Although us Buff fans dislike Nebraska, I am going to try to be objective about this since I have followed Big 8/Bix 12 football a long time.
Nebraska has recruited nothing but what they used to recruit in the 90s, 80s, and 70s etc.... running backs, run blocking offensive linemen, decent defenders, etc, but nothing even resembling a wide receiver of any legitimate value. I am sure there are exceptions to this... but not many. Bobby Newcome was actually recruited as a QB/WR if I remember correctly, and he was overrated.
Nebraska's recruiting has gone waaaaaaaayyyyy down the last few years under Solich. Plus, they continue to recruit those same types of players. I've heard everything from "we need to get a new offensive coordinator" to "fire Solich now" and it seems that earlier NU wanted to just get a legitimate offensive coordinator.
I don't think that is the case any longer. Solich is in the uneviable situation of following a legend... and he really is responsible. Nebraska's long-time defensive coordinator retired in 2000 or so after 30 years on the sidelines, and so the blackshirts have not recovered from that. Solich, despite being a good FB for NU as a player, gets canned and the Uhaul truck parked in his driveway after this season. However, I think this will be a problem for NU for a long time to come as the recruiting is poor compared to what they used to get.
Look at Air Force last night.... or any option team. The option is toast. It was great in an earlier day, but I think there is simply too much speed on D these days to run the option effectively. Oklahoma in their day went 33-3 against all foes from 1985-1987 with all 3 losses to Miami. Miami shut down their option every single time they played. Miami had speed on defense. Most other people OU played back then weren't nearly as physical as OU was. Miami was. These days, there are plenty of Miamis out there that have enough speed to stop the option.
Who knows, maybe in 20 years we'll be talking this way about the spread offense?
Just my two cents....Nebraska is getting a little payback for all the times they ran the score up on the OSU's of the world....
