(09-12-2022 03:03 PM)Ohio Poly Wrote:  

(09-12-2022 02:44 PM)Claw Wrote:  IMHO - The Midwest isn't full of thousands of farm boys anymore. In the glory years they had a high percentage of young men that did hard labor all their lives. That high percentage of fit young men compensated for their lower overall population. That's not as much the case anymore. There are still a lot of farm kids, but they drive things and use power tools. Their in-state talent pool has shrunk due to advances in technology.

what is the football-potential difference between Oklahoma and Nebraska, would you say?

Texas, probably.

There are 29 million people in Texas, and Oklahoma is much more like Texas than Nebraska. Endless miles of nothing look nothing like endless miles of corn. :)

Oklahoma has 4 million people. Nebraska is 2 million. That's a tiny pool comparatively speaking especially when you consider Texas is just next door.

I really believe the cultural changes to farming are a big reason for the change in Nebraska's fortunes along with Iowa as well.

(09-12-2022 10:45 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(09-12-2022 10:37 AM)BeatWestern! Wrote:  

(09-12-2022 10:25 AM)HeartOfDixie Wrote:  

(09-12-2022 10:19 AM)chess Wrote:  

(09-12-2022 10:10 AM)HeartOfDixie Wrote:  Nebraska is a complete rebuilding job at this point.

They don't so much need a coach as a CEO to lay the groundwork all over again.

I am not sure this is the case. Nebraska can't finish games. A coach that may be better at completing the game (and recruiting and...) may be all that is needed.

Something prevented Nebraska from overcoming its evolution. Frost may be that challenge.

I'd argue that inability is a symptom of the core issue.

The program needs an overhaul. It needs somebody to come in and lay the proverbial groundwork. They have signs of success from time-to-time but they aren't consistent.

They need somebody who can come in, build a vision with realistic goals, build a team of coaches, build a pipeline, and then get down to Xs and Os.

IMHO, for Nebraska to be successful, they need to be able to recruit in Texas and to a lesser extent, California. USC and UCLA joining the Big Ten should help the latter.

According to Dennis Dodd, Matt Campbell is interested in the Nebraska job. And if Mark Stoops is interested, too, either coach would be a home-run hire for Nebraska.

That's a common perception, but it's not really the core issue with Nebraska. The school's recruiting has generally been fine - in fact, their main problem over the past several years is that their on-the-field performance has not been performing up to the level of what you'd expect with their recruiting. Wisconsin, Iowa and frankly Northwestern have been dominating Nebraska in the Big Ten West despite Nebraska consistently having better recruiting classes than all of them.

Nebraska's talent composite is in the 20s. That's good enough to win the ****** Big 10 West, but isn't enough to accomplish much more than that. Let alone get back to the Devaney/Osborne days.

(09-12-2022 03:28 PM)Poster Wrote:  

(09-12-2022 10:45 AM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  

(09-12-2022 10:37 AM)BeatWestern! Wrote:  

(09-12-2022 10:25 AM)HeartOfDixie Wrote:  

(09-12-2022 10:19 AM)chess Wrote:  I am not sure this is the case. Nebraska can't finish games. A coach that may be better at completing the game (and recruiting and...) may be all that is needed.

Something prevented Nebraska from overcoming its evolution. Frost may be that challenge.

I'd argue that inability is a symptom of the core issue.

The program needs an overhaul. It needs somebody to come in and lay the proverbial groundwork. They have signs of success from time-to-time but they aren't consistent.

They need somebody who can come in, build a vision with realistic goals, build a team of coaches, build a pipeline, and then get down to Xs and Os.

IMHO, for Nebraska to be successful, they need to be able to recruit in Texas and to a lesser extent, California. USC and UCLA joining the Big Ten should help the latter.

According to Dennis Dodd, Matt Campbell is interested in the Nebraska job. And if Mark Stoops is interested, too, either coach would be a home-run hire for Nebraska.

