• 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  .

Your early benchmark of acceptable progress for 2025? Beyond?

fjbfour

Moderator Emeritus
Staff member
25 Year Member
My personal unscientific measure of success for 2024 was to get to a bowl. Even if we had done it with just 6 wins, and even if we had lost the bowl game, I still was willing to consider that acceptable progress, to get the extra exposure and practices. Expectations and hopes were exceeded, and for that I am grateful.

Every new year following improvement it seems logical to bump that expectation up at least a tiny bit, as evidence of progress, right? But there is a finite amount of room to increase expectations before you eventually bump into your expectations requiring conference titles, playoff appearances, and winning it all. If you go there, you are mathematically dooming yourself to disappointment far more often than not.

So I am curious, with 2024 behind us, the college football landscape massively changed by NIL, low roster limits, and portal fluidity, where are you at?

For me, my measure of continued progress for 2025 is for Nebraska to reach 8 wins this year in the regular season.

My top end is to at least be in conference contention by the last regular season game, annually. I don't think I would require or expect a win every time, but I want the annual Iowa game to matter. If we did at least that much every year, I would be very happy, but it is probably asking too much.

What is your personal measure of demonstrated progress for Nebraska football in 2025?

And, assuming you aren't going to eventually expect natty's every year, what is your baseline top end where you will remain more or less satisfied?

EDIT: removed references to division titles - brain dead morning moment
 
Last edited:

It’s very hard to think of progress with this team in terms of a linear progression; Ie: year 1 we won 5, then year 2 we win 6 and get to a bowl, so year 3 we should theoretically win more. But it may not be that simple. There are two reasons for that. First, the reality is this team could have realistically won 9 or more games last season and found ways to not achieve that success. Second, in the NIL landscape, the playmakers of 2025 may very well not have played a down yet for the team. Whether Nebraska can add more wins in 2025 is, in many ways, reliant on how the new pieces from the portal fix some of the issues from 2023 and 2024. For example, can the WR’s we are bringing in get off man coverage on a consistent basis, something the 2024 team struggled with. So, until we see how all the new portal pieces work out, it’s hard to know what to expect.

Having said that, the upgrade in OC and the experience and flexibility he brings should be good for a couple of extra wins, I would think. He will be working with an experienced DR that hopefully takes a big step forward in year two.
 
Last edited:
My personal unscientific measure of success for 2024 was to get to a bowl. Even if we had done it with just 6 wins, and even if we had lost the bowl game, I still was willing to consider that acceptable progress, to get the extra exposure and practices. Expectations and hopes were exceeded, and for that I am grateful.

Every new year following improvement it seems logical to bump that expectation up at least a tiny bit, as evidence of progress, right? But there is a finite amount of room to increase expectations before you eventually bump into your expectations requiring division titles, conference titles, playoff appearances, and winning it all. If you go there, you are mathematically dooming yourself to disappointment far more often than not.

So I am curious, with 2024 behind us, the college football landscape massively changed by NIL, low roster limits, and portal fluidity, where are you at?

For me, my measure of continued progress for 2025 is for Nebraska to reach 8 wins this year in the regular season.

My top end is to at least be in division contention by the last regular season game, annually. I don't think I would require or expect a win every time, but I want the annual Iowa game to matter. If we did at least that much every year, I would be very happy, but it is probably asking too much.

What is your personal measure of demonstrated progress for Nebraska football in 2025?

And, assuming you aren't going to eventually expect natty's every year, what is your baseline top end where you will remain more or less satisfied?
Since the divisions no longer exist you will probably have to update this criteria. For the last game to truly matter NU would have to be top 2-3 in the conference going into the last game.
 

Since the divisions no longer exist you will probably have to update this criteria. For the last game to truly matter NU would have to be top 2-3 in the conference going into the last game.

Oof, yeah. Early morning, brain was not yet engaged.
:picard: :Lol:
 
This is a good question, @fjbfour.

