Written by Matt Zemek at The Comeback
A year ago at this very time — following Thanksgiving weekend — Bo Pelini’s run at Nebraska was felt to be on its last legs. This turned out to be true primarily because of the friction Pelini created within the Nebraska athletic department. However, there was always a strong case to make that Pelini deserved to be fired on the merits.
“But he won nine games,” his defenders said. That’s a reasonable argument to make, I should clarify. It’s certainly valid and legitimate and worth taking into consideration.
What I like to stress, however, in a discussion of win totals is the composition of opponents on a given schedule.
For years, I have tried to make the point that a given record should not be automatically assigned a given degree of importance, the exception being 13-0. If you do that, you’ve done something special, even if you played a comparatively weak slate of opponents.
It seems to me that of all the win totals which generate the most debate and discussion, 9-3 seems to be the No. 1 seed of “controversial records” in college football. That’s a .750 winning percentage, and it conveys the outward appearance of strength.
Yet, if you look under the hood, you’ll see in many cases that 9-3 (or 9-4 after a bowl game) can be arrived at without too many accomplishments of note. Such was the case with Pelini on multiple occasions in Nebraska.
His 2014 season — also his last one in Lincoln — offers a perfect example.
Nebraska defeated an FCS team; Florida Atlantic; no-longer-good Fresno State; and an okay-but-not-great Miami (Fla.) team out of conference. The Huskers then beat Illinois; a not-good version of Northwestern; Rutgers, Purdue, and Iowa.
Bo Pelini lost to Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan State, the three toughest teams on Nebraska’s schedule.
The 9-3 record looked great, but its substance was minimal to nonexistent.
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