That's a common perception, but it's not really the core issue with Nebraska. The school's recruiting has generally been fine - in fact, their main problem over the past several years is that their on-the-field performance has not been performing up to the level of what you'd expect with their recruiting. Wisconsin, Iowa and frankly Northwestern have been dominating Nebraska in the Big Ten West despite Nebraska consistently having better recruiting classes than all of them.

Nebraska's talent composite is in the 20s. That's good enough to win the ****** Big 10 West, but isn't enough to accomplish much more than that. Let alone get back to the Devaney/Osborne days.

Keep in mind that's with routinely getting humiliated during spotlight games, not winning any of their P5 OOC contests, not going bowling in five years, and not being in a NY6 since 2002. Imagine what a certain level of success would look like.

(09-12-2022 03:03 PM)Ohio Poly Wrote:  

(09-12-2022 02:44 PM)Claw Wrote:  IMHO - The Midwest isn't full of thousands of farm boys anymore. In the glory years they had a high percentage of young men that did hard labor all their lives. That high percentage of fit young men compensated for their lower overall population. That's not as much the case anymore. There are still a lot of farm kids, but they drive things and use power tools. Their in-state talent pool has shrunk due to advances in technology.

what is the football-potential difference between Oklahoma and Nebraska, would you say?

Oklahoma has deep connections in the DFW metroplex and far superior in-state talent. Their ceiling and floor is much higher than NU's.

https://omaha.com/sports/huskers/shatel/...b4f7b.html

Quote:“Naturally, it’s sad to see things working out for Scott like they did,” Osborne said.

“He was a remarkably good coach, proved that at Oregon and again at UCF. Went through some difficult things, probably didn’t inherit a lot of great talent, the Covid year, and last year he was on the verge of winning five or six more games.

“Some of it has to do with coaching and some of it is just the bounce of the football. He didn’t have a lot of good bounces. I like him very much personally, very sorry to see it work out like it did.

https://omaha.com/sports/huskers/footbal...6b65a.html

Interesting retrospective.

(09-12-2022 03:04 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  

(09-11-2022 04:28 PM)Section 200 Wrote:  

(09-11-2022 03:38 PM)Jugnaut Wrote:  He was destined to be fired the moment he took the Nebraska job. No one can win there. Times have changed. He was a perfect fit for UCF where he could recruit the talent he needed easily. I pity whoever takes the Nebraska job next. Sky-high expectations with no realistic way to meet them. The story keeps repeating. At least the next guy will be rich too when he gets fired in a few years

Yes! Nebraska had great success with a strong running attacked helped by aggressive use of players that other schools would not admit. Times changed and Nebraska is on the outside. Amazing that the Big 10 took them. It will be a challenge to find a good coach.

Nebraska has as many titles in the past 50 years as the entire B1G. They have huge fan support. They bring big ratings, even when they're losing like right now. And they were AAU at the time they were admitted. They're currently a top 5 overall program in the B1G even with all the recent ineptitude on the field. If the B1G didn't want them, now or in the future, Sankey would accept them faster than you could say "Tom Osborne".

SEC wouldn’t have taken Nebraska at any time. Big 10 would not take Nebraska today. They are a has been and never will be again. Why would elite recruits choose Nebraska?

Why would elite recruits choose Alabama or Clemson? It has a lot to do with who the coach is.

(09-12-2022 08:06 PM)Section 200 Wrote:  

(09-12-2022 03:04 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  

(09-11-2022 04:28 PM)Section 200 Wrote:  

(09-11-2022 03:38 PM)Jugnaut Wrote:  He was destined to be fired the moment he took the Nebraska job. No one can win there. Times have changed. He was a perfect fit for UCF where he could recruit the talent he needed easily. I pity whoever takes the Nebraska job next. Sky-high expectations with no realistic way to meet them. The story keeps repeating. At least the next guy will be rich too when he gets fired in a few years

Yes! Nebraska had great success with a strong running attacked helped by aggressive use of players that other schools would not admit. Times changed and Nebraska is on the outside. Amazing that the Big 10 took them. It will be a challenge to find a good coach.

