What happened to recruiting?

[Cornicator]

Good point about Pelini's recruiting, and I agree. Nevertheless, I still hope Riley can get us out of that mid 20's range. I think he can if we start having solid seasons again.

Teams can have solid seasons with teams in the 20 to 25 range. Build your roster with consistency and depth, and then make sure you're solid at the line of scrimmage and QB. If you do that, then you can easily win 10+ games per year. Michigan State is a prime example.

However, Michigan State vs. Bama last season was a prime example of the differences between top 5 recruiting and top 25 recruiting in a playoff setting.

 

[DudznSudz]

Teams can have solid seasons with teams in the 20 to 25 range. Build your roster with consistency and depth, and then make sure you're solid at the line of scrimmage and QB. If you do that, then you can easily win 10+ games per year. Michigan State is a prime example.

However, Michigan State vs. Bama last season was a prime example of the differences between top 5 recruiting and top 25 recruiting in a playoff setting.

That's EXACTLY right. I've said this before, but leaving out specific program quirks, MSU is a lot like us; they were a little bit of a recruiting underdog for a long time, they finally hired a coach that was allowed to build his own program, and now they're a very solid team with their own identity. But yeah, you can recruit like they (and right now, we) do and have an excellent season and maybe even get into the national championship conversation...but it gets really, really difficult to be a solid all-around team loaded with top 25 talent facing a solid all-around team with a roster loaded with top 5 talent going to the second and third string guys.

That's kind of what we used to do to people, and I would love to see us get back to the days of allowing our second stringers to finish games dominating top 10 teams.

 

[Cornicator]

I think that is by and large accurate. Bo seemed to always get consistently "ok" classes, enough to win as much as he was winning (and even that had a lot to do with the excellent facilities and development opportunities our program offers, i.e., we may have been punching a little above our weight there). In order to really become a nationally relevant team again, we have to be able to challenge and beat tOSU, Michigan, and MSU. We may even have to worry about Penn State being tough again once their ship is righted. That means we have to pull in recruiting classes that are at least CLOSE to the top 10 level classes 2 of those 4 programs are going to be getting fairly regularly (until Urban Meyer returns to Hell to resume ruling it, or Jim Harbaugh actually explodes).

That means top 20 classes, and regularly. So, yeah, that means winning records, bowl appearances, and no more embarrassing blow-out losses or losses to bottom feeding programs (sorry, Purdue, you're just not that good). I think these coaches know how to recruit very, very well, but the program itself has to back up their efforts too.

Nebraska already has very similar talent to Michigan State. That's why the Huskers have always been competitive or able to beat the Spartans. The big difference between the two programs is how Danantonio has maintained his scholarship distribution. The Huskers and Spartans have very similar skill talent. YOu could even argue the Huskers are more talented.

As for Penn State.. Don't worry about them. Franklin will be fired within 2 seasons. He's the most overrated coach in College football. Penn State will always do well on the recruiting scene because of their presence in a region of the country with very little College FOOtball recruiting competition.

 

[headcard]

Yep the difference in success between Nebraska and MSU has very little to do with recruiting. Dantonio is a well organized, all business HC, that demands the best out of his players and staff. Or former HC was far from it.

 

[dockentwo]

I think there is a distinction between a Riley #25 and a Bo #25 class. Bo used to sign players just to sign them irregardless of how they fit into the scholarship distribution. That's why Nebraska basically had 3 scholarship linebackers when Riley arrived in Lincoln. Mike Riley has illustrated there is clear direction and planning with the way they target recruits.

Kids are going to leave. Some will get into trouble. Some will have injury issues. And some of them will struggle with grades. That's going to happen to every recruiting class at every program in America. So you better recruit evenly across your depth chart. And you better have plan A, B, C, D. And so on. Bo often had very good Plan A options. But if plan A said no, he didn't have plan b,c, or D. He decided to search the bottom of the barrel late in the game. And if he struck out with plan A at a position of need, he often just ignored that position completely.

