CBS Sports: Breaking Down the Big Ten Schedules

[sd'sker]

i am really confused what the argument even is. that good teams struggle with bad teams on occasion? yeah, but those stick out because they are anomalies. and no one is arguing that. but it would be hard to argue that it is an anomaly when neb. struggles against inferior competition. but given our talent and potential, we still should be able to beat fresno pretty soundly.

No, the argument that Nebraska has such an easy schedule with at least eight "gimmes" and shouldn't be at all concerned with most of the teams on our schedule is out of touch with reality and that point is illustrated by showing that basically every team has at least a game or two a year where they struggle quite a bit with teams that they should be much better than. This is true right up to and including teams that are rated in the Top 5 and, thus, have produced better seasons than Nebraska recently. That is highlighted by showing games where one team is supposed to be much better than another team but the results on the field aren't nearly as lopsided as expected. This is to say nothing about when two teams are fairly evenly matched even if you "expect" one team to win most of the time.

so if we lose to fresno and mcneese, nbd?

 

[Mavric]

Are there any arguments against what people actually post are are we stuck with straw-men?

 

[NUpolo8]

i am really confused what the argument even is. that good teams struggle with bad teams on occasion? yeah, but those stick out because they are anomalies. and no one is arguing that. but it would be hard to argue that it is an anomaly when neb. struggles against inferior competition. but given our talent and potential, we still should be able to beat fresno pretty soundly.

No, the argument that Nebraska has such an easy schedule with at least eight "gimmes" and shouldn't be at all concerned with most of the teams on our schedule is out of touch with reality and that point is illustrated by showing that basically every team has at least a game or two a year where they struggle quite a bit with teams that they should be much better than. This is true right up to and including teams that are rated in the Top 5 and, thus, have produced better seasons than Nebraska recently. That is highlighted by showing games where one team is supposed to be much better than another team but the results on the field aren't nearly as lopsided as expected. This is to say nothing about when two teams are fairly evenly matched even if you "expect" one team to win most of the time.

Gonna ask it for the 843rd time, which is actually good because its on topic

Illinois

Purdue

McNeese St

Fresno

Minnesota

Rutgers

Northwestern

Iowa

Which one of those is a) given the respective teams history, not going to be a "whoa hey, THEY beat Nebraska?" b) which one is considered an acceptable loss? or c) considered by anyone to be on Nebraska's "Plane"?

 

[sd'sker]

Are there any arguments against what people actually post are are we stuck with straw-men?

i am just trying to figure out the point of showing that good teams occasionally struggle with bad teams. that anybody can beat anybody? that sometimes good teams do not play as well as they can? so what?

so we should not expect to beat fresno?

i really do not get what those teams you listed, and certainly oklahoma, have to do with what we should expect when we play fresno and those 8 other teams.

 

[QMany]

We certainly don't expect to lose to Fresno State, but sh*t happens. Every school loses games they should win, that is college football.

Do you need it spelled out in crayon?

 

[Landlord]

Gonna ask it for the 843rd time, which is actually good because its on topic

Illinois

Purdue

McNeese St

Fresno

Minnesota

Rutgers

Northwestern

Iowa

Which one of those is a) given the respective teams history, not going to be a "whoa hey, THEY beat Nebraska?" b) which one is considered an acceptable loss? or c) considered by anyone to be on Nebraska's "Plane"?

a) Minnesota, Northwestern, and Iowa, since all three are coming off of good recent success, including BEATING and/or being highly competitive with Nebraska.

b) According to your standards none, but according to reality, and depending on context, there is an answer to this question but it can't be determined in July.

c) None

so if we lose to fresno and mcneese, nbd?

Literally nobody has said that or even hinted at that. What people have hinted at is that if we were to hypothetically lose to Fresno, it might be because our coaches are the suckiest of suck and ONLY because of that reason in the kind of way that NUpolo8 likes to attribute every negative element of our team squarely and 100% to the coaches,

OR,

It might have at least a little bit to do with the landscape that is college football, where even the best teams with the best coaches and the best resources struggle against inferior competition from time to time and that isn't uniquely attributed to only the major sucktitude of Bo Pelini and the Youngstown mafia.

 

[NUpolo8]

We certainly don't expect to lose to Fresno State, but sh*t happens. Every school loses games they should win, that is college football.

Do you need it spelled out in crayon?

Not four times every year. Not at Nebraska.

And no I don't need it spelled in crayon, or any swipes like that, thanks!

 

[Landlord]

We certainly don't expect to lose to Fresno State, but sh*t happens. Every school loses games they should win, that is college football.

Do you need it spelled out in crayon?

Not four times every year. Not at Nebraska.

