Bootleg11 said:

If I were unbiased (which I am not) I'd probably rank all of them above Nebraska preseason.

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I'd rather have it that way. I've read this story before with a "right at 25" ranking and then a back of the pack B1G team wins 10 games out of nowhere - see F. Pat Fitzgerald reference.

FreightPimpDawg said:

JFC! ESPN is the biggest UT dick riders I have ever seen! There is absolutely no real football reason for them to be ranked #1 in anything but a “run your mouth poll”

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do you have an 8 incher freightpimp?

lee_carvallo_12 said:

I'd rather have it that way. I've read this story before with a "right at 25" ranking and then a back of the pack B1G team wins 10 games out of nowhere - see F. Pat Fitzgerald reference.

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howdy Lee boy! how’s that Texas sized 8 incher hangin this mornin ?

I think Illinois will be fine, but I think they are getting a little bit overrated this offseason. They were just the anti-Nebraska last year and went 5-1 in 1 score games. I doubt that happens again, but I have said the same thing about Nebraska having a bad 1 score game record for about a decade now and here we are.

whoboppin said:

I think Illinois will be fine, but I think they are getting a little bit overrated this offseason. They were just the anti-Nebraska last year and went 5-1 in 1 score games. I doubt that happens again, but I have said the same thing about Nebraska having a bad 1 score game record for about a decade now and here we are.

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I will continue to argue Nebraska has been a terrible 1-score losing team because of special teams. Illinois has a terrific punter, return game, kicker, and special teams operation.

For instance, their kicker was 17 out of 20. And their punt returner, Hank Beatty, finished the season 4th Nationally in Punt Return yardage at 14 yards per return. Their kickoff team finished 5th nationally for fewest return yards allowed. Their punter, who didn't have a big leg, did place 10 punts inside the 20 yard line and only 3 of his punts ended up as a touchback. All those dudes are returning.

They were basically playing Cockeye caliber special teams but with a much more competent and explosive offense.

Compare that to Nebraska:
- Huskers miss more than 50% of their kicks.
- Huskers have multiple extra points blocked.
- Huskers only averaged 4.3 yards per punt return.
- Huskers allowed almost 8 yards more per kickoff return than Illinois.

Where Illinois has some things to prove is at receiver:

I honestly believe Pat Bryant is going to eventually become a star for the Broncos. And Zakhari Franklin is with the Raiders. Both those dudes were better than Nebraska's top 2 wideouts last season.

RB Josh McCray pissed Coach Fat Ass Bielema off in late April when he shocked everyone by announcing a transfer to Georgia. McCray is a future NFL running back and was highly productive for the Illini last season with 11 TDs. However, Illinois has plenty of good running backs and I think they will still be successful there.


The losses of Bryant, Franklin, and McCray are the primary reason why Illinois is lower in the FPI rankings.

HuskerDocCo said:

do you have an 8 incher freightpimp?

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Ask your Mom.

FreightPimpDawg said:

Ask your Mom.

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LMAO at your avatar:

Cornicator said:

I will continue to argue Nebraska has been a terrible 1-score losing team because of special teams. Illinois has a terrific punter, return game, kicker, and special teams operation.

For instance, their kicker was 17 out of 20. And their punt returner, Hank Beatty, finished the season 4th Nationally in Punt Return yardage at 14 yards per return. Their kickoff team finished 5th nationally for fewest return yards allowed. Their punter, who didn't have a big leg, did place 10 punts inside the 20 yard line and only 3 of his punts ended up as a touchback. All those dudes are returning.

They were basically playing Cockeye caliber special teams but with a much more competent and explosive offense.

Compare that to Nebraska:
- Huskers miss more than 50% of their kicks.
- Huskers have multiple extra points blocked.
- Huskers only averaged 4.3 yards per punt return.
- Huskers allowed almost 8 yards more per kickoff return than Illinois.

Where Illinois has some things to prove is at receiver:

I honestly believe Pat Bryant is going to eventually become a star for the Broncos. And Zakhari Franklin is with the Raiders. Both those dudes were better than Nebraska's top 2 wideouts last season.

RB Josh McCray pissed Coach Fat Ass Bielema off in late April when he shocked everyone by announcing a transfer to Georgia. McCray is a future NFL running back and was highly productive for the Illini last season with 11 TDs. However, Illinois has plenty of good running backs and I think they will still be successful there.


The losses of Bryant, Franklin, and McCray are the primary reason why Illinois is lower in the FPI rankings.

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I agree special teams is a big issue that keeps games close and produces 1 score losses.

But, also we have really lacked many game changing players on either side of the ball. We have had serviceable RB, WR, and TE but I don't think we really have had anyone that we can rely on to make a big play outside of running QBs. Who do other teams really have to game plan for? We got a little bit of that from Barney last year and I'm hoping our new WR trend in that direction. RB is still underwhelming to me from a game changing standpoint.

