CBS Sports: Breaking Down the Big Ten Schedules

[True2tRA]

Tough schedule in my opinion. We earn our stripes for sure if we win those road games.

Michigan State and Wisconsin obviously tough games. Wisconsin clearly tough, one its at their house and that place looks insane. (I'm a bit jealous of how Camp Randall knows how to rock a football game). Two, Wisconsins running attack between their great RB's and their offensive line, is going to give Nebraska all they can handle I'm sure.

Michigan State always plays Nebraska tough, but I have to say I see that as more winnable than some. Connor Cook is a damn good one in my opinion, so that game will likely come down to how much pressure we can apply. As long as we get in his face, and limit our mistakes, Cook sets up as exactly the kind of guy Nebraska can feast on. Armstrong will have to be solid though.

You'd like to, as a Husker fan, say Iowa and Minnesota should be cake walk victories, but considering both teams beat us last year it would be foolish and arrogant to say those games are gimmies. Nothing will be easy there. Both teams know how to run the ball and both were playing sound defense toward the end of the season in my opinion.

Northwestern has the formula to give us fits. They do every year, I see no reason this year won't follow suit.

I hope we can make the non con schedule look easier this season compared to last. Still, following the same reasoning above, we struggled at times with some very " weak" or what we thought was weak teams......until proven otherwise, I think Nebraska fans, teams, coaches and whomever else is making this mistake, to stop overlooking anybody and focus on improving themselves first.

 

[sd'sker]

the relative toughness of a schedule is contingent upon how good a team you are.

Actually it's contingent upon how good the teams you are playing are, relative to how good the teams other teams are playing are.

Strength of schedule rankings have literally nothing to do with how good YOU are.

but how tough you view your schedule should. i am not arguing that the way the determined out sos is inaccurate. i am just saying that does not necessarily mean our schedule is that tough, because we should easily get to 8 wins and have a few tossups and a couple tough games.

you asked what would be a tough schedule, now you are criticizing an answer because of how sos is determined?

edit: just to better demonstrate what i am trying to say, bama could have the #1 sos, but the schedule may not be that tough for them. they could still get through it favored in every game.

second edit: perhaps i am just making too big of a deal about an issue that is essentially semantics.

 

[Landlord]

If we truly have worries about Fresno State and McNeese state, we truly do not expect a CC it would seem to me.

I disagree. 2007 Michigan lost to Appalachian State but still climbed as high as 13th in the polls and beat #9 Florida in their bowl game. I mean I guess they weren't conference champions mind you, but they were a good team.

 

[Landlord]

the relative toughness of a schedule is contingent upon how good a team you are.

Actually it's contingent upon how good the teams you are playing are, relative to how good the teams other teams are playing are.

Strength of schedule rankings have literally nothing to do with how good YOU are.

but how tough you view your schedule should. i am not arguing that the way the determined out sos is inaccurate. i am just saying that does not necessarily mean our schedule is that tough, because we should easily get to 8 wins and have a few tossups and a couple tough games.

you asked what would be a tough schedule, now you are criticizing an answer because of how sos is determined?

edit: just to better demonstrate what i am trying to say, bama could have the #1 sos, but the schedule may not be that tough for them. they could still get through it favored in every game.

I know what you are trying to say, but it's a weird way to look at schedule strength, especially at an established big-6 school, because every other school has the same 6-8 gimme games as well.

If you ask fans of non-AQ schools how tough their schedule is okay yeah maybe their answer would be framed in regard to how bad their team is, but you ask any upper-tier BCS school's fans how tough their schedule is, most everyone's answer is going to have something to do with comparing it to the schedules of other schools.

 

[deedsker]

If we truly have worries about Fresno State and McNeese state, we truly do not expect a CC it would seem to me.

I disagree. 2007 Michigan lost to Appalachian State but still climbed as high as 13th in the polls and beat #9 Florida in their bowl game. I mean I guess they weren't conference champions mind you, but they were a good team.

They just couldn't stop spread attacks, iirc.

