Stealing Nebraska's identity

While I can understand many here who reject the notion of being like Iowa - who would want that - I simply cannot understand why Wisconsin is not an acceptable model.  They have identity.  They have consistency.  They have success.  Iowa - well, they've been a couple steps off Wisconsin, but their program appeals to me because of their consistency.  Don't look now but another Ferentz appears to have been able to figure out how to coach.  Once he takes over, that'll be another 20 year coach. Think of that -- 3 coaches over 60 years.  Iowa can continue to mold players that will come thru their program.  Iowa will get all the best tight-ends - that's who they are, but they may start to specialize in other areas as well.  Wisconsin, of course, has the great O-line, year in and year out.

They have clear identities.

What is Nebraska's identity?  That's our problem.  Nobody can answer that question, except Scott Frost someday.

It would feel better if another program stole our identity, because it just ticks me off that we just gave it away. 

Alright - rant over.

 
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grapevine7 said:
Iowa - well, they've been a couple steps off Wisconsin, but their program appeals to me because of their consistency.  Don't look now but another Ferentz appears to have been able to figure out how to coach.  Once he takes over, that'll be another 20 year coach. Think of that -- 3 coaches over 60 years.  Iowa can continue to mold players that will come thru their program.  Iowa will get all the best tight-ends - that's who they are, but they may start to specialize in other areas as well.
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Being as "consistent" as Iowa puts us no better than we have been the past 15-20 years. I said some positive things about them earlier - they have worse recruiting than us but do a decent job of developing talent, but let's not get carried away. The only thing they have that I'd prefer is their conference titles although IIRC the 1-2 they won were shared and there was no title game.

If you take out the Solich years (which had Ferentz's 2 worst seasons) and only include Nebraska and Iowa's teams from 2004 on, Iowa's winning percentage is 62.7%. Nebraska's is 62.2%.

 
In that time, Iowa's had 3 seasons with a <=50% winning percentage vs. 4 for Nebraska.
Iowa's had 6 seasons with 7 wins or less. Nebraska's had 4.
Iowa's had 10 seasons with 8 wins or less. Nebraska's had 6 (including this season).

Iowa's had 4 seasons with 9 wins or more. I don't want to count ours, but it's a lot more.

We've been more consistent than Iowa up until Riley's years.

Here are the Callahan years:

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Pelini:

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Riley:

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I think it’s sad that every discussion about our failings centers around the offense. 

Husker football started taking a nosedive the day one of the greatest coaches in college ball retired. 

Find us another Charlie McBride and pay him more than $5 ph plus all the food he can eat this time.

 
In regards to the consistent conversation. Yes Wisconsin has had multiple coaches the last 15 years- so has Nebraska. So what gives? 

1. Wisconsin has changed coaches but they hired guys to come in and execute the scheme that was already in place. So they still went after the same types of recruits- the kids currently in the program fit what the new coach wanted to do. So you didnt see many hiccups in the system regardless of coach because everything stayed the same. 

Compare that to Nebraska. 

1. We were an option/power running attack team. We fired Solich. Decided to change our entire identity to be a pro style offense. None of the kids fit that mold, so we had losing seasons as Callahan was bringing in the talent needed to be successful. We fired callahan. Hired Pelini. Decided to change our entire identity and be a shotgun/spread offense that never actually had an identity. None of callahans players really fit that mold- but we had enough defensive talent on the roster to carry us for 2-3 years until we hit on some offensive players that could score points. We fired Pelini. Hired Riley. Decided to change our entire identity and be a pro style offense again. None of the players we had fit that system- we had losing seasons after trying to convert the roster to fit that system- plus riley was a horrible coach. Fired Riley. Hire Frost. We are 0-6 and working on converting the talent on the roster to fit the scheme we want to run. Plus Riley just left the cupboard bare of overall team talent not just offense. Defense is bad. I mean you know you did a bad job evaluating talent and wasting scholarships when you gave a scholarship to a punter and a kicker. The punter has been replaced and the kicker probably is not far off from being replaced. 

Every coach we have hired has had a polar opposite offensive philosophy from his predecessor. So its hard to expect consistency when we switch offensive systems left and right. I think we finally have the right coach but he needs time to get the players he needs to execute. 

