Nebraska's Top 25 Struggles

Since Nebraska beat Oklahoma in 2001, every BCS team except Duke and Nebraska have beaten a top 19 team. This is a staggering stat, think about some struggling BCS teams, Baylor, Iowa State, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, Indiana, and Syracuse. They have all found a way. Nebraska's only win during this time frame against a team that finished in the AP Top 25, is a 24-17 win over Pittsburgh in 2004 (Pitt ended 25). Since the Oklahoma game, Nebraska is 1-24 against teams that finished in the AP poll.

Can Nebraska get off this list before Duke? Let's compare schedules against teams that have potential to finish the year in the top 19.

Nebraska's Potential Top 19 finishers

9/19 @ Virginia Tech
10/8 @ Missouri
10/17 Texas Tech
11/7 Oklahoma
11/14 @ Kansas
11/27 @ Colorado

Dukes Potential Top 19 finishers

9/19 @ Kansas
10/3 Virginia Tech
11/7 @ North Carolina
11/14 Georgia Tech
11/21 @ Miami, FL
11/28 Wake Forest

Surprisingly, Nebraska and Duke have two of the same teams on this list. For Nebraska, the only teams that should end the season in the top 19 are Virginia Tech and Oklahoma. Duke only has one team, Virginia Tech. Nebraska only has two teams on their list who will be home games for the Big Red, Texas Tech and Oklahoma. Texas Tech will almost have to pull off one major upset over Texas, Oklahoma, or Oklahoma State if they also are to lose to Nebraska and still remain in the top 19 at seasons end. Texas Tech would probably need to win against Kansas and Baylor as well. If Nebraska makes it to the Big XII Championship and a bowl game there should be one or two more chances.

Thanks Brent for sending me the article which had this chart in it. The article is called, "When will we know if Nebraska is 'back'." As Brent wrote, "it is from a national perspective." This is a good read, especially for the Husker fans who have very high expectations for this year's team.