One of the first B1G insults I was introduced to as a Cornhusker was, "You lost to Washington in your bowl game last season. You suck." Of course, this was usually some quality trolling in hopes of Nebraska fans responding with some mouthful of comeback along the lines of, "BUT BUT BUT NEBRASKA GOT SCREWED BY THE BIG XII AND THEY HATE US" or "WE DIDN'T EVEN TRY TO WIN LAST YEAR BECAUSE WE WERE OBVIOUSLY BETTER THAN WASHINGTON AND IT IS INSULTING THEY SENT US TO SAN DIEGO AGAIN RAWRRRRRRR!!!!" Both of these lines are ridiculous, but so was the line about Nebraska sucking just because of losing to Washington. I mean, I am not going to sit here and make excuses like a Spartan fan (I keed, I keed), but that bowl game was not the rule for Nebraska. Of course, the more I thought about Nebraska, the more I realized there really aren't a lot of 'rules' when it comes to bowl games.

Nebraska has played in a ridiculous 47 bowls going an okay 24-23. There does not seem to be a lot of rhyme or reason to when the team wins and when the team loses. For most of you out there in OTE world, you probably couldn't care less about Nebraska's bowl history. In fact, it's more annoying than helpful because it just points out what was and not what is and is to come. Even so, I am sure of the fact that Nebraska as a B1G member is huge to the national perception of the conference, and winning a game against the SEC would be amazing. In case you still don't believe me, I wanted to make a few quick points on why you should care Nebraska wins this game. You may not like the Red Hordes yet, but with a few marquee wins against Top 10 ESSSSSS EEEEEEEE SEEEEEEE SPEEEEEEEEEEED teams, you might change your mind. Three reasons rooting for Nebraska to win is good after the jump.

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Full disclosure, I hate Michigan. I have trouble rooting for the Wolverines under any circumstances that don’t include ND and I there is arguably nothing more satisfying to me than watching Michigan lose. When Grand Poobah James Delany decided Nebraska would be playing Michigan every year as division mates, I got really excited. From here until the next round of expansion, I would be able to fully root against the Wolverines, their stupid stadium, Hail to the Victors, the winged helmets, and the fact that they say GO BLUE even though that is most definitely navy on their uniforms.

To really drive home my hatred, I pondered just posting YouTube videos of Michigan losing in painstaking fashion, but I figured that wasn’t appropriate. Wait, who am I kidding? It's fun every time! Okay, moving on... I wanted to talk a little about where my hate really seems to come from. I mean, why do I care about Michigan so much? It's not like there is a ton of history between the two teams head-to-head. Why can't I wait to see Nebraska-Michigan every single year? Why does this game mean so much? Simple. 1997. Nebraska and Michigan fans are two of the smuggest fanbases in America. Both feel they were robbed in '97. Both are probably wrong. Still, hate is what makes this game so much fun. So I present you with a brief discussion of 1997 and take a quick look at T-Mart and Shoelace - two guys who are extremely similar.

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Look, I cannot come up with an angle for the Minnesota game. You’ve seen the animated GIFs, you probably watched some of it, and most likely you predicted a score in the ballpark of what happened. As B1G fans, what can you take away from this game? Well, little to nothing. Minnesota is its own worst enemy, Nebraska can run the ball, Martinez still looks shaky throwing the ball, there are stupid NCAA fumbling/passing rules, and Jerry Kill cannot catch a break. So yeah, pretty much Nebraska and Minnesota 2011, right?

Anyhow, since my piece about Ohio State never made it to the interweb (me and my internet provider were not getting along well with SBNation), I want to talk about something that deserves some debate. I usually do not like to talk about midseason awards, unless it’s Denard’s September Heisman, but after reading several publications’ view of who is the RB of the year to this point in the B1G, I started wondering why Burkhead isn’t getting more press. I know Nebraska hasn’t knocked the socks off of anyone yet, but I think he deserves a look as the best B1G RB because he’s been doing everything and has looked good doing it. So I’m going to take a stab at it. If my team is picking a RB this year from the crop of backs in the B1G, I’m choosing Rex Burkhead.   

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Let me start with this. There is definitely a Bigger Red right now. Wisconsin is lightyears ahead of Nebraska's football team. This is not a matter of semantics. This is not a matter of maybe or maybe not. This is just a cold hard fact. I get that. I agree with all that has been said about our defense this year. I agree that Taylor Martinez cannot throw a football. I agree that the B1G might be difficult to win this year. With that said, Nebraska is not the worst team in the B1G. I’m feeling a little better about my knock on Minnesota at the beginning of the year. I didn’t mean to completely offend a good group of fans, and pouring on now feels bad, but wow… tough year. Anyhow, far be it for me to not acknowledge the absolute beating that was applied by the current Sherriff, Bucky, and the smooth operation that Mr. Wilson seems to be running right now. I understand that history would suggest that Wisconsin will lay an egg at an inopportune time this year (say… Illinois? I don’t know, they seem to have a bag of tricks up their sleeves this year), but as much as I would like to blame Nebraska’s new favorite defense, "Allow-WR-To-Run-Past-You-Every-Time", Wilson and Co. might be legit.

