Welcome to the Big 10 Nebraska

[hangonsloopy]

 

[bryan6807]

Wisconsin has a squad this year, WOW!!

 

[hangonsloopy]

Yes Wisconsin is very, very tough this year.  Wish I could say the same about my team. :-\

 

[trevorgreycattleco]

Agreed sloopy, Ohio State is about to have a long, long year. I hate to see Wisconsin looking that good. I guess I will wait for Urban Meyer to come rescue us

 

[bryan6807]

Ohio State will bounce back, give them a year and the Big Ten will be the power conference in College Football, especially with Michigan bouncing back and Michigan State looking tough.

 

[aj]

Is Nebraska still ranked?

 

[Cyfarmer]

At least now, Iowa and Iowa State fans can finally have something in common - the dislike of Nebraska  <beer>

 

[oakview]

Unfortunately, the Big Ten will have to make some incredible strides to become the power football conference in America.  This is shaping up as a bad year and when you consider the poor bowl game record the league has had over the past 7 years plus the losses Purdue, Minnesota, and Indiana continue to rack up, year after year, I have a hard time seeing the conference making such a leap.  Do you really think there's a chance the conference can compare to LSU, Florida, Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, etc. in the near future?  I don't think the Big Ten's teams can match Oklahoma, Texas, and Oklahoma State (now that T. Bone foots the bill), let alone the SEC.  Most college football analysts that I've seen rate the Big 10 as follows:  1 very good team, 2 or 3 good teams, 2 or 3 fairly good teams, and at least 3 very bad teams.  Look at the losses the three bottom feeders have had.  Even the very bad teams in the other major conferences can beat New Mexico State.  I wish the Big Ten was better, but the facts say they're not.

 

[shakin not stirred]

Sooners, longhorns, and cowboys are considerably overated. Stanford and Wisconsin would both dominate any of those teams... LSU and Bama are in a league of their own.

 

[oakview]

Time will tell if Wisconsin and Stanford are indeed as good as advertised, as well as if Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, etc., are overrated.  I would say this:  The number of times Oklahoma and Texas have been truly competitive on a national scale would absolutely dwarf the number of times Wisconsin and Stanford have been national title contenders.  I would like to see Wisconsin or Stanford play a schedule filled with Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A & M, Oklahoma State, etc., instead of who they get to play.  Better yet, let's see how they'd do facing Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Florida, LSU, Tennessee, etc.  Good luck with that, never mind TCU.  Better stick with Purdue, Minnesota, and Indiana.

 

[shakin not stirred]

This year is a down year for the big 10 I'd agree. But overall... it never gets the credit it deserves. Check bowl records... When VY was in Texas they might have been one of the greatest college teams of all time no doubt. Other then that??? I'm not that impressed. I'd take Stanford or Wisconsin anytime anywhere against Texas, Sooners, OK St, or A&M. You're not convincing me otherwise. Big Red from the Big 12 got handed a can of you know what from Russell Wilson and Co.

 

[trevorgreycattleco]

Wait till Nebraska opens a case of whoop ass on the worst offense in the BCS since the Eisenhower Admin. next week with Ohio State. College football supremecy ebs and flows like cattle size over the decades. The SEC is king for now, no doubt. I think Alabamas defense is better then several NFL defenses. Id say 8 or 9 guys on that squad are NFL locks. Im glad OSU sucks this year and we never have to play them.

 

[bcosu]

if ohio state's offensive line wasn't flat terrible they might have had a chance against MSU. inexperience at skill positions lost the game in florida, dropped passes, overthrows, fumbles. what's really bad is when you have a four year starter that is a preseason all-american and rimington watch list player who can't pick up interior blitzes and a three year starter at right tackle who jumps off sides twice every game.

it wasn't all the quarterback's fault that they were sacked 9 times. braxton miller ran for his life for the last two weeks.

the michigan state game was a step back for osu.

 

[trevorgreycattleco]

I agree with you about the O line cbcfarms. Both qb's ran for their life all day. The recievers are not helping much either but for sure the O line is the key weakness. I remember when they were recruited. 5 stars and all that.  UGH

 

[husker1]

Thanks all for the welcome....It was certainly...not fun!

On that regard, I'll give a novice take on both teams in that game.

Start with the winners.  Wisconsin has a pretty darn good offense.  Their line does a solid job, with a couple pretty swell running backs.  The receivers will hold their own against most secondaries.  Russell Wilson, however, is their offense.  My take is that if you insert an average quarterback in there, they become more of an average offense.  Saturday, Russell Wilson was pretty much spot- on.  Nebraska had 1 chance only for an Int, and our safety knocked our corner out of position and then Toon caught it...With Wilson in charge, I think that they can score points on most defenses.  Wilson is a very good college quarterback that makes excellent decisions and has the physical tools to do lots of things.

Wisconsin's defense was very servicable Saturday, but at this point, they are not elite.  Nebraska had receivers running open, our quarterback just couldn't hit them.  The ground game was solid most of the game, just didn't use it as needed.  We needed to run the ball then mix in the occassional play action pass to win; instead our new O.C. thought he'd try to make Taylor into Tom Brady...which he will never be.  Our play calling certainly contributed to the success of the Badger defense.

Wisconsin's weakest part of the team at this time seemed to be special teams, kick coverage in particular.  Not sure where our average starting field position was on kickoffs, but it seemed we were at the 35 to 40 yardline most of the time.  That shorter field will come back to haunt even an excellent defense.

Not the way that we wanted to start the Big 10, but we got beat by a better team.

