Is 8-4 success? What about 7-5?

[mrosmosisjonez]

Don’t care…success is a new OC, OL & DL coach at the end of the year. Maybe a cherry on top would be Jim Knowles. What we learned is our trenches are garbage along w development and recruiting of those positions.

 

[king_kong_]

I don’t think the USC game was a guarenteed win if Dylan doesn’t get hurt given how we let teams stick around.

They were running it right down our throat

Rhule will never beat a superior coach

It was an L regardless

 

[Poor_and_Stupid]

I lost a lot of interest after Michigan sacked DR 8 times or whatever it was. It was obvious we weren’t near as good as we had been told. We’ve been getting manhandled regularly on both lines ever since. For me the season has been a failure for awhile. Nothing really to do with the record, but more the realization that our lines aren’t even remotely close to something an even semi serious football program should have.

Penn State’s d line looks almost alien compared to what we put on the field. Yet somehow they still managed to crumble and lose 6 games this year. You’d think they could sleepwalk through a lot of their games with those players. I’m rambling, but my point is we need some combination of elite players and good coaching, or very good players and elite coaching. We currently have shit coaching and players everywhere besides special teams.

So not only is this year a failure. Next year is already an even bigger failure. We may get some marginally better players to transfer. With what we currently have, a winter in the weight room isn’t going to transform our d line into what we watched kick our ass. The schedule sets up to where making a bowl is far from a guarantee. Why even get excited?

 

[Baron Winnebago]

I lost a lot of interest after Michigan sacked DR 8 times or whatever it was. It was obvious we weren’t near as good as we had been told. We’ve been getting manhandled regularly on both lines ever since. For me the season has been a failure for awhile. Nothing really to do with the record, but more the realization that our lines aren’t even remotely close to something an even semi serious football program should have.

Penn State’s d line looks almost alien compared to what we put on the field. Yet somehow they still managed to crumble and lose 6 games this year. You’d think they could sleepwalk through a lot of their games with those players. I’m rambling, but my point is we need some combination of elite players and good coaching, or very good players and elite coaching. We currently have shit coaching and players everywhere besides special teams.

So not only is this year a failure. Next year is already an even bigger failure. We may get some marginally better players, but the schedule sets up to where making a bowl is far from a guarantee. Why even get excited?

 

[V-Doub]

I’ve seen some comments that a win on Friday and this season is a success.

How do we feel about that? How do we feel about a 7-5 which, frankly, is the most likely outcome?

To end 8-4, we will have had one devastatingly terrible loss to Minnesota and one surprise win vs Cockeye.

I guess you can argue that is a success in that it is not an obvious failure. But 5-4 in conference in a year that you don’t play any of the top 3 seems like the absolute minimum you should be hoping for.

On other hand, 7-5 is an abject failure. 5-5 vs power conference teams and 4-5 in conference where you avoided the powerhouses entirely is a completely wasted opportunity and is really not an improvement from a 6-6 when you played OSU and Indiana.

I was very pro-Rhule before Minnesota, but this season feels like a giant red flag.

We are probably going to have to accept that the goal every year is 6 wins and a bowl, and hope that every now and then we can put it all together and get 9 wins and make a run at a 28-team playoff.*

*BTW no program needs an expanded playoff more than Nebraska. We should be pimping it at every opportunity.

8-4 is marginal improvement. Not sufficient improvement, but improvement. 7-5 is not improvement in anyway. Treading water, and tread water for too long you drown.

 

[Baron Winnebago]

I largely agree with @Poor_and_Stupid though. The lines are nowhere close to anything resembling a competitive team beyond one that squeaks into bowl eligibility. That's consistently better than Nebraska has been for like a decade, but not what you're paying Rhule for.

7-5 is whatever for me with Dylan hurt. As much fun as the collective delusion was around moving him on for TJ for a week, the chances of winning games go as Dylan goes even with his "hanging onto the ball too long-itis"

 

[SlumpBuster]

I was at 15-0 or 5-7. Can't remember which

I think you said 16-0 tbh, but in a bout of realism you admitted one of those games wouldn't be a shutout

 

[Baron Winnebago]

I think you said 16-0 tbh, but in a bout of realism you admitted one of those games wouldn't be a shutout

I do confusingly oscillate between "we're never losing again" and "we're never winning again"

 

[Mood4NU]

I’ve seen some comments that a win on Friday and this season is a success.

How do we feel about that? How do we feel about a 7-5 which, frankly, is the most likely outcome?

