• You do not need to register if you are not going to pay the yearly fee to post. If you register please click here or log in go to "settings" then "my account" then "User Upgrades" and you can renew.

HuskerMax readers can save 50% on  Omaha Steaks .

2012 Season Grade

Husker Mort

Heisman
5 Year Member
The Huskers finished the year fourth in the conference with 35 wins. That is a higher conference finish and five more wins than in 2011, albeit in a far less competitive conference.

Would the Big Red have had a better season if they hadn't switched conferences? It is tough to tell, but now that the dust has settled on Coach Erstad's first season, what say you? What grade would you assign?
 
Last edited:
I have no qualifications to critique the bball team or say what I think they (the staff) should have done better/differently etc. That being said, I'd give the season a "C". I do believe that Erstad and Bolt can get things turned around so I am hopeful of better days ahead for NU baseball.
 
Last edited:



Offense: B+
Batting Ave.: .314 (10th nationally)
HRs: 46 (17th)
Runs: 390 (9th)
I would have given them an A, but they tended to go flat too often

Defense: A-
Fielding: .975 (24th)

Pitching: D

Hits allowed per 9 innings: 10.19 (210th)
ERA: 4.33 (138th)
Walks per 9 innings: 3.41 (108th)
K/Walk ratio: 1.68 (181st) Florida has 3.88 strikeouts to every walk

Obviously the weakest link to this season

Coaching: B

Like the aggressive approach to hitting and base running, too slow to pull a struggling pitcher. But not bad for 1st year. Have to see how well they can recruit.

Overall: C+

They have 2/3 of the equation, with strong offense and defense.
 
Last edited:
Because it was the Big Ten -- and outside of Purdue, it's a lot of mediocre garbage, it's hard to get too excited. I doubt we would have fared as well in the Big 12. Normally, I'd call this season a D. But because it was Erstad's first season -- and the last couple under Anderson were absolutely brutal, I'd go a straight C.
 
I say B-. The team played a harder and smarter brand of baseball that was far more enjoyable to watch, imo -- Clearly we're deficient on the mound, but I'm proud of the season and how the guys played. I really feel like DE and the staff got everything out of this bunch that was there to get.
 
D

Disappointing in my book. I'm not buying into the "hitting was better" mantra as the hitting had to be better just by the shear level of competition dropping.

Look closely at the B1G tourney, and NU scored 2 runs in 8 2/3 innings against MSU, and 2 runs against OSU's #3 pitcher. I don't think that qualifies as "better"

And of course the pitching was a total letdown, even though the level of competition dropped, the pitching got worse than last year. At the end of the year Nebraska still was didn't have defined roles in its weekend rotation.

Coaching also was a disappointment. At times this year this team played like they were poorly coached, I point to the Iowa series in particluar.

The team played a harder and smarter brand of baseball

Smarter? The way they ran themselves out of innings and got picked off bases didn't seem very smart to me.
 



C-
Wasn't expecting much looking at the squad. No koolaid drinking when coming off the past few seasons. Anderson left the cupboard bare. This team was not very good. Closer lok at the wins and you can no powerhouse wins.
 

Offense: B+
Batting Ave.: .314 (10th nationally)
HRs: 46 (17th)
Runs: 390 (9th)
I would have given them an A, but they tended to go flat too often

Defense: A-
Fielding: .975 (24th)

Pitching: D

Hits allowed per 9 innings: 10.19 (210th)
ERA: 4.33 (138th)
Walks per 9 innings: 3.41 (108th)
K/Walk ratio: 1.68 (181st) Florida has 3.88 strikeouts to every walk

Obviously the weakest link to this season

Coaching: B

Like the aggressive approach to hitting and base running, too slow to pull a struggling pitcher. But not bad for 1st year. Have to see how well they can recruit.

Overall: C+

They have 2/3 of the equation, with strong offense and defense.

Thanks for elucidating my thought process in getting to a C+. :)
 



D

Disappointing in my book. I'm not buying into the "hitting was better" mantra as the hitting had to be better just by the shear level of competition dropping.

Look closely at the B1G tourney, and NU scored 2 runs in 8 2/3 innings against MSU, and 2 runs against OSU's #3 pitcher. I don't think that qualifies as "better"

And of course the pitching was a total letdown, even though the level of competition dropped, the pitching got worse than last year. At the end of the year Nebraska still was didn't have defined roles in its weekend rotation.

Coaching also was a disappointment. At times this year this team played like they were poorly coached, I point to the Iowa series in particluar.



Smarter? The way they ran themselves out of innings and got picked off bases didn't seem very smart to me.

I can't argue too much. In a decent conference, NU would have gotten exposed much more. As you probably noted, I gave 'em a D as well -- initially. The only reason I graded up was because of it being year one for Erstad (not sure if that's reasonable or not).

The pitching was an F. It's as bad as I've seen by the Huskers against overall mediocre to weak competition. And if that doesn't improve significantly, we'll never be more than mediocre as a team. I don't think any part of the equation is more important than pitching. Give me an A grade pitching staff and a sub-par offense any day over an A grade offense and horrible pitching.
 
The pitching was an F. It's as bad as I've seen by the Huskers against overall mediocre to weak competition. And if that doesn't improve significantly, we'll never be more than mediocre as a team. I don't think any part of the equation is more important than pitching. Give me an A grade pitching staff and a sub-par offense any day over an A grade offense and horrible pitching.

This is exactly why Creighton is playing for an NCAA berth tomorrow night.
 

Offense: B+
Batting Ave.: .314 (10th nationally)
HRs: 46 (17th)
Runs: 390 (9th)
I would have given them an A, but they tended to go flat too often

I realize that the offensive stats are pretty good, but I think they are misleading. We hit the ball very well when we were up by 5-6 runs. However, when we really needed that 2-out hit with a runner in scoring position, it didn't seem to happen much.
 

GET TICKETS


Get 50% off on Omaha Steaks

Back
Top