Nebraska has as many titles in the past 50 years as the entire B1G. They have huge fan support. They bring big ratings, even when they're losing like right now. And they were AAU at the time they were admitted. They're currently a top 5 overall program in the B1G even with all the recent ineptitude on the field. If the B1G didn't want them, now or in the future, Sankey would accept them faster than you could say "Tom Osborne".

SEC wouldn’t have taken Nebraska at any time. Big 10 would not take Nebraska today. They are a has been and never will be again. Why would elite recruits choose Nebraska?

"...and never will be again."

Brave words.

No one knows the future.

After all, who would have said a few years back that Cin would succeed like they did?

(09-12-2022 02:32 PM)Mav Wrote:  This is why I was against the Frost hiring when it happened. Nebraska needs to turn the page on the 90s. Young Nebraskans don't care about the team and players don't want to spend 5 years having bluehairs comparing them to guys that played when they weren't even born yet. It's possible to respect tradition without being mired in it, but Nebraskans as a people are very resistant to any sort of change, especially if something worked for them before.

I think this is a lot of programs, though. And I don't think there's a way to avoid that, because it comes from all over the organization/institution. It doesn't help that in the college game, if you have people like this, and they give lots of money, they get a say in the decisions, and their mics aren't cut off (or they aren't denied access to talent or coaches). To this extent, at Nebraska, there isn't much of a learning curve, and this specific population/culture of fans/supporters/stakeholders are a big reason for that. But, again, that's true at a lot of places.

I wonder if this is something, though grim as it is, that changes once Tom Osborne isn't with us any longer. Or, that he isn't accessible to the media anymore. In some ways, his stature and shadow over Nebraska football; such influence doesn't stop until he does. And it's nothing against Osborne; he's not responsible for what's happening at Nebraska (anymore, at least, in an administrative role). But, it's the idea of him and his years that enables these cultist groups to keep programs too rooted to certain times. These moments when the loss of a voice or presence becomes a big pivot point.

(09-12-2022 07:35 PM)Skyhawk Wrote:  https://omaha.com/sports/huskers/shatel/...b4f7b.html

Quote:“Naturally, it’s sad to see things working out for Scott like they did,” Osborne said.

“He was a remarkably good coach, proved that at Oregon and again at UCF. Went through some difficult things, probably didn’t inherit a lot of great talent, the Covid year, and last year he was on the verge of winning five or six more games.

“Some of it has to do with coaching and some of it is just the bounce of the football. He didn’t have a lot of good bounces. I like him very much personally, very sorry to see it work out like it did.

"Didn't inherit a lot of talent?" "Covid year?" The covid year made it so the defense could be carried by a Mike Riley-recruited, NFL-bound super senior last year. I'll admit the bad luck thing, but Tom's talking like one of those fans that gets starry-eyed and thinks of Frost as the 90s QB rather than the 2022 coach.

(09-12-2022 03:21 PM)Claw Wrote:  

(09-12-2022 03:03 PM)Ohio Poly Wrote:  

(09-12-2022 02:44 PM)Claw Wrote:  IMHO - The Midwest isn't full of thousands of farm boys anymore. In the glory years they had a high percentage of young men that did hard labor all their lives. That high percentage of fit young men compensated for their lower overall population. That's not as much the case anymore. There are still a lot of farm kids, but they drive things and use power tools. Their in-state talent pool has shrunk due to advances in technology.

what is the football-potential difference between Oklahoma and Nebraska, would you say?

Texas, probably.

There are 29 million people in Texas, and Oklahoma is much more like Texas than Nebraska. Endless miles of nothing look nothing like endless miles of corn. :)

Oklahoma has 4 million people. Nebraska is 2 million. That's a tiny pool comparatively speaking especially when you consider Texas is just next door.

I really believe the cultural changes to farming are a big reason for the change in Nebraska's fortunes along with Iowa as well.

