Outsiders Take on ISU's 08 Season

[cyclonewino]

ISU has one positive - coaching. In spite of our lowly rated offense the staff managed ball control fairly well. The team also showed considerable improvement throughout the season. If it were not for some transitional issues ISU would have likely had 5 wins. So, w believe without the transitional issues, another year of coaching and strength training and more players fitting into the staffs coaching schemes, ISU will show improvement over last season. Wins are hard to predict, but we finished playing like a 7-8 Big 12 team not a bottem feeder.

Nebraska will soon learn there is a difference between head coach and defensive coach - improvement will not likely be instant and so Nebraska may have it's share of struggles this fall.

 

[BryceC]

The thing is that people everywhere don't like bad preseason predictions. I remember before last season on this board I predicted Callahan would be fired within two years and the NU fans went bananas on here. People don't enjoy it when you swing by to take a dump in their cereal even if they are right.

 

[weR138]

Re: Outsiders Take on ISU's 08 Season (Isn't far off)

I guess I'm sick of posters acting like 5 year olds behind a screen name. You wouldn't act like this face to face with a person, so why do it on here. OH WAIT... He is a Husker fan... Thats why. Makes so much sense now.

Stay classy people. I'm affraid that our fanbase is becoming what we have dispised all these years. A mixture between Hawkeye and Husker fans.[/quote]

bellz,

It is presumptuous and rude of you to intimate that I would't say these things to someone's face. I live and work in Sioux City which is overwhelmingly populated by Nebraska and Iowa fans some of whom I work with. The subject of this coming football season has indeed come up. Now, typically Nebraska fans are very knowledgable and gracious, which I have posted before. They rarely talk **** about ISU. They don't have to, they have a great tradition to look back on. But on one occasion about two weeks ago one of my coworkers made similar comments about ISU's upcoming season that NUF did. To his face I asked this guy what factual analysis his predictions were based upon. He mentioned the loss of Meyer, Blythe, and Bowen. So I pressed him about our recruiting, our running backs, Phil Bates, AA the new increasing talent and depth at O Line. He was totally ignorant of the current state of our program and just wanted to spout off about Nebraska because "we got Pellini and he's going to restore order". Well that may be true Nebraska fan but if you are going to come onto a rival board bring some facts beyond what players we've lost. My brother in law is a Nebraska fan and grad and we are able to have great dialogue on this subject because we never make idiotic statements like " I don't see any talent on this offense" It was from my brother in law that I learned on three occasions during the Kansas game Nebraska had less than eleven men on the field on defense. Using NUF's method of "analysis" I could say Nebraska has a terrible defense and will lose every game to teams with a good offense but that doesn't really tell you much. The truth is I've got a "feeling" that Nebraska will be much better on defense but I'm not able to tell you exactly why except that they do have talent and Pellini has a very good record as a coach and is by all accounts a great motivator. But I'm not going to go onto Kansas' board and say this is why they will lose in Lincoln this year (which I believe) because I can't back it up and I have no desire to go to a rival board and do that. I don't do that and I don't respect those that do. If you want to welcome all comers regardless of the quality of their posts that's your problem. Personally I want to read something I can use on this site if it's from a rival.

 

[Phaedrus]

I will make a bold prediction for this year:

I STILL won't care what some Bugeater fan has to say about my beloved Cyclones.

Actually, that's kind of like my prediction for the last 40-some years.

 

[NU Follower]

I come in peace. Really, I do. I have a lot of time to kill since I'm off work, sitting in my recliner with my leg up.

But, I still stand behind my statement that ISU doesn't have a strength going into this year. There's no position in which you can rely on a good/great performance every week.

QB -- Talented, but inexperienced. Next year will be a strength if all goes well. Everyone will get to see how talented these two are this year. Will the backup QB be the most popular player on the team this year (fan perspective)?
RB -- Scales, Robinson, Bass. Good talent, but nothing that will keep opposing coordinator from sleeping. Bo joins this group next year, which should be an upgrade.
WR (TE) -- Again, solid talent, but no proven playmakers. Surmrall good, consistent, Hamilton good hands and great frame
OL -- Lots of young talent, which appeared to improve as the season progressed last year. No sure who will be starting at this point, but depth is being built. Too inexperienced to be called a strength at the start of the season. Should be a strength going into next year.

DL -- Biggest question mark on the team is the interior DL. DE should be solid.
LB -- I feel this will be the weakest part of the entire team. Not a lot of depth here either
DB -- Should be the strength of the defense. If I remember correctly though, this unit gave up lots of yards through the air, something like 90+ in the country last year. Could be a strength though if the DL can provide a pass rush.

