Husker Guy

Nebraska's Offensive Ineptitude May Cost Ndamukong Suh The Heisman

2009-12-08T21:15:00.000-08:00

With the announcement of the Heisman finalists, the debate on who should receive this year's stiff-armed statue has begun in earnest. Should it be Toby Gerhart, the stud Stanford tailback who led the nation in rushing and scoring? Or how about Mark Ingram, the Crimson Tide's 1500 yard rusher who keyed the nation's #1 team to an undefeated season in the national title game?

I'm not going to bother bringing Tim Tebow or Colt McCoy into the conversation, as it seems that losses in their respective conference title games have seemingly knocked them out of position to win it. In reality, Tebow's decreased stats this season and McCoy's poor performance against better pass defenses is what set them back more than any one game.

Which brings me to Ndamukong Suh, Nebraska's All-Everything defensive tackle. First off, for those of you who don't read my work, I'm going to admit I'm biased. I'm a Nebraska fan, and so anything I say can be taken with a grain of salt.

After the Missouri game, when Suh's name first began to pop up in Heisman conversation, I wrote that for him to have a realistic chance from the defensive tackle position, not only would he have to continue to put up monster statistical games, but his team would have to win in order to keep him on the national radar.

If Nebraska has a banner season, there's an inevitable flood of media love touting their return to prominence. With that would have been coverage of Suh, the cornerstone of a defense that just two years ago ranked 112th in the country but now is #2 in scoring defense.

Months later, Nebraska sits at 9-4, a victim of an offense so putrid that if it were the offspring of skunks, even the parent skunks would have disowned them because of their stench.

The thing about 9-4 teams is that, well, there's a lot of them. They tend to get swept under the rug later in the season as the media inevitably turns it's attention to the BCS hoopla.

A look at Nebraska's four losses this season:
Virginia Tech, 16-15
Texas Tech, 31-10
Iowa State, 9-7
Texas, 13-12

What do you notice about those losses? Well, other than that eyesore against Iowa State?
Three of Nebraska's losses are by two points or less.

In the Virginia Tech game, the Husker offense managed to go from first-and-goal to punting the ball on a possession that included two penalties and a dropped touchdown pass and an 11-for-30 performance by Zac Lee that included two interceptions.

The loss to Texas Tech, while more one-sided, wasn't because of defensive shortcomings. The Huskers held the Red Raiders to 259 total yards, the lowest total in Mike Leach's tenure since his first game. Also, one of the Tech scores came on a bad Nebraska pass that was returned for a touchdown.

Against Iowa State, Nebraska's offense put up a performance for the ages. The Dark Ages. In a game that should have been a four-score margin of victory, the Huskers managed to turn the ball over eight times. Yeah, eight. Like, the number 8. Oh, and four of those turnovers came inside the Iowa State five yard-line.

Finally, in the Big 12 championship game, the Huskers managed a paltry 106 yards for the entire game, wasting a Hurculean by Suh and the defense and costing Nebraska the Big 12 championship.

The point of this whole rant is this: Heisman winners come in three forms.

One is the stat monster, a person who, despite perhaps being on an 8-4 team, puts up numbers that are so far above and beyond anyone else's that it catapults them to victory. An example would be Tim Tebow in 2007, when the Florida quarterback took home the trophy on the strength of having over 50 total touchdowns despite the Gators going 8-4 before the presentation.

This is where Gerhart comes in. First off, he's racked up over 1700 yards rushing and has 26 rushing touchdowns. Sure, Stanford is 8-4, but they've won some games in dramatic fashion, most of it while riding Gerhart's (extremely) broad shoulders.

The other Heisman winner is someone who puts up stats that aren't mind-boggling yet still are noteworthy, but fall in the best-player-on-the-best-team argument. Think Chris Weinke in 1999 or Troy Smith in 2006. Not that either of those players didn't deserve the award, because they both had great years. But would they have won if their teams weren't leading the national title conversation? That's tough to say.

Mark Ingram fits this mold, though I think comparing him to Smith or Weinke isn't fair to him, because Ingram is, at least in my opinion, a much better player than those two were. Also, he had a great performance against that stout Gator defense in the SEC title game.

The third is the guy who puts up ridiculous numbers AND plays on the best team, a'la one Reggie Bush in 2005. Sure, Vince Young put up quite a fight that year, but when a guy puts up 9 yards a carry and makes ankles break and jaws drop on a weekly basis, it's tough to top.

