Locked due to no posts in 60 days. Report 1st post if need unlocked The only mention of Nebraska in Stewart Mandel's mailbag

[CrabHusker]

Is there anything NU could do again the hapless boilermakers that would make you thump your chest?

I'll concede that going out and shutting Illinois out would be a good sign...hopefully they do.

I'd like them to start with four quarters of sound defensive football. Make ME believe they can beat anyone that matters and we'll start worrying about Mandel later.

 

[wcbsas]

I don't mean to be an apologist or defender of Bo. There have been some signs of problems with the Nebraska program the past couple years, but this angst this week regarding NDSU vs Nebraska where their erspective games against SDSU seems strange to me.

I was listening to local sports talk radio the other morning and this thought came to me:

You know: If I just now woke up from a coma and heard this discussion, I would be like, "****** ?! We lost to South Dakota State ?!"

Seriously that's what it sounded like- that we had lost to SDSU. Because some NDSU player (who we haven't even played) talked some smack about Nebraska everybody' all worked up. Same thing with the Mandel column.

Uhhh....NDSU beat SDSU 20-0. Nebraska beat SDSU 59-20. In as much as you can ever compare scores against common opponents and draw any real conclusions, I suppose from those scores you might conclude that NDSU is better defensively than NU. Not sure why the 20-0 NDSU win is lauded as a great achievement and NU's 59-20 win is treated like a loss...?

And yes- I know....the real point and problem is that the result of a SDSU-NDSU game matters to Nebraska one way or the other. Just sayin'....perspective, people !

It was a 59-20 win, and we're talking about it as if it was a loss !

NU and NDSU ... two teams with a common opponent ... that played this opponent on successive weekends.

I do not necessarily buy the "team A beat team B by X points whereas team C only won by Y points" concept ... but Mandel's comments are BS and one-sided biased journalism.

 

[OneBigRedN]

That wasn't really the point of the thread, but I agree with you.

I was replying to Mandel and his thoughts that instead of bumping Neb back into the top 25 they should have voted for NDSU.

I guess the post is about national relevancy, and right now there is nothing to argue about. Neb. isn't very relevant on a national scale. I think it's been easily answered plenty of times in numerous posts all we need to do is WIN. I can't really expand on that any further.

If you really want me to grasp at straws, I'd say look at some of the other teams ranked deep in the AP. You can find faults with a lot of them. Usually everything after 15 or so is arguable...

 

[Hotlanta Husker]

One question heading into this game......Do you think Illinois is equal to or better than SDSU? I've seen a couple of their games this year and I'd say they're substantially more talented including at the quarterback position. I don't see us blowing the doors off this team unless a lot more wrongs have been righted than I think is possible in two weeks. NU eek's out a win against a bottom half B1G team and outside of the top 25 they should stay.

I have seen three of Illinois' four games. None have been on the road and the three I watched all the teams moved the ball on them with great ease (save 2nd Q for Cincinnati). I truly believe the defense is going to play high risk reward in the first quarter to try and rattle Scheelhaase early. 90k loud fans could prove to be a tough environment for a kid who has always been prone to mistakes. Illinois is better on offense but more unstable as a whole than SDSU. The defense so far has stunk...Washington moved up and down the field with 30 first downs and 615 yards...we can match that...

 

[huskernut]

we are laboring in the shadows. when we start to perform well, people will notice.

 

[Wandering Nebraskan]

Indeed.... Mandel is correct. It was a joke to see NU move back into the rankings.

I like to check on the composite rankings. It's a large enough sample (mostly computer polls), that it tends to smooth out the larger anomalies and give a more realistic picture. Nebraska #39. Yes, that seems closer to reality. For now. Could change. But for now, yes.

http://masseyratings.com/cf/compare.htm

Hey we're Top 40!!!! Anyone make "#39" foam fingers?

 

[Porkchopexpress]

NU and NDSU ... two teams with a common opponent ... that played this opponent on successive weekends.

I do not necessarily buy the "team A beat team B by X points whereas team C only won by Y points" concept ... but Mandel's comments are BS and one-sided biased journalism.

I don't know if I'd go that far. The only problem I have with it is that he knows the coaches can't vote for non-FBS teams in their poll because of its tie-in with the BCS. So his idea makes no sense. He's essentially calling out the coaches, and by association NU, for doing something they are incapable of doing. Maybe he should call out his AP colleagues for having the ability to vote for NDSU in their poll, but not a single one of them did.

 

[Trojan Husker]

If you really want me to grasp at straws, I'd say look at some of the other teams ranked deep in the AP. You can find faults with a lot of them. Usually everything after 15 or so is arguable...

This is very true. I guess I'm just sad that we're not in the top 15. I personally think Nebraska belongs in the top 15, yet we are rarely in that position nowadays.

 

[bilsker]

See this is what I just don't get... correct me if I'm wrong bilsker, but I think a lot of the fan base has this mentality also:

Nebraska plays a team they should beat, and nothing positive can come from that game. Unless we win 70-0. It's the same reason some folks say they're glad NDSU isn't on our schedule. It's not because people HONESTLY think NDSU could beat Nebraska, rather, it's the thought that nothing good can come from playing inferior opponents. Every bad play gets dissected so much more than a positive one. and thats JMPO.

I agree with most, that Nebraska isn't deserving of a top 25 ranking right now, especially when you look at the three teams we've beat. But, to throw a Pelini line out there, all of our goals are still in front of us for the taking. We just need to keep improving week in and week out defensively, and peak at the right time.

I just take almost nothing positive away from games against really bad teams. USM is a bad team. So bad that everything good you do against them has to be taken with a grain of salt. And yes...the good that a USM does does sometimes have to make you think "uh oh". Wyoming foretold why there should have been little optimism for the UCLA game (and I bet ON Nebraska in that game). UCLA confirmed it. So...no...nothing that happens before Northwestern will give me much hope that the problems have been solved. Purdue is an absolutely horrible team. It's a throw away game even for a middling team like Nebraska. It's just something to do next Saturday morning.