ESPN: First 2019 Way-Too-Early Top 25

Saunders

Saunders

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24. Nebraska Cornhuskers

2018 record: 4-8, 3-6 Big Ten

Returning starters: Seven offense, six defense, two special teams.

Key losses: WR Stanley Morgan Jr., RB Devine Ozigbo, LB Dedrick Young II, LB Luke Gifford, S Aaron Williams, S Tre Neal

Outlook: It was a painful yet rewarding first season for Scott Frost as coach of his alma mater. The Cornhuskers lost their first six games, but they won four of their last six and nearly beat Northwestern, Ohio State and Iowa on the road.

Freshman quarterback Adrian Martinez gives the Cornhuskers plenty of hope for the future. He passed for 2,617 yards with 17 touchdowns, while running for 629 with eight scores. He'll miss leading receiver Morgan and leading rusher Ozigbo.

Defensively, Nebraska will lose four of its top five tacklers, including two linebackers and two safeties.

Next season, Nebraska plays Ohio State, Northwestern, Wisconsin and Iowa at home and doesn't play Michigan, Michigan State or Penn State in the regular season.

http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/25695788/espn-college-football-way-too-early-top-25-2019
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Opponents on the list include:

#21 Wisconsin

#19 Northwestern

#4 Ohio State

 
How fast have things started to fall apart for Wisconsin.  This is such a big season for them to show that last year was not a trend. 

 
It will be interesting to see if they continue to trend downwards the next few years or if this year was the exception. They do have an absolute stud coming in at QB who appears to have the potential to be the first true game changer they've had since Russell Wilson

 
Redux said:
But it was a trend, and that makes me smile.
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They couldn't have finished the season any better, and at one point they were on pace to sign one of the best classes in their history. I'm rooting for their downfall every bit as much as you are, I'm just not as sure that it's going to happen.

 
teachercd said:
How fast have things started to fall apart for Wisconsin.  This is such a big season for them to show that last year was not a trend. 
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Things were never "in place" for them to begin with. They were pretenders for the last three seasons. They flew under the radar by not having difficult cross-divisional games. Last season finally broke that trend when they played two good teams from the East, Michigan & Penn State. Michigan blew them out, and they lost by 12 to Penn State.

That clip of Paul Chryst saying "F*** you, motherf*****" will be such a great meme around here very soon.

 
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Undone said:
Things were never "in place" for them to begin with. They were pretenders for the last three seasons. They flew under the radar by not having difficult cross-divisional games. Last season finally broke that trend when they played two good teams from the East, Michigan & Penn State. Michigan blew them out, and they lost by 12 to Penn State.

That clip of Paul Chryst saying "F*** you, motherf*****" will be such a great meme around here very soon.
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Yeah, they seemed to have live off weak schedules and a craptastic West. 

 
BigRedBuster said:
Really??  they finished their finally 8 games at 4-4 getting blown out by an unranked Minnesota.  If they couldn't finish better.....well....that then supports the predictions of their downfall.
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I was talking about the bowl game.

8 games is more than half of the season, and wasn't what I was referring too.

 
Redux said:
For the 2nd time they beat an overrated Miami in the cold air in a bowl game, same thing happened like 6 or 7 years ago.  Not impressed by their bowl win.
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Well, I was. It was sheer domination. If Nebraska were to beat Miami 35-3 at any point, the state would lose it's mind, and declare a return to glory was on the horizon.

Wisconsin definitely slipped this year. I'm not arguing that. I'm just saying that the bowl game should that they still have some life.

 
B.B. Hemingway said:
Wisconsin definitely slipped this year. I'm not arguing that. I'm just saying that the bowl game should that they still have some life.
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Oh, they definitely still have some life. 

I think an objective pre-season poll should have us ahead of Wisconsin in the 'top 35' (not that 'top 35' is actually a thing). And I'm probably going to catch flak for this but I think Iowa would objectively be the pre-season favorite to win the west. Totally serious.

But I think by the halfway point in the season we'll emerge as the leader in the West and will probably win our division in a tight three way race.

 
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