Does Nebraska have a legitimate chance to play in the National Championship game this year?

[dubsker]

With Bo I believe Huskers are always in contention.

 

 

I +1'd you and voted no. Figure that one out!

[Caven]

This is a serious question. I vote yes b/c of the defense, Nebraska's defense will be top 5 in the country, maybe even #1.

 

Offensively, there are serious question marks. Theres some potential but serious question marks. Probably too many question marks for a team that wants to play for a national championship. But I feel like the defense will be sick & Nebraska cant be counted out.

 

The answer simply stated is NO.

 

NU has a better chance of finishing the regular season at 7-5 then they do of running the table. Now, the most likely record will be either 8-4 or, perhaps 9-3. In order of probability --- most likely regular season record 8-4 --- next most likely, 9-3, next most 7-5. No other record is very likely at all.

 

And none of these constitute any sort of shot at a MNC.

 

I am not even a Nebraska fan and I think you are selling your team short. I would put them at 9-3 with a decent shot at 10-2 and an outside shot at 11-1. If they get into B10 play and just fold like they did against Washington then they could end up 8-4 but I would be shocked to see them below 9-3. Of course I don't expect them to lose both of their opening B10 games either and if that happens then it will all depend on how good the coaches are at motivation to keep the team from spiraling.

[strigori]

Won't happen. New offense will cost at least one game. And until we prove we can beat a top tier talent team, I'm going to say the Ohio State game is a loss too. With the nasty sched we have next year, 3 regular season losses is about what I expect

[huskered17]

I voted no. Lets check back after the Wis game. If we can get by that game, then we may have a good shot at maybe 11 or 12 wins. I think we are looking at a 9 win season, and that's not bad considering what a tough schedule we were given. I would of course like to see us win them all, but if we can win 9 games I won't be overly disappointed unless we lose those 3 games because of some of the head scratching calls that cost us two of those regular and Big-12 championship games, last year.

 

GBR!!!

[Coqui]

And what gives you the idea that we will. Just curious.

Because the Big 10 really isn’t that good of a conference?

 

I'll refrain from commenting too long on the idiocy of this point, however, if the Big10 isn't that good of a conference, isn't that going to make it harder to go to the National Championship? After all the "crappy" conference is going to bring your rankings down even if you go undefeated.

[Haspula]

In reality no, Huskers are too low of a bcs rank and we are still rebuilding with new coaches and QBs

[skersfan]

Anyone who thinks the Big Ten is easier than the Big 12 has a rude awakening coming I think. Way more physical conference, with teams stock piling quality depth it is a long year, Wisconsin will be bigger than most pro teams again this year.

 

It is just too much to expect. Hope for for sure, but this will be one of the toughest seasons we have ever had. I do not think we have ever played a schedule near the difficulty level of this one.. It sure is going to be fun watching it I think, and who knows, Bo may just get it done.

[dubsker]

In reality no, Huskers are too low of a bcs rank and we are still rebuilding with new coaches and QBs

 

With the SOS the BCS rank at the beginning of the year is so far beyond relevant... If they went undefeated they would go to the BCS title game bank on it.

[skersfan]

No question!!!!

[Hunter94]

Anyone who thinks the Big Ten is easier than the Big 12 has a rude awakening coming I think. Way more physical conference, with teams stock piling quality depth it is a long year, Wisconsin will be bigger than most pro teams again this year.

 

It is just too much to expect. Hope for for sure, but this will be one of the toughest seasons we have ever had. I do not think we have ever played a schedule near the difficulty level of this one.. It sure is going to be fun watching it I think, and who knows, Bo may just get it done.

 

 

i agree, i think the 10 will be way more physical and without depth, especially on defense, it will be tough each week.

[craigsker]

I voted no as well. Not with this schedule. It's brutal.

[junior4949]

We have a shot, but I voted no. We get Ohio State when their big guns return for their first game. If we're healthy, we could win this game as some of their players are still banging off the rust. There's just so many what if's not only for us but the rest of the conferences. I'd like to think an undefeated Big 10 Champion would be in the NC game, but there's no guarantee. It will be very difficult to keep the SEC Champ out even with one loss. OU could run the table. I'd be more than satisfied to make it to a BCS bowl. NC runs involve quite a bit of luck.

[DTrain2020]

I don't see where the Big Ten is so much harder than the Big Twelve. The confernece will be harder as a whole than the North division, but I feel like our speed is greater than all but ohio state. I think speed trumps strength in most cases, like in the 08 (?) MNC game with florida out running ohio state all over the field. Look at michigan st vs alabama this year, its not fair to compare them to sec teams, but I don't seem as concerned as previous posters.

[kchusker_chris]

I don't see where the Big Ten is so much harder than the Big Twelve. The confernece will be harder as a whole than the North division, but I feel like our speed is greater than all but ohio state. I think speed trumps strength in most cases, like in the 08 (?) MNC game with florida out running ohio state all over the field. Look at michigan st vs alabama this year, its not fair to compare them to sec teams, but I don't seem as concerned as previous posters.

I'm with you - to an extent. I don't see our schedule as being any more difficult than this years. In fact, you can pretty well match team for team our 2010 schedule with our 2011 schedule as far as the quality goes. The problem I see is we aren't going to be "just another Big10" team this year. It will be like Colorado/Iowa State each week. Colorado/Iowa State are far from being historically dominant...but they always seem to play us tough. Each of those 8 teams is going to play us tough. Everyone will step up to try and beat Nebraska.

[The Dude]

It will be like Colorado/Iowa State each week.

In that case, yep, we're going to the 'ship.