Little Rock Ag said:
RogerTheShrubber said:
Nebraska got absolutely KILLED by tu/the Big12 eliminating partial qualifiers. That was their bread and butter and the backbone of their program. Kstate handled it a bit better by going the JUCO route, but Neb was a bit too stubborn to "stoop" to that level. Also, not much of an incentive to play in Lincoln unless you are a Neb native (a renowned HOTBED of CFB talent).
Miami got killed by their own Administration. They still feel like they should be a private school with education as the MAIN priority, eliminating the talent pool which led to their rise to prominence (inner city "thugs"/atheletes).
Nebraska had a reputation for developing homegrown offensive line talent and utilizing it to create a powerful rushing attack in the Tom Osborne system. Once Osborne retired, and Nebraska thought winning "only" 9 games on occasion under his disciple, Frank Solich, was unacceptable and unwisely fired him, they lost their way. I can almost guarantee you that many Husker fans can point to the firing of Solich as one of their biggest mistakes, even if they won't admit it.
I think a big, but understated, part of Nebraska's rise to success was tha they were the first program to really invest in strength and conditioning, and it ultimately played out on the field before other teams caught up.
Up until really the 80's, lifting weights wasn't a huge part of football training. The overarching mentality was that lifting weights might make you stronger, but it made you slower and less flexible. Nebraska had a coach that eventually became the first strength and conditioning coach because he worked with injured players - through strength training, stretching, etc. - and the coaching staff figured out that when these players returned, they were better physically than they had been before.
Combine that with the partial qualifiers, conference re-alignment and letting Solich go ultimately killed them.
