I agree with you main point. I'm not sure distance from home make a huge difference, but the amount of time cold weather teams spend on the field scrimmaging (ie. practicing at game speed, seeing live pitching on a real mound, situational pressure, etc.) in preparation for the season is/can be minuscule when compared to warm weather schools. I think that makes a big difference in the early season. Huskers had what, 1 scrimmage before the season started?
Regarding the crowds... I attended the last 4 games. Way more husker fans than Utah fans. Probably more husker fans than OSU fans.
IMO this team will "get it together" as the season progresses. I see signs of life.
On a slightly unrelated note...Oregon State can flat out hit. I think they will be among the best we face this season. Unfortunately we might see some of the others in Texas this weekend. So Basil, I'm not so sure we will know who we really are after this weekend either. It would be nice to play those 3 teams in mid-April and see how it goes.
Agree this upcoming weekend is agains some stud teams.
My point is that it is not unusal in my experience to have a completely different team following the first weekend.