Saunders

I think the key is, that they have to figure out some sort of passing game. It was bad, like real bad the last two seasons. And if they don't figure it out to at least have some semblance of a downfield, threat, the better teams can load up on them.

The Athletic's preview is up!

Added a bunch of back spring previews today. Going to try to get the rest of the schedule posts created in the next few days!

More to come...

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Nebraska 2021 Post Game Win Expectancy @ Illinois - 59% Fordham - 90% Buffalo -- 100% Oklahoma - 12% @ MSU - 83% Northwestern - 100% Michigan - 62% Minnesota - 42% Purdue - 56% Ohio State - 51% Wisconsin - 41% Iowa - 97% The 3 in red are games we won, the others in bold were games the numbers say we should have won. Then there's all the tossups, which we lost.

I'd love to see it... but man... I just don't.

This thread will serve as a Megathread/reference guide for all the pre-season previews for the 2022 season. Click the team links for each dedicated preview thread. Once I have an initial preview for each team, just click the team name below to be taken to the thread for each team’s previews. 2022 Nebraska Previews The Athletic: Is Nebraska closer to a breakthrough or breakdown? Athlon: Will Nebraska Make a Bowl in 2022? CollegeFootballNews: Nebraska 2022 Preview & Prediction 2022 Opponent Previews 08/27 - Northwestern (Ireland) 09/03 - North Dakota 09/10 - Georgia Southern 09/17 - Oklahoma 10/01 - Indiana 10/07 - @ Rutgers 10/15 - @ Purdue 10/29 - Illinois 11/05 - Minnesota 11/12 - @ Michigan 11/19 - Wisconsin 11/25 - @ Iowa Pre-Season Rankings & Projections ESPN/Bill Connelly's SP+ Projections Athlon Sports Pre-Season Top 25 CBS Sports Win Total Predictions Pre-Season Conference Picks & Predictions Athlon Sports Big Ten Predictions ESPN/Bill Connelly Big Ten West Preview CollegeFootballNews Big Ten Predictions "Unofficial" Big Ten Media Pre-Season Poll CBS Sports Pre-Season Rankings 1-131 If you find a new preview, post it in the relevant thread, and we'll embed it in the root post.

FWIW, this game is on my birthday, and I hope it's being moved to Vegas. The Ireland trip is crazy expensive, and until travel restrictions get better, just does not seem appealing. That being said, it is just a rumor, and seems to be nothing more.

Anyone that thinks officiating doesn’t matter is getting banned.

Or they can not be bad at their jobs. It’s not mutually exclusive.

Officiating matters in close games.

2021 Game 9 “Expert” Picks: Purdue @ Nebraska (-7) ————— CollegeFootballNews.com Why Purdue Will Win It’s partly because QB Adrian Martinez tries to make a whole lot of plays and gets caught in the backfield, but Nebraska is giving up a whole lot of negative plays – allowing over five tackles for loss and close to three sacks per game – and Purdue has the defensive front to take advantage of it. DE George Karlaftis is on a pressure roll for a defense that’s come up with seven or more tackles for loss in six of the last seven games. That’s the catalyst for a D that’s second in the Big Ten behind Wisconsin, it’s not giving up a whole lot of big plays through the air, and it should be able to hold its own against a Nebraska offense that doesn’t win when it doesn’t get more than 160 yards. The Huskers are 3-0 when running for 220 yards or more, and it only ran for 160 or fewer when it came up with 160 or fewer. But … Why Nebraska Will Win Purdue just got blasted by the Wisconsin running game for 290 yards. Now, the team is 4-0 when allowing fewer than 120 rushing yards, and 0-3 when allowing more. Nebraska has hit the 120-yard mark on the ground in every game but the loss to Oklahoma. The Husker defense has been fine, even though it allowed 62 total points in the last two games. Purdue doesn’t/can’t run, and it needs to be steady with the passing game against a Nebraska secondary that gives up yards, but isn’t getting torched often enough to matter. Purdue hasn’t faced a whole slew of dynamic offensive playmakers. Notre Dame? Wisconsin? Oregon State? Minnesota? It dealt with plenty of steady and solid offensive guys, but it hasn’t had to deal with anyone like Martinez. What’s Going To Happen Nebraska got to take a deep breath. The lost to Michigan was devastating, and the loss at Minnesota might have been a deathblow to the season. With two weeks off, though, it should be the much fresher team against a Purdue bunch that had the physical loss to the Gophers, the emotional fight at Iowa, and the brutal beating to Wisconsin. It’s Nebraska – there will be a few big mistakes to make this interesting – but Martinez and the offense will come through with the offensive pop that Purdue won’t. Nebraska 26 - Purdue 20 ————— ESPN FPI Nebraska 74.9% ————— DRatings Nebraska 26 - Purdue 23 Nebraska 63% ————— ESPN Bill Connelly SP+ Nebraska 30 - Purdue 22 Nebraska 67% ————— Big Red Wrap-Up Mike’l Severe: Nebraska 30 - Purdue 21 Jay Moore: Nebraska 27 - Purdue 21 ————— AP - Ralph D Russo If the Huskers (3-5) are going to get bowl eligible, this is pretty much a must-win Nebraska 28 - Purdue 23 ————— Athlon Sports Steven Lassan: N Mark Ross: P Ben Weinrib: N ————— SI.com Molly Geary: N John Garcia: P Ross Dellenger: N Pat Forde: N Richard Johnson: P ————— Gold And Black - Tom Dienhart "Nebraska will have had two weeks to prep, but I think Purdue will be motivated coming off an embarrassing loss at home vs. Wisconsin in which little went right. The defense will want to strut its stuff, and I look for the Purdue passing game to click for some big plays in a close, low-scoring game." Purdue 24 - Nebraska 23 ————— More to come…