Overall, offense should improve quite a bit this year and looks really good for the next several years. Defense will take a step back this year and has some fairly big holes to address through recruiting.

 

[keepngoal]

Hello ISU fans,

It's almost that time again, less than 3 weeks away from the start of the best sport in the world. Here's my take on your ISU cyclones as the season approaches.

I'm not going to do a game by game prognostication, instead provide a couple of opinions on the upcoming ISU season while living in Des Moines.

I can't see a strength anywhere on this team. Something that you can rely on week in and week out all year long.

I see a below average offense (10-12 in the big XII) for the upcoming season. I think the ISU offense is a year away from being good. Young OL, QB will cause inconsistency this year. Teams will stack the line in order to take away the run. If one of your new receivers steps up as a deep threat, that should help the overall offense, and loosen up the types of fronts you will see.

I see a below average defense (8-10 in the big XII). Loosing Tuba will greatly hurt your run defense this upcoming year. I see your pass rush being a little better, but not much. If that's the case, and ISU can't put pressure on opposing QBs, the pass defense will struggle again this year. ACE was the heart and soul of the D last year, and will be greatly missed. Special teams will struggle due to the youth.

Overall, I see 3-5 wins for 2008. I will be watching your young OL & DL throughout the year to #1) see what kind of talent is there #2) see how much they improve. I see ISU being much improved next year, unfortunately ISU will have A&M, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska on the road in 2009.

I would have bought two of the cy's pack and gone to the Nebraska game, but I fractured my ankle last week playing softball.

Good luck this year.

while I gave your post a shot even with that screen name. I stopped reading right at the bold text.

:biglaugh::biglaugh::biglaugh:

-keep

 

[BryceC]

I come in peace. Really, I do. I have a lot of time to kill since I'm off work, sitting in my recliner with my leg up.

But, I still stand behind my statement that ISU doesn't have a strength going into this year. There's no position in which you can rely on a good/great performance every week.

QB -- Talented, but inexperienced. Next year will be a strength if all goes well. Everyone will get to see how talented these two are this year. Will the backup QB be the most popular player on the team this year (fan perspective)?
RB -- Scales, Robinson, Bass. Good talent, but nothing that will keep opposing coordinator from sleeping. Bo joins this group next year, which should be an upgrade.
WR (TE) -- Again, solid talent, but no proven playmakers. Surmrall good, consistent, Hamilton good hands and great frame
OL -- Lots of young talent, which appeared to improve as the season progressed last year. No sure who will be starting at this point, but depth is being built. Too inexperienced to be called a strength at the start of the season. Should be a strength going into next year.

DL -- Biggest question mark on the team is the interior DL. DE should be solid.
LB -- I feel this will be the weakest part of the entire team. Not a lot of depth here either
DB -- Should be the strength of the defense. If I remember correctly though, this unit gave up lots of yards through the air, something like 90+ in the country last year. Could be a strength though if the DL can provide a pass rush.

Overall, offense should improve quite a bit this year and looks really good for the next several years. Defense will take a step back this year and has some fairly big holes to address through recruiting.

Apparently you do have a lot of time because you just typed 500 words that are exactly what you said earlier. So at this point, no, you're not coming in peace. I pointed it out in my earlier post why people are annoyed by you and now you're just repeating yourself. We read it the first time. Thank you.

Do you honestly think that I would get any better of a welcome if I posted something like this on an NU message board? Even if I said something like, you had the worst defense in NU history last year and a new coach doesn't replace lack of talent, I would get completely shouted down.

 

[Cyclonestate78]

That's really a trick question, considering all of the powerful, explosive offenses in the conference--tenth in the conference could well be in the top forty nationally.

On the other hand, yes, I could see not only Baylor below our Cyclones, but K-State and perhaps Colorado as well. We might even finish ahead of A&M in their coaching transition season.

A better, more athletic and physical offensive line, talented quarterbacks, a blend of experience and youth at wideout--and Alexander Robinson and J.J. Bass are better than you think. Yes, I'm satisfied with our offense this season.

I understand why a Husker fan might come on here and talk down on ISU. What I would be more interested in hearing from him is how he thinks Nebraska will do this year. Will the "whiteshirts" show up again next year after having statistically the worst season in Nebraska history? I mean when you give up over 40 points like in 7 of 12 games there may just be a slight problem there.

