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Jill posted the link in yesterday's Flakes, but I wanted to talk a little more about it; Pete Flutiak's list of the Ten Best Big Ten Non-Conference Games:
1. Ohio State at Oklahoma, Sept. 17
2. LSU at Wisconsin, Sept. 3
3. Michigan State at Notre Dame, Sept. 17
4. Oregon at Nebraska, Sept. 17
5. BYU at Michigan State. Oct. 8
6. Temple at Penn State, Sept. 17
7. Penn State at Pitt, Sept. 10
8. Duke at Northwestern, Sept. 17
9. North Carolina at Illinois, Sept. 10
10. Iowa State at Iowa, Sept. 10
You'll forgive me if that doesn't exactly look like a group of awe-inspiring games. You get to about #5, and you have to think "That's it? That's the best the conference can do?"
Get past those, and you get Penn State vs Temple at #6, and Penn State vs Pitt at #7. Oh boy.
It's not so bad if you remember (or care) that Penn State and Pitt were rivals for decades and haven't met since 2000, but I'm guessing that's not a big draw for Husker fans.. or for the rest of the nation either.
Remember that the Big Ten moves to playing NINE conference games this coming season, so less room for non-conference match ups. It's also the season in which B1G teams were supposed to stop scheduling FCS opponents, although Iowa plays North Dakota State (which arguably could have made that top ten list), Illinois has Murray State, Maryland plays Howard, and Purdue takes on Eastern Kentucky.
Nebraska has Oregon, Wyoming and Fresno State - not exactly killer's row, but compare that to Ohio State with Bowling Green, Tulsa, and Oklahoma, or Michigan's Hawaii, UCF, and Colorado. Michigan State has outdone everyone in conference scheduling Furman, Notre Dame, and BYU.
Things could be worse. Baylor's 2016 non-conference schedule is the easiest in the nation - Northwestern State, SMU, and Rice. Lamar must not have been available. That's pretty pathetic; certainly not the behavior you expect from a top team.
Dan Hoppen at Husker Online has a nice piece on offensive line recruiting and development:
Nebraska hasn't quite landed as many blue-chippers as the Buckeyes and Wolverines, but it has hauled in a number of talented prospects. The tougher part is figuring out why that talent hasn't translated.
Hoppen seems hesitant to throw the previous staff under a bus in his article. I won't be that kind. I'm not sure what the deal was, but there didn't seem to be a whole lot of teaching going on.
Perhaps it was the strength program that failed them. Maybe it doesn't matter now moving forward anyway.
Question of the day: Does anyone find whining to be attractive? Just curious.
— Coach Harbaugh (@CoachJim4UM) February 10, 2016
Directed at the SEC about satellite camps, no doubt.
Pretty disappointing that Nebraska isn't even in the Big Ten baseball top six preseason coaches poll. Given what's coming back, though, I guess that's about what we should expect.
Nebraska's Easter city has a lot going on, just ask any Curtis residents, they've got a golf course, a college and even Bigfoot...well maybe, but one thing is for sure, they have their own star. It's a fitting name for the local theater that the town has supported for years, even working for free to keep it running
My Hometown.
Mailbag: Should Clemson fans assume Swinney's 'Bama-bound? | FOX Sports
If you could hand pick your fantasy league coaching staff as an AD, who would be your all-star staff starting with head coach all the way down to the video coordinator? The rules are they have to have held the same position in 2015 (HC, DC, OC, etc)
$450 million per year? What about the sports rights bubble everyone talks about?
This deal shows that if a sports rights bubble does exist, it’s not going to pop for a long time.
Hmmm..... that's assuming this deal was made with some sort of fiscal responsibility and I'm not sure that exists as much as the tendency to overvalue things until they implode because no one wants to say anything that might get them fired, stuff like "Hey, do you think we're giving out too many loans to people with poor credit who really shouldn't get them?"
Maybe it's just fear and/or greed replacing good decision making like usual. Or maybe I'm wrong and it's good business.
Husker Mike's Blasphemy: I Fall Down . . . And Go Boom
For my frequent readers, you may be aware of the ice rink I built in my backyard, mostly for the kids to skate. And boy, do they love it. So much so that I decided to take some lessons this winter. Even got my own skates a couple of weeks ago so I could join them on the ice.
Mike is our latest casualty.