5 Things We Know About Nebraska Through 6 Games

The Nebraska Cornhuskers have had an extremely rocky start to their 2015 season, posting a disappointing 2-4 record after suffering yet another late-game collapse against the Wisconsin Badgers. Here are five things we've learned about Nebraska so far this season:

5) Nebraska is awful in close games

Nebraska is only a few plays away from being 6-0 this season. They lost on a Hail Mary to BYU, lost in OT to Miami, on a touchdown on the last play of scrimmage agaisnt Illinois and on a last-minute field goal to Wisconsin - all of which are games that Nebraska could have won easily. Had they done that, Nebraska winning the Big Ten West would be on the docket, but they haven't been able to make the plays down the stretch when they've needed to. 

4) Tommy Armstrong has been good enough

Armstrong hasn't been the perfect QB, but he's been much better as a pocket passer this season. He's also shown incredible heart and guts through six games, nearly pulling off a huge comeback against Miami. Armstrong has shown this season that he's good enough leader and playmaker to guide the Cornhuskers to a Big Ten title. If only he could get the rest of the team in order...

3) Inconsistency has killed them

The Cornhuskers will go on spurts when they look like they can beat anyone in the country, like when they took two double-digit leads over BYU and came back to tie Miami, but also go through spurts where they look terrible. They nearly added another loss to their current four-loss ledger when they jumped out to a 22-point lead over Southern Miss and almost blew it. We can talk about how close this team is to a 6-0 squad, but that doesn't mean anything due to the squad's all-around inconsistency.

2) Something's Missing Here

We'll go more into our thoughts on the major cause of this below, but there's something lacking in the engine room of this Nebraska team. Whether it's the mystical "killer instinct" or just the right conditioning to hold pat down the stretch of games, the Huskers just don't have the added oomph necessary to be one of the game's elite teams.

1) Mike Riley Is The Wrong Fit

Riley is 95-84 as a college head coach. Bo Pelini was 67-27 over his seven seasons (plus one game) at Nebraska. Pelini got plenty of guff from Nebraska fans and national football analysts for being Mr. Nine Wins. But, Riley's whole career averages out to just over six wins per season -- a trend which this current Huskers team may not even match. Mediocrity isn't tolerated at Nebraska. Riley has been mediocre his entire career.