Whose 2012 season would you rather have?

[teachercd]

I would be feeling better about my team right now as a Wisconsin fan, than I am as a Nebraska fan. Our season was 2 plays from being far worse than theirs...and we nose dived the second half including one of the worst games I've witnessed in my 20ish years as a fan. They lost a game they should have won at Nebraska, MSU by 3 points (we obviously struggled there), OSU by 8, Penn by 3, Stanford by 6. We were down more points after the first half against 2.0 than all their losses combined.

The Wisconsin 2012 season is what I am looking for Pelini to put up. There were no blowouts. They had some hard fought battles against top-tier teams they came up short in, had a championship, and top tier bowl game they played close to the end. Had OSU/Penn been out - they never would have had those opportunities, but they did and they capitalized on them. There were no 600 yard defensive breakdowns, no 40 point blowouts (unless you count the ones they doled out.

From a W/L perspective it didn't end as well as it could have. But that just goes to show you that this Nebraska team is just as close to being a 7 win team as they are an 11 win team...and the 9 win thing means little in college football.

They finished 3rd in their division, you really would rather have that? Bama was two plays away from being a 3 loss team, so, basically every team in the nation can do the old "well if" game.

 

[Count 'Bility]

Good choices on this poll. Normally I'd go with 10-4, despite the two blow-out losses. But since we haven't been to the Rose Bowl in the B1G yet I voted to take the Cheese Tard's 8-6 season with the Rose Bowl appearance.

Is a another game in the same stadium a mere 4 months later against the Pac 12 champ as opposed to the Pac 12 runner up really worth 2 more losses?

Not to me.

 

[Thanks_Tom RR]

Wisconsin did not get blown out, but they also nearly lost to Utah St. until a third quarter come back and only beat Northern Iowa by 5 points (though they held a strong lead for most of the game). But, these are non-conference FCS games. I wonder how people would have felt if Nebraska won a close game against Idaho St, instead of dominating 73-7.

It has already been said, but Nebraska earned their wins and place in the conference championship and bowl game. Their loses were more about them beating themselves, with turnovers or poor tackling, than getting out played.

 

[NUance]

Good choices on this poll. Normally I'd go with 10-4, despite the two blow-out losses. But since we haven't been to the Rose Bowl in the B1G yet I voted to take the Cheese Tard's 8-6 season with the Rose Bowl appearance.

Is a another game in the same stadium a mere 4 months later against the Pac 12 champ as opposed to the Pac 12 runner up really worth 2 more losses?

Not to me.

But it would be our first Rose Bowl. Even if it did have an asterisk next to it. So I would make the tradeoff for that.

 

[Count 'Bility]

Wisconsin did not get blown out, but they also nearly lost to Utah St. until a third quarter come back and only beat Northern Iowa by 5 points (though they held a strong lead for most of the game). But, these are non-conference FCS games. I wonder how people would have felt if Nebraska won a close game against Idaho St, instead of dominating 73-7.

Frankly, we should've lost that game. Just being blunt.

 

[tschu]

Neither of them, really

The whole "no blowout losses" thing plus a massive win in the B1G title game makes me definitely choose Wisconsin though

 

[The Dude]

Wisconsin did not get blown out, but they also nearly lost to Utah St. until a third quarter come back and only beat Northern Iowa by 5 points (though they held a strong lead for most of the game). But, these are non-conference FCS games. I wonder how people would have felt if Nebraska won a close game against Idaho St, instead of dominating 73-7.

It has already been said, but Nebraska earned their wins and place in the conference championship and bowl game. Their loses were more about them beating themselves, with turnovers or poor tackling, than getting out played.

Utah State isn't FCS, and they were at least as good as Northwestern/Michigan State/Penn State and they were clearly much better than Iowa.

 

[Notre Dame Joe]

I vote Wiscy because watching blowouts blows. At least they have a lot of spots to wonder about scoring just once more.

 

[Thanks_Tom RR]

Wisconsin did not get blown out, but they also nearly lost to Utah St. until a third quarter come back and only beat Northern Iowa by 5 points (though they held a strong lead for most of the game). But, these are non-conference FCS games. I wonder how people would have felt if Nebraska won a close game against Idaho St, instead of dominating 73-7.

 

[Count 'Bility]

Wisconsin did not get blown out, but they also nearly lost to Utah St. until a third quarter come back and only beat Northern Iowa by 5 points (though they held a strong lead for most of the game). But, these are non-conference FCS games. I wonder how people would have felt if Nebraska won a close game against Idaho St, instead of dominating 73-7.

Regardless, the fanbase was in near meltdown mode even with the win. Our next game was at kansas St and I remember very clearly the worried mess we were in wondering how the hell our "supposed" struggling run defense was going to slow down Daniel Thomas of Kansas St. You said you wondered how we'd feel after a close game against Idaho St. Well, we did have a close game against an FCS team3 years ago.

 

[Chaddyboxer]

Sad to say this...but I would go with Wisconsin....going to the Rose and winning the BIG10 championship means A LOT....IMO.

 

[Thanks_Tom RR]

Wisconsin did not get blown out, but they also nearly lost to Utah St. until a third quarter come back and only beat Northern Iowa by 5 points (though they held a strong lead for most of the game). But, these are non-conference FCS games. I wonder how people would have felt if Nebraska won a close game against Idaho St, instead of dominating 73-7.

It has already been said, but Nebraska earned their wins and place in the conference championship and bowl game. Their loses were more about them beating themselves, with turnovers or poor tackling, than getting out played.

Utah State isn't FCS, and they were at least as good as Northwestern/Michigan State/Penn State and they were clearly much better than Iowa.

Utah St was better than Iowa. But, I would still take Nebraska who, despite their flaws, know how to put a win together rather than giving up leads or not being able to close out (which defined Wisconsin last year).

 

[Ulty]

Sounds like several people are defending Wisconsin based on their losses being close. Nebraska had a lot of close games too, but WE WON THEM.

Sure, the CCG was embarrasing, and championships mean a lot, but even the UCLA and Georgia losses were entertaining games. And we won 10 others. 2012 was one of the most entertaining seasons I've ever seen out of Husker football, and some here would rather go with a team that couldn't even win 9 games?

Colorado used to base their entire season on how well they could stack up against Nebraska. To me, hanging your hat on a CCG win by Wisconsin where they backed in by default, when they otherwise had a miserable season, is being too much like the Colorado fans of old.

Kudos to Wiscy for getting that conference championship and playing in the Rose Bowl. That really, really hurts. But taking the season as a whole? The answer is simple: Go Big Red.

 

[HuskerNationNick]

I would much rather have the first option. Now if Wisconsin would have won the Rose Bowl... then I would probably reconsider my choice.

We can say that we deserved to be there. We were the best in our division, and had the second best record in the B1G.

Wisconsin on the other hand, was given a gimme. Not their fault, but it is what it is and can't be denied. Did they deserve to be there? 4-4 in conference play, with 5 other schools having a better conference record than them (tOSU, PSU, NU, MI, NW), you tell me.

 

[Thanks_Tom RR]

Wisconsin did not get blown out, but they also nearly lost to Utah St. until a third quarter come back and only beat Northern Iowa by 5 points (though they held a strong lead for most of the game). But, these are non-conference FCS games. I wonder how people would have felt if Nebraska won a close game against Idaho St, instead of dominating 73-7.

I think you have a good comparison here, but that game was 3 years ago. So, the concerns we had 3 years ago about not over-performing against less talented teams fell on Wisconsin's fan-base last year.