Despite being in different divisions of the Big Ten, this will mark the fifth season that the Buckeyes and Huskers will meet up as conference foes after missing one another for the previous three seasons.
That means these teams are quite familiar with one another, not from watching cross-over tape, but rather having played four quarters a year for the past five years.
That does not mean that there is not turnover however and the Huskers have to deal with it just like anyone else. Almost everyone is back on offense outside of JD Spielman (transfer to TCU) but the defense only has five returners coming back, the side of the ball that has struggled mightily for the Huskers for the last several years.
With some key offensive players back, the Huskers should be able to put up some points this season but will they be able to slow anyone down? And in a year where defense is way behind offense, could this game wear the scoreboard out?
We are heading behind enemy lines to talk to one of the very best when it comes to covering the Huskers, Sean Callahan of HuskerOnline.com answers a few questions for us as we are on the eve of the season opener.
BuckeyeGrove: What are the thoughts around those parts having Nebraska draw Ohio State in week one? Do people feel it was just a product of “the games on the schedule” or was there something more sinister in place?
Sean Callahan: I honestly think it was a little bit of both. On the original schedule, Nebraska opened with Purdue. Schedule two they opened at Rutgers and added Michigan State as their 10th league game. Schedule three kept Ohio State and Penn State as crossovers and dropped Rutgers.
The Big Ten was going to keep this game no matter what, it was just a matter of when it was going to be played. Nebraska and Ohio State are on a six-year crossover series. After 2021 ends, then Nebraska adds Michigan as a four-year permeant crossover series from 2022 to 2025.
Is it fair Nebraska is the only Big Ten West school that drew two East powers? No. But the reality is Penn State and Ohio State were always two of the original three crossover games and the league was going to show preferential treatment to preserving the long-term six-year series vs. playing a one-off game with Rutgers.
I know Nebraska’s AD Bill Moos fought to have the league just blow-up the crossovers in general to balance them out, but that fell to deaf ears. The way it’s set up now, Wisconsin and Minnesota don’t play Ohio State or Penn State. It really plays out where the league doesn’t want a rematch game in Indianapolis. Both Nebraska and Michigan also play very difficult crossovers, so getting to Indy will take much more work.
I do agree though that the league was not going to show Nebraska very many breaks. Behind the scenes, nobody was a bigger thorn in the side of Kevin Warren than the Huskers. They played a big part in getting football back, but they also probably will pay a price for that as well.
