After years and years of mediocrity, the Nebraska Cornhuskers decided to part ways with Bo Pelini. Whether they made the right decision in firing their coach remains to be seen, as we feel as though Nebraska is nothing more than what it has essentially been over the course of the last few seasons.
2015 SCHEDULE
9/5: vs. BYU
9/12: vs. South Alabama
9/19: at Miami
9/26: vs. Southern Miss
10/3: at Illinois
10/10: vs. Wisconsin
10/17: at Minnesota
10/24: vs. Northwestern
10/31: at Purdue
11/7: vs. Michigan State
11/14: at Rutgers
11/27: vs. Iowa
Nebraska does have a really tough non-conference schedule this year with games against BYU and Miami, but at least those are manageable games. The Big Ten schedule doesn't include Ohio State or Michigan, creating sure opportunities for winning streaks. Both Michigan State and Wisconsin are drawn at home, which should help give the Huskers an opportunity to succeed.
SEASON WIN TOTAL
Beating a number of eight feels doable for the Cornhuskers, which is why they have vig of -140 on the over. However, it would be just as easy to see this team lose four times in conference play and twice outside of conference as well, which makes things much more interesting even though the Huskers will be favored at least nine times this season.
OFFENSIVE OUTLOOK
Tommy Armstrong Jr. isn't going to have Ameer Abdullah in the backfield to hand the ball to any longer, so he'll have to do more with both his arm and his legs. He threw for just 2,695 yards last season, but his 22/12 TD/INT ratio certainly exceeded expectations.
Rushing for 1,000 yards isn't out of the question this year for Armstrong either, especially now that he is in his third year running this offense.
Imani Cross will take over in the backfield for Abdullah, and he could be the next in a long line of very good Nebraska running backs.
DEFENSIVE OUTLOOK
Seven starters are back on defense this year, including the great Nate Gerry, who has legitimate NFL prospects, albeit in the middling rounds.
This unit is going to have to be a lot better this year though, if it is going to win games. The Children of the Corn allowed 59, 28, 34 and 45 in their last four games of last season, including the loss in their bowl game to USC, and that isn't going to cut it.
SEASON PREDICTION
The Cornhuskers do have at least a shot at winning the Big Ten West this year, though it should be noted that losing to Wisconsin would remove any chance of that happening. Considering the fact that we don't think that's a winnable game, even in Lincoln, betting on the Huskers at 18 to 1 to win the Big Ten isn't advisable, nor is betting on them at 60 to 1 to win the whole enchilada.
We also don't see this team winning eight games this year either. There is going to be a learning curve in the post-Pelini era, especially for Armstrong, who just looked like he was starting to thrive in the offense prior to Pelini's dismissal.
We could see Nebraska losing early in one of those non-conference games, and going 3-1 outside of the Big Ten is asking for a bit of a disaster, especially if Armstrong starts turning the ball over as he had a tendency to do against the better teams on last year’s schedule.
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