CFN really, really, really early B1G schedule breakdowns

[Huskerzoo]

I would say this is about right, my prediction is we go 10-2 with loses to NW and Wisky, I think we will have a lot of momentum going into MSU and we beat them. However, after the bye week we come out flat and loose to NW, and same playing against Wisky. I think this schedule can really springboard us into the national spotlight with games against a most likely ranked Miami team, ranked MSU, and ranked Wisky.

Northwestern is on the road 2 out of the 3 weeks before us, with Wisconsin sandwiched in the middle. Our bye week couldn't come at a better time there. I say with a bye we have a better than average chance of getting that one on the road. 60-40 us, though I wouldn't be shocked at all if we come out flat and piss this one down our leg

Wisky has a cakewalk with Maryland, Rutgers, and Purdue with an bye week the 4 weeks before us. 2 of those games immediately before us are on the road, and I could see them overlooking one of them and maybe suffering a loss...but they'll essentially have almost 4 weeks to prepare for us. Everyone should be healthy. We'll have 3 weeks in an almost easier lead up to the game, but they'll pack that place having been on the road for a few week. Home field advantage that week is worth 7-10 points. I'd say 75-25 Wisconsin win.

MSU is another one I'd lean about 70-30 in their favor on. We'll be gassed, after playing a tight game to Fresno - a hard fought game against Miami then Illinois comes in and plays us closer than they should. 3 straight close games, and the team is not into the trip to MSU as they should and we hear about it after the game and all wonder why Bo can't get his team ready to play in these big games, yada, yada, yada.

Miami is a toss-up, Iowa is an injury away from a loss. Kinda depends on who comes in healthiest. I'd say 4 losses are there, a 5th could show up - or maybe we survive with just 3 and take a beating in a bowl game. More of the same w/ this "difficult" schedule.

Couple notes here.

Fresno lost the majority of their offense, and their defense is absolutely awful.

Under Al Golden, Miami's average score against teams in the top 30 is 42-10 (they lose).

Iowa lost a trio of 5th year senior's at LB, probably their best LB corps in a decade.

MSU game relies solely on turnovers. Beck has had no problems gashing their vaunted defense.

IMO, the season relies on the QB position. I think the D will be better, and not near the liability it was in the pre-season.

After a poor start last fall in wins over Wyoming and South Dakota State and a loss to UCLA, the Huskers -- in large part because of their improved play at linebacker -- responded with solid defensive stats in Big Ten play. Nebraska allowed 329.4 yards per game after Oct. 1 (11th nationally and fourth in the Big Ten), 4.6 yards per play (seventh and second) and limited opponents to a 30.5 percent conversion rate on third down (sixth and second).http://espn.go.com/b...em-with-promise

So what you're saying is you like the D?

 

[hskrfan4life]

Eh I think we win them all! But I do that every year. Eventually I have to be right... Or I hope so.

 

[hskerprid]

I noticed on a schedule earlier that no one has a bye week before they play NU. That may help......a little.

 

[NUinID]

Why is everyone so afraid of Northwestern? The thing that really has hurt Nebraska against them the last 3 years is gone. Cain Colter has used up his eligibility. They will be a decent FB team that needs to be taken seriously, but if they are taken seriously they should be a win.

The turnover's and penalties are not gone yet-that we know of. So yes, we're still understandably afraid of Northwestern.

It has been without question, the tightest, most heart-stopping, edge-of-your-seat, gut wrenching series since joining the Big 10.

I wouldn't say we are afraid of NW we just shouldn't take them lightly.

Wow, it would appear that I really riled up some people here. If you read the last sentence in mt post it says they should be taken seriously. Which I think they will.

 

[NUinID]

Almost every team we face is more of a question mark than we are. We know our QB will be Armstrong, unless he gets outperformed by Stanton, and lets face it, experience will likely start. Armstrong isn't a bad option either. Now his jitters are gone, while maturing, he should naturally be better. Our run game should be an absolute nightmare for teams next year. Fear Ameer will be back with 3 talented backs behind him in Cross, Newby and Taylor. Our offensive line could be the BEST yet since Solich's days. Having Alex Lewis alone is a huge advantage for NU. We should have no problem having players full of energy going into 4th quarters. WR position, we will be missing Enunwa, but we have some raw talent. Faster talent too. Not as big, but speed can kill and cause issues for secondaries, which opens up our run game.
The defense, we will be better. SJB and Evans are big losses, but we have talent that can replace them. We will have a top 25 pass defense, like every other year under Bo. Front 7 will be more experienced with a MONSTROUS athlete in Gregory. Joe Keels or McMullen will be on the other end of the line with Valentine and Collins in the middle. We are going to have a damn good defense (compared to previous years) whether you want to believe it or not. Defense wins you games.

Unlike Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan St, and Northwestern we at least know what we can expect for the most part.

