Nebraska vs. Northwestern: Aer Lingus College Football Classic preview and prediction

This week, Big Ten expansion reaches all the way to Ireland.

Nebraska and Northwestern get a one-week head start to the season, kicking off 2022 on Saturday at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium.

It’ll be a different feel for those in the stands and on the field. Aviva is the home to Ireland’s national soccer and rugby teams, and drew its largest crowd for a Michael Bublé concert. Northwestern has never played a game outside of the United States, and Nebraska hasn’t traveled overseas since a 1992 bowl game in Japan.

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This game, dubbed the Aer Lingus College Football Classic after Ireland’s national airline — presumably no one arrived via steamship — was originally scheduled between Nebraska and Illinois in 2021. COVID downgraded the location of that game from Dublin to Champaign, which the Illini won in Bret Bielema’s debut last season.

It can be argued that the Irish have contributed too much to American culture to be handed a pair of 3-9 football teams in return. But the concept is so novel — it’s the first American football game in Ireland since Boston College played Georgia Tech in 2016 — that no one is likely to notice this isn’t exactly a Top-25 matchup.

Plus, the 2021 Cornhuskers were literally like no 3-9 team in college football history. Nebraska set an NCAA record in losing 8 one-possession games.

Scott Frost’s second chance

Scott Frost is looking to get this year started on a better foot because he needs it.

Nebraska hasn’t made a bowl game in 5 seasons, which was once unthinkable. Bob Devaney, Tom Osborne and Frank Solich never finished below .500 from 1962-2003.

Had Frost not quarterbacked the Cornhuskers to a share of the 1997 national title, it’s reasonable to wonder whether he’d still be on the sidelines this fall. But legends get second chances. And with a restructured contract and 5 new assistant coaches in the fold, this is Frost’s second chance.

Irish and Nebraskan eyes will fixate on Nebraska’s new-look offense.

Mercurial 4-year starter Adrian Martinez transferred to Kansas State, making way for Texas transfer Casey Thompson. Frost’s most prominent offseason hire was offensive coordinator Mark Whipple, who whispered Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett all the way to Manhattan as a Heisman finalist last year.

A soccer pitch is also the perfect setting to see whether the Cornhuskers can actually kick the ball now.

Last season, long-time college football analyst Phil Steele rated Nebraska’s special teams unit 129th out of 130 teams nationally. The only argument you’d likely get from Husker fans is, “Someone was worse?”

Former special teams coach Bill Busch (2014-17) is back in Lincoln to renovate this fixer-upper. The Huskers also added transfer kicker Timmy Bleekrode (Furman) and punter Brian Buschini (Montana) to get a fresh start in the kicking game.

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A Son of Erin returns

Few names are more Irish-sounding than Patrick William Fitzgerald, Jr. And there’s little doubt the natives will be enthusiastic in their support of Fitzgerald’s Wildcats on Saturday evening locally. Which, from the looks of it, will be needed — Nebraska fans have arrived on Irish soil in midseason form.

Are you kidding me!!!? Best fans in the world. GBR. pic.twitter.com/wgdFbq6tky

— Trev Alberts (@TrevAlberts) August 26, 2022

Ravaged by graduation after reaching the 2020 Big Ten championship game, Northwestern dropped all the way to the bottom of the B1G West standings in 2021.

The Wildcats couldn’t score (125th nationally), pass (122nd in yards per attempt) or stop the run (113th). And that is how you pave a path to 3-9 in a much more conventional manner than losing 8 games by a single possession.

If the Cats are to be more competitive this season, it will start behind an offensive line returning 4 starters. Chief among those returners is left tackle Peter Skoronski, who is a potential all-American and first-round NFL Draft pick.

The backfield duo of Evan Hull and Cam Porter was disrupted last year by Porter’s season-ending injury in training camp but should be in full effect this season. Hull rushed for 1,009 yards in place of the presumptive starter last year. Splitting time, expect each to account for 800 yards or more this season.

A prediction: Northwestern 24, Nebraska 23

I predicted this outcome in my Crystal Ball season preview for both teams, so this is no time to back away.

Strange things happen in season-openers. Think Appalachian State beating Michigan, in the most classic example. And it seems like Week 0 is a chance for even stranger things to happen.

Nebraska hammered the Cats last year, 56-7. That blowout is how the Huskers ended up with the strange distinction of going 1-8 in the Big Ten with a point differential of 0. The lone win was by the same 49-point margin as the 8 losses combined.

And there’s no question Nebraska is still the better team here. But given the histories of both coaches, Fitzgerald is far more trustworthy with a full offseason of preparation than Frost. Just look to last year, when Nebraska lost to an Illinois team that was decidedly less talented in Week 0.

And since 1-possession losses have been a theme for Nebraska, it seems fitting for this game to be decided by the narrowest possible margin.

A loss here will create plenty of pressure on Nebraska AD Trev Alberts to change course before the season even technically begins for most of college football. But the Huskers will still be a bowl-bound team for the first time since 2016 — even if it doesn’t look that way in Ireland.