What happened to Nebraska football?

[_westtexasrunner_]

Off topic! It is almost just sad watching them nowadays. They used to own the Big 8, and dang, they went 60-3 from '93-'98? Holy cow?! Some of those players won more national championships than lost games. What the heck happened? I would love to see them do good again. Maybe their new coach can bring them back to competency at least. I live in Oklahoma, and I miss them coming here and playing OU. Those were always good games. I guess you can't stay on top forever, but dang you would think a 900+ win program could at least put a good team on the field most years.

 

[GG5thGen]

I’m a Sooner fan too and it used to scare me every year when we had to play them. I’ve wondered myself what happened to them.

 

[rdruss]

Recruiting a lot more competitive now especially for a team based in Lincoln Nebraska. Nothing against Lincoln, or Nebraska, but young guys are going to gravitate toward programs that are good and warm most all year round.

 

[thennen]

Nebraska joined the Big 10, a much stronger conference than the Big 8/12. Does this explain it?

 

[KDubb]

Tom Osborne retired.

Off topic! It is almost just sad watching them nowadays. They used to own the Big 8, and dang, they went 60-3 from '93-'98? Holy cow?! Some of those players won more national championships than lost games. What the heck happened? I would love to see them do good again. Maybe their new coach can bring them back to competency at least. I live in Oklahoma, and I miss them coming here and playing OU. Those were always good games. I guess you can't stay on top forever, but dang you would think a 900+ win program could at least put a good team on the field most years.

and the program started its death spiral.

 

[_westtexasrunner_]

Yall are probably right. Hopefully someday they can be back. I am somewhat of a closet Husker fan myself :trophy:

 

[Danger Mouse]

since I have a lot of family from Nebraska I've heard quite a bit about this.
the main thing apparently was Tom Osborns retirement, the program never recovered after that. None of the head coaches hired since have put together a successful football program and none have lasted. Whether they had long enough to build their own program or not is up for debate, but NE fans expect a degree of success, so if the coach can't deliver they get the boot.
One of Osborns former players who became a coach in his own right Scott Frost has returned in the last couple years as head coach and started to rebuild a successful program. Maybe you will get a good fight again soon

 

[ads2539]

They haven’t been great since coach Osborne retired. Joining the Big 10 didn’t help, either.

 

[Ogre75]

The Big10 is a better conference, but they(NE) hadn't done anything long before that. Recruiting to a school that isn't in a glitzy state can be tough, and doesn't currently have a strong program is even tougher. I'm a Boilermaker. Purdue is the "Cradle of Quarterbacks" and it's tough to consistently be in the top 25-50% of the conference.
The biggest problem is most conferences can't afford to match player salary like the SEC...:flamethrwoer2:
:becky:

 

[GuySmiley]

Growing up a Big10 fan we were honestly a little worried when Nebraska joined... Football is big business here in MI. I've asked myself the same question since that happened. Why were we even worried? Or did the program's move to the big conference for the revenue somehow kill their drive to win?

(Sparty on!)