I am sure to hear, "Welcome to Big Ten Football," for the next twenty years from all corners of the Big Ten, and each win for a while will only be because the other team was down. I have already been told by some people, "If you would have been here in [Insert Year], [Insert Best Team ever] would have crushed you." Kind of like if Nebraska’s 1995 team was here, they would have rolled, right? Anyhow, I am still staying the course that this is way more fun than the Big XII. There is one tiny problem I am having, though. It’s nothing I would have noticed before I got here, either. For years, I have listened to Big Ten enthusiasts whine about national perception and all that jazz. I have rolled my eyes when I hear that the media is out to get them. Usually, I don’t think the media is out to get anyone; they’re out to get everyone. Now that I am a part of this machine, I kind of get what you’ve been saying. No one likes the Big Ten.

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It is finally here. The week that most Husker fans (and B1G fans in general) have been looking forward to since that fateful day when Jim "CtR" Delany stepped to the podium with Tom Osborne and welcomed Big Red into the family. The day that was circled in red when the schedules were released. The game of the year when the talking heads declared Big Red and Bucky to be favorites to win their divisions. While I am not completely sure all the rest of the B1G 'family members' are going to be nearly as warm and welcoming as Mr. Delany, I still believe everyone is happy to be here. This Saturday's game represents more than position for BCS games, the Division Lead, or Conference Championships, this game represents why Nebraska was asked to join the Big Ten, and why Nebraska said yes. 

While there will be a lot of talk this week about why Nebraska is overrated and Wisconsin will pound them to smithereens because the Wisconsin Offensive Linemen are bigger (Did you know the B1G is BIG?), the Badgers are a more complete team (Bucky destroyed their opponents and Nebraska sucks), and Taylor Martinez is going to be broke into ten pieces (you know, because the B1G is BIG and all... just want to establish that point because obviously Nebraska has never had defensive linemen), I'll save the trash for the comment threads. No, this week it's is all about why the Big Ten is the best conference in the nation, and why Husker fans couldn't be happier to be here.

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The Huskers won this week, and despite a poor fourth quarter effort by the Blackshirts, looked fairly impressive against an AQ team. What does it mean? Probably nothing in the long run, but in the moment this game shows that Nebraska can score in bunches. Here is a fun statistic, Nebraska has not scored 40+ points in their first three games since the 95 season. You know, the team that gave the Huskers their FOURTH out of FIVE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS (as a sidenote, that team was really good... I wish we could have joined the B1G straight out of that run). Another fun stat? Nebraska is averaging over 250 yards rushing per game. This is what Husker fans like to see. 

With that said, it was kind of a bad week in Big Ten country. Ohio State, Michigan State, and Northwestern looked dismal in losses, Penn State and Iowa looked... um... interesting in wins, and the bottom half got some moral victory wins (special shout out to Minnesota, I doubted them with everyone else and they pulled off a win for Kill). Outside of Wisconsin, apparently the B1G is down. At least that's what the media would like you to believe. All that said, I present you with Nebraska - a team that is probably better than it has looked to this point, and the team that is most likely the best in the conference.

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I remember the first time I watched Star Wars. I was pretty young, and I didn't quite understand everything that was going on. Throughout most of that original movie I kept thinking, "Seriously, this rebellion is going to get its face beat in by the Empire. That Darth Vader dude is not messing around." As the movie progressed, things went from bad to worse. Han bailed, an entire planet was destroyed, and you wanted to punch Luke Skywalker in the face for being a bit whiny. Then it happened, the rebels got their act in gear, mainly because George Lucas had five more movies to make. Han comes back, Luke gets a bit less whiny, Darth Vader looks less invincible, and the rebels celebrate the explosion of the Death Star.

So what, if anything, does that have to do with this week in the B1G? As I think about what happened this week in the B1G, I can't help but feel like the rebel forces. The walls were closing in on us and the battle looked like it had been lost. Iowa, Minnesota, Purdue, and Indiana had been taken down, Penn State was obliterated from existence, and Ohio State was going to be sketchy. Nebraska came out flat and was down at the half, and Michigan... well, the stadium looked pretty at night. Then a funny thing happened. Ohio State did in fact win. Nebraska remembered who they were playing (kinda) and Notre Dame started calling the Michigan secondary playcalls (prevent defense with no assignments! works every time against high school teams). The B1G looked bad this weekend, but they rallied. With no further adieu, the sights, sounds, and stories for the Huskers this week. 

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I will be the first to tell you that I know very little in comparison to everyone here when it comes to the B1G. In fact, I've only really been following the B1G in a focused way for about 9 months. It has been a crash course on who's who, what's what, and why Jim Delany* insists on these terrible division names. Anyways, when thinking about how I can contribute to a B1G site's knowledge base, I've decided to give you my weekly sights, sounds, and stories. While I'm sure everyone knows most of what I have to say, sometimes it takes the new guy to make you appreciate (or start to not appreciate) what you have. This week was a snoozer for the most part (minus Northwestern, Purdue, and Minny... oh, that and the freaking monsoons that missed Lincoln somehow), but my thoughts and views on what happened are after the jump.

*Jim Delany insists that I apologize for making fun of his division names. Okay, maybe he doesn't, but would anyone be surprised if he did?  

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