The Weekender: Nebraska Falls Flat on Its Face in Dublin, Desmond Howard Makes Dumb Predictions and the Big Ten Might Not Be Finished With Expansion

By 11W Staff on August 28, 2022 at 2:35 pm
Oh, Desmond...
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Own the group chat with The Weekender, highlighting the biggest stories in college sports, standout writing from Eleven Warriors, and a glance at what's next.

Nebraska Fallout

For some reason Nebraska was pegged as a team that might win its division, or a majority of its games, or maybe even one single game which was competitive throughout.

Instead, the Scott Frost and the Cornhuskers made the nearly 12-hour flight to Dublin, only to lose yet another close game against an inferior (on paper, anyway) opponent due to a combination of bad play calling, poor individual effort, and a surprisingly tough Northwestern squad.

Frost is done after the 31-28 loss to the Wildcats, but the ridiculous “how” is much funnier than the obvious “why.” For example:

Frost put a tiny bit of blame on himself, but couldn't resist throwing his staff under the bus on the way out. At least one of his players was as delusional as he is, but the funniest thing is that this whole saga is going to have to go on for another month so Nebraska can save some cash.

Desmond Howard, Ladies and Gentlemen

And yeah, that's incredibly dumb, and we like to joke and meme about the guy, but let me put aside the snark for a second to point out that this is example #8782470136 of how lazy television sports analysis generally is. It's okay to have weird or unconventional takes on a situation, but this is annoyingly nonsensical, and it's less of an indictment of Howard (known clown) and simply par for the course when it comes to how the World Wide Leader rolls.

Big Ten Targets

Probably not a shock, but Brett McMurphy reported that the Big Ten is continuing to look at plundering the Pac-12 for teams, including and especially but not limited to Oregon.

Regardless of whether Notre Dame joins the Big Ten or remains independent, the league still wants to add more Pac-12 schools to help reduce potential travel concerns for USC and UCLA, sources said.

If Oregon and others from the Pac-12 leave for the Big Ten, the Big 12 has targeted Arizona, Utah, Colorado and Arizona State as potential members, sources said.

Frankly, I've stopped caring about what Notre Dame does anymore, so this handy guide from FiveThirtyEight was instructive in showing which teams might be a good fit for the conference in the future. Not sure that I wholeheartedly agree with Florida State, but North Carolina would be a pretty cool addition.

ICYMI

IT'S SAFELITE FIELD AT OHIO STADIUM, GET IT RIGHT

Yes, it's true, they finally did it. An advertisement at a sporting event. Is nothing sacred?

DENZEL BURKE HINTS AT BIG THINGS FOR THE DEFENSE

Griffin Strom writes about how Denzel Burke and the rest of the Ohio State defense is ready to go after it in 2022, and specifically, how different things should look. Get pumped.

MR. BRONNY GOES TO COLUMBUS

Maybe! It looks like LeBron James' son Bronny might be taking a trip into town for the Notre Dame game, so batten down the hatches (even moreso).

DON'T FORGET!

The Notre Dame game isn't the only big-time event coming to town soon; Eleven Warriors is hosting a 20th anniversary reunion event for the 2002 National Championship-winning Buckeyes on September 2nd at Land Grant Brewing, and you can be there! Just a few tickets remain, so check it out!

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