TCU was a 5 win team before this past season. NOBODY saw them being a 13 win team. Let alone making the playoffs or being in the national championship.
Agreed. I think the goal should be winning the West consistently, competing and occasionally winning the Big10, and playing in the playoff. In this day and age if you get a really good QB you have a shot.
I just think you could easily lose 2 games in big ten play and be a playoff team. Looking at 2025 Nebraska could win all but Michigan (or USC) and OSU and still be a top 12 team while OSU and Michigan (or USC) play for the big ten title. I know there are a ton of what ifs involved in a scenario like that and while i think Rhule will have these guys playing well im not sold on being at that level by then, the top half of the B1G is rough and the lower half can beat the best of them too.
You are an optimist my friend, I think anything is possible but I just want to see well coached good football. 6 wins but bringing the fun back to watching husker football would be a good 23’ for me, anything better and we all get to breathe easy next off season
My wife’s a long time Husker fan, I’m a lifelong UCLA fan. I root for the Huskers…except for certain games starting in 2024. :)
That being said, I’ve experienced this same thing (sort of) with UCLA basketball. We’ve had the same thing with John Wooden as you guys have with Tom Osborne — former glory days but difficult to repeat the era.
What I’ve seen with UCLA basketball is that things can change…and change quickly. UCLA won the championship again in 1995 with Harrick…and then made it to 3 straight Final Fours with Ben Howland. Large turnarounds, all in a matter of a few years (based on coaching and recruiting/player development).
This is my long winded way of saying — coaches matter big time…but once good ones are in there, the ceiling starts moving up, and fast.
UCLA basketball doesn't have the same hurdle Nebraska football does. The lack of high Caliber recruits in close proximity puts Nebraska at a huge disadvantage. There are plenty of recruits in LA.
That’s a fair point. But wasn’t (isn’t) there a lot of homegrown football talent in NE? Legitimately asking — talking with my wife and uncles-in-law, that seemed to be the approach back in the day. Build them up in the weight room for 3+ years and then let them loose on the field to dominate. Seems like Rhule is trying to tap into something similar…
I've wondered this myself. It seemed like in the 90s there were a lot of players that were from Nebraska. It might be that Nebraska ran a system that was not as dependent on physical freaks and that it could depend more on discipline and fill in with strength. I also think the 85 scholarship limit and the end of partial qualifiers really hurt Nebraska more than other schools. Maybe because Nebraska had to take a chance with more players given the distance from talent and those 2 things gave them a wider net to find the diamonds in the rough.
1995 Nebraska roster - 180 players, 105 from Nebraska. 58%
2022 Nebraska roster - 150 players; 64 from Nebraska. 43%
If you look you will see 30 more players on the roster which gives more chances to find the players that might work for you that didn't look like sure things right out of high school. You cant take a chance on a maybe when you have more to choose from. The in state percentage is +15%. That seems significant. Especially when you just look at the number 41 more kids from the state of Nebraska. The real benefit of that is almost no player from Nebraska was going to put on a Nebraska uniform and transfer. Also the football team was connected to the high school teams in the state. Almost every high school in Nebraska ran the option from what I have heard. The coaches at Nebraska would teach the high school coaches the system. So the state was almost a farm system for the university. Plus just add the state pride they had and that is an added bonus. When you play for your childhood favorite team you likely work harder to make the team better. It is just natural.
I think the program ceiling is about Penn State under Franklin. Consistently 9-11 wins with the occasional down (6-7 wins) season and the once or twice every 15 year National Championship contending run.
This is probably pretty fair. Tennessee’s recent revival shows that we can get back to being a top ten team fairly consistently. If Rhule is the developer that his history has shown, maybe we turn a 10-15th ranked class into a top five team most years. The best players in the country will want to play for him if he can develop better than others. Saban and Smart are the examples of this…. Great recruits and great developers.
The Iowa comparison doesn’t jive because Husker fans won’t allow it. Iowa fans (and Iowans in general) are happy with mediocrity.
I say this as someone who lived in Omaha until I was 18 and Iowa the 28 years since.
Living in Iowa, Iowa fans are not happy with the way their program is heading. The vast majority hate Brian Ferentz and are grumbling about getting rid of Kirk, and personally I don’t blame them. They think they can be on the same level as Wisconsin.
I'm sure they can. But Iowa and Wisconsin aren't going to be national contenders unless they pull an elite coach. Their ceiling is a B1G championship maybe 1 in 5 years.
That being said, Wisconsin really outdid themselves with their hire.
Fickell has done way more consistently as a head coach elsewhere than Frost ever did. I dont think you can compare Frost and Fickell, but time will tell
I'll admit I drank the Frost kool-aid year 1 but he turned out to be just another on a long and undistinguished list of G5 1 year wonders.
Jim McElwain
Tom Herman
Brady Hoke
Kevin Sumlin
All guys who got the keys to big time P5 programs based on 1 outstanding year at a G5.
Penn State is a reasonable ceiling. And I’m fine with that. You’re a consistent 12 team playoff contender at that level. When the stars align once or twice every decade you might have a shot to win it all.
According to 247's roster talent composite rankings for 2022, we were #24 and TCU was #32. At this level, that's a pretty fair difference. With the same level of coaching I think our roster holds up quite a but better, but still a blowout. I'd say something more like 42-17.
Keep in mind that this was for a team that went 3-9 the year before and hadn't had a winning season since 2016. With Rhule's NFL connections, I'm sure we could get higher ranked classes if we start winning. Not to mention we now have the best facilities in the country.
Talent will not be a problem once we get the right coach. Hell, even Frost could get top 20-ish classes.
If Nebraska could keep their recruits from leaving it would be a huge difference. Nebraska has easily out recruited Minnesota Wisconsin Iowa but the kids fizzle out and leave way too often. I think they get home sick when things get tough. Need it focus on kids closer to Lincoln. A 3 star from the area that stays > 4 star from the coast that leaves. College is a big enough cultural shock without the actual culture shock of moving to an area where the people are so different. Focusing on Texas is not too bad. Texas and Nebraska are a lot closer of a culture than Nebraska and California.
Yes, look at some of Frost's top recruits:
Maurice Washington - kicked off the team
Luke McCaffrey - transfered
Wandale Robinson - transfered
Thomas Fidone - injured
Teddy Prochaska - injured
Not to mention, J.D. Spielman who wasn't recruited by Frost, but transferred out while being one of Nebraska's best players.