Lol. Technically SP+ gives us a 0.2 edge too!

Only one that the consensus got wrong was Illinois.

2021 Game 8 “Expert” Picks: Nebraska (-3) @ Minnesota ————— CollegeFootballNews.com Why Nebraska Will Win Now what do the Gophers do? Mohamed Ibrahim was one of the Big Ten’s best backs, but he went down in the Ohio State game with an Achilles tendon injury. In came Trey Potts, he ran for 552 yards and six touchdowns in five games, and now he’s out for the year. Minnesota doesn’t have the passing game to make up the running game if the freshman backs aren’t able to fill the void, and it doesn’t have the explosion to keep up if and when the Huskers start hitting the home runs with the passing game and when QB Adrian Martinez gets free in the second left. The offense is working, and the team has been really, really close to a wonderful season, but … Why Nebraska Will Win Forgive the complete lack of substantive research and analysis on this, but … Nebraska just doesn’t seem to know how to win when it has the chance. You could see it on head coach Scott Frost’s face right as the Michigan game was ending. His team had the monster W right there for the taking, and once again, it couldn’t get it done. It’s good enough to roll in a few blowouts here and there, but it screwed up just enough to matter against Illinois. It couldn’t quite rise up when the chances were there against Oklahoma, the Michigan State game came down to who blinked first late, and it was all there for the taking against Michigan, and … Loss, loss, loss, loss. There are a whole lot of strong parts to the improving Huskers, but the special teams are just okay – to be kind – the O doesn’t move well enough when Martinez isn’t doing something amazing, and there isn’t enough of a pass rush to get through the giant Minnesota offensive front. However … What’s Going To Happen YOU try to guess which Minnesota team shows up. Is it the one that fought through its worst day of the season running the ball to beat Purdue, or is it the one that didn’t get off the bus in a stunning loss to Bowling Green, or is it the one that totally stoned Colorado on the road? The Gopher defensive stats are great, but it also helps that there weren’t any teams on the slate after Ohio State that could run the ball. There won’t be anything spectacular about it, but Nebraska will come up with a very good, very measured, and very business-like performance. It will get two big pass plays to open things up a bit, the run defense will be just fine, and the season that desperately needs a win at this point to keep bowl hopes alive will march on. Nebraska will have the chance in a close game, and finally, it will win. Nebraska 23 - Minnesota 17 ————— ESPN FPI Nebraska 59.7% ————— DRatings Nebraska 27 - Minnesota 24 Nebraska 57% ————— ESPN Bill Connelly SP+ Nebraska 27 - Minnesota 27 (wat?) Nebraska 51% ————— Big Red Wrap-Up Mike’l Severe: Nebraska 28 - Minnesota 21 Jay Moore: Nebraska 21 - Minnesota 13 ————— AP - Ralph D Russo Gophers have lost their top two tailbacks to injury. Nebraska 21 - Minnesota 14 ————— Athlon Sports Steven Lassan : N Mark Ross: N Ben Weinrib: N ————— Bleacher Report - Kerry Miller Minnesota 24 - Nebraska 21 ————— More to come…

I started my draft, I’ll post it in the morning!