One college football team won at least 100 games from 1993-2001: Nebraska. The Huskers dominated the sport for nine years, winning 102 of 114 games (.895), five conference championships, and three national championships. That's not a blip; that's a legitimate sample size, as are the most recent nine years.
Nebraska was ranked 10th in the preseason AP top 25 entering the 2011 season, their first as a Big Ten member. They climbed to eighth with a 4-0 start before falling to 24th in the final rankings. They tumbled again in 2012: No. 17 in the preseason rankings to No. 25 in the final rankings. Again in 2013: No. 18 to unranked. And again in 2014: No. 22 to unranked.
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Finally, after five straight years of finishing worse than their preseason ranking, most AP voters stopped gifting Nebraska the benefit of the doubt and didn't rank them in the preseason top 25. And then Scott Frost arrived, the Huskers spanked a terrible Illinois team in November, and voters opened wide for the Kool-Aid, awarding Nebraska 154 points and a No. 24 ranking in the 2019 preseason poll.
After a five-win dud in 2019, Nebraska ranks 52nd among all FBS teams in winning percentage over the last nine years. They're six games under .500 since 2015, have one above-.500 Big Ten record since 2014, lost eight games in a row in 2017 for the first time in program history, and haven't truly contended for a divisional title since 2012.
That's a legitimate sample size.
Nebraska isn't a good college football program. They're a mediocre college football program with occasional blips of national relevance.
They're Missouri.
They're Northwestern.
They're Arizona State, North Carolina State, or West Virginia.
Those programs don't receive the benefit of the doubt. Since 2011, Nebraska has finished worse than their preseason ranking six times. In six of nine years, the Huskers failed to improve or maintain their preseason ranking. Since 2011, those five peers—Arizona State, Missouri, North Carolina State, Northwestern, and West Virginia—failed to improve or maintain their preseason ranking six times. In 45 combined seasons, those five programs matched what Nebraska did in nine seasons.
Nebraska dominated the 1990s. True dynasty dominance that deserves its place in college football lore. Boyz II Men also dominated the '90s, as did Wesley Snipes. And no one is wondering why Boyz II Men isn't atop Billboard charts in 2020, or why Wesley Snipes wasn't in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Nebraska is a mediocre football program and should be treated accordingly.
