I thought about starting this new thread the other day, and since I finally have scrounged the time I decided I would do so.
First, let me start by saying we are all very lucky to have the writers of this site that work very hard to provide us with all of the information that we do. They all tend to have amazing sources that give them information when they ask for it, they do tremendous work in Tunnel Talk, they answer a ton of questions that we all have, they deal with posters that get a bit out of hand from time to time (me included), and they are usually the first to have "the scoop." Its because of them and some well connected posters on this board that I pride myself in knowing more about our Huskers than all of my friends, family, and co-workers. It's here that I come to when I want to talk about something Husker related because I know that a fair amount of people outside of this board won't understand. For that I feel very fortunate to have this board and a daily "fix" for all things Husker.
Getting into my thoughts, I like many on this board feel like I deal with a lot of people that I would consider to have an "outside perspective" or a "less-educated" perspective opinion than we do here on this board simply because I am willing to seek out information that others don't, which led me to purchasing a membership to this board. I was born in Friend, Nebraska and raised in Tobias, Nebraska. But I went to High School for my junior and senior year on the Iowa side of the river. So I deal with a lot of Hawkeye fans and in my line of work, I deal with a lot of the fanbases across the Big Ten landscape.
When I hear the Husker fans that aren't on this board that get their information from the LJS or the OWH or fanbases from across the country talk about the 2015 or 2016 season, the coaching staff here, where Nebraska falls in predicting who wins the West, or just the overall state of the program I find that many of the opinions from around the Big Ten and Husker fans that don't have the same thirst for information as we all do differ quite greatly.
Look, I understand that we were 6-7 last year and only got to 6 wins because we got into a bowl game on a technicality. Our lack of success last season isn't at all lost on me. Some of the games we lost can absolutely be placed on the coaching staff and I think to believe otherwise means you aren't really being completely objective. But I always ask: Was our 2015 season that much different than our 2014 season? I would argue that the only difference between the two campaigns was one player: Ameer. Without him in 2014 I believe that it would be completely clear to all Husker fans and anyone around the country that Bo Pelini needed to seek employment elsewhere. But what the casual fan doesn't see is that 2015 was the year where I can honestly say that every position on our football team save for maybe QB was playing better at the end of the year than they were at the beginning. What the average person doesn't see is the coaching staff that we have here at Nebraska. There are a ton of position coaches on this staff that could get a job at just about any other university that they chose to. What the average Big Ten fan doesn't realize is just how hard it had to be to pull some of the talent that we have in the past two recruiting classes away from the big guns of the Pac 12. Seriously, how the hell did we convince Lamar Jackson to play here?! Who would have honestly believed in 2014 that we could go into SoCal and steal a USC legacy away from the West Coast?! Who would have believed that we would be staring down the barrel of the best WR and possibly LB class that we have had in a long time on the heels of a 6-7 season? I can't imagine if we show some big improvement in 2016 that it won't continue.
I almost think that having a year like we did last year was a necessary step backward to getting to where we all want to see this program. We weeded out some of the kids that showed they really didn't want to be here and down the stretch I think we started to see some of the kids really believe that we have something special going on in this program with this staff.
I think, based on the information provided on this board that 2016 is going to be a special year to where we can point to and say "This was when we turned the corner." I think 2016 is going to be the tangible proof that the rest of the nation and some husker fans need to really get on board with Mike Riley and Staff. Beat Oregon and we start 7-0 then who knows what happens in Camp Randall? Could we possibly get to go to the Horseshoe at 8-0 with a BIG TIME showdown with Ohio State? Beat Oregon and Wisconsin and take care of business in the other games and it is there.
I really don't think anyone outside of HuskerNation realizes what we have going on in this program and for now, I wouldn't have it any other way.
Thanks for reading and God Bless, and Go Big Red.
First, let me start by saying we are all very lucky to have the writers of this site that work very hard to provide us with all of the information that we do. They all tend to have amazing sources that give them information when they ask for it, they do tremendous work in Tunnel Talk, they answer a ton of questions that we all have, they deal with posters that get a bit out of hand from time to time (me included), and they are usually the first to have "the scoop." Its because of them and some well connected posters on this board that I pride myself in knowing more about our Huskers than all of my friends, family, and co-workers. It's here that I come to when I want to talk about something Husker related because I know that a fair amount of people outside of this board won't understand. For that I feel very fortunate to have this board and a daily "fix" for all things Husker.
Getting into my thoughts, I like many on this board feel like I deal with a lot of people that I would consider to have an "outside perspective" or a "less-educated" perspective opinion than we do here on this board simply because I am willing to seek out information that others don't, which led me to purchasing a membership to this board. I was born in Friend, Nebraska and raised in Tobias, Nebraska. But I went to High School for my junior and senior year on the Iowa side of the river. So I deal with a lot of Hawkeye fans and in my line of work, I deal with a lot of the fanbases across the Big Ten landscape.
When I hear the Husker fans that aren't on this board that get their information from the LJS or the OWH or fanbases from across the country talk about the 2015 or 2016 season, the coaching staff here, where Nebraska falls in predicting who wins the West, or just the overall state of the program I find that many of the opinions from around the Big Ten and Husker fans that don't have the same thirst for information as we all do differ quite greatly.
Look, I understand that we were 6-7 last year and only got to 6 wins because we got into a bowl game on a technicality. Our lack of success last season isn't at all lost on me. Some of the games we lost can absolutely be placed on the coaching staff and I think to believe otherwise means you aren't really being completely objective. But I always ask: Was our 2015 season that much different than our 2014 season? I would argue that the only difference between the two campaigns was one player: Ameer. Without him in 2014 I believe that it would be completely clear to all Husker fans and anyone around the country that Bo Pelini needed to seek employment elsewhere. But what the casual fan doesn't see is that 2015 was the year where I can honestly say that every position on our football team save for maybe QB was playing better at the end of the year than they were at the beginning. What the average person doesn't see is the coaching staff that we have here at Nebraska. There are a ton of position coaches on this staff that could get a job at just about any other university that they chose to. What the average Big Ten fan doesn't realize is just how hard it had to be to pull some of the talent that we have in the past two recruiting classes away from the big guns of the Pac 12. Seriously, how the hell did we convince Lamar Jackson to play here?! Who would have honestly believed in 2014 that we could go into SoCal and steal a USC legacy away from the West Coast?! Who would have believed that we would be staring down the barrel of the best WR and possibly LB class that we have had in a long time on the heels of a 6-7 season? I can't imagine if we show some big improvement in 2016 that it won't continue.
I almost think that having a year like we did last year was a necessary step backward to getting to where we all want to see this program. We weeded out some of the kids that showed they really didn't want to be here and down the stretch I think we started to see some of the kids really believe that we have something special going on in this program with this staff.
I think, based on the information provided on this board that 2016 is going to be a special year to where we can point to and say "This was when we turned the corner." I think 2016 is going to be the tangible proof that the rest of the nation and some husker fans need to really get on board with Mike Riley and Staff. Beat Oregon and we start 7-0 then who knows what happens in Camp Randall? Could we possibly get to go to the Horseshoe at 8-0 with a BIG TIME showdown with Ohio State? Beat Oregon and Wisconsin and take care of business in the other games and it is there.
I really don't think anyone outside of HuskerNation realizes what we have going on in this program and for now, I wouldn't have it any other way.
Thanks for reading and God Bless, and Go Big Red.
