The highs and the lows of the Mike Riley era

We look back on the highs and the lows of the Mike Riley era at Nebraska as his time comes to a close after just three seasons.

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Mike Riley probably doesn't get enough credit for this, but how he led Nebraska through the 2016 season following the tragic death of punter Sam Foltz may be what he'll be remembered for the most.

That was arguably the toughest situation any Husker coach has ever been dealt days before the start of a season.

Riley handled it like a pro, and I can't think of very many people who would have been better at it than him. From August to December, Foltz's life was honored both on and off the field nearly every week, and Riley turned a devastating situation into a rallying point for the Huskers.

From Week 7 through Week 10, Riley had Nebraska ranked inside the top 10 after getting off to a 7-0 start in 2016. At that point, it appeared the program was really turning the corner.

Even after a 23-17 overtime loss at No. 11 Wisconsin, the Huskers remained in the top 10 the following week at Ohio State.

It was the longest NU had been ranked inside the top 10 since the 2010 season, when the Huskers spent 10 of the 13 weeks as a top-10 team.

Coming from the West coast, Riley was able to carve a real recruiting niche in the state of California, headlined by a relationship he had with former USC wide receiver and NFL great Keyshawn Johnson Sr.

Riley and his staff launched the "Calibraska" recruiting movement, which caught storm over the last two years by landing signings from top California prospects like Patrick O'Brien, Tyjon Lindsey, Tristan Gebbia, Marquel Dismuke, Keyshawn Johnson Jr., and then verbal commitments from 2018 standouts Brenden Radley-Hiles (decommitted Oct. 31) and Chase Williams (decommitted Nov. 22).

Riley also was able to get several other top California prospects to visit and consider Nebraska, which really got a lot of attention in the recruiting world.

One of the things Riley and his staff did that Bo Pelini never embraced was the summer camp recruiting scene.

Riley was instrumental and having Nebraska travel the country for a week each June to conduct different satellite football camps in places like St. Louis, Texas, California, Georgia and Florida.

He also launched the Friday Night Light Camps, which drew more than 7,000 fans this past year to Memorial Stadium.

Nebraska's Friday Night Lights event became the talk of the summer camp scene in college football, and he created a way to get several top four- and five-star prospects to Lincoln and compete in front of thousands of Husker fans.

The 2015 season got off to a disaster of a start, as the Huskers were 3-6 with heart-breaking losses to BYU, Miami, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Northwestern. Then they hit rock bottom at Purdue with a 55-45 loss to the worst team in the Big Ten.

It looked hopeless at that point for Riley in his first season, but then he pulled off one of the biggest wins we've seen in a number of years by knocking off eventual Big Ten champ and College Football Playoff representative Michigan State.

He followed that with a season-ending victory over UCLA in the Foster Farms Bowl in which the Huskers rushed for 362 yards on 62 carries. At that point, you thought this thing might be headed in the right direction.

In two off-seasons under Riley, we saw coaching movement after each year. Following an under-performing season with the defensive line in 2015, he fired d-line coach Hank Hughes.

Then in 2016, he parted ways with long-time defensive coordinator Mark Banker and special teams coordinator Bruce Read, along with putting the writing on the wall for Brian Stewart to start finding a new job after the season.

When new defensive coordinator Bob Diaco came in to replace Banker, they hired Bob Elliott to be his safeties coach in 2017. Elliott tragically lost a battle with cancer and passed away before the start of the season, creating more shuffle on the staff.

Never once did you feel Riley's coaching staff was on solid ground during his time at NU.

The bottom line is if you want to keep your job at Nebraska for the long haul, you have to beat Wisconsin and Iowa.

Riley was 0-6 against those two West Division rivals in his three seasons in Lincoln.

It also never felt like he was closing the gap on the Badgers or the Hawkeyes, while both Minnesota and Purdue also took significant steps forward. Riley was even 1-2 against Northwestern on top of that.

The Huskers have the resources and the support where they need to be a more competitive program in the Big Ten West going forward.

Nebraska fans can handle losing, but they can't handle losing games due to Football 101 mistakes.

Things like Tanner Lee's interception against Northwestern when the Huskers faced a first-and-10 on the Wildcats' 19-yard line, and a field goal would have probably iced the game.

Or plays like Tommy Armstrong's decision to pass at Illinois on a third down where a run play chews off over 40 seconds of clock and doesn't allow the Illini to have enough time to put together a game-winning drive.

Mistakes like those are what ultimately get coaches fired.

There are eight losses which sum up the last 18 games for Mike Riley in a nutshell: 62-3 at Ohio State, 40-10 at Iowa, 38-24 vs. Tennessee, 38-17 vs. Wisconsin, 56-14 vs. Ohio State, 54-21 at Minnesota, and 56-44 at Penn State.

You cannot get beaten that badly that often at a place like Nebraska and expect it to work long term. Everybody liked Riley and what he was about, but this is a bottom line business, and those seven losses are hard to look past.

Iowa's blowout victory in Memorial Stadium was the final nail in the coffin of the Riley era.