ESPN B1G Mailbag: 2016 Expectations For Nebraska

[Saunders]

Brian Bennett: Nine wins has to be your starting point, right? After all, Bo Pelini was doing that every year until he got fired. If Mike Riley falls short of that in each of his first two years, the optics -- as they say -- won't be great.

Of course, Nebraska plays Oregon at home in Week 3 and has road games at Northwestern, Wisconsin, Iowa and Ohio State, so even going 9-3 in the regular season won't be easy. If Riley can go 8-4, beat at least one of those high-profile opponents and put on a good bowl performance, that might be enough.

Still, this is a program that shouldn't be satisfied with anything short of winning a division title, in my view. The fact that the Cornhuskers only have one division championship since joining the Big Ten is a major disappointment.

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/131342/b1g-mailbag-realistic-expectations-for-illinois-ohio-states-inexperience

 

[Redux]

Agree

I think we are nore than capable of winning 4 out of 5 of those games. Will we do it I don't know. 1 division title in 5 years sucks no matter how you slice it.

 

[theknife]

If you're buying the upward momentum following Michigan State and UCLA on the latter half of the season, then yes, 1-4 versus those 5 isn't asking for a miracle. Personally, 10-3 or 9-4 is the only thing that will maintain anything of the wait and see approach I currently cling to. Additionally, a 7-5 regular season makes selling to the big fish we are trying to net in 2017 cycle that much harder.

 

[Hoosker]

The focus of 2016 should be the West Division. The only team we beat in 2015 was Minnesota.

I think we will be above .500 next year. I don't want to get caught up in win totals.

It's all about getting to Indy, then this program can finally earn it's keep in this conference.