2008 Nebraska record - 9-4

2009 Nebraska record - 10-4

2010 Nebraska record - 10-4

2011 Nebraska record - 9-4

2012 Nebraska record - 10-4

2013 Nebraska record - 9-4

Wrong again!

 

[QMany]

And no I don't need it spelled in crayon, or any swipes like that, thanks!

Swipes? Oh lord! Ruin another thread and cry foul when someone responds to the trolling?

 

[NUpolo8]

Gonna ask it for the 843rd time, which is actually good because its on topic

Illinois

Purdue

McNeese St

Fresno

Minnesota

Rutgers

Northwestern

Iowa

Which one of those is a) given the respective teams history, not going to be a "whoa hey, THEY beat Nebraska?" b) which one is considered an acceptable loss? or c) considered by anyone to be on Nebraska's "Plane"?

a) Minnesota, Northwestern, and Iowa, since all three are coming off of good recent success, including BEATING and/or being highly competitive with Nebraska.

b) According to your standards none, but according to reality, and depending on context, there is an answer to this question but it can't be determined in July.

c) None

so if we lose to fresno and mcneese, nbd?

Literally nobody has said that or even hinted at that. What people have hinted at is that if we were to hypothetically lose to Fresno, it might be because our coaches are the suckiest of suck and ONLY because of that reason in the kind of way that NUpolo8 likes to attribute every negative element of our team squarely and 100% to the coaches,

OR,

It might have at least a little bit to do with the landscape that is college football, where even the best teams with the best coaches and the best resources struggle against inferior competition from time to time and that isn't uniquely attributed to only the major sucktitude of Bo Pelini and the Youngstown mafia.

Thanks for answering, I knew I liked you.

Bo doesn't suck. But he may not be the best here, and he's the only coach since Callahan where so many losses are explained away and justified by half (or so, semantics nazis) of the NU fanbase.

 

[Mavric]

Gonna ask it for the 843rd time, which is actually good because its on topic

Illinois

Purdue

McNeese St

Fresno

Minnesota

Rutgers

Northwestern

Iowa

Which one of those is a) given the respective teams history, not going to be a "whoa hey, THEY beat Nebraska?" b) which one is considered an acceptable loss? or c) considered by anyone to be on Nebraska's "Plane"?

A) Pretty sure a team's history - at least past the four years any of the players have been on the field - has no bearing on what will happen this fall. Considering Minnesota Northwestern and Iowa have beaten us in the last couple years, I don't think any of those would be a shock. Interesting that many like to bail Oklahoma out with their BCS appearances and national championships and rightfully so. But Iowa doesn't get similar credit for their more-recent-than-Nebraska success?

B) You love the semantics. Level of acceptance would vary widely with circumstances.

C) Depends on how far back you want to go. In the last 15 years - basically since any of the current players have been in Kindergarten - Iowa would be above us and Northwestern would be close.

Are you going to answer anyone else's questions or just keep firing your own?

 

[jsneb83]

Are there any arguments against what people actually post are are we stuck with straw-men?

i am just trying to figure out the point of showing that good teams occasionally struggle with bad teams. that anybody can beat anybody? that sometimes good teams do not play as well as they can? so what?
so we should not expect to beat fresno?

i really do not get what those teams you listed, and certainly oklahoma, have to do with what we should expect when we play fresno and those 8 other teams.

That we aren't going to beat each of those teams that we play that are considered "gimmes" 847-0. A few of those games are going to be a little too close for comfort, but that isn't just a Nebraska problem. Every school has games that are a lot closer than they should be, some almost or just as frequently Nebraska, which is what these are presenting.

 

[Landlord]

Bo doesn't suck. But he may not be the best here, and he's the only coach since Callahan where so many losses are explained away and justified by half (or so, semantics nazis) of the NU fanbase.

The bold is also true of wins, and it also goes both ways. For every person that defends his wins or losses, there is another version of you that takes every negative circumstance or element and heaps them all straight on to his shoulders.

A big part of this has to do with the internet; don't act like it doesn't.

 

[True2tRA]

A Huskerboard where we actually answer the questions posed by other members? Brilliant!

 

[Landlord]

Also polo did I really just see you try to attribute all four of our yearly losses to teams that we should beat? Because that is definitely what you said and that's disingenuous dude.

2008 had zero losses to teams we should have beaten.

2009 had two losses to teams we should have beaten.

2010 was kind of tricky. Texas no questions asked, Texas A&M in a fair fight, and Washington....well. I just don't even know how to quantify that. Let's make the last two .5's and say two.

2011 had one loss to a team we should have beaten.

2012 had two losses to teams we should have beaten.

2013 had two as well.