 

[keepngoal]

Strengths:

OLine, WRs (believe it or not), solid RBs

Dbacks and DE's.

-keep

 

[Clonefan94]

The only problem I have with his post is his "no strength" comment. I re-watched a couple of our games from last year. Mizzu and TTech, on Fox Sports Central last night. Honestly, the only consistent thing we had on O in those games were our running backs. 3 returning backs, all which saw substantial playing time last year, imo, is a strength. They may not keep D-Coordinators up all night, but, they'd be foolish to not at least concern themselves with how to handle each back. Had one of our backs got the start and major playing time for each game, I really think we'd have seen a 1000 yard rusher for us.

Defense? I'm really excited to see our backfield this year. Watching those games, I saw a lot of things I liked and am really excited to see how they improve on last year. To say our D-Backs aren't a strength as well, is just not doing your research.

Now, I'm not claiming any of these guys are Adrian Peterson types, or even close to that. But, to say our backfield won't be a strength for us is either being uninformed, in denial, or just spouting an opinion in hopes of pissing off some fans here. At least we are naming players that we think will make a difference and step up this year. All I hear from kNU fans is that, "Pellini will restore order!" If that's all it took to have a great season, I have no doubt Chizik would have gotten us to the National Championship game last year. If nothing else, Chizik restored order here. That's only the first step in rebuilding though.

Personally, I always liked Nebraska, my dad was born there and lived their for a while. I grew up cheering for the big red. I hope they have a good season except for one game. But, I'm realistic, you don't go from being a terrible team to great in one year by the addition of a new coach. There have been problems on the Huskers teams for a couple of years now that only coaching was part of. That's what makes football so fun though, you don't know from week to week what's going to happen when all the pieces fall into place.

EDIT: I did want to add though. Watching those games, I was also a little disturbed. We have a lot of work to do this year to get better. Yeah, we improved down the stretch, but, there were times in those games we looked terrible. I am by no means saying the strengths we have are going to lead us to a North Title this year. Merely that we've got some experience in key positions. And to say we don't have that is really off base. This year will be a struggle, but, I believe our running backs and D-backs are what will pull out a couple of games we didn't last year.

 

[NU Follower]

Apparently you do have a lot of time because you just typed 500 words that are exactly what you said earlier. So at this point, no, you're not coming in peace. I pointed it out in my earlier post why people are annoyed by you and now you're just repeating yourself. We read it the first time. Thank you.

Do you honestly think that I would get any better of a welcome if I posted something like this on an NU message board? Even if I said something like, you had the worst defense in NU history last year and a new coach doesn't replace lack of talent, I would get completely shouted down.

People have made stupid jokes and cracked on me, and I expect that, but I'm still waiting for someone to try and tell me where I'm wrong in my statements. I got cracked for being stupid, unintelligent, blah, blah blah, for making the statements I did, but no one really had an insightful response, other that those out of pure hatred or bitterness.

I'll talk football with anyone who wants to. Doesn't matter if that's ISU, NU or the Big XII in general. Like I said, I have a lot of down time right now.

 

[everyyard]

People have made stupid jokes and cracked on me, and I expect that, but I'm still waiting for someone to try and tell me where I'm wrong in my statements. I got cracked for being stupid, unintelligent, blah, blah blah, for making the statements I did, but no one really had an insightful response, other that those out of pure hatred or bitterness.

I'll talk football with anyone who wants to. Doesn't matter if that's ISU, NU or the Big XII in general. Like I said, I have a lot of down time right now.

hard to respond to something that amounts to "blah, blah, blah."

 

[NU Follower]

Clonefan - Good response. Regarding the RBs. Scales has 4 years of injury problems, Bass was also hurt and also suspended during the summer. That leaves Robinson, who was also hurt some last year as well.

I do think your DBs could be a strength, but that depends on the DL. You can only cover WRs for so long before they get open. I do think they were better than their national ranking, but the DL needs to put pressure on opposing QBs.

 

[BryceC]

I felt the offensive line really came together as a unit even though they were starting a lot of guys who were undersized (LT was about 270) and they were all pretty much thrown together. There have been several guys that have been passed on the depth chart, and Schmeling left the team because he had been passed on the depth chart (and graduated). I see no reason with a talent and experience upgrade why the OL couldn't be considered a strength.

