B1G 2022, Potluck #4: Would you drive all the way to Omaha for beer?

I dunno what to tell you. I really want a Runza.

Actually, let’s return to Nebraska beer now that I’m done being quite so petty, five years on from our ill-fated beer bracket.

In April 2021 a buddy here in the Twin Cities who is positively infatuated with Lincoln-based Zipline Brewing Co. called me with a proposition: if we both got COVID tested on Friday, would I want to hop in the car with him at 7am on a Saturday morning, drive to Omaha, hit the taproom, pick up some cases of Zipline, and drive back to the Twin Cities?

I said yes, for some reason.

It was ludicrous and there was no damn good reason for it (the beer was fine but, like…we could’ve stopped at a grocery store in Des Moines or something, I’ll bet? I don’t know why we NEEDED to drive to Omaha). But the taproom in west Omaha was nice, we had fun as we drove, and…yeah!

So, writers:

1. Had Zipline or any Nebraska beer you’d like to show some love?

2. What’s the farthest or the dumbest you’ve gone for beer?

Kind of…: All due respect to Nebraska, but I don’t associate it with beer and I couldn’t tell you for a fact that I’ve ever had any Nebraska brewed beer. I probably have, but I have no idea what it was. This is awkward, but it’s partly Nebraska’s fault so let’s just find a new topic.

Buffkomodo: I’ve never ingested any alcohol from Nebraska to my knowledge. That said, zip lining while boozing sounds amazingly fun. I wonder what those insurance premiums would be. What were we talking about?

I never went, but some in college some friends would often drive to Ohio to get cases of Yuengling. It was treated as a delicacy in college. The local liquor store has since began carrying the stuff. Good move Gay’s. Good move.

Green Akers: I did try some Zipline on a road trip that went through Nebraska a couple of years ago, it’s good stuff but I don’t know about Drive To Omaha From Twin Cities good. Fortunately, Michigan’s craft beer scene is robust enough that I’ve never felt the need to road trip for something drinkable, but whenever I’m driving more than a couple hours away I do a little research to see what I can see.

Thumpasaurus: After searching my extensive Untapp’d history, I can find only one review of a Nebraska beer (yes I individually searched every brewery Wikipedia lists)

It would seem that during the 2017 World Expo of Beer in Frankenmuth, MI, I was none too pleased with the Brunette Nut Brown Ale by Papillion’s Nebraska Brewing Company. I commented that I’d rather listen to metal than drink it.

Certainly my Nebraska beer experience has nowhere to go from here but up.

Surprisingly, I have not gone particularly far out of my way for beer, but I have insisted on finding microbreweries in places like Hawaii, and even more remote locations like rural Pennsylvania. INU Island Ales on O’ahu produced a coffee stout that absolutely floored me.

I’ve started to plaster my homebrew fridge with stickers from every brewery I visit, but I forget at roughly half of them.

Football: Predictions

This is about as good a Big Ten crossover as you can hope for if you’re a Nebraska Cornhuskers fan, and it’s a light ⅔ of the non-conference schedule:

Outside the tricky nature of a Friday night in Piscataway, this is a Huskers team that SHOULD enter mid-October 3-0 in the Big Ten and 5-1 overall.

Writers:

1. How do the Huskers finish in 2022? Show your work.

2. If you could play one non-conference game out of the country, where would you play it and why would it be a random game in Ireland between two teams that have no connection to Ireland?

WSR: 3-9.

Kind of…: I get all the doomsaying from our Nebraska “writers” and, really, from almost all of our “writers.” The Scott Frost era has been very disappointing so far. I guess I’m going out on a limb, but I really don’t think I am, so, just clip and save what follows, as either it’s going to get thrown in my face in December, or I’ll be puffing my chest out.

Nebraska is going to be pretty good this year.

First, don’t project any major improvements on offense or defense. Just assume better special teams, and luck evening out. Hell, run last year back 100 times and Nebraska’s median record is probably 5-7 or 6-6. [Reminder: they led Michigan and MSU late in the 4th last year.]

Second, OSU and MSU are replaced by Indiana and Rutgers this year.

It’s weird, but with how backloaded the schedule is, it totally seems to me that Nebraska could finish 8-4/6-3 and some Husker fans might still feel disappointed if they go 1-2 the last three games.

Fuck it: 9-3/7-2 B1G West co-champs.

misdreavus79: I don’t think Scott Frost could have asked for a better schedule than this. Two of the bottom three in the East, only one challenging game in the first half of the schedule (and that game is a home game against an Oklahoma team that lost its coach and half its players), and two byes to compensate for the Week 0 game in Ireland. If Nebraska doesn’t turn its fortunes around with this schedule, then it was never meant to be. Regardless, let’s continue our exercise from previous weeks:

• Definite losses: Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa
• Probable losses: Oklahoma
• Probable wins: Purdue, Minnesota
• Definite wins: Rutgers, Indiana, Georgia Southern, North Dakota, Northwestern, Illinois

That’s six games they should have no business losing, two they should have a fair shot at winning, and another four where a win would be considered an upset. Manage to take care of business and steal a game from the top, and you’ve got yourself a good season. Let’s once again meet in the middle and say 8-4.

Beez: Start 7-1, lose last 4, for a nice, tidy 7-5 plus a bowl win.

Buffkomodo: 9-3 isn’t off the table. Should Scott Frost actually evolve into a good coach this year, perhaps you can even push for a double digit win total and a NY6 bid. Perhaps a division title even.

Should things continue to trend south though, or defenses line up a little differently…look for Nebraska to have a stinker of a year again. It’s impossible to see anything less than 5 wins in my opinion, but I’ll go ahead and split the difference and say 7-5.

Green Akers: I’m with Kind of. I declared they’d win the West on the pod and I’m sticking to it. Again, I can’t be arsed to keep track of individual game picks, but something like 9-3 (6-3) with the right tiebreakers gets you this godawful division. Remember, Nebraska Starting Quarterback, whose identity we don’t even know yet, is the second-best QB in the division. Let that sink in.

MNW: Doesn’t really take much time to sink in; for all his flaws, Adrian Martinez still deserved to be in the top three conversation in the West.

Give me 8-4 (5-4/4-5). I haven’t yet decided if the Huskers are going to be able to beat Oklahoma at home, but 8-4 feels completely in line with what this team looks like — a lot of the pieces there, but still no faith in their coaching to get it done.

Thumpasaurus: I think they should absolutely start 3-0 and have a non-zero chance at starting 6-0.

At this point, I will become conflicted because they will be in position to join the 2011 Fighting Illini in infamy, and I don’t know if I want to share the honor or not. After all, it’s ours and ours alone. The second game in the back six is, however, against the keeper of the 6-0 to 6-6 legacy, so whatever Illinois decides is how I shall abide. Never mind 2016 Baylor did the Ron Zook Roller Coaster already so now it’s just us and Baylor, which means I will ENTHUSIASTICALLY cheer for the Huskers to join us so that they can get in a shouting match with Baylor, freeing Illinois to return to our natural state of sullen introspection.