2014-15 Football Previews – (Big 10) – Cornhuskers
Nebraska fans are split on Bo Pelini. There are a bunch of Cornhuskers fans who really don’t like the guy at all and want him canned in no time. On the other hand, there are a decent amount of fans who appreciate the hard nosed spirit he brings to Lincoln and hope he stays around for forever. Pelini is back for another year.
Big Ten 2014-2015 College Football Preview – Nebraska Cornhuskers (Link)
Head Coach: Bo Pelini
2013 Record: 9-4
Nebraska Odds to win the National Championship: +8,000
Season Win Total: 8.5
Bo Pelini’s teams have won nine games in every season he’s been here, but the team has never really accomplished anything big. At Nebraska, this is often considered not good enough. I’m not a fan of Pelini’s track record in big games.
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The Cornhuskers did beat Georgia in their bowl game last year, but that was a short-handed Georgia team that wasn’t too excited to be playing in that game. Pelini still has plenty to prove in my opinion. What does he have to work with this year?
Let’s take a closer look at this team.
Team Strengths:
Ameer Abdullah is the best running back in the Big Ten. Abdullah rushed for 1,690 yards last year, and that was without the team having much of a passing attack to keep defenses honest. Abdullah is an NFL prospect who averaged 6.0 yards per carry in 2013. He also caught the ball 26 times and had two receiving touchdowns last season. The best plan for Nebraska’s offense in 2014? Give this man the football!
After a couple of ugly seasons for the defense in 2011 and 2012, the defense started to improve last year.
The defensive front is on the rise, and I expect them to be high quality this year. The Cornhuskers have a pair of very good sophomore defensive tackles to clog up the running lanes, and that will be key since this team plays against some great rushing teams. There’s some question about how this unit will do rushing the passer, but if they stuff the run that’s a major improvement from where they have been.
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The linebackers are also very good, and this is another unit that has gone from a question mark to a strength.
Team Weaknesses:
The offensive line is the biggest clear weaknesses on this year’s Nebraska team. That is certainly an issue since this is a Nebraska team that wants to run the football consistently. No matter how good of a running back you have, he’ll need a decent offensive front to give him some room to run. Nebraska lost almost everyone from last year’s offensive line, and there are tons of huge question marks surrounding this unit.
The secondary has some question marks. Nebraska has plenty of depth here, but there are no real stars. Can someone step in and lead this unit? They’ll face some quality passing games in the season ahead.
The quarterback spot is a bit of a question mark too. Tommy Armstrong will get the first chance to start, but he’ll have some competition. Can someone throw the ball effectively to take some pressure off both Abdullah and the offensive line?
2014-2015 Nebraska Football Prediction: 9-4
Nebraska is destined for another season just about like last year’s. This team isn’t great, but they are pretty good. Whether the offensive line develops or not is going to tell the story for whether they’ll have a chance against their top competition.
Circle the game on November 15 at Wisconsin as a tremendous matchup.
I’m not a big fan of Pelini, but this team drew a favorable schedule. Nebraska gets to nine wins again.
Nebraska Football Schedule
- 8/30/14 TBD FAU
- 9/6/14 TBD MCNS
- 9/13/14 10:30 PM ET @FRES
- 9/20/14 8:00 PM ET MIA
- 9/27/14 9:00 PM ET ILL
- 10/4/14 8:00 PM ET @MSU
- 10/18/14 7:30 PM ET @NW
- 10/25/14 TBD RUTG
- 11/1/14 TBD PUR
- 11/15/14 TBD @WIS
- 11/22/14 TBD MINN
- 11/28/14 TBD @IOWA
