[Husker] Game thoughts

[Patrick Gaule]

Bob Fancher wrote:
> --- On Sun, 9/14/08, Patrick Gaule <pgaule at cox.net> wrote:
> 
>>progresses.  I am just happy that Pedey's cupcake games
>>are over with. 
>>We will know a lot more about this team after October 4th.
> 
> 
> How long have you been a Husker fan? 

I am not sure what purpose this question serves, but I have probably 
been a Husker fan since I was born, which would be 1984.  If you're 
trying to talk down to me as if I'm not familliar with Nebraska football 
history, then you're in for a bit of a shock.

> We have always had cupcake games in the past under other ADs. 

Nebraska certainly played "cupcake games" under other Athletic 
Directors, but Pedey went out of his way to fill the majority of 
Nebraska's OOC slate with cupcakes.  I am going to define a "cupcake" as 
a lower-rung team from a non-BCS conference.  Since schedules are often 
made years in advance, it's impossible to know how good teams will be 
when the games actually get placed on the schedule.  For instance, when 
the USC series was scheduled, Pete Carroll was an NFL coach, USC was an 
also-ran, and Nebraska had the most succesful program in the country. 
By the time the games were actually played, the tables had been 
completely turned.  On the other hand, no Athletic Director is going to 
put Western Michigan, San Jose State and New Mexico State on the 
schedule without counting it as an automatic win.  Teams like that are 
not likely to give Nebraska a challenge; not even in a down year.

Nebraska's 2008 schedule is currently ranked 138th by Sagarin 
(http://www.usatoday.com/sports/sagarin/fbt08.htm).  The three teams we 
faced finished 106th, 112th, and 153rd in the previous season's sagarin 
ratings, and probably won't fare a whole lot better this year.  But, I 
will humor you and look at Nebraska's schedule going back to the year I 
was born:

1984:
Wyoming
Minnesota
@UCLA
@Syracuse
-All but one of those teams were from major conferences

1985:
FSU
Illinois
Oregon
New Mexico
-All but one of those teams were from major conferences

1986:
FSU
@Illinois
Oregon
@South Carolina
-All teams were from major conferences

1987:
Utah St.
UCLA
@Arizona State
South Carolina
-All but one of those teams were from major conferences

1988
-Texas A&M
-Utah St.
@UCLA
Arizona State
UNLV
-3 teams from major conferences, 2 potential "cupcakes" (by 1988 standards)

1989
Northern Illinois
Utah
@Minnesota
Oregon St.
-2 teams from major conferences, 2 "cupcakes"

1990
Baylor
Northern Illinois
Minnesota
Oregon State
-3 teams from major conferences

1991
Utah State
Colorado State
Washington
@Arizona State
-2 teams from major conferences

1992:
Utah
MTSU
@Washington
Arizona state
-2 teams from major conferences

1993:
North Texas
Texas Tech
UCLA
Colorado State
-2 teams from major conferences

1994:
West Virginia
@Texas Tech
UCLA
Pacific
Wyoming
-3 teams from major conferences

1995:
@Michigan State
Arizona State
Pacific
Washington State
-3 teams from major conferences

1996:
Michigan St.
Arizona St.
Colorado St.
-2 teams from major conferences

1997:
Akron
Central Florida
@Washington
-1 team from a major conference, Central Florida with Dante Cullpepper

1998:
Louisiana Tech
Alabama-Birmingham
@Cal
Washington
-2 teams from major conferences

1999:
@Iowa
Cal
Southern Miss
-2 teams from major conferences, and Southern Miss who wound up being 
ranked in the top 20 at the end of the season

2000:
San Jose St.
@Notre Dame
Iowa
-1 team from a major conference, the infamous team that doesn't belong 
to a conference

2001:
TCU
Troy State
Notre Dame
Rice
-The infamous team that doesn't belong to a conference, and a pretty 
respectable TCU program

2002:
Arizona State
Troy State
Utah State
Penn State
McNeese State
-2 teams from major conferences

2003:
Utah State
Penn State
Southern Miss
Troy State
-1 team from a major conference, and a very respectable Southern Miss 
program

2004:
Western Illinois
Southern Miss
@Pitt
-1 team from a major conference, and a respectable Southern Miss program

2005:
Maine
Wake Forest
Pitt
-2 teams from major conferences


2006:
Louisiana Tech
Nicholls State
@USC
Troy
-1 spectacular team, and 3 classic cupcakes

2007:
Nevada
Wake Forest
Southern Cal
Ball State
-2 teams from major conferences (including a spectacular USC squad)

For many seasons, it was rare to see Nebraska schedule more than 1 or 2 
games against low-rung 1-A teams.  From looking at previous season 
schedules, it's obvious that ADs prior to Pedey preferred a schedule 
similar to the following:

* 1-2 "cupcake" games against non-BCS conference opponents.  Often 
times, the AD would schedule a respectabl
e mid-major program such as Colorado State, Utah, or Southern Miss.
* 1 game against a great team that routinely finishes in the top 25
* 1 game against a major conference team that occasionally has a good 
football season

Pedey's modus operandi was often to schedule 2-3 cupcakes from the 
lowest rung on Division 1.  Often times, these would be teams from the 
FCS/1-AA level.  Even when he scheduled teams from the 1-A/FBS for these 
games, they were often perenial doormats from non-BCS conferences.  San 
Jose State, Western Michigan, and New Mexico State are perfect examples. 
  The 2009 and 2010 schedules are equally as ridiculous, and we all know 
what athletic director had a hand in scheduling those.




I will go further and say that I am glad for "Pedey's cupcake games", 
because otherwise we probably wouldn't be 3-0.


I am glad that we had such an easy non-conference slate *this* year, but 
  I am not happy that we will have to deal with the same garbage in 2009 
and 2010.  If you have been following Pelini's comments in the paper, 
you'd see that he doesn't like playing this many cupcakes either - 
http://whereballmeetsfoot.wordpress.com/2008/09/12/huskers-schedule-harder-foes/ 
.  And good for him.

As it is, we will have a hard time winning 7 games this year.


I think 7-5 or 8-4 is a likely final record for Nebraska.  I think that 
would be more than good enough for Pelini's first season.