A look ahead at Nebraska's 2014 schedule

[sd'sker]

i don't care about the change in landscape of college football or at nebraska. 74husker seems to be saying we should lower expectations (he will deny that, but that seems to be what he is saying). i asked him if it has gotten to the point where we should not expect to win 10/11 games next year. you responded with some abstract notion of shifting landscapes. i tried to clarify if you believed we should not expect to win 10/11 games next year. you once again responded with how things have changed. again, i do not care.

 

what i care about is a football team that seems to have performed well below its potential. and maintaining the expectations of being able to compete with everyone on our schedule and beating the teams we are clearly better than.

[Redux]

Not caring about the changing surroundings are part of the reason Nebraska fell into its curent funk.

 

My expectations are definitely 10-12 wins a year.

 

We also play more games a year then we did 20 years ago. Have stiffer competition than we did 20 years ago. Dont have the advantafes we enjoyed 20. Years ago. And dont have the sex appeal and coach we did 20 years ago. That doesnt mean we cant get back to that point. Even with all that I expect 10-12 wins year. No reason we cant.

[Landlord]

I have a feeling that people think that we should win these games based on what our program was 15 to 20 years ago. Sadly, things have changed.

people get upset with NUpolo8 for being "negative", but this attitude is much more disconcerting. have things really changed that much that we should not expect to win 10/11 of our next 12 games?

 

 

I mean... we have done that two of the last four years, so I wouldn't say so.

 

 

Also - no way is Northwestern a gimme. Don't care how bad they were last year or how bad they might hypothetically be this year. We have three straight data points suggesting it will go down to the wire regardless.

[sd'sker]

i was simply responding to this.

I dunno, Iowa and NW have never been gimmies,,especially on the road. Road games at Fresno, Wisc, and MSU aren't gonna be easy, either.

I have a feeling that people think that we should win these games based on what our program was 15 to 20 years ago. Sadly, things have changed.

i think we should expect to win these games because of where the program is at right now. we should lose no more than 2 of those games. if we do, something needs to change.

[Redux]

I expect to win all of them, but Ive been chugging kool aid since January 1......

[Dr. Strangelove]

Expectations, in my view, are constructed with an eye toward what the team has done in the recent past.

 

Everyone would like to see Nebraska win the national title. Taking an unbiased look at such a proposition....

 

Teams that win the national title have near-perfect record of beating the teams they are supposed to beat. Nebraska hasn't done that. Minnesota last year is the perfect example. Coach Osborne rarely lost to the unranked. He was freakishly good at knocking down the teams Nebraska should beat.

 

Teams that win the national title game have a talent base that is equal with the other top teams in the country. We have not demonstrated that we have talent that rivals the top teams. We are doing better on the recruiting trail but we need to see those gains on the field before we can have much faith in the talent base.

 

Teams that win the national title have had seasons, usually multiple, but they've had seasons where they've gone unbeaten through a majority of the schedule and there for have experienced the pressure and attention that comes with being 9-0 or 10-0. Nebraska hasn't been unbeaten that deep in the season for a long, long time.

 

Teams that win the national title have played in major bowl games. Nebraska hasn't been competitive in a major bowl game since Frank and the Huskers beat the Vols in the Fiesta.

 

Add in the X factor of the new playoff and it's even more important that teams seriously vying for the title be ones with a championship resume.

 

Nebraska needs to beat the teams it is supposed to beat, demonstrate that it has the talent some of the other top teams enjoy and then go on a run under pressure before winning a conference title and gaining experience in a major non-playoff bowl game.

 

Do that, and Nebraska, with a returning signal caller and a maturing roster would begin to position itself for a serious run at the title.

All of this and our serious issues with turnovers. We simply can't keep turning the ball over at the rate we do and expect to win a championship of any sort.

[zoogs]

Also - no way is Northwestern a gimme. Don't care how bad they were last year or how bad they might hypothetically be this year. We have three straight data points suggesting it will go down to the wire regardless.

 

That's if Nebraska in 2014 is the same as Nebraska in 2011, 2012, and 2013...

