Cornerstone Printing & Imaging BS Poll

LINCOLN (BS) -- This season the Huskers will attempt to recover from a heart wrenching 2002 campaign in which they fell seven wins shy of the national championship.

The fallout since has been quite public. Bill Byrne bolted for Texas A&M and was promptly replaced by Steve Pederson. Three assistant coaches were fired, two others "retired" and one was reassigned.

In addition, Frank Solich removed himself as the Offensive Coordinator. In all, six new coaches were hired to restock the program. The new staff is young and hungry, with a wealth of energy and NFL experience.

Oh, and another thing... the jinx-ridden, all-white uniforms have also been sacked.

That's a lot of change for any program, let alone one that has enjoyed so much continuity over the last four decades.

As beneficial as the overhaul may be, our editors wondered if a different outcome in 2002 could have been possible.

As a means of scientific analysis, we replayed last season's entire schedule using NCAA Football 2003 for Xbox. The results were, shall we say... rather alarming.

Not only did our pixilated Nebraska team go undefeated and win the championship, but we also captured the Heisman Trophy and the majority of all post-season awards.

In fact, we duplicated this feat each season for the next half-century or so. Some might say taking it that far is obsessive, but we like to think of it as being "very thorough."

Still, we realize that our research will have little bearing on Saturday's outcome. All we can really say for sure is that the graphics and gameplay will be much better.

Then again, we may be tempted to pick up a controller during nerve-wracking moments and "will" the Huskers to victory. Again, some may label that obsessive, but we prefer to think of it as "sweetly delusional."

Anyway, the Huskers have their work cut out for them as they begin the season #10 in the 2003 BS Poll. Rounding out the poll is nine other teams ranked ahead of us.