How did Nebraska only win 5 games this year?

[Husker36]

From what I saw in that bowl game against UCLA Iowa is hardly any better than Nebraska....hence the question how this Nebraska team only won 5 games vs Iowa's 11...I am of the belief that bowls shouldnt even exist for 5 win teams....if u cant win half your games there is no reason to be in a bowl...but I understand these bowls make alot of money so next year we'll probably have 4 win teams in bowls

The problem is there are 40 bowls and there wasn't 80 teams with 6 wins

[Husker36]

From what I saw in that bowl game against UCLA Iowa is hardly any better than Nebraska....hence the question how this Nebraska team only won 5 games vs Iowa's 11...I am of the belief that bowls shouldnt even exist for 5 win teams....if u cant win half your games there is no reason to be in a bowl...but I understand these bowls make alot of money so next year we'll probably have 4 win teams in bowls

And to answer your question of how Nebraska won only 5 games vs Iowa's 11....... TURNOVERS. Nebraska QB 2nd in the nation in INTs.

[BuckyOne]

Here's the thing...before you unload on Stanford remember that you me and the rest of the world know if they play all out they will beat Iowa...but for them being outside the playoffs given their skill and golden ticket schedule has got to be a huge letdown...trust me no one at Stanford is pumped up to be playing Iowa....meanwhile it would be as good a result as Iowa could almost imagine (outside of beating MSU and getting in the playoffs) to knockoff Stanford and win this game bc lets face it Iowa wasn't going to beat Alabama in the playoffs anyway so they might as well go balls out against Stanford and end their season with a big bowl win and 13-1 season...for them huge win for Stanford win or loss who cares

Oh, No, I haven't backed the truck up - LOL - the mental part and who wants or is motivated to play is huge. There is a case that the scientific line would be 4 points Stanford. I do see the line dropping from a 7 to 6. Real interested to see if it drops further?

[bettilimbroke999]

Oh, No, I haven't backed the truck up - LOL - the mental part and who wants or is motivated to play is huge. There is a case that the scientific line would be 4 points Stanford. I do see the line dropping from a 7 to 6. Real interested to see if it drops further?

That's an interesting thing...the scientific line...I like that bc it applies alot coming up to week 17 psychology...where uve got some teams pulling starters playing to lose their seasons over just dont get hurt against a team that has to win...well that drastically changes the odds of winning/losing.

If Stanford/Iowa were in the playoffs I would say Stanford would be an 10 point favorite....but in this bowl I'd say it could be more like a 4 point favorite....just a little less effort and energy and the letdown nature for Stanford vs Iowa's attitude of penetrate we did better than anyone imagined is entirely different...Stanford is not gonna be as ramped up to run Iowa over as Iowa is to prove they can hang with Stanford and go 13-1 and honestly I think it'll be a close game but we'll see.

Someone mentioned something about how UCLA mentally checked out of the game against Nebraska after losing to USC....idk if that was true or not but there are some stats to back up that they personally view the USC game as THE game on their schedule and when they lose it they check out a little bit....now I think Nebraska played great and was the better team anyway but also UCLA seemed to have absolutely no energy for this game...I mean they just looked asleep the entire game could give a penetrate less that they loss. But perhaps there's something to be said about a season where your results are at or above expectations and a season where uve not gotten good results and end up playing a 5 win team in a no-name bowl

[BuckyOne]

There are a lot of handicapping ideas to review. Like Yogi said, " half of the game is 50% mental". In these bowl games - some coaches have excellent records in the bowl games - others don't. In some games, the seniors might be disappointed to play in a less than prestigious bowl game. Maybe, another team is tickled pink to get in a bowl game. I guess our job as sports bettors is to try and figure this part out and place the proper importance as the line goes - are we getting value or not???