This article from 1996 foresaw the end to powerhouse that was Nebraska football. Its not the farm boys from Nebraska that the program is lacking, its out of state Prop 48 kids-- many of highly questionable character (Lawrence Phillips, Christian Peter, etc.

https://vault.si.com/vault/1996/01/15/he...e-are-over

I really don't get the whole "Nobody can win in Nebraska, why would kids go the Nebraska?" thing. Will Nebraska ever be the dominant force it was 30 years ago? Not likely, for various reasons that have been listed on this thread. But there's absolutely no reason they can't be an Iowa type of program, winning 8 or 9 games a year and occasionally going to Big Ten title games.

(09-13-2022 08:48 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  

(09-12-2022 03:21 PM)Claw Wrote:  

(09-12-2022 03:03 PM)Ohio Poly Wrote:  

(09-12-2022 02:44 PM)Claw Wrote:  IMHO - The Midwest isn't full of thousands of farm boys anymore. In the glory years they had a high percentage of young men that did hard labor all their lives. That high percentage of fit young men compensated for their lower overall population. That's not as much the case anymore. There are still a lot of farm kids, but they drive things and use power tools. Their in-state talent pool has shrunk due to advances in technology.

what is the football-potential difference between Oklahoma and Nebraska, would you say?

Texas, probably.

There are 29 million people in Texas, and Oklahoma is much more like Texas than Nebraska. Endless miles of nothing look nothing like endless miles of corn. :)

Oklahoma has 4 million people. Nebraska is 2 million. That's a tiny pool comparatively speaking especially when you consider Texas is just next door.

I really believe the cultural changes to farming are a big reason for the change in Nebraska's fortunes along with Iowa as well.

This article from 1996 foresaw the end to powerhouse that was Nebraska football. Its not the farm boys from Nebraska that the program is lacking, its out of state Prop 48 kids-- many of highly questionable character (Lawrence Phillips, Christian Peter, etc.

https://vault.si.com/vault/1996/01/15/he...e-are-over

Yep. But acknowledging this would be to accept something no Huskers fan wants to believe. They still have expectations that are now completely unrealistic, and Tom Osborne isn't about to diminish his own legacy by owning up to the extent to which he was a beneficiary of the old rules.

(09-13-2022 04:21 AM)The Cutter of Bish Wrote:  

(09-12-2022 02:32 PM)Mav Wrote:  This is why I was against the Frost hiring when it happened. Nebraska needs to turn the page on the 90s. Young Nebraskans don't care about the team and players don't want to spend 5 years having bluehairs comparing them to guys that played when they weren't even born yet. It's possible to respect tradition without being mired in it, but Nebraskans as a people are very resistant to any sort of change, especially if something worked for them before.

I think this is a lot of programs, though. And I don't think there's a way to avoid that, because it comes from all over the organization/institution. It doesn't help that in the college game, if you have people like this, and they give lots of money, they get a say in the decisions, and their mics aren't cut off (or they aren't denied access to talent or coaches). To this extent, at Nebraska, there isn't much of a learning curve, and this specific population/culture of fans/supporters/stakeholders are a big reason for that. But, again, that's true at a lot of places.

I wonder if this is something, though grim as it is, that changes once Tom Osborne isn't with us any longer. Or, that he isn't accessible to the media anymore. In some ways, his stature and shadow over Nebraska football; such influence doesn't stop until he does. And it's nothing against Osborne; he's not responsible for what's happening at Nebraska (anymore, at least, in an administrative role). But, it's the idea of him and his years that enables these cultist groups to keep programs too rooted to certain times. These moments when the loss of a voice or presence becomes a big pivot point.

To be fair, though, when Scott Frost was hired, he just wasn't some type of nostalgic alumni preference. Frost was legitimately looked at as the very best and hottest coach on the entire market that schools at the level of Florida and pretty much anyone else with a coaching opening would have run through fire to hire at the time. The fact that he had a personal connection to Nebraska was more like the "stars aligning" in a certain way as opposed to a "We need a Nebraska man here" forced hiring of a glory days alum for the sake of hiring of a glory days alum.