They left because the program under frost was a clown show...if Rhule can stick to his guns and show progress, the kids will stay because they will believe in what they are doing.
I think it has been happening since Callahan.
Callahan, Pelini, Riley, Frost all had good recruiting scores. But so many of their 4 stars wouldn't contribute. Seems like Nebraska has the lowest hit rate on their high level recruits. But I have no data, this is just my gut feeling. I know there was some recent article mentioning transfers I think. That mightve just been Frost.
Callahan did a pretty damn good job of keeping recruits.
Lucky, Suh, Dillard, Prince, Barry Turner, Chris Brooks, Zack Bowman, Thenarse, Purify, Carl Nicks, Kenny Wilson, Andre Jones, Burks, Yancy, Asante, Murillo, etc.
There's plenty to complain about with Callahan and his staff but they got elite talent to Lincoln and for the most part kept it there.
Long-term, the ceiling for Nebraska is dynastic championships. Conference titles. Recruiting classes. Heisman trophies. And a continued sell-out streak.
That N carries power. We all bleed husker red, even Iowa fans. God must have known what he was doing, making us all bleed huskers red.
It seems like a pipe dream for anyone under 30 years old, but Nebraska will absolutely be back in the top ten with the right coach and I think/hope Rhule is that guy. Nebraska is still behind in the trenches and might be the next 2-3 years, but Sims running ability and the three RB’s Nebraska has in their stable May help the next couple years. Recruiting and developing the big boys have been a struggle. Benhart and Corcoran just may have been over rated. Hopefully Raiola and Rhule can unlock their talent this year. The first three out of four games should give them some confidence. Minnesota will be a tough win, but maybe with the experience this line has together, they get over the hump and get a W on opening night.
College football is cyclical in terms of blue bloods. Look where Alabama was and is now, Michigan wasn’t very good for a king stretch, Ohio State wasn’t good. USC wasn’t then was then wasn’t. Texas, etc…. Nebraska is and will be a blue blood. All it will take is a couple 8+ win seasons to start getting better recruits, and then you’ll start seeing 10+ win seasons. With the 12 team playoff, I think in five years, you’ll start seeing NU being in or right on the cusp yearly. They can win a NC again, maybe not just three in five years.
Besides literally one season when has Ohio State been bad in your lifetime? Same with Oklahoma.
I agree with you but Ohio State and OU are exceptions and I just wanted to point it out
Oklahoma was bad in the 90's
Ohio st couldn't beat Michigan in the 90's despite being a top 20(10?) program then
Ohio St has been extremely fortunate that they haven't had any baaad stretches unlike most blue bloods. That won't last forever for them
Ohio state is the most bulletproof program in the country. Nobody, absolutely NOBODY has avoided the down turns that happen to everyone as well as they have.
Their time will come. It'll be interesting to see how Cincinnati moving to the Big 12 changes things. I think a big factor in their dominance was being the only P5 school in state.
It makes me feel old that there are people who don't remember Oklahoma being bad. As a kid growing up in the 90s, I remember being surprised that Oklahoma was considered great once upon a time.
The John Cooper era wasn’t very good. Nebraska hasn’t been bad other than 2015-2022, which is a very very short period of time in the last 50 years. Oklahoma was petty bad for most of the 90’s. It’s cyclical. There’s no reason with Nebraska’s fan support, tradition, facilities, NIL pool and now hopefully administration aligned with the Head Coach for Nebraska to get back to annual National relevance.
Josh cooper consistently finished in the top 15 in the country. He just couldn’t beat Michigan enough. Pretty good if your “down” years are consistently competing for national championships still.
No other program in college football has as few losing seasons since 1900 as Ohio state. They are the most consistent program in the country. Literally every other program has had longer and more prolonged droughts than osu
I'm not disagreeing with that just that the Cooper years were worse than consistently top 15. Honestly the Cooper years were more like if Pelini had 3 years of Ganz. A couple of contending years and then ranked in the back half of the top 25 or unranked.
Cooper at Osu went 111-43-4 in 13 years. That averages out to a 8.5 wins and 3.3 losses per year. That is decent but certainly not spectacular. He had a 7 year stretch of finishing in the top 20 every year, and finished 2nd in the country twice. So, some pretty decent high marks. But like you said he also had some .500 ish years sprinkled in.
But yes, no program finishes in the top 10 90% of the time if you are looking back a century. The only point I made is there isn’t a single program that is more consistently really good (top 25) every year than Ohio state. Alabama, usc, Georgia, Michigan, notre dame, Oklahoma, Texas, they’ve all had more down periods and more unranked seasons.
I personally think our star power in recruiting is near it's ceiling, but that's not to criticize it really. Top 15-25 ranked classes should be producing a lot more wins for us. Hopefully that pans out with Rhule.
>our star power in recruiting is near it's ceiling
With 5 or less wins in the past 6 seasons, you think that recruiting has hit a ceiling?
I don't think Nebraska will be top 5 every year or most years, but in no way is there a ceiling while the team hasn't won in the better part of a decade. The ceiling is higher, Nebraska can throw some weight around if it gets back to competing.
I just think it has more to do with not being in the southeast. I guess it could creep up with a couple 5 stars here and there, or maybe a plethora of 4s in some years. I guess I'm just saying I don't expect perennial top 10 classes even if the wins start coming.
I would absolutely love to be dead wrong and eat crow. That'd be fantastic lol.
Yeah we've only broken the top 10 once since it was tracked in the early 2000's and we've only broken the top 20 a handful of times. Mostly after we were competing.
the year after our big 12 title game(loss to texas) got us 16th. We somehow got 8th in 2005.
Winning shows we can prob nab top 15-20 classes consistently with the occ top 5-14.
With that said NIL does change things in Nebraska's favor a bit. We got the money to be a top 10 recruiting team every year.
I agree with this assessment. Don’t forget that 1 recruiting cycle with all the Calibraska kids. If we signed all those recruits that visited and were strongly considering Nebraska, that class would have been a top 10 class for sure. Most of those kids turned out to be busts or very limited impacts so also an example of how a highly ranked recruiting class doesn’t always translate to success either.
To be fair we would've had another top 10 finish in 08 if Callahan hadn't been fired.
[That class had 3 rivals 5* recruits.](https://web.archive.org/web/20071011002336/http://rivals100.rivals.com/teamrank.asp?SID=880)
Totally get it. IF, and that's a big if, the team starts winning there is good infrastructure, history, and passion that can grab more recruits.
