Nebraska football has a surprising path to a New Year's bowl

Nebraska football is almost certainly going to a bowl for the first time since the 2016 season and it’s safe to say that for this year at least, no one is particularly picky about what game the Huskers go to. However, as a bonus of finally getting bowl-eligible, it appears that the sky might be the limit, short of an actual playoff berth.

The sky in this case, is a New Year’s  bowl. Back in the day this was the place people wanted to be because it meant they were among the best teams in the country. It’s still a coveted slot because most of the country has the opportunity to watch. And for school administrators, that means more money from the bowl for playing in it.

Now that Nebraska football has six wins, there is a road map where they could get one of those prestigious New Year’s bowl games. Despite the fact that they would only have seven wins if they managed to get there.

Nebraska football on the road to a New Year’s Day game

The first step of getting to such a prestigious slot for a bowl would be beating Iowa, which is of course, no small task. However the Hawkeyes have some issues under center. Should the Huskers offense look like it did on Saturday, there’s a chance despite, being an underdog with Vegas.

Should the Huskers improve to 7-5 on Black Friday, and the playoffs do what many think the playoffs will do, then the Big Ten will likely get four teams into the field. Right now Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State and Indiana appear to be going.

That would leave Illinois and Nebraska football as the two best bowl teams left. Illinois could be as good as 9-3 so they’d obviously get the first choice, but the ability for Husker fans to travel could have a New Years Day level bowl come calling. The Reliaquest on New Years Eve makes the most sense. Things just got even more interesting especially with some analysts already pushing for a Nebraska vs Oklahoma bowl matchup.