Nebraska Football: Tough early schedule is Big Ten’s way of punishing Huskers

Nebraska football has a brutal beginning to their revised 2020 schedule and the Big Ten most definitely did that on purpose.

When the Big Ten made the announcement to postpone fall sports due to COVID-19, Scott Frost and the Nebraska Cornhuskers were the most vocal about their displeasure with the decision. From threatening to play independently to the parents of players threatening to sue the conference, it was not a good look for the program.

While the Huskers threw a hissy fit about the decision, the other teams were good soldiers and bit their tongues. The Big Ten most definitely took note of Nebraska’s attitude regarding all of this and in turn, “rewarded” them by giving them Ohio State and Wisconsin to start the season. That’s more than likely going to result in an 0-2 start to an already shortened campaign.

It was mentioned on The Dan Patrick Show how the Big Ten did this as punishment to the Huskers for speaking out and now cooperating after the announcement. Threatening to play anyway despite what the conference ruled was a slap in the face to the Big Ten and this was their way of reprimanding the Cornhuskers.

It’s frustrating that Nebraska football made things worse by running their mouth.

This season wasn’t going to result in many wins for the Cornhuskers either way, but they could have had maybe an easier slate to start the year and in turn, been more motivated down the stretch. Now they’re going to start the season 0-2 and likely getting blown out in both games.

Ohio State made it to the College Football Playoff last year and were really close to partaking in the National Championship game. That’s who Nebraska gets to open the year against.

The Huskers would have played Ohio State anyway, but initially they were on the schedule much later in the year. In fact, they originally had the Buckeyes in a brutal stretch that also included Iowa, Minnesota, Penn State, and Wisconsin in 5 straight games. They’ll still face all 5 of those teams, but they’re broken up more.

The move to the Big Ten hasn’t gone according to plan for the Nebraska Cornhuskers, who joined the conference in 2011 after being a part of the Big 12. They made it to the conference title game once, which was during their second year in the conference, but haven’t even come close since.

A 3-5 season is best case scenario for Nebraska football this year, but at best, they might win 1 or 2 games or even go winless in their revised schedule.