Fingers crossed. We all are hoping for the same things. GBR
If we start winning consistently, I’m sure our recruiting will get a little better. Probably never an Alabama or tOSU level regularly, but I’m sure the occasional season or two will get there.
This is pretty much where I am at overall.
You have to get yourself in position to have a shot at being elite. That’s solid win totals year in and year out. Then, you hit the dice roll on a couple legit talent players to combine with your solid base.
You can’t flip in football as easily as other sports. You can do a lot with an insane qb but can’t do it all with nothing around them. The truly good teams will still beat you. You don’t get to the point of getting that elite gamechange recruit without a solid team.
You set the base, get a GameChanger and then you can potentially flip to elite. A lot has to go right but it can happen. Then, you can’t do anything to break it or it’s a damn long road back as it shatters quickly if you are not in a hotbed
It all starts with winning. It builds on itself.
Realistically I don't buy into the idea it can't be a dominate program. Alabama, Georgia, etc. those places aren't amazing to live in. That was a huge argument about California kids, sure it's not cold there, but it's not exactly a busy city with beautiful women everywhere like Los Angeles or the like.
I think it is going to take a bunch of coaches that have a vision and hard work to get there. I honestly believe this coaching staff is a breath of fresh air and I trust them to develop and recruit players. That's already proven here in this 2024 recruiting class. It'll take some time, but the exterior reasons people don't think a program can be great are dumb. Look at Ohio State, it's basically the same place, they win. It can be done, we have amazing backing with NIL. Looking forward to the upcoming seasons, I think we have identified some talented players that we can use in the B1G amazingly.
I sincerely believe we can be top contenders . We have the resources and the will we just need to have the right coaches and admin and everyone moving in the right direction.
Why couldn’t Nebraska get to the level of Alabama? Alabama doesn’t have any proprietary rights to being an elite program.
Nobody is saying Nebraska is going to be Alabama next year, but why couldn’t a good coach who develops talent at the coaching level and the athlete level have success here? There’s no bylaw of the NCAA that says Nebraska has to suck or can’t get above 9 wins a year. Alabama wasn’t good before Saban. Is a coach not allowed to come here and have the same results?
So to answer your question, their long term ceiling is being competitive at the national level. People act like Texas is competitive at the national level even though they have a similar decade compared to us. If Nebraska plays at the level they’re capable of, because they’ve developed talent for the first time in 13 years, they would have a 7-3 record or better every decade against Iowa, Minnesota, Northwestern, Illinois, and Purdue. They would have a 6-4 record or better against Wisconsin. They would be competitive and splitting matchups with Ohio St, Michigan, and Penn St. If they beat the teams they *should* beat, there’s no reason 8 wins couldn’t be their floor.
If Boise St can win 10+ games for a decade, so can Nebraska.
I’d be thrilled if Nebraska were in the hunt for a conference championship and playoff spot most years, and if in the years they didn’t make it they only lost to the teams that did. So something like Michigan, Penn State, or even Wisconsin in their better years. (I’m also hoping more teams catch up to Ohio State, but we’ll see if that happens on a consistent basis).
I think it’ll be a long time (once Saban retires) before we see the type of sustained year over year superiority he built at Alabama.
For the next few years, the main thing I want to see is the team playing well, developing talent, and winning the games they should win (and doing a little better than predicted in games where they’re not favored), with year over year improvement.
There’s no shame in losing a hard fought game because your opponent was the better team today - playing the game means accepting that someone will lose the game and it might be you.
I just want to see Nebraska not beating themselves, both on and off the field.
Realistically speaking Nebraska will likely fall from Blue blood status, we just don't recruit well enough. We're likely a team that can break top 10 recruiting here and there. This isn't something though to be upset about because Nebraska has money but we also don't normally hire the best coaches. The highest end guys are going to Florida/Texas/Bama/Georgia/Ohio etc But we can also nab a top 15 coach typically.
The only way Nebraska really returns to glory is if someone comes in and wants to buckle down here and build something for a long time. Ala Nick Saban at Bama. You turn the program around into a consistent Playoff threat and we will nab 5 stars.
Another thing is getting talent into the NFL. Nebraska is alright but we don't create a lot of first 3 round guys. We give a lot of late rounders which is kinda sad. We have a good amount of players in the NFL though but it's not because Nebraska did them favors it's because those kids went unsigned and worked their tails off.
My expectations were never to stay blue blood though. If we were just outside blue blood I'd be more than happy. Penn State/Texas/Texas A&M are what we should aim to be. A title here and there every 5-10 maybe 15 years but in the CFP for about 60% of them. That'd get fans hyped. We want to see wins not just titles, those days are over it's not possible to do that anymore.
It's all about the head coach and the staff he puts together. If they develop talent, they will win and attract better talent to develop, and the program will have an upward trajectory. Hang onto that coach, and keep replacing assistants effectively as they get hired away, and you will stay on the top layer banging on the playoff door.
Your head coach determines your ceiling. Also, college football has an emotional factor that doesn't count nearly as much in the NFL. A coach may be a great college coach and a poor NFL coach for this reason.
A lot of people say we need a coach that can develop gems which certainly wouldn't hurt, but an elite recruiter can probably pull in top 15 classes for us. If Scott fucking Frost got top 20 classes while drunk then we can get top 10 with a real coach.
If he hadn't been fired Callahan would've had two top 5 classes in 4 years. Elite recruiters can bring in top classes here.
There's a reason Pelini's teams went from legitimate conference/national title contenders in 09/10 to scraping out 9 wins and getting blown out 4x/year once Callahan's talent aged out.
I am probably in a bit of a minority but I think Callahan was much closer than people give credit. I think he could have gotten us to a very high level.
Look at his focal points and how he ran it. He was a couple coordinators away for doing something very solid in my mind. Add in that he was/is an absolutely elite oline guy…. He could have done well
My hot take is that if Nebraska had moved to the Big Ten 5 years earlier Callahan would have been a huge success. He built a Big Ten style team with a balanced pro-style offense and big, strong linebacker-heavy defense. It worked pretty well in 05 and 06 but the Big 12 became a total basketball on grass, pace and space spread it out conference and Cosgrove's D couldn't adapt or keep up.
His teams were similar to the Ohio State and Michigan teams that got exposed by Florida and USC in the bowl games.
We won’t be a powerhouse dynasty again like the 90s. There are too many factors that favor the coastal regions for sustained dominance.
There’s no reason we can’t be a major player in our own conference and occasionally put together a team capable of a conference title and playoff appearance.
