video with The Urb on the HM homepage

[jpmandm]

Texas was big for us in recruiting in the Big 12 days but before that we recruited nationally just as much. New Jersey as much as Texas. Always exceptions, Gill, Graham, etc.

But we had a lot more unique benefits to playing for us then than we do now (walk on program, TV games, facilities,... being good...)

Losing Texas as a recruiting ground has been a short term knock no doubt, but not anywhere near as big as the three coaching overhauls.

What we lose in Texas we can make up elsewhere. Lacking a natural recruiting base is always going to be a problem for us, big 10, 12, whatever

 

[CO4NU]

I don't have a problem with Urban Meyer.

I believe he truly does very much appreciate Nebraska, and I also believe his admiration for us as a historic power is not just lip service.

 

[HuskerIDoc]

1. I don't think anyone questions that the move to the Big 10 was the correct call at the time. But in terms of culture and athletic competitiveness, it has been an disaster.

2. We may be recruiting California just the same in terms of numbers, but many of those kids aren't staying. And Texas has dropped off the map.

3. Agreed.

4. Nine years in, we are still setting up new recruiting pipelines, and there is no guarantee that they will ever be solid. And Iowa, Minny, and Ill. are not particularly fruitful recruiting beds.

5. tOSU gets the pick of the litter from several large urban areas, Cincy, Columbus, and Cleveland. And while they do recruit nationally, they have never had to completely shift their recruiting beds due to a conference change. Nebraska remains in uncharted water.

This is a legitimate question, when you say athletic competitiveness we are not a fit, are you meaning that the BIG 10 is that much better athletically than the big 12. We sure didn't think that when we were in the Big 12. Thats pretty sad if we were a better fit in the BIG 12 because it was not as good of a conference athletically.

 

[Black_Shirts]

Urban Meyer makes several good points on why recruiting base and the student athlete experience are at the forefront of successful programs.

Part of me says, you have to win regardless of which conference you're in. If we can't beat B1G teams now, would we be better off in another conference and win games, only to face teams outside of it to lose anyway? We saw this in the 80's. We had great seasons only to lose in bowl games. I think we lost like 7 in a row and the TO got smart and started recruiting to match the teams so we could compete.

Texas is why we are in this rut to begin with. College football is a big business more so than it used to be. Business decisions were made during the Big 8 days to take in Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Baylor. Mind you, these are teams that were part of the most corrupt conference in college football history, the Southwest Conference. TO didn't want Texas in the conference, but he's only one vote. When they created the Longhorn Network and didn't want to do revenue sharing, the writing was on the wall. Missouri was already wanting to leave and then Colorado started rumbling about leaving. When Nebraska announced that it was leaving for the B1G, I was surprised as hell. I didn't think we would be leaving. Again, a business decision being made.

Hindsight always reveals the good or the bad. I think our footprint in the B1G is going to be more like Michigan State, then say Michigan, Ohio State or Penn State. We will have occasionally good seasons, maybe a few surprise shockers here or there, but that's about it.

I honestly think we need to have an annual marquee matchup that separates us from the rest of the B1G. Oklahoma used to play Texas every year when Texas was in the SWC and OU in the Big 8. Now that they are in the same conference, why not make the OU/Nebraska game a marquee game? I think we need something to set us apart from the rest and that will help us recruit in OU and Texas. I know we play in a couple of years and then there's like a 10 year break. Bill Moos needs to push this type of marquee match up. Maybe I'm out in left field on this, but we need something to increase our status.

 

[Elwood von Kiowa]

Urban Meyer makes several good points on why recruiting base and the student athlete experience are at the forefront of successful programs.

Part of me says, you have to win regardless of which conference you're in. If we can't beat B1G teams now, would we be better off in another conference and win games, only to face teams outside of it to lose anyway? We saw this in the 80's. We had great seasons only to lose in bowl games. I think we lost like 7 in a row and the TO got smart and started recruiting to match the teams so we could compete.

Texas is why we are in this rut to begin with. College football is a big business more so than it used to be. Business decisions were made during the Big 8 days to take in Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Baylor. Mind you, these are teams that were part of the most corrupt conference in college football history, the Southwest Conference. TO didn't want Texas in the conference, but he's only one vote. When they created the Longhorn Network and didn't want to do revenue sharing, the writing was on the wall. Missouri was already wanting to leave and then Colorado started rumbling about leaving. When Nebraska announced that it was leaving for the B1G, I was surprised as hell. I didn't think we would be leaving. Again, a business decision being made.

Hindsight always reveals the good or the bad. I think our footprint in the B1G is going to be more like Michigan State, then say Michigan, Ohio State or Penn State. We will have occasionally good seasons, maybe a few surprise shockers here or there, but that's about it.

I honestly think we need to have an annual marquee matchup that separates us from the rest of the B1G. Oklahoma used to play Texas every year when Texas was in the SWC and OU in the Big 8. Now that they are in the same conference, why not make the OU/Nebraska game a marquee game? I think we need something to set us apart from the rest and that will help us recruit in OU and Texas. I know we play in a couple of years and then there's like a 10 year break. Bill Moos needs to push this type of marquee match up. Maybe I'm out in left field on this, but we need something to increase our status.

I like that plan.

 

[Elwood von Kiowa]

This is a legitimate question, when you say athletic competitiveness we are not a fit, are you meaning that the BIG 10 is that much better athletically than the big 12. We sure didn't think that when we were in the Big 12. Thats pretty sad if we were a better fit in the BIG 12 because it was not as good of a conference athletically.

The first 10 years (give or take) of the Big XII, it was one of the top two conferences, while the B1G was down. Then, maybe about the time Tressel got rolling, the B1G started to get really good (or at least OhSU got good, then other teams had to get better to compete). About that time, the Big XII became a 7-on-7 league. And we adapted to that, having already lost the hard-nosed culture that we had under Devaney, Osborne, & Solich. When we went to the B1G, we expected to steamroll everybody, not realizing that we had lost that physicality that made us great. It was like Samson trying to fight the Philistines, not realizing that his hair was gone.

 

[Show Me State Red]

Texas is why we are in this rut to begin with.


I honestly think we need to have an annual marquee matchup that separates us from the rest of the B1G.

Bill Moos needs to push this type of marquee match up. Maybe I'm out in left field on this, but we need something to increase our status.

Good post. I think the bolded is all that needs to be said. When Texass and her little sisters joined the Big 8 we went from a conference patriarch to a squeaky voice. The conference was imploding from several different directions. Revisionist history based on hope doesn't change that. The entire University of Nebraska system is far better in the BIG. Our inability or ability to compete is on us. Recruiting will always be a challenge.

Regarding marquee match ups, we have several each year but because we flat line during the games and show our hind end to the world they become eye sore embarrassments instead of showcase events.

Moving to the BIG was absolutely the right move. When/if HCSF gets us competitive again questions about what we should or should not have done fade.

 

[LoneTreeHusker]

Maybe we should start scheduling a Texas team every year. We can play Baylor, TCU, A&M, Tech, SMU, etc. Maybe that would open up the Texas pipeline again.

 

[Elwood von Kiowa]

Maybe we should start scheduling a Texas team every year. We can play Baylor, TCU, A&M, Tech, SMU, etc. Maybe that would open up the Texas pipeline again.

Maybe not a Texas team every year. But either that or an old Big 8 foe every year. Keep us relevant in our old stomping grounds.

I'd go with the states of Oklahoma and Texas -- one team from there every year.