Do we have a prayer?

[Hercules]

Is it that pessimistic to believe Wisconsin will score 40 points when Washington has already scored 38 and Fresno State scored 29? I don't think it's that pessimistic to believe we would score 14-24 points either, given our offensive performances in big games over the past couple years...

Hopefully that's not what happens, and I don't think that'll happen, but if our defense doesn't improve, I can see us getting blown out at Wisconsin. It's a little hard to believe that anybody would be forecasting a Nebraska win right now for any reason other than sheer Nebraska bias, given the performances of each team so far. Wisconsin has clearly looked better so far, albeit against weaker competition.

 

[knapplc]

Robsker, name ten other schools that are performing better than Nebraska.

Off the top of my head... Oklahoma, Boise, Alabama, Florida, Michigan, Wisconsin, LSU, Stanford, Oklahoma State, Virgina Tech, Arkansas, Clemson, USC, Oregon, Florida State... and then there are another 5-6 that are, for all intents and purposes, performing about like NU --- so.... we should be ca. # 18-22 or so.

Now... this can all change --- none of these teams (well... few of them) have yet played against top competition yet --- and some will be exposed and others will rise up. Some --- and maybe NU is one of them --- may be wildly under-performing to date and will get it together and perform much better than what has been the case so far --- and they will rise.

But... so far, based upon what NU has done on the field these last three games of this season --- we are more like a #20 than a #10.

The bold is where I have the biggest problem. I can definitely agree with you on Oklahoma, Boise, Wisconsin, LSU, Stanford, Oregon, Florida State and maybe Clemson (although I think Auburn is pretty bad this year), but even then that's nine, with one of them being a maybe. We are better than or equal to Oklahoma State, Alabama, Virgina Tech, Arkansas and USC. Each of these teams is deeply flawed like Nebraska or hasn't played anyone.

I could go up and down your list and give you combinations of Strength of Schedule combined with NCAA offensive and defensive stats that show that we're comparable to many of these teams if you want, but that's an argument fraught with problems. In general, I'll just say that it's not a crime that we're ranked in the top ten. If we don't belong, we have the kind of schedule that will show this in no uncertain terms.

 

[Hoosker]

This game all hinges on our D-Line play in my opinion. Wisconsin's obvious strength is their offensive line. Crick and co. need to play as well as advertised in the preseason. That means a good amount of pressure on Wilson, disruptions in the backfield, and hurrying throws. Obviously, this is no easy task, but with all that's riding on this game, I have a good feeling that Bo will rally the troops and hopefully we can put together a solid outing defensively. Offensively its all going to be about spreading the ball around. We're going to need Taylor to keep improving in the decision making, sliding, throwing the ball away, going out of bounds when appropriate in order to win. If he struggles, we will lose....big. Rex needs to be dependable on crucial short yardage situations and the freshman need to step up and showcase their speed and playmaking ability. This means that Bell, Turner, Abdullah, Green, and Heard all need to get touches throughout the game. We can't depend on Rex and Taylor to win this game for us. It wouldn't hurt if Kyler got the ball with some open field in front of him for once. The dude is a playmaker.

Bottom line is that our defense will have to play lights out. (Sacks, TURNOVERS, pressure, negative yardage)

 

[Cornfed]

Is it that pessimistic to believe Wisconsin will score 40 points when Washington has already scored 38 and Fresno State scored 29? I don't think it's that pessimistic to believe we would score 14-24 points either, given our offensive performances in big games over the past couple years...

Hopefully that's not what happens, and I don't think that'll happen, but if our defense doesn't improve, I can see us getting blown out at Wisconsin. It's a little hard to believe that anybody would be forecasting a Nebraska win right now for any reason other than sheer Nebraska bias, given the performances of each team so far. Wisconsin has clearly looked better so far, albeit against weaker competition.

Haha...I could say with just as much reason that it's hard to believe anyone would pick wisconsin to win due to sheer lack of competition. Point is, we don't know enough yet, for either team. So it's stupid to me to make a prediction forecasting a nebraska loss when we don't know enough yet...again, to me, that would be a pessimistic, unfounded opinion.

 

[robsker]

Wisconsin is overrated

Perhaps.

But NU is wildly over rated.

I see Wisconsin scoring between 34-48 points and the Huskers somewhere between 14-24 points. The closest we can expect would be a 10 point differential --- and a worst-case scenario is we lose by 35 points or so. I see it somewhere in between, maybe 34-17 or 37-20 or so.

Of course I will root for a win and hope for the best... but I expect this to be somewhere between a solid Wisconsin win and a Wisconsin blowout.

Yawn...Another pessimistic, unfounded opinion. Keep them to yourself.

I suppose you're one of those that said were going to lose to washington too.

Really? I thought that message were for opinions --- am I wrong? Are message boards only for opinions that do not insult Cornfed?

