Nebraska football: Ranking the 2018 Huskers’ opponents

Oliver VanDervoort

(Photo by Duane Burleson/Getty Images)

Nebraska football’s schedule has some scary good teams and some scary bad ones. We rank them from worst to first in terms of difficulty.

There is very little doubt that the Nebraska football team’s 2018 schedule is plenty hard. Of the 13 teams on the schedule, nine were bowl teams a year ago.

You might have seen the list being passed around of FBS teams that don’t have an FCS team on the schedule. The Cornhuskers were on that list as well.

Even the “easy” teams on the schedule aren’t all that easy. This is why the Huskers are considered a long shot to even win eight games in 2018.

In order to get ready for the regular season (it’s closer than you think), we’ve decided it’s time to take a closer look at that schedule.

Last month we ranked the quarterbacks the Huskers will be facing. You won’t be surprised to find out that the rankings of the actual opponents don’t match that list.

Sometimes the quarterback is better than the team surrounding him. Other times the team is good in spite of a mediocre quarterback.

Whatever the reason, the Huskers aren’t going to have a lot of weeks off this season. Almost all the games are against teams that posted a better record than the Huskers or showed they were better than the Nebraska football team in 2017.

Scott Frost is here and that is going to change things. You’ll still want to see just how the entire 2018 schedule shapes up for the Huskers as we ranked the worst to the toughest opponent.

The Nebraska football team will open the Scott Frost era against the Akron Zips. It’s probably a good thing that the Zips are likely the easiest opponent on an insanely hard schedule.

Led by head coach Terry Bowden, Akron is coming off a 7-7 bowl season. They even went to the MAC championship game.

So how does this team rate as the worst opponent on the entire schedule? Only four starters returning on offense is a big contributor.

The fact that those four starters are made up of three offensive lineman and one receiver on the two-deep is a bigger factor. When you consider the offense wasn’t great a year ago, it seems like a pretty good recipe for an “easy” Husker win.

Akron is replacing its entire offensive backfield after the departing starters ranked 10th in the MAC and 108th in the country in total offense. While the team is returning nine starters on defense, that defense was far from lockdown.

The Zips ranked 104th in total defense and 104th against the run. The Nebraska football team, already fired up for a season opener at home is likely going to try to pour it on. The MAC divisional champion should be hard pressed to stop them.

One of the worst losses for the Nebraska football team under Mike Riley was to Illinois in his first year. It wasn’t because it was a blowout.

The loss was embarrassing because the Illini just haven’t been very good. For a while now.

The Illini still aren’t good. While there are all kinds of reports that Lovie Smith finally has Illinois moving in the right direction, the team is probably going to be as bad or a little worse than it was a year ago in 2018.

Keep in mind they were 2-10 and winless in the Big Ten a year ago. That record included a 28-6 loss to Nebraska.

Scott Frost and company are going to find winning in the B1G a tall order thanks to a brutal conference schedule. Illinois is not part of that brutal schedule.

The Illini are one of just three teams on the 2018 slate that didn’t go to a bowl last year. They’re going to try and replace their quarterback with a guy who had zero touchdown passes and five interceptions thrown last year.

While Cam Thomas has shown some promise, he’s also not shown he can lead the Illini to wins over Big Ten teams. This is an offense that will also be replacing it’s starting running back and attempting to do better on offense than 127th in the country in scoring offense.

They were the 123rd ranked rushing offense. They were the 107th ranked passing offense.

Their defense wasn’t that much better. The Illini were especially bad against the run (117th) in the country. It’s a safe bet the Nebraska football team is going to be looking to take out some aggression on Illinois in November.

The absolute low point of Nebraska football’s 2017 season was a blowout loss to Minnesota. The Cornhuskers didn’t just lose. They lost 54-21.

That 54 points was obviously a season-high for the Gophers who ranked 108th in the country in scoring offense. They ranked 122nd in the county in passing offense.