 
**Standard disclaimer** Our program is a dumpster fire and Wisconsin is a Top 25 team; I'd do terrible things to have traded our cumulative record for theirs over the past five seasons. 

But...

Wisconsin won a couple conference titles prior to Urban Meyer and James Franklin getting their programs rolling, but once those two guys got things off the ground it's been obvious that Wisconsin isn't even in their tier.

You can't compete seriously with Top 10 opponents with the recruiting they have. And the only time they've had a really good quarterback in recent years was when Russell Wilson transferred in. 

So it's funny to me how life-long Husker fans gush over their program, when in reality they're a program that will never win a national championship and won't win a conference title unless Urban or James Franklin get fired, go to the NFL, or take up a meth smoking habit.

 

 
Undone said:
So it's funny to me how life-long Husker fans gush over their program, when in reality they're a program that will never win a national championship and won't win a conference title unless Urban or James Franklin get fired, go to the NFL, or take up a meth smoking habit.
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Or have to step away for "medical reasons," which would have nothing to do with a bunch of impending issues with the program stemming from letting players do whatever they want. Although Urban seems pretty untouchable with his memory loss excuse.

 
Husker in WI said:
Or have to step away for "medical reasons," which would have nothing to do with a bunch of impending issues with the program stemming from letting players do whatever they want. Although Urban seems pretty untouchable with his memory loss excuse.
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Maybe Urban's program is committing NCAA violations and maybe they're not. 

But unless it's proven that they are and his program comes crashing down, one thing is for certain - he's going to be kicking the West's a** unless a team from the West hauls in Top 20 recruiting classes, fields a great quarterback (which we do have now), and churns out a good defense.

 
Undone said:
Maybe Urban's program is committing NCAA violations and maybe they're not. 

But unless it's proven that they are and his program comes crashing down, one thing is for certain - he's going to be kicking the West's a** unless a team from the West hauls in Top 20 recruiting classes, fields a great quarterback (which we do have now), and churns out a good defense.
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Right, I don't actually disagree with you. In their current state Wisconsin is not going to be consistently competitive against OSU/PSU - they can probably pull a B1G championship upset every once in a while but that's about it. We'll see if they get a QB and some more talent outside of the lines/backs.

 
ScottyIce said:
Okay...

You're right on a lot of accounts, but with Wisconsin, it just feels like this is always as good as they are going to be. It doesn't feel like they are ever going to take out the big boys. What is their recent record against tOSU, Michigan and Penn State since 2012?

1-9

Iowa is 3-5 in the same time frame. Nebraska is.... 4-5.

That's exactly where we were with Bo. Winning tons of games but never over the hump.

So is that where you wish we were? Back with Bo doing that?

Frost is going to do that and more. 
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Maybe Frost will do more than the Badgers, maybe he will not.  People get upset, but the formula that NU had in the 80s and 90s is no longer possible.  A state that not only has trouble with enough recruits in state, but even the states that adjoin it are not exactly talent rich. This will take an unbelievable feat.  Back then we had Prop 48, over 100 scholarships, fewer teams on TV, more kids wanting to walk-on because there were fewer elite programs in the spotlight, etc.  We are all longing for a winning team.  Heck, right now just A win would be nice. However rising to the level of Wisky is a larger undertaking than some appear to think and reaching "dominance" is another thing altogether. It really may never happen again.  

 
HuskerPowerVA said:
Maybe Frost will do more than the Badgers, maybe he will not.  People get upset, but the formula that NU had in the 80s and 90s is no longer possible.  A state that not only has trouble with enough recruits in state, but even the states that adjoin it are not exactly talent rich. This will take an unbelievable feat.  Back then we had Prop 48, over 100 scholarships, fewer teams on TV, more kids wanting to walk-on because there were fewer elite programs in the spotlight, etc.  We are all longing for a winning team.  Heck, right now just A win would be nice. However rising to the level of Wisky is a larger undertaking than some appear to think and reaching "dominance" is another thing altogether. It really may never happen again.  
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You keep telling me reasons we can’t do something. Frost keeps telling me reasons we can. GLASS FULL.

 
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