The Unknowables: Can NU actually be a surprise this time?

Every team has the potential to exceed expectations this time of year, but can Nebraska actually do it? Maybe for the first time since joining the Big Ten?

Courtesy Nebraska Athletics

What result for Nebraska football in 2024 would surprise you? Don’t answer yet.

Important point of clarification: I’m limiting “surprise” here to its positive connotation. If, say, a Nebraska team that had appeared in back-to-back conference championships games and was picked as the Big Ten favorite in, I don’t know, it’s first year in the league but then failed to make the conference championship game, maybe you’d consider that a negative surprise. For this purpose, we’ll just call that a “disappointment.”

On Wednesday, Nebraska officially left the offseason behind with its first practice of fall camp. It was a good offseason to be a Husker. This team begins the year stock up, almost expected to be surprisingly good. If a team can’t look virtually unbeatable (Georgia, Ohio State, et al), surprisingly good is the next best thing. It’s a different challenge than the title favorites face, but maybe an advantage?

“I love where we’re at,” Matt Rhule said of the Huskers sitting outside the top 25 in an interview with Pat McAfee last week. “I kind of like being able to sneak up on people and be the team that no one’s really sure about. You don’t have that very long. Once you establish yourself, everybody’s gunning for you. But for right now, we’ll hide under the radar.”

While the season may have begun, technically, we’re still 30 days out from Nebraska starting to answer what “surprising” looks like. Every team, no matter what the consensus expectation for it is, believes it’ll be better. This is the last and biggest Unknowable of the offseason: Are the Huskers ready to exceed expectations?

I’ll offer my answer to that later, but since we have 30 days, I need to pose another question first: Has Nebraska ever had a surprising season since joining the Big Ten in 2011?