At least they ranked in the top 50 in rushing offense. Still, a Huskers team that was trying to salvage a season instead saw it go down the drain in Minnesota.

It’s going to be a different story in 2018. The Gophers are the second of three teams on the slate that didn’t make a bowl last year as they went 5-7. Did I mention the 30 point loss was a low point?

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Minnesota has to replace it’s starting quarterback and most of its receiving corps. If there’s a bright spot, it’s that starting running back Rodney Smith comes back.

Just how bad was the Gophers’ offense? He had 977 yards rushing but just three touchdowns a year ago.

While there was quite a bit of excitement surrounding PJ Fleck when he first arrived in Minny, they’re probably going to take a bit of a step back this season. It seems hard to fathom that the defense will be as good as it was a year ago as they also play a tougher conference schedule.

The Nebraska football team is going to be fired up. They’re also going to be pretty desperate for conference wins. That makes Minnesota a marked school.

The Nebraska football team has a weird tradition of playing Sun Belt conference teams. Because of that, the matchup between the Trojans and the Huskers will be the fifth.

Not surprisingly, the Cornhuskers are 4-0 in the series with the last game being a 56-0 win. We might see that kind of victory again this year.

Troy is coming off an 11-2 season but the Sun Belt team is replacing its starting quarterback (and school leading passer) and its two top rushers.

The reason we think Troy is going to be a tougher opponent than others is that there’s still quite a bit of talent there. The Trojans were 43rd in the country in scoring offense and 33rd in the nation in passing offense.

An early season matchup could be a painful one for a defense that will still be finding its way in under new coordinator Chinander. Even scarier is that Troy’s defense was really, really good as well.

The Trojans were 11th in the country in scoring defense. They were seventh against the run and 24th in total defense. Yes, playing in the Sun Belt likely helped those defensive numbers, but keep in mind Central Florida played in a weaker conference than the Big Ten and their defense was amongst the worst in the country.

If Troy wasn’t shopping for a new quarterback and a new running back, they’d likely be quite a bit higher on this list.

The Nebraska football team will revive an old rivalry on September 8. The Colorado Buffaloes come to town for the first time since 2010.

Both programs are in a state of flux. Colorado surprised the country when it went 10-4 in 2016. It fell back to earth a year ago, going just 5-7.

The good news is that the Buffs have their star quarterback under center in 2018. If they can find another running back to replace Phillip Linsey, a bowl game is definitely not out of the country.

Montez is going to give the Cornhuskers a nice test. He can throw the ball and he can run the ball.

He led Colorado to the 39th best passing offense in the country. He’s also the leading returning rusher.

Montez is going to be one of the best quarterbacks the Huskers face next season. That’s all the bad news.

The good news is that Colorado’s defense was one of the worst in the country a year ago. They ranked 109th against the run and 110th overall.

That defense returns six starters, but it’s hard to know whether that’s a good or a bad thing. There’s gonna be a ton of excitement in Memorial stadium that Saturday.

There’s going to be even more if Scott Frost and company show they’ve got the Nebraska football offense on track in their first game of the year.

The Nebraska football team has an unexpected rivalry with the Purdue Boilermakers. Illinois was an embarrassing loss for Mike Riley. So was Purdue.

Last year the Cornhuskers managed to defeat Purdue 25-24. This year, with the game in Lincoln and the Huskers hopefully being a much better fundamental team, it should be a bit easier.

On the one hand, Purdue returns almost its entire offense. That wasn’t an offense that was all that great.

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For one thing, it seems like the Boilermakers are always trying to settle on a quarterback. If they do finally settle on one, it’s possible that an air attack that ranked 46th in the country and fifth in the Big Ten could be quite a bit better.

They’re going to need to find a rushing attack though too. Like the Huskers, Purdue couldn’t really settle on a go-to rusher. Markell Jones split time with DJ Knox.

Both backs ran over 500 yards but they combined for just three rushing touchdowns. Knox is gone but Jones is back. If he can’t carry the load, they’re likely not going to do much better than their 83rd ranked rushing attack in 2017.