I will always argue Nebraska didn't lose multiple games to teams like Northwestern or Minnesota or Iowa state or Iowa because of talent issues under Bo. Hell, many of his front line guys were good enough to win 10 or 11 games. But he never recruited evenly and always kept scholarship holes on his roster and in the depth chart. He didn't recruit enough of them.

Wisdom and reason

 

[ellobo]

Nebraska already has very similar talent to Michigan State. That's why the Huskers have always been competitive or able to beat the Spartans. The big difference between the two programs is how Danantonio has maintained his scholarship distribution. The Huskers and Spartans have very similar skill talent. YOu could even argue the Huskers are more talented.

As for Penn State.. Don't worry about them. Franklin will be fired within 2 seasons. He's the most overrated coach in College football. Penn State will always do well on the recruiting scene because of their presence in a region of the country with very little College FOOtball recruiting competition.

I disagree with your point on not worrying about PSU and it is because I agree 100% that Franklin is way overrated. The worst case scenario, for the rest of the B10, is that he gets fired in 2 years. He came in and recruited well but that train is starting to slow down (started to slow down towards the end of the last cycle when he lost some kids before signing day). Kids are starting to see that he is more bark than bite, tOSU/Mich/MSU have dedicated a lot of resources to mining NJ/MD/VA/etc. (more than they traditionally do...plus ND is cleaning up in PA this year) and believe it or not the two new coaches at RU and MD are landing kids here and there that used to go to PSU.

Thus, what the rest of us should hope won't happen is that a competent coach comes in when Franklin's first couple classes are juniors and seniors. While I don't think he's brought in enough talent to truly compete for a NC there will be enough there that the right coach can win a bunch of games his first year, maybe have a big win or two and get the hype machine (for the future) going on full blast. The best case scenario is that he lasts 4 or so more years, never gets over the 8/9 win hump and leaves the next coach with a roster that is sub par by PSU standards.

 

[dockentwo]

I think that is by and large accurate. Bo seemed to always get consistently "ok" classes, enough to win as much as he was winning (and even that had a lot to do with the excellent facilities and development opportunities our program offers, i.e., we may have been punching a little above our weight there). In order to really become a nationally relevant team again, we have to be able to challenge and beat tOSU, Michigan, and MSU. We may even have to worry about Penn State being tough again once their ship is righted. That means we have to pull in recruiting classes that are at least CLOSE to the top 10 level classes 2 of those 4 programs are going to be getting fairly regularly (until Urban Meyer returns to Hell to resume ruling it, or Jim Harbaugh actually explodes).

That means top 20 classes, and regularly. So, yeah, that means winning records, bowl appearances, and no more embarrassing blow-out losses or losses to bottom feeding programs (sorry, Purdue, you're just not that good). I think these coaches know how to recruit very, very well, but the program itself has to back up their efforts too.

Nice. And I think you are on point about the excellent facilities and development helping coach P; and word he was resistant to its full use and development - another reason he moved on.

 

[JohnRossEwing]

Yep the difference in success between Nebraska and MSU has very little to do with recruiting. Dantonio is a well organized, all business HC, that demands the best out of his players and staff. Or former HC was far from it.

Didn't bo go like 3-1 vs MSU?

 

[headcard]

Didn't bo go like 3-1 vs MSU?

2-2 in the B1G. 3-2 if you want to count his W as interim coach in the Bowl Game (which we probably shouldn't for the purposes of this discussion). Still, I would say the point remains MSU has had more success because of the culture established by Dantonio.

 

[JohnRossEwing]

2-2 in the B1G. 3-2 if you want to count his W as interim coach in the Bowl Game (which we probably shouldn't for the purposes of this discussion). Still, I would say the point remains MSU has had more success because of the culture established by Dantonio.

Nah, I would not count the bowl game win. For some reason I can't remember him being too into versus Michigan State I don't know why.

