How has college football changed since 1995? How have these changes effected the way Nebraska moves to recreate the magic formula to recapture what was? What was NU doing then that may not be available today?
How has college football changed since 1995?
- Thread starter Mike Corgan
- Start date
I'm no expert on the topic, but a couple of important changes have been to conference(s) affiliation and the limitation on Proposition 48 recruits. In NU's heyday, HCTO made liberal use of the rule, which allowed academic non-qualifiers to enroll and attend school (on their dime) for a year before being eligible to play. Someone probably has a laundry-list of the guys that utilized the rule while we were in the Big 8.
Big 12 and Big Ten don't allow Prop 48 recruiting.
Big 12 and Big Ten don't allow Prop 48 recruiting.
We all know the sports media was calling TO's offense outdated even during the 90's. They said his teams couldn't handle the new age stuff. Even during the national championship game against Miami they were saying it. Then we won. We won a lot prior to and after that game!! In the end it boils down to having players who are above average in ability with a desire to attain greatness. Along with them a team needs a few players who are head and shoulders above average who are willing to lead by a vocal and determined work ethic. It takes a University committed to a system of football that fits the majority of those kinds of players in our area and excellent coaches who can develop talent to exploit the system of Offense/Defense being ran. One of the differences I see in MR to TO is that TO was willing to change offenses when his passing game did not work as well as he wanted it too early on in his career. He even later changed defenses. My hope is that with all the similarities the two coaches have MR will also change his offense. I doubt it though.
A few things; safety of the players has taken paramount importance for one. This influences many fundamental changes.....starting with O-line play. In order to protect the qb in his most vulnerable positions we now have O-line holding all over the place. No chop blocks either......a mainstay of the husker lines of old. No hands to the face (on either side of the ball). Slobbernockers are out. Arm tackling is not only in vogue, but almost becoming a must. Laser targeting has given way to analyzing how and where to hit.
The real problem imo is the inconsistent calling of infractions. Players don't what they can do.....or when. Strategies will need to adapt in the future......but only when consistent and forceful flag calling is standardized.
The real problem imo is the inconsistent calling of infractions. Players don't what they can do.....or when. Strategies will need to adapt in the future......but only when consistent and forceful flag calling is standardized.
I've thought about this subject a lot and I think NU football eroded slowly over time.
- OU's decline. - Wanting to beat each other every year keeps teams on their toes. OU took a downward spiral and made the rivalry less than relevant in the 90s.
- Big 8 to Big 12- The Texas schools imposed a new presence and took attention away from NU and OU.
- Loss of Oklahoma Rivalry - The loss of the annual OU rivalry was significant. It is a big part of the NU identity and without it, we are a lesser program.
- CU becoming the new rival - CU becoming the new rival brought NU down a peg. They aren't and will never be the caliber of program that OU is. Identifying a lesser school as a rival lowers your status
- TO retiring. Huge blow to the NU identity.
- Frank taking over. He never inspired leadership or recruited the way Tom did.
- Hiring of Steve Pederson and his vision for Nebraska football becoming a pro style program.
- Firing of Frank and hiring of Bill Callahan. Nebraska's identity of option offense, fierce defense, long time assistants, walk on program, annual OU rivalry game are completely wiped out NU's identity save for Turner Gill and the sell out streak.
- Firing of Bill Callahan, hiring of Pelini.
- Joining the B1G. Leaving the Big 12(8) teams continued to wipe out NU's former identity.
- Firing of Bo. Hiring of Riley. Where the program is today is essentially unrecognizable compared to where it was 20 years ago. The only thing that's stayed the same is the N on the helmet.
You have put some good thought into the subject Puddles, and your analysis is very thought provoking.
I agree an identity will go a long ways. I will say however that Riley has attempted to come up with an offensive identity.......it just isn't working. It appears that his "identity" on offense is a power run game with pro style passing. When effective, I think this is a viable offense. I personally think that at least some of the reason for this is an ineffective O-line. When we want to run we simply cannot seem to impose our will. To make this offense work, we also need good to great tight end play.......it just isn't there either. We have tight ends that just can't seem to block very well at this point. Until the O-line (and this includes the T-ends) steps it up I don't think any offense is going to be fun to watch.