And so we come back to Suh. If Nebraska wins those three close games and is sitting at 13-1 with a Big 12 title, he rides the wave of Nebraska-is-back stories to a potential Heisman win, which would be the first legitimate win for a defensive player in history of the award.

Yes, I know Charles Woodson won in 1997, but let's be honest: if he wasn't taking snaps as a receiver and punt returner, the media doesn't let him leave New York with the trophy.

However, because Suh's offense plays with the precision of a drunken (and perhaps mentally challenged) surgeon, Suh stands little chance of winning. The media, convinced that everyone should be happy that a defensive tackle is invited at all, will award the trophy to either Gerhart or Ingram. Either of them are deserving choices.

But dammit, so is Suh. I challenge any Heisman voter to watch every defensive series from the Virginia Tech, Missouri, Kansas State, and Texas games and come away thinking anything but this:

The nation's Most Outstanding Player (which is what they are supposed to be voting for) doesn't reside on the offensive side of the ball. It's just a shame that Nebraska's offense couldn't help them realize that.

Nebraska Left to Wonder What If

2009-12-06T08:59:00.000-08:00

Why? Why does this happen? Why doesn't Nebraska just get blown out, the way all the "experts" say they would? Why can't Zac Lee throw for more than 39 yards? Why does Niles Paul drop at least one game-changing pass a game? Why did the Husker coaching staff put Cody Green in for one series on his own 2-yard line, only to yank him right after it and put back in the most inept quarterback in recent Nebraska history?

I feel like I'm Nancy Kerrigan after she got her knee busted by Tonya Harding's strongman. You remember the clip, where Kerrigan sits crying on the ground, asking in a horrifying voice....Why?
When Nebraska lost to Virginia Tech earlier this year, I hadn't felt that kind of wrenching pain in my gut for a long time. But that was a simple non-conference game. This was for a championship and a trophy, rewards this defense desperately deserved for carrying one of the moribund offensive units in the country all season.

If Nebraska had lost by three touchdowns, I really wouldn't be all that torn up about it. Hell, we were expected to get our asses kicked, so to see it actually take place would have at least been tolerable. Sure, it would have been embarrassing, but at least all of Husker Nation wouldn't be on suicide watch.

Instead, we saw a pantheon-level performance by the defense (and the defensive coaching staff) get wasted yet again by an offense that belongs in a local intramural league.

I don't know how the offense lives with itself. I know that I shouldn't be upset, because really what else would I expect? Zac Lee and company have shat themselves all season long, and this time they were against one of the best defenses in the nation.

But if I were a member of that unit, I'd be taking a long hard look in the mirror and be giving serious thought about buying an "I'm sorry" gift for every member of the Blackshirts.
For the third time this year, Husker fans are left to pick up the pieces after watching a game that Nebraska SHOULD have won.

Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda. Those words don't count for much when you watch a team go from BCS-bound to the Holiday bowl in the span of two plays.

Before I get to those two plays, let's stand back and think about just how unbelievable it is that Nebraska was even in the game during the 4th quarter.

Nebraska put up 106 total yards of offense.

106 total yards. On 55 plays.

That's 1.92 yards per play, or about the distance covered by walking two small steps. You would think just by pure odds and statistics that Nebraska would get lucky and get one big play to boost that number over the 2-yard threshold, but you'd be wrong.

There were people on Twitter joking about the Huskers starting the winner of the Dr. Pepper halftime throwing contest at QB. Another person said that the offense could overdose on Viagra and still be impotent. And they were right.

Zac Lee continues to amaze me with his inability to do even the most simple of tasks on a weekly basis. After the Blackshirts intercepted a pass in field goal range, the only thing the Huskers could not afford was a turnover. So what does Lee do on the very next play? Throws it directly to a Texas defender in the end zone.

The question here is, what the hell is Watson thinking with that play call? I can understand taking a shot when you are on you're own 30 and are trying to make something happen, but to do it when you're in field goal range is unacceptable. Hell, he's been watching this abortion of an offense all season, just like we have, and he should have known that 3 points is a priceless commodity when your unit smells like a burnt diaper filled with Indian food.

That wasn't the only atrocious throw Lee made. Earlier in the game, Niles Paul got a couple steps on a Texas cornerback, and Lee had about a 15-yard window to throw into before the safety came over to break up the play. If Lee throws that ball to Paul's outside shoulder (by the sideline), it's a potential touchdown.

Instead, Lee must have thought the Huskers switched to their colors to burnt orange, because he managed to hit the safety in stride on the right hash mark. Never in my life have I seen one team be screwed so consistently by one player, and it's been happening all season.