OK....

my prediction is not pessimistic... like Hercules says --- I agree --- I am holding out hope that we win... of course...

it is just that nothing other than an undue NU bias can possibly lead to a prediction that we win. NU has been well... not so good this year so far --- we are on the road, Wisconsin seems legit (or, at least, has looked really good against weak competition whereas we have looked sort of mediocre against weak competition) ... based on that... Wisconsin is the heavy favorite.

Here is hoping for a major upset.

 

[robsker]

Is it that pessimistic to believe Wisconsin will score 40 points when Washington has already scored 38 and Fresno State scored 29? I don't think it's that pessimistic to believe we would score 14-24 points either, given our offensive performances in big games over the past couple years...

Hopefully that's not what happens, and I don't think that'll happen, but if our defense doesn't improve, I can see us getting blown out at Wisconsin. It's a little hard to believe that anybody would be forecasting a Nebraska win right now for any reason other than sheer Nebraska bias, given the performances of each team so far. Wisconsin has clearly looked better so far, albeit against weaker competition.

Haha...I could say with just as much reason that it's hard to believe anyone would pick wisconsin to win due to sheer lack of competition. Point is, we don't know enough yet, for either team. So it's stupid to me to make a prediction forecasting a nebraska loss when we don't know enough yet...again, to me, that would be a pessimistic, unfounded opinion.

if it is "stupid" to predict a loss (not enough info) --- then, for consistency, it must also be "stupid" to predict a victory.

Is it "smart" to predict a tie? Or would that be stupid?

Or, do you simply advocate that we make no predictions? If so... what do we talk about?

 

[Cornfed]

Yeah, In my opinion I do think it is stupid, or unnecessary, or annoying (whatever gets the point across to you) to make a prediction, predicting a husker loss based off of what we've seen so far, this season. Due to the fact that there is not enough information (IMO) to predict a husker loss, I make the assumption that you are just choosing to be pessimistic, which is stupid to me (I think many would agree).

On a side note, I'm sure plenty of people at clemson were predicting a loss to auburn after a close game to WOFFORD. I guess they didn't have enough information, based off of the first couple of games, to really know the caliber of team they have.

 

[Hunter94]

for us to win the defense would suddenly have to come alive...i don't see that happening, our front four can't get any pressure on the qb, Russell Wilson will pick our DB's apart....offensively, if our young backs can utilize their speed, we may keep up for awhile....high scoring game, we lose by 17.

 

[brophog]

You know no matter what coaches and players say, everyone is overlooking wyoming.

Last year this board talked and talked and talked about how badly Texas was going to get beat.

You take it one game at a time for a reason.

 

[Hunter94]

You know no matter what coaches and players say, everyone is overlooking wyoming.

Last year this board talked and talked and talked about how badly Texas was going to get beat.

You take it one game at a time for a reason.

agree, the SDSU game was the sh#ts!

 

[irafreak]

I guess I would ask this question. Which team is playing the best football in the big 10 right now? According to scoreboard it's wisconsin. We can talk about lack of competition all we want but let's face it. You can't do more than what they've done which is handily beat their opponents. I think Nebraska does have an important advantage of being battle tested. We had to gut it out for 4 quarters and we'll see if wisconsin can do the same because even if they jump us early I think we fight all game long.

 

[Cornfed]

for us to win the defense would suddenly have to come alive...i don't see that happening, our front four can't get any pressure on the qb, Russell Wilson will pick our DB's apart....offensively, if our young backs can utilize their speed, we may keep up for awhile....high scoring game, we lose by 17.

According to this logic we should have lost to Washington, especially without dennard.

 

[Mierin]

I'm glad Wisconsin has been (basically) flawless, and that Nebraska's had troubles. Nebraska does well when they're the underdog.

 

[Hunter94]

for us to win the defense would suddenly have to come alive...i don't see that happening, our front four can't get any pressure on the qb, Russell Wilson will pick our DB's apart....offensively, if our young backs can utilize their speed, we may keep up for awhile....high scoring game, we lose by 17.

According to this logic we should have lost to Washington, especially without dennard.

Wilson is a better qb and Wisconsin has a punishing offensive line and running game.

 

[Cornfed]

for us to win the defense would suddenly have to come alive...i don't see that happening, our front four can't get any pressure on the qb, Russell Wilson will pick our DB's apart....offensively, if our young backs can utilize their speed, we may keep up for awhile....high scoring game, we lose by 17.

According to this logic we should have lost to Washington, especially without dennard.

Wilson is a better qb and Wisconsin has a punishing offensive line and running game.

Prince has the most td passes in the league. I'm not saying wilson isn't better but I don't think there is that large of a gap. Also, their o line has not been tested yet, so we will see if they have a "punishing' offensive line.