Would you want a season opener vs a Top 10 team (ND/Bama/Texas/OU)?

[HerbRedman]

Watching Nebraska FINALLY get a season-opener victory today, coupled with seeing openers like ND at A&M got me thinking: would YOU want NU to schedule one of these marquee TV games to start the year? Or do you have PTSD from too many season-derailing losses in our kickoff games?

Here are NU's last 6 season openers prior to this yr:

2018: vs Colorado (L)***
2019: vs South Alabama (W)
2020: at Ohio State/B1G (L) **COVID YR
2021: at Illinois/B1G (L)
2022: at Northwestern/B1G (L)**Dublin, Ireland
2023: at Minnesota/B1G (L)

One win out of the last 6 season openers: YIKES. And only 2 of last 6 were at home.


***scheduled season opener was Akron but canceled due to lightning/severe weather

 

[HerbRedman]

Oh BTW, my vote: start with a G5 or crappy Big 12/ACC program. I understand that starting with a road win at ND would be huge for recruiting, but I just don't see how scheduling that would be worth the risk.

Plus, our schedule moving forward is gonna have teams like USC, OSU, MICH, ORE, PSU etc on it. I just don't know why you'd need to schedule an additional game vs another top 10 program. (?) Especially for all our usual transfers and true freshmen that Rhule plays....it's better to have a warm up game IMO.

 

[Stan Raymond]

Game 1, no, take a cupcake and work out the kinks.

Game 2 or 3, yes love a big nonconference game, great for recruiting, media, gets fans, players, coaches excited. That what they come to Nebraska for, big games that matter.

Doesn't have to be a top 10 team, just a solid name brand from a power conference. I'd say Colorado qualifies, just don't schedule 3 cupcakes.

Once Rhule is established in a few years and the team is stable, I'm ok with a big opening game like the kickoff classic or something special. Not every year, but every once in awhile.

 

[Toe]

For a season opener?

 

[huskerj12]

This is such a no brainer to me, I’m actually still stunned that the previous big wigs scheduled the last several years the way they did. Get the “guaranteed” win at home, every single year.

 

[HerbRedman]

This is such a no brainer to me, I’m actually still stunned that the previous big wigs scheduled the last several years the way they did. Get the “guaranteed” win at home, every single year.

The B1G season openers are weird.

Does anyone know - do schools have veto power over that? Or is that something they force you to do? Ours was weird bc of the Ireland commitment & it was supposed to be vs Illinois etc.

I'm curious if they can force you to take a B1G road game as your season opener.

 

[HCFord1]

The B1G season openers are weird.

Does anyone know - do schools have veto power over that? Or is that something they force you to do? Ours was weird bc of the Ireland commitment & it was supposed to be vs Illinois etc.

I'm curious if they can force you to take a B1G road game as your season opener.

They absolutely can force that. They just wouldn’t do it to certain members.

 

[Kazman5k]

I would make Colorado a yearly non con game

 

[Lionsfan93]

The B1G already plays more conference games than the SEC...no need to make our schedule even more tough. Schedule a cupcake and take care of business in conference. That's enough to get us to where we want to be. Notre Dame needs these game...the Big Ten doesn't. Michigan is dumb for scheduling this game.

 

[HerbRedman]

The B1G already plays more conference games than the SEC...no need to make our schedule even more tough. Schedule a cupcake and take care of business in conference. That's enough to get us to where we want to be. Notre Dame needs these game...the Big Ten doesn't. Michigan is dumb for scheduling this game.

MICH doesn't need it. They're going to lose by possibly 14+. They can't beat this Texas team.

If you're UM, I don't even know what argument you could make for it being a good game to schedule. They don't need more visibility and they don't need help recruiting (they're already at the pinnacle of each category). Obv the game was probably scheduled 3-4 yrs ago.

 

[Lionsfan93]

MICH doesn't need it. They're going to lose by possibly 14+. They can't beat this Texas team.

If you're UM, I don't even know what argument you could make for it being a good game to schedule. They don't need more visibility and they don't need help recruiting (they're already at the pinnacle of each category). Obv the game was probably scheduled 3-4 yrs ago.

Exactly. But even if your Nebraska, I'd hate. Sure, a big win like that *could* spark a jump. But just winning games helps with that too.

 

[Herbie]

Only if it means Nebraska is considered an elite team. Otherwise fuck off with that

 

[Stan Raymond]

Exactly. But even if your Nebraska, I'd hate. Sure, a big win like that *could* spark a jump. But just winning games helps with that too.

Look at the recruits at these games. These games are what help teams recruit to become elite. Top recruits aren't going to visit for Nebraska vs UTEP, but they will for Nebraska vs Colorado. Doesn't have to be the game of the week, but we should have one good name brand nonconference game yearly.