Nebraska AD Bill Moos 'wasn’t toasting champagne' when he saw 2020 football schedule
The Big Ten’s revised schedule for starting its 2020 season kicking off on October 24 was released Saturday, and Nebraska athletic director Bill Moos isn’t thrilled. Or, as he told the Omaha World-Herald, he “wasn’t toasting champagne” when he first saw the schedule Friday night.
After the Big Ten postponed football indefinitely in August, it reversed its decision and announced Tuesday its plan to play, along with its COVID-19 protocols. Each team will play eight games in eight weeks with the conference championship game scheduled for the ninth week on December 19.
The Cornhuskers — whose coaches, athletics department and fan base were adamant about the conference trying to play a fall schedule — will open the season with games against Ohio State, Wisconsin, Northwestern and Penn State. They also have Big Ten West foes Iowa and Minnesota later in their schedule. And aside from Northwestern, all those teams were ranked in the preseason poll.
“For obvious reasons, I was hoping we could dissemble the schedule because of unique circumstances and rebuild it to be fair for each school in the conference,” Moos said. “I was outspoken on that, to the point where they heard it from me every day. The rationale was there, I didn’t think we needed to follow it. Nebraska is playing five AP preseason top 25 teams. Ohio State’s playing two.
“I’m sure my friend (and Ohio State Athletic Director) Gene Smith is smiling today. His friend Bill Moos is not. I’ve got a good football team with a great football coach that deserves a break here or there to start getting back on track to being a contender in the Big Ten West.”
Although six Big Ten teams — Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota and Iowa — were ranked in both the AP and Coaches polls in the preseason, the conference is not currently included in the polls. The conference is expected to return to the polls later this month.
Moos added that he doesn’t “want to come across as the champion complainer”, but he takes issue with Nebraska’s Big Ten East matchups against the Buckeyes and Nittany Lions. Both were already on the Cornhuskers’ previously revised 10-game conference schedule from August but in the second half.
But Nebraska also lost division crossover games against Michigan State and Rutgers — likely significantly less challenging teams compared with their other Big Ten East opponents.