Tom Dienhart of BTN released his “extremely early” look at the Big Ten West for 2018. He picked Wisconsin to win it - no shock there - but as for Nebraska?

He picked Nebraska #5. His reasoning:

5. Nebraska Good: New coach Scott Frost already is getting rock star treatment, energizing a fan base that deserves good things—but hasn’t gotten them often in recent years. There is some skill-position talent on offense. First order of business: Find a QB for Frost’s dynamic offense. Bad: There will be a transition period as the new staff incorporates its schemes, while also instilling a new culture. Does the personnel on hand fit what the new staff wants to do on both sides of the ball? Job No. 1: Get better in the trenches on offense and defense.

When you look at his picks for other teams in other positions, and his reasoning - it’s hard to argue...

Unless, you’ve already bought into the idea that Nebraska is going 10-2 next season, just because “Scott Frost is so awesome that players want to play for him”, despite the fact that our offensive and defensive lines were terrible in 2017, we don’t know who the starting quarterback is, nor how he might fit into his offense, or WHAT SCOTT FROST IS GONNA DO ABOUT THEM BLACKSHIRTS.

It’s just the start of January and already the Frost hype train is at high speed. I get it. We’re excited. We want to win. We’re going to talk ourselves into a lot of things over the next few months, but winning the Big Ten West in Frost’s first season should not be one of them.

Maybe beat IOWA and get to a bowl game. Could we start there? Get to a bowl game, Scott Frost, even the Pinstripe Bowl! I’d go to NYC in winter to watch!