The support and money in our program give us an edge over most Midwest teams. I really think one or two 8+ win seasons and this thing could be primed to explode. People are ready to have a team they can get excited about again.
I didn’t mean the campus has to literally be on the coastline. Since 2000 Oklahoma and Ohio St are the only teams to win it from the land locked states.
Realistically Nebraska does not have the Los Angeles/Florida Beaches/Booming young city (Austin/Columbus) advantages that the top class programs have. A 5 star recruit, all other things equal, will choose 30-40 programs before Nebraska. (Assuming Football wise things are equal)
There is also the southern argument, not like Tuscaloosa is NYC, but 90% of their players are in a nice 300 mile radius from campus. Nebraska is stuck as an undesirable location without the crazy athletes you get in Bama/Georgia/Carolinas/Georgia.
With those two disadvantages I think we top out as a consistent 10 win team, making a 12 team playoff pretty consistently. I do think we fall short of the elusive Natty unless a miracle (Raiola + friends) love the Huskers.
GBR!
Off topic…I wonder if Ryan Day would be on the hot seat if OSU gets routed by Michigan again…That would be crazy but that is a prerequisite for that job
Our ceiling is a 9 win program who wins the conference once a decade or so.
People always say Nebraska fans have unrealistic expectations but I basically never see that, people are usually reasonable.
All I want is for when we have a big game it not to be over in 3 minutes. I’m exhausted by the big games that are 28-0 in the first half with no reason to even bother watching.
I don’t know the actual stat, but I’d be shocked if Nebraska doesn’t get blown out by far the most of any team compared to average recruiting rank. We recruit in the top 30 but get our doors blown off at a similar rate to teams outside the top 100.
He’s talking about long term. What you’re describing is our Floor. Our Floor long term should be 9-3. With Rhule, I feel like he’s the coach that has the best shot to reach our long term expectations.
9-3 long term being our floor is insane with the kind of staff we have? You really think 7-5 and 6-6 should be our floor? I guess Husker fans think we want to be where Iowa is at and not compete for the CFP every year.
It's all about the money. Nebraska has always had the money, but we went down a really weird road with bad/weird coaches that in spite of having the money and often good recruits we couldn't capitalize.
With a legitimate coach we will have the ability to get upper tier talent soon (not top tier), but after a couple winning seasons under our belt the top tier will come for the money and be able to make a difference.
Everybody likes to poke at the weather, but our weather is no different than Ohio State and they do just fine.
We have no ceiling IMHO, we can get to the top and dominate because of the money we have backing the program.
I think long term we will have a year or two occasionally where we make the playoff and have an opportunity to play for a championship but they will probably be few and far between. I think we will be competing for big ten championships more regularly. The addition of usc and ucla should help with recruiting.
Iowa level or less
Demographic reality are hitting Nebraska hard, we don't have the 500 mile radius to compete in the modern cfb era
Additionally as a Gen Z fan I can tell you there is a growing age gap in the fanbase and continued mediocrity will take away the one factor that can help the demographic issues, our fanbase
I think sustained Iowa level success is likely our ceiling and there's nothing wrong with that
I don’t know if the delusions of this fan base will ever truly course-correct.
Realistic, and overly optimistic tbh, ceiling for this program is 8 wins a year.
Idk how people can legitimately think “9-10 wins, occasionally winning the conference and every year having an outside chance at the playoffs” after seeing what’s transpired these last ten years.
We’re 1-7 against Iowa in the last eight years. Two years since their last ten win season. Over a decade since ours. They consistently put first/second rounders in the draft. At this point I’d love to be “doomed to be Iowa.”
I spend an infinite amount of time in Lincoln for work and listening in on the community and the sports talk expectations. As an outsider, 9 wins per year is the ceiling and you cannot compete with PSU because of your geographical location irrespective of NIL money. The days of winning a conference championship are behind you.
If Iowa had a decent OC they would have had a very good run under Kirk Ferentz. I'd think we could do better than that even, but I'd take it (Iowa with a better offense).
8-9 wins until we prove otherwise. Above that is darn elite, discounting lucky as shit seasons.
I just want consistency above “bowl eligible” for now. Give our program a chance to be elite again. We have got to start there before I think the ceiling is higher
We can be a 9-11 wins per year program. Football in Lincoln in the fall is great. Full stadium and very passionate fans. It’s also the only game in town. If you are a good coach………and a great recruiter, I don’t see the problem with getting top talent to come. And between the farm boys of Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota, Minnesota……..you should have a pipeline year in and year out.
We’ll see where Rhule can take us
I think Penn State could be an analogue for a possible ceiling, but I would still see that as highly unlikely. More realistically the level Pelino achieved will be our achievable ceiling.
Right now in todays landscape, a 12 playoff spot appearance. If TCU can do it, so can we with the right people in place.
Exactly
We are TCU? C'mon
TCU was a 5 win team before this past season. NOBODY saw them being a 13 win team. Let alone making the playoffs or being in the national championship.
I like our chances then!
Agreed. I think the goal should be winning the West consistently, competing and occasionally winning the Big10, and playing in the playoff. In this day and age if you get a really good QB you have a shot.
Sadly after this year, the west will be no more
Fuck totally forgot about that. I’d assume Big10 will get 4-5 teams in the playoff series a year, that might be a bit high.
Last year If USC was already in we would’ve had 4.
With the new conference alignment is weird to say but I think Nebraska has a better shot at a playoff birth than playing for a conference title
You’re getting downvoted but your absolutely right, it’d be a lot easier to be a top 12 team then trying to be a top 2 team In the Big.
It’s not even top two. If we make a Big 10 championship we will be heavy underdogs against OSU/MICH/USC
What does "It’s not even top two" mean?
Dude, we've been good since USC was good.
I just think you could easily lose 2 games in big ten play and be a playoff team. Looking at 2025 Nebraska could win all but Michigan (or USC) and OSU and still be a top 12 team while OSU and Michigan (or USC) play for the big ten title. I know there are a ton of what ifs involved in a scenario like that and while i think Rhule will have these guys playing well im not sold on being at that level by then, the top half of the B1G is rough and the lower half can beat the best of them too.
you’re* than*
I think we can go to a playoff game this year
You are an optimist my friend, I think anything is possible but I just want to see well coached good football. 6 wins but bringing the fun back to watching husker football would be a good 23’ for me, anything better and we all get to breathe easy next off season
My wife’s a long time Husker fan, I’m a lifelong UCLA fan. I root for the Huskers…except for certain games starting in 2024. :) That being said, I’ve experienced this same thing (sort of) with UCLA basketball. We’ve had the same thing with John Wooden as you guys have with Tom Osborne — former glory days but difficult to repeat the era. What I’ve seen with UCLA basketball is that things can change…and change quickly. UCLA won the championship again in 1995 with Harrick…and then made it to 3 straight Final Fours with Ben Howland. Large turnarounds, all in a matter of a few years (based on coaching and recruiting/player development). This is my long winded way of saying — coaches matter big time…but once good ones are in there, the ceiling starts moving up, and fast.