 

[Clonefan94]

I felt the offensive line really came together as a unit even though they were starting a lot of guys who were undersized (LT was about 270) and they were all pretty much thrown together. There have been several guys that have been passed on the depth chart, and Schmeling left the team because he had been passed on the depth chart (and graduated). I see no reason with a talent and experience upgrade why the OL couldn't be considered a strength.

My guess, it's because we are speculating on our strengths. I'm speculating that our backs are going to have a great year, especially with the speculation of an improved O-Line. But, for some reason, the speculation that Pellini is going to "restore order" isn't so much speculation to kNU fans. They "Know" it's going to happen. Or they know our team better than us and say we have no strength. They aren't speculating that we'll have injury problems at running back, we are going to have them according to one poster here. So, we can over look our backs, they are not a strength because they might be injury prone. Remember what the N stands for :biglaugh:? Anyways, I'm not claiming to know anything. It's what I hope. I also hope that coaches, especially D-Coordinators don't consider our backs a strength either. I'd love for every team to overlook us coming in to our games. I guess I'm just trying to say that every guy that played last year and showed some promise, you have to look at this year as a strength.

And honestly, I think we are easy to pick on. We never claim to be world beaters. In fact, I think most of us are just saying we should be improved this year. We don't need an outside perspective telling us how we'll suck. And then turnaround and say how their team, not much better than ours last year while probably giving up more points, is going to turn things around. But, what are we going to say, we try to defend our team and give logical response and are only given a repeat of what was originally posted. That's where I ended up getting aggrevated. It's not a discussion, it's an kNU fan telling us how we aren't going to be any good. And no matter what we say, we're not changing his mind. That's fine. I hope their coaches feel that way as well.

 

[NU Follower]

My guess, it's because we are speculating on our strengths. I'm speculating that our backs are going to have a great year, especially with the speculation of an improved O-Line. But, for some reason, the speculation that Pellini is going to "restore order" isn't so much speculation to kNU fans. They "Know" it's going to happen. Or they know our team better than us and say we have no strength. They aren't speculating that we'll have injury problems at running back, we are going to have them according to one poster here. So, we can over look our backs, they are not a strength because they might be injury prone. Remember what the N stands for :biglaugh:? Anyways, I'm not claiming to know anything. It's what I hope. I also hope that coaches, especially D-Coordinators don't consider our backs a strength either. I'd love for every team to overlook us coming in to our games. I guess I'm just trying to say that every guy that played last year and showed some promise, you have to look at this year as a strength.

And honestly, I think we are easy to pick on. We never claim to be world beaters. In fact, I think most of us are just saying we should be improved this year. We don't need an outside perspective telling us how we'll suck. And then turnaround and say how their team, not much better than ours last year while probably giving up more points, is going to turn things around. But, what are we going to say, we try to defend our team and give logical response and are only given a repeat of what was originally posted. That's where I ended up getting aggrevated. It's not a discussion, it's an kNU fan telling us how we aren't going to be any good. And no matter what we say, we're not changing his mind. That's fine. I hope their coaches feel that way as well.

You can speculate that every position will be great and a strength. That's what fans do. It's amazing how inherently biased we are to our own team. We can watch the same play and see two completely different things.

Most husker fans are expecting 7-9 wins this year. Most ISU fans are expecting 5-7 wins. It'll be interesting to see who is closer to reality.

 

[Clonefan94]

You can speculate that every position will be great and a strength. That's what fans do. It's amazing how inherently biased we are to our own team. We can watch the same play and see two completely different things.

Most husker fans are expecting 7-9 wins this year. Most ISU fans are expecting 5-7 wins. It'll be interesting to see who is closer to reality.

Only our speculations rest mainly in what we saw on the field last year. I also wouldn't say most ISU fans are "expecting" 5-7 wins this year. I think most of us are "Expecting" to be improved, and hoping for 5-7 wins. Most of us on here that is. I'd say, from who I talk to, if we get to 5, we'll be doing pretty good. My assessment of the situation really isn't as biased as I think you presume. I've grown up a Husker fan. I always enjoy watching them play. I guess I'm just trying to say, as an outside observer, I wouldn't get too secure in the expectation of the ship being righted in Lincoln by the addition of Pellini. At least in this year.