So when taking that complete ineptitude into account, it's astounding that Nebraska was even in the game, let alone 1 second away from winning it. The Blackshirts held Texas nearly 300 yards below their season average. They forced 3 turnovers. They harassed the most winning quarterback in college football history into one of the worst performances of his career, likely costing him the Heisman in the process.

Then there was the last defensive series. Nebraska had kicked a field goal to take the lead with 1:44 to play, and all of a sudden, the Huskers were one more stop away from being Big 12 champions. I didn't know whether to scream or vomit. Scream because surely our defense wouldn't let us down after this Hurculean performance, and vomit because over the past few years I have come to expect that the worst possible thing that could happen for Nebraska always comes to fruition.

So it was no surprise when Adi Kunilac, Nebraska's kickoff ace, managed to do the one thing he couldn't afford to, and sent the ensuing kickoff out of bounds, giving the ball to Texas at the 40. Even if he merely sends the ball into the end zone again, the Huskers force Texas to go 60 yards for a game-winning field goal.

Then Texas completed a 10-yard pass that was stopped by a horse-collar tackle, giving the Longhorns the 15 yards they desperately needed to make a game-winning field goal. With two bone-headed plays, the Huskers went from hoisting the Big 12 championship trophy to going to the Holiday bowl.

To make it even worse, the clock had seemingly run out on the Longhorns' last play, setting off a celebration that had been a long time coming for this program. Ah, but there was one second left, and that was all Texas needed to punch their ticket to the national title game.
And about that Heisman....

Any person who watched the game in it's entirety Saturday night can't deny that the "most outstanding" player in the nation doesn't reside on the offensive side of the ball. Ndamukong Suh had 12 tackles, 7 for loss, with 4.5 sacks. Read that stat line again.
It's downright jaw-dropping, only this has been the type of performance that Suh has been putting up all season except for one or two games. Yet because Heisman voters think that the award is a beauty contest, it will likely go to Mark Ingram, who is an incredible player but isn't the best in the land.

The only hope here is that the Downtown Athletic Club and the voters see fit to at least invite Suh to the ceremony, because no one player has been more integral to his team's success than him. If he doesn't get invited to New York, than they can take a baseball bat to that award as far as I'm concerned, because the damn thing is a farce.

The tragedy here is that for the briefest of moments, Nebraska fans were once again back in the spotlight they have for so long clamored for. For a few seconds, they were relevant again, a conference champion headed to the BCS with a defense that is (along with Alabama's) the nation's best.

But for some reason, the football gods decided that the Huskers and their fans have not suffered enough. Sorry Nebraska, you have to get off the field so Texas can kick both it's field goal and you in the nuts at the same time.

After the game, I didn't know whether to cry or vomit. To be angry or destitute. The first drink I ordered after the game was a double of Jack Daniels, and I drank it in a catatonic shock, unable to talk to anyone for a good half hour because my chest hurt too much to acknowledge just how close Nebraska had come to pulling off an upset for the ages.

It's a pain that I'm going to remember for the rest of my life, something I acknowledge is both depressing and, at least to non-Nebraska fans, probably pathetic.

But that's what makes Nebraska special. I don't have a pro team to root for on Sunday. I don't have a baseball team to follow during the summer, or a basketball team to look forward to in the cold months of winter.

All I have is Cornhusker football. To watch them lose a championship in the most cruel of ways is heart-wrenching, because I know that I'll still be lamenting this loss next July, wheres fans with multiple sports to follow can simply transfer their passion to the next one.

The Huskers lost by 1 point to Virginia Tech, 2 points to Iowa State, and 2 points to Texas. 5 points away from being 12-1, a top-5 ranking and Big 12 Champions. Thanks, Nebraska offense, for blowing a potentially great season.

Nebraska returns 16 starters next season, and may be the favorite for the Big 12 title. But that's not going to assuage the pain of this loss. I don't know if anything will.

A Boy Named (Ndamukong) Suh

2009-11-29T11:57:00.000-08:00

I thought that with the college football awards show coming up, it would be fitting to hype up Nebraska's Ndamukong Suh, given that he is the most dominant player in the country and yet somehow isn't getting the publicity he deserves.

And what better way to do that than by putting it to the tune of Johnny Cash's classic song, "A Boy Named Suh". And yes, I've actually been practicing this on my guitar to play for my Husker-hating friends.

