Ohio State Buckeyes opponent breakdowns: Nebraska

Opponents: Florida Atlantic | Cincinnati | Indiana | Miami (OH) |

The college football season is still weeks away but anticipation is starting to build as the calendar turns from June to July and we are closing in on less than two months from the first kickoffs of the season.

Much has been made of Ohio State’s schedule this season with its lack of a Power Five non-conference opponent on it, but don’t let anyone convince you that this schedule does not pose more than its fair share of problems for a team that will be breaking in not only a new quarterback but essentially a new head coach as Ryan Day takes over for Urban Meyer as the Buckeyes look to defend their back-to-back Big Ten championships.

The lack of a P5 non-conference opponent may overshadow the fact that Ohio State has about as difficult of a crossover schedule as a Big Ten East team can have with games against Nebraska, Wisconsin and Northwestern and the schedule maker did this team no favors with a final two of Penn State and Michigan to wrap up the regular season in November.

The Buckeyes head back on the road for what promises to be one of their most difficult games of the season with a trip to Nebraska. Last season the Buckeyes won in Columbus (Ohio) in a 36-31 games that was not really as close as the score would indicate but also showed that the Huskers have taken some steps in the right direction after Ohio State had handed the Huskers three-straight humbling blowout losses.

The Cornhuskers have only beaten the Buckeyes once and that game took place in their home building in a game that Ohio State would like to forget where Braxton Miller went down with an injury only to be replaced by Joe Bauserman, and the rest is history.

Last Year: 4-8, 3-6 Big Ten West

There were some growing pains around the Nebraska program as Scott Frost took over in year one and took on the big task of trying to return the Cornhuskers to a glory than fans had grown accustomed to. The move to the Big Ten had not really resulted in the type of success that the most loyal fans had hoped for and bringing in a former great player as head coach was just what the doctor ordered.

Six straight losses to start the season is not what the doctor had ordered. The season opened up with a rainout against Akron that cost the Huskers a tune-up game before the game that everyone was looking forward to as former Big Eight foes Nebraska and Colorado matched up in Lincoln. The Huskers would take a third quarter lead in this game only to see the Buffaloes run off the last 13 points of the game and hand Frost a loss in his first game as the NU head coach.

The following weekend was supposed to be the bounce-back with Troy coming to town, a game that most saw as a highly winnable game. Everyone except Troy as the Trojans got out of town with a 24-19 win in a game where Troy never trailed.

Four league losses to Michigan, Purdue, Wisconsin and Northwestern would follow before the Huskers would finally break through and rout Minnesota. That would be followed up with a make-up opponent for the rainout against Akron as Division I-FCS Bethune Cookman came to town for a paycheck and a thorough defeat.

Fresh off of back-to-back wins, the Huskers would travel to Ohio Stadium and really lay it all on the line and just come up short as the Buckeyes would open November with a big win.

Nebraska would run off back-to-back wins over Illinois and Michigan State in one of the ugliest games of the season, a 9-6 win in Lincoln under what will be remembered as “overcast and windy” conditions.

The Huskers would drop their final game of the year at Iowa in the Heroes Game, 31-28.

Something that can be said about what has to be a difficult year is that the Huskers gained confidence as the season went on and the offense started to figure things out at a much quicker pace than the defense did.