That's actually what would be more worrisome to me if I were a Nebraska fan: there are few hires on paper that, at the time, looked about as much of a slam dunk as Scott Frost being hired by Nebraska. I'm not sure what more could be asked for in a coaching hire - the best perceived coach on the market that's also an alum - and not only did it not work, but they went even further backwards. I'm still at a loss as to why it didn't work (and I don't want to hear about Frost being able to recruit the State of Florida at UCF as, once again, Nebraska definitely had the recruiting talent to compete with Wisconsin and Iowa and they still came up short in so many places).

(09-13-2022 09:15 AM)Just Joe Wrote:  I really don't get the whole "Nobody can win in Nebraska, why would kids go the Nebraska?" thing. Will Nebraska ever be the dominant force it was 30 years ago? Not likely, for various reasons that have been listed on this thread. But there's absolutely no reason they can't be an Iowa type of program, winning 8 or 9 games a year and occasionally going to Big Ten title games.

I think the issue is, though, that stakeholders within Nebraska won't accept that type of success. We on the outside think this is fine, but, who are we? Even at a place like Iowa, there are people who would be fine with moving on from Ferentz...even if he's probably their greatest coach, and has definitely made Iowa into a consistent competitor within the conference or division.

Is it reasonable to want to be like Alabama, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Michigan, Clemson, USC, etc., really? Even if you are those guys? If it is, then why can't Nebraska also have that mindset?

(09-13-2022 09:18 AM)ken d Wrote:  

(09-13-2022 08:48 AM)CliftonAve Wrote:  

(09-12-2022 03:21 PM)Claw Wrote:  

(09-12-2022 03:03 PM)Ohio Poly Wrote:  

(09-12-2022 02:44 PM)Claw Wrote:  IMHO - The Midwest isn't full of thousands of farm boys anymore. In the glory years they had a high percentage of young men that did hard labor all their lives. That high percentage of fit young men compensated for their lower overall population. That's not as much the case anymore. There are still a lot of farm kids, but they drive things and use power tools. Their in-state talent pool has shrunk due to advances in technology.

what is the football-potential difference between Oklahoma and Nebraska, would you say?

Texas, probably.

There are 29 million people in Texas, and Oklahoma is much more like Texas than Nebraska. Endless miles of nothing look nothing like endless miles of corn. :)

Oklahoma has 4 million people. Nebraska is 2 million. That's a tiny pool comparatively speaking especially when you consider Texas is just next door.

I really believe the cultural changes to farming are a big reason for the change in Nebraska's fortunes along with Iowa as well.

This article from 1996 foresaw the end to powerhouse that was Nebraska football. Its not the farm boys from Nebraska that the program is lacking, its out of state Prop 48 kids-- many of highly questionable character (Lawrence Phillips, Christian Peter, etc.

https://vault.si.com/vault/1996/01/15/he...e-are-over

Yep. But acknowledging this would be to accept something no Huskers fan wants to believe. They still have expectations that are now completely unrealistic, and Tom Osborne isn't about to diminish his own legacy by owning up to the extent to which he was a beneficiary of the old rules.

If Nebraska fans are believing that they should be winning multiple national championships per decade, then I'd agree that unrealistic.

That being said, a program that has sold out every football game for the past 60 years straight with their type of history and recruiting classes shouldn't be going 5 straight years (going on 6) of not even contending for bowl eligibility. It would be one thing if Nebraska fans were still in the mode of when they fired Bo Pellini with a 9-win team - those were the days of unrealistic expectations. I don't think it would be the same now - mere competence and bowl eligibility isn't too much to ask for considering Nebraska's background.

(09-13-2022 09:54 AM)The Cutter of Bish Wrote:  

(09-13-2022 09:15 AM)Just Joe Wrote:  I really don't get the whole "Nobody can win in Nebraska, why would kids go the Nebraska?" thing. Will Nebraska ever be the dominant force it was 30 years ago? Not likely, for various reasons that have been listed on this thread. But there's absolutely no reason they can't be an Iowa type of program, winning 8 or 9 games a year and occasionally going to Big Ten title games.

