Nebraska Football: Are the Cornhuskers on the Verge of a National Title Run?

Is Nebraska on the brink of a berth in a BCS bowl game? Is 2012 a "national title or bust" campaign for NU?

That seems to be what Nebraska's players are saying this spring. In a Sporting News article, many of Nebraska's leaders are making some bold statements about where they expect NU to be in January of 2013.

"If we don't go to the national championship game, I'll be disappointed," said Taylor Martinez. "I think we're all dreaming that big. We can definitely be that good."

Well, that's setting a marker. In politics, the key to success is expectation management, to make sure that you always look like you're doing better than expected. Martinez seems to be going the opposite direction.

That's not a bad thing, particularly in sports. If a player—particularly a leader like Martinez—doesn't believe his team is going to win every game it plays, there's a problem. Bo Pelini said as much in the same interview.

"I want them to have expectations to be the best," Pelini said about Martinez's comments.

But is there reason to think such expectations are at all grounded in reality? Or is this a case of what Alan Greenspan would call "irrational exuberance?" There are certainly reasons to be dubious of Nebraska's title credentials in 2012.

First of all, Nebraska dramatically underperformed on the road in 2011. Nebraska's best road win was against Penn State, facing a team that was without Joe Paterno on the sidelines for the first time in almost 60 years.

In each of the other three road games against quality opponents (Wisconsin, Michigan and South Carolina), a familiar pattern emerged. Nebraska started well in each game, ran into adversity and melted in the second half to suffer a blowout loss.

In each of those losses, Nebraska's offense had an all-too-familiar look of ineffectiveness. Last year, as opposed to years past, Nebraska's defense was not able to produce otherworldly efforts to keep the games close.

Also, 2011 saw the continuation of a disturbing trend under Pelini. After a dominating performance against Michigan State, Nebraska put up a clunker of a home performance against Northwestern, losing 28-25.

The same thing happened in 2010 against Texas and in 2009 against Iowa State, where NU lost a game at home against a team that ended the season with a significantly worse win-loss record than Nebraska. Take those losses away, and Pelini's career accomplishments at Nebraska look a lot different.

But to the team's credit, many players and coaches are acknowledging that they had trouble when the going got tough in 2011.

"There were so much expectations from us, from the fans and everyone else," said Cameron Meredith of last year's season. "But once we lost the first game, the fans started doubting us. Then we lost the second one, and I think we got down ... Handling adversity was probably our biggest problem, in games and in general."

From the quotes coming out of spring practice, it is clear that Nebraska was not satisfied with how 2011 ended. A number of seniors, including Rex Burkhead, Will Compton, and Meredith, know that 2012 will be their chance to define a legacy for themselves and their team.

And there are reasons to be optimistic about Nebraska's chances. The non-conference schedule provides some tests, but it would be a surprise for NU to come out of it anything other than 4-0. Wisconsin and Michigan, Nebraska's two main tormentors in 2011, come to Lincoln. Nebraska's game against Ohio State is in Columbus, but NU will be facing a Buckeye squad on probation and ineligible for postseason play, as well as a team in transition with new coach Urban Meyer.

Graduation hit Michigan State hard, so the Spartans NU will face in 2011 will look very different than the squad Nebraska handled in Lincoln. And Iowa and Northwestern will both provide road challenges, but not likely to the extent Wisconsin and Michigan did last season.

Nebraska will also have the benefit of a second year in the offensive scheme of Tim Beck. In 2011, Beck was learning the offensive coordinator position on the job, and some of those growing pains were evident.

Beck's decision to go to the air at the end of the second quarter against Wisconsin was a clear turning point in the game, and perhaps the season, for NU. Another year of experience for Beck as a play-caller, and another year of the offensive players working within his system, could pay dividends for Nebraska.

To be clear, a national title appearance—or even a BCS berth—is still an uphill climb for Nebraska in 2012. Don't forget, we heard Martinez talk about national title aspirations before the 2011 season, and Pelini told us that Nebraska's 2011 defense could be "five times better" than the 2010 squad.

But the fact that Pelini's Cornhuskers are willing to at least talk the talk, and acknowledge the issues that caused struggles in 2011, should at least provide the seeds for optimism in the Children of the Corn for 2012.

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