2020 Schedule Analysis

There’s a million of these out there but our known opponents for next year in Mandel’s Top 25: 

https://theathletic.com/1531903/2020/01/14/stewart-mandel-early-top-25-college-football-rankings-2020/

2. Ohio State (13-1)

QB Justin Fields is back for another Playoff run, as are top WR Chris Olave and three key O-lineman. Second-year RB Master Teague is ready to follow in J.K. Dobbins’ footsteps. The Buckeyes’ defense loses stars Chase Young, Davon Hamilton and Jeffrey Okudah, but D-linemen Tyreke Smith and Zach Harrison will lead the charge up front, with CBs Shaun Wade and Cam Brown back to lead the secondary.
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6. Penn State (11-2)

Former Minnesota OC Kirk Ciarrocca was a great hire by James Franklin. All four running backs who combined for nearly 400 yards in the Cotton Bowl are expected to return, along with QB Sean Clifford, standout TE Pat Freiermuth and four O-line starters. Penn State will have a few holes to fill on defense, but LB Micah Parsons will be an All-America candidate.
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11. Wisconsin (10-4)

QB Jack Coan was quietly a top 20-rated passer this season, and you know Wisconsin will have a strong running game even without Jonathan Taylor — Nakia Watson may head a committee — but all-purpose speedster Aron Cruickshank is in the transfer portal. The Badgers will miss top pass rushers Zack Baun and Chris Orr (24 combined sacks), but they return every other defensive starter, plus injured S Scott Nelson.
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13. Iowa (10-3)

Replacing QB Nate Stanley will be tough, but Iowa returns every key running back and receiver, most notably Holiday Bowl MVP Ihmir Smith-Marsette, and highly regarded LT Alaric Jackson opted to put off the NFL. The Hawkeyes will certainly miss star DE A.J. Epenesa, but the defense led by DE Chauncey Golston should still be strong. Groza Award finalist Keith Duncan returns as well
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16. Minnesota (11-2)

P.J. Fleck made an interesting OC hire in much-traveled Mike Sanford Jr., who spent last season at Utah State. He inherits a lot of key pieces in QB Tanner Morgan, electric WR Rashod Bateman, breakout RB Mohamed Ibrahim and the whole O-line. Minnesota will be more challenged on defense to replace eight starters, most notably DB Antoine Winfield Jr. DE Esezi Otomewo and others will have to step up.
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18. Cincinnati (11-3)

The Bearcats have quietly posted back-to-back 11-win seasons under coach Luke Fickell. QB Desmond Ridder returns but without standout RB Mike Warren. Michigan transfer James Hudson, who debuted in the bowl game, upgrades the O-line. The D-line and secondary should remain mostly intact, plus S James Wiggins, one of the standouts of UC’s 2018 defense, returns from a torn ACL.
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Gotta love having 6 top 20 opponents on the schedule!

 
seaofred92 said:
There’s a million of these out there but our known opponents for next year in Mandel’s Top 25: 

https://theathletic.com/1531903/2020/01/14/stewart-mandel-early-top-25-college-football-rankings-2020/

Gotta love having 6 top 20 opponents on the schedule!
Click to expand...
So, what you are saying, in at least half (if not more) of our games next year, we will be underdogs going in, playing against a ranked team.  Getting to a bowl next year better be the goal as the road is not paved in W's.

 
10_point_buck said:
You are killing me Smalls !  Keep up the off-season Kool Aid
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Not sure why it's so funny.  One thing that is almost certain, the rankings that the above information is from, is NOT how they will turn out.

So, yes, we could be ranked in the top 25 and some of them might not be ranked in the top 25.  Looking at our first 7 games, every single one of them is winnable. 

The only reason you would think my post is a joke is if you think we will not be any better next year than this year and everyone else stays the same also.  I beg to differ.

 
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Call me a Kool-Aid drinker all you want.

These are the facts.

I totally buy that Nebraska has out-recruited our B1G West peers for a long time now (plus other schools on our schedule).  Recruiting rankings aren't perfect but over a sufficiently-large sample size they give a very good picture of the story.

However, they are also not nearly the entire story.  Nebraska has failed miserably in developing that talent for several years.  I have confidence that is changing but admit that hasn't been proven yet.  

No only has Nebraska failed at that, but others around us have succeeded very well.  Just look back through this thread and see how many of our opponents' (often lower-rated) players are now leaving early for the NFL and being projected as high draft picks.

Even though the recruiting rankings don't tell that story, we aren't (by-and-large) losing to lesser teams.  We are losing to teams who have out-developed us by orders of magnitude.  That doesn't change overnight.  We have made gains - those who say we haven't are simply whatever the opposite of Kool-Aid drinkers are.  Granted, those gains haven't been as fast as anyone would have liked or almost any of us predicted.  But that doesn't mean it isn't happening.

Throw in losing significant portions of two straight recruiting classes and we simply haven't been where we think we should be - and where I believe we will be.  

We'll see if that turns out to be the case.

 
seaofred92 said:
There’s a million of these out there but our known opponents for next year in Mandel’s Top 25: 

https://theathletic.com/1531903/2020/01/14/stewart-mandel-early-top-25-college-football-rankings-2020/

Gotta love having 6 top 20 opponents on the schedule!
Click to expand...




So what I'm gathering here is we are LSU of 2020 :)  They took the title as the greatest college team all time and we're gonna get it back by going undefeated and beating Ohio St twice!  :koolaid2:

Total side note... https://www.fanduel.com/theduel/posts/heisman-odds-2020-by-player-for-2020-college-football-season-01dyjff5dcam

Good ole A-Mart is back in the top 5 of Heisman odds 

https://www.fanduel.com/theduel/posts/way-too-early-top-25-college-football-rankings-by-odds-to-win-2021-college-football-playoff-01dyjrt9047e

#17 for odds of winning it all

Vegas just loves taking Nebraska fans' money 

 
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