As far as how Wisconsin compares to the elite of the former Big 12...I think their offense could hold up pretty well with Wilson in charge.  However, the power offenses...namely OU and OSU, would most certainly give them fits.  Didn't see the ages of the Badgers  defenders, but I was guessing that they may be young?  I don't think that Texas is on this level...OU may blow them off the field Saturday. 

Nebraska certainly has some things to fix, or this could be an ugly year.  We are missing coach Marvin Sanders more and more, and it's hard to replace the 3 players from the secondary that are now seeing action on Sundays...Offensive is servicable, and with the talent that we have on defense, I hope that they eventually gel!

Glad to be in the Big 10...it will be an interesting year.

 

[oakview]

Here's the credit the Big 10 deserves.  For the past decade, the Big 10 has gone 28-41 in bowl games, 40% winning percentage.  This ranks them 10th out of 11 conferences.  They beat the 35% winning percentage of the MAC.  Even Conference USA had a higher winning percentage in all bowl games.  In BCS bowls, bowls matching 2 BCS division teams, the Big Ten is 6-11, only surpassing the 1-9 record of the ACC.  This includes bowl games from 2000 through the 2009-10 season.  If you want to add last year, which I don't think you do considering the Big Ten's BCS bowl game showing, it would be worse.  On the other hand, the SEC is 48-31 in all bowl games and 12-3 in BCS bowls.  I agree that there are ebbs and flows in teams and conferences.  Based on the facts, I'd say the SEC is at high tide (no pun intended) and the Big 10 is suffering.  How many national championships has the Big 10 won in the past 40 years?  I hope the Big 10 can pull itself out of the sand, perhaps in the long run Nebraska can provide some depth and quality.

 

[shakin not stirred]

Wisconsin has 18 seniors, 9 juniors, and the rest are freshman and sophomores. With only 7 of those 27 being starters, I'd say they are very, very young.

Oakview, when did I not say the SEC is THE power conference? Not to mention, that's who the Big 10 plays in the majority of its bowl games. Alabama and LSU are both NFL caliber teams I believe. However, neither offense is prolific. Excited to see how the BCS shakes out this year!!

 

[forcheyhawk]

Here's the credit the Big 10 deserves.  For the past decade, the Big 10 has gone 28-41 in bowl games, 40% winning percentage.  This ranks them 10th out of 11 conferences.  They beat the 35% winning percentage of the MAC.  Even Conference USA had a higher winning percentage in all bowl games.  In BCS bowls, bowls matching 2 BCS division teams, the Big Ten is 6-11, only surpassing the 1-9 record of the ACC.  This includes bowl games from 2000 through the 2009-10 season.  If you want to add last year, which I don't think you do considering the Big Ten's BCS bowl game showing, it would be worse.  On the other hand, the SEC is 48-31 in all bowl games and 12-3 in BCS bowls.  I agree that there are ebbs and flows in teams and conferences.  Based on the facts, I'd say the SEC is at high tide (no pun intended) and the Big 10 is suffering.  How many national championships has the Big 10 won in the past 40 years?  I hope the Big 10 can pull itself out of the sand, perhaps in the long run Nebraska can provide some depth and quality.

I think these are great stats and I agree with the premise that the SEC has been superior in recent years.  What I don't think these stats say that I DO think is important is that the Big 10 has a very good bowl agreement setup.  Many times the B10 is mated with a team that has a superior ranking because they've placed two teams in the BCS.  I think that has a lot more to do with it than by simply saying that the Big East or the Big 12 is superior to the Big 10.  I'm not going to argue the SEC point, however.  You place one B10 team in the BCS and the remaining teams drop a game and those stats would be much different IMO.  Again no way to validate that but to me it sure figures in.

 

[oakview]

I'm a midwestern guy and would like to see the Big Ten do well.  Unfortunately, they just haven't been as good as some of the other conferences lately.  Over the past decade, the SEC, Big 12, and Big 10 have played in almost the exact same number of BCS bowl games.  The Pac 10 has not had a great reputation lately, either, except for USC.  (I'm talking only competitive reputation, not NCAA violations!)  The facts show that the Pac 10 had easily the second best BCS bowl record over the past 10 years.  I listened to some sports show talking heads debate the potential national championship contenders and they reached the conclusion that the winner of the LSU/Alabama game would face Oklahoma in the title game assuming each wins out.  They pointed out that Boise State has no chance because the only noteworthy teams left on their conference schedule have already lost to lower ranked opponents.  They also mentioned that Wisconsin will be left out of the mix, again assuming the teams ranked near them don't lose and Wisconsin contiues to win, because of the low Big 10 conference ranking and Wisconsin's poor non-conference schedule.  I had to chuckle when they said, "Minnesota is so bad, Wisconsin is considering adding them as a non-conference game."  It all makes for interesting debate.  Too bad the Great Conference Shuffle will throw it all out the window. 

 

[bryan6807]

Its a shame Wisconsin will not get to match up against a school from the SEC or Big 12 this year, I think they could beat a lot of those schools. Wisconsin has a defense good enough to make enough plays to stop Alabama on offense and is balanced enough to move and control the ball on offense. If they can fix the mistakes ut on special teams they can compete with LSU who happens to be the most opportunistic team in college football, also the only team that sucks on offense, wins ugly, and still has me saying they are impressive at the end of the game. I feel the Big 12 is overrated, Texas had a few good years with Colt McCoy and Vince Young there, but neither has done anything since. Oklahoma is always rated high but they can't even beat a school from the Big East (WV). All in all the SEC is at the top, but i think with the Big Ten playing later in the season that will help them out now that they do not have the long lay over before a bowl. for the record Michigan and Michigan State have winning records against SEC schools. its always Ohio State that chokes.