I think it's reasonable to have expectations of the team being ranked at the end of the season. That probably looks like a record of around 10-3, with 9-4 possibly getting us in the door depending on how the wins and losses look.

It would be pretty cool to see a Nebraska team end up with fewer than 4 losses in a season, which is something that hasn't happened since Frank Solich was unceremoniously kicked to the curb. We had a chance in 2014, but we fired that mean-faced guy before the bowl game (which we subsequently lost).
 
Hmm, such a slippery slope. If we get a real ST coach, Dylan progresses (and I think we will see a much more decisive Dylan in 2025), and we backfill Ty and Nash with capable performers, the floor to me should be 8 regular season wins. That is contingent on Dylan remaining upright or Davila or Granstad (sic) filling in respectably.

I think we could be a fringe playoff team once we completely learn how to close out games.

I will say 8-9 regular season wins (definitely attainable).

I do not know, my gut tells me this is the year we shake off all those last second gags, beat a top 10 team and sniff the playoffs. Going to Ped St will be tough. But we have Iowa and U $till Cheat at home. I think we split those at worst. The key is...manage the OOC early. Cincy will not be easy. But it's a home game for us really.
 
Last edited:


I see a sort of parity coming and having deep teams win out.
I think we are mostly there, we will be a team other teams wont want to play.

As far as contention for conf, not sure at this point. This is a telling year.
Figure on 9 wins
 
Because so much is changing in CFB right now, I don't look at this question the way I used to. In the past there was a well understood cycle of recruiting players, developing them, changing the culture and developing it within stable cohorts of players, etc.

Now things change literally season to season, and even all throughout the year. I have a particular concern about how you develop and MOTIVATE players, including stars on your own team who have high financial value, incoming transfers, and lower financial value starters and backups on your team, and still build a cohesive TEAM that maximize its performance as one, and not just as a collection of individuals achieving based on their own talents but perhaps not anything more than that.

Head coaches are doing a lot more different things in real time now that weren't previously expected if them and so they won't necessarily be effective in. They will try, experiment, sometimes be weak at some things initially and get better over a couple of seasons, sometimes fail.

Some coaches will immediately excel, others may accidentally do well as much due to luck as to skill, even as it's hard for us to immediately see the difference. There will be some that start out gangbusters then fade; some that don't excel at first but then figure it all out and get a lot better.

This year I just want to have another winning season, to see players already on the team develop as they should, including Raiola, to see weak assistant coaches be replaced with better ones, to a recruiting class equal to those in the past, to be aggressive and at least on paper successful in the portal, and to see plausible and understandable steps to handle all the new challenges the changes are bringing.
 
What is your personal measure of demonstrated progress for Nebraska football in 2025?

Overriding expectation = Record 8-4 or better in the regular season.
Would also like to see an upset - Michigan, USC, or Penn State.
Lastly, beat IOWA!

Little things:
  • Raiola over 3,000 yards and at least twice as many TDs vs. Interceptions
  • Would love a 1,000-yard rusher
  • Defense similar to this year but better 3rd down (get off the field) and backend support.
  • Top 40 Special Teams (PLEASE)
  • Top 20 recruiting class


GBR!
 
Last edited:

I'm a big time realist and don't fall for the hype or drink the kool-aid. I think 6-6 was a good season to most and with the additions we have made, marginal progress for next year is certainly attainable. I don't think we will be as good as some think, with that being said, I can easily see 16-0. Final answer Steve
 
Team building, Matt Rhule's forte, is harder now with turnstile transfers. Skill players will be in and out depending on how much they get paid and how much they play (It still amazes me Arch Manning has been two years at Texas--must be getting a large check.) I still worry about developing linemen and then having them snatched up by a team with a larger check balance.
Getting a bowl game is bare minimum. Eight regular season games is about all we can ask for, IMO.
 

Teams will now have two shots at plug and play players.
Breaking down to 105 this year will not give us a clear idea as to how coaches and staffs will handle the new format going forwards.
 

GET TICKETS



Back
Top