Could Nebraska Make The Playoff this year? Any chance with total domination from here on out?

[BaytownHusker]

I agree with Skersfan. Ohio St is the BigTens darkhorse right now. They were essentially written off after losing to VaTech, but no one took into account the possibility-and now reality-that this freshman is actually a better *quarterback* than Braxton Miller. They have looked VERY good the last few weeks.

 

I disagree, MSU has the best shot Ohio St will lose again.

[HuskerinSunDiego]

We only lost by 5 to Michigan State By 5 on the road and had an easy chance to win. Say we pound the rest of the teams(very doable) and win the Conference title game and all hell breaks loose after us going 12-1 do we have a chance? Say we blow Sparty out in the title game..remember when we beat Wisky 30-27 2 years ago in the regular season and got blown out 70-31 by the same team in the ccg? why is sparty automatically given chance and we aren't?

Love your enthusiasm. I agree. There has been so much mayhem in college football this season that there may only be a few 1-loss teams at the end of the season. Also, we all know that the Mississippi State's and Ol'e Miss's of the world will end up losing to Vanderbilt or Tennessee. My hope is that that tOSU wins out. That would put them at about 3 or 4. If we beat them, we will have beaten a fresh face. By contrast, not as many bonus points for beating MSU in a rematch. The bottom line is that we can win out. If we focus each week, there's absolutely no reason why we can't beat the slate of virtual cream puffs in our way up until the Conference Championship Game.

[kchusker_chris]

Depends on how we finish I think. All things being equal, the committee will look at who's playing well at the end, and put less emphasis on a road game that happened almost 3 months before the playoffs start. They want a big game. If we win the next 6 solidly, clobber an 11-1 MSU - we're going to have a pretty solid case that the team playing in January isn't the same team that lost in early October.

 

So could they make it? Hell yeah. But let's be a little realistic about this team, this program, and where we are...if the above happened, it would shock even the biggest pumpers of sunshine out there.

[huskrinmissouri]

How about we beat Northwestern first.

[Redux]

There is less chance of the SEC champ finishing undefeated than ever before. The west looks super strong but alot of them have to play eachother yet. LSU will probably knock one of the Misses out, both Bamas have a loss, and the East doesnt really matter. So the SEC Champ with one or possibly two losses obviously gets in. The Pac 12 will almost assuredly have a one loss champ. If FSU loses Winston they will probably end up dropping a game, they have come close with him at the helm. Plus no garauntee theywin the league anyway. The BIG 12 Could have an undefeated champ but no conference championship so undefeated would really help.

 

Its no secret we are looked at with disdain, the league did itself no favors this season. But if we run the table and blast a Sparty team in the top 10 or even 5 to avenge our lone 5 point loss it would be pretty hard not to let us in. Yeah we would have to step up if we get that shot but lets focus on winning out first.

 

PS - forgot about the golden domers, they could screw two teams out of a playoff spot that have conference title game wins. Thatwould pretty much peeve me off.

[Kernal]

Nebraska didn't look like a playoff-caliber team against Michigan State, so there's that little bit of inconvenient truth. But if NU can figure out how to play their A-game every week, and win all the remaining games convincingly, including the CCG, I would think we will be right in the mix at the end.

 

All the pundits talking about teams being in and out, and remember they were doing this in week one and two, are just trying to fill air time. They don't have any better idea than you or I.

 

I hope every team in the SEC West ends up with two losses so we can listen to ESPN whine for a month about why they should still have a team in the playoff.

[HUSKER FREAK]

I really don't think Baylor would be able to put up the points against Us or Mich St. they rely ALOT on the inside run game and that is the strength of both of our D's. Also as their coach said they rely on the toughness of their line to move the ball. I also think this would play into Our and the Spartans hands. But for us to really even have a chance, win out obviously, but would have to have some convincing wins in there as well. Miss St well if they would have beat Auburn convincingly, Alabama needs to lose, one of the Mississippi schools will have to lose which will be Ole Miss (I think?) Notre Lame has to have a hiccup just for my self-satisfaction and because they always look pretty to many media folk. Karma will catch up to Florida St. and when it does I hope they pay greatly. Well I guess I am trying to say A lot has to happen but you never know!!!! GBR

[skersfan]

The job of the council is to put the four best teams in the playoff. Every game will be weighed is my guess.

 

Common thinking on our game with Sparty, would be, they let off the gas. McNeese State will raise its ugly head. Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota are not ranked. So the chances .of playing a top ten team come down to CCG.

 

Where as all the other champions will have played against at least a top ten team, and most likely two, possibly 3.

 

I think Mississippi state goes undefeated, Ole miss loses to them in the egg bowl, Bama another loss from Auburn. You could have an undefeated and two 1 loss teams in the SEC. Two will go for sure I think

 

Florida state or Notre Dame are going to lose and Notre Dame has some tough teams to play after this game. Both could end up with one loss, but have played top ten ranked teams and beaten them at the time.

