To be clear, I don't think NU fans expectation are 3 wins. Not the new norm. Its probably not even the bowl qualification of 6-7 wins. I would say if you polled most people it would be 8-9 wins over the long term.So who are they? The rule or the exception?
I wasn't talking about conference championships, I was talking about winning more than 3 games a year for a change and perhaps beating a good team. or two along the way on occasion. It seems now, all of a sudden, winning has all sorts of barriers including a conference that is too big. In the Big 12 you won your division and played for the title, what is different in the B1G? Right now, like it or not, as per our record, we are bottom feeders, a winning record would be a solid change. All of the variables of the portal, NIL, facilities, etc. matter not, everyone is playing with the same deck of cards are they not? Seriously, everyone talks so highly of the Nebraska brand, name recognition, the B1G money and the draw but so far that hasn't translated into anything and if they aren't careful, over time that draw will diminish. Apathy has already set in. How far behind is total despair unless something major changes with the record, this has to be the year. Contracts were not renegotiated to win 3 games as the new norm.
For $100 million a year and some effort we should be able to achieve that. No one really cared for Riley and he at least won 9 games once. Frost has been something of a huge surprise, in that no one on their worst day expected him to have the worst records in a half century even if he wasn't "the one". That doesn't mean there isn't a coach out there who can't get it done.
I would not agree that the variables don't matter. Depends on the level of football you wish to achieve. The higher the expectations, the more they matter, because you are going to require a coach with the requisite talents to master all those variables and make them non-factors.
If NU is happy winning 5-6 games, collecting $100 million and going home, you can have a coach who isn't really capable of juggling those factors that well. Tons of potential hires. If NU wants to go toe to toe with Day or Saban, the number of guys who can master the variables with that skill ceiling is extremely small, and we are just one of the potential suitors for those handful of guys.
In terms of conference size and impact winning, its really just a statistical thing in some manner. In the Big 8 we really only had to worry about OU and we more or less split most of the Big 8 titles with them. In the B1G of previous, you had half dozen or so teams who were capable of contending for the B1G in a given year depending on how experienced they were and which teams might have some tough breaks with injuries and what not.
Adding more quality or potential quality teams in the West coast schools with fertile recruiting grounds, that's not exactly like adding a bunch of Big 8 caliber ISU's and further dilutes your chances of just being so good no one else is capable of beating you routinely.
Last edited: