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Topic: Nebraska (0-1, 0-1) at Illinois (1-0, 1-0) Postgame
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FearlessF · « **Reply #28 on:** August 23, 2021, 01:37:43 PM »

weekly COVID tests for the Husker football team for any members not fully vaccinated - per Frost

FearlessF · « **Reply #29 on:** August 23, 2021, 02:12:44 PM »

medinabuckeye1 · « **Reply #30 on:** August 24, 2021, 10:49:23 PM »

I agree with @MaximumSam 's opening post in this thread that this game is massively more important for Nebraska/Frost than it is for Illinois/Bielema.

Illinois/Bielema:

Illinois went 2-6 in 2020
Illinois went 6-7 (bowl loss) in 2019
Illinois went 4-8 in 2018
Illinois went 2-10 in 2017
Illinois went 3-9 in 2016 - 2016-2020 were under Lovie Smith
Illinois went 5-7 in 2015 under Bill Cubit
Illinois went 6-7 (bowl loss) in 2014
Illinois went 4-8 in 2013
Illinois went 2-10 in 2012 - 2012-2014 were under Tim Beckman
Illinois went 6-6 in 2011
Illinois went 7-6 in 2010 - 2005-2011 were under Ron Zook

Bielema has some demons to excise but Illinois hasn't finished above .500 nor even had back-to-back .500 seasons in a decade. Bielema doesn't have to win the B1G-W to look good. All he really has to do is go somewhere around .500 and he'll look great and he doesn't even need that in year one, just something resembling improvement.

Frost/Nebraska:
Frost's seat may not be hot yet, but if Nebraska doesn't take a major step this year it certainly will be by December. Frost, of course, is a "favorite son" having played at Nebraska and he arrived looking the part of the next hot young coach after going undefeated with UCF but then . . . Well, not much good has happened since he's been back in Lincoln. In Frost's three years the Cornhuskers have three fifth place finishes in the seven member B1G-W (two ties and one alone) and have gone:

3-5 in 2020
5-7 in 2019
4-8 in 2018

Frost's predecessor Mike Riley did better than that and got canned after three years. Prior to that, Bo Pelini did a lot better than that and got canned after seven seasons.

I don't think anybody expects Nebraska to get back to Tom Osborne level dominance in 2021 but I think Frost needs to get back at least close to the level that Solich, Callahan, and Pelini had the school operating at. Frost can't keep turning in sub .500 seasons and expect to keep his job.

Abba · « **Reply #31 on:** August 24, 2021, 10:57:09 PM »

I assume a Pelini record without the Pelini antics would be applauded if Frost can achieve that.

medinabuckeye1 · « **Reply #32 on:** August 24, 2021, 10:59:44 PM »

Quote from: FearlessF on August 23, 2021, 12:20:19 PM

Nebraska leads the all-time series with Illinois, 13-4-1. The Huskers are 6-2 against the Illini since
joining the Big Ten Conference in 2011.
• Nebraska had won the past four meetings with Illinois before the Illini won in Lincoln last season.
The four-game win streak was the longest for Nebraska against any Big Ten opponent since joining
the conference in 2011.
• Nebraska posted a 54-35 victory over Illinois in 2018. The 54 points tied for the most Nebraska
scored in a conference game in its first 10 years in the Big Ten.
•Nebraska and Illinois are also scheduled to open the season against each other in Champaign in 2025.
• Before joining the Big Ten, Nebraska and Illinois last met in a home-and-home series in 1985 and
1986, with the Huskers winning both of those matchups.

The full series:

Nebraska won the first four, all in Lincoln in 1892, 1903, 1904, and 1905
Illinois went 2-1 in a three game set in 1923-1925 that included two in Champaign and one in Lincoln
They tied a one-off game in Champaign in 1953
Nebraska easily won both of a H&H set in 1985/6
Nebraska 7-2-1 before joining the B1G

In Nebraska's first two years in the B1G, they were not in the same division as the Illini and didn't play them.

In 2013 they played a cross-divisional game which Nebraska won
From 2014-2020 they have been in the B1G-W together and played every year with Nebraska holding a 5-2 advantage.

Illinois' win in Lincoln last year was their second ever and first since 1924.

medinabuckeye1 · « **Reply #33 on:** August 24, 2021, 11:07:34 PM »

Quote from: Abba on August 24, 2021, 10:57:09 PM

I assume a Pelini record without the Pelini antics would be applauded if Frost can achieve that.

I have no doubt of that but it isn't just because of the antics, it is also due to lowered expectations.

Osborne coached Nebraska from 1973-1997 and over those 25 years the Cornhuskers had the #1 winning percentage in all of college football* then they capped it off with three NC's in Osborne's last four years.

The coaches who came shortly after that run were naturally compared to that and that is a REALLY high bar. This week the Cornhuskers will be starting their 24th season of the post-Osborne era. Ie, Osborne has been retired from Nebraska for almost as long as he was HC at Nebraska.

*For reference the top winning percentages from 1973-1997 were:

Nebraska
Penn State
Michigan
Alabama
Ohio State
Oklahoma
BYU
FSU
Notre Dame
Miami, FL

Hawkinole · « **Reply #34 on:** August 25, 2021, 12:34:50 AM »

If Bielema wins at Illinois, he could hold the position of, Iowa's future coach, all over again.

