2012 College Football Win Totals: Nebraska
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5 thoughts on “2012 College Football Win Totals: Nebraska”
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I agree with your assessment of Nebraska, but, of course, I have always been one who has tended to fade the Cornhusker hype in years past for some easy money.
Now, unlike you, I am going to have to expect UCLA to be just as terrible as they have showed in years previous under Neuheisal. Why? Because it is Neuheisal – a highly overrated coach who has never been able to show an inch worth of improvement at UCLA, but has had every excuse in the world about why it has happened.
I learned my lesson on Dan Hawkins. I kept wanting to believe that he had to be a better coach than what he was actually showing. But, I was obviously wrong. I could be fooled, but I see Neuheisal being the same type of coach and I don’t even think Mora can save him.
You are 100% correct about Neuheisel being highly overrated. However the one big difference between the Hawkins situation at CU and the Neuheisel situation at UCLA is that Embree was left with very little talent to work with, whereas Mora inherits some talented players at various positions.
I don’t know enough about Mora to make a guess as to whether or not he is a good coach and/or a good fit for the Bruins. But he does have a lot more talent on his roster than Embree had or has.
UCLA is probably another year away. But you never know with a new coach and outlook. I know Mora hired some of the best recruiters in the country on his staff. And they managed to land a #12 class in 2012. Which is getting closer to USC territory. Neuheisel was never able to recruit like this. And it showed in the weakness of their lines. As for Nebraska, Pelini has never been able to bring in a top 10 clsss. And their recruiting has been very average for the last few years. The trouble is he’s never been able to bring in the difference makers. Suh was the ONLY player that I would put in that category. But I’m not ever sure Pelini recruited him. He might have been Callahan’s get. Nebraska is starting to spend more money on recruiting now that they’ve joined the Big 10. But it remains to be seen how it pays off. Pelini is such a straight shooter that makes no promises (just listen to some of his interviews) that I don’t see him selling himself or his school very well to a new recruit who wants to be told lies about how they’re going to win national championships if he comes in. I know in the Huskers forums, people aren’t nearly as optimistic about Pelini as they once were. So he’s going to have to do something special very soon. Either this year or next, or he’s probably gone.
GS, I just researched the Nebraska/Southern Miss game and I will be leaning toward Nebraska giving points in that game. First off, Southern Miss doesn’t even know who their starting QB will be. Whoever it is, they will be replacing the most successful QB in Eagles history. The early guess is this Alford kid coming in, but dual threat or not, it will be his first ever start on an FBS level and he will do it on the road in Lincoln, Nebraska of all places! In fact, this will be the situation for whoever gets the nod at QB for Southern Miss. Nebraska will be way more experienced defensively this season and I think after last season’s performance, there will be a great deal more emphasis placed on it. Look for them to try to put a lot of pressure on the new Southern Miss QB.
To me though, one of the keys to this game is this question — can Southern Miss stop Nebraska’s proliferate running game? Nebraska’s passing game will have to get better down the road against better defenses this season, but their running game alone should be efficient enough in this game to give them all the points they want. With Southern Miss’s inexperience on the defensive line and at linebacker, I just don’t think they can stop Nebraska. We are not talking about a top tier program here that can simply reload every year.
Southern Miss is going to have to score a lot of points to keep up with Nebraska in this game and I don’t think they have the offensive weapons this year, nor do they have the brains behind those weapons, to keep up.
BS…I agree about Nebraska/Southenr Miss as long as the line doesn’t get too out of hand. I can see it possibly moving up to 3 TD range. It opened in the 13-14 range. It’s now up to 16. And could possibly go higher by kickoff.. But I slightly do favor Nebraska ATS here because of the SM coaching/QB change. Like you, I suspect Nebraska will be running the ball as many times as they can get away with, without having to give away too much of their gameplan for UCLA the next week.