On defense we had Ty who could blow up some plays but it would be really nice to have a big threat to get home on 3rd and long to create more turnovers and short fields.

We are trying to grind everything out without enough big plays from O, D, and ST. It makes the margin to win games much tighter.

I'd kill for an Ameer Abdullah type of player this year.

Cornicator said:

And their punt returner, Hank Beatty, finished the season 4th Nationally in Punt Return yardage at 14 yards per return.

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A decent offense is around 14 yards per point. So 14 yards/return is equivalent to 1 pt. If that dude gets 3 returns a game his effort alone is worth a FG. Game changing if you play a lot of one score games…

HuskerDocCo said:

howdy Lee boy! how’s that Texas sized 8 incher hangin this mornin ?

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Live look @HuskerDocCo

redzoner said:

I agree special teams is a big issue that keeps games close and produces 1 score losses.

But, also we have really lacked many game changing players on either side of the ball. We have had serviceable RB, WR, and TE but I don't think we really have had anyone that we can rely on to make a big play outside of running QBs. Who do other teams really have to game plan for? We got a little bit of that from Barney last year and I'm hoping our new WR trend in that direction. RB is still underwhelming to me from a game changing standpoint.

On defense we had Ty who could blow up some plays but it would be really nice to have a big threat to get home on 3rd and long to create more turnovers and short fields.

We are trying to grind everything out without enough big plays from O, D, and ST. It makes the margin to win games much tighter.

I'd kill for an Ameer Abdullah type of player this year.

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Your point about playmakers is why I'm finally excited about the offensive personnel additions. Dane Key and Nyziah Hunter are both dramatic upgrades over Neyor and Banks.. Year two of Barney will just be the icing on the cake. Nebraska can also go into a season now where a developmental and experienced player like Bonner is a valuable 4th option.

Special teams must prove to be a dramatic upgrade though. I won't put that all on Ekeler though. Rhule has been here for 2.5 years now. He is absolutely responsible for the special teams personnel at this point.

Is ESPN changing their FPI algorithm to put more SEC teams in these rankings?

Cornicator said:

Your point about playmakers is why I'm finally excited about the offensive personnel additions. Dane Key and Nyziah Hunter are both dramatic upgrades over Neyor and Banks.. Year two of Barney will just be the icing on the cake. Nebraska can also go into a season now where a developmental and experienced player like Bonner is a valuable 4th option.

Special teams must prove to be a dramatic upgrade though. I won't put that all on Ekeler though. Rhule has been here for 2.5 years now. He is absolutely responsible for the special teams personnel at this point.

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To play Devil's Advocate:

Last year everybody said that Neyor and Banks were dramatic upgrades over what we had before.

And the year before that everybody said Billy Kemp and Josh Fleeks were dramatic upgrades over what we had before.

And the year before that everybody said IGC and Marcus Washington were dramatic upgrades.

And the year before that everybody said Omar Manning and Oliver Martin were dramatic upgrades.

And I am sure next year whoever we get will be "dramatic upgrades" over the guys you listed. At this point nobody is a sure thing. And I am not trying to attack your point personally, I am just tired of doing the same thing over and over. Lets just win sum fuckin games.

ChildOfTheCorn said:

To play Devil's Advocate:

Last year everybody said that Neyor and Banks were dramatic upgrades over what we had before.

And the year before that everybody said Billy Kemp and Josh Fleeks were dramatic upgrades over what we had before.

And the year before that everybody said IGC and Marcus Washington were dramatic upgrades.

And the year before that everybody said Omar Manning and Oliver Martin were dramatic upgrades.

And I am sure next year whoever we get will be "dramatic upgrades" over the guys you listed. At this point nobody is a sure thing. And I am not trying to attack your point personally, I am just tired of doing the same thing over and over. Lets just win sum fuckin games.

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Devils advocate of the devils advocate, Neyor and Banks were better then what we had in 2023. I know people hate Neyor, but id rather roll with him than Alex Bullock or Malachi Coleman.

Got damn Jeff Sims and Haarberg were the QBs in 2023, I dont know if we can really properly judge Kemp.

Frost guys I see your point, but Frost's high school recruiting was terrible at WR. IGC, Omar, and Oliver Martin actually were better than the high school WRs we had, but that more because the high school WRs did nothing.

We also had Toure and Palmer and those were both upgrades.

24 spots too low in my humble opinion

ChildOfTheCorn said:

To play Devil's Advocate:

Last year everybody said that Neyor and Banks were dramatic upgrades over what we had before.

