Minnesota is an interesting one this year. One would think with Fleck having established himself now and so much of the division having new head coaches that they'd be getting a lot more buzz. Even their own fans seem relegated to a 6-7 win season. They do have the tough crossover with Ohio St and Michigan, but the only significant division road game is at Iowa. They have Illinois and Wisconsin at home.
** 2023 Opponent Preview : Colorado (Game 2) **
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ColoradoHusk
Heisman Trophy Winner
I think NU goes into Boulder and wins that game against CU. If NU goes 0-2 to start out the season, I will be disappointed. But, I agree, if for any reason NU does start 0-2, it won't have any bearing on any long-term success for Rhule and his staff.
I very, very much disagree.
If you win those 2 games you're very likely 4-0 heading into a home game against a very, very likely undefeated Michigan. That would be a nationally televised game and with all of the momentum Rhule has generated since his hire, that would be a ridiculous atmosphere.
I know we are all getting ourselves conditioned to the idea Rhule is historically a slow starter, but this isn't the situation at Temple or Baylor and coaches in the transfer portal era are showing just how quickly a program's fortunes can change. I would definitely consider Minnesota to have the advantage, but anything worse than a 3-1 start considering the other 3 opponents would be a red flag.
Lorewarn
All-Conference
We've sat through the better part of 20+ years now mired in mediocrity in large part due to our unique and impressive ability to beat ourselves.
And yet we still have so many fans who boldly proclaim belief that we'll beat certain opponents because of the details surrounding those opponents, ie, they only won 1 game last year and won't be able to turn it around in one year. Friendly reminder that we aren't just playing Colorado - we're playing ourselves as well, and losing to them in 2023 wouldn't be the first, second, third, or even fifteenth time that we didn't win against a team we should have been better than.
And yet we still have so many fans who boldly proclaim belief that we'll beat certain opponents because of the details surrounding those opponents, ie, they only won 1 game last year and won't be able to turn it around in one year. Friendly reminder that we aren't just playing Colorado - we're playing ourselves as well, and losing to them in 2023 wouldn't be the first, second, third, or even fifteenth time that we didn't win against a team we should have been better than.
Undone
All-American
I think the Minnesota game is more about whether or not they're one of the teams we can/have to beat to make a bowl game. The four games I'd say we'll be expected to be favorites in are:
-Colorado (duh)
-Northern Illinois (duh)
-Louisiana Tech (duh)
-Northwestern (duh)
What are the other two we'd really expect to be able to win? Iowa is probably #5. Is Minnesota the sixth, or would it be Maryland or Michigan State? No idea, really.
Huskerfollower4life
All-Conference
I would be extremely disappointed as well if we went 0-2 bc I feel even through it won't have any bearing on HC Matt Rhule long term success it will have bearing on his first season success and if he can get to at least 6-6. I don't wish that bc I think Nebraska should be better then last year but if start off 0-2 then I don't see us making a bowl game.
Huskerfollower4life
All-Conference
Exactly and this is why practice is so important to clean up the mistakes and not to beat yourself within the game. We should have beaten Northwestern last year did we nope why bc of dumb football decisions and dumb mistakes. The good thing is we have a proven coach that won't kick a on-side kick when we are up bc he will let the other team earn the field to beat us not give it away.
Huskerfollower4life
All-Conference
Minnesota is bringing back less starters then us. Yes we are implementing a new defense and offense but the players within both of them have game time experience which should be a advantage over new players seeing the field for the first time or have had limited experience. I know that it does take time to learn though so that's the biggest question on how long?
runningblind
All-American
This is exactly the kind of thinking that will create overreactions and disappointments in the first month unnecessarily. Not starting 3-1 isn't a red flag at all in year 1, that's pretty ridiculous. You can tell yourself all day long we are in a better situation than his other rebuilds, but that doesn't mean much for the first two games being on the road as I described. For the whole year I can buy we should be better overall than those Temple and Baylor teams, but just slow down on the start out of the gate.
We probably won't make a bowl, accept that fact now! If we do, great! Celebrate it then but pump the brakes.
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Red Five
Heisman Trophy Winner
You are forgetting Purdue in Lincoln. We will be favored there. I think their win total for the year is around 5.
Undone
All-American
I feel like Hudson Card is going to make them a better team than expected, despite what their win total projection is. I think their schedule is the reason for the win projection numbers more than the actual quality drop-off of the team for this year:
Way tougher than what we're working with for this season.
RedDenver
Heisman Trophy Winner
Exactly. And we literally lost to a team that only won 1 game just last year.
It's probably going to be another rough year, especially early in the season. Let's hope it's the last one.
Red Five
Heisman Trophy Winner
Looking at B1G west odds (non-con don't matter) they are 20-1 and we are sitting 14-1. I'll bet you 5 Schrute Bucks we are favored in that game.
If we are going to a bowl, the roadmap to get there includes wins vs CU, No Ill, La Tech, NW, Purdue. Those are the 5 easiest games on our schedule IMO.
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Undone
All-American
I'd certainly hope so, they won 2 games and 1 game, respectively.
A warning isn't the same as firing the guy. Frost showed a red flag in his inability to win his first half season, but the back half of the season showed tremendous enough progress that he was pre-season ranked the following year.
Our expectations of Rhule are low not because of Rhule but because we've been beaten down so hard we're afraid to even have expectations. It's just easier to not have them than to risk disappointment.
Rhule himself has stated this is closer to the Year 2 situation at his previous stops and all indications we've seen have backed up that claim. Take away the new coach angle for a moment and Nebraska would still be projected to be about a .500 team based on previous performance, returning starters, etc. That's not even conjecture, that's exactly what we've seen the past few years.
Nebraska did not need a new coach because it needs a total rebuild. It went out and got a new coach due to chronic underperforming.
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