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CBS Sports lists Nebraska among 5 CFB teams highest on the ‘hype meter’ entering 2019
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Though the inaugural year for Scott Frost at Nebraska didn’t quite go as planned, the hype train in Lincoln isn’t slowing down anytime soon. And, according to CBS Sports, the Huskers will be one of the teams with the most buzz entering the 2019 season.
CBS Sports revealed a top five list of the college football teams who will by high on the “hype meter” this offseason. It’s not surprising that Nebraska was mentioned, even after a less-than-impressive 4-8 season.
With freshman quarterback Adrian Martinez having a stellar freshman campaign, a top 25 recruiting class coming in and a full year with the players and staff working together, it feels like 2019 could be a big year in Lincoln.
Nebraska was ranked No. 4 on CBS Sports’ list. Here’s why the Huskers came in at that spot:
There’s a perfect storm brewing in Lincoln this offseason. If you judge Nebraska simply by its record, there was no improvement to speak of in 2018. The Huskers went 4-8 in Mike Riley’s final season, and 4-8 in Scott Frost’s first. That doesn’t tell the entire story, however. Nebraska started the season 0-6 before winning four of its last six games, and its two losses were a five-point loss on the road against Ohio State and a three-point loss on the road to Iowa. It was a much more competitive team over the second half of the season.
Part of that is documented in the team’s improvement in point differential. Nebraska went 4-8 in 2017 while being outscored by 128 points. In 2018, they were 4-8 while being outscored by only 15 points. That’s a 113-point improvement, and as I went over a few weeks ago, that was the third-best improvement in the Big Ten this season. Nebraska is also in the Big Ten West, which always provides room for improvement and was won by a Northwestern team losing a lot of critical parts. Plenty of people will expect a bump in Frost’s second year, and the Cornhuskers will appear in a lot of sentences with the words “dark” and “horse” between now and next season.
Nebraska’s offense was certainly more effective in the second half of the season, and the Huskers were just a few points away from winning games against Colorado, Troy, Northwestern, Iowa and Ohio State.
There’s no question that there’s plenty of reason to be excited for the future under Frost.
The other four teams mentioned on CBS Sports’ list were Florida (No. 5), Oregon (No. 3), Texas (No. 2) and Texas A&M (No. 1).
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB