I saw a similar thread on another board and was interested what the feedback might be here. There are a few "traditional programs" that have been down lately but may be back for one reason or another. What programs do you think might make it to the BCS party and sustain that level of play(i.e. more than once in 5 years). Alabama would be an obvious one, but I'm looking more for teams like Notre Dame, Miami, FSU, Nebraska, PSU, etc. Plenty of other teams qualify but that's all I could think of offhand. Do teams like that make it back and why or why not? For instance, I see PSU and FSU suffering from the same problems. Having coaches that may have been passed up by the game. They both recruit well, but year after year, they don't seem to put it all together. I think their coaches are holding them back, despite being great coaches over a long period.
I agree with you on FSU and PSU. They seem like they have the potential to take the next step if they made a change at coach. I don't believe in the Alabama hype at all, we have been hearing this for too many years to count. I do think Texas could be back soon but can't really think of anyone else.
Nebraska has a problem recruiting. They've always raised the corn-fed lineman but rarely find the skill players within their state's boundaries. The days of beating up on weak competition, occasionally beating a Florida school in the Orange Bowl, and automatically being crowned as champs is over. If they can't recruit at the level of Texas and Oklahoma, they'll have a difficult time reaching a BCS bowl. Considering the limit of two schools from any conference playing in BCS bowls, Nebraska has a lot of work to do. I believe the other four teams on your list (PSU, Miami, FSU, and ND) will have an easier time playing for BCS bids. They all have or have recently had coaching issues (staying?, leaving?, retiring?, etc.) that have had some impact on the programs. You can be sure they'll be back.
I wonder about Notre Dame. They have the name, school, tradition, $, etc. but their current coach seems out of his depth in regards to teaching college players. He has even admitted his shortcomings in this dept. I'm not sure how they make it back as long as he is there. Good point on Nebraska with recruiting and I guess for that reason, the Florida schools should bounce back faster. Florida is so fertile with talent it's insane. Funny thing about Texas and Oklahoma is despite great recruiting and good coaching, they have had limited success in the BCS. Both are good enough to get there but are not getting over the hump. Most horn fans here in Houston blame Brown. They all think he can recruit but not coach the big game. Sort of looking the same for Stoops to me as well. I'm hoping Bo has better luck in Nebraska .
Im not sure how you could consider Texas to be coming back from anything. They havent been down at all. The last 6 years they were 11-2, 11-2, 10-3, 13-0, 10-3, 10-3. They are already "here" and have nothing to come back from.
No kidding, I was thinking the same thing. Nebraska will get more than their share of good skill people if Beaux puts his heart and soul into recruiting, just like OU does. And with today's game going into the future I'd guess Bo will end up running an offense similar to what they ran under Solich with some more spread incorporated in it. I think FSU will come back quicker with Fisher getting more and more imput into the schemes and stuff. The U should come back quicker than all of them probably but I'm not sure Shannon can coach em up yet, he hasn't had that sterling of a track record IMO as a coach. Hard to believe the Irish haven't bounced back yet, who would have thought Weiss was so inept as a head coach. Maybe this great class he's brought in will start to turn them around. Another program I think we'll see go up is UCLA under the guitar playing coach. He was able to win t Colorado and Washington, it should be much easier at UCLA. Of course if he cheats or plays any football pools than all will be for naught. Would love to see Bama stay down, but I'm pretty sure they won't. Saban can recruit like the dickens. Will Ferentz get his ducks in a row and bring Iowa to where everyone thought he had them headed a couple of years ago? I think he may have blown his wad!!!!
- FSU and PSU wont come back until they get new coaches. PSU will have an easier road after that since they will probably land Schiano and play in the Big 10. - It will be extremely tough for Nebraska to get back to where they were, because now they are recruiting the same athletes that Oklahoma and Texas are...and they will come in third the majority of the time. I would suspect their rise will be determined by an OU or Texas fall. - I think Notre Dame will come back strong as long as their recruiting is stable. The talent will at least make them more than competitive and they only have e a couple of elite games a year so they can make runs every once in a while.
There are not a lot of football-playing schools in Nebraska, they have a bunch of small, rural basketball schools instead. Nebraska in its heyday succeeded for two reasons: 1. They recruited very well out-of-state. Pellini must bring this back and I ain't sure that he's a good enough recruiter. 2. Nebraska has the best walk-on program in the nation and has for decades. They manage to talk dozens of players to forego scholarships at small colleges and walk-on at Nebraska. And they end up playing and giving scholarships to some of these guys.
I do not consider Texas' final BSC standings in the last two years to be a success at all. How can being ranked 19 and 20 in the BSC be considered good? It sure doesn't qualify in my book as making it to the 'BSC party' like the Dude set in the original post. Are you and cajdav closet Texas fans??
One left off of this list is Ga. Tech. It's going to take a few years for Johnson to get the players in place, but there isn't a lack of players around the SE that are going to fit well, very well, into his system.
