Nebraska's ceiling

Husker fans can be the harshest critics of the Huskers sometimes. Despite that, it does seem like we've turned a corner. We finished last year strong. Beat #6 Michigan State, and might have beat #3 Iowa if Gerry didn't get tossed from the game on a very questionable call. And then finished with an upset bowl win over a salty UCLA team. So far in the new season we've made it to five games without a loss. That's better than about 90% of the FBS teams have started. I for one am cautiously optimistic.

Ceiling? I think the best we could reasonably hope for is to win the west, end up at a decent bowl game with a win, and pull in a great recruiting class. Even if we make it to the CCG in Indy I don't think we can beat tOSU. This year anyway. But you never know. That said, I think it's pretty iffy that we will win the west. Oh sure, it might happen. But I wouldn't put much coin on it. I think it's more reasonable to expect us to drop a couple or three conference games in Oct/Nov. GBR!

 
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To win this division we have to stay healthier. Not only that but we need to start games stronger. I love being the clearly better team in the 4th, but the 1st quarter/half has been somewhat lackluster.

This team appears to be playing with more heart and determination than I've seen in a long time and I love that.

 
I think there is a ceiling on this team because we don't have great talent. That said I see a team that plays hard and is well coached, so that should give us a chance vs the rest of our schedule save maybe Ohio State.

 
Husker from Kansas said:
I think we find out what our ceiling is in 2 weeks. We have beaten the teams we should but we haven't faced anyone like Wisconsin. If we can beat them then we will know that our team is capable of beating anyone on the right day, but if we get thrashed then we know we're still a top 25 team (probably 20-25) and thats better than we have been in awhile but were not "there" yet.

Either way this year has been the most fun year for me since Taylor Martinez was a freshman. I can wait to see if we rise to the occasion against Wisconsin.
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Right now Wisconsin has beat no won special either. There 2 big wins are against an LSU team that fired its head coach and MSU that has a record of 2-3 and just got stomped at home by a 3-3 BYU team. They struggled mightily to beat a 1aa team In Georgia Southern. They did play Michigan fairly tough, but Michigan really shots themselves in the foot in the game they could have won by more.

You see the we haven't played anyone game works for Wisconsin also.

Play the games and lets see what happens. I think Indiana has NU's attention they will not take them lightly. I personally think Michigan is better than the buckeyes. Their defense is better and their offense is really coming around.

You guys need to watch some other games and not just look at scores, it is a weird season. Stanford just got stomped by a Wazzu team that lost its first 2 games of the year and one loss was to a 1aa team. Cal just lost to the beavers in it and they are terrible. Purdue just beat Illinois in out after losing 50-0 to Maryland who then went and got killed by an average Penn state team.

 
Ceiling is 11-1 (loss to Ohio st)

Loss in big 10 championship game to either OSU or Michigan.

Probable: 10-2 or 9-3

Anything worse at this point is a disappointment.

 
I hedge my hype with the huskers being in the top 10 because they are the one team not like the others...meaning, they haven't beaten a team currently ranked lower than 50-51 (Oregon and Northwestern). Nor have they won in dominating fashion from start to finish and put teams away.

They deserve a top 10 ranking because they earned it through the games played thus far, but at the end of the season, I think this poll has is closer to the truth. http://sagarin.com/sports/cfsend.htm

Edit: fat fingered the submit box too soon.

I think their ceiling is finishing 6-1,winning the west, and competing with but losing the CCG game. If I were to bet on them, I'd say they finish 5-2 and still make CCG or 4-3 with a slip up somewhere down the stretch.

 
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With 7 straight games to end the season, I think our regular season ceiling is 11 wins.

@ Indiana

I watched all of their game against tOSU. If they can hang with the Buckeyes for 3 quarters, then they're completely capable of beating us. They have weapons on offense and an improved defense. They were extremely effective at stopping Barrett and the offense on 3rd downs. We will need to get ourselves into manageable situations, especially with Westerkamp and Carter out. Although we haven't exactly shown ourselves to be an elite team yet this season, I have a hard time believing Indiana is going to hang with #2 Ohio State in the Shoe and then follow up that effort with a big win over #12 Nebraska.

vs Purdue

This is the game we need to hang 50. I don't care if we have injuries. I don't care if Purdue is better than they've been. We need to destroy someone. And they beat us last year ffs.

@ Wisconsin

Does anyone believe Ohio State is going to lose Wisconsin? No? Me neither. I think Wisconsin drops to 1-2 in the B1G and then trumps Iowa the following week. If that scenario plays out and we're able to exorcise the demons of Camp Randall, we will have essentially won the West.

@ Ohio State

Keep it close. Don't have a meltdown.

vs Minnesota

We should be able to handle the Gophers at home. They were the only team from the West that we beat in 2015. However the Ohio State game turns out, you have to worry about the team's psyche after the 2 week road trip from Hell. Don't wanna sleep on Minnesota.

vs Maryland

Who knows? I think we could blow them out, but I could also see them giving us fits. This would be the one to lose if you had to choose. The only thing that sucks is that it would be on Senior Day.

@ Iowa

Throw out the records. It's probably going to be 20 degrees and windy. It would feel good to stomp them, but hopefully, come Black Friday, this game is meaningless.

In short, best case scenario is 11-1 with a close loss @ Ohio State. Maybe a revenge game in Indianapolis or a chance at Harbaugh.

You'd like to see 10-2 with the second loss coming to either Indiana or Maryland. That way your Western Division record isn't harmed.

Realistically we're looking at 9-3 with losses coming to Ohio State, Wisconsin/Iowa, and an upset like Indiana or Maryland.

I'd be very disappointed with 4 losses.