To end 8-4, we will have had one devastatingly terrible loss to Minnesota and one surprise win vs Cockeye.

I guess you can argue that is a success in that it is not an obvious failure. But 5-4 in conference in a year that you don’t play any of the top 3 seems like the absolute minimum you should be hoping for.

On other hand, 7-5 is an abject failure. 5-5 vs power conference teams and 4-5 in conference where you avoided the powerhouses entirely is a completely wasted opportunity and is really not an improvement from a 6-6 when you played OSU and Indiana.

I was very pro-Rhule before Minnesota, but this season feels like a giant red flag.

We are probably going to have to accept that the goal every year is 6 wins and a bowl, and hope that every now and then we can put it all together and get 9 wins and make a run at a 28-team playoff.*

*BTW no program needs an expanded playoff more than Nebraska. We should be pimping it at every opportunity.

8-4 was my expectation so success if we hit that . 7-5 would be a disappointment but would soften if we can get a bowl win. I did not expect this version of Nebraska to compete for the playoffs so imo it depends entirely on your expectations to start the season ..

 

[HCFord1]

I’m going to be in NYC while the the pinstripe bowl is happening.
Is it bad I was quietly rooting for a Penn state win and an Cockeye win next so I can see them play in NYC?

It’s been pretty obvious to everyone here that you actively root against Nebraska

 

[HCFord1]

I don’t think the USC game was a guarenteed win if Dylan doesn’t get hurt given how we let teams stick around.

Definitely wasn’t guaranteed, but it was trending that way. We were outplaying them until a very specific point in that game…

 

[king_kong_]

Definitely wasn’t guaranteed, but it was trending that way. We were outplaying them until a very specific point in that game…

Sure, if you ignore the fact we were getting gashed for 10ypc

 

[That SOB Van Owen]

It’s never as bad as you think and it’s never as good as you think.

Right now it’s not as bad as we think.

Cockeye is -5.5. We won’t get blown out. Cockeye isn’t good enough to blow anyone out. We will have a chance.

If we beat Cockeye, I think it’s a successful season overall.

 

[king_kong_]

Cockeye isn’t good enough to blow anyone out.

Perhaps you missed the Minn game?

You know, same team that blew us out?

 

[Cash68847]

It’s never as bad as you think and it’s never as good as you think.

Right now it’s not as bad as we think.

Cockeye is -5.5. We won’t get blown out. Cockeye isn’t good enough to blow anyone out. We will have a chance.

If we beat Cockeye, I think it’s a successful season overall.

I could see us getting blown out if Cockeye is able to run the ball well which is very possible.

 

[Mavsker]

Hoiberg improved from 7-25 and last in the conference in year one to 10-22 and second to last in the conference in year 3. He didn’t finish over .500 until year 5, when we made the tourney.

He was given time to turn it around succeeded (it appears) despite so many fans calling for his firing.

Hoiberg also coaches at a school that is historically terrible at basketball, the program is an afterthought, and being just mediocre in the conference is considered a massive success.

The expectations for Rhule and Hoiberg are extremely different - their pay and the level of investment in their programs reflect that. Rhule is pretty lucky to be getting a year 4 tbh because many serious programs would have already cut their losses and moved on.

 

[Tell_Sackett]

I looked up my preseason guess and it's almost dead on outside of UCLA. I'm not sure then, why this season feels so much like complete underachievement to me? I think it's the 25 years of PTSD.... and the schedule was probably more favorable than even what it seemed like before the year.

I do think we have a better chance against Cockeye than PSU.... Probably just shy of 50/50, but 7-5 is what I apparently thought before the year, and what we seemed like after Cincy.

Post in thread 'Sho Yer Sack: WAY too early '25 Season Prediction Thread' https://theplatinumboard.com/thread...25-season-prediction-thread.16449/post-751919

 

[Interloper]

We just have to steadily improve. We’re not at a place yet where we’re beyond having a bad game or two, but they have to come out and play well against Cockeye or this offseason is going to be rough.

For the most part Rhule has raised the floor of the program to where we’re now beating a majority of the teams with inferior talent than us, but he hasn’t been successful in elevating the ceiling, where we’re either beating more talented teams or stockpiling enough talent to make it an even fight. That has to happen next.

If they can beat Cockeye it would be laughable to call the season a failure. Going from 5-7 to 6-6 to 8-4 would be undeniable progress.

Pretty much this...Cockeye is a must win game.