Three takeaways on Nebraska's Big Ten schedule
Nebraska’s 2018-19 Big Ten Conference schedule was announced on Tuesday, giving fans a first look at the Huskers’ 20-game league slate.
Here are three quick takeaways of what lies ahead for NU once conference play rolls around in December.
***Nebraska still has two more non-conference games to announce to fill out its full 31-game regular-season schedule***
1. Welcome back, Saturday home games
From a fan perspective, one change that jumped off the page immediately when looking at the 2018-19 schedule thus far were the five total Saturday home games.
Along with non-conference Saturday home tilts vs. Western Illinois (Nov. 24) and Creighton (Dec. 9), Nebraska will host Ohio State (Jan. 26), Northwestern (Feb. 16), and Purdue (Feb. 23) at Pinnacle Bank Arena in league play.
The three Saturday Big Ten home games mark the most the Huskers have had since hosting five in 2015-16 and 2011-12.
Last season NU had just two Saturday home conference games. Two years ago it didn’t have any.
The five total Saturday tips at PBA this year already stand as the second most since the downtown arena opened in 2013, and with two non-conference match-ups yet to be announced, there’s a chance it could tie 2015-16 (7) for the most yet.
For comparison sake, the Huskers played eight Saturday games at the Devaney Center in their final year in the Big 12 Conference in 2010-11.
2. Three defining stretches await
When you take into account the two early conference games at the beginning of December, Nebraska’s schedule highlighted by three distinct sections.
The first starts just after Thanksgiving weekend when the Huskers travel to Clemson (Nov. 26) for their first true road game of the season.
That marks five straight power conference games in a span of three weeks: Clemson, vs. Illinois (Dec. 2), at Minnesota (Dec. 5), vs. Creighton (Dec. 8), and vs. Oklahoma State (Dec. 16 in Sioux Falls, S.D.).
When the team returns from the holiday break in January, the next key stretch begins when it goes on the road for three of its first four Big Ten games at Maryland (Jan. 2), at Iowa (Jan. 6), and at Indiana (Jan. 14).
The good news is the Huskers get six of their following nine games at home, with the only road trips being to Rutgers, Illinois, and Purdue.
But then the third and final notable stretch hits to close out the regular season, when NU travels to Penn State (Feb. 19), hosts Purdue (Feb. 23), then goes to Michigan (Feb. 28) and Michigan State (Mar. 5) before facing Iowa on Senior Night (Mar. 10).
Those final five games should feature at least three opportunities for Quadrant 1 wins, if not as many as five depending on how things shake out.
3. The résumé games are there
Last season was ultimately defined by Nebraska not having enough Q1 wins to make the NCAA Tournament, and the primary reason for that was because there just weren’t enough Q1 games on the schedule.
That shouldn’t be an issue this season, as the Big Ten is expected to be much stronger across the board and the Huskers’ schedule provides ample opportunities to pad the résumé.
The biggest difference is the home slate, as multiple potential Q1 foes (teams ranked in the top 30 in RPI) come to Lincoln this year and several others await away from home (neutral game vs. top 50 and road games vs. top 75 in RPI).
In fact, Nebraska currently has nine conference games against teams ranked in NCAA.com’s Andy Katz’s Preseason Power 36 rankings: Minnesota (2), Purdue (2), Michigan State (2), Indiana (1), Wisconsin (1), and Michigan (1).
The non-conference road game at Clemson and a neutral site game vs. either Texas Tech or USC at the Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City (Nov. 20) could add two more Q1 chances.