Oregon and Nebraska Announce Home and Home in ’16, ’17
By Peter Smith
The Nebraska Cornhuskers and Oregon Ducks have announced a home and home series that will take place in 2016 and 2017; first in Eugene and then the following year in Lincoln. This would be the first meeting between these two teams since 1986. This series was made possible when Tennessee needed to move their series with Nebraska to 2026 and 2027. Oregon just moved their game with Wyoming to a different date within the same year. Nebraska currently holds a 5-1 lead in the series over Oregon.
That said, these are not the same Nebraska Cornhuskers or Oregon Ducks. Nebraska has fallen on hard times by their extremely high standards and while the Ducks have not yet won a National Championship, they have been to one and been a perennial power in college football over the past decade with one of the most explosive offenses in college football. Nebraska went from having one of the most highly respected defenses in the country through the years with the ‘blackshirts’ but they have become a high powered offense with little if any defense in the past few years, despite having a head coach in Bo Pelini whose background is on defense.
The only real attachment these two schools have now is Oregon’s offensive coordinator, Scott Frost. Frost was the quarterback for the Cornhuskers when they won a share of the National title in 1997 along with Michigan. There could be a storyline here potentially, but with Frost’s success in Eugene, he may be long gone by the time these games are played.
Looking at this game now, Nebraska would look like a substantial underdog, but a lot can happen in three years to both sides and Nebraska is hoping they can build a better team while Oregon is hoping to maintain its level of excellence and get their first national championship. The immediate question for Nebraska is whether or not Pelini will still be the head coach of Nebraska when this game takes place or if they might try to hire Frost back home to lead the Cornhusker program.