I would disagree with that. We very well may lose one of those, but for NU to get back to where we want them to be, we have to return to winning the ones we should win.
You're logic seems to be running like this: A) Nebraska is going to bring back the good old days, which leads to B) so they don't lose to lesser teams, which brings you to conclusion C) therefore we won't lose to teams that we should beat. It doesn't work like that in the real world. In the real world, teams get upset all the time. I'm hopeful that the days of losing to Northern Illinois and Troy are behind us, but tell me honestly: Weren't you already thinking in September that there's no way that we could lose to Troy? Ex post facto, we always have a reason, which others would call "an excuse," for why what we thought couldn't happen has happened. Why? A new coach, a shaky team psyche, and a key injury led to an embarrassing upset. Okay, fine, but Ohio State shouldn't have lost to Purdue; they did. Ohio State was a dropped 2-point conversion pass away from losing to Maryland, yet we think that we're going to suddenly be so dominant that we couldn't lose to Maryland? Indiana was playing very competitively against Michigan (at Michigan) and Ohio State last year, they return a ton of starters and key players, yet there should be no way that they beat us this year? And on it goes.
If you think that Osborne levels of dominance are going to come back, it's highly unlikely. Osborne only ever lost ONE game to a team that finished with a losing record ('92 Iowa State); that's superhuman. I don't know if any other coaches have ever done that before or since, but it's rare. We seem to think that that should be our normal. It isn't, and it won't be.
I know that all of the folks here who want to believe that we're now magically on the same plane as Ohio State (and possibly Michigan, if they improve their offense to rise up to
our level) will think it's blasphemy to hear this, but here goes: We could lose to any of the teams below in
bold, even without any serious injuries or major issues as an excuse:
7) N. Illinois
8) AT Maryland
9) Indiana
10) AT Colorado
11) AT Illinois
12 S. Alabama
Those are four teams with more talent on their rosters than their records showed last year. All four have much more talent than Troy did last year. With better coaching (Maryland and Colorado both have new staffs), and if they're able to avoid injuries, there's no reason why every one of those teams would not have a better record than last year. I predict that Indiana is going to a bowl game, and their potential ceiling is higher than just 6-6 if they stay healthy. Maryland, Colorado, and Illinois all have the potential to win 6 games. I highly doubt they all will, but at least one probably will. Instead of phrasing it the way that you did--
"we have to return to winning the ones we should win"--what if I asked this question: "Is it possible that Nebraska could lose 2 out of 3 to Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Iowa, and lose a couple close games to lesser teams that are going to a bowl?" We're talking about the same thing, but you're starting from the perspective that we just
should win and therefore
will win games against middling opponents. I hope you're right, and we do. My experience says that we won't.