I think the issue is, though, that stakeholders within Nebraska won't accept that type of success. We on the outside think this is fine, but, who are we? Even at a place like Iowa, there are people who would be fine with moving on from Ferentz...even if he's probably their greatest coach, and has definitely made Iowa into a consistent competitor within the conference or division.

Is it reasonable to want to be like Alabama, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Michigan, Clemson, USC, etc., really? Even if you are those guys? If it is, then why can't Nebraska also have that mindset?

And can we pump the brakes on how good Iowa has been a little. The Hawkeyes have three divisional titles in the past 20 years and a lot of 8-5 and 7-6 type seasons with a 10-3 here or there in between playing in the B10 West and formerly Legends. Once the conference goes to selecting the top two teams (ie OSU, Michigan, PSU) we will probably see even less of Iowa in the CCG.

(09-13-2022 09:54 AM)The Cutter of Bish Wrote:  

(09-13-2022 09:15 AM)Just Joe Wrote:  I really don't get the whole "Nobody can win in Nebraska, why would kids go the Nebraska?" thing. Will Nebraska ever be the dominant force it was 30 years ago? Not likely, for various reasons that have been listed on this thread. But there's absolutely no reason they can't be an Iowa type of program, winning 8 or 9 games a year and occasionally going to Big Ten title games.

I think the issue is, though, that stakeholders within Nebraska won't accept that type of success. We on the outside think this is fine, but, who are we? Even at a place like Iowa, there are people who would be fine with moving on from Ferentz...even if he's probably their greatest coach, and has definitely made Iowa into a consistent competitor within the conference or division.

Is it reasonable to want to be like Alabama, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Michigan, Clemson, USC, etc., really? Even if you are those guys? If it is, then why can't Nebraska also have that mindset?

This is a good point.

Ultimately, "fan" is the root of the word "fanatic" - we are ALL irrational about our favorite teams. It's inherently irrational that we spend so much time and energy watching and thinking about games played by people that, in almost all cases, we have zero personal relationship with.

This isn't a Nebraska thing. This isn't even a college sports thing. It's within every single sports fan - college or pro - out there.

Think about talking to a Cubs fan and Red Sox fan in 2003 when both went through two of the most iconic devastating losses - the Steve Barman Game and Aaron Boone walk-off homer, respectively - in the history of sports. If you asked them, "We'll get you one World Series championship, but in exchange, you need to give the manager that you took you there a lifetime contract," every single Cubs and Red Sox fan would have said, "YES! SIGN ME UP NOW!"

What actually happened? Terry Francona was fired by the Red Sox within 3 years after winning his second World Series for the Red Sox. Joe Maddon was similarly fired by the Cubs within 3 years of winning the World Series for the Cubs. These were the managers that broke the worst championship drought curses in sports history and even THEY were gone in a time less than a full 4-year college sports playing career.

Simply put: we're all nuts. The accomplishments that make us happy in year 1 before winning a championship become completely unacceptable in year 3 *after* winning a championship. Nebraska is not unique in this regard. I have unreasonable expectations for the Chicago Bears because my earliest sports fan memories happen to be from 1985, which of course was the single best time in history to be a Chicago Bears fan. This has made me curse the outcome of every Bears season since that time. It's the same thing with me and the Bulls because my entire childhood coincided with the Michael Jordan Era - I still do not accept that the franchise is not the same as they were in the 1990s even though every rational bone in my body says that I should just accept it.

This will happen to Alabama fans at some point (I think?) after Nick Saban retires and Clemson fans after Dabo retires or goes somewhere else and every other team that feels impenetrable today. They will look back at 2022 and say, "How are we not at that level anymore?" It would have been ludicrous to think that Florida, Florida State and Miami would ever not be super mega-powers forever with their brand names and incredible recruiting advantages not too long ago... yet here we are.