 

[Redux]

Here is Oklahoma (#3 preseason according to Lindys magazine)

Loisiana Tech

@Tulsa

Tennessee

@West Virginia

@TCU

VS Texas

K-State

@ISU

Baylor

@Texas Tech

Kansas

Oklahoma State

Out of those games I would expect Oklahoma to definitely and easily win these:

LaTech

@ISU

Kansas

@TCU

@Tulsa

@West Virginia

That garauntees they go bowling. Now, I EXPECT them to win these

Vs Texas

@Texas Tech

Tennessee

Thats 9 wins right there, no problem for a coach whose been to countless BCS games and won a national title. These will be the tough games:

Kansas State

Baylor

Oklahoma State

All 3 are home games though for OU. So if they drop one expected to win game and one hard game they finish 10-2 with relative ease beecause thats how I broke it down on a message board. Most to ANY coach could do this with their talent and weak schedule. Obviously I cant factor in injuries since its only May but thats just an excuse anyway. So basically if big game Bob DOESNT win 11-12 games this year he failed miserably because of tthis deceptively easy schedule.

 

[True2tRA]

I think this strength of schedule debate should be based on the reality of where Nebraska "is"..... Not where you think we "should" be.

The '95 Huskers would wipe their a$$ with every one of these teams but it's not '95 and "We Are Nebraska" isn't making anyone piss themselves anymore. People aren't afraid to play us, and we haven't earned the respect or the right to proclaim ourselves as dominant for quite some time now. Nebraska has pissed the bed on many occasions in these spotlight games as well, and if I have seen it correctly, we have four or five of those games this year alone.

This schedule is challenging, not just because Nebraska is a bit below where they typically are, but because some of these teams are playing a bit better than we are used to in the past. Give credit where it is due also.

 

[NUpolo8]

If we truly have worries about Fresno State and McNeese state, we truly do not expect a CC it would seem to me.

I disagree. 2007 Michigan lost to Appalachian State but still climbed as high as 13th in the polls and beat #9 Florida in their bowl game. I mean I guess they weren't conference champions mind you, but they were a good team.

They underachieved. And that Florida team they beat was also a multiple loss team, admittedly with a Heisman winner on it.

But they were a four loss team that chased their coach after losing to App. St.

 

[sd'sker]

I know what you are trying to say, but it's a weird way to look at schedule strength, especially at an established big-6 school, because every other school has the same 6-8 gimme games as well.

If you ask fans of non-AQ schools how tough their schedule is okay yeah maybe their answer would be framed in regard to how bad their team is, but you ask any upper-tier BCS school's fans how tough their schedule is, most everyone's answer is going to have something to do with comparing it to the schedules of other schools.

i did a second edit and understand your point. i guess i am just concerned with how well we should do and seeing an 18 sos does not change my perception. i am interested to see where our sos will be at at the end of the year. would not be surprised if it was much higher or much lower.

 

[Landlord]

Well Fresno isn't exactly an FCS school either

And I don't think there is a single Husker fan in the world worried about McNeese State

 

[NUpolo8]

Here is Oklahoma (#3 preseason according to Lindys magazine)

Loisiana Tech

@Tulsa

Tennessee

@West Virginia

@TCU

VS Texas

K-State

@ISU

Baylor

@Texas Tech

Kansas

Oklahoma State

Out of those games I would expect Oklahoma to definitely and easily win these:

LaTech

@ISU

Kansas

@TCU

@Tulsa

@West Virginia

That garauntees they go bowling. Now, I EXPECT them to win these

Vs Texas

@Texas Tech

Tennessee

Thats 9 wins right there, no problem for a coach whose been to countless BCS games and won a national title. These will be the tough games:

Kansas State

Baylor

Oklahoma State

All 3 are home games though for OU. So if they drop one expected to win game and one hard game they finish 10-2 with relative ease beecause thats how I broke it down on a message board. Most to ANY coach could do this with their talent and weak schedule. Obviously I cant factor in injuries since its only May but thats just an excuse anyway. So basically if big game Bob DOESNT win 11-12 games this year he failed miserably because of tthis deceptively easy schedule.

I bet if OU went 9-4 with that schedule, there would be a bunch of grumbling in Norman, yes.

 

[sd'sker]

All 3 are home games though for OU. So if they drop one expected to win game and one hard game they finish 10-2 with relative ease beecause thats how I broke it down on a message board. Most to ANY coach could do this with their talent and weak schedule. Obviously I cant factor in injuries since its only May but thats just an excuse anyway. So basically if big game Bob DOESNT win 11-12 games this year he failed miserably because of tthis deceptively easy schedule.

i am not sure what you point is. are you saying that if we win less than 8 games, our season still is not a failure? or are you saying that OU fans should not expect 10+ wins given their coach, talent, and schedule?

