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Cleveland.com Preseason Big Ten Poll

NWA Husker said:
How has nobody thrown a dump truck of money to Fitzgerald. I get he is coaching his alma mater, but this guy is absolutely one of the best coaches in the country. Very few coaches do more with less than he does.
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Some came at him, but thats setting up for eve more, but I dont think thats his intentions, just the results of his actions.
 
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CrabHusker said:
I can't fathom them being as good without Hank. At least at first. O'Neil is an interesting pick with his wealth of NFL experience and his past experience with Fitzgerald.
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One characteristic of NW is that they tend to start slow and come on strong late in the season. Like losing to Illinois State and Duke, then coming back to win the division. Hopefully we can take advantage of their inexperience.
 
HuskerWeatherman said:
But so far as offensive goes, it's the least returning production of any of Frost's Nebraska teams.
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I don't like statistics without context, so info like the above doesn't mean much without answering some more questions.

How do they determine the returning production value of offensive linemen? I'm just curious. It seems like the sort of thing that number crunchers take for granted--"the RB ran for 1,000 yards, so he's awesome"--but then don't take as much into account that the OL who made the holes might be gone. A real life example would be the late-80s LA Rams. When they had Eric Dickerson, everybody knew he was a stud, and he could go for 2,000+ yards every year. When they traded him and played a guy named Greg Bell that nobody had ever heard of, he immediately became a stud and ran for miles. A couple years, they throw some rubber retreads on Charles White, and suddenly he's a stud. The RB mattered, but not nearly as much as it appeared. How do they account for that?

Here's why it matters: Minnesota has the Big Uglies AND the stud RB returning. For the most part, so does Illinois. Wisconsin found a good RB at the end of last year, but they lost some of those OL who weren't as good as what they have had in the past. Set the numbers aside and the casual fan assumes that Wisconsin will have the best running game of those three schools, but they likely won't, and they might even end up third, statistically. If Mertz passes for 3,000 yards, it won't hurt as much, but there are a lot more questions there than what is likely showing up in the statistics.

Iowa will be Iowa, meaning they lost good OL, but they have more to plug in, and their RB is good. I can't remember Northwestern's seniors in the OL, but they lost guys. Purdue has struggled to establish a running game, and Rondale Moore is gone, so I'd expect them to take a step back.

Nebraska is the biggest question mark. Mills wasn't healthy very much, and he's gone. Jaimes and Farniok are in the NFL, but the guys replacing them are better fits for the offensive scheme, and I think that they'll be caught up to where J & F were by mid-season or so. If we can get a couple of RBs who can be consistent, we should rocket up the rushing stats. When Mills came in to play in 2019, he still needed to learn how to run within the system. The guys we have now should not have that issue as every one of them played high school in a zone-blocking offensive scheme. Whoever is the best at reading his keys and hitting the holes should consistently get 4+ yards, and if he can make a guy miss (or if you're Fant, run them over) and have the wheels to go the distance, that's where that number goes up.
 
Middle-aged_Ball_Coach said:
I don't like statistics without context, so info like the above doesn't mean much without answering some more questions.

How do they determine the returning production value of offensive linemen? I'm just curious. It seems like the sort of thing that number crunchers take for granted--"the RB ran for 1,000 yards, so he's awesome"--but then don't take as much into account that the OL who made the holes might be gone. A real life example would be the late-80s LA Rams. When they had Eric Dickerson, everybody knew he was a stud, and he could go for 2,000+ yards every year. When they traded him and played a guy named Greg Bell that nobody had ever heard of, he immediately became a stud and ran for miles. A couple years, they throw some rubber retreads on Charles White, and suddenly he's a stud. The RB mattered, but not nearly as much as it appeared. How do they account for that?

Here's why it matters: Minnesota has the Big Uglies AND the stud RB returning. For the most part, so does Illinois. Wisconsin found a good RB at the end of last year, but they lost some of those OL who weren't as good as what they have had in the past. Set the numbers aside and the casual fan assumes that Wisconsin will have the best running game of those three schools, but they likely won't, and they might even end up third, statistically. If Mertz passes for 3,000 yards, it won't hurt as much, but there are a lot more questions there than what is likely showing up in the statistics.

Iowa will be Iowa, meaning they lost good OL, but they have more to plug in, and their RB is good. I can't remember Northwestern's seniors in the OL, but they lost guys. Purdue has struggled to establish a running game, and Rondale Moore is gone, so I'd expect them to take a step back.

Nebraska is the biggest question mark. Mills wasn't healthy very much, and he's gone. Jaimes and Farniok are in the NFL, but the guys replacing them are better fits for the offensive scheme, and I think that they'll be caught up to where J & F were by mid-season or so. If we can get a couple of RBs who can be consistent, we should rocket up the rushing stats. When Mills came in to play in 2019, he still needed to learn how to run within the system. The guys we have now should not have that issue as every one of them played high school in a zone-blocking offensive scheme. Whoever is the best at reading his keys and hitting the holes should consistently get 4+ yards, and if he can make a guy miss (or if you're Fant, run them over) and have the wheels to go the distance, that's where that number goes up.
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Speaking of Northwestern, they have to replace both guards
plus staff
www.insidenu.com

Northwestern football: Three Reasons for Pessimism in 2021

It’s okay to be a downer every once in a while.
www.insidenu.com www.insidenu.com
 



Elwood von Kiowa said:
One characteristic of NW is that they tend to start slow and come on strong late in the season. Like losing to Illinois State and Duke, then coming back to win the division. Hopefully we can take advantage of their inexperience.
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Illinois St and Duke might win this division some years.
 




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