 Mike HlasHi, I'm Gazette/TheGazette.com sports columnist Mike Hlas. This is the Hlog. We will meet here, discuss things, and then go [...] |
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More Big Ten football teams have winning records vs. Nebraska than not
You Big Ten people haven’t been told the full story of Nebraska football.
Sure, the Cornhuskers have been one of the most-successful programs in the nation over the last half-century. But they haven’t pushed around the Big Ten.
Lil' Red and Herbie Husker (AP photo)
In fact, NU (sorry, Northwestern) has losing records against six of its 11 new conference mates. Including (hold on to something here, people) Indiana and Minnesota.
Nebraska’s records vs. the rest of the Big Ten:
Illinois 7-2-1
Indiana 7-9-3
Iowa 26-12-3
Michigan 2-3-1
Michigan State 5-0-0
Minnesota 20-29-2
Northwestern 3-1-0
Ohio State 0-2-0
Penn State 6-7-0
Purdue 0-1-0
Wisconsin 3-2-0
Total 79-68-10
The story was a little different against the programs from the Big 12 that it just left. Sure, that’s because Nebraska was playing those teams the last several decades, while its games against the Hoosiers and Gophers were almost entirely long ago. But why split hairs?
Indiana hasn’t beaten Nebraska since 1959 if we want to get into details. And their last meeting was a 69-17 Huskers triumph in Bloomington in 1978. But Indiana scored wins by scores of 54-13, 54-0, and 54-14 in 1943, 1944 and 1945. The real Big Red then was the crimson of the Hoosiers.
Goldy the Gopher: Not scared of Herbie and Lil'.
Anyway, Nebraska is 476-178-16 against the 11 teams it shared a conference with last year. Included is 86-17-2 against Iowa State.
However, the Huskers are:
38-45-3 vs. Oklahoma
4-10-0 vs. Texas
0-3-1 vs. USC
2-6-0 vs. Florida State
5-7-0 vs. Syracuse
6-15-3 vs. Pittsburgh
Nebraska has only played Pitt twice since 1958, but every game counts. Right?
By the way, you can find info like this and a lot more at College Football Data Warehouse. I love that site.
Oh yeah, this breaks my promise last week to back off a little on writing about Nebraska in the offseason. I don’t care.
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uh oh. The fuse has been lit again…
To make it easy you should find out when they actually started wearing the hard helmets and pads. Because otherwise you’re talking about two different games. it’s like comparing baseball teams to cricket teams.
Oh, no illusions abuot that, Andy. It’s an absolutely meaningless stat. I just thought it was sort of humorous.
How many has Iowa lost in a row? 2-3?
Is 1981 the last time Iowa beat Nebraska?
Nice job stirring the rivalry pot! More relevant statistics than the ones you rely on: 1) From 1962 when Bob Devaney came to Nebraska and beat Michigan in his first season, to 2011 when Nebraska joined the Big 10, Nebraska was 39-6 (.867 %) against the Big 10. 2) If its recent results you want then from 2000 to 2011, Nebraska was 5-1 against the Big 10, including 3-0 in bowls (wins are Iowa, Penn St., Michigan, Michigan St., Northwestern; loss was at Penn St).
You also randomly cite some of Nebraska’s match-ups. Let’s consider Nebraska’s record against current SEC teams, since that is the Big 10′s nemesis these days. Nebraska is 19-6-1 or .750 vs. the current SEC teams Including: 8-2 or .800 in last 10 meetings; 12-4 in bowl games;
3-1 in National Championship Games (I may have to explain what one of those is to an Iowa fan, but Nebraska has won 5 of those since 1970–how about the B1G as a league in that span??). Nebraska is undefeated against Florida, Georgia, LSU, Miss St. and Tennessee.
Note: Nebraska has never played Kentucky or Vanderbilt and has not played Arkansas or South Carolina as members of SEC. If results of those games are excluded, Nebraska is 16-5-1 or .750 all-time vs. teams in the SEC
Of course, non of this matters as we start fresh in the “B1G”, but since you started randomly citing statistics I thought it was only fair to toss in a few of my own.
Your stats are far more meaningful than the obscure ones I posted, Dan. I just found it amusing that two of the Big Ten’s current lower programs have historical success vs. Nebraska. It doesn’t mean a thing, it’s just for entertainment purposes only.
Mike, We Huskers are very thin skinned about columnists after years of Woody Paige making tractor and red neck jokes. At least when it comes to Iowa we share a midwest background so neither fan base can go there. I look forward to some actual games. The wait is extra long this year with so much to look forward to.
Is the goal of this article to somehow convince people out there that Indiana, Minnesota, Purdue, Syracuse and Pitt are all better football programs than Nebraska?
What’s next an article about who throws better parties Gatsby or Corey Worthington?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xc0CB6URrV0
No one threw parties like the Great Gatsby, and you know it, Andy.
In the last 50 years. (Not many of us are older than 50)
Nebraska’s records against Big 10 teams:
Iowa 5-1
Indiana 4-2-1
Michigan 2-1
Michigan State 3-0
Minnesota 16-4 (won last 14 in a row)
Northwestern 2-0
Penn State 5-4
Purdue 1-0
Ohio State 0-2
Illinois 0-0-1
Paints quite a different picture now, eh?
Sure, if you want to just pick a select half-century … If you only recognized the last 50 years of U.S. history, you’d miss out on the Dred Scott Decision.
These UNL fans are a riot. It doesn’t take much to get them going.
Its a fun little game for Mike. Whenever he gets bored he can just write some meaningless blather that sheds an ounce of negative light on the Nebraska football program and they come running.
Garth, you know me too well.
It amuses the rest of us (myself included) as well.