Purdue’s ticket to a bowl game last year was punched by a defense that was 24th in the country in points allowed. It was also 29th against the run.

While it was a bit more porous against passing offense, it finished 52nd in the country. Only four starters return on that defense. Expect a step back there. That should be enough for the Huskers to get another conference win.

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We’re starting to get into the real murderer’s row part of the schedule for the Nebraska football team now. The Huskers and Wildcats have an interesting rivalry going that is born in no small part because they’re both technically NU.

By most accounts, Northwestern’s quarterback, Clayton Thorson is an NFL prospect. If he does indeed want to make the league, he’s going to have something to prove next season.

Northwestern’s offense has been what most people focus on these days, but their defense is no slouch. They were incredibly bad against the pass (109th in the country) but were really good overall.

Pat Fitzgerald‘s defense was 20th in the country in scoring defense. They were 9th against the rush. It looks like if the Huskers want to really move the ball, they’re going to have to do it through the air.

That’s a problem considering they’re going to be breaking in a brand new quarterback no matter who gets the nod. The game is also in Evanston.

This is one of those games most Husker fans are going to expect to win. People don’t look at the Wildcats as a legitimately good team. They went 10-3 last year and 7-2 in conference.

They finished the year with eight straight wins. If they can keep that momentum up, this is going to be a scary good team in 2018 and the Nebraska football team should consider it a big accomplishment if they leave Evanston with a victory.

Nebraska football fans have a weird relationship with the Iowa Hawkeyes. Despite the state being five minutes from downtown Omaha, Husker fans tend to claim the two teams don’t have a rivalry.

The passion surrounding this series says otherwise. That’s especially the case now that Iowa has won the last couple of contests.

Most of the games have been pretty close but last year’s 56-14 loss to Iowa was the end of the road for Mike Riley. Cornhusker fans are hoping Scott Frost can begin his chapter of the series with a victory, but with the game in Iowa, it’s going to be tough.

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Michigan might have only gone 8-5 a year ago, but it sure seems like they finally have the quarterback Harbaugh has been looking for. Shea Patterson put up big numbers in a shortened season in 2017.

He’s going to be cutting it loose in the B1G in 2018. It’s Michigan’s defense that should have the Huskers really worried. That’s a trait most of the best teams on this list share.

The Wolverines boasted the best passing defense in the country last year. They also had the third-best total defense.

If they can get an offense together, it’s hard to imagine they won’t compete for a division and conference title. If the Huskers could somehow find a way to win this game, it would set the tone for the Nebraska football team’s 2018 in a big way.

The Nebraska football team plays a lot of great defenses in 2018. The Badgers might have been the best of the bunch a year ago.

The good news is that they lose eight starters from the defense that was good against literally everything a year ago. On the flipside, the Badgers’ offense was not great.

It was actually a little better than you probably thought it was. Wisconsin was the third best offense in the conference and 28th overall.

The Badgers had the second-best rushing attack in the Big Ten. They also had the 23rd best rushing offense in the country.

10 starters return on that offense, including running back Jonathan Taylor, who was just shy of 2,000 yards last year. Quarterback Alex Hornibrook is back as well.

While his completion percentage wasn’t eye-popping, he did throw 25 touchdowns. Another year under center is likely going to make him even more deadly.

Add all of that together with the fact that the Nebraska football team has to go to Camp Randall stadium and it’s not hard to understand why the Wisconsin Badgers are the second best team on the Huskers’ schedule this season.

When the Nebraska football team clashes with Ohio State this season, they will likely be playing a team that is staring straight ahead at a National Championship game.

The Buckeyes are likely the best team in the Big Ten and that makes them the best team on the Cornhuskers’ schedule. It doesn’t help Scott Frost’s efforts that Nebraska has to go into Columbus.

When talking about the Buckeyes, you’re talking about a team that doesn’t seem to have many weaknesses. That is as long as Dwayne Haskins is as good as advertised.