(10-15-2018 03:40 PM)arkstfan Wrote: The problem for Nebraska is they don't have a safe harbor recruiting base where they can get stud players simply by being the local P5.
Nebraska has built some truly great teams by being able to go into a kid's house and say, "We are from Nebraska, and we might want to offer you after we've looked a few more guys."
For Nebraska to return to being Nebraska they have to produce results. Kids knew they could go to Nebraska and the coaches would help develop them into NFL prospects and along the way they'd win a bunch of games, collect some rings, and maybe win a national title.
The 'Huskers have to re-establish that to be the Nebraska I grew up with.
They are going to have to adopt some of K-State's strategy and recruit JUCO players heavily.
They are in a better spot than K-State to get in-state talent, such as it is. But, they won't be competing for national championships or much of anything based purely on the in-state talent.
That's a prefect example. If recruits will go to Manhattan Kansas, they'll go to Lincoln Nebraska.
If the Huskers ever want to get back to winning or at least being competitive, they need to identify players they can ACTUALLY get and try and mold a system around those types of players.
Get some of those big ol' Dakota farm boys to play the line, recruit some JUCO transfers for some skilled positions, and try and fill in the blanks with other area recruits.
I think if they were at least competitive, the fans would still back them 100%.
Thing is Nebraska doesn't have to do as much as many programs to get a national spotlight. The draw a TV audience if they are plausibly relevant. If they can just start not sucking they will get the national broadcast windows that can restart the national recruiting.
(10-15-2018 03:40 PM)arkstfan Wrote: The problem for Nebraska is they don't have a safe harbor recruiting base where they can get stud players simply by being the local P5.
Nebraska has built some truly great teams by being able to go into a kid's house and say, "We are from Nebraska, and we might want to offer you after we've looked a few more guys."
For Nebraska to return to being Nebraska they have to produce results. Kids knew they could go to Nebraska and the coaches would help develop them into NFL prospects and along the way they'd win a bunch of games, collect some rings, and maybe win a national title.
The 'Huskers have to re-establish that to be the Nebraska I grew up with.
They are going to have to adopt some of K-State's strategy and recruit JUCO players heavily.
They are in a better spot than K-State to get in-state talent, such as it is. But, they won't be competing for national championships or much of anything based purely on the in-state talent.
That's a prefect example. If recruits will go to Manhattan Kansas, they'll go to Lincoln Nebraska.
If the Huskers ever want to get back to winning or at least being competitive, they need to identify players they can ACTUALLY get and try and mold a system around those types of players.
Get some of those big ol' Dakota farm boys to play the line, recruit some JUCO transfers for some skilled positions, and try and fill in the blanks with other area recruits.
I think if they were at least competitive, the fans would still back them 100%.
Thing is Nebraska doesn't have to do as much as many programs to get a national spotlight. The draw a TV audience if they are plausibly relevant. If they can just start not sucking they will get the national broadcast windows that can restart the national recruiting.
And despite their awful start, they opened as a 6 point favorite this week. Pretty significant line movement since then, though. Down to -3.5 points.
(10-15-2018 03:40 PM)arkstfan Wrote: The problem for Nebraska is they don't have a safe harbor recruiting base where they can get stud players simply by being the local P5.
Nebraska has built some truly great teams by being able to go into a kid's house and say, "We are from Nebraska, and we might want to offer you after we've looked a few more guys."
For Nebraska to return to being Nebraska they have to produce results. Kids knew they could go to Nebraska and the coaches would help develop them into NFL prospects and along the way they'd win a bunch of games, collect some rings, and maybe win a national title.
The 'Huskers have to re-establish that to be the Nebraska I grew up with.
They are going to have to adopt some of K-State's strategy and recruit JUCO players heavily.
They are in a better spot than K-State to get in-state talent, such as it is. But, they won't be competing for national championships or much of anything based purely on the in-state talent.
That's a prefect example. If recruits will go to Manhattan Kansas, they'll go to Lincoln Nebraska.
If the Huskers ever want to get back to winning or at least being competitive, they need to identify players they can ACTUALLY get and try and mold a system around those types of players.
