Husker schedule presents challenges and opportunities

There is no beating around the bush when it comes to Nebraska’s 2020 football schedule.

The Huskers face arguably the top three teams in the Big Ten in Ohio State, Wisconsin and Penn State over the first four weeks. No other team in the Big Ten will take on a more challenging opening stretch.

There are two ways to look at the schedule. You can either make excuses and blame the Big Ten for the tough draw or look at it as an opportunity.

“To be the best, you have to beat the best,” senior outside linebacker JoJo Domann said on Tuesday. “We are given an unbelievable opportunity to not only play football but now play against the highest quality teams in our conference off the rip. We are excited about the challenge and we’ll be ready to go”

There's also a school of thought that maybe it's better to get top teams early on, rather than later in the schedule.

Last week we saw Kansas State go into Oklahoma and knock off the Sooners, while Mississippi State won at LSU.

"You can make arguments on both sides," NU defensive coordinator Erik Chinander said on if it's better to get good teams early or late in the schedule. "The argument on getting them right away is they don’t have a game underneath their belt, but neither do we.

"Maybe they are a little rusty, or have some new guys in new positions, but so do we. You can probably make an argument it may be better to get them later in the year, but once again I just control what I control. They said they are going to roll that ball out Game 1 in Ohio, so we are going to play football.”

And with that said, Chinander looks at this schedule as a great measuring stick for the program.

“It’s a great opportunity for us for sure. Our guys are excited," Chinander. "The one thing that they did not want to do is play a schedule that was not going to have the best teams on it. They want to play the best teams. I want to coach against the best teams. That’s why we all came to Nebraska.

"We didn’t come to Nebraska to play a bunch of games that weren’t going to matter. We came here just like every kid did to play in big-time football games, and that’s what we got right away. It’s an awesome opportunity for us as a defense and as a team.”

If anything, playing such a tough schedule should also increase the focus level as NU puts on shoulder pads for the first time on Wednesday.

“The way I was brought up not only as an athlete but as a coach as well is spot the ball and put it down and let’s play the best of the best,” outside linebackers coach Mike Dawson said. “We knew who we were going to play. Everybody knew we were going to play the teams on your side of the (division), and we knew we were going to play Ohio State.

"Let’s get ready to get ready and we’ll know where we stand. We need to come out ready to go, and that would’ve been the same no matter what opponent we would’ve played in this league. I don’t think there is one that we would say ‘ok, you don’t have to get ready for these guys.’ We are going to work hard and get ready and do the best we can.”