Deep in the middle of the nation's heartland
stands a massive mountain of a man
it takes three men just to make him move.
He leaves lines and QBs terrified
offensive coordinators can't help but cry
When they try to stop the Boy Named Suh

Across the Big 12 they run in fear
from the man who's name means House of Spears
and the fun part is there's not a damn thing they can do.
With a wingspan that measures three miles wide
and a tenacity that never subsides
There ain't no way of stopping the Boy Named Suh

He came to Lincoln from way out west
there ain't no doubt that he's the nation's best
and I'm talking bout the boys in Florida and Texas too
he may not carry or throw the ball
but come April he'll go trump 'em all
when the draft 'rolls round they'll all want the Boy Named Suh

It's a shame the media loves the O
because every opposing coach knows
the best player in the land's helmet bears an "N"
he carries a whole state on his back
batting down passes and racking up sacks
and if he doesn't get a Heisman invite, it's a sin

the tragedy is we know he won't
because the writers are nothing but dolts
who never gives the defensive guys their due.
But the talking heads can say what they want
and when I say this I don't mean to be blunt
but the best damn player in the country is Ndamukong Suh!

Things I Am Thankful For as a Husker Fan

2009-11-27T14:06:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry for my lack of writing as of late, but that will tend to happen when you go from being unemployed and having all the time in the world to working 60 hours a week and being too exhausted to do anything when you get home.

That said, in times like these, I'm just thankful to have a reason to get out of bed in the morning, considering there are so many people who wake up and wonder if they are going to be able to find a job that day. I'm especially fortunate because I only have myself to support. My heart aches for the man who has three kids and a wife and doesn't know how he's going to feed them that night.

We as a populace are extremely fortunate to live in the United States, even if we aren't kicking ass and taking names like we have in the past. Times are tough, but even through the darkest of hours, there are silver linings to be found.

Which is why I'm going to move on to a brighter subject. I started thinking, after the Callahan years, there is so much going on in Nebraska football right now that we are fortunate to be witnessing. So why not compile an impromptu list of things that we, as Husker fans, can say thanks for this week?

The Huskers Play in The Big 12 North

The North has long been the whipping boy of the conference, the ugly sister to the glamourous and star-studded Southern division.

They have Bob Stoops and Mack Brown. We have guys who resemble the Goodyear blimp (Mangino) and a humanized version of Lord Voldemort (Bo Pelini).

They have Colt McCoy and Sam Bradford, we have Joe Ganz and Todd Reesing. And it's not just recently, this goes back through pretty much the entire decade of the 2000's.

But this year, the North went from putrid to downright offensive. The lack of good or even decent teams is appalling, especially considering how good Kansas and Missouri were just two seasons ago. So while I really do believe Nebraska is a very good team, there's no doubt they've benefited from playing in the local intramurals division .

Ndamukong Suh

He's changed the way I watch football. I've always appreciated good defensive line play, but never in my life have I seen someone single-handedly take over a game from the defensive tackle position.

He won't win college football's glamour award, but if the man doesn't get an invite to the Heisman Trophy presentation, you can tell the voters and the Downtown Athletic Club to stop giving out the trophy. It'd be an outright crime if the most dominant player in college football doesn't get to sit at the ceremony.

Healthy Running Backs

This cost us dearly in the Texas Tech and Iowa State losses, but with Roy Helu finally back to strength and the return of Rex Burkhead, the Husker's stable of running backs is again deep enough to harbor hope of knocking off Texas.

Bo Pelini

I thought Nebraska's defense would jump from 55th into the mid-30's range this year. Instead, Pelini molded the Blackshirts into an aggressive, attacking unit that is lethal, particularly when the opposing offense is threatening to score.

It's refreshing to watch, since for most of the Kevin Cosgrove era I was watching the defense play the catch-and-release method of tackling.

Alex Henry

Say what you want about Suh's greatness, but the best player on the Nebraska roster just might be it's game-changing punter and kicker. While he hasn't been as consistent on his field goals this year, Henry has flipped the field position throughout the season, especially in the Oklahoma and Kasnas State games.

Notre Dame Sucks

What's that? Oh, yea, I know this isn't Nebraska-related. But surely all college football fans are reveling in watching as the Golden Domers are relegated to another crappy bowl and a coaching change.
So much for Lou Holtz's prediction of 12-0 and a loss in the national title game, eh?
Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone!