Get some of those big ol' Dakota farm boys to play the line, recruit some JUCO transfers for some skilled positions, and try and fill in the blanks with other area recruits.
I think if they were at least competitive, the fans would still back them 100%.
Thing is Nebraska doesn't have to do as much as many programs to get a national spotlight. The draw a TV audience if they are plausibly relevant. If they can just start not sucking they will get the national broadcast windows that can restart the national recruiting.
And despite their awful start, they opened as a 6 point favorite this week. Pretty significant line movement since then, though. Down to -3.5 points.
It's a tough one to call. The Gophers actually played well against the Buckeyes. And nobody has a clue as to when the Huskers will remember how to finish a game.
(10-15-2018 09:10 AM)BadgerMJ Wrote: Yes, as of right now it it a dumpster fire, but as been said, sometimes you need to tear the whole thing down in order to rebuild with a solid foundation. That building takes time, some longer than others.
Give Frost a chance to recruit and get a couple classes of HIS guys in, they'll be OK.
I could accept this if I saw a shred of change in demographics, or for that matter any increase of love for football with the next generation. Neither of those things are there.
Nebraska had a tremendous walk on program in an era when every male with any aggressiveness at all played football. Football playing males are now in the minority of all males. So even for a small state the selection pool was much larger 40 years ago than it is today. Culturally speaking football just isn't as popular among generations below X'ers.
Nebraska also started their slide when the South finally ended segregation. In the 70's Nebraska was huge. About that time the South finally started integrating but that trend started with tokenism but was fully underway by the early 80's. Herschel and Bo marked the beginning of Southern domination of the sport. Schools like Nebraska and Oklahoma and some of the Big 10 power houses started to decline.
In the WWII era production was in the North and growth was in the North. In the 60's and 70's the only place African Americans could go to be stars was in the Midwest and North. So the Big 8 and Big 10 excelled. None of that is happening anymore. In fact the HBC schools thrived under Jim Crow. Not anymore.
So Badger there are many factors that indicate that Nebraska isn't coming back.
1. Extremely small state.
2. Decline in the percentage of local football playing males.
3. Flat to declining job opportunities.
4. Cultural shifts to full integration in the South which has depopulated their recruiting base.
5. A shift in interests by their youth away from football.
6. Economic growth in other regions of the country. Families flow to money.
7. Nothing exciting to the youth to do or see in Nebraska.
8. Not having won significantly at anything in the lifetime of today's recruits.
9. Loss of Southwestern recruiting roots.
When I see any of those trends shift back to Nebraska's favor then I'll reconsider. Right now Nebraska is a has been brand that nobody's buying. Like Sears today, they are a bankrupted brand where sports are concerned.
Ohio is a big state that still loves football. Texas is a massive state that still loves football. Either of those could suffer a protracted decline and return. Nebraska can't. And to compound their problem if Frost fails how many good young coaches will want to head to a program that since Solich has become a coach killer.
And I'm not being a hater. I'm just treating this subject like it was a used car and I'm the buyer. I've checked out the body integrity, the engine, the drivetrain, and the frame and I'm passing.
1. Its a small state, but Nebraska fans dominate a large area beyond Nebraska.
3.&6. Nebraska is pretty healthy economically.
2.&5. apply to everyone.
4. Perhaps the best college football team of all time was Nebraska 95. That was long past integration.
They've lost the SW recruiting base. But they could go back to the national recruiting they did before. There is room to raid California. They might get some Florida kids. And, of course, they can work the midwest for their linemen. The large fan base gives them an opportunity to come back. It creates excitement when the recruits visit.
So I don't think its time to view them as the next Minnesota. That's possible, but then they aren't competing with the pros.
It's tough to recruit nationally when you aren't winning.
And it's getting harder and harder to get "air" time. The Texas v. Oklahoma game was not shown in my market, instead we got Pitt v. Syracuse. If you can't win, you can't get on TV, if you can't get on TV recruiting nationally is not easy to do.
There are fewer and fewer "national" programs and what we do have are schools that ESPN has chosen.
