Nebraska football fans are hopeful for a real turnaround season. National media still think rough waters are ahead for 2018.
While we all hope the Nebraska football team has some sort of Cinderella season, the national media has clearly decided a turnaround isn’t going to be quick and painless. A consensus of where some of the top magazines in the country show the Cornhuskers projected to finish fifth in the Big Ten West division.
That’s a dash of cold water Husker fans might need in what has been record-breaking heat so far this spring. Excitement is higher for the program than it’s been since Tom Osborne retired. Realism might not be running rampant.
Stassen has put together its composite predictions of where every team is going to finish in the Big Ten next season. While there isn’t uniform agreement between Athlon, Lindy’s and Street & Smith, there isn’t much disagreement either.
According to those publications, Scott Frost and company are going to finish behind Wisconsin, Iowa, Purdue, and Northwestern. That means the Cornhuskers are only beating out Minnesota and Illinois in the standings.
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Of the teams projected to finish ahead of the Huskers, Purdue has to be the most painful. Even more painful? While the three publications don’t agree on everything they all agree that the Cornhuskers are going to finish behind the Boilermakers.
Only Athlon has the Huskers finishing better than fifth and they have them fourth. In that same list, Purdue finishes third.
Iowa being projected to finish second in every list grinds the gears a bit as well. Wisconsin being picked to win the division is annoying, but hardly surprising considering the talent that comes back on a team that won the division going away a year ago.
Over on the East side, Ohio State is the consensus pick to finish first. There’s a rather large surprise in where Lindy’s has Michigan picked though.
Wolverine fans are likely up in arms by their prediction that Harbaugh’s boys are going to finish fourth in their own division. Lindy’s has the Michigan State Spartans beating out their in-state rival for second place.
The good news is that if the Nebraska football team has the kind of resurgence so many Husker fans are hoping for, it’s going to come out of nowhere. That always makes a good story.
Next: Athlon gives Adrian Martinez starting nod, not much love
The bad news is that the consensus from almost everyone outside the state is that 2018 isn’t going to be as good as we all hope.