Big 12 Title Aspirations Fester after Offensive Performance Against Kansas

2009-11-18T17:41:00.000-08:00

There’s a scene in the movie Gladiator that for whatever reason popped into my head after Nebraska’s victory over Kansas. In it, the Emperor Marcus Aurelius is talking to General Maximus about what people once dreamed Rome could be, a dream that was extremely fragile. The exact quote:

"There was once a dream that was Rome, you could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it would vanish. It was so fragile and I fear that it will not survive the winter."

I bring that movie up for a reason. For weeks, Husker fans have watched as the defense has carried a moribund offense through games against Baylor and Oklahoma. So putrid was the performance against Oklahoma, I thought that perhaps Nebraska had grabbed a local Lincoln high school team to face the Sooners.

Now, I understand that OU fields a great defense with some terrific athletes, but when the Huskers put up a mere 39 yards passing and gained the bulk of their 180 total yards on one Roy Helu run, even I couldn’t believe the ineptitude. But then I remembered the Iowa State game, and I realized that this was definitely the Nebraska offense.

However, against Kansas, for the first time, there came a faint glimmer of hope. Niles Paul came out of his shell, continuing his “I-tear-it-up-every-four-weeks” act that has gone on throughout this season. Zac Lee looked confident and efficient for the first time since the fourth quarter of the Missouri game. And a re-energized Roy Helu, with an assist from some power formations that we haven’t seen enough of, looked like he did against Virginia Tech.

Even the oft-maligned Shawn Watson, whose performance has been questioned throughout the conference slate, finally realized that to win he needed to play the hand he was dealt and stop throwing like Ganz, Peterson, and Swift were still around. Those double tight end sets, the option game (AND the option pass), it was as if a light finally went on above his head.

If Texas Tech last year was the game that the Husker offense finally figured out it’s winning formula, perhaps the Kansas victory is this year’s “Eureka!” moment. Zac Lee can’t throw the simple slants and outs that Joe Ganz could. But he throws one hell of a deep ball, which happens to suit our fleet receivers much better than the dink-and-dunk offense of 2008.

So the zone-read hasn’t been as effective as we hoped it would be. That is to some extent the byproduct of an offensive line that is erratic and inconsistent, and Watson made a smart move offsetting it by putting in a fullback and extra tight end. Is it as sexy as the spread? Probably not. But the spread is only sexy when you have the personnel to run it, otherwise it’s like Lindsay Lohan circa 2009.

Nobody ever accused the option and power run game of being sexy, but ask the man in the athletic director’s office if he cared when he was racking up 60 wins in his last 5 seasons. The best coaching staffs are the ones that adapt to their personnel, something Watson may finally be doing over halfway into this season.

Which brings me to the Gladiator quote. With the improved offensive performance, there is now a dream, something that has begun to fester inside every Nebraska fan. They don’t want to admit it, for fear it would vanish just as the Roman empire did. And that dream is defeating Texas in the Big 12 championship game.

That last sentence? I whispered it. Because what if Nebraska could pull it off? What if Nebraska has the tools to keep Colt McCoy and Jordan Shipley off the field long enough to give Nebraska a chance? The season has proven that with Nebraska’s defense, the Huskers have the opportunity in every game.

Hell, in reality Nebraska is only 2 plays away from being 9-1 right now, so it’s not as if they are a bad team. Sure, the offensive slump hurt, but the tools are there to make a run just as they did at the end of 2008. If the Huskers can use the power formations they used against Kansas and continue to slip in play action passes (and Zac Lee can continue to show those wheels we saw against the Jayhawks), Nebraska could maybe, just maybe, pull off something truly special.

Don’t tell anyone though…..I don’t want this opportunity to vanish.

The Big 12: From Powerhouse to Punchline

2009-11-09T18:48:00.000-08:00

My, how one year can change things.

At the end of last season, the Big 12 was considered by many to be best in college football, based of it's top-to-bottom depth and the insane amount of firepower in the South Division.

I can hear the SEC fans complaining already: But Florida won the National Championship over Oklahoma, your conference champion! Ah, but what about Texas, the team that beat OU but was denied a shot because of the Big 12's ridiculous tiebreaker policy? Who knows for sure if the Gators would have beaten the Longhorns?

In addition to Texas and Oklahoma (12 wins each), you also had Texas Tech at 11-2, Missouri at 10-4, Nebraska and Oklahoma State both at 9-4, and even Kansas finished 8-5.

It would be one thing if only the Big 12 North sucked. I mean, after all, people are used to that. But for whatever reason, this year the South has been dragged down as well.

Oklahoma, for so long one of the sure things in the top 10, has stumbled to a 5-4 record and is in danger of matching the worst season of the Bob Stoops era, when he went 7-5 in his first season in Norman.