Watching Clemson busing players around the stadium so they can run down the hill and touch Howard's rock has helped create their shtick, just like watching Virginia Tech players enter to Enter Sandman.
The successors have been chosen......Texas will survive because of their relationship with the "mouse", Clemson, Virginia Tech, The Turnover Chain, Alabama, A&M, waiting on Tennessee, Notre Dame (ESPN has at least 5 games a year).
Just look who is out: Southern Cal, Oklahoma, Nebraska.....all non-ESPN teams.
Bottom line....Nebraska has a long term problem.
I have some profound doubts about the Turnover Chain, and Enter Sandman didn't help the Hokies. Cool traditions are great, like the Eagle flying around Jordan-Hare, but if you QB consistently turns the ball over, or you just plain stink, you could split ears with decibels at the entry to a game and it won't make a hill of beans worth of difference. Winning is what counts. Howard's rock didn't save Clemson from wandering in the wilderness for a couple of decades, winning did.
As an old line football fan I say traditions are fine for building memories, but winning and doing it consistently is the only formula for success. The Mouse can hype the hype, but they don't block and tackle. So as the Trump folks say, "Fake News!" Championships are won on the fields, not in the commercials.
Air time is expensive and is measured in fractions of seconds. A network doesn't spend 6+ minutes on a team's entrance unless they are trying to develop new heroes of he gridiron.
ESPN is working hard and spending time and money to develop the ACC as an alternate/additional brand to the SEC. If you sell enough sizzle, the customer will think the steak tastes just fine.
Nebraska isn't getting that kind of love from FOX, which will be necessary to pull that program up so they can be meaningful again.
I can see that ESPN's actions would concern any SEC rooter, hence the put down.
(10-15-2018 04:27 PM)JRsec Wrote: ...The Mouse can hype the hype, but they don't block and tackle... Championships are won on the fields, not in the commercials.
The way college football is currently configured, most teams never get a chance to win it on the field - so I'd argue it's "both".
Remember that time LSU beat Oklahoma State for the BCS title? me neither.
Or what about when Georgia took down Ohio State in the CFP title game? No, that didn't' happen either.
Both of those were SEC-vs-SEC games custom-built to ESPN specs... and in both cases there was a strong pre-selection argument that Alabama didn't deserve a shot at the brass ring - but they got it anyway over a pair of schools with the initials OSU.
Not that Bama is the only team to ever benefit from a opinion-based selection process, nor are Oklahoma State and Ohio State the only teams ever passed over (UCF says "Hi"). The point is, people need to stop this "won on the field" stuff - it's better that it was under the BCS, but it's still far from "on the field".
(10-17-2018 07:09 AM)Hokie Mark Wrote: The way college football is currently configured, most teams never get a chance to win it on the field .
You mean, the way college football has ALWAYS been.
Every D-I school that chooses to participate in the Football BOWL Subdivision knows what they signed up for -- a postseason of bowl games, as it's been since the 1930s, and a power structure that is too co-opted by the bowl games to get rid of them.
(10-17-2018 07:09 AM)Hokie Mark Wrote: The way college football is currently configured, most teams never get a chance to win it on the field .
You mean, the way college football has ALWAYS been.
Every D-I school that chooses to participate in the Football BOWL Subdivision knows what they signed up for -- a postseason of bowl games, as it's been since the 1930s, and a power structure that is too co-opted by the bowl games to get rid of them.
With the rare exceptions of BYU's first title (everyone else had an ugly resume) and Miami's first title (#1 vs. #5 when #2 played #7 and lost, #3 played #7 and barely won and #4 routed by unranked) the current system is open to more teams than ever before and let's remember that those two quirks happened right after the big shift of schools out of I-A. You had 105 schools vs. 137.
When Missouri became a relevant program again, Nebraska lost it's closest recruiting hot bed in Kansas City and St. Louis. The state that Nebraska needs to hit recruiting wise to become relevant again is California. That is where they pulled alot of talent out of in their glory days. Another area was New Jersey actually. But a California pipeline to Lincoln is how they can win again.
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Nebraska loses 10th straight
