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Nebraska -9.5

Part of the discussion was getting top WRs to come to NU. With our offensive system and output neither of them were exactly lighting up WRs stat sheets. We haven’t gotten a 4* WR out of HS maybe ever (not counting transfer Kyle Prater)? As opposed to every other position group where we’ve gotten 4* kids.
Fleurima in the 2022 class is a 4 star. It’s more about giving these QBs confidence and not playing the 2 QB “or” mind games. QB is a lesdership role so Fitz needs to get behind one guy and see what he can do.
 
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Part of the discussion was getting top WRs to come to NU. With our offensive system and output neither of them were exactly lighting up WRs stat sheets. We haven’t gotten a 4* WR out of HS maybe ever (not counting transfer Kyle Prater)? As opposed to every other position group where we’ve gotten 4* kids.

Ummm…WR Reggie Fleurima was our highest rated recruit last year. He was a four-star COMPOSITE on 24/7 (takes into account the 3 main recruiting services). His .91111 ranking is higher than any of this years commits as well.
 
The only stat that matters for a QB is wins. NU’s offense is designed not to maximize offensive stats. It’s designed to complement a dominant defense and strong special teams play to win games. Score enough points while prioritizing ball possession and field position over risk taking. That’s the way FItz wants to play. That is why it’s hard to judge an NU QB by any other stat than wins.
If you score more points, you’ll win more. This is the point of offense.
 
Far superior? That’s not true. CT’s SO year was better than any year PR had. In fact, I would argue CT had a better year or at least as good every class year than PR.

The other factor is the offense the team played in. NU scheme with MCCall versus Indiana. CT had to deal with a MCCall offense that you and I could have predicted plays. Jake hasn’t been a world beater but he was able to get PR on the move and capitalize on his short game accuracy. CT was not Trevor Lawrence, but I think he is one of the most under appreciated guys at NU in last couple of decades.
The first paragraph is objectively untrue but besides the point since the second paragraph is exactly what I was getting at, that our QB play and production was suppressed by our offensive system and situation.
 
If you score more points, you’ll win more.
Not necessarily true. You'll only win more if you score more points than the other team does. You typically will win more often if you average 10 points and your opponents average 7 then you will if you average 14 points and your opponents average 17.

That seems like one of the foundational tenets of NU's coaching philosophy.
 
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I loved CT and he played with heart. However, he also made way too many "clutch" mistakes. For every Holiday Bowl and Nebraska drives, he had that game against Akron with three back to back turnovers. He had a knack for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. That said I am a fan. What I never really saw from Ramsey were the dumb throws or fumbles. He didn't made back breaking mistakes.

I respect both equally for what they brought NU.
 
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That CT fumble into the end zone against Western Michigan was a big mistake that helped PJ Fleck get the Minnesota job, but 35 wins in 4 years is a very impressive number. He made some big plays in a lot of those wins.
 
If you score more points, you’ll win more. This is the point of offense.
Correction. If you score more points … than the other team, you’ll win more. That’s an important distinction and that’s where the concept of complementary football comes into play.
 
Husker here...

Nebraska has added a ton of new faces this offseason - players and whole new offensive staff. I think we upgraded in many spots but can they all gel game 1? That will be the question. Ireland game to start the year throws a wrench into things some, but talent wise Nebraska will be better.

Honest guess today is Nebraska 31 NW 17
 
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Husker here...

Nebraska has added a ton of new faces this offseason - players and whole new offensive staff. I think we upgraded in many spots but can they all gel game 1? That will be the question. Ireland game to start the year throws a wrench into things some, but talent wise Nebraska will be better.

Honest guess today is Nebraska 31 NW 17
Who is this NW you speak of?
 
Husker here...

Nebraska has added a ton of new faces this offseason - players and whole new offensive staff. I think we upgraded in many spots but can they all gel game 1? That will be the question. Ireland game to start the year throws a wrench into things some, but talent wise Nebraska will be better.

Honest guess today is Nebraska 31 NW 17
Ya got a transfer running back who can take it 75 yards on the opening play? Geez I hope not.
 
Nebraska University??
Those legacy Big 12/Big 8 schools have no idea how to abbreviate. KU (University of Kansas), OU (University of Oklahoma), CU (University of Colorado), and NU (University of Nebraska) all got it wrong.

While I have no obligation to help those first three, I feel it is better for the conference to rightfully refer to the Huskers as UNL. (Omaha now prefers to be called Omaha, and not the much cooler UNO.)
 
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Odds have changed to -12 and -12.5.

Reading up on Nebraska, I doubt that offense could score effectively with their current projected OL starters. Their sure thing LG, Nouredin Nouili, got suspended for PEDs and is out for the season. Their starting LT, Teddy Prochazka, won't start against us since he tore is ACL/MCL in early October and will likely not be ready by Aug. 27th. Also, not a lot of optimism on the Husker board in general so I'm surprised at this point spread.

 
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I'm not surprised by the spread because we have to prove that we're anything different than we were last year on both sides of the ball.

Good news is that every year is a fresh start, so hopefully we surprise in some fashion, but we have to see that our defense and offense actually work.
 
Odds have changed to -12 and -12.5.

Reading up on Nebraska, I doubt that offense could score effectively with their current projected OL starters. Their sure thing LG, Nouredin Nouili, got suspended for PEDs and is out for the season. Their starting LT, Teddy Prochazka, won't start against us since he tore is ACL/MCL in early October and will likely not be ready by Aug. 27th. Also, not a lot of optimism on the Husker board in general so I'm surprised at this point spread.

3-9. That's the reason for the point spread. i have thie feeling we are going to be better this year, if not very good.
 
