The Meat and Potatoes of the Nebraska Football Schedule has Arrived

Well that was a good ol’ fashioned ass whoopin that Michigan put on Nebraska wasn’t it? It’s a good thing that Nebraska has a shorter week to forget what the hell happened Saturday and focus on Illinois. The biggest problem Nebraska now possesses is getting back on track for bowl eligibility. Every week we sit here and say how terrible the B1G West looks, Nebraska included, so this game has to be a must win in my opinion if Nebraska wants to get to 6 wins.

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Looking at the rest of the schedule, Nebraska fans have to wonder where the wins are coming from. It starts and ends with this week against Illinois. Bret Bielema has had Nebraska’s number since we joined the Big Ten.

He subsequently left Wisconsin to take over the job at Arkansas, did relatively ok there, then came back to the Big Ten to take the Illinois job and beat us again.

Illinois lost its defensive coordinator to Purdue, and it showed last week, so Nebraska has to be licking their chops a bit here. Now nobody is saying Nebraska can out-eat Bielema, but it really has to get through this week with a win if it wants to maintain its goals for the season.

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The meat and potatoes of the conference schedule has entered the dining room, and now after getting their butts handed to them in the conference appetizer by a far superior opponent, Nebraska is ready to dig in. After Illinois and a much-needed bye week, it hosts Northwestern and Purdue, then at Michigan State, come back home to Maryland, go to Wisconsin and finish with dessert at home against Iowa.

Injuries, controversies and downright awful football are plaguing everyone save for Maryland, but that could be the upset crown jewel on the dining room table if Nebraska keeps showing signs of improvement.

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Players and coaches alike have talked about feeding off the energy of the crowd, so Nebraska can achieve bowl eligibility with some good old-fashioned home cooking. Again, that would require beating Maryland, and that would be a bigger bite than most of us can fathom chewing at the moment. Getting anything good from potential roadkill would be a huge benefit, as Illinois and Michigan State can be beaten, but it still requires discipline (table manners) and taking care of the football (finishing your plate).

Getting to 6 wins is imperative in my opinion because gaining all those extra reps is like getting candy throughout the holiday season. It’s going to fatten you up and make you bigger and stronger heading into the new year, so you might want to take care of business now so you can have fun later.

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Nebraska fans have been eating (and drinking) their feelings for years now, so wouldn’t it be nice to finish Thanksgiving weekend with more food and merriment towards Christmas? To be able to fill the proverbial plate with 6 wins throughout the course of the season and finish the year off with one more opportunity to get better.

That’s what the first year under Matt Rhule is, the opportunity to get better with what you have. If all I did was make you hungry, then sorry, but it should have made you hungrier for more wins.

But seriously, don’t try to eat more than Bret Bielema, your stomach isn’t supposed to stretch THAT far, and you will die.

Go Big Red!