Someone Tell FSU They Aren't Good

Nebraska defeated another inferior team. So did Wisconsin. Now, the two are on a collision course to open Big 10 play. But, Wisconsin has looked so much better and fans in the Corn State have been mashing the panic button since week one.

"Nebraska better find a way to stop the run/pass/meteor shower that Wisconsin will bring or else yadda yadda blah blah blah and so forth."

Burkhead and Co. are fast enough to cause problems for the Badgers

Take it easy, Husker Nation. Heed these words of wisdom, let it be. I think Plato said that. Could've been the Beatles. Nobody really knows.

This iteration of Cornhuskers will find success against a Wisconsin team that is considerably slower at virtually every position. Nebraska's strength, in a strange twist on an old story, will be team speed. The Midwestern Plow Boys who were once ridiculed by the Florida States and Miamis of the late 80's and early 90's for being too slow will show how far they've come since those long lost days.

Yes, Russell Wilson is good(understatement). Yes, Nick Toon catches everything in his hemisphere(overstatement). And yes, Montee Ball and James White are the best 1-2 running back punch in the country (accurate). But don't count out that little ol' team from Lincoln just yet.

You have to look at the most recent performance. I'll admit, 38-14 over Wyoming doesn't really look all that impressive. You must remember, however, that it very easily could have been 45-14. Isn't it amazing what seven points does for perception? 38 looks like, "They did what they were supposed to and not much more." But 45 looks like, "That offense can really score some points." The decision by Pelini and company to kneel on it with the ball at the Wyoming 2 with a little over a minute on the clock was classy indeed, but it did something else besides save a small piece of Wyoming's dignity.

It keeps the Huskers juuuust that far under the radar. As much as the #8 team in the country can be, I suppose.

And under the radar is good for this team. Expectations are bad. Didn't everyone expect to beat Texas last year after the Longhorns basically laid an egg in the non-con? Oops. Didn't everyone expect to crush A&M after big wins over Oklahoma State and Mizzou? Oops. Wasn't there a certain "nose-in-the-air" quality about the Husker faithful when the Holiday Bowl matchup with Washington was announced? Double oops.

I'm not saying that Nebraska will come out, guns blazing, and torch Madison, leaving a trail of Badger pelts in the wake. But, I don't buy into the theory that Wisconsin will send Nebraska back south just in time to harvest the disappointment growing in the fields of doubt spread across Husker Nation.

Nebraska may lose, and I'm actually predicting they will. But win or lose, this team will compete. That theory, I'm buying.

P.S.
After seeing Florida State fall to Clemson, I wonder when the preseason hype will stop. Matt Schick commented on Saturday that they're one of those teams that always lets down. National championship contender indeed. I'm just wondering how, at 2-2, they manage to still be in the Top 25.

Things don't get much better in Miami. A week after beating Ohio State in the IneligiBowl, they lose to Kansas State. Guess what that means? The second-highest rated team in Florida is USF. And they're only 2 spots behind the Gators.

Jagaloon, for Ian.