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3-9. That's the reason for the point spread. i have thie feeling we are going to be better this year, if not very good.
Yeah, and the fact Nebraska had the exact same record 3-9 overall (1-8 Big Ten)... yet their 1 Big Ten win was 56-7 over us.

Regardless we're going to both be different which is obviously a good thing (hard to produce a worse result than last year's Nebraska game), but I think everyone's snakebit on what to expect out of Northwestern on both sides of the ball.

JON has to prove he can run a defense, everything got simplified later on in the season and looked better, but that has to be an improvement that lasts longer than a half season.

Offensive side of the ball same thing, something has to work, we haven't had consistent offense since CT left outside of a single year with Ramsey.

I liked the Bajakian hire, but he and JON have a lot to prove.
 
With regard to point spread, betting on a college team that is not named Alabama or Ohio State in its first game in insane: the combination of roster turnover and a short practice period that lead to screw ups make the first game totally unpredictable.

In recent history, here is what my expectation of the Cats and my reaction to the first game:

2015. This is going to be a mediocre team. Win over Stanford - Hey, they looked pretty good and D was great!
2016. This could be the Cats’ year! Loss to WMU - Fitz has lost it, long year ahead. Thorson, what were you thinking?
2017. Don’t know what to expect this year. Win over Nevada- Don’t know what to expect this year.
2018. This should be a good year, solid on both O and D. Win over Purdue. Pray Thorson gets healthy enough to play full game, worried about D.
2019. This team is going to be really good! We’ve waited for the Hunter era to move a good team to great! Loss to Stanford - Wow, do I miss Thorson!
2020. Last year was bad. Covid sucks. Oh, well, I’ll watch. Win over Maryland- Fitz and Bajakian are geniuses. Happy days are here again!
2021. Don’t know what to expect. Has Hunter come around? Hope JON doesn’t screw up a good thing! I bet we miss Porter. Loss to MSU - WTF? At least we have a QB!

Clearly, I had no idea how the Cats would play in their first game. Generally, I didn’t have a great sense of how the season would go after the first game!

I really do hope the Cats play Nebraska with brains and heart. My expectations are pretty low this year (not as low as some, but I’m not going to block off the weekend of the B1G Championship game on my calendar to allow for travel there.)
 
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Odds have changed to -12 and -12.5.

Reading up on Nebraska, I doubt that offense could score effectively with their current projected OL starters. Their sure thing LG, Nouredin Nouili, got suspended for PEDs and is out for the season. Their starting LT, Teddy Prochazka, won't start against us since he tore is ACL/MCL in early October and will likely not be ready by Aug. 27th. Also, not a lot of optimism on the Husker board in general so I'm surprised at this point spread.


Yeah, well that OL helped Nebraska put 56 on our pathetic D, so everything is relative.
 
2021. Don’t know what to expect. Has Hunter come around? Hope JON doesn’t screw up a good thing! I bet we miss Porter. Loss to MSU - WTF? At least we have a QB!
Gosh, I remember that feeling. I loved the ball Hunter threw. Too bad they all came when the game was mostly out of reach…never to be seen again.
 
Odds have changed to -12 and -12.5.

Reading up on Nebraska, I doubt that offense could score effectively with their current projected OL starters. Their sure thing LG, Nouredin Nouili, got suspended for PEDs and is out for the season. Their starting LT, Teddy Prochazka, won't start against us since he tore is ACL/MCL in early October and will likely not be ready by Aug. 27th. Also, not a lot of optimism on the Husker board in general so I'm surprised at this point spread.


LT Teddy P is a 100% and is a full participant in fall camp with the 1s.

RG and Center are the only spots that will be different along the offensive line between the 21 and 22 matchups.

And Nebraska could win 9 games in 2022 and the Husker board would demand someone get fired.

I wouldn't use that message board as a True Guage of Husker fans.
 
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Nebraska has a LOT of new coaches. 1st game out, could have some communication issues. Also Frost is at a make or break point in his career. I think you'll win close, with Nebby making a lot of mental mistakes.
 
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Nebraska has a LOT of new coaches. 1st game out, could have some communication issues. Also Frost is at a make or break point in his career. I think you'll win close, with Nebby making a lot of mental mistakes.
History would say that if the game is close, NU will probably win due to Frost and Co screwing the pooch.
 
History would say that if the game is close, NU will probably win due to Frost and Co screwing the pooch.
Was listening to BigTen radio in the car and the Nebraska write was on stating this first game is the Most important game for Nebraska this season. If they beat us, they could go 3-0 for the first time ever under Frost! If they lose, it will be just like last year when they lost to Illinois and we all know how that season panned out…
 
Can anyone enlighten me on why Frost's first 4 seasons have stunk for nebby? He absolutely obliterated the competition at his other school in florida. He turned around a program in like 3 years and many said his team should have played for the nat championship. When i heard nebby was hiring him, I anticipated more mid90s glory days for nebby. But no! They haven't even gone to a bowl like the motor city bowl. So what is the problem? Recruiting the wrong guys? Can't connect with the players/students in lincoln? Was Frost a fluke or fraud at that directional fla school? Did he win because of his assistant coaches in fla? I think overall nebby has taken several steps back with him at the helm. Can't believe they fired pelini and solich! Really hope the cats win in Ireland this year. Hoping last year's blowout was an outlier for our own team's progress.
 
His Florida school had a lot fewer demands for admittance than the B1G will allow. He got a lot of local kids to go there. At Nebr he doesn't have the population to draw from of the flexibility of grabbing any athlete he wants. He also has a high number of kids leave the program at Nebr. They get tired of being thrown under the bus by Frost.
 
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