You're putting words into people's mouths. Thinking we'll beat a crappy UCLA team by 21 doesn't mean people think it's the new norm because of one game. It only means they think we'll beat a crappy UCLA team by 21. Here are a few reasons why I think we'll win by 17+:
1. It's the first away game so the team will be excited for that.
2. It's a... not sure how to say this, so I'll say "big name program." even though that's not quite right. But whatever you want to call UCLA, it's not the type of team Nebraska has overlooked in the past. They'll be excited to prove themselves and play a team from a BCS conference that has some history.
3. UCLA was very unimpressive against one of the worst teams in the country, and they were bad last tear as well.
Exactly.
There's simply no proof that UCLA is any kind of real force. We play reasonably well we should win. Our WRs continue to catch the ball, we'll win easily. That's all.