Defense.......this is the corner stone of any team imo. Diaco wants a "bend but don't break" defense. The problem seems to be they're bending all over the place.They need to get off the field and stay off for periods of time. Diaco hasn't been here for a very long period of time, so what he will end up with is hard to say. I don't care how good of talent you are facing (and yes, Ohio State is good) you simply cannot go eight series without forcing a punt if you want to be in a ball game. I honestly don't know if it's an identity issue, intensity, or scheme on defense.......but it isn't working either.......yet.
I agree an identity will go a long ways. I will say however that Riley has attempted to come up with an offensive identity.......it just isn't working. It appears that his "identity" on offense is a power run game with pro style passing. When effective, I think this is a viable offense. I personally think that at least some of the reason for this is an ineffective O-line. When we want to run we simply cannot seem to impose our will. To make this offense work, we also need good to great tight end play.......it just isn't there either. We have tight ends that just can't seem to block very well at this point. Until the O-line (and this includes the T-ends) steps it up I don't think any offense is going to be fun to watch.
Defense.......this is the corner stone of any team imo. Diaco wants a "bend but don't break" defense. The problem seems to be they're bending all over the place.They need to get off the field and stay off for periods of time. Diaco hasn't been here for a very long period of time, so what he will end up with is hard to say. I don't care how good of talent you are facing (and yes, Ohio State is good) you simply cannot go eight series without forcing a punt if you want to be in a ball game. I honestly don't know if it's an identity issue, intensity, or scheme on defense.......but it isn't working either.......yet.
It is disappointing that NU has not found the formula to succeed on the college football landscape since the late 90's. When we look back to what was and are unable to recreate now, easier said than done...
Blatz
Blackshirt
the scholarship limits, academic minimums, and tv in my mind had more to do with leveling the playing field from Top 10 through 40 or so teams. The top 1-10 though are basically still the historical top schools as long as they are coached by high expectation, unwilling to accept defeat people. Demand the best and they seem to still do pretty darn good.
I was looking over the new and improved site and saw this post....don't know how I missed it but I might be able to shed a light from a different perspective if anyone cares.
So much plus all the great information already posted has happened since the late 90's....when your strictly speaking about the football team from year to year and generation to generation.....mostly it's the change in Coaching style and philosophy....see there was a huge reason that Coach Osborne tabbed Coach Solich to replace him.....and that was continuity of the groundwork Osborne and his Coaches spent years perfecting....Coach Osborne truly felt that Coach Solich was forward thinking enough to keep building on what we had and then add what he was learning every year to what we already had.
The idea was to never go away from what had gotten us to where we were....trouble with that was people got to used to always playing for National Titles every year and when there was a drop off of talent for several reasons not excuses and we stumbled badly against Colorado and a couple of others and then we get embarrassed and totally out classed in the NC game against Miami in California.....people in positions of power chose to terminate not only Coach Solich but a whole lifetime of hard work to establish our Identity.....I still say and will till my dying day that the Hiring of Steve Pederson and his subsequent firing of Solich was the end of life as we knew it in more ways than one.
Some say he got duped by a coach who had given his verbal agreement to come take over and bailed on him.....forcing Pederson to scramble and fumble around making a laughing stock out of the Huskers in the process , the whole refuse to " Gravitate into mediocrity" speech then the whole Huston Nutt fiasco just made things worse....
Pederson decided NEBRASKA needed to remake itself into a more modern College Football team like the East Coast Pro style teams of those days but yet.....how many of those teams won as much as we did just in the 90's alone no east coast pro style or any College team from those same years came anywhere close to what we were doing and no team from this part of the country including Texas, OU, Ohio St. And Michigan came anywhere close yet all those schools went thru down times and bounced back.....we couldn't bounce back because we had changed philosophy completely and had nothing to fall back on to.....
