[Husker] 10 Reasons why Nebraska deserves a top 25 ranking this week

[Steve Reichenbach]

Bapi, I have always been impressed with the quality of your ratings, but
I think I would pull Colorado from your list of "[t]eams we ought to be
ahead of, no question".  Colorado was better than the score of their game
against Miami indicated and I think they should probably be the favorite
at this point to win the Big 12 North.  They have a road win against
a Big 12 South team and play Big 12 North co-leader NU at home.  That
said, I agree that the Huskers have a pretty good claim to in the top 25.

Last week, you had NU and CU #48 and #49 and you had Oklahoma State and
Iowa State #42 and #43.  Wasn't CU's road win quite a bit more impressive
than NU's home OT victory?  (I know that the results from previous games
figure in the new rankings.)

NU's schedule looks a little tougher after the results this weekend,
even though the Big 12 North went 1-3 against the Big 12 South.
Texas Tech still looks pretty potent, even if a little less so against a
second-rate instead of third-rate opponent.  Baylor played pretty well
on the road at A&M and that is NU's first road game.  Missouri's offense
looked pretty good and they might have beaten Texas at home if they
hadn't turned the ball over so often --- and NU must travel to Columbia.
OU appears to be getting untracked, but Peterson may be injured.  Kansas
could have been in the game against Texas Tech if they hadn't blown some
opportunities.  K State wasn't as good as OU, but OU might be better than
they have played so far, and K State gets up for NU.  Colorado is looking
pretty good and the game is in Boulder.

> I was really impressed with the win today, easily the best of Callahan 
> tenure at Nebraska.  It's not so much the score, but the execution against 
> what appeared to me to be a pretty decent Iowa State team.
> 
> Here are my 10 reasons we ought to be ranked this week (all references are 
> to last week's AP poll):
> 
> 1) Nebraska demonstrated a viable offense this week and continued to play 
> excellent defense.  We looked like a ranked team this week.
> 
> 2) #23 Iowa State was an unbeaten, ranked team.  If you beat that team and 
> it's not a complete upset, you ought to take their spot.
> 
> 3) #32 (also receiving votes) Clemson, a team that played within 6 points 
> of Miami and 3 points from Boston College and beat Texas A&M and Maryland, 
> just got beat 31-27 by Wake Forest this week, a team we handled easily. 
> Clemson was just a few spots out of the rankings this week despite 2 (now 
> 3) losses.
> 
> 4) #24 Louisville is still ranked despite losing to South Florida last 
> week, 45-14.  USF just got smoked 27-7 by Miami this weekend.  I don't 
> care that they beat Florida Atlantic 61-10 today.  They shouldn't be 
> ranked.
> 
> 5) #22 Purdue just got smoked, 49-28, by Notre Dame, at home.  They're now 
> just 2-2, with their best win being a 31-24 victory Arizona (1-3), who 
> got shut out 28-0 today by Cal.
> 
> 6) #25 Georgia Tech just lost 51-7 to Virginia Tech.  Now that might have 
> happened to us if we played VT, but until it happens, we ought to be ahead 
> of GT.
> 
> 7) #20 UCLA is losing 17-14, at home, against Washington (1-3), who has 
> two wins since the start of last year against Idaho and San Jose State. 
> If they pull this out, fine, let 'em stay ranked, otherwise, boot 'em.
> 
> 8) #19 Virginia just lost 45-33 to Maryland (3-2) this week.  Their best 
> win is over Syracuse (1-3) to go win victories over Duke and Western 
> Michigan.  They need to go.
> 
> 9) #18 Minnesota just lost 44-14 to Penn State today.  They were riding 
> their win over Purdue last week, 42-35, in OT, into the top 25, but after 
> what ND just did to Purdue, that doesn't seem like such a great win.
> 
> 10) #14 Arizona State blew a 21-3 lead to USC and lost today, 38-28.  Sure 
> it was USC, but the Sun Devils blew a lead to LSU a couple weeks ago.  The 
> bottom line is that they have 2 losses now and their best win is against 
> Oregon State (1-3).
> 
> To be fair, Penn State (also rec votes, #29) deserves to be in the top 25 
> as much as Nebraska after beating Minnesota.  Michigan (arv, #27), with 
> two losses, should get a little credit for playing a pretty tough schedule 
> and having beaten Michigan State on the road today.
> 
> Here are the teams I think ought to be ahead of the us:
> 
>    unbeatens (7) - USC, Texas, VT, FSU, Georgia, Alabama, Wisconsin
>    one loss (6) - Miami, Ohio St, Florida, Tenn, ND
> 
> Here are who we ought to be in the same group with:
> 
>    unbeaten (4) - Cal, PSU, Texas Tech, UCLA (if they win)
>    one loss (7) - WVU, BC, Oregon, Auburn, LSU, Mich State, GT
>    two loss (1) - Michigan
> 
> Teams we ought to be ahead of, no question:
> 
>    unbeaten - (no more left)
>    one loss - Iowa St, Minn, Virginia, KSU, KU, OkSt, Baylor, Virginia, GT,
>      Wyoming, Louisville, Vandy, Colorado, UTEP, USM, TCU, Texas A&M, Wash
>      St, UAB, Toledo, Tulane, Rutgers (no more left)
>    two loss - Purdue, ASU, Utah, Oklahoma
> 
> In my ratings (www.bapi.net/football), I have Nebraska rated #14 this 
> week, fractional points ahead of Texas Tech.  After Friday's Pitt lost to 
> Rutgers, we were #48.  Adding ISU to our SOS and Wake's win over Clemson
> both helped us move up a lot, but at least half of the difference is
> because teams around us did pretty badly today.
> 
> Anywhere between #14 and #25 makes sense.  I just don't see anyone else 
> butting our Huskers out of the Top 25.  If we beat TT next week, you'd 
> really have to consider us for a Top 10 spot, but that's dependent on who 
> loses above us.  The fact that Louisville was still ranked this week 
> bothers me though.  Sometimes you wonder what the voters are doing, with 
> the lower ranks, in particular.
> 
> Bapi
> 
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