The Nebraska football team has been the beneficiary of quite a bit of hype this summer. Analysts are predicting the team is going to be in the Top 10 at the end of the year. Adrian Martinez is considered one of the favorites for the Heisman trophy.

People are even getting so mad about the hype that they are writing entire articles about just how angry it's making them. It's possible the Southern Alabama Jaguars just hit the entire Cornhusker fan base with a big dose of reality on Monday.

That team's head coach, Steve Campbell was talking about the upcoming season for his team and pointed directly to the Huskers as a game he was looking forward to.

In fact, the coach said the Huskers were the type of opponent that a smaller "up and coming" team would "draw up" to open the season against. That's not exactly the sound of a coach who believes his team is overmatched and guaranteed a loss to open the year.

Nebraska football now an ideal opener?

To be fair, Campbell's comments weren't as bad as they first sound, but it still can't be real encouraging to hear a Sun Belt head coach legitimately excited to be opening the season against the Cornhuskers. "If you asked me what time would you want to play, Coach, well, let's pick the hottest part of the day and let's play them. So we get Nebraska at 11:00 in front of [90,000] on ESPN. If you could draw it up any way you wanted to draw it up, that's how you would."

Campbell also called the Cornhuskers nationally renowned, according to Al.com.

Other comments from Campbell make it clear that some of his excitement is based in the fact that Memorial stadium is going to be a tough place to play and it will be a good way to judge just how good his team really is. But what he isn't saying, but is almost certainly in the back of his mind, is that this isn't your grandpa's Nebraska football team.

Echoes of Troy

The Huskers used to schedule Sun Belt teams as a kind of "sure thing" for the win column. Then 2018 happened and NU lost to Troy in Lincoln. Worse than that, they were thoroughly beaten up, trailing 17-7 at halftime in their own stadium.

After back to back 4-8 seasons and losses to Northern Illinois and Troy the last two seasons at Memorial Stadium, the fear factor just isn't there for smaller market schools anymore.

It's more about the excitement of getting to play in a stadium packed with 90,000 people. It's important to note that South Alabama isn't exactly a team that was a juggernaut in 2018. They posted a 3-9 record. In the Sun Belt. If Nebraska football is truly going to live up to the hype and announce their return to glory, they are going to need teams like the Jaguars to stop being happy to be coming to Lincoln to start the season. That seems like the best barometer of where the program is of all.
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