 

[skersfan]

Last year against San Diego State, it was just throw the ball up and run under it. No defense on either side. A terrible game, looked more like peewee football. That was with an All American QB.

Being late in the evening, a very warm area, may have some conditioning problems, but doubtful. I would have been much more concerned with Pat Hill being the coach.. He could motivate the kids to step up and play above their level. Big programs were what he lived for. Nebraska visiting is a big big big game for this program. I think they will feel the pressure from it more so than Nebraska being on the road.

Just not worried about this game. If we lose to them, it is going to be a very long season, and the last in the Pelini era would be my guess.

 

[Saunders]

Polo, what would be an example of a tough schedule by your metric?

Tough SOS = every one but Nebraska.

Easy SOS = Nebraska.

Math, its that objective.

i think polo's point is who cares about other teams' schedules. what should we think about our schedule. he demonstrated that we should pretty easily get 8 wins. do you disagree?

talk about false dichotomies.

If you're good, it's easier to see wins on the schedule.

 

[Saunders]

Polo, what would be an example of a tough schedule by your metric?

Broncos, Seahawks, 49rs, bears.....But then again, we ARE Nebraska, we should easily beat those cupcakes.

Dude, there's no reason to do that. I answered his question honestly. Stop putting words in my mouth and trolling.

#irony

 

[NUpolo8]

Well Fresno isn't exactly an FCS school either

And I don't think there is a single Husker fan in the world worried about McNeese State

Yes but we are doing a pretty admirable job of framing Fresno as something it shouldn't be....a threat.

 

[True2tRA]

Here is Oklahoma (#3 preseason according to Lindys magazine)

Loisiana Tech

@Tulsa

Tennessee

@West Virginia

@TCU

VS Texas

K-State

@ISU

Baylor

@Texas Tech

Kansas

Oklahoma State

Out of those games I would expect Oklahoma to definitely and easily win these:

LaTech

@ISU

Kansas

@TCU

@Tulsa

@West Virginia

That garauntees they go bowling. Now, I EXPECT them to win these

Vs Texas

@Texas Tech

Tennessee

Thats 9 wins right there, no problem for a coach whose been to countless BCS games and won a national title. These will be the tough games:

Kansas State

Baylor

Oklahoma State

All 3 are home games though for OU. So if they drop one expected to win game and one hard game they finish 10-2 with relative ease beecause thats how I broke it down on a message board. Most to ANY coach could do this with their talent and weak schedule. Obviously I cant factor in injuries since its only May but thats just an excuse anyway. So basically if big game Bob DOESNT win 11-12 games this year he failed miserably because of tthis deceptively easy schedule.

I bet if OU went 9-4 with that schedule, there would be a bunch of grumbling in Norman, yes.

There might be......doesn't make those people right though.
There's always someone ready and willing to complain, no matter what it is you're talking about.

 

[sd'sker]

If you're good, it's easier to see wins on the schedule.

totally agree, and no reason we should not be good next year.

 

[Saunders]

Here is Oklahoma (#3 preseason according to Lindys magazine)

Loisiana Tech

@Tulsa

Tennessee

@West Virginia

@TCU

VS Texas

K-State

@ISU

Baylor

@Texas Tech

Kansas

Oklahoma State

Out of those games I would expect Oklahoma to definitely and easily win these:

LaTech

@ISU

Kansas

@TCU

@Tulsa

@West Virginia

That garauntees they go bowling. Now, I EXPECT them to win these

Vs Texas

@Texas Tech

Tennessee

Thats 9 wins right there, no problem for a coach whose been to countless BCS games and won a national title. These will be the tough games:

Kansas State

Baylor

Oklahoma State

All 3 are home games though for OU. So if they drop one expected to win game and one hard game they finish 10-2 with relative ease beecause thats how I broke it down on a message board. Most to ANY coach could do this with their talent and weak schedule. Obviously I cant factor in injuries since its only May but thats just an excuse anyway. So basically if big game Bob DOESNT win 11-12 games this year he failed miserably because of tthis deceptively easy schedule.

I bet if OU went 9-4 with that schedule, there would be a bunch of grumbling in Norman, yes.

There might be......doesn't make those people right though.
There's always someone ready and willing to complain, no matter what it is you're talking about.

http://gamedayr.com/lifestyle/fans/alabama-craigslist-fire-nick-saban-90762/

 

[Saunders]

If you're good, it's easier to see wins on the schedule.

totally agree, and no reason we should not be good next year.