The greatest lie that we all tell ourselves as sports fans is thinking that another team's fans (whoever they might be) are irrational and crazy. That's not true. We are ALL irrational and crazy. Every once in awhile, our favorite teams perform well enough to make us think that we're not irrational and crazy and that keeps us hooked.

(09-12-2022 08:06 PM)Section 200 Wrote:  

(09-12-2022 03:04 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote:  

(09-11-2022 04:28 PM)Section 200 Wrote:  

(09-11-2022 03:38 PM)Jugnaut Wrote:  He was destined to be fired the moment he took the Nebraska job. No one can win there. Times have changed. He was a perfect fit for UCF where he could recruit the talent he needed easily. I pity whoever takes the Nebraska job next. Sky-high expectations with no realistic way to meet them. The story keeps repeating. At least the next guy will be rich too when he gets fired in a few years

Yes! Nebraska had great success with a strong running attacked helped by aggressive use of players that other schools would not admit. Times changed and Nebraska is on the outside. Amazing that the Big 10 took them. It will be a challenge to find a good coach.

Nebraska has as many titles in the past 50 years as the entire B1G. They have huge fan support. They bring big ratings, even when they're losing like right now. And they were AAU at the time they were admitted. They're currently a top 5 overall program in the B1G even with all the recent ineptitude on the field. If the B1G didn't want them, now or in the future, Sankey would accept them faster than you could say "Tom Osborne".

SEC wouldn’t have taken Nebraska at any time. Big 10 would not take Nebraska today. They are a has been and never will be again. Why would elite recruits choose Nebraska?

The SEC would take Nebraska in a heartbeat now that geography doesn't matter for conferences. I'm not sure if the SEC would have taken Nebraska just six months ago, before the USCLA moves created a precedent to completely abandon geography.

Nebraska used to have the best walk-on program in the country. The also had the best strength and conditioning program in the country. There was a 60 Minutes story about on their weightlifting program. Throughout the 70s, 80s and 90s, NU was a destination program for kids around the country. Unfortunately for them, they have lost the advantages that made them one of the best programs in the country.

A couple of things. Most of Nebraska's all-Americans are from .....? Nebraska. They have a few from Texas, California, and NJ. But, they also have some from Iowa and other midwest states. Nebraska has a lot of pluses. The fan base is among the best in the country. Its a good school with nice facilities. It has a history of success.

I think joining the Big 10 is major reason why NU (and Penn State) has fallen off the map. These schools went from being destination, marque schools, to being Minnesota or Illinois. The Big 10 used to be Michigan, Ohio State and a bunch of relative doormats. The Big 8 was Nebraska, OU and a bunch of doormats. As conferences expanded, these former power schools either got lumped with the doormats and/or if they were already in the conference, they fell back. Expansion has not been good for USC, Florida, Washington, Miami, Florida State, Texas, Michigan, Penn State, Nebraska, etc from an on-field performance aspect. However, the opposite is true for the former doormat schools in the power conferences, who now have access to more and more money, which allows them to compete with the other doormats, thereby creating a conference full of mediocre teams. A school like Nebraska lost its recruiting advantage over a school like Iowa. You don't see guys like Trev Alberts leaving Iowa to go to Nebraska. Maybe he goes to Ohio State or Alabama, but not Nebraska. As a result, these former power schools have become just another school in a big group of schools. They no longer are special and they never will be again. Yes, they can have nice runs. But does anyone think a Nebraska or a FSU is going to spend 20 years in the top 5-10 in this climate. So far, the only exceptions are probably Ohio State and Alabama, who have remained top dog or increased their profile. So, as Iowa State, Wisconsin, Oregon, etc have become more competitive, the domination of their competition by many former bluebloods has dropped (some significantly).

In their current situation, I think schools like Nebraska can be successful. But, success isn't going to be contending for national championships year in and year out. Success will be a windows of 2-3 years where they are competing for a playoff bid, with their other seasons hanging in the 10-30 range in the polls. I think the days of 10-12 schools being projected to be in the hunt for a national championship before the season are gone. We soon will be down to 2-3 with a legitimate chance and others being happy to make the playoff.