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Nebraska is in better shape than Michigan.


I) They have been elite more recently
II) They have higher expectations
-Nebraska fires coaches that can't win more than ten games per season, win Conference Titles, or who lose in a NC game.
-Michigan acts like they are back on top of the mountain, after posting back to back ten win seasons/third place B1G East finishes.
III) Nebraska has the best coach of the modern era.
-Tom Osborne: Three NCs; winning Bowl record
-Bo Schembechler: Zer0 NCs; abysmal Bowl record


A fella would have to drastically over hype the era between the Civil War and WWII in order to make a sound argument that Michigan is the better program historically.


A fella would have to be drinking the Maize and Blue kool aid in order to believe that Michigan has a better program than Nebraska, going forward.

LOL wow! I'm a disinterested observer, as a Purdue fan, since we barely field a football team. But that seems like so much sour buckeye nuts...

Michigan was in the weeds for a few years, but I'd argue that the shine's been knocked off Nebraska. Given demographic changes and population centers, Nebraska is fighting an uphill battle to keep their helmet status while Michigan's is solid.

Michigan is 4th in 2017 recruiting ranking and two-year (16-17) recruiting ranking, and while they're 19th in 5-year recruiting rank, they're obviously trending up under Harbaugh. Nebraska is 22nd in 2017 and in two-year rank, and 26th in 5-year rank. (Source.) Michigan is 5th in revenue, Nebraska is again 22nd, so there's a money gap too. (Source.)

If all this is happening just at the point when Michigan is coming out of a decade-long nadir while Nebraska has the excitement of a new conference, I find it difficult to see how Nebraska will keep up if Michigan truly is "back".

I find it hard to take an argument seriously that Nebraska is in better shape than Michigan.

LOL wow! I'm a disinterested observer, as a Purdue fan, since we barely field a football team. But that seems like so much sour buckeye nuts...

Michigan was in the weeds for a few years, but I'd argue that the shine's been knocked off Nebraska. Given demographic changes and population centers, Nebraska is fighting an uphill battle to keep their helmet status while Michigan's is solid.

Michigan is 4th in 2017 recruiting ranking and two-year (16-17) recruiting ranking, and while they're 19th in 5-year recruiting rank, they're obviously trending up under Harbaugh. Nebraska is 22nd in 2017 and in two-year rank, and 26th in 5-year rank. (Source.) Michigan is 5th in revenue, Nebraska is again 22nd, so there's a money gap too. (Source.)

If all this is happening just at the point when Michigan is coming out of a decade-long nadir while Nebraska has the excitement of a new conference, I find it difficult to see how Nebraska will keep up if Michigan truly is "back".

I find it hard to take an argument seriously that Nebraska is in better shape than Michigan.

yeah. gonna have to agree with bwar.

One school has Jim Harbaugh sucking up all the national headlines and going into places like Georgia and Cali and Florida landing 5*'s and 4*'s, the other has Mike Riley. Harbaugh's first real class was 2016- it was ranked #8 overall in the 247Composite Team Rankings. His 2017 class was ranked 5th. Nebraska's in those two seasons? 23rd and 26th respectively. Harbaugh's 2018 class is off to a slow start by his standards as it's only ranked 15th currently- but it's still pretty early and he's bound to have an ace or two up his recruiting sleeve. Nebraska meanwhile is ranked 21 spots lower at 36th on the 2018 list. And Harbaugh is already off to a white hot 2019 start- he's only got 4 commits but two of those commits are DL's rated 5*'s and the other two are rated 4*'s.

So not only is Harbaugh the better coach, he's getting more talent to coach up.

CFB is all about the coach. Michigan has the better coach. By a country mile. And big advantages in recruiting. The state of Michigan doesn't produce a ton of top talent- but it produces far more talent than the state of Nebraska.

I think the helmets are clearly Ohio State and then Michigan, and with Nebraska fading away and Penn State re-emerging.

Madison is home to Big Red.