UCLA basketball doesn't have the same hurdle Nebraska football does. The lack of high Caliber recruits in close proximity puts Nebraska at a huge disadvantage. There are plenty of recruits in LA.
That’s a fair point. But wasn’t (isn’t) there a lot of homegrown football talent in NE? Legitimately asking — talking with my wife and uncles-in-law, that seemed to be the approach back in the day. Build them up in the weight room for 3+ years and then let them loose on the field to dominate. Seems like Rhule is trying to tap into something similar…
I've wondered this myself. It seemed like in the 90s there were a lot of players that were from Nebraska. It might be that Nebraska ran a system that was not as dependent on physical freaks and that it could depend more on discipline and fill in with strength. I also think the 85 scholarship limit and the end of partial qualifiers really hurt Nebraska more than other schools. Maybe because Nebraska had to take a chance with more players given the distance from talent and those 2 things gave them a wider net to find the diamonds in the rough.
1995 Nebraska roster - 180 players, 105 from Nebraska. 58% 2022 Nebraska roster - 150 players; 64 from Nebraska. 43% If you look you will see 30 more players on the roster which gives more chances to find the players that might work for you that didn't look like sure things right out of high school. You cant take a chance on a maybe when you have more to choose from. The in state percentage is +15%. That seems significant. Especially when you just look at the number 41 more kids from the state of Nebraska. The real benefit of that is almost no player from Nebraska was going to put on a Nebraska uniform and transfer. Also the football team was connected to the high school teams in the state. Almost every high school in Nebraska ran the option from what I have heard. The coaches at Nebraska would teach the high school coaches the system. So the state was almost a farm system for the university. Plus just add the state pride they had and that is an added bonus. When you play for your childhood favorite team you likely work harder to make the team better. It is just natural.
Relative to any state where the current powerhouses are located, there is not. Compared with say, Montana or Idaho? Much more
I think the program ceiling is about Penn State under Franklin. Consistently 9-11 wins with the occasional down (6-7 wins) season and the once or twice every 15 year National Championship contending run.
This is probably pretty fair. Tennessee’s recent revival shows that we can get back to being a top ten team fairly consistently. If Rhule is the developer that his history has shown, maybe we turn a 10-15th ranked class into a top five team most years. The best players in the country will want to play for him if he can develop better than others. Saban and Smart are the examples of this…. Great recruits and great developers.
The Iowa comparison doesn’t jive because Husker fans won’t allow it. Iowa fans (and Iowans in general) are happy with mediocrity. I say this as someone who lived in Omaha until I was 18 and Iowa the 28 years since.
Living in Iowa, Iowa fans are not happy with the way their program is heading. The vast majority hate Brian Ferentz and are grumbling about getting rid of Kirk, and personally I don’t blame them. They think they can be on the same level as Wisconsin.
I'm sure they can. But Iowa and Wisconsin aren't going to be national contenders unless they pull an elite coach. Their ceiling is a B1G championship maybe 1 in 5 years. That being said, Wisconsin really outdid themselves with their hire.
Wisconsin did pull an elite coach. Probably the best hire this offseason
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There is definitely no guarantee, but taking a G5 school to the playoff is a huge accomplishment
Fickell has done way more consistently as a head coach elsewhere than Frost ever did. I dont think you can compare Frost and Fickell, but time will tell
I'll admit I drank the Frost kool-aid year 1 but he turned out to be just another on a long and undistinguished list of G5 1 year wonders. Jim McElwain Tom Herman Brady Hoke Kevin Sumlin All guys who got the keys to big time P5 programs based on 1 outstanding year at a G5.
Exactly. So I guess I should have just applied that to Iowa. Then again the G5 to P5 transition can be rough
Well the good thing is when Ryan Day gets fired in a year or 2 he will drop Wisconsin so fast to go back home lol
And then we can get Ryan Day to coordinate our offense!!!! In my dreams
But how long have they lived like this.
Penn State is a reasonable ceiling. And I’m fine with that. You’re a consistent 12 team playoff contender at that level. When the stars align once or twice every decade you might have a shot to win it all.
It all comes down to coaching and development.
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According to 247's roster talent composite rankings for 2022, we were #24 and TCU was #32. At this level, that's a pretty fair difference. With the same level of coaching I think our roster holds up quite a but better, but still a blowout. I'd say something more like 42-17. Keep in mind that this was for a team that went 3-9 the year before and hadn't had a winning season since 2016. With Rhule's NFL connections, I'm sure we could get higher ranked classes if we start winning. Not to mention we now have the best facilities in the country. Talent will not be a problem once we get the right coach. Hell, even Frost could get top 20-ish classes.
If Nebraska could keep their recruits from leaving it would be a huge difference. Nebraska has easily out recruited Minnesota Wisconsin Iowa but the kids fizzle out and leave way too often. I think they get home sick when things get tough. Need it focus on kids closer to Lincoln. A 3 star from the area that stays > 4 star from the coast that leaves. College is a big enough cultural shock without the actual culture shock of moving to an area where the people are so different. Focusing on Texas is not too bad. Texas and Nebraska are a lot closer of a culture than Nebraska and California.
Yes, look at some of Frost's top recruits: Maurice Washington - kicked off the team Luke McCaffrey - transfered Wandale Robinson - transfered Thomas Fidone - injured Teddy Prochaska - injured Not to mention, J.D. Spielman who wasn't recruited by Frost, but transferred out while being one of Nebraska's best players.
They left because the program under frost was a clown show...if Rhule can stick to his guns and show progress, the kids will stay because they will believe in what they are doing.
I think it has been happening since Callahan. Callahan, Pelini, Riley, Frost all had good recruiting scores. But so many of their 4 stars wouldn't contribute. Seems like Nebraska has the lowest hit rate on their high level recruits. But I have no data, this is just my gut feeling. I know there was some recent article mentioning transfers I think. That mightve just been Frost.