Wisconsin graduated:

Offense:

TE Jacob Pederson

TE Brian Wozniak

WR Jared Abbrederis- Biggest loss on offense IMO.

OL Rob Havenstein

OL Ryan Groy

RB James White- Big loss, but not as much with the talented depth behind him

Defense:

DE Ethan Hemer

DE Pat Muldoon

NG Beau Allen

OLB Chris Borland

S Dezmen Southward

Quite a hit IMO. In a 3-4 defense, they lose all 3 front while their brain in the middle in Borland.

Iowa:

Offense:

TE C.J. Fiedorowicz- Top 3 TEs in the B1G IMO

OL Brett Van Sloten

OL Conor Boffeli

Defense:

S Tanner Miller

DE Dominic Alvis

LB Christian Kirksey

LB Anthony Hitchens

LB James Morris- Biggest leader and contributor on their defense

CB B.J. Lowery

One of their BIGGEST losses who I never see mentioned, is Kicker Mike Meyer. All these guys are starters, except for Alvis, but he had quality playing time. This is just for two teams who would be a bigger threat if they didn't lose what made them SO good. Northwestern loses a huge guy up front and MSU's secondary is going to be young. Their offense is going to be our biggest issue, but should be managable.

Now this is a realistic look at things. You have to look at what is lost on a team. Abbrideris and Borland are huge loses IMO for Wisconsin. Iowa loses that senior linebacker corp and that huge TE that gave NU fits.

MSU should be really good as they return a lot, but I think they do lose 3-4 starters on the o-line.

 

[Count 'Bility]

Why is everyone so afraid of Northwestern? The thing that really has hurt Nebraska against them the last 3 years is gone. Cain Colter has used up his eligibility. They will be a decent FB team that needs to be taken seriously, but if they are taken seriously they should be a win.

The turnover's and penalties are not gone yet-that we know of. So yes, we're still understandably afraid of Northwestern.

It has been without question, the tightest, most heart-stopping, edge-of-your-seat, gut wrenching series since joining the Big 10.

I wouldn't say we are afraid of NW we just shouldn't take them lightly.

Wow, it would appear that I really riled up some people here. If you read the last sentence in mt post it says they should be taken seriously. Which I think they will.

You didnt RILE anyone up. We made comments to your comment. Appears youre the riled one.

I just wanted to point out two glaring reasons why NW is still not the pushover we thought they would be when we entered the conference, just as you said.

 

[kchusker_chris]

I guess I'm in the minority here. I think that the B1G gave us one of the tougher league schedules they could have. With all of the uncertainty on this squad, there are quite a few games I think are toss ups.

really? i'm not sure you could come up with a schedule that is easier. maybe flip the home/away games I guess - but the teams on this schedule are as weak as any schedule we will ever get in the B1G.

Why? Because we don't play Ohio State?

We have last year's Rose Bowl champion on the road, plus last year's #3 team (away), #4 team (away) and #6 team (home). Considering we were #5, we play four of the top five teams we could have played and three of them are on the road. And there were three really bad teams in the conference last year plus two newbies that aren't exepected to be at the top so we were bound to get several of the jumbled mess at the bottom.

We're going to play most of those regardless...they're in our division. Sure, we could have switched out MSU with Indiana or something...but come on, this is about as easy as it will ever get for us. We play last years #12 team, last years #11 team, last years #10 team, last years #8 team, plus Rutgers. So based on last year, we got the 3 worst, plus 1 of the new comers and Minnesota (home). That should be the equivalent of handing us a 5-0 record. That leaves 3 others, 2 of which are in our division so we're playing them every year anyways, and 1 is after a bye. And I like the idea of opening up conference play with a solid team like MSU. Should set the tone for the season.

Like I said, the home/away could have been switched up and made it a little easier - but it would have almost been doing us a disservice. Look what handing Ohio State an 8-0 record last year did for them.

 

[NUinID]

Why is everyone so afraid of Northwestern? The thing that really has hurt Nebraska against them the last 3 years is gone. Cain Colter has used up his eligibility. They will be a decent FB team that needs to be taken seriously, but if they are taken seriously they should be a win.

The turnover's and penalties are not gone yet-that we know of. So yes, we're still understandably afraid of Northwestern.

It has been without question, the tightest, most heart-stopping, edge-of-your-seat, gut wrenching series since joining the Big 10.

I wouldn't say we are afraid of NW we just shouldn't take them lightly.

Wow, it would appear that I really riled up some people here. If you read the last sentence in mt post it says they should be taken seriously. Which I think they will.

You didnt RILE anyone up. We made comments to your comment. Appears youre the riled one.

I just wanted to point out two glaring reasons why NW is still not the pushover we thought they would be when we entered the conference, just as you said.

My comment was more towards 99's than yours. I just selected 1 of the 10 or so responses to comment on.