Then Came Callahan, Pelini and now Riley.....all were exercises that failed....Pelini came the closest to getting back to what we needed to get back to but his style and demeanor with fans and media and his toxic attitude rubbed the people who put up the money the wrong way too many times. Firing Pelini was a risk but one that had to be taken.....
Now in the mean time exit Pederson enter Osborne who hired Bo then Osborne retires again and in comes Eichorst.....well Eichorst and Pelini were doomed from the start....they were like fire and water....they just don't get along so out goes Pelini and Eichorst goes to the other end if the spectrum and hires Mr. nice guy himself.....Mike Riley....he fixed a bunch of stuff Pelini ruined but his system of Ball just does not work here....Square Peg....Round Hole again.
So now exit Eichorst and enter Moos.....and if this goes right Moos will pay attention and give the people what they want.....a newer younger version of Tom Osborne.....and then give said Coach enough time to get who we really are to begin with back in place.....it's going to be harder now and will take more time given the current shape of College Ball today but we have to get the right person to run the right kind if football and then give him the time and whatever else he needs to climb back to where we were when Solich took over.
Doc.
So much plus all the great information already posted has happened since the late 90's....when your strictly speaking about the football team from year to year and generation to generation.....mostly it's the change in Coaching style and philosophy....see there was a huge reason that Coach Osborne tabbed Coach Solich to replace him.....and that was continuity of the groundwork Osborne and his Coaches spent years perfecting....Coach Osborne truly felt that Coach Solich was forward thinking enough to keep building on what we had and then add what he was learning every year to what we already had.
The idea was to never go away from what had gotten us to where we were....trouble with that was people got to used to always playing for National Titles every year and when there was a drop off of talent for several reasons not excuses and we stumbled badly against Colorado and a couple of others and then we get embarrassed and totally out classed in the NC game against Miami in California.....people in positions of power chose to terminate not only Coach Solich but a whole lifetime of hard work to establish our Identity.....I still say and will till my dying day that the Hiring of Steve Pederson and his subsequent firing of Solich was the end of life as we knew it in more ways than one.
Some say he got duped by a coach who had given his verbal agreement to come take over and bailed on him.....forcing Pederson to scramble and fumble around making a laughing stock out of the Huskers in the process , the whole refuse to " Gravitate into mediocrity" speech then the whole Huston Nutt fiasco just made things worse....
Pederson decided NEBRASKA needed to remake itself into a more modern College Football team like the East Coast Pro style teams of those days but yet.....how many of those teams won as much as we did just in the 90's alone no east coast pro style or any College team from those same years came anywhere close to what we were doing and no team from this part of the country including Texas, OU, Ohio St. And Michigan came anywhere close yet all those schools went thru down times and bounced back.....we couldn't bounce back because we had changed philosophy completely and had nothing to fall back on to.....
Then Came Callahan, Pelini and now Riley.....all were exercises that failed....Pelini came the closest to getting back to what we needed to get back to but his style and demeanor with fans and media and his toxic attitude rubbed the people who put up the money the wrong way too many times. Firing Pelini was a risk but one that had to be taken.....
Now in the mean time exit Pederson enter Osborne who hired Bo then Osborne retires again and in comes Eichorst.....well Eichorst and Pelini were doomed from the start....they were like fire and water....they just don't get along so out goes Pelini and Eichorst goes to the other end if the spectrum and hires Mr. nice guy himself.....Mike Riley....he fixed a bunch of stuff Pelini ruined but his system of Ball just does not work here....Square Peg....Round Hole again.
So now exit Eichorst and enter Moos.....and if this goes right Moos will pay attention and give the people what they want.....a newer younger version of Tom Osborne.....and then give said Coach enough time to get who we really are to begin with back in place.....it's going to be harder now and will take more time given the current shape of College Ball today but we have to get the right person to run the right kind if football and then give him the time and whatever else he needs to climb back to where we were when Solich took over.
Doc.