Callahan did a pretty damn good job of keeping recruits. Lucky, Suh, Dillard, Prince, Barry Turner, Chris Brooks, Zack Bowman, Thenarse, Purify, Carl Nicks, Kenny Wilson, Andre Jones, Burks, Yancy, Asante, Murillo, etc. There's plenty to complain about with Callahan and his staff but they got elite talent to Lincoln and for the most part kept it there.
Long-term, the ceiling for Nebraska is dynastic championships. Conference titles. Recruiting classes. Heisman trophies. And a continued sell-out streak. That N carries power. We all bleed husker red, even Iowa fans. God must have known what he was doing, making us all bleed huskers red.
It seems like a pipe dream for anyone under 30 years old, but Nebraska will absolutely be back in the top ten with the right coach and I think/hope Rhule is that guy. Nebraska is still behind in the trenches and might be the next 2-3 years, but Sims running ability and the three RB’s Nebraska has in their stable May help the next couple years. Recruiting and developing the big boys have been a struggle. Benhart and Corcoran just may have been over rated. Hopefully Raiola and Rhule can unlock their talent this year. The first three out of four games should give them some confidence. Minnesota will be a tough win, but maybe with the experience this line has together, they get over the hump and get a W on opening night.
Amen. He also must put pitty on us for having to hold a balloon for thru halftime
College football is cyclical in terms of blue bloods. Look where Alabama was and is now, Michigan wasn’t very good for a king stretch, Ohio State wasn’t good. USC wasn’t then was then wasn’t. Texas, etc…. Nebraska is and will be a blue blood. All it will take is a couple 8+ win seasons to start getting better recruits, and then you’ll start seeing 10+ win seasons. With the 12 team playoff, I think in five years, you’ll start seeing NU being in or right on the cusp yearly. They can win a NC again, maybe not just three in five years.
>USC wasn’t then was then wasn’t. :)
Besides literally one season when has Ohio State been bad in your lifetime? Same with Oklahoma. I agree with you but Ohio State and OU are exceptions and I just wanted to point it out
Oklahoma was bad in the 90's Ohio st couldn't beat Michigan in the 90's despite being a top 20(10?) program then Ohio St has been extremely fortunate that they haven't had any baaad stretches unlike most blue bloods. That won't last forever for them
Ohio state is the most bulletproof program in the country. Nobody, absolutely NOBODY has avoided the down turns that happen to everyone as well as they have.
Their time will come. It'll be interesting to see how Cincinnati moving to the Big 12 changes things. I think a big factor in their dominance was being the only P5 school in state.
It makes me feel old that there are people who don't remember Oklahoma being bad. As a kid growing up in the 90s, I remember being surprised that Oklahoma was considered great once upon a time.
The John Cooper era wasn’t very good. Nebraska hasn’t been bad other than 2015-2022, which is a very very short period of time in the last 50 years. Oklahoma was petty bad for most of the 90’s. It’s cyclical. There’s no reason with Nebraska’s fan support, tradition, facilities, NIL pool and now hopefully administration aligned with the Head Coach for Nebraska to get back to annual National relevance.
Josh cooper consistently finished in the top 15 in the country. He just couldn’t beat Michigan enough. Pretty good if your “down” years are consistently competing for national championships still.
Ehhhh. I wouldn't say consistently. From 87-01 Ohio State finished unranked (7 times) more often than they finished in the top 15 (6 times).
No other program in college football has as few losing seasons since 1900 as Ohio state. They are the most consistent program in the country. Literally every other program has had longer and more prolonged droughts than osu
I'm not disagreeing with that just that the Cooper years were worse than consistently top 15. Honestly the Cooper years were more like if Pelini had 3 years of Ganz. A couple of contending years and then ranked in the back half of the top 25 or unranked.
Cooper at Osu went 111-43-4 in 13 years. That averages out to a 8.5 wins and 3.3 losses per year. That is decent but certainly not spectacular. He had a 7 year stretch of finishing in the top 20 every year, and finished 2nd in the country twice. So, some pretty decent high marks. But like you said he also had some .500 ish years sprinkled in. But yes, no program finishes in the top 10 90% of the time if you are looking back a century. The only point I made is there isn’t a single program that is more consistently really good (top 25) every year than Ohio state. Alabama, usc, Georgia, Michigan, notre dame, Oklahoma, Texas, they’ve all had more down periods and more unranked seasons.
I personally think our star power in recruiting is near it's ceiling, but that's not to criticize it really. Top 15-25 ranked classes should be producing a lot more wins for us. Hopefully that pans out with Rhule.
>our star power in recruiting is near it's ceiling With 5 or less wins in the past 6 seasons, you think that recruiting has hit a ceiling? I don't think Nebraska will be top 5 every year or most years, but in no way is there a ceiling while the team hasn't won in the better part of a decade. The ceiling is higher, Nebraska can throw some weight around if it gets back to competing.
I just think it has more to do with not being in the southeast. I guess it could creep up with a couple 5 stars here and there, or maybe a plethora of 4s in some years. I guess I'm just saying I don't expect perennial top 10 classes even if the wins start coming. I would absolutely love to be dead wrong and eat crow. That'd be fantastic lol.
Yeah we've only broken the top 10 once since it was tracked in the early 2000's and we've only broken the top 20 a handful of times. Mostly after we were competing. the year after our big 12 title game(loss to texas) got us 16th. We somehow got 8th in 2005. Winning shows we can prob nab top 15-20 classes consistently with the occ top 5-14. With that said NIL does change things in Nebraska's favor a bit. We got the money to be a top 10 recruiting team every year.
I agree with this assessment. Don’t forget that 1 recruiting cycle with all the Calibraska kids. If we signed all those recruits that visited and were strongly considering Nebraska, that class would have been a top 10 class for sure. Most of those kids turned out to be busts or very limited impacts so also an example of how a highly ranked recruiting class doesn’t always translate to success either.
To be fair we would've had another top 10 finish in 08 if Callahan hadn't been fired. [That class had 3 rivals 5* recruits.](https://web.archive.org/web/20071011002336/http://rivals100.rivals.com/teamrank.asp?SID=880)
If Callahan would've fired his staff and rebuilt he'd prob still be coaching dude could recruit.
Totally get it. IF, and that's a big if, the team starts winning there is good infrastructure, history, and passion that can grab more recruits. Fingers crossed. We all are hoping for the same things. GBR
Hell ya brother. GBR.
