December 2007 the University of Nebraska hired Bo Pelini as their new head football coach. Given that Pelini has five seasons under his belt, I thought that I would look at the University of Nebraska's program using the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model.
First let's take a look at the production of the Husker's
football team starting with the 2008 season and move forward in time. Nebraska
finished 9-4 in 2008 overall. The Huskers were the #34 most productive team in the Football Bowl
Subdivision using my Complex Invasion College Football Production Model
Ranking, with the #17 ranked most
productive offense and the #92 most productive defense. All of this
against a tougher (strength of schedule (SOS) = 51.62) than the 2008 season's average SOS of 62.94. Nebraska's most impressive victory came against the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model #29 ranked Kansas Jayhawks (45 - 35) and their worst performance was a 30-35 loss to Complex Invasion College Football Production Model #47 ranked Virginia Tech.
In 2009 in terms of the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model the Husker's were ranked #16 in terms of overall production, which is an improvement from 2008. In terms of offense and defense, the team switched with their offense dropping to #53 and their defense increasing to #9 in the nation. Nebraska faced a strength of
schedule equal to 58.43 - which is average as compared to the average
SOS for 2009 of (62.97) and finished 8-4 in the regular season and 9-4
overall. The Cornhusker's
best win was against the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model #8 University of Oklahoma Sooners (10-3) and
their worst loss was to the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model #83 Iowa State (7-9).
In 2010 in terms of the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model, Nebraska finished the regular season at 9-3 and lost their bowl game to Washington to finish 9-4 during the 2010 season. The University of Nebraska finished again as the #16 most
productive team overall in the football bowl subdivision with the
#27 ranked offense and the #12 ranked defense. The Husker's faced an
average strength of schedule of 68.86 as compared to the overall league
SOS of 63.05. Nebraska's
best win using the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model was against #12 Oklahoma State (51-41) and their worst loss was to the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model #86 Washington (7-19). This was also the last year that Nebraska played in the Big 12.
The following season (2011) resulted in a similar end of season win-loss record (9-4) and saw a small decline in Nebraska's production in terms of the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model as the Husker's were the #23 most productive team in the Football Bowl
Subdivision with the offense ranked using the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model at #57 and their defense was ranked #16. Nebraska played
against a tougher SOS (37.54) as compared to the league average SOS of
63.57. Note that this is the first year that Nebraska played in the Big 10 as opposed to the Big 12 Nebraska's best win was a
(24-3) victory over #4 ranked Michigan State and their worst loss was to #37 South Carolina (13-30).
This past season (2012) the Husker's finished the regular season at 10-3 and lost the Capital One Bowl (as I predicted) against the University of Georgia to finish the season overall at 10-4. Nebraska again played against a tougher SOS 51.86 which is greater than one standard deviation of schedule strengths given the
"league's" SOS for 2012 of 65.53. In terms of the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model, Nebraska finished as the #35 ranked team overall with the #18 ranked offense,
but having the #75 ranked defense. The Husker's best game that season was a 42-13 victory over #29 ranked Arkansas State using my Complex Invasion College Football Production Model and their worst performance was a 30-36 loss to #36 ranked UCLA Bruins using the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model.