Husker Football: The Best And Worst Scenarios For Nebraska in 2014
The 2014 Husker football season is one large unknown. Both the offense and defense have plenty of talent. The key to Big Red success is cutting down on an obscene number of penalties and turnovers. It’s those kind of bone-headed mistakes that cause upsets to happen and have given birth to the Four Loss Curse.
That said, if Nebraska can keep brain farts to a minimum, some great things may be in store. If they can’t…well, let’s start with the good stuff first.
Best Case Scenario:
Bo Pelini’s crew blows through the non-conference schedule, upending a scrappy Fresno State team on the road and stifling Duke Johnson to the point where he’s crying in the fetal position on the sidelines. At 4-0, they plunk Illinois and walk into East Lansing, MI, but I can’t give the Huskers a win there.
Regardless, they’re sitting at 5-1.
Nebraska travels to Evanston, IL to pull out another close call against Northwestern before dismantling Rutgers and Purdue at home. Following an open date, the Huskers travel to Wisconsin and squeak out a win with a knockout blow via an Ameer Abdullah 55-yard TD run as the clock ticks down.
Goldy Gopher visits Lincoln, but promptly gets a boot print on his posterior and the Big Red sits at 10-1 before traveling to Iowa City. The Huskers give the Hawkeyes a taste of their own medicine from last season and walk away with the Heroes Game trophy.
As Big Ten West division champs, they meet Ohio State in the conference championship game, but fall to Urban Meyer’s Buckeyes.
At 11-2, Nebraska heads back to the Capital One bowl to face the LSU Tigers, upending an SEC bowl team for the second straight year, finishing with a 12-2 record.
Worst Case Scenario:
Husker football falls to Fresno State on the road before the Miami’s Johnson slices and dices the Nebraska front seven, leading Miami to victory and putting Nebraska at 2-2 on the year.
Nebraska takes care of business against the Illini, but falls on the road to the Spartans, regardless. Heading into the bye week, the Big Red sits at 3-3 and the peanut gallery becomes restless.
The Huskers lose to Northwestern in heart-breaking fashion before struggling to notch a win against Rutgers which comes ever so close to an upset. After beating Purdue, Nebraska’s record is a paltry 5-4.
Nebraska loses two of its last three games (Wisconsin and Iowa), sitting at 6-6 to end the regular season.
They travel to the newly established Detroit Bowl to face a sub-par ACC team and eek out a victory to finish the year at 7-6.
Summary:
Personally, I lean more towards the former than the latter. With Vegas setting the over/under on Husker football wins at 7.5, I can tell you this: Pelini will have a good idea of the product he puts on the field come Fresno State.
I see the Four Loss Curse ending this year, one way or another.
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