game adjustments in his first couple of years that really worked out, but either lost that ability or ran out of luck later on.

In 2018, I wonder what kind of adjustments Frost will make if the offense sputters or defense has growing pains. Do we slow it down a bit to rest the defense? Or bite the bullet and maintain the tempo? Frost comes off as smarter than Pelini, so I look forward to seeing how the tough decisions are made.
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No, that was in 2009. He leaned very heavily on the defense that year.  

 
2008 was pretty focused on time of possession all year IIRC, but the end of the Missouri game is when they started to transition to their 'spread-coast' offense.

2009 was when they went full-on turtle mode and kinda stopped passing the ball, after they had given up so many turnovers in the first half of the season. What was it, three interceptions and five fumbles lost against Iowa State? That was the turning point.

 
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Toe said:
2008 was pretty focused on time of possession all year IIRC, but the end of the Missouri game is when they started to transition to their 'spread-coast' offense.

2009 was when they went full-on turtle mode and kinda stopped passing the ball, after they had given up so many turnovers in the first half of the season. What was it, three interceptions and five fumbles lost against Iowa State? That was the turning point.
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Bingo.

 
I am just glad that we will never have an O that has to result to milking clock to be effective, with this staff. That was agonizing.

 
@Saunders Oh, they'll still be milking their payments from us for a while... :angry:

But hey, at least they won't be leading (to use the term loosely) us on the field anymore!

 
KingBlank said:
It was a mistake, and these 2 situations are not similar.   O ya and it wasn't acceptable he went 6-6, go back and read what the fans thought about that season. 

6-6 wasn't acceptable for

Frank

Bill

Bo

Mike

There is no pass on win total expectations, or appearance in the conference championship game.   There is no pass because of his past history or this team's previous outcomes.  Bo won 9 games his first year, Bill and Mike didn't.   Guess who was the better coach out of those 3?  The one that didn't let excuses such as personnel, style, what "should" happen take over what he thought.   6-6 isn't an acceptable record for any coach here regardless of situation, period, end of story.  I have listened to this mantra of BS for 15 years about system, we need to give it time, wait for his quarterback, recruiting will improve, if they just don't get blown out, beat the teams we should.   Well we have had the top recruiting in our division every single year over that span.  The talent us on the team.  It is tiring listening to excuse after excuse about not being able to win.  So no, not too many of us 6-6 isn't acceptable, and the arguement that it will get better from there doesn't stand a chance in my book because we have never seen that happen.  Husker fans need to stop tying their fandom to years down the road and be living in the season now, and expect that football team to be good, 6-6 isn't good!
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6-6 isn't good. What'd be worse is tying our judgment of a coach's ability to his first season. 

 
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