Is this the biggest game of the Pelini era?

[Guy Chamberlin]

Agree, sort of.

 

I guess because Bo Pelini has lost the other biggest games of his era, it makes the next big game feel like a tipping point.

 

 

Still, I voted bacon.

[commando]

not the biggest game he has coached....but if we win it could be considered his biggest win.

[WhatDoIKnow]

Our schedule is very easy after Michigan State. Only Wisconsin poses a threat. They will probably be the only team ranked in the top 25 besides Michigan State. If we lose, there's a good chance we drop out of the top 25. If we lose in a blowout during a nationally televised primetime game, the pitchforks will be out for Bo. We can only have so many blowouts. Look what's happening at Michigan. The fans can only take so much.

 

We could beat MSU by 40, and every team left on the schedule would still pose a threat. Ok, maybe not Purdue.

[Danny Bateman]

I've noticed a lot of people seem fixated on the fact that neither a win or a loss will impede our season goals and our ability to win our division and ultimately the conference.

 

My question is, why should our ultimate goal be winning the conference?

 

So, after donning my Kool-Aid trucker hat...

 

 

And throwing on my rose-colored glasses...

 

And tossing realism out the window, the eternal optimist fan that dwells inside of me seems to think that given the down nature of the Big 10 landscape this year, if we win out, we should be sitting in the driver's seat for a trip to the playoff.

 

Obviously, that poses challenges in and of itself. There's plenty of challenging games left to play and of course a rematch with Sparty in the Conference Championship or whoever else comes out of the East.

 

But, a win would surely flush those hopes right down the drain. The Big 10 is too weak this year to get a one loss team in unless it's one of probably two teams maximum with one loss. Assuming everybody else will lose twice is a bit much to ask for.

 

A bit idealist, sure, whatever. But I don't see why it can't happen. It's true that winning Saturday wouldn't stop us from winning the Big 10. But let's not be Iowa and just play to go to the Rose Bowl. I say let's try for the whole damn thing!

[RedRedJarvisRedwine]

Cmon bacon! You can dew it!

[Redshirt]

Texas game in b12 CCG I think was the most important.

[StPaulHusker]

This is the most important game to date. But not the biggest.

 

Texas in the CCG was the biggest. Not the most important.

[admo]

The anticipation of this game is exciting. I'm glad we've played well so far. It's pretty important right now. But I wouldn't consider it bigger than the CCGs against Wisconsin or Texas.

[TGHusker]

I voted "No" because the 2nd game with MSU will be much more important. I am assuming that both make it to Indy.

Not the biggest game if we win. If we get blown out again on nat'l TV it will be bigger than what it should be. The cry for Bo's coach's whistle will begin in earnest. We can still loose and end up in Indy - if we don't lose our mental toughness. The big game to me is when we finally win some hardware in the CCG.

[Omaha_Style]

This is an intersting question. So far in the Pelini Era, my opinion of the biggest game as him being the Head Coach would have been the Big 12 Conference Championship against Oklahoma. It would have been nice to end our time with that Conference with the last trophy decided with a Championship game.

 

With that being said, this game is the biggest game of this season and can be a hue game changer for Nebraska. Win this and every game for the duration of the season and post season is the biggest game of the Pelini Era as each would be the game to keep him undefeated for the year and win a National Championship if we would be selected for the playoff.

[Cornfed]

This game doesn't top a game we could have won a championship.

 

However, we are 5-0 and every goal set by the team is still attainable. That means every time we win a game this year, the next one becomes that much bigger.

 

This is a huge game for national attention to Nebraska. However, I agree with some that in certain circles, this will be looked at, "see, there isn't any good teams in the Big" instead of "wow, Nebraska is the top dog in the Big and are pretty dang good".

 

If we win, I see us getting up to maybe 12-13. I would absolutely be shocked if we we any higher than that.

 

The Miami game felt bigger simply because of the history between the teams and the first time that pathetic excuse of a football program soiled our field.

If we can somehow beat MSU by the same margin or larger than Oregon (on the road mind you) than no publication would dare say "see, there isn't any good teams in the big 10." They'd inevitably be throwing the #2 team under the bus, which they won't do. I'd be happy with a slim margin victory but that'd be the ultimate.

[Danny Bateman]

This is an intersting question. So far in the Pelini Era, my opinion of the biggest game as him being the Head Coach would have been the Big 12 Conference Championship against Oklahoma. It would have been nice to end our time with that Conference with the last trophy decided with a Championship game.

 

With that being said, this game is the biggest game of this season and can be a hue game changer for Nebraska. Win this and every game for the duration of the season and post season is the biggest game of the Pelini Era as each would be the game to keep him undefeated for the year and win a National Championship if we would be selected for the playoff.

This.

 

I feel like very few of us consider this a realistic possibility. Partly because of Bo's track record (9-4), partly because it's extremely hard to go undefeated, partly because we've seen so many embarrassing losses and "come up short" moments since Dr. Tom stepped down.

 

But if not now, when? This is probably the biggest remaining hurdle in the season, with the CCG on the same level and (in my mind), Wiscy a notch below.

 

But win this game, and there's not a game we shouldn't be favored in going forward. Perhaps Wiscy, but that's a legit debate.

 

We don't know when we'll face a schedule this favorable again. They don't come around very often. We hailed last year as that year and squandered it.

 

Win now, and we've got every opportunity (and a decent shot) to win out and make the playoff. That'd be HUGE for our program's national image and perception. The pub would be enormous in the first year of this. A good showing would do even more.

[grandpasknee]

I voted "bacon" because it makes any meal better.

 

That, and the wording of the question would require us to see and understand the future. The "Bo Pelini era" might go on for another 10 years and include a MNC game or two. I said "might". We don't know.

 

Now, if the question had been "Is this the biggest game, so far, in the Pelini era", I would have voted yes. Although if we'd won, how many of you would rate the game against Texas for the B12 championship as bigger than this weekend?

[deedsker]

A single game for a conference title is always bigger than a game they may or may not hurt getting to a conference title game.

[cg_8]

No doubt this game is big.

 

But not bigger than any of the conference championship games. Just because we lost, doesn't mean they were any less bigger.

 

Also, I think the first Georgia bowl game was bigger. I know we were bummed and lost the CCG, but Georgia was 5 yards away from beating Alabama to play in the Nat Championship game.

 

But no doubt this is a big game. Even if we end up losing this game, we still have an opportunity to play in the conference championship game against MSU again. That game will most likely be bigger than this one.

 

I feel ya though. To me, almost every week is a big game. GBR!