If we start winning consistently, I’m sure our recruiting will get a little better. Probably never an Alabama or tOSU level regularly, but I’m sure the occasional season or two will get there.
Ohio state has basically been good for 75 straight years. Their “down” stretch was like 2-3 years if that. But otherwise I see your point
This is pretty much where I am at overall. You have to get yourself in position to have a shot at being elite. That’s solid win totals year in and year out. Then, you hit the dice roll on a couple legit talent players to combine with your solid base. You can’t flip in football as easily as other sports. You can do a lot with an insane qb but can’t do it all with nothing around them. The truly good teams will still beat you. You don’t get to the point of getting that elite gamechange recruit without a solid team. You set the base, get a GameChanger and then you can potentially flip to elite. A lot has to go right but it can happen. Then, you can’t do anything to break it or it’s a damn long road back as it shatters quickly if you are not in a hotbed It all starts with winning. It builds on itself.
That’s it. That’s why they call it a “program.” Hopefully Rhule’s magic touch works and he stays for a decade.
I mean Rhule came to Nebraska because he thought he could win a Natty here, so that’s my expectation moving forward.
Our ceiling has been and always will be national championships…..second place is only the first loser….GBR
Realistically I don't buy into the idea it can't be a dominate program. Alabama, Georgia, etc. those places aren't amazing to live in. That was a huge argument about California kids, sure it's not cold there, but it's not exactly a busy city with beautiful women everywhere like Los Angeles or the like. I think it is going to take a bunch of coaches that have a vision and hard work to get there. I honestly believe this coaching staff is a breath of fresh air and I trust them to develop and recruit players. That's already proven here in this 2024 recruiting class. It'll take some time, but the exterior reasons people don't think a program can be great are dumb. Look at Ohio State, it's basically the same place, they win. It can be done, we have amazing backing with NIL. Looking forward to the upcoming seasons, I think we have identified some talented players that we can use in the B1G amazingly.
It's basically the same place, except it's the only P5 program (until now) in a football state of 10+ million people. So it's not the same.
A better version of Wisconsin over the last decade. But that top 15 team like Penn state.
I sincerely believe we can be top contenders . We have the resources and the will we just need to have the right coaches and admin and everyone moving in the right direction.
Why couldn’t Nebraska get to the level of Alabama? Alabama doesn’t have any proprietary rights to being an elite program. Nobody is saying Nebraska is going to be Alabama next year, but why couldn’t a good coach who develops talent at the coaching level and the athlete level have success here? There’s no bylaw of the NCAA that says Nebraska has to suck or can’t get above 9 wins a year. Alabama wasn’t good before Saban. Is a coach not allowed to come here and have the same results? So to answer your question, their long term ceiling is being competitive at the national level. People act like Texas is competitive at the national level even though they have a similar decade compared to us. If Nebraska plays at the level they’re capable of, because they’ve developed talent for the first time in 13 years, they would have a 7-3 record or better every decade against Iowa, Minnesota, Northwestern, Illinois, and Purdue. They would have a 6-4 record or better against Wisconsin. They would be competitive and splitting matchups with Ohio St, Michigan, and Penn St. If they beat the teams they *should* beat, there’s no reason 8 wins couldn’t be their floor. If Boise St can win 10+ games for a decade, so can Nebraska.
Cieling is making the CFP and winning the NC.
I'll have what this person is drinking
With the right coach Nebraska can be among the elites. It comes and it goes and Nebraska’s time is coming.
I’d be thrilled if Nebraska were in the hunt for a conference championship and playoff spot most years, and if in the years they didn’t make it they only lost to the teams that did. So something like Michigan, Penn State, or even Wisconsin in their better years. (I’m also hoping more teams catch up to Ohio State, but we’ll see if that happens on a consistent basis). I think it’ll be a long time (once Saban retires) before we see the type of sustained year over year superiority he built at Alabama. For the next few years, the main thing I want to see is the team playing well, developing talent, and winning the games they should win (and doing a little better than predicted in games where they’re not favored), with year over year improvement. There’s no shame in losing a hard fought game because your opponent was the better team today - playing the game means accepting that someone will lose the game and it might be you. I just want to see Nebraska not beating themselves, both on and off the field.
Georgia has entered the chat
I’d take being the B1G’s Georgia so long as we didn’t also have all the wacky off the field stuff they’ve got going on this year.
You would say no to B2B national championships if a few players got arrested in the offseason? Is Harvard your backup school too?
I do expect Nebraska to win the title again one day. No they won’t be bama or Georgia but they will win it one day…….eventually.
I’m biased as a fan, but I believe that in my bones as well. Somehow, someway….
Probably after we die of course
Realistically speaking Nebraska will likely fall from Blue blood status, we just don't recruit well enough. We're likely a team that can break top 10 recruiting here and there. This isn't something though to be upset about because Nebraska has money but we also don't normally hire the best coaches. The highest end guys are going to Florida/Texas/Bama/Georgia/Ohio etc But we can also nab a top 15 coach typically. The only way Nebraska really returns to glory is if someone comes in and wants to buckle down here and build something for a long time. Ala Nick Saban at Bama. You turn the program around into a consistent Playoff threat and we will nab 5 stars. Another thing is getting talent into the NFL. Nebraska is alright but we don't create a lot of first 3 round guys. We give a lot of late rounders which is kinda sad. We have a good amount of players in the NFL though but it's not because Nebraska did them favors it's because those kids went unsigned and worked their tails off. My expectations were never to stay blue blood though. If we were just outside blue blood I'd be more than happy. Penn State/Texas/Texas A&M are what we should aim to be. A title here and there every 5-10 maybe 15 years but in the CFP for about 60% of them. That'd get fans hyped. We want to see wins not just titles, those days are over it's not possible to do that anymore.
It's all about the head coach and the staff he puts together. If they develop talent, they will win and attract better talent to develop, and the program will have an upward trajectory. Hang onto that coach, and keep replacing assistants effectively as they get hired away, and you will stay on the top layer banging on the playoff door. Your head coach determines your ceiling. Also, college football has an emotional factor that doesn't count nearly as much in the NFL. A coach may be a great college coach and a poor NFL coach for this reason.
A lot of people say we need a coach that can develop gems which certainly wouldn't hurt, but an elite recruiter can probably pull in top 15 classes for us. If Scott fucking Frost got top 20 classes while drunk then we can get top 10 with a real coach.
