Athlon: Ranking the Big Ten's toughest schedules in 2016

[Saunders]

3. Nebraska

Non-Con: Fresno State, Wyoming, Oregon

Big Ten Home: Illinois, Purdue, Minnesota, Maryland

Big Ten Road: Northwestern, Indiana, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Iowa

The Huskers host the (Pac-12 championship contender?) Oregon Ducks in mid-September after hosting Mountain West opponents Fresno State and Wyoming. Nebraska then heads on the road against pesky Northwestern and makes back-to-back road trips to Wisconsin and Ohio State in late October into early November. Ending the season on the road against Iowa is always challenging for Nebraska too.

http://athlonsports.com/college-football/ranking-big-tens-toughest-college-football-schedules-2016

Wisconsin's schedule... yeesh. They're #1 by a wide margin IMO.

Non-Con: LSU*, Akron, Georgia State
Big Ten Home: Ohio State, Nebraska, Illinois, Minnesota
Big Ten Road: Michigan State, Michigan, Iowa, Northwestern, Purdue
I don't see them getting more than 9 wins at the absolute best.

Iowa, once again, has a garbage schedule ranked at the bottom (#13).

Non-Con: Miami OH, Iowa State, North Dakota State
Big Ten Home: Northwestern, Wisconsin, Michigan, Nebraska
Big Ten Road: Rutgers, Minnesota, Purdue, Penn State, Illinois

They'll be a division contender just based on that. Although, it would be kinda funny to see them lose to NDSU.

 

[Red Five]

I don't see them getting more than 9 wins at the absolute best.

Iowa, once again, has a garbage schedule ranked at the bottom (#13).

Non-Con: Miami OH, Iowa State, North Dakota State
Big Ten Home: Northwestern, Wisconsin, Michigan, Nebraska
Big Ten Road: Rutgers, Minnesota, Purdue, Penn State, Illinois

They'll be a division contender just based on that. Although, it would be kinda funny to see them lose to NDSU.

Why are they scheduling NDSU? Unless the schedule was made 8 years ago, there is no benefit to playing them.

No way in hell would I want Nebraska to play NDSU.

 

[VectorVictor]

I don't see them getting more than 9 wins at the absolute best.

Iowa, once again, has a garbage schedule ranked at the bottom (#13).

Non-Con: Miami OH, Iowa State, North Dakota State
Big Ten Home: Northwestern, Wisconsin, Michigan, Nebraska
Big Ten Road: Rutgers, Minnesota, Purdue, Penn State, Illinois

They'll be a division contender just based on that. Although, it would be kinda funny to see them lose to NDSU.

Why are they scheduling NDSU? Unless the schedule was made 8 years ago, there is no benefit to playing them.

No way in hell would I want Nebraska to play NDSU.

The game was grandfathered in since it was scheduled before the FCS team scheduling ban the B1G enacted, IIRC.

 

[Red Five]

I don't see them getting more than 9 wins at the absolute best.

Iowa, once again, has a garbage schedule ranked at the bottom (#13).

Non-Con: Miami OH, Iowa State, North Dakota State
Big Ten Home: Northwestern, Wisconsin, Michigan, Nebraska
Big Ten Road: Rutgers, Minnesota, Purdue, Penn State, Illinois

They'll be a division contender just based on that. Although, it would be kinda funny to see them lose to NDSU.

Why are they scheduling NDSU? Unless the schedule was made 8 years ago, there is no benefit to playing them.

No way in hell would I want Nebraska to play NDSU.

The game was grandfathered in since it was scheduled before the FCS team scheduling ban the B1G enacted, IIRC.

I'm sure it was. But it better have been scheduled before NDSU started their 5 straight championships and 71-5 run.

I wouldn't be surprised if Kinnick is 1/3 Bison fans for that game.

 

[VectorVictor]

I don't see them getting more than 9 wins at the absolute best.

Iowa, once again, has a garbage schedule ranked at the bottom (#13).

Non-Con: Miami OH, Iowa State, North Dakota State
Big Ten Home: Northwestern, Wisconsin, Michigan, Nebraska
Big Ten Road: Rutgers, Minnesota, Purdue, Penn State, Illinois

They'll be a division contender just based on that. Although, it would be kinda funny to see them lose to NDSU.

Why are they scheduling NDSU? Unless the schedule was made 8 years ago, there is no benefit to playing them.

No way in hell would I want Nebraska to play NDSU.

The game was grandfathered in since it was scheduled before the FCS team scheduling ban the B1G enacted, IIRC.

I'm sure it was. But it better have been scheduled before NDSU started their 5 straight championships and 71-5 run.

I wouldn't be surprised if Kinnick is 1/3 Bison fans for that game.

I think you're underselling the NDSU fans there a bit.

I'd go with 50% full. Not a full on Nebraska-taking-over-South-Bend or our former migration game to Lawrence, but a definite invasion of their home turf.

 

[StPaulHusker]

I don't see them getting more than 9 wins at the absolute best.

Iowa, once again, has a garbage schedule ranked at the bottom (#13).

Non-Con: Miami OH, Iowa State, North Dakota State
Big Ten Home: Northwestern, Wisconsin, Michigan, Nebraska
Big Ten Road: Rutgers, Minnesota, Purdue, Penn State, Illinois

They'll be a division contender just based on that. Although, it would be kinda funny to see them lose to NDSU.

Why are they scheduling NDSU? Unless the schedule was made 8 years ago, there is no benefit to playing them.