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Play Devil's Advocate all you want, then go back and read my posts from last year when I was ridiculed for my stance claiming Neyor and Banks were nothing special and people needed to reign in their expectations.

Next, I invite you to go back and look the resumes of all those other dudes had before arriving in Lincoln and then compare it to Hunter and Key.

There are basically 4 types of modern portal transfers:

- Once heralded recruits who spent 2 to 3 seasons at a high level program and barely played. - Jacob Hood, Chief Borders, and Corey Collier fit into this category. I believe Gabe Moore will fit into this category - I honestly wish Nebraska would just stop signing these dudes.

- Dudes with limited production, but possess high level athletic ability so people keep giving them chances - Omar Manning, Oliver Martin, Arik Gilbert, and Isaiah Neyor fit into this category - Rhule thinks he can change lives. I wish he would ignore these players as well.

- Dudes with marginal production, limited athletic ability, but solid experience and leadership - Billy Kemp, MJ Sherman, Stefon Thompson, and Jamahl Banks fit into this category. There isn't anything wrong with these dudes, but they are never going to be your savior. I would actually also slot Dasan McCullough into this category. Injuries have plagued him and taken away some of his explosiveness. But he has incredible character so you absolutely bring him in. I would also slot Jaylen George into this category.

- Last Category is high impact NIL players who are basically Power Conference Versions of Free Agency with extensive production - Believe it or not, this is the first season Nebraska has actually become a major player in that market. Guys like Mazzucca or Dowdell or Banks and Neyor didn't cost Nebraska very much money. Hell, Neyor was going to Colorado State before Nebraska signed him. Banks was considering Rutgers or Michigan State. The Huskers had to spend some real money this offseason. Dane Key had Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, and Ole Miss bidding for him. Andrew Marshall and Nyziah Hunter both were looking at Washington, USC, and Arizona State. Nwaneri and Marques Watson-Trent had more than a dozen offers. Rocco Spindler, with 27 career starts from Notre Dame, actually took less money to sign with Nebraska. The Huskers got lucky with that one.


Nebraska had a very limited NIL apparatus in 2023. Going into 2024, they allocated a lot of their funds on Raiola and their current roster. 2025 will be the first season where we see Nebraska branching out and really trying bring in high impact players.

Cornicator said:

Play Devil's Advocate all you want, then go back and read my posts from last year when I was ridiculed for my stance claiming Neyor and Banks were nothing special and people needed to reign in their expectations.

Next, I invite you to go back and look the resumes of all those other dudes had before arriving in Lincoln and then compare it to Hunter and Key.

There are basically 4 types of modern portal transfers:

- Once heralded recruits who spent 2 to 3 seasons at a high level program and barely played. - Jacob Hood, Chief Borders, and Corey Collier fit into this category. I believe Gabe Moore will fit into this category - I honestly wish Nebraska would just stop signing these dudes.

- Dudes with limited production, but possess high level athletic ability so people keep giving them chances - Omar Manning, Oliver Martin, Arik Gilbert, and Isaiah Neyor fit into this category - Rhule thinks he can change lives. I wish he would ignore these players as well.

- Dudes with marginal production, limited athletic ability, but solid experience and leadership - Billy Kemp, MJ Sherman, Stefon Thompson, and Jamahl Banks fit into this category. There isn't anything wrong with these dudes, but they are never going to be your savior. I would actually also slot Dasan McCullough into this category. Injuries have plagued him and taken away some of his explosiveness. But he has incredible character so you absolutely bring him in. I would also slot Jaylen George into this category.

- Last Category is high impact NIL players who are basically Power Conference Versions of Free Agency with extensive production - Believe it or not, this is the first season Nebraska has actually become a major player in that market. Guys like Mazzucca or Dowdell or Banks and Neyor didn't cost Nebraska very much money. Hell, Neyor was going to Colorado State before Nebraska signed him. Banks was considering Rutgers or Michigan State. The Huskers had to spend some real money this offseason. Dane Key had Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, and Ole Miss bidding for him. Andrew Marshall and Nyziah Hunter both were looking at Washington, USC, and Arizona State. Nwaneri and Marques Watson-Trent had more than a dozen offers. Rocco Spindler, with 27 career starts from Notre Dame, actually took less money to sign with Nebraska. The Huskers got lucky with that one.


Nebraska had a very limited NIL apparatus in 2023. Going into 2024, they allocated a lot of their funds on Raiola and their current roster. 2025 will be the first season where we see Nebraska branching out and really trying bring in high impact players.

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had to though. This is year 3. 7 wins or less and the Rhule "Process" will have a lot of doubters, both fans but more importantly recruits and transfers. Have to show progress on the field with wins this year or it gets a lot harder for Rhule and most likely an eventual coaching change.