***UPDATE ***OL for 2023

[...TrueColors...]

You sucked Frost dry til the end and now the new coach has to go to a bowl the first year. Drink some bleach

You are a special kind of stupid

What have I got wrong in my expectations for Rhule?

 

[Faux Sean Callahan]

This should be a roster that is a bowl team..

1. Returning QB (analytically this is worth +1 game)
2. Returning Punter and Kicker (analytically this is worth +1)
3. Defense returns a ton. I think this should be a top tier of the B1G unit.
   1. I think the DC we got will help a ton too.

There are a few other areas for optimism, but those are the big ones.

I am not sure I expect a bowl, but I think this roster is more than capable of being a bowl team.

 

[Faux Sean Callahan]

I would enjoy it if I never saw a player who was 2 or fewer years removed from high school start on the OL again. Luto is a 19 year old with a thick neck, he's no Ross Pierschbacher or one of the other out of the box freaks who starts at Bama. Sit his ass until he's a good lineman

It should take a fucking special kid to do that... Not "we are fucked get in there Luto."

 

[...TrueColors...]

This should be a roster that is a bowl team..

1. Returning QB (analytically this is worth +1 game)
2. Returning Punter and Kicker (analytically this is worth +1)
3. Defense returns a ton. I think this should be a top tier of the B1G unit.
   1. I think the DC we got will help a ton too.

There are a few other areas for optimism, but those are the big ones.

I am not sure I expect a bowl, but I think this roster is more than capable of being a bowl team.

Looking at the schedule, you have three that you should get right off the bat:

Colorado
NIU
La Tech

Those teams won 7 games last year total.

Then you have these at home:

Northwestern
Purdue
Cockeye
Maryland
Michigan

You need two of the those. Can you get Northwestern and Purdue or Maryland?

I think you should get Northwestern and Purdue as those games are at home. If you get Maryland in addition that’s gravy and you’re done.

Your away games are:

Minnesota
Michigan St
Illinois
Wisconsin

You need one of these.

6 wins shouldn’t be tough. The 2022 Huskers with Mickey Joseph to start the year with Busch as his DC probably get there.

 

[Faux Sean Callahan]

6 wins shouldn’t be tough. The 2022 Huskers with Mickey Joseph to start the year with Busch as his DC probably get there.

Shit if Casey doesn't get injured you are likely there.

 

[Baron Winnebago]

Looking at the schedule, you have three that you should get right off the bat:

Colorado
NIU
La Tech

Those teams won 7 games last year total.

Then you have these at home:

Northwestern
Purdue
Cockeye
Maryland
Michigan

You need two of the those. Can you get Northwestern and Purdue or Maryland?

I think you should get Northwestern and Purdue as those games are at home. If you get Maryland in addition that’s gravy and you’re done.

Your away games are:

Minnesota
Michigan St
Illinois
Wisconsin

You need one of these.

6 wins shouldn’t be tough. The 2022 Huskers with Mickey Joseph to start the year with Busch as his DC probably get there.

Would I hold a 2-10 against Coach Rhule too much? No.

Would it make me concerned he isn't the guy we need? Yes

 

[...TrueColors...]

Would I hold a 2-10 against Coach Rhule too much? No.

Would it make me concerned he isn't the guy we need? Yes

I’ve been of the opinion for awhile that we aren’t/weren’t losing most big ten west games because we weren’t talented enough to win them. There really hasn’t been a good reason to have lost to Illinois and Minnesota three times in a row. Add in the annual non-conference loss and there’s your reason for bowl ineligibility.

I keep coming back to it, but we’ve got 7-8 experienced OL that give us plenty of different combinations to play around with to get the best 5 on the field and two QBs that have started 40 games combined. There really isn’t any good reason this staff shouldn’t make this team very competitive. I’m not saying they’re going to win a playoff game. I’m saying winning 6 shouldn’t be an issue.

 

[Jim14510]

I would enjoy it if I never saw a player who was 2 or fewer years removed from high school start on the OL again. Luto is a 19 year old with a thick neck, he's no Ross Pierschbacher or one of the other out of the box freaks who starts at Bama. Sit his ass until he's a good lineman

I like the premise of this but my guess is he's the best option at RG. I mean who else are you going to put there? Pieper? Corc at RG and Benhart at RT?

 

[Cash68847]

We are nowhere near the bottom 2-3 programs in the nation and we are in much better shape roster wise than many of our Big Ten West foes.

We’ve got 7-8 OL with a ton of experience (who Rhule flat out said aren’t as bad as everyone says they are), two QBs with double digit P5 starts, added to Alante Brown, Marcus Washington, Ajay Allen, and Anthony Grant on offense.

Very few of our big ten west opponents will be able to say they’ve got that level of experience returning.