 

Oregon looks to be healing, they beat our flag bearer, quite handily. They would be hard to keep out with one loss

 

Baylor has beaten a top ten team and could end up with one loss too, but all three, TCU, Baylor and Oklahoma, would be thought of higher than the Big 10 winner.

 

We are not dealing with polls here. People that know the game, what it takes to win and to play tough schedules. Strength of schedule and margin of victory will be the end answer I think.

 

Anything can happen, but we shot our selves in the foot, and I doubt it will heal well enough to be in a playoff even if we trounce everyone we face. Our best chance is if Ohio State wins out and thumps Michigan State. We beat Ohio State, that will have an affect on the football guys.

 

Still a lot can happen.

 

Just keep winning if we can. Winning cures most problems.

[Jorow99]

This is what I see happening:

 

I find it hard to believe that the committee will leave out a 13-1 B1G champ in favor of an SEC team that didn't even go to the SEC CCG (so one of the mississipi teams). Remember that the conference championships are a factor in the selection process.

FSU will not survive this season undefeated. They will probably lose to ND, but then ND will have a legit shot to get in unless they lose to USC or ASU. NW beating ND would help us tremendously.

PAC12 champ gets in

SEC champ gets in

big XII "champ" probably gets in, hopefully baylor wins out.

then its between ND, B1G, ACC, and another SEC team.

 

IMO any B1G team that runs the table and goes 13-1 with a championship can only be left out for an undefeated ND or maybe 1-loss FSU champion, unless by some miracle your name is minnesota. The OSU MSU showdown will hopefully be against two top 10 teams which gives the winner a big boost and would give us a big boost assuming we won the CCG.

Still a LOT of football to be played though.

[Chaddyboxer]

This is what I think...

If Mich St goes undefeated to the CCG, they will probably be ranked somewhere in the top 4 considering they are #6 right now in the AP, correct? OSU will be ranked in the teens by the time they play Mich St as well. If NEB can win out, they'll more than likely be in the lower teens and could slip into the final 4 with a win over Mich St. However, this is taking into account that some top teams lose a game or two, which could very well happen. This season is all up in the air and could get very interesting. I wouldn't be surprised to see a ranked Iowa team in the teens by the time they play NEB as well.

[hskrfan4life]

As the BCS has shown as well as college football is that ANY team can win, and ANY team can lose on a given day no matter the record nor the situation. So yes there is a chance. We just need to take care of what we can which would be win every game from here on out and then wait and see if the dominoes we need to fall will fall. Remember the BCS chaos we could have caused if Nebraska beat Texas in 2009. Also the same chaos happened that gave us a chance to play in the 2001 Rose Bowl, given we didn't hold up our end of the bargain to make it a fight. I have figured that honestly there is never a guaranteed "W" in college football.

[RedRedJarvisRedwine]

I think its gonna depend on ND, FSU, Oregon and Georgia. I'll elaborate as soon as I figure out how these teams matter the most going forward.

[MichiganDad3]

I gaurantee the committee will take a hard look at conference champions....and a 12-1 NEB team could very wwell slip into the playoffs. NEB needs to buck up and become playoff material though.

Any BIG champion with a single loss will almost certainly make the playoffs. I don't see how four conference champions are not represented. Imagine the complaining is a conference champion is excluded in favor of a team that didn't even win their division or is coming off a loss in their CCG. I could see the BIG champion as the lone power 5 winner not in the playoffs. Of course, I think there is a near zero chance the Huskers win out. Too many injuries, and too many turnovers.

[hskrfan4life]

 

 

I gaurantee the committee will take a hard look at conference champions....and a 12-1 NEB team could very wwell slip into the playoffs. NEB needs to buck up and become playoff material though.

Any BIG champion with a single loss will almost certainly make the playoffs. I don't see how four conference champions are not represented. Imagine the complaining is a conference champion is excluded in favor of a team that didn't even win their division or is coming off a loss in their CCG. I could see the BIG champion as the lone power 5 winner not in the playoffs. Of course, I think there is a near zero chance the Huskers win out. Too many injuries, and too many turnovers.

No excuses, with this schedule they should win out. I think we have less turnovers than we did last year at this point.

[MichiganDad3]

 

 

I gaurantee the committee will take a hard look at conference champions....and a 12-1 NEB team could very wwell slip into the playoffs. NEB needs to buck up and become playoff material though.

Any BIG champion with a single loss will almost certainly make the playoffs. I don't see how four conference champions are not represented. Imagine the complaining is a conference champion is excluded in favor of a team that didn't even win their division or is coming off a loss in their CCG. I could see the BIG champion as the lone power 5 winner not in the playoffs. Of course, I think there is a near zero chance the Huskers win out. Too many injuries, and too many turnovers.

No excuses, with this schedule they should win out. I think we have less turnovers than we did last year at this point.

 

We may have less turnovers than last year, but if we only had two turnovers against MSU we win the game. The Huskers just seem to have a knack at turning the ball over in bunches some games.