Man, what a year. That’s what I hoped I would be writing when this season kicked off and we just beat Iowa to finish 9-3 at worst and just came up short on the Big Ten title game. Nebraska, with Tanner Lee flourishing and a recruiting class poised to finish in the top 12 in the nation according to recruiting websites, looked to be the team on the rise for 2018. Hard schedule wouldn’t matter I was thinking, Nebraska would be a fine tuned machine with Bob Diaco turning the Blackshirts into aggressive monsters! They would be a bending but tightening “D” in the red zone, to go along with forcing multiple turnovers per game. 2018 was going to be the year and Mike Riley would be on the way to restoring Husker Pride and Husker Nation would be ready to roll to a Big Ten title shot.
Whew…well that dream died about half time of the Oregon game. I thought Nebraska would shake that horrible half off, and come back, take care of business against Northern Illinois and be ready to fire out in the Big Ten….and then Northern Illinois came into Lincoln and shocked not only the team, but the fans as well. Nebraska has had its rough times against South Dakota and McNeese State, but we would never succumb to a loss to a non-power five team, right?
Having a 2-2 record seemed like not a big deal. Then the Huskers get to three wins and you are thinking, bring in Wisconsin. We were a bad non call in overtime away from maybe beating the Badgers in Wisconsin in 2016. We have a better quarterback, or so we thought, surely we will be in it until the end. Except for the last three possessions, when Wisconsin simply lined up and ran it down our throats like we are a high school program. Aren’t we invincible at night? What happened? Ohio State is coming to town, surely the night time atmosphere will fire up the team, get them back to basics and at least give Ohio State a run.
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Yikes, we realized we are a long way from being at Ohio State’s level. That much is clear. First year for Diaco, but the team seems to be crumbling from the inside. Mike Riley’s got this though. Mike is a coach that has seen a lot, been around a while, struggled with less talented teams at Oregon State, but he can right the ship. Purdue seems to be an up and coming team and we go to Indiana and win. It was on a last second drive, but man, we have a chance to go 4-1 to end the season, salvage this recruiting class, reload and be ready for 2018.
We are up on Northwestern 24-17 with the ball in their territory, at home. If we run the ball up the middle, let Drew Brown kick a field goal we probably survive and advance again. We have this. I told myself we had this. We have a quarterback that really has played well with much fewer picks since Northern Illinois. You can’t blame him for getting killed and tossing up a duck, right? Right???
I feel like going to Minnesota, we have a shot. They are struggling to score lately, our team has played better on the road. We will be in a close game, their defense isn’t that great. If we don’t stub our toe out the gate, we can do this. Wait? Was that an opening kickoff returned for a touchdown? That escalated quickly. What the hell just happened?
Those paragraphs are a microcosm of how I’ve coped with this year. I keep thinking we are going to turn the corner. I keep thinking Beautiful Bob Diaco is going to somehow recover that Notre Dame magic he had. I keep thinking Tanner Lee makes NFL throws, it’s not a matter of if, but when he dominates. Tre Bryant goes down, Mikale Wilbon keeps on running. Down to our 3rd string safety? No big deal, rated a four star by some services, recommended by Keyshawn Johnson Sr., kid’s going to be a stud.
And yet none of this has happened. I’m an optimistic fan no doubt. At this point though, even I have seen the writing on the wall. It’s in a different print than the 2007 version. That train wreck was clouded by great recruiting and the fact that Nebraska had just played in the Rose Bowl six years prior.
Honestly, when Mike Riley was hired, I was a bit skeptical, but right away, he talked the talk. The recruiting started off slow, but you could see the engine revving up as five star kids started to visit campus again. Nebraska has a good, not great year in 2016, but man, I thought I could see some promise. Bob Diaco was supposed to reinvigorate the defense to a new level. Money was spent on assistant coaches that a person would think would really be beneficial to the team.
And now, after all of it, I’m just a tired fan. I know there is nothing I can do different or better, that has to be handled in the North Stadium. I know that in two weeks, a new coaching search will begin. I will be in Scott Frost’s corner when he is hired. I hope it’s Frost at a minimum, anyone with a lesser resume not named Frost will be a hard sell.
We will watch the team go to Penn State, I will cheer for them, even though I know that they will be lucky to get out of there without getting beat by 50. I will go to Memorial Stadium to see us play Iowa, if for no other reason, by all that is holy, no one wearing that ugly black and yellow will get my seat. I will continue to cheer. I will hold out hope. Because even when there is none left, I’m still a fan. And at this point, that’s all I’ve got.
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ON WITH THE REWIND…
Our previous score prediction for the Minnesota game was Nebraska 24 – Minnesota 21. The actual score was Minnesota 54 Nebraska 21. Not much more to say, this was the nail in the coffin for the 2017 season. You can probably say that about Mike Riley’s career in two weeks.
Quick Notes:
Hard season to watch…it’s about to get worse…. There aren’t many notes, positive to share. This season has been one stumble after another. Like I said above, I will continue to watch, because I’m a die hard, but I don’t expect another win. I’m not sure I expect another lead. Penn State and Iowa are simply better than Nebraska right now. It could be 3-4 years before that changes. It’s a hard pill to swallow for multiple reasons. Let’s just hope whoever his hired next makes it a more palatable rebuild for us all.
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Score Prediction: Nebraska 10 – Penn State 49
Penn State still has a few things to play for, namely a good bowl game. They know they are going to beat us up, but I suspect they will want to get out of this game with no injuries. This score may be best case scenario. If there is any fight left in the Huskers, we certainly didn’t see it in Minnesota. Where they go to find it, I don’t know. I do know this…I will be in front of the TV, cheering….and possibly drinking. GBR!!
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