Winning six games next year is not some big accomplishment or a tall task. To do that, you’ve got to beat 3 out of conference opponents that combined for 7 wins last year (1 P5 win) and then win 3 big ten games. That’s not hard to do.

With where your IOL should be, especially if you play Cork at guard; your IZ, power, and counter should look okay. Especially if Ajay is running the football.

We are definitely a cellar dweller in the BIG. I would take you more seriously about Rhule needing to make a bowl in year one if you weren’t one of the people making excuses for Frost the whole time.

 

[Cash68847]

I’ve been of the opinion for awhile that we aren’t/weren’t losing most big ten west games because we weren’t talented enough to win them. There really hasn’t been a good reason to have lost to Illinois and Minnesota three times in a row. Add in the annual non-conference loss and there’s your reason for bowl ineligibility.

I keep coming back to it, but we’ve got 7-8 experienced OL that give us plenty of different combinations to play around with to get the best 5 on the field and two QBs that have started 40 games combined. There really isn’t any good reason this staff shouldn’t make this team very competitive. I’m not saying they’re going to win a playoff game. I’m saying winning 6 shouldn’t be an issue.

Experience doesn’t matter if those lineman suck. Now maybe some of it was Frost in co., but I don’t see any good linemen on this team at this point. Hopefully it’s a developmental issue and Rhule gets more out of them than the prior staff.

 

[ChocaEgg]

We are definitely a cellar dweller in the BIG. I would take you more seriously about Rhule needing to make a bowl in year one if you weren’t one of the people making excuses for Frost the whole time.

Exactly.

 

[...TrueColors...]

We are definitely a cellar dweller in the BIG. I would take you more seriously about Rhule needing to make a bowl in year one if you weren’t one of the people making excuses for Frost the whole time.

If that’s your actual opinion you could have saved yourself some clicks and scrolled past my thread. Something tells me you’re just taking a shot just to take a shot though.

What excuse did I make for Frost missing a bowl game? I can’t recall a single one. Please provide just one single example, in context, if there were as many as you claim to be. There seems to be an extremely common mistake on the board in this sense; we seem to conflate support and preference for a coach as excuse making. I can’t figure out if some are too stupid to know the difference or willfully choose to call it something it isn’t.

Rhule should win 6. I actually find it comical that anyone here thinks 6 wins is such a road to hoe that we simply can’t place that expectation on Rhule in year one. He’s got 7 OL with a lot of experience and two P5 QBs with 20+ starts under their belts.

This is not me placing an unreasonable expectation on the new guy because I liked the old guy and want to see the new guy fail. I think Rhule can, should, and will get to 6 and I’m excited to watch in 2023.

 

[...TrueColors...]

Experience doesn’t matter if those lineman suck. Now maybe some of it was Frost in co., but I don’t see any good linemen on this team at this point. Hopefully it’s a developmental issue and Rhule gets more out of them than the prior staff.

I’ll bet it had more to do with the things outlined in Lattimer’s threads and other side conversations than it did with individual OL sucking. I trust you read those things and are making an educated assessment rather than a one line platitude. That wouldn’t be characteristic of your takes to do that at all.

 

[Baron Winnebago]

I like the premise of this but my guess is he's the best option at RG. I mean who else are you going to put there? Pieper? Corc at RG and Benhart at RT?

If he's the best option, so be it

 

[Baron Winnebago]

I don't think anyone is saying "errrmahgawd Rhule has to make a bowl game or send his ass packing".

I think people are saying "it should be doable given you've got 3 layups in noncon and play in the big ten west".

Now we might not be good enough to make the layups, but as far as a schedule set up for a first year HC to get off to a good start this is a pretty damn good one.

 

[Jim14510]

errrmahgawd

I mean tbf nobody on here is actually saying that besides you.

 

[Baron Winnebago]

I mean tbf nobody on here is actually saying that besides you.

Jumbo. Eat shit

 

[...TrueColors...]

I don't think anyone is saying "errrmahgawd Rhule has to make a bowl game or send his ass packing".

I think people are saying "it should be doable given you've got 3 layups in noncon and play in the big ten west".

Now we might not be good enough to make the layups, but as far as a schedule set up for a first year HC to get off to a good start this is a pretty damn good one.

Yes, this.

 

[herbsinator]

I don't think anyone is saying "errrmahgawd Rhule has to make a bowl game or send his ass packing".

I think people are saying "it should be doable given you've got 3 layups in noncon and play in the big ten west".

Now we might not be good enough to make the layups, but as far as a schedule set up for a first year HC to get off to a good start this is a pretty damn good one.

Also there was basically no reason last year’s team should have missed a bowl

 

[Baron Winnebago]

Also there was basically no reason last year’s team should have missed a bowl

Yes and also insert like every team going back to 2017