With the recent release of the AP Top 25 poll for college football, there seems to be a lowered set of expectations in place for Nebraska Football as we approach the start of the 2016 season.
Many people, Huskers fans or not, were surprised at the fact that Nebraska was not ranked in the Associated Press poll released on Sunday. They received 11 votes, leaving them just outside the top 25, leaving many people frustrated and confused.
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Four other Big Ten teams, however, did make the cut for the top. Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State and Iowa all made the list. The 11 point vote left Nebraska Football at the equivalent of being ranked 37 on the list. Does this lower-than-expected ranking mean that fans should have lower expectations for the team once they hit the field on September 3?
Personally, I do not think this ranking is going to define how the season goes at all. While it is an honor to be named to the top of the preseason polls, it does not mean that the team is automatically going to be successful. There is value in the votes of the experts who put together the AP poll, but I believe that once the season gets going and we get to see the teams on the field during the regular season, these ranking can change drastically.
While it is upsetting to see Nebraska Football rank lower than what fans desired, it does not mean that we should not expect them to be a successful team this year. Many different news sources and experts have said how the team looks to be much more successful this year than they were in the past.
It is important to look at the opinions of the experts to analyze how the team is going to perform, and to see what they can do to improve; it is also crucial to understand that their ranking is not a measure of what they are going to do this season.
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Less than two weeks left until we get to see Nebraska Football back out on the field at Memorial, let’s hope they can prove the AP poll wrong.