Nebraska baseball coach Darin Erstad looked at the 2012 non-conference schedule when he was hired last summer and thought it needed an upgrade. So he added California, a 2011 CWS participant.
He’ll have full control of the pre-league slate in 2013. And while speaking at a Nebraska athletic club luncheon last week, Erstad gave an early preview of possible opponents (nothing’s been finalized yet): Texas, Arkansas, UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton and Kansas State.
Why so tough? For one, Erstad said, he wants his team familiar with the nation’s best. How else are the Huskers going to make a run in June?
“No disrespect to the conference, but ultimately, conference titles aren’t good enough for me. We’re going for the whole thing,” Erstad said. “I’m not going to go out there and play Tennessee Tech A&M or Texas Kingsville A&M AT or whatever the heck they’re calling it.”
But Erstad’s also trying to reshape the culture of his new league, which is lacking college baseball relevance on the national stage.
“We can’t do this us alone,” he said. “This has to be everybody. So what are we gonna do? Next year we’re going to flip that thing upside down. We are going to have a top 30 SOS.”
Just as a reference point, Boydsworld.com — which has been mathematically analyzing the sport since 1998 — recently released its preseason strength of schedule figures for 2012. And it takes a while to scroll through the rankings before a Big Ten team appears.
Nebraska’s preseason SOS rating ranks 83rd this year, best in the Big Ten (Illinois is second at 107; the other nine teams range from 125 to 180).
The Huskers’ non-conference SOS ranks 66th — again, best in its conference (Indiana is second at 89; Illinois ranks 94th; the next seven Big Ten teams range from 110 to 170; Northwestern’s last in the league at 231).
“The thing that I’m probably most excited about is being in position to change the culture of an entire conference,” Erstad said. “It is my mission to get the conference to play tougher non-conference teams.”
If you want more from Erstad, watch this video. It’s his speech at the luncheon. Good stuff.
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Like the thought process and his willingness to be on the leading edge.
Very excited for Husker Baseball under Erstad. This could be a lot of fun.
Don’t expect the Big 10 to get too excited. Doesn’t matter how you slice it….the best of the best will stay in warm weather climates. When Huskers joined the Big 10………it pretty much ended baseball at NU…. at least in the Big 12 they could recruit better……….now… I just doubt it.
Hope Erstad has some good luck……
I am in the minority, but I think moving the the Big 10 will be good for NU baseball. The Huskers have a good chance to lead the league like Wichita State leads the Missouri Valley Conference. The Shockers have built quite a program in a conference similar in baseball stature as the Big 10.
Being a member of the Big 12 attracted attention from more Texas kids, but recruiting shouldn’t suffer as much as people think. Winning is good for recruiting, and the Huskers should win a lot of games in the Big 10. Further, Nebraska’s baseball facilities are among the nation’s best, and kids like good facilities. Finally, the Huskers enjoy a level of fan support very unusual in collegiate baseball. As long as thousands attend games at Haymarket Park, blue chip baseball players will choose NU.
Your either on head case MEDICATIONs or bloody well DELUSIONAL in a fuctional sort of way. Eh. Because ain’t no ” blue chip ” diamond players goint to come Lil’ Herbie’s way. dUh.
Damyum, y’all Lil Herbie bUba’s absolutely BELIEVE those blue chip mens basketball players or baseball players are going to attend the university in the small town Capital town, simply because of the success of the pigskin program. Go bloody figures.
Bottom line is Lil’ Herbie MCB and baseball SUX. In other words, there’s no LONG TERM success rate in either sports. dUh.
Again, is it Spring time in Lil’ Herbie-ville. See pigskin action, for instance. LMAO
macjones,
Who is on meds? Can you type in english please? What you put makes no sense.
macjones is a retard. What is with your posts and how you write? Stupid…….. Baseball is big in Omaha and throughout the state of Nebraska. The huskers have to keep the top tier players in state and pick some up from other states. I believe if you go back to the hay day of husker baseball the base of the team was kids from Nebraska and they produced. So stop being so negative and sounding stupid.
chris…as the parent of a developmentally disabled child I take offense at your use of the R word.
macjones…are you using British ebonics? ‘Speak’ English and people will take you more seriously.