Your statement is therefore confusing to me.

Nebraska is in better shape than Michigan.

This is all the wrongs.

Nebraska has won nothing since abandoning their identity (the option).  It's nowhere near any special recruiting grounds.  It lacks the special coaching required to matter, given the talent it brings in.  The outlook is bleak. 

Not trying to offend anyone at all.  I just don't see it.  Florida's been down, I know.  But there's hope.  There's talent all around.  There's a rep.  There's something. 

Are UNL fans optimistic about the next 10 years? 

I don't fault Michigan's enthusiasm, but riddle me this.


Where would they be right now if Harbaugh had taken an NFL job instead?

They'd have just as many titles so far as they do with him.

Michigan is only 7 spots ahead of Nebraska in five year recruiting, and that's supposed to be a feather in their cap? They are in a much better region for recruiting than Nebraska, and Hoke/Harbaugh had supposedly been killin' it on the recruiting trail.

Yes, only 7 spots ahead in 5-year recruiting. Which is why it's important to look at what's being done now given that both teams have added new coaches during that span. Michigan's new coach has put together great recruiting classes. Nebraska's has put together decent recruiting classes. That's why the 2017 and the 2-year rankings have diverged so much.

Nebraska fires a coach that won 9 games and finished third in the B1G West, but Michigan is "back" because they hired a guy who twice won ten games and finished third in the B1G East?

I love this. It's the quintessential sports fan logic. Nebraska somehow gets credit for high expectations, despite the fact that Riley hasn't shown in 2 years that he can best Pelini. Of course it's only two years, but Pelini never won fewer than 9, and Riley's best season in 2 years is 9 wins. Michigan won 10 games both years. Nebraska won 6 and then 9, and that was in the weaker B1G West. Cross-division, Nebraska faced MSU in 2015 and OSU in 2016, but never faced Michigan or Penn State. Michigan has to play all three of those teams each year.

Harbaugh is Pelini-esque in his Michigan tenure so far.

Harbaugh is recruiting like a helmet.

And Riley can't even be called Pelini-esque yet. Squeaking into a bowl as a 5-7 team wasn't something Pelini did in year 1. He won 9 games.

Both programs are in about the same place right now. Nebraska strives to be better. Michigan thinks they are already great.

Nebraska "strives to be better" by firing a very good coach who never won fewer than 9 games and picking up a guy whose best season in the PAC-12 was a 7-2 conference record, and 3 of his last 5 seasons at OrSU were losing seasons. Michigan picked up a guy who rebuilt Stanford--STANFORD, for chrissakes!--into a conference powerhouse before being a successful but prickly coach at the sport's highest level, then came right into Michigan and railed off 2 consecutive 10-win seasons.

Oh, and from another post on the B1G board about "blue chip ratio"
"blue chip ratio", guess which one has 61% of their roster made up of 4*/5* recruits (even after losing all those players to the NFL) and which one has 19% of their roster made up of 4*/5* recruits? Yep, Michigan.

So tell me again how both programs are in the same place right now?

I'm just saying that to an outside observer (like me as a Purdue fan or OAM as a Florida fan), it looks like this is an ax to grind as an OSU fan against Michigan.

Michigan in 2 years has better recruiting, better W-L record in a tougher division, and [although I hate to acknowledge the degree to which this is important] about $50M more in annual revenue. You claim they haven't been elite since the 1940's, but given their recruiting, I think their ceiling is the national championship. Not saying Harbaugh will or won't win one, but they have the talent and recruiting to do it.

Although Nebraska was consistently a 9-10 win team under Pelini, that seemed like their ceiling. They were the "kings" of the B12 North, the weak division, and now they're in the B1G West, the weak division, where they're 1-3 against the top team in that league, Wisconsin. They seemed to think that replacing the coach would break through that ceiling, but recruiting is dropping under Riley and it's hard for a team like Nebraska to remain relevant going forward. And... They lost to Purdue under Darrell Hazell!