 
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Sometimes our success depends on the other team's failure. Week to week it's not predictable like it was in the 80's and 90's. It appears that on any given week any team can lose and any team can win(almost). For 90%+ of today's football teams it appears that weekly execution has the structure of an amoeba.

 
1995 Redux said:
In the Foster Sarell recruiting thread there is a tangent about us not doing well against Indiana and Ohio State.

The second we lose a game this board is going to be unbearable.
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This post caught me as interesting because I've had our Huskers losing 4-5 games this year ( realistically it's looking 3-4 at worst). I've made a few comments that some seem to take as negative ( ... just enjoy the win sort of thing). I'm so thrilled to see us have strong fourth quarters and for TA to put together enough "good things" to keep the Big Red machine going. What I find fascinating how when someone like me tries to bring a bit of "balance" to all the hype people have going then I'm the "negative Nelly".

But we all know that when we lose a game how unbearable things will become on here. You see it at time on the live discussion threads when things aren't going our way. Yet, I'll be the guy after a loss who won't be down on the team or negative ... I'll be tickled pink if we only lose 2-3 games this year but more then anything I'd just love to see good fundamental football with TA playing well. Would just love to see TA put it together his Senior year ... if anything ... just for him. Love the guys heart.

I'd love to see us stay healthy and play smart ball and I think we can actually be in every game this year ... especially if TA can play like a Senior. More then anything ... a good finish to this season will really build momentum in recruiting and build the programs confidence and trust. I have felt all year before the season even started that our schedule down the stretch was going to be difficult to generate good solid closing speed on the recruiting trail. At least in my mind now I'm believer we at least have the chance to close well.

As with most posts ... I'm not trying to be right or win a debate ... just being real with what I feel presently.

Sure hope we bring the wood against Indiana ... they impressed me with their play against OSU.

Enjoying the thread guys.

 
It's not just here, it's everywhere. Earlier today I saw someone saying on facebook "For you fools who think we can blow Indiana out, think again. We'll be lucky to escape with a win."

Why? Because they hung with Ohio State for a while. I don't think Ohio State is thr world beater they are being made out to be but that's just me.

 
Ehh... I don't think it's that big of a deal. We haven't beat any really good teams yet. Everyone is happy we are 5-0. Some of you guys just want to be happy... happy...happy all the time. Sheesh.

 
1995 Redux said:
It's not just here, it's everywhere. Earlier today I saw someone saying on facebook "For you fools who think we can blow Indiana out, think again. We'll be lucky to escape with a win."

Why? Because they hung with Ohio State for a while. I don't think Ohio State is thr world beater they are being made out to be but that's just me.
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Indiana playing Ohio st is like Nebraska playing Kansas or Iowa st back in the day. They always get up for the game. Ohio st is the big dog and always has been in Indiana's mind

Doesn't mean I don't think Indiana is good, I think they are good, playing Nebraska is not like playing Ohio st in their mind. If that makes any sense

 
1995 Redux said:
So here we are. We made it 5-0 to the bye week. We are cracking the top ten because of our undefeated record and other teams ahead of us losing. Yet we have yet to earn respect. I'm not talking national respect, I mean respect amongst our own fanbase.

The people I've seen the most down on the Huskers have been our very own, and it's not just here. It's like just because we played down to NW (like we always do) or because we struggled against Illinois (100 or so injuries) we should be embarassed. I'm not, not even a little. For years we kept saying how Bo couldn't win the games that mattered and the games he should win. Well so far we are doing just that. Even our Oregon win has taken a hit because they have apparantely quit on the season.

It sucks to hear all this negativity and we are playing our strongest football in a long time. We are killing teams in the 4th quarter, we are finding ways to win when hurt, we are playing better fundamentally and with less mistakes and I couldn't be prouder. I don't know if we can beat an Ohio State, but I'm done assuming we can't until I see a reason. I know damn well we can win on a weekly basis, that's all that matters to me right now.

6-0 is on the line next. Lets go to Indiana and beat a team that is better than they have been in a long time, maybe that will earn us some respect.
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Lol ECHO ECHO ECHO.

+100000""

It's like our fans are mad that we don't have a "big" win yet.

 
NU is 5-0. Moving up the polls. It doesn't matter why. It just matters that we are. The coaches see things different than we do as fans. Reading has chalk talk has proven that. At least for me.

So look at the teams above us. Washington? Beat a great Stanford and Oregon...... Well they looked good at the beginning of the year. OSU? No real world beater wins. Houston? Just got schooled by Navy. A school with a completely different mentality on student athletes....... We can't judge NU by who we have beaten. My point is, a lot of the teams above us haven't slain the giants either. A&M, Clemson, Bama and Michigan have beaten ranked teams, who are still ranked and might not have another loss. The only difference for the other teams is they are completely wood shedding teams they should. NU is not. Do we pass the eyeball test? Honestly, IMO, no. But we are winning and wearing teams down and have some guys getting mentioned for some all conference and AA play........

I'll take it. One game at a time. For today, we are possibly in the top 10 for the first time in quite some time. We have some recognition as an undefeated team and improving every week IMO. The key to continued winning is the DL play. As noted on a another thread our LB play is off. Allowing 300+ OL to get to your 240 lb LB has this effect.

We will go as far and as long as our offensive play calling exploits what defense do. And we can stay healthy....and someone on the DL can step up and demand a double team....I said in another thread Indiana is our toughest game IMO. We look over them to revenge Purdue. They have an accurate QB, who given time (as we like to do) can throw the ball around. Whisky is Wisky and gets our respect. Thats a 3 game streak that should have us 9-0 at best and 8-1 at worst IMO.

 
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