by Steve Hanway 30 comments

Before Nebraska won three national championships in four seasons from 1994-1997, there were some critical milestones it hit first. In 1991, the Huskers returned to the Orange Bowl as Big Eight champions. In 1992, NU beat a top ten team for the first time in 4 years. That led to the undefeated regular season of 1993 that put them into a national championship game. Along the way, the Big Red went over seven years without losing in Memorial Stadium. If Nebraska wants to make a similar climb to the top echelon of college football, chances are it will begin with a good long home winning streak.  Continue →

by Steve Hanway 2 comments

Phil Steele has been one of the most accurate prognosticators of college football over the last decade.  He's certainly not perfect (e.g. he put Nebraska in the Big Ten title game over Michigan State last year). He generally uses a number of models to try to determine how a team will finish. Seven of the nine models that he uses has Nebraska finishing with double digit wins in 2012. That might be why Nebraska appears to be his top team in the Legends Division (that is, unless he's going to tell us that Northwestern or Minnesota are poised to finish as one of the top fourteen teams in the country). He predicts that NU will finish #17 in the country ahead of Michigan State (#19), Michigan (#22), and Iowa (#38). Continue →

by Tom Cudd 9 comments

Before the 2011 season began, the renowned football prognosticator Phil Steele predicted that the Huskers would seemingly take the Big Ten by storm.  Steele indicated that a Big Ten title shot was in the cards and Nebraska would end up the highest ranked team in the conference by season's end.  The Huskers wound up third in the Legends division and tied with Penn State for fourth best overall record in the conference.  This year, the Huskers are slated number 17 in his Top 40 countdown. Continue →

by Steve Hanway 13 comments

There are a number of ways to predict the win-loss record for a football team. None of them is anywhere near perfect but all show some merit. One method is to look at returning starters. Another is to look at the schedule and where and when the toughest games are played. One novel approach is to split the previous year's schedule into big wins, close wins, close losses, and big losses. The idea is that a team that pounded you a year ago will do so again. Teams that you pounded you'll likely beat again. But the close games can easily go the other way. Bill O'Brien inherits a team at Penn State that went 5-1 a year ago in close games (i.e. those decided by a touchdown or less). If he's not as lucky (on the field) as Paterno was a year ago, that could cost him two or three victories. Not the way you want to start a quest to fill the shoes of a legend. Continue →

by Tom Cudd 3 comments

As far as preseason selection go, guessing which players will garner the top honors by the end of the year may be the toughest picks.  Phil Steele is known for his methodical predictions and meticulous statistics of teams and their final standings.  Selecting preseason all conference teams can only be based on past successes as college football can be unpredictable at the scale of individual players.  He has made his preseason selections for the Big Ten and the Huskers are treated positively, but are not the highlight of the conference. Continue →

by Steve Hanway 19 comments

Nebraska picked up another commitment for the recruiting class of 2013 with the commitment of Indiana guard Dan Samuelson.  Samuelson had previously committed to Pitt, but gave a verbal pledge to Nebraska after a visit to Lincoln.  Continue →

by Steve Hanway 0 comments

The announcement that the SEC and Big 12 will play in a New Year's Day bowl game beginning in 2014 doesn't sound like good news to the Fiesta Bowl. It stands to reason that the site of a SEC/Big 12 game would be in either the Cotton Bowl or Sugar Bowl to take advantage of proximity. There's also the possibility that a new site and new game will be born. That means you can rule out the best teams available from not only the Big Ten and Pac-12 (due to the Rose Bowl) but now also the SEC and Big-12 (due to this new game). Even the ACC seems likely to remain tied to the Orange Bowl. What does that leave for the Fiesta Bowl? Continue →

by Darren K. Carlson 23 comments

Nebraska picked up the seventh verbal committment of their 2013 recruiting class on Wednesday, when Dayton Ohio tight end prospect Greg Hart pledged to the Huskers. Hart will help NU fill a position of need in this class. It also serves as further evidence that the Husker coaching staff is committed to getting players from within the Big Ten geographic footprint. Continue →

by Tom Cudd 10 comments

Football has recently had much press about the head injuries in players during their playing days and afterwards.  The medical concerns are very important to consider in the future of football.  But there is another much grayer area that the recent attacks on football have lived in.  Is the student-athlete being exploited by universities making millions of dollars in television deals, licensing, and ticket sales?  And other than the schools making a profit from the football programs, what value do the programs bring to the school? Continue →

by Steve Hanway 7 comments

Despite having three candidates in line to be elected to the College Football Hall of Fame, none of the three Nebraska candidates were enshrined.  In some cases, it appeared that professional football success trumped college football success.  Unless voters think the Liberty Bowl ought to trump the national championship game.  Continue →

by Steve Hanway 0 comments

We know three things about today's College Football Hall of Fame class. Ty Detmer will be announced as part of it and linebackers Brian Bosworth and Rod Shoate will not. The fate of former Husker greats Trev Alberts, Eric Crouch, and Tommie Frazier will be unknown until 11:30 ET today. It's not clear from press releases, whether it is thirteen or fourteen additional players being selected along with Detmer, though the previous reports would suggest the latter. In addition, three coaches will be selected. Continue →