Why college football should split from NCAA: Amie Just

The premise is straightforward. You ask me some questions — or vent your frustrations — about Nebraska Athletics. Any sport. I attempt to answer them.

If you want your question included in the next edition of the mailbag, find me on Twitter/X at @Amie_Just, Threads/Instagram at @_amiejust or email me at ajust@journalstar.com.

It feels inevitable at this stage, but I don’t like it.

I think we’ll have to see how the first year of the 12-team playoff goes and what the storylines are behind who gets in and who doesn’t. Are schools rewarded for playing major nonconference games? Or are they ultimately penalized for it after a loss? Are schools looked down upon for playing an FCS team? Or does the committee ultimately not care?

As it stands, the Big Ten has released the conference matchups through 2028. But that doesn’t exactly mean much to me because everything is always subject to change. Look at the Friday games and when those contests get moved. Look at how the schedule was set, and then the Big Ten had to change it because Oregon and Washington were added to the league.

I don’t imagine there will be an immediate change. But maybe keep an eye on 2026 and 2027. As it stands, Nebraska only has two nonconference games scheduled for 2027. There are three such games scheduled for 2028, though.

Selfishly, I’d love if Nebraska kept that Tennessee home-and-home on the schedule. Fun fact: the original contract for that series was signed by Steve Pederson (!) in 2006. The games were originally supposed to be played in 2016 and 2017 but were bumped to 2026 and 2027.

In my opinion, yes. Ten or 12 is the perfect size.

In my fictional world where I’m in charge, I’d have college football break away from the NCAA and do its own thing and let the conferences go back to being regionally based for basketball and the Olympic sports. Now, are there a ton of quirks to work out with that plan? Of course. Title IX, for one. But I think the money around college football has ruined a lot of other things that pertain to the smaller sports.

But there is no putting the genie back in the bottle. We’re here now and there’s not much we can do about it. It’s not like conferences are going to kick teams out. At least, not right now.

Up next: What the heck happens to the ACC? And how does that affect the SEC and the Big Ten?

I think he’s been as advertised. He was a five-star prospect for a reason. He looks the part. The passes he’s been able to make have been miles above what we’ve seen around here for a while. I don’t think it’s out of left field to say he deserves the starting job. Now, that makes the offense look very, very different from last year. (Not that that’s a bad thing.)

I imagine Nebraska will shift away from the quarterback run and move more toward a pro-style offense with Raiola as a pocket passer and give more of the running responsibilities to the running backs.

He will make mistakes. That’s inevitable. He’s a 19-year-old kid. But I think Nebraska will let him play through it. As long as the offensive line holds and the receivers get open (and the fumbles are to a minimum), things will be better than they have been in years past.

Now, am I going to project a 3,500-yard year for him? I’m not going that far. But I will say that he’ll have more yards passing than the last two guys.

This team has very, very high expectations for this season. Like, if they don’t win a national championship, they’ll be disappointed.

They’re the favorite to win the conference. They had five players make the preseason all-conference team. They return every starter from last season.

But, will the starters be the same? The battle at outside hitter is going to be fierce. 

Lindsay Krause and Harper Murray aren’t going to give up their spots without a fight, but Taylor Landfair was the Big Ten Player of the Year in 2022 for a reason and freshman Skyler Pierce isn’t going to shy away from competition either. 

The pressure’s on, too. This is the last ride for Lexi Rodriguez, Merritt Beason, Krause, Kennedi Orr, Landfair and middle transfer Leyla Blackwell — they all want a national championship.