Line up and play

Anyone else sick of national pundits taking shots at Nebraska football? Just me?
Thanks to a lot of different people, including Nebraska AD Bill Moos and coach Scott Frost, the Huskers will take the field in the coming weeks as the Big Ten walked back its claims that there would be no football in 2020.
Most of those in Husker Nation were loud in a shared desire for football to be played in 2020 and boy, did the Big Ten give us that.
Nebraska’s 2020 schedule looks daunting on paper, opening on the road at Ohio State before playing Wisconsin at home. That’s followed by a road game at Northwestern and back at home against Penn State. The schedule rounds out with Illinois at home, Iowa on Thanksgiving weekend on the road as well as a road game at Purdue and home against Minnesota.
Woof.
Here’s the thing, though. I’m not here to complain that the Big Ten screwed Nebraska or used the Huskers as an example to shut up and stay in line.
Sure, the schedule is tough. If you think about it, though, this was eerily similar to the gauntlet the Huskers were to face in its original 12-game schedule before the pandemic changed everything. The order is just a bit off.
Instead of those games coming in the latter half of the season, it just so happens to be the opening four games. The original slate had Nebraska at Ohio State, Penn State, at Iowa, at Wisconsin, and Minnesota to end the season.
I’d argue this schedule is better. Don’t turn me into the psych ward, hear me out.
I would much rather play Ohio State, a majority pick among most to be a college football playoff team, right out of the gate.
How often have teams played awful games to start the season? Just look at how the Big 12’s opening weekend went.
Play Ohio State before they have a chance to figure out what they’re best with and really get rolling down the tracks. We saw what happens on a national stage in 2019 when Ohio State is hoofing it.
Same goes with Wisconsin, Northwestern and Penn State.
Are the Huskers going to get beaten up before the halfway mark of the year? Probably. But it’s football! If you don’t take a few bumps and bruises you probably won’t like the result.
Besides, wasn’t this the end goal when Nebraska joined the Big Ten a decade ago -- to see the Huskers, a 900-win program, playing other 900-win programs.
Four of the top 10 winningest programs reside in the Big Ten with Michigan and Ohio State one and two. Nebraska is 8th and Penn State is 9th and just two wins short of 900.
Pandemic or not, I want the Huskers playing a blue-blood program every week. It’s what I love about college football. I’m not scared of it and I won’t complain about it.
Sorry if that throws off your narrative, national media.
Everyone knows we haven’t been the most successful program of late. Pretty hit and miss the last two decades.
As much as Husker fans want Nebraska to get back to the top of the mountain, it’s not going to happen playing Coastal Carolina or Rutgers, for that matter.
Sure, it’s easy to take shots at Nebraska now. The Big Red hasn’t won more than five games since 2016.
I’ll follow Frost into the deepest, darkest Big Ten shadows. We’ll see who laughs last.
RICHARD RHODEN can be reached at sports@hamilton.net.