armsbendback

Huskerfans! What a cool two years. This year a little cooler than last year, for obvious reasons It's been awesome adding you guys to the conference. Historically, when I think college football, Nebraska football is one of the first 5-6 schools that immediately come to mind. I really hope you guys destroy Wisconsin in the B10 championship game and then beat UCLA or Stanford in the Rose Bowl. Come to think about, that'd be crazy if you and UCLA play 3 times in a calendar year. How many of your best guys are seniors? Your schedule sets up great for next year. UCLA at home in a high profile game that will enhance your status will the pollsters with a win. Ohio State(bummed we can't play you every year) and Wisconsin drop off the schedule in favor of Illinois and Purdue(try not to salivate) Michigan and Penn State are both on the road, but at worst you lose just one of those. I fully expect to see you guys in the B10 Championship game next year with you guys as a top 10, 1 loss team.

Congrats on landing Starling from a Buckeye fan. Looks like he had a pretty good offer sheet(incl. ALA and ND). What type of offense has Nebraska been running since Bo took over. Is there any one game I should watch to get a sense of the type of offensive identity we should be expecting from the Huskers in 2011 and 2012?

First off, welcome to the B10 from an Ohio State fan. Can't wait to get this rolling in 2011 Regarding the perceived strength of Divisions comparing the past decade of the 5 B12 North Nebraska played with and what would be the 5 B10 West schools joining Nebraska. I went back and looked at final AP Top 25 Rankings from 2000-2009 to find the following. I excluded Nebraska from the equation since the conversation was based on the strength of the teams Nebraska was paired with and the Teams they will/might be paired with going forward. I'll start with the totals: Since 2000, the B12 North(excluding Nebraska) has had 9 other teams ranked in the AP Top 25 at the end of the season. Included in this number are 5 top 10 rankings(KSU #9 in 2000, Colorado #9 in 2001, KSU # 7 in 2002, Mizzou #4, Kansas #7 in 2007) Since 2000, the teams most widely believed to be joining Nebraska in a B10 West(Iowa, Wisc, Ill, Minn, NW) have had 14 teams ranked in the AP Top 25 at the end of the season. Included in this number are 5 top 10 rankings(Iowa #8 in 2002, 2003, 2004, Wisc # 7 in 2006, Iowa #7 in 2009. Additionally if you move away from the start of the decade and go from just 2003 on, the numbers skewer even more in favor of the potential B10 West, with 11 Top 25 finishes to just 4 by the B12 North teams Nebraska played year in and year out. Here is the raw data 2000: KSU #9, ISU #25 Wisc. #23 2001: Col #9 Ill #12 2002: KSU #7, Col #20 Iowa #8 2003: KSU #14 Iowa #8, Minn #20 2004: - Iowa #8, Wisc #17 2005: - Wisc #15 2006: - Wisc. #7 2007: Mizzou #4 Kansas #7 Ill #20, Wisc #24 2008: Mizzou #19 Iowa #20 2009: - Iowa #7, Wisc #16 ummm no. i cant agree with that at all. Nebraska, Missouri, and Kansas have all been equal to or greater than those schools listed and i would argue that all of the big12 north schools have been better than minnesota over the last decade and that includes ISU whom actually beat Minnesota this last bowl season.