Last week, it was announced that the Nebraska-Tennessee home-and-home series had been canceled. Nebraska had requested a second delay, which Tennessee declined. As a fan, I’m sad about this. My first Nebraska game outside of Memorial Stadium was the 2000 Fiesta Bowl. I met many Tennessee fans during that trip, who were all great people. After the cancellation announcement was made, many not-so-great people came out to criticize Nebraska, calling them “weak” or “cowardly.” Do the numbers match the Volunteers' claims?
The eight-game SEC schedule is an obvious and unfair advantage to SEC teams. Tennessee would’ve been the Huskers 10th power conference opponent in 2026 and 2027. In the playoff era, the Volunteers have had ten regular season power conference opponents once – during the radically altered 2020 season. Nebraska football has faced ten power conference opponents in eight of the last eleven seasons.
Nebraska football cast as cowardly
The SEC is also one of the biggest offenders of using FCS opponents for easy wins. The SEC has played 137 games against FCS opponents in the playoff era. Only the ACC has more among power conferences at 140. Tennessee’s ten matchups against FCS opponents trails only eight schools with eleven such matchups.
The Big Ten is on the opposite side of the spectrum. In fact, no FBS conference has played fewer FCS games than the Big Ten’s 70 matchups since 2014. Of the twelve schools with five or fewer FCS opponents, the Big Ten has nine programs. The Huskers are tied with fellow conference members Minnesota, Purdue, and ACC member Stanford at just five FCS matchups.
Tennessee AD Danny White’s complaints have little merit
Despite rarely going down leagues, Nebraska football still plays a below-average schedule among power conference teams. Using Bill Connelly’s SP+ formula to grade every opponent, we can quickly get an overall schedule difficulty (assuming a rating of -10 for FCS opponents, which would be in the bottom 30 for FBS teams in 2024).
The Huskers have played the 41st-hardest overall non-conference schedule among power conference teams in the playoff era—meanwhile, the Tennessee Volunteers rank 60th in the same metric. With Cincinnati being the only power-conference opponent the Huskers have in non-conference play the next three years, I expect Nebraska football to drop further in this metric.
For people who love college football, the cancellation of this series is a disappointment. It would have been a fun pair of games between two programs on the rise. Unfortunately, the business of football can get in the way of the game of football. This is the best financial decision for the Nebraska football program and their postseason hopes. Despite the whining of Tennessee athletic director Danny White, this decision also enhances their chances of returning to the playoff. Tennessee has little room to complain about any other team’s scheduling practices.
Like many things in life, what’s best isn’t always the most fun.