Not riled up at all, but I guess I don't look at our schedule and see too many sure loses and NW would definitely not be one that I would say is a loss just because it is on the road and we have had 3 good fun games against them. Wisconsin and MSU will be much tougher road games than NW.

NW stadium will be about half Nebraska fans just like it was 2 years ago. Turnovers are a concern for sure, but penalties were definitely down last year.

 

[kchusker_chris]

My comment was more towards 99's than yours. I just selected 1 of the 10 or so responses to comment on.

Not riled up at all, but I guess I don't look at our schedule and see too many sure loses and NW would definitely not be one that I would say is a loss just because it is on the road and we have had 3 good fun games against them. Wisconsin and MSU will be much tougher road games than NW.

NW stadium will be about half Nebraska fans just like it was 2 years ago. Turnovers are a concern for sure, but penalties were definitely down last year.

Yes, playing the former conference champions and Wisconsin on the road will be tougher than a team that went 1-7 last year. I don't think you'll get too many that argue with you there. You just seemed "shocked" that anyone would even consider the possibility that we could lose to NW - which is likely why you got a dozen or so "huh - did you see last season?" type of responses.

 

[NUinID]

My comment was more towards 99's than yours. I just selected 1 of the 10 or so responses to comment on.

Not riled up at all, but I guess I don't look at our schedule and see too many sure loses and NW would definitely not be one that I would say is a loss just because it is on the road and we have had 3 good fun games against them. Wisconsin and MSU will be much tougher road games than NW.

NW stadium will be about half Nebraska fans just like it was 2 years ago. Turnovers are a concern for sure, but penalties were definitely down last year.

Yes, playing the former conference champions and Wisconsin on the road will be tougher than a team that went 1-7 last year. I don't think you'll get too many that argue with you there. You just seemed "shocked" that anyone would even consider the possibility that we could lose to NW - which is likely why you got a dozen or so "huh - did you see last season?" type of responses.

I really think you guys are taking my post the wrong way. I respect every team we play, because if you don't respect a decent team they will jump up and beat you. There really are very few gimmies in college football anymore. I never have the attitude that "they're Iowa" as you put it.

I said before NW is a good solid team that will get NU's full attention.

But with that being said, I am not going to say, we will lose to a team because of reasons ABC.

In February the only reason I am going to look at next season and say we may lose to a team is because I think they will be better or more talented than Nebraska. NW will not be more talented than Nebraska.

 

[Saunders]

Good Lord, look at Iowa's creampuff schedule.

2014 Schedule

8/30 Northern Iowa

9/6 Ball State

9/13 Iowa State

9/20 at Pitt

9/27 at Purdue

10/4 OPEN DATE

10/11 Indiana

10/18 at Maryland

10/25 OPEN DATE

11/1 Northwestern

11/8 at Minnesota

11/15 at Illinois

11/22 Wisconsin

11/29 Nebraska

They could easily be 10-0 before the Wisconsin game.

 

[ADS]

Good Lord, look at Iowa's creampuff schedule.

2014 Schedule

8/30 Northern Iowa

9/6 Ball State

9/13 Iowa State

9/20 at Pitt

9/27 at Purdue

10/4 OPEN DATE

10/11 Indiana

10/18 at Maryland

10/25 OPEN DATE

11/1 Northwestern

11/8 at Minnesota

11/15 at Illinois

11/22 Wisconsin

11/29 Nebraska

They could easily be 10-0 before the Wisconsin game.

They could, but they most likely won't.

 

[Saunders]

Good Lord, look at Iowa's creampuff schedule.

2014 Schedule

8/30 Northern Iowa

9/6 Ball State

9/13 Iowa State

9/20 at Pitt

9/27 at Purdue

10/4 OPEN DATE

10/11 Indiana

10/18 at Maryland

10/25 OPEN DATE

11/1 Northwestern

11/8 at Minnesota

11/15 at Illinois

11/22 Wisconsin

11/29 Nebraska

They could easily be 10-0 before the Wisconsin game.

They could, but they most likely won't.

True... I mean, it is Iowa.

Still, what a cakewalk.

 

[deedsker]

You call that a schedule?

 

[74Hunter]

Good Lord, look at Iowa's creampuff schedule.

2014 Schedule

8/30 Northern Iowa

9/6 Ball State

9/13 Iowa State

9/20 at Pitt

9/27 at Purdue

10/4 OPEN DATE

10/11 Indiana

10/18 at Maryland

10/25 OPEN DATE

11/1 Northwestern

11/8 at Minnesota

11/15 at Illinois

11/22 Wisconsin

11/29 Nebraska

They could easily be 10-0 before the Wisconsin game.

They could, but they most likely won't.

True... I mean, it is Iowa.

Still, what a cakewalk.

Now THAT is an easy, easy schedule. Much easier than ours. And lets not forget, we lose more than Iowa, and they beat us last year, at home. I wouldn't be shocked if they finished with a better record than us.