First Big 10 schedule not as tough as it looks?

[JTrain]

God I love HB mobile. So dangerous but worth the risk.

[husker_99]

I will say one thing that i have noticed when watching the Big Ten games the last couple of seasons. The game clock moves. I think the Big Ten plays the fastest games i have seen. If a game starts at 11 you can bet your sweet bippy it will be over at 2. Not 2:30 or 3 but 2. We won't have time to mess around. I have seen teams hold onto the ball extremely long times. A lot of times if a team has the ball with 5 mins left it's pretty much. We won't be able to sit there and say we will get the ball back because they can take their sweet time running down the clock. They play at a slower pace than the Big 12 does.

[cdw]

I would say they will be lucky to be bowl elgible next year. Little better chance without T-Mart.

[captain obvious]

What did they do to the opposing locker rooms at Camp Randall?

 

Count me among those who are concerned about defending the run in the Big 10 w/ an undersized defense. I'm sure they'll figure something out in the offseason, but I expect some culture shock to a degree.

 

I am starting to wonder how effective the Big 10 defenses will be against NU's speed, though. "Big" defenses are rarely "fast" defenses.

[JTrain]

@Wisconsin is a loss, Ohio State and Michigan State are toss ups. Minnesota is the only guaranteed W. Iowa and Penn St are games that should be wins. Michigan and Northwestern are games Nebraska will be favored in, but it comes down to whether or not the blackshirts can stop Robinson and Persa respectively. 6-2 would be a great first season in my opinion.

 

I fail to see how Wisconsin is a guaranteed loss. I know people characterize Wisconsin as a pound-it-down-your-throat running team, but Scott Tolzien has really been the catalyst to making the offense great this year. He just won the Unitas Award and leads the country in completion percentage. Losing him will hurt no matter how you slice it.

 

Camp Randall is one of the toughest places to play. The badgers are 32-4 in Camp Randall since they completed their stadium renovations to add seats, and make the visiting locker rooms a lot less opponent friendly. That plus three solid running backs lead me to believe the Huskers are going to have to play a perfect game to win there.

Ok, but none of this addresses the loss of Tolzien. How many of those 32 wins were with a first year starter at QB and against a top 15 team?

 

I looked it up. In the time span you mentioned, Wisconsin is 1-3 with a first-year starter at QB playing a top 15 team at Camp Randall.

 

Only 3 of the 32 teams they beat were even ranked in the top 25.

[gobiggergoredder]

I know this is fun and what forum boards are all about, but how could anyone possibly have any confidence in what product is going to show up on the field week to week. Losses to a horrid Texas, average A&M, beatable OU and one point win over ISU.

 

No Gomes, Price, Hagg or Henery?

 

I think we will see a lot of the same next year.

[mmmtodd]

What did they do to the opposing locker rooms at Camp Randall?

 

Count me among those who are concerned about defending the run in the Big 10 w/ an undersized defense. I'm sure they'll figure something out in the offseason, but I expect some culture shock to a degree.

 

I am starting to wonder how effective the Big 10 defenses will be against NU's speed, though. "Big" defenses are rarely "fast" defenses.

 

 

we are not nearly as small as some people continue to advertise. plus we'll have the likes of fisher and compton back to 100% next year. the small label comes from the defense that has been tailored specifically to the offenses of the big 12 and the crazy ass talent of a huge group of guys that most would project as safeties. Bo is Big Ten born and raised. I have no worries as far as the size argument goes. This is a guy that coached linebackers in the NFL and led a defense thru the SEC to a national title.

 

especially where it matters, up front, we more than match up size wise. hell...people keep claiming that TCU is going to be overrun...look a little deeper and you'll notice that both lines for TCU are actually as big or bigger than Wisconsins squad for squad. Of course offensive linemen are bigger than their defensive counterparts-thats the norm tho, rather than the exception.

[schuhbdoo]

Hardest

 

Ohio State

Wisconsin

Michigan St.

Iowa

Michigan (without Greg Robinson)

Penn St.

Northwestern

Michigan (with Greg Robinson)

Minnesota

 

Easiest

 

 

I say all of those games are potential wins. The toughest will be Wisc. They didn't look like world beaters against MSU. MSU is the most overrated team in the top 100. If NU improves with the OL and QB play, NU will run rough shot through the Big 10. OSU and Michigan has great QBs. But doesn't Bo have a way to shut down really, really good QBs? I think our fans here are giving too much credit to these teams as being world beaters. Most of college football is down this year. A lot of really good teams are not good right now. When that happens, teams like OSU and MSU get up into the top 10 but in reality, they aren't that good. Look at the recruiting classes from the last couple years, very heavy in OL recruits. This will be a power running team first then finesse team as long as Bo is here.

