In just year two of the Scott Frost era, the Cornhuskers were picked by two media outlets to finish higher than the Iowa football team in the B1G West.
Most college football fans don’t expect the Nebraska Cornhuskers to struggle as much as they did last year in year one under Scott Frost. It takes time to adapt to a new coach, and it takes time for the coach to figure out what his players are made of, and for a Nebraska team that has struggled, it was a major culture overhaul in general. With the rise of star quarterback Adrian Martinez, some media outlets are buying into the hype of a remarkable jump for Nebraska as they picked Nebraska to finish first ahead of the Iowa football team, Wisconsin football team, and Purdue football teams.
That’s dumb.
Nebraska will certainly improve, and you could even see the difference between the first half and the second half of last season. The Iowa football team barely survived a gimme game against Nebraska and needed a last-second field goal to win so this team isn’t going to be a cupcake this year.
But come on. To pick Nebraska at first is completely discrediting what the Iowa football team has for talent. Arguments can be made for Wisconsin and Purdue being higher as well, but I don’t care about those two teams and their preseason Big Ten West ranking injustice.
In a post by Sean Callahan, Nebraska is picked to finish by two major media outlets. In one of those, the Iowa football team is apparently projected to significantly regress and finish 6th while the other media outlet has the Hawkeyes taking second place.
Both Athlon and Street & Smith have Nebraska winning the Big Ten West. #Huskers pic.twitter.com/enNhuPoLt1
— Sean Callahan (@Sean_Callahan) May 18, 2019
As we alluded to last week, coming into the season, we are not projecting the Iowa football team to take home first. There is a ton of potential there, but if we had to pick today, it’s hard to not select the Wisconsin Badgers. They return a Heisman candidate at running back and they got better through the addition by subtraction model when Alex Hornibrook transferred.
Until the Iowa football team can get over the hump that is Wisconsin though, they will be our preseason favorite. Nebraska though, will not be. Athlon and Street & Smith should find a different bandwagon to jump on because that wagon is still in repair after last year’s horrendous start.