There are schedule similarities between 2014 and 16. Oregon should be better than Miami, but there are similarities between the talent level and inexperience between Oregon 2016 and Miami 2014.
- Fresno State - worse than @ Fresno in 2014
- Wyoming - better than McNeese State in 2014
- Oregon - slightly better than Miami in 2014 on offense. Not as good as Miami on defense in 2014.
- @ NW - even to 2014
- @ Iowa - better in 2016
- @ Wisconsin - worse in 2016
- Replaced Michigan State w/ Ohio State in 2016- both top 5 teams
- Purdue at home - worse
- @ Indiana - extra game compared to 2014.
- Illinois at home - worse
- Maryland - replacing Rutgers - evenly bad
- Minnesota - even to 2014
The 2014 team started off well, then faded leading to Bo's demise. For the most part, the schedule is pretty even to 2014. Although the added game at Indiana will be challenging. I'm going to compare the roster and depth chart.
QB - Tommy in 2014 to 2016 - Natural progression of being older, year two in his system with Riley and Langsdorf. Whether you like the guy or not, I think its reasonable to believe he is a better QB today. UPGRADE
RB - Ameer to Newby/ Devine/Etc- Downgrade.
TE- Non existent to Cethan Carter - Uh yeah, clearly better. UPGRADE
WR- Bell to Brandon Reilly or Stanley Morgan - push to slightly better. More durability
WR - Westerkamp to Westerkamp - better- UPGRADE
WR- DPE to DPE - push because of the injury, remains to be seen
WR- Alonzo Moore to Moore- Not even in the same stratosphere. much better - UPGRADE
RT- Sterup to Knevel - Both men are giants. Sterup was a much better Guard than Tackle. - Push for now. Knevel could easily surpass him though. However, Knevel is much better than Givens Price who started 4 games at RT in 2014. PUSH
RG- Moudy to Farmer- Push based on inexperience, but Farmer could prove to be a much better player. PUSH
C- Pelini Jr. to Utter - say what you want about Utter, but he's a step up from Mark. UPGRADE
LG- Jake Cotton to Sam Hahn- Downgrade
LT - Alex Lewis to Nick Gates - Argument could be made either way. But year one with Gates at RT is a push with year one of Lewis. Both had previous high level experience. Both were/are future NFL Players. - PUSH
Offense - Better at 6 spots. Push at 4 spots. Downgrade at 2 spots, RG and RB... That's obviously 12 players, but I'm counting an extra wideout.
Defense:
WDE- Randy Gregory to Dzuris- uhmmmm... downgrade.
DT- Maliek to Mick - Downgrade
DT- Vince to Maurice - slight downgrade in talent, but increase in production.
SDE- McMullen to Freedom - upgrade.
MIKE- Bando/ Roach - to Bando - upgrade
WILL - Zaire Anderson to Dedrick Young- BOLD PREDICTION- I"M CALLING UPGRADE
SAM- David Santos to Marcus Newby or Mike Rose - UPGRADE
CB- Josh Mitchell to Chris Jones - UPGRADE
CB - Daniel Davie to Josh Kalu - Upgrade
S- Gerry to Gerry- upgrade
S- Cooper to Kieron or Aaron Williams - Upgrade
Defense- Better at 8 positions and much more athletic in the back 7. Downgrade at 3 positions, less athletic up front.
2014 Team went 9-4 with a very similar schedule and potentially less talent. RB, LG, one DT spot and Weak Side Defensive End are the only spots where you can say the 2016 team is not equal or has downgraded in talent. Punter is an obvious downgrade as well.
The 2016 team will be significantly better in the Secondary, at Linebacker, Center, QB, TE and WR. I also expect Defensive depth and special teams to see a big upgrade in athleticism and numbers. Schematically, even with less talent along the D-line, that until will stop the run better as well.
To make a long story short:
I believe Nebraska is a more talented and more complete football team in 2016 than they were in 2014. And the schedule is very similar.
- Fresno State - worse than @ Fresno in 2014
- Wyoming - better than McNeese State in 2014
- Oregon - slightly better than Miami in 2014 on offense. Not as good as Miami on defense in 2014.
- @ NW - even to 2014
- @ Iowa - better in 2016
- @ Wisconsin - worse in 2016
- Replaced Michigan State w/ Ohio State in 2016- both top 5 teams
- Purdue at home - worse
- @ Indiana - extra game compared to 2014.
- Illinois at home - worse
- Maryland - replacing Rutgers - evenly bad
- Minnesota - even to 2014
The 2014 team started off well, then faded leading to Bo's demise. For the most part, the schedule is pretty even to 2014. Although the added game at Indiana will be challenging. I'm going to compare the roster and depth chart.
QB - Tommy in 2014 to 2016 - Natural progression of being older, year two in his system with Riley and Langsdorf. Whether you like the guy or not, I think its reasonable to believe he is a better QB today. UPGRADE
RB - Ameer to Newby/ Devine/Etc- Downgrade.
TE- Non existent to Cethan Carter - Uh yeah, clearly better. UPGRADE
WR- Bell to Brandon Reilly or Stanley Morgan - push to slightly better. More durability
WR - Westerkamp to Westerkamp - better- UPGRADE
WR- DPE to DPE - push because of the injury, remains to be seen
WR- Alonzo Moore to Moore- Not even in the same stratosphere. much better - UPGRADE
RT- Sterup to Knevel - Both men are giants. Sterup was a much better Guard than Tackle. - Push for now. Knevel could easily surpass him though. However, Knevel is much better than Givens Price who started 4 games at RT in 2014. PUSH
RG- Moudy to Farmer- Push based on inexperience, but Farmer could prove to be a much better player. PUSH
C- Pelini Jr. to Utter - say what you want about Utter, but he's a step up from Mark. UPGRADE
LG- Jake Cotton to Sam Hahn- Downgrade
LT - Alex Lewis to Nick Gates - Argument could be made either way. But year one with Gates at RT is a push with year one of Lewis. Both had previous high level experience. Both were/are future NFL Players. - PUSH
Offense - Better at 6 spots. Push at 4 spots. Downgrade at 2 spots, RG and RB... That's obviously 12 players, but I'm counting an extra wideout.
Defense:
WDE- Randy Gregory to Dzuris- uhmmmm... downgrade.
DT- Maliek to Mick - Downgrade
DT- Vince to Maurice - slight downgrade in talent, but increase in production.
SDE- McMullen to Freedom - upgrade.
MIKE- Bando/ Roach - to Bando - upgrade
WILL - Zaire Anderson to Dedrick Young- BOLD PREDICTION- I"M CALLING UPGRADE
SAM- David Santos to Marcus Newby or Mike Rose - UPGRADE
CB- Josh Mitchell to Chris Jones - UPGRADE
CB - Daniel Davie to Josh Kalu - Upgrade
S- Gerry to Gerry- upgrade
S- Cooper to Kieron or Aaron Williams - Upgrade
Defense- Better at 8 positions and much more athletic in the back 7. Downgrade at 3 positions, less athletic up front.
2014 Team went 9-4 with a very similar schedule and potentially less talent. RB, LG, one DT spot and Weak Side Defensive End are the only spots where you can say the 2016 team is not equal or has downgraded in talent. Punter is an obvious downgrade as well.
The 2016 team will be significantly better in the Secondary, at Linebacker, Center, QB, TE and WR. I also expect Defensive depth and special teams to see a big upgrade in athleticism and numbers. Schematically, even with less talent along the D-line, that until will stop the run better as well.
To make a long story short:
I believe Nebraska is a more talented and more complete football team in 2016 than they were in 2014. And the schedule is very similar.
