You want to see progress each year but really it's 5-6 years for a program to get rebuilt top to bottom. Progress is that the players play yard, appear to be well coached. But for a program where you have to recruit 3 stars and develop them for a system, that takes a long time. Dantonio didn't really have MSU established until like 7-8 years.
What Franklin did at PSU winning the B1G in 3rd year coming out of sanctions - that's pretty insane, but PSU had the advantage of being able to recruit a few great players. Minnesota is never going to get 4 star players so they have to do it another way.
Nebraska.... they will have an easier time recruiting because of their tradition and their fans pack a stadium. But not that easy. Nebraska is located in Nebraska. Northwestern probably has an easier time recruiting than Nebraska right now.