Husker Fans Shouldn’t Blame 2016’s Collapse on Talent

The recruitniks were out in force in December and January, trying to pin the blame on Nebraska’s 2-4 finish to the season on the overall incompetence of the previous staff. It’s easy to do, because the results were painful and the people they point fingers at are long gone.  Bad coaches who did bad recruiting, leaving the program in such a sorry state, Mike Riley was a miracle worker getting this team to nine wins while having to rebuild the program from the ashes.

Unfortunately that’s like an InfoWars sports report.  Totally #fakeNews.

Billy Devaney, who was hired by Mike Riley to help provide additional oversight and guidance on the football program said talent wasn’t an issue, except against Ohio State.  Every other game, Nebraska should have been able to compete better.  Here’s what Devaney told Steven M. Sipple of the Lincoln Journal-Star last week:”Wisconsin, obviously, was a pretty balanced team, but it was a good matchup. The Iowa game, that was bullsh–. There was no way in the world that should have happened.”Even Tennessee, yeah, they were athletic. But I thought there were other places that we should’ve competed better, where we matched up well. Ohio State was the only game where I thought we were in trouble, where the talent gap was noticeable.”Recruitniks don’t want to hear it, but the words and actions of North Stadium mean so much more than your own conclusions. Two coordinators with long-standing ties to Mike Riley:  fired.  A clear message has been sent by Mike Riley:  Now that I’m here in Lincoln, what was “good enough” at Oregon State simply isn’t “good enough” at Nebraska.

Think I’m making this up?  Tom Shatel of the Omaha World-Herald talked to Dan Van De Reit, Riley’s assistant athletic director of football operations:

There’s been one major difference from OSU: the head coach. Riley’s dismissal of three coaches in two seasons, and his urgency in landing defensive coordinator Bob Diaco, is a side few saw at Oregon State. For good reason, Van De Riet said. “Coach Riley has always been one of the most competitive guys I know,” Van De Riet said. “With expectations come hard decisions. We were at a place for so long where a bowl game was fine. “Those decisions are hard. I don’t know if at Oregon State if that was necessary. You win seven games, six, go to a bowl game, the fans are happy. The goal there was to get to a bowl game, because they hadn’t had one. “I’ve been impressed with the way he’s not only been aware of the expectations but how he’s managed those expectations. He’s set the bar to what he feels it’s going to take to win.” “I don’t know if at Oregon State if that was necessary.”  Read that quote again.  And again.