Nebraska Football: Ranking Cornhuskers’ 2020 opponents by toughness

If there’s one non-conference opponent Nebraska has to be worried about, that would have to be Cincinnati as the Bearcats are coming off an 11-2 season, retained head coach Luke Fickell and defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman and return 15 starters. Moreover, Desmond Ridder is back at quarterback for his junior year and the offense should be just fine despite losing six starters.

Defensively, this may be one of the best teams Nebraska sees all season as the Bearcats return 10 starters and had the No. 40 unit last season.

Cincinnati is the class of the American Athletic Conference and could pull off an “upset” in Lincoln to end the month of September.

PJ Fleck did a fantastic job with Minnesota in 2019, turning them from a 6-7 win team into an 11-2 squad, beating Auburn in the Outback Bowl.

Returning is Tanner Morgan at quarterback after passing for over 3,000 yards and 30 touchdowns and Rashod Bateman could be an All-American at receiver. Defensively, the Gophers ranked 10th nationally last season but they bring back just five starters on that side of the ball, losing star defensive back Antoine Winfield Jr.

Minnesota will be a Big Ten West contender again and, who knows, this game may decide who represents the division in the conference title game.

If Minnesota is just No. 5 on this list, imagine how tough Nos. 4-1 are.