It’s interesting, for me at least, to see season projections for an upcoming season in April. Not only is the season a full 3 months away, most programs haven’t had their Spring scrimmages yet. Lots of things change through the late Spring & Summer, including who does & doesn’t transfer, etc.

ESPN, who has been known as having some of their own metrics, released their Football Power Index (FPI) on Wednesday morning. Looking at Nebraska’s metrics... well, this is interesting.

Nebraska is rated as the 58th team in ESPN’s FPI. According to this list, Nebraska’s win-loss ranking will be somewhere in the 5.5-6.5 area. That seems like a fairly low, worst case scenario type of situation.

Let’s go over each game with Nebraska’s win percentage, shall we?

Sat, Sept 2 vs Arkansas State 81.0% - Seems like a fair percentage to win for Nebraska. I mean, this is the opening game, so you have no idea what’s going to really happen. Plus, the Red Wolves were the best team in the Sun Belt.

Sat, Sept 9 @ Oregon 14.4% - This one is interesting to me, in that it’s that low of a percentage. It’s not like Oregon is bad, but you’re installing a new Head Coach that’s not been able to keep off-field issues from seeping in. Plus, there’s going to be changes in both sides of the ball.

Sat, Sept 16 vs Northern Illinois 84.4%

Sat, Sept 23 vs Rutgers 83.6%

Fri, Sept 29 @ Illinois 63.3% - these three games seem alright with me, especially Illinois. Nebraska’s not the best when it comes to blowing teams out of the water that they should defeat, especially on the road in the Big Ten.

Sat, Oct 7 vs Wisconsin 17.4% - So, at home Nebraska is going to lose that game 4 out of 5 times? I get Alex Hornibrook coming back and such, but Wisconsin is going to have another Defensive Coordinator to break in. I can see Nebraska a dog, but not that bad, but maybe I’m missing something here?

Sat, Oct 14 vs Ohio State 5.0% - I get this one as well. In Lincoln, probably be a night game again... Nebraska has to prove themselves.

Sat, Oct 28 @ Purdue 76.2% - Fair assessment here, let’s hope the last trip to West Lafayette doesn’t come back.

Sat, Nov 4 vs Northwestern 37.2% - A home dog vs. Northwestern that can’t be consistent already? Who knows what Wildcats team you get. Of course, if not for the Hail Mary to Westerkamp, the Wildcats would be undefeated in Lincoln.

Sat, Nov 11 @ Minnesota 40.6% - The PJ Fleck effect? I dunno, he’s going to have to mesh a lot of things for Nebraska to be defeated, I think. Mitch Leidner isn’t there to save him, so who knows what they will go to.

Sat, Nov 18 @ Penn State 7.3% - Another game I get the reasoning for, but 7% seems kind of really low, no?

Fri, Nov 24 vs Iowa 42.9% - New OC, new starting QB for Iowa, and the game is in Lincoln. So Iowa is almost a 60% favorite. Sure.

What do you think? Share in the comments.