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http://husker.pedia.com/threads/51377-Nobody-will-say-it-so-I-will-.-.-.
Luv this post:
Nobody will say it, so I will . . .
This is a big-boy thread, so don't go psycho on me. Think about what I have to say realistically, not unrealistically, the way we thought we could beat WI. The hard reality from yesterday is that we might never be a top tier team again. This is our 14th year since TO left. Only once in those 14 years have we had a top-tiered team (1999). None of the others were close (2001 was utterly exposed as a fraud). To have one good season in 14 years means that we are no longer a top-tier team. I don't want to admit it, but the facts are true. Unfortunately, we have become Notre Dame and Iowa - - except we have a little more attitude. In the last 13 mediocre years, we have been out of the hunt by mid-October. That is not a top tiered program. We are an aging boxer who can string together a round or two of good fighting, but we cannot go the full 15. It is not in us.
Our biggest problem is that we don't have a base of football talent from which to draw. Our existence is dependent upon taking players from other states. That has become harder to do. Worse yet, every school in the world seems to have phenomenal facilities these days, so we cannot oooohh and ahhhhh out-of-state recruits the way we used to be able to do. Our worst fear is coming true: we are on a desert island and not-too-many good recruits want to come out to the middle of Nebraska. Sad story: my nephew plays football in San Diego. The QB on his team is a phenomenal, dual threat QB. He's a junior. He got a letter of interest from Nebraska. My nephew was in awe of the fact that Nebraska was interested. The kid tossed the letter aside and said, "I have no interest in Nebraska." He was dead serious. 20 years ago, that would have been like getting offered an academic scholarship to Harvard. Now, many kids don't consider it to be a big deal.
The one thing that we have never fully (truly) grasped was how great TO was. He is likely the best coach of all-time. It took a guy of that caliber to get us to the promised land. He also had huge recruiting advantages and served in a day where the Nebraska brand was held in awe. No more. As much as we don't want to admit it, we are (at best) consistently the 20th-rated team in the country.
We can fire our barbs at Bo, as he is deserving. But, the fact remains, Bo is working with less talent than other schools. I want to kick Bo in the rear with a steel boot as much as anybody else this morning, but the reality is that talent lost that game last night. We don't have the across-the-board talent that other schools have. I'm not sure why WI has it and we don't, but, the fact remains that we don't. The sad reality is that another coaching change won't make us better, it would only make us that much more unstable.
We are no longer great. We are nowhere near it. I don't think it will happen anytime soon, if ever again. If Bo decides to bolt (I wouldn't blame him, but I'm not sure who'd want him right now), I think we'll slip further into mediocrity. Don't shoot the messenger. Just trying to be real. I want to be oh-so-wrong about this, but I'm not.