This post is gibberish from start to finish.
MacJones why do you even contribute when you have nothing relevant to say? It is people like you that makes these blogs not worth reading. Society dislikes you, everyone dislikes you.
Todd, Wichita State has a LOT better weather in the early spring than East Lansing, Columbus, Evanston, etc. That said, NU does have good facilities and some recent success to build on. Erstad has his work cut out for him. Nice move to goose the schedule…the Big 10 certainly isn’t going to help the RPI like the Big 12 did.
No one in the Big Ten cares. They run real universities. Go hang w the bed bugs.
If they don’t care then why do they even have baseball programs? Dumb post is dumb.
I definitely think it would be good for college baseball if the Big 10 was more of a player in the sport at the national level. Despite my obvious fandom, I think it was great for college hardball when Oregon State won those two titles, and when teams like Nebraska, Creighton, Notre Dame, Maine or (going way back) Northern Colorado have gone to the CWS. You just want to see the national past-time played nationally at the college level. Good luck stepping up the level of your new conference.
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I will be in Corpus for the Huskers trip down South in a couple of Weeks. GBR
nothing else to do, how pathetic.
Kind of like posting on another fan base’s sports blog.
Macjones, Grow up and go write your garbage somewhwere else! ….. Todd, I don’t think the Big 10 is going to hurt recruiting that much. There’s no reason the Huskers can’t win the Big 10 every year. The problem is the MLB and those minor league contracts. The kids want that money. Nebraska’s facilities are top notch, and Erstad needs to convince these kids to come here. With his profile and connections to the majors this shoudn’t be a problem.
Big Ten “real” universities have much more to worry about than baseball, unlike this bedbug laughingstock.
Ken
Be a man and tell us who your team is. Don’t hide behind your moniker – step up and be a real man.
Glad to have Nebraska in the Big 10. Just fantastic fans. I do disagree when you say “There’s no reason the Huskers can’t win the Big 10 every year.” I’d be very surprised if Nebraska dominated the Big Ten. The conference is quite a big better than it’s national perception in my opinion. The depth of the conference has improved quite a bit in the last few years resulting in less than impressive overall records.
Recent NCAA tourney history of note:
2011: Illinois (only bid) 2nd place at Fullerton Regional; eliminated CSF
2010: Minnesota (only bid) 2nd place at Fullerton Regional
2009: 3 bids total- Minnesota- 2nd place at Baton Rouge Regional; Ohio St.- 2nd place at Tallahassee Regional
2007: 3 bids total- Michigan- Won Nashville Regional over #1 National seed Vanderbilt; Minnesota- only 3rd place at San Diego Regional but eliminated #8 National seed San Diego
Not talking smack just think Nebraska will not dominate the conference. I repeat that I am very happy to have you guys. Best of luck.
I like cheese.
Huge fan of American.
Ken…. let me guess your not the sharpest knife in the drawer r u ? get out of your mothers basement in Grand Island and learn a few things about life. First off I live in San Antonio, a two hour drive to Corpus. Secondly Corpus has a place called Padre Island. So what me / wife/son will do is drive to Corpus on Saturday watch NU play two games, spend the night on the beach, eat fresh ( not frozen Ken) seafood, and rent a boat for a couple hours. Get up early Sunday go fishing on the pier, and watch NU play again on Sunday. Sorry I had to explain this to you….. Now get out of your mothers basement apply for a job, and hopefully eventually you’ll be able to move into a studio apartment.
Grand Island takes offence to your comment. I say it’s Blair.
Sorry, your right… How about council bluffs ?
Agreed.
Sound like a lot of fun! Thank you for SUPPORTING Husker baseball. Fare-weather fans from Omaha won’t even drive to Lincoln for a home game.
Er….fair.
Darn speech recognition.