No way in hell would I want Nebraska to play NDSU.

The game was grandfathered in since it was scheduled before the FCS team scheduling ban the B1G enacted, IIRC.

I'm sure it was. But it better have been scheduled before NDSU started their 5 straight championships and 71-5 run.

I wouldn't be surprised if Kinnick is 1/3 Bison fans for that game.

I think you're underselling the NDSU fans there a bit.

I'd go with 50% full. Not a full on Nebraska-taking-over-South-Bend or our former migration game to Lawrence, but a definite invasion of their home turf.

I don't think Wisconsin fans are going to let their stadium go 50% bison fan.

 

[VectorVictor]

I don't see them getting more than 9 wins at the absolute best.

Iowa, once again, has a garbage schedule ranked at the bottom (#13).

Non-Con: Miami OH, Iowa State, North Dakota State
Big Ten Home: Northwestern, Wisconsin, Michigan, Nebraska
Big Ten Road: Rutgers, Minnesota, Purdue, Penn State, Illinois

They'll be a division contender just based on that. Although, it would be kinda funny to see them lose to NDSU.

Why are they scheduling NDSU? Unless the schedule was made 8 years ago, there is no benefit to playing them.

No way in hell would I want Nebraska to play NDSU.

The game was grandfathered in since it was scheduled before the FCS team scheduling ban the B1G enacted, IIRC.

I'm sure it was. But it better have been scheduled before NDSU started their 5 straight championships and 71-5 run.

I wouldn't be surprised if Kinnick is 1/3 Bison fans for that game.

I think you're underselling the NDSU fans there a bit.

I'd go with 50% full. Not a full on Nebraska-taking-over-South-Bend or our former migration game to Lawrence, but a definite invasion of their home turf.

I don't think Wisconsin fans are going to let their stadium go 50% bison fan.

We're talking Iowa having NDSU on their schedule, I thought? Wisky is going to be too busy playing teams that will be going to bowl games this year to worry about a FCS school, it seems...

 

[StPaulHusker]

I don't see them getting more than 9 wins at the absolute best.

Iowa, once again, has a garbage schedule ranked at the bottom (#13).

Non-Con: Miami OH, Iowa State, North Dakota State
Big Ten Home: Northwestern, Wisconsin, Michigan, Nebraska
Big Ten Road: Rutgers, Minnesota, Purdue, Penn State, Illinois

They'll be a division contender just based on that. Although, it would be kinda funny to see them lose to NDSU.

Why are they scheduling NDSU? Unless the schedule was made 8 years ago, there is no benefit to playing them.

No way in hell would I want Nebraska to play NDSU.

The game was grandfathered in since it was scheduled before the FCS team scheduling ban the B1G enacted, IIRC.

I'm sure it was. But it better have been scheduled before NDSU started their 5 straight championships and 71-5 run.

I wouldn't be surprised if Kinnick is 1/3 Bison fans for that game.

I think you're underselling the NDSU fans there a bit.

I'd go with 50% full. Not a full on Nebraska-taking-over-South-Bend or our former migration game to Lawrence, but a definite invasion of their home turf.

I don't think Wisconsin fans are going to let their stadium go 50% bison fan.

We're talking Iowa having NDSU on their schedule, I thought? Wisky is going to be too busy playing teams that will be going to bowl games this year to worry about a FCS school, it seems...

My apologies. I had Wisconsin on the brain. NDSU will definitely travel well to Iowa.

 

[BigRedBuster]

Iowa fills up their stadium pretty well especially after a good year like last year.

It won't be 50% Bison.

 

[Mavric]

Think Michigan State is a little low. Comparing them to us, they have two tough non-cons (ND and BYU). Compering their conference schedule to ours, we both play Wiscy, NW, tOSU, Indiana, Maryland and Illinois. We have Purdue, Minnesota and Iowa while they have Michigan, Rutgers and Penn State. Maybe they moved us up a spot for having Wiscy and tOSU on the road while MSU gets them at home but I don't think I'd trade them schedules.

I think I might put both us and MSU above tOSU. For starters, the Buckeyes don't have to play Ohio State (DOH!). The OU game will be a big one but not really tougher than ours or MSU's non-con. I guess they don't have either Purdue or Illinois....

 

[Red Five]

Iowa fills up their stadium pretty well especially after a good year like last year.

It won't be 50% Bison.

Iowa doesn't fill their stadium well. They had problems filling Kinnick last year, even though it was their best season in ages. They had 1 sellout all year, a night game against chief rival Minnesota when they were ranked 5th. They were 8k shy of a sellout in thier last home game against Purdue when they were 10-0.

Illinois St 59k

Pitt 64k

North Texas 56k

Illinois 67k

Maryland 63k

Minnesota 71k (sellout)

Purdue 63k

 

[BigRedBuster]

Iowa fills up their stadium pretty well especially after a good year like last year.

It won't be 50% Bison.

Iowa doesn't fill their stadium well. They had problems filling Kinnick last year, even though it was their best season in ages. They had 1 sellout all year, a night game against chief rival Minnesota when they were ranked 5th. They were 8k shy of a sellout in thier last home game against Purdue when they were 10-0.

Illinois St 59k

Pitt 64k

North Texas 56k

Illinois 67k

Maryland 63k

Minnesota 71k (sellout)

Purdue 63k

Wow...that surprises me. I went to a couple games there years ago and remember it being pretty much full.