 

[headcard]

Nah, I would not count the bowl game win. For some reason I can't remember him being too into versus Michigan State I don't know why.

Won the first two (11 and 12), lost the next two (13 and 14). And that win in East Lansing in 2012 was wild.
http://www.huskermax.com/games/michiganstateBT.html

 

[Pennsyhusker]

I disagree with your point on not worrying about PSU and it is because I agree 100% that Franklin is way overrated. The worst case scenario, for the rest of the B10, is that he gets fired in 2 years. He came in and recruited well but that train is starting to slow down (started to slow down towards the end of the last cycle when he lost some kids before signing day). Kids are starting to see that he is more bark than bite, tOSU/Mich/MSU have dedicated a lot of resources to mining NJ/MD/VA/etc. (more than they traditionally do...plus ND is cleaning up in PA this year) and believe it or not the two new coaches at RU and MD are landing kids here and there that used to go to PSU.

Thus, what the rest of us should hope won't happen is that a competent coach comes in when Franklin's first couple classes are juniors and seniors. While I don't think he's brought in enough talent to truly compete for a NC there will be enough there that the right coach can win a bunch of games his first year, maybe have a big win or two and get the hype machine (for the future) going on full blast. The best case scenario is that he lasts 4 or so more years, never gets over the 8/9 win hump and leaves the next coach with a roster that is sub par by PSU standards.

Look, I am a native Nebraskan and rabid Husker fan, currently in exile (going on 20 years) in PA. I HATE PSU and its fans. But it is better for the B1G and for all of us if PSU returns to playing championship football. A weak conference with OSU and Michigan winning everything every year is not good. Just look at the history of the B1G from say, 1965-1990, and you will see that the "Big two and then everyone else" was bad for the conference. Just like the old Big 8 was better if a Mizzou or a Colorado occasionally rose up to challenge the NU OU thing. I want PSU to be great. But I want Nebraska to be even better.

 

[otismotis08]

Look, I am a native Nebraskan and rabid Husker fan, currently in exile (going on 20 years) in PA. I HATE PSU and its fans. But it is better for the B1G and for all of us if PSU returns to playing championship football. A weak conference with OSU and Michigan winning everything every year is not good. Just look at the history of the B1G from say, 1965-1990, and you will see that the "Big two and then everyone else" was bad for the conference. Just like the old Big 8 was better if a Mizzou or a Colorado occasionally rose up to challenge the NU OU thing. I want PSU to be great. But I want Nebraska to be even better.

"As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." Proverbs 27:17

 

[phoenix4nu]

I disagree with your point on not worrying about PSU and it is because I agree 100% that Franklin is way overrated. The worst case scenario, for the rest of the B10, is that he gets fired in 2 years. He came in and recruited well but that train is starting to slow down (started to slow down towards the end of the last cycle when he lost some kids before signing day). Kids are starting to see that he is more bark than bite, tOSU/Mich/MSU have dedicated a lot of resources to mining NJ/MD/VA/etc. (more than they traditionally do...plus ND is cleaning up in PA this year) and believe it or not the two new coaches at RU and MD are landing kids here and there that used to go to PSU.

Thus, what the rest of us should hope won't happen is that a competent coach comes in when Franklin's first couple classes are juniors and seniors. While I don't think he's brought in enough talent to truly compete for a NC there will be enough there that the right coach can win a bunch of games his first year, maybe have a big win or two and get the hype machine (for the future) going on full blast. The best case scenario is that he lasts 4 or so more years, never gets over the 8/9 win hump and leaves the next coach with a roster that is sub par by PSU standards.

I could see Tom Herman going there if Franklin gets fired in 2 years.

 

[headcard]

I could see Tom Herman going there if Franklin gets fired in 2 years.

That would be frightening.

 

[Nebraska Fan]

I could see Tom Herman going there if Franklin gets fired in 2 years.

if he continues to do great at Houston why would he go there?