I'm very curious and trust input you might have. What type of offense will work here besides TO's? Is it possible we keep the same systems on O and D but just change the HC due to the venom some fans have towards him? I would like to keep Diaco if MR is fired but that would be hard to do in regards to the perception of handcuffing the next head coach. Do we have enough players to fit this system or the one you might suggest?
I personally think this thread, and answer to what has changed, as well as how we adapt to the changes, is at the crux of our situation. If nothing has changed since 1995, then we have the blueprint as to what we need to do. BUT if things have changed then we need someone who can adapt to OUR current environment and make us successful NOW.
I often tell a family story to make my point. My grandfather came from a very athletic bunch. My grandfather and his brothers loved sports. Some succeeded at local levels, and some achieved more. One of my great uncles was on his way to the majors in baseball when his journey was short circuited by injury. But before that, he had the opportunity to pitch in a game where local "stars" would face a semipro team. The game was at the Corn Palace in Sioux Falls, SD. Local athletes (ie athletes form several hundred miles and four states) were invited to participate. My uncle left home with the knightly sum of 25 dollars (the amount he was paid to play) and pitched the game.
He did well in a losing effort as they lost 1-0. He was offered a contract to play with a pro team.....Saint Louis I believe. He was the only pitcher to get a pro offer, even though everyone knew, l know he certainly knew, that he was NOT the best pitcher that day. The best pitcher was on the opposing team, and that was the late great Satchel Page.
I don't tell the story to point our past racial injustices, but rather to point out that the past, and the past greats, were men, and situations, of their times. We can learn from their efforts and successes, but maybe not copy verbatim, their exact style and play.
We will never know if Alexander the Great could have led Allied forces across Europe in WW II, or if General Patton could have led a Macedonian army across Asia. It doesn't matter. They both took their situations, and adapted.....and succeeded.
The 90's were the 90's (and the 60's, 70's and 80's were what they were). Maybe the reason we had success wasn't what we did, but rather how good our coaches were at adapting to their unique situations. Maybe that's what we need now.
I often tell a family story to make my point. My grandfather came from a very athletic bunch. My grandfather and his brothers loved sports. Some succeeded at local levels, and some achieved more. One of my great uncles was on his way to the majors in baseball when his journey was short circuited by injury. But before that, he had the opportunity to pitch in a game where local "stars" would face a semipro team. The game was at the Corn Palace in Sioux Falls, SD. Local athletes (ie athletes form several hundred miles and four states) were invited to participate. My uncle left home with the knightly sum of 25 dollars (the amount he was paid to play) and pitched the game.
He did well in a losing effort as they lost 1-0. He was offered a contract to play with a pro team.....Saint Louis I believe. He was the only pitcher to get a pro offer, even though everyone knew, l know he certainly knew, that he was NOT the best pitcher that day. The best pitcher was on the opposing team, and that was the late great Satchel Page.
I don't tell the story to point our past racial injustices, but rather to point out that the past, and the past greats, were men, and situations, of their times. We can learn from their efforts and successes, but maybe not copy verbatim, their exact style and play.
We will never know if Alexander the Great could have led Allied forces across Europe in WW II, or if General Patton could have led a Macedonian army across Asia. It doesn't matter. They both took their situations, and adapted.....and succeeded.
The 90's were the 90's (and the 60's, 70's and 80's were what they were). Maybe the reason we had success wasn't what we did, but rather how good our coaches were at adapting to their unique situations. Maybe that's what we need now.
Agree 100% with what Doc said.. For NU to get back it MUST include a very strong running game and for the month of October NU was second to last in P5 schools in rushing.. only Kansas was worse.
Blatz
Blackshirt
That's the recipe Johnny! 2 million of your Nebraska brethren agree with you. And the limited times they have done that they have won.
(Unfortunately Danny Langsdorf simply doesn't have the discipline to stay with it)
Let's not forget 1990... the last season of the freshman football team aka the JV squad. Having a farm team was significant.
Yes Chris I agree with this. That was a significant change. Wish they still had that. I think it helped emmensly with player development.