[JTrain]

I know this is fun and what forum boards are all about, but how could anyone possibly have any confidence in what product is going to show up on the field week to week. Losses to a horrid Texas, average A&M, beatable OU and one point win over ISU.

 

No Gomes, Price, Hagg or Henery?

 

I think we will see a lot of the same next year.

 

 

A lot of the same meaning 10-2 and heading to Indianapolis? Sounds fine with me.

[Hercules]

Honestly, I don't think we're going to know how hard this schedule is until we play it. We have a pretty good history beating the Big 10 over the past 30 years or so, and it seems even in the past 10 when we weren't at our best we managed to get the best of them.

 

A lot of us ripped the Big 10 for being overrated before we joined it, and now we've kind of backed off of that since it's our new home... But I'm not sure we were that wrong to begin with. I think the Big 10 is somewhat overrated. I wouldn't be surprised to see us struggle through that schedule next year, but I also wouldn't be surprised if we are pretty darn successful. While the entire schedule looks tough altogether, each individual game is winnable.

 

We're going to have to adjust to the kind of offense being played in the Big 10, for sure. But the Big 10 is also going to have to adjust to the kind of speed we're going to bring in on defense.

[Creed]

As someone mentioned above Penn State will be much better next year. I thought Wisc was going to be down next year. You get though OSU and the rest of the games are definitely winable. Neb will be at a disadvantage playing new teams and in new places weeek to week so that might have an effect on getting thru the schedule.

[Wolvie3758]

Words of Caution...This is the same type talk we heard when Penn St Joined the Conference..It usually doesnt work that way. It took Penn St a few years before they won their

first B10 Title and in the 20 yrs since they joined I believe they have won 2 or maybe 3 titles...I wouldnt expect to walk in to Ann Arbor and waltz away with a win..MANY a undefeated OSU team or Wisconsin team that were on paper far superior left AA with a Loss...costing them a National title...Michigan gets up for the Big games..the Offense is really clicking and I gtd u

the defense will be better..GROB will not be back year. and Wisconsin is a TOUGH TOUGH place to win...Good Luck and welcome to the B10

[schuhbdoo]

Words of caution to the Big 10. NU will play for the conference title next year. I will not go on record to say NU will win it but I say we play for the title. NU will have a dynamic QB that will run wild but have a defense that can play with the most elite teams in the country.

 

Put Bo's defense with Dennard at Michigan. The would be an elite team.

 

The alignments for the new divisions, which have yet to be named, are as follows:

 

– Illinois, Indiana, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin in one division.

 

– Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska and Northwestern in the other.

 

I see NU playing either OSU or Wisc. If Pryor returns for his senior year OSU will have a slight advantage over

Wisc based on Wisc losing their QB. I just don't see much Carne in the bolded division above. Sorry Wolvie, NU plays for the title of the Big 10 in their first year.

[husker_99]

I know this is fun and what forum boards are all about, but how could anyone possibly have any confidence in what product is going to show up on the field week to week. Losses to a horrid Texas, average A&M, beatable OU and one point win over ISU.

 

No Gomes, Price, Hagg or Henery?

 

I think we will see a lot of the same next year.

 

 

A lot of the same meaning 10-2 and heading to Indianapolis? Sounds fine with me.

 

You think that if Martinez gets hurt next year we will be near any 10-2 record?

[husker_99]

Words of caution to the Big 10. NU will play for the conference title next year. I will not go on record to say NU will win it but I say we play for the title. NU will have a dynamic QB that will run wild but have a defense that can play with the most elite teams in the country.

 

Put Bo's defense with Dennard at Michigan. The would be an elite team.

 

The alignments for the new divisions, which have yet to be named, are as follows:

 

– Illinois, Indiana, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin in one division.

 

– Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska and Northwestern in the other.

 

I see NU playing either OSU or Wisc. If Pryor returns for his senior year OSU will have a slight advantage over

Wisc based on Wisc losing their QB. I just don't see much Carne in the bolded division above. Sorry Wolvie, NU plays for the title of the Big 10 in their first year.

 

 

If we show up for every game next year we might. Our offense hasn't been consistent all year. Pryor already said he will be back. You do realize we have to play Ohio St, Penn St, Wisconsin next season don't you? We lose a lot of players this year too. Who's gonna join Burkhead and just be as good as Helu was?