 

If we take them off the list, there's 5 gimmies, 3 marquee matchups, and the 4 in the 'other category' would be Fresno, Minnesota, Northwestern, and Iowa. I'm being a little kind to Minnesota and especially Fresno. I still think a 6-3-3 breakdown makes sense; substitute Northwestern for Fresno if you prefer. The latter 3 all being "a good team beats all of these, but a surprise letdown is possible."

 

Still arriving at an 8/9-win baseline, not counting the three big opponents. If you want to be really kind, I think you could say 7 gotta-wins + "Tossup Five" consisting of the big three, Northwestern, and Iowa. Going 3-2 means 10-2 overall, and going 2-3 means 9-3 overall. 1-4 would be really lousy. 3-2 is not at all unreasonable.

[BigRedBuster]

I don't think any program in the B1G take Northwestern as a Gimme.

 

Since 2007 they have beaten almost all teams in the B1G. And...OMG....they have actually beaten MSU several times. I thought Dantonio was a much better coach than to lose to a pathetic program like Northwestern.

 

I remember many fans from other schools telling us that Northwestern will rise up and surprise someone every year that they shouldn't beat.

[Redux]

I like that Northwestern gets up for us every year, we had better do the same in return. Could develop into a nice little rivalry.

[onlyHskrfaninIL]

It all depends on execution.

[It'sNotAFakeID]

I expect that we win every game, every year. I'm just not as downtrodden when that unbelievably doesn't happen.

[True2tRA]

The schedule almost means nothing with this team anymore, I mean that quite literally. We lose four a year, even when the schedule was put sh#t like it was last year.

 

Fact is, stop turning the ball over = win more games, regardless of who the opponent is. We've shown we can beat anybody, but mostly beat ourselves. PERIOD.

[Redux]

Im going out on a limb again and saying we see a better turnover margin this year and ultimately more wins. Even if a couole are squeakers that could have been losses.

[HuskerNationNick]

I sincerely believed we would lose no more than 3 last year WITH an injury bug. We only had one game I would consider a blowoutloss but still all 4 were headscratchers.

 

This year I see no reason we cant smoke Miamin Lincoln and travel up to Madison and pay the Badgers back for that title game debacle. A win in Camp Randall would heal alot of wounds. MSU finally got a win in the series but I have a feeling we regain control. And Iowa is Iowa, we let them get a W as well in the series. Cant wait to watch us storm their field and take back our trophy. 11-1 IF we drop a close game.

The UCLA game and Iowa game were blowouts. We lost to Iowa in the double digits, while having a pathetic showing from our offense, and offensive coordinator. SDSU was a completely embarrassing game to watch as a fan. We won, but that game, defensively, was horrid. Minnesota, again a poorly called offensive game, while defense was sub par at best. Now the Wyoming game, what was good about that game, besides getting the W?

 

The reason I see a possibility of this not happening, is because we have yet to show a good offense. Georgia was good, but one game isn't going to make me sold on Beck and his play calling ability.

 

We can beat the crap out of them for the next three seasons and I don't believe any wounds will be healed. They beat us when we were the "clear" winners. Wait, sorry, they didn't just beat us, they SLAUGHTERED us.

 

If we based it all off of feelings, shouldn't we have been undefeated last year? Dan Antonio has made every game competitive for us, and we have barely escaped with wins since joining the Big 10, while handing them the ball 5 times last year, GIVING them the win at OUR home.

 

Your right, Iowa is Iowa, but they beat us at our house last year. We can lose to them next year, just like we did this year. What if Armstrong goes down? Inexperienced QB once again, who may not know the offensive scheme? As far as its being reported, Fyfe is ahead of Stanton... really FYFE?!

 

I can't wait either, and to go 11-1... actions speak louder than words. We have not seen enough actions to actually think we will pull off a record like that. Not saying we can't expect it, or hope for it, but to me, its not reality to think its GOING to happen.

[JoeHuskers!]

What about how our games with Northwestern the last 3yrs says it will be a gimmie game this season?