During the dominant run and into the Solich era, did anyone deep down, at any point, become nervous at all that it would all end? Or were some people convinced that we would always be that good? Or were some people brutally honest with themselves that all dominant runs come to an end at some point? Not knocking on anybody or anything just sincerely curious. When I was growing up, it was just kind of always assumed that we would be elite. Even after the '01 Miami game, I remember my initial thought after the game being, "it's fine, we'll be back again." Except......we never did go back, or really get anywhere close to that again.
Honest Question
- Thread starter Jhollenbeck41
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Nope, never thought I would see this. I thought we would be 9+ wins/year. I figured we would lose to the likes of Texas and Oklahoma for a while, but would put together a string of good recruit classes about every 10 years to put us back in NC contention a few years here and there...and so on and so on. I would take THAT "...mediocrity" right now.
Probably not a great thread because I can't tell if these are serious or sarcastic comments......sorry guys
I probably never thought it would get to the point it is now. But I didn’t ever think we were going to continue to be 12-1 or 13-0 forever. I figured our low points would be similar to the nine wins season is that Bo had
Honestly I had my doubts about frank, just was concerned that he had no prior head coaching experience at a p 5 school. But I figured he was surrounded with toms assistants so I thought they would help make up the deficiencies. Problem was a number of the assistants were close to retirement and didn’t help with recruiting. and so the downfall began
The idea of a single 4 win season did not even seem possible to me. Now we’re staring down the barrel of 3 straight awful seasons. Man - never thought I’d see the day. I don’t even think I believed a losing season was likely.
I figured that Nebraska poured enough resources into the football program and EVERYONE wanted them to succeed - the debacle of the past few seasons would never happen.
I didn’t ever expect periods like we saw from 93-97, but I thought what we saw from 72-93 would be the norm. Always good, and occasionally everything coming together to have a shot at a NC.
Never thought I would see Nebraska play such awful football week after week. It is hard to wrap my head around.
I figured that Nebraska poured enough resources into the football program and EVERYONE wanted them to succeed - the debacle of the past few seasons would never happen.
I didn’t ever expect periods like we saw from 93-97, but I thought what we saw from 72-93 would be the norm. Always good, and occasionally everything coming together to have a shot at a NC.
Never thought I would see Nebraska play such awful football week after week. It is hard to wrap my head around.
Nope, Never crossed by mind it would be this bad. Didn't think it was possible at Nebraska. I knew we would have down years. In my mind down years were never lower than 8 wins. I would bet you could ask any college football fan at the time if Nebraska would have a stretch like the last 20 years. They would all have said no. Even after the Cally **** storm, I still though that was fluke and we would bounce right back with Bo. The Riley hire from day 1 I said we are F$%*$#
why would anyone be nervous about such a thing. The point of competition is that you always have a chance to win or lose. I would say there were periods where we had a competitive advantage because of cheating or roiding, keeping the same coaches, taking advantage of walk on rules and prop 48 rules. The climate was bound to change, coaches or stalwarts of a regime will change and the next will never be as great as the great ones. If you look at our money coming in, our investments into S@C, recruiting...you will see we are barely in the top 25. We still invest heavily in other sports, we still attempt to cut corners when it comes to recruiting, even though we have to travel farther than most to get talent. We aren't exceptional outside of our loyal fanbase.
never entered my mind.. we had a completely different mindset as fans back then.. it's unravelled all to hell.. just look at all the excuses the fan base makes for this team, coaches, and players. Heck Bellevue West might be able to take these losers.
Somebody told me back in 2001 that we (Nebraska Fans) would see the beginning of a downfall. I was living in Washington State at the time. At first I thought he was full of ish and jealous, turns out he was right...
Never saw it. We were college football. I remember thinking how terrible the 98 season was after going 8-4. I didn’t like the Solich hire, felt we could have done better. Kinda like that super attractive girl that is with a guy who is completely out of her league. Our recruiting started to slip when Stoops took over at OU. Even after Callahan I thought Bo would get us there. When we hired Mike I knew we had just become an average team at best, which is where we are in 2019. So sad it’s gotten this low.
I don’t read any of these as sarcastic, except the one about being from the future or whatever. Back then the 9-win streak was just like the sellout streak, it was a given. We knew we wouldn’t stay in the Top 5 forever, but would have never imagined it would all unravel to the point it has.
Every dynasty run ends, in every sport at every level (high school, college and pros).
The programs with the money, support and city/state culture always rebound eventually.
The Packers were dominating the NFL for a longtime. Then they sucked for the longest time. Then they start to win Super Bowls again.
The Cowboys dominated the NFL for a period of time. Now they struggle to make a playoff game. They will be back to the Super Bowl level again some day.
The Patriots sucked big time before Tom Brady arrived. They will suck after he leaves.
Alabama had greatness under Bryant, then faded away, and now back.
The bigger question is this, can a college program that has never won a national title in more than 125 seasons of football be able to ever win a national title in our lifetime? I would argue no.
I saw a decline coming but didn't ever entertain the thought of having 3- 4 win seasons in a row. When Callahan was hired I saw a ceiling of 8 wins being the ceiling. When Bo came in I didn't see a ceiling and thought the floor would be around 9 wins. I knew the Riley experiment was going to be a disaster as soon as I saw him hiring assistants, but didn't really see anything like 2017 coming until diaco was hired.
I probably had too high of expectations for frost but still kind of felt like the transition years would still be good enough to make a bowl every year.
I probably had too high of expectations for frost but still kind of felt like the transition years would still be good enough to make a bowl every year.
I can accept another year or two of this garbage if it means we get back to B1G championship games afterwards.
That's about what I thought - during that period, NU briefly slipped a little from about 1989 through early 1992 (before Frazier took over as QB) - I thought a year like 1990, when we finished #24 in the AP poll (but #17 in the Coaches poll), was about as bad as it would probably get for us.
I always tell my dad this but I figure it's probably a lot harder for the older guys and ladies to watch what it has become because they've seen what it CAN be if everything works the way it should. And it's probably the reason that I, and more people my age have more patience because it's really all we've seen out of Nebraska Football, average to below average. So it's like, all it really can be is better because we've already seen it be bad so it's not like it can really drop that much lower.
It's all about hiring the right guys and letting them do their thing (hopefully Frost is that guy). Look at Alabama...they went through a period of coaches that were not all that great (Stallings...the strip club guy...etc.). They get Saban and look what they've done.
Look at Clemson and Dabo Swiney. They weren't all that before him. Or Bill Snyder at K-State.
Look at Kansas basketball. They hit a home run on a risky hire (Roy Williams) and then followed it up with Bill Self.
Hire the right guys and everything takes care of itself. Easier said than done, obviously.
Look at Clemson and Dabo Swiney. They weren't all that before him. Or Bill Snyder at K-State.
Look at Kansas basketball. They hit a home run on a risky hire (Roy Williams) and then followed it up with Bill Self.
Hire the right guys and everything takes care of itself. Easier said than done, obviously.