Written by Tom Dienhart, BTN.com Senior WriterScheduling is everything in college football. And Nebraska’s 2013 slate figures to give the Cornhuskers a big advantage. Nebraska will open next season with five home games, not venturing on the road until playing at Purdue on Oct. 12. In all, the Huskers will play eight home games in 2013. That’s quite an advantage. Nebraska also played eight home games in 2008.
The extra home game came about when Southern Miss opted to sell back its home game to Nebraska, as the Hattiesburg, Miss., school faces a budget crunch and needs the cash. The game now will be played Sept. 7 in Lincoln, Neb. According to reports, Nebraska will pay Southern Miss $2.125 million to visit.
Here’s the full schedule from Huskers.com:
| Date | Opponent | Location | Time |
| Sat, Aug. 31 | Wyoming | Memorial Stadium | TBA |
| Sat, Sep. 07 | Southern Miss | Memorial Stadium | TBA |
| Sat, Sep. 14 | UCLA | Memorial Stadium | TBA |
| Sat, Sep. 21 | South Dakota State | Memorial Stadium | TBA |
| Sat, Oct. 05 | Illinois | Memorial Stadium | TBA |
| Sat, Oct. 12 | Purdue | at West Lafayette, Ind. | TBA |
| Sat, Oct. 26 | Minnesota | at Minneapolis, Minn. | TBA |
| Sat, Nov. 02 | Northwestern | Memorial Stadium | TBA |
| Sat, Nov. 09 | Michigan | at Ann Arbor, Mich. | TBA |
| Sat, Nov. 16 | Michigan State | Memorial Stadium | TBA |
| Sat, Nov. 23 | Penn State | at State College, Pa. | TBA |
| Sat, Nov. 30 | Iowa | Memorial Stadium | TBA |
I wonder what Nebraska’s Legends Division rivals and other Big Ten schools think of this. What do you think about it? Tell me below.
And any thoughts you had of college football being a level playing field should be further obliterated. In fact, college sports has the most uneven playing field of any sport in America, as some teams can afford to play eight home games while other have as few as five or six.
Imagine this happening in, say, the NFL. It wouldn’t, of course.
| About Tom Dienhart | BTN.com senior writer Tom Dienhart is a veteran sports journalist who covers Big Ten football and men’s basketball for BTN.com and BTN TV. Find him on Twitter and Facebook, read all of his work at btn.com/tomdienhart, and subscribe to his posts via RSS. Also, send questions to his weekly mailbag using the form below and read all of his previous answers in his reader mailbag section. |
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It worked for Michigan in 2011, led them to the Sugar Bowl against V.Tech in one of the worst BCS bowls ever.
Lincoln merchants will love the long home stretch. Mississippi State has enough problems and if this pays off the coach they just let go, all the better for them. Memorial Stadium likes home games. Luck of the draw this one season. I hope it is a successful season but on any given game anyone can beat anyone else.
Southern Miss.
Well, Tom. I don’t remember you commenting about how difficult the big 10 schedule was for Nebraska in their first year in the conference, thanks to the powers that be in the big 10 that slammed them with the most ridiculous schedule ever. I would say that they had this coming. Nebraska is a high profile team. Other teams want to play them, even if they have to travel to Lincoln.
Brian, Tom was too busy keeping up with Michigan last year, never mentioning their super easy schedule…
What about the Ohio State schedule, Leaders has the three easiest teams to beat, Penn State penalties will leave them a lot weaker than ever even with COY and Wisconsin who is a little down this year. If they add Maryland and Rutgers to the Leaders, BTN feells Illiinois will kick over to the Legends, then four of the weaker team out of seven. Legends get one of the weaker programs but still most of the dificult competition. Not too much concern over the difficulty level for Leaders vs Legends is there.