I was looking at the lines for "Over / Under" wins for NCAAF, and I noticed that the Huskers are now 6.5 - we were at 5.5.
Now, Vegas doesn't know everything. And my guess is, many Husker fans were betting heavily on the "overs" there, so they pushed it up to balance it out. But it got me thinking...
Where have we "upgraded" from our WORST IN MY LIFETIME 4-8 record last year? Let's break it down:
HEAD COACH: Scott Frost (MAJOR UPGRADE)
Offense:
QB: Martinez or Gebbia (SLIGHT UPGRADE) - face it guys, our lone draft pick (Lee) wasn't awful, his line was...his RB's after Tre got hurt were bad...he did what he could.
RB: Greg Bell / healthy Tre Bryant (MAJOR UPGRADE)
WR's & TE's: EVEN with last year (outstanding)
O-line: MAJOR UPGRADE (fitness / strength / depth)
Defense:
D-Tackles: Vainuku added in (MAJOR UPGRADE - also fitness / strength / depth)
D-Ends: Tate Wildemann, et. al. (SLIGHT UPGRADE - MAJOR UPGRADE - again fitness /etc)
LB's: Honas & Dixon added in (MAJOR UPGRADE)
S & CB's: Tre Neal, Cam Jones, Deontai Williams, Will Jackson added in (MAJOR UPGRADE)
K: Barrett Pickering (EVEN to slight downgrade)
From the way I see it, if we didn't have the toughest schedule in Division I football, we'd have a chance THIS year to compete for the Western Division. That and Wisconsin has as good a team returning as anyone in the Big 10.
Honestly, I still can't bet the "overs" at 6.5 regular season wins. It's daunting. Playing all those road games against premiere teams, having the schedule we have with as little depth as we've managed to accumulate with Frost's God-given genius at roster manipulation still isn't enough to warrant blind optimism.
But I'm more than encouraged that we will fight and compete every game. And MAYBE we even pull that big "upset" win that will spark us for 2019. And that result in itself would be a MAJOR upgrade. Outside of Michigan State - we've not beaten anyone we weren't supposed to for a very long time.
Now, Vegas doesn't know everything. And my guess is, many Husker fans were betting heavily on the "overs" there, so they pushed it up to balance it out. But it got me thinking...
Where have we "upgraded" from our WORST IN MY LIFETIME 4-8 record last year? Let's break it down:
HEAD COACH: Scott Frost (MAJOR UPGRADE)
Offense:
QB: Martinez or Gebbia (SLIGHT UPGRADE) - face it guys, our lone draft pick (Lee) wasn't awful, his line was...his RB's after Tre got hurt were bad...he did what he could.
RB: Greg Bell / healthy Tre Bryant (MAJOR UPGRADE)
WR's & TE's: EVEN with last year (outstanding)
O-line: MAJOR UPGRADE (fitness / strength / depth)
Defense:
D-Tackles: Vainuku added in (MAJOR UPGRADE - also fitness / strength / depth)
D-Ends: Tate Wildemann, et. al. (SLIGHT UPGRADE - MAJOR UPGRADE - again fitness /etc)
LB's: Honas & Dixon added in (MAJOR UPGRADE)
S & CB's: Tre Neal, Cam Jones, Deontai Williams, Will Jackson added in (MAJOR UPGRADE)
K: Barrett Pickering (EVEN to slight downgrade)
From the way I see it, if we didn't have the toughest schedule in Division I football, we'd have a chance THIS year to compete for the Western Division. That and Wisconsin has as good a team returning as anyone in the Big 10.
Honestly, I still can't bet the "overs" at 6.5 regular season wins. It's daunting. Playing all those road games against premiere teams, having the schedule we have with as little depth as we've managed to accumulate with Frost's God-given genius at roster manipulation still isn't enough to warrant blind optimism.
But I'm more than encouraged that we will fight and compete every game. And MAYBE we even pull that big "upset" win that will spark us for 2019. And that result in itself would be a MAJOR upgrade. Outside of Michigan State - we've not beaten anyone we weren't supposed to for a very long time.
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