If he hadn't been fired Callahan would've had two top 5 classes in 4 years. Elite recruiters can bring in top classes here. There's a reason Pelini's teams went from legitimate conference/national title contenders in 09/10 to scraping out 9 wins and getting blown out 4x/year once Callahan's talent aged out.
I am probably in a bit of a minority but I think Callahan was much closer than people give credit. I think he could have gotten us to a very high level. Look at his focal points and how he ran it. He was a couple coordinators away for doing something very solid in my mind. Add in that he was/is an absolutely elite oline guy…. He could have done well
My hot take is that if Nebraska had moved to the Big Ten 5 years earlier Callahan would have been a huge success. He built a Big Ten style team with a balanced pro-style offense and big, strong linebacker-heavy defense. It worked pretty well in 05 and 06 but the Big 12 became a total basketball on grass, pace and space spread it out conference and Cosgrove's D couldn't adapt or keep up. His teams were similar to the Ohio State and Michigan teams that got exposed by Florida and USC in the bowl games.
We won’t be a powerhouse dynasty again like the 90s. There are too many factors that favor the coastal regions for sustained dominance. There’s no reason we can’t be a major player in our own conference and occasionally put together a team capable of a conference title and playoff appearance. The support and money in our program give us an edge over most Midwest teams. I really think one or two 8+ win seasons and this thing could be primed to explode. People are ready to have a team they can get excited about again.
There hasn’t been a coastal champion since 9/11
I didn’t mean the campus has to literally be on the coastline. Since 2000 Oklahoma and Ohio St are the only teams to win it from the land locked states.
MAYBE make the playoffs - that’ll be “winning”. We’ll never win a CCG again with the divisions going to the wayside
Realistically Nebraska does not have the Los Angeles/Florida Beaches/Booming young city (Austin/Columbus) advantages that the top class programs have. A 5 star recruit, all other things equal, will choose 30-40 programs before Nebraska. (Assuming Football wise things are equal) There is also the southern argument, not like Tuscaloosa is NYC, but 90% of their players are in a nice 300 mile radius from campus. Nebraska is stuck as an undesirable location without the crazy athletes you get in Bama/Georgia/Carolinas/Georgia. With those two disadvantages I think we top out as a consistent 10 win team, making a 12 team playoff pretty consistently. I do think we fall short of the elusive Natty unless a miracle (Raiola + friends) love the Huskers. GBR!
"The ceiling is the roof" - Michael Jordan
Off topic…I wonder if Ryan Day would be on the hot seat if OSU gets routed by Michigan again…That would be crazy but that is a prerequisite for that job
Our ceiling is a 9 win program who wins the conference once a decade or so. People always say Nebraska fans have unrealistic expectations but I basically never see that, people are usually reasonable. All I want is for when we have a big game it not to be over in 3 minutes. I’m exhausted by the big games that are 28-0 in the first half with no reason to even bother watching. I don’t know the actual stat, but I’d be shocked if Nebraska doesn’t get blown out by far the most of any team compared to average recruiting rank. We recruit in the top 30 but get our doors blown off at a similar rate to teams outside the top 100.
He’s talking about long term. What you’re describing is our Floor. Our Floor long term should be 9-3. With Rhule, I feel like he’s the coach that has the best shot to reach our long term expectations.
You think our FLOOR is 9-3? I take back what I said about Husker fans usually being reasonable lol that’s insanity
9-3 long term being our floor is insane with the kind of staff we have? You really think 7-5 and 6-6 should be our floor? I guess Husker fans think we want to be where Iowa is at and not compete for the CFP every year.
I would take that tbh. That means 1 or 2 playoff appearances a decade, plus playing in big conference games every year
It's all about the money. Nebraska has always had the money, but we went down a really weird road with bad/weird coaches that in spite of having the money and often good recruits we couldn't capitalize. With a legitimate coach we will have the ability to get upper tier talent soon (not top tier), but after a couple winning seasons under our belt the top tier will come for the money and be able to make a difference. Everybody likes to poke at the weather, but our weather is no different than Ohio State and they do just fine. We have no ceiling IMHO, we can get to the top and dominate because of the money we have backing the program.
I think long term we will have a year or two occasionally where we make the playoff and have an opportunity to play for a championship but they will probably be few and far between. I think we will be competing for big ten championships more regularly. The addition of usc and ucla should help with recruiting.
Iowa level or less Demographic reality are hitting Nebraska hard, we don't have the 500 mile radius to compete in the modern cfb era Additionally as a Gen Z fan I can tell you there is a growing age gap in the fanbase and continued mediocrity will take away the one factor that can help the demographic issues, our fanbase I think sustained Iowa level success is likely our ceiling and there's nothing wrong with that
Ceiling is averaging 7 wins per year over a decade
I feel like that’s the floor with competent coaching tbh
I honestly think it’s the same as the gophers
I don’t know if the delusions of this fan base will ever truly course-correct. Realistic, and overly optimistic tbh, ceiling for this program is 8 wins a year. Idk how people can legitimately think “9-10 wins, occasionally winning the conference and every year having an outside chance at the playoffs” after seeing what’s transpired these last ten years. We’re 1-7 against Iowa in the last eight years. Two years since their last ten win season. Over a decade since ours. They consistently put first/second rounders in the draft. At this point I’d love to be “doomed to be Iowa.”
I spend an infinite amount of time in Lincoln for work and listening in on the community and the sports talk expectations. As an outsider, 9 wins per year is the ceiling and you cannot compete with PSU because of your geographical location irrespective of NIL money. The days of winning a conference championship are behind you.
If Iowa had a decent OC they would have had a very good run under Kirk Ferentz. I'd think we could do better than that even, but I'd take it (Iowa with a better offense).
8-9 wins until we prove otherwise. Above that is darn elite, discounting lucky as shit seasons. I just want consistency above “bowl eligible” for now. Give our program a chance to be elite again. We have got to start there before I think the ceiling is higher
We can be a 9-11 wins per year program. Football in Lincoln in the fall is great. Full stadium and very passionate fans. It’s also the only game in town. If you are a good coach………and a great recruiter, I don’t see the problem with getting top talent to come. And between the farm boys of Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota, Minnesota……..you should have a pipeline year in and year out. We’ll see where Rhule can take us
If the Big Red compete for conference championships, the recruiting and the natty comps will happen.
I think Penn State could be an analogue for a possible ceiling, but I would still see that as highly unlikely. More realistically the level Pelino achieved will be our achievable ceiling.