Brutus Buckeye · « **Reply #35 on:** August 25, 2021, 01:01:37 AM »

I suspect that's gonna happen. He's an easy target, but he knows the "Wisconsin way" and he's coaching in that division. He inherited a dumpster fire in Arkansas, but he was doing a decent job of building them back up before going 4-8 and getting canned. He sounds like he's grown up and learnt some lessons, and I wouldn't be shocked to see him breath some life into the Illini before replacing Kirk at Iowa.

bayareabadger · « **Reply #36 on:** August 25, 2021, 12:50:24 PM »

Quote from: Brutus Buckeye on August 25, 2021, 01:01:37 AM

I suspect that's gonna happen. He's an easy target, but he knows the "Wisconsin way" and he's coaching in that division. He inherited a dumpster fire in Arkansas, but he was doing a decent job of building them back up before going 4-8 and getting canned. He sounds like he's grown up and learnt some lessons, and I wouldn't be shocked to see him breath some life into the Illini before replacing Kirk at Iowa.

The Arkansas run was weird. One very good defense, two very good offenses. A few teams with better numbers than their records …

But they seemed to lose the rope late. The second-to-last team was teetering. Then the bottom just fell out. We shall see what part carries over.

Abba · « **Reply #37 on:** August 25, 2021, 01:08:53 PM »

I don't know if you can define a program on one coach. If there was no success before or after, then can you really say it's a strong program? He coached for 25 years, and it's almost been 25 years since he retired. So why is '73-'97 weighted more heavily than the most recent 25 years as the expectation? I just don't know that Nebraska today is firing a guy who averages 8-9 wins a year with a Big Ten West title every few years.

To add a little, Penn State has still remained pretty strong after their legendary coach retired, so I'd say that program makes sense to have higher expectations.

iahawk15 · « **Reply #38 on:** August 25, 2021, 01:13:08 PM »

Quote from: Abba on August 25, 2021, 01:08:53 PM

I don't know if you can define a program on one coach. If there was no success before or after, then can you really say it's a strong program?

1) Bob Devaney preceeded Tom Osborne and won two natty's. It wasn't a one coach run.
2) Bobby Bowden, Joe Paterno would like a word.

Abba · « **Reply #39 on:** August 25, 2021, 01:18:47 PM »

Ok, good to know for previous history for Nebraska. FSU is kind of an odd bird, but they did win a national title post Bowden. I really don't know what to make of the current state of their program. I'd be very interested if they'd be happy with being a top 4 ACC team, or if they are expecting to move ahead of Clemson as the top team in the conference.

ELA · « **Reply #40 on:** August 25, 2021, 01:40:59 PM »

Quote from: FearlessF on August 23, 2021, 02:12:44 PM

Crap, I have to deal with Joel Klatt right out of the gate?

medinabuckeye1 · « **Reply #41 on:** August 25, 2021, 05:35:51 PM »

Quote from: iahawk15 on August 25, 2021, 01:13:08 PM

1) Bob Devaney preceeded Tom Osborne and won two natty's. It wasn't a one coach run.

I was going to make the same point. Nebraska's run wasn't just the 25 years with Tom Osborne as HC.

Bob Devaney coached Nebraska for 11 years from 1962-1972 and, as @iahawk15 pointed out, won two NC's (1970, 1971). His run was arguably more impressive than Osborne's:

9-2, 3rd place in Big8, won Gotham Bowl over Miami in 1962
10-1, Big8 Champ, won Orange Bowl over Auburn, finished #6/5 in 1963
9-2, Big8 Champ, lost Cotton Bowl to Arkansas, finished #6/6 in 1964
10-1, Big8 Champ, lost Orange Bowl to Bama, finished #5/3 in 1965
9-2, Big8 Champ, lost Sugar Bowl to Bama, finished #6/7 in 1966
6-4, 5th in Big8 in 1967
6-4, 4th in Big8 in 1968
9-2, Big8 co-Champs, won Sun Bowl over Georgia, finished #11/12 in 1969
11-0-1, Big8 Champ, won Orange Bowl over LSU, finished #1/3 in 1970
13-0, Big8 Champ, won Orange Bowl over Bama, finished #1/1 in 1971
9-2-1, Big8 Champ, won Orange Bowl over Notre Dame, finished #4/9 in 1972

That is a SERIOUSLY impressive run and if you look at the period of 1962-1997 Nebraska's winning percentage is #1 by a LARGE margin over #2 Penn State for those 36 years.

Even after Osborne retired, three of Solich's first four Nebraska teams finished in the top-10. Solich's six teams finished ranked five times and top-10 three times along with a NC appearance but he got canned because the program appeared to be heading in the wrong direction.

Nebraska's long term history is unusual. As discussed above, they were phenomenal from the hiring of Bob Devaney in 1962 through about 2001. Prior to Devaney they were flat awful for decades. They had been very good from the early 1900's through the 1930's then just flat sucked in the 1940's and 1950's up until Devaney came along in 1962. Then they were arguably the best program in the nation for about forty years (1962-2001). Then, of course, they were decent under Pelini but the Riley era was not good and so far Scott Frost hasn't managed to finish .500 or better.

In the modern (post-WWII) era they have:

Two coaches who were best-in-the-nation level good (Devaney, Osborne)
Two coaches who were good but not great (Solich, Pelini)
Nine coaches who have flat sucked:
George Clark in 1945
Bill Glassford from 1949-1955
Pete Elliott in 1956
Bill Jennings from 1957-1961
Bill Callahan from 2004-2007
Mike Riley from 2015-2017
Scott Frost from 2018-2020 (so far, maybe?)

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Topic: Nebraska (0-1, 0-1) at Illinois (1-0, 1-0) Postgame

FearlessF

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