 

[cyman1189]

Trying not to turn this into a Husker thread at all but if i was NUfollower i'd be more worried about my own team... in your down time i hope you noticed that Nebraska's season looks (to me) less promising than ISU's. All the Husker fans think that Pelini is going to be a savior... but didn;t everyone think the same about callahan. Pelini is the better coach, but i honestly don;t think the huskers are going to be in any position to contend for anything this year. With a QB like Ganz, i'd personnaly be worried. the only thing he has been consistent with is that he isn't good under pressure. i don;t see the Huskers doing much better than they did last year. I'm looking forward to the Husker Cyclone game this year as I think it might be a very good game... Could i be completely wrong about everything i just said... quite possible

 

[bellzisu]

Re: Outsiders Take on ISU's 08 Season (Isn't far off)

bellz,

It is presumptuous and rude of you to intimate that I would't say these things to someone's face. I live and work in Sioux City which is overwhelmingly populated by Nebraska and Iowa fans some of whom I work with. The subject of this coming football season has indeed come up. Now, typically Nebraska fans are very knowledgable and gracious, which I have posted before. They rarely talk **** about ISU. They don't have to, they have a great tradition to look back on. But on one occasion about two weeks ago one of my coworkers made similar comments about ISU's upcoming season that NUF did. To his face I asked this guy what factual analysis his predictions were based upon. He mentioned the loss of Meyer, Blythe, and Bowen. So I pressed him about our recruiting, our running backs, Phil Bates, AA the new increasing talent and depth at O Line. He was totally ignorant of the current state of our program and just wanted to spout off about Nebraska because "we got Pellini and he's going to restore order". Well that may be true Nebraska fan but if you are going to come onto a rival board bring some facts beyond what players we've lost. My brother in law is a Nebraska fan and grad and we are able to have great dialogue on this subject because we never make idiotic statements like " I don't see any talent on this offense" It was from my brother in law that I learned on three occasions during the Kansas game Nebraska had less than eleven men on the field on defense. Using NUF's method of "analysis" I could say Nebraska has a terrible defense and will lose every game to teams with a good offense but that doesn't really tell you much. The truth is I've got a "feeling" that Nebraska will be much better on defense but I'm not able to tell you exactly why except that they do have talent and Pellini has a very good record as a coach and is by all accounts a great motivator. But I'm not going to go onto Kansas' board and say this is why they will lose in Lincoln this year (which I believe) because I can't back it up and I have no desire to go to a rival board and do that. I don't do that and I don't respect those that do. If you want to welcome all comers regardless of the quality of their posts that's your problem. Personally I want to read something I can use on this site if it's from a rival.

This guy isn't your brother-in-law... Hard to clump eveyone together.

I bolded two parts of your arguement.

The Black- We lost our starting QB, our #1 Wide Out, our best interior lineman, our best linebacker. None of our running backs went over 500 yards and if they did, it wasn't by much. Not much production is coming back this year. So for an outsider it does look like we are in worse shape. Look at all the predictions, obviously many people share the same opinion.

The RED- Our recruiting is better, but compared to what the last several years. We were still rated the second lowest recruiting class in the Big 12. Not exactly a world beater class. Baylor still out recruited according to ESPN. Yes I know some of these guys will work out. Just pointing out the outsiders take.

Our running backs (top 3) rushed for 1260 yards. Not bad numbers, but none survived the whole season. The production is great, but we don't have a featured back like most teams do. We are going by comitee.

Phillip Bates didn't show much last year. He has the "Miracle" catch against Iowa. He didn't do much else, and didn't play QB except on running plays. AA showed promise but then again he kinda got banged up in one game. He didn't play a whole lot, so yet again I can see an outsiders view.

Our line has new faces on it. Yes they were better last year then previous years, but then again from an outsiders view, it doesn't look good.

Do you catch my drift on this yet??

We as a fanbase have hope and can see the good things going on.

I do agree with the restore the order bull... It does get old. I am sick of hearing it. Sad thing is they hired a very good defensive coach. Probably comparable to Chizik. I can see why they would be excited too. They just have terrible expectations and can't realize it will take a few years.

Other then that he wasn't way off. Even 22 thought so. I know you guys don't like "outsiders coming in taking a dump on your sofa" or cereal, or front yard (which sounds stupid, just say what you mean). The guy hasn't been trying to flame.

You guys just think that because of his name and school he cheers for.

 

[weR138]

Re: Outsiders Take on ISU's 08 Season (Isn't far off)

My whole point on this part, was that we don't have to be complete ******** to this guy.

I got negative rep for my last post, just because I was sticking up for this guy. He had an opinion. This is a message board. I have seen people that are Cyclone fans say things far worse and bash our team worse then he did, but since they are a Cyclone fan all was well.

Hmmm.

I'm getting pos reps for mine. I wonder what you're doing wrong?