Texas Tech, while no slouch at 6-3, stood no chance of matching last year's storybook season, when Michael Crabtree and Graham Harrell launched them to the best record in school history.

To it's credit, Oklahoma State is still playing well. Sure, people were quick to dismiss them as overrated when they lost to Houston, but it warrants mentioning that the Cougars are 8-1 and ranked 12th in the nation. OSU's only other loss is to the undefeated Longhorns.

Once again, the stench that accompanies any "Big 12 stinks" argument is yet again emanating from the North Division. The leader of the division, the Kansas State Wildcats, are a stout 6-4, with one of those losses coming to Louisiana- Lafayette.

Not surprisingly, the bulk of their wins have come against their equally-hapless competition in the North.

Missouri, the winner of the division the past two years, is currently 5-4, with all four of those losses coming against fellow Big 12 members, which is the exact same situation that the Kansas Jayhawks find themselves in.

Nobody is even sure that Colorado is still fielding a division I football team, what with most of his team apparently opting to play the intramurals that coach Dan Hawkins so famously condescended a couple years back.

And Nebraska, despite having a defense ranked #2 in the nation in scoring defense and being led by probable #1 NFL draft pick Ndamukong Suh, has managed only a 6-3 record in a year many hoped it would help balance the scales away from the South.

Me being a Nebraska fan, I have to mention that the Huskers are two plays away from being 8-1 right now: a blown coverage at Virginia Tech and any one of the 4 fumbles inside the five yard-line against Iowa State. That will happen when you have an offense ranked 84th in the country.

Unfortunately, there's that familiar saying about excuses: They're like assholes, and everbody's got one.

And so no matter what kind of way I break down the schedules, no matter how much I extrapolate on the parity in the Big 12, it can't distract from a terrifying reality: The Big 12 has become the Big 10 West, a conference that simply beats itself up until there's only one relevant team, and the rest, no matter what admirable traits they may possess, simply aren't that good.

I guess if there's one thing Big 12 backers can take solace in, it's that unlike the Big 10, at least we don't get massacred in our bowl games.

Script Is Flipped: Husker Offense and Defense Switch Places Over 2 Years

2009-10-29T20:00:00.001-07:00

Like any Husker fan, I don't like to dredge up memories of 2007. Nobody likes remembering massacres of Biblical proportions or watching Bill Callahan stand seemingly indifferent on the sidelines as opposing teams rang up the scoreboard like they were playing Madden on XBOX instead of facing a once-proud program.

While Kevin Cosgrove led the Husker defense to the septic tank of the NCAA rankings (including giving up 38 points per game), the other side of the ball was an entirely different story. In the last three games of that doomed season, the Huskers rang up 39, 73, and 51 points.

The fans were only left to wonder what the team would be able to do if they had a defense that could even play in the top 50, let alone an elite unit like the one that resides in Lincoln this season.

When Callahan got the axe and Pelini was hired, many fans were thankful that Watson was retained. The thought process was that with Pelini fixing the moribund defensive unit and Watson keeping his job, the offense would continue humming until the defense was on par. When a team's offense and defense are both ranked in the top 25, it's not hard to come to the conclusion that you're going to win your fair share of games.

Last year, with the offense still residing in the top 25 and putting up 35 points per game, the defense rose halfway up the rankings to the mid-50's, and that led to 9 win season and a (perhaps unwarranted) large amount of optimism heading into this season.

Halfway through, well......let's just say things haven't worked out quite as well as we had expected.

On the defensive side, the Huskers took another quantum leap under Pelini, jumping into the top 25 in nearly every defensive category. The only one where they still haven't cracked? Um....turnover margin. Having Zac Lee and Team Anvil Hands in the offensive backfield isn't helping that cause.

What has been stunning has been just how far the offense has regressed. It would be one thing if only Zac Lee was playing poorly. However, the fault can't be piled on his efforts alone. The ineptitude has been spread all across the skill positions.

Nebraska's offense now finds itself ranked 58th in the country, which is funny, because that's pretty much exactly where their defensive counterparts found themselves last year.

How did we get here? How on earth do we have the best Husker defense in 10 years, only to watch it completely wasted by an offensive stink bomb that nobody saw coming?

To think, if we had last year's offense was still here, we very well could be undefeated. I guess the lesson to take away from this article is that I really miss Joe Ganz and Nate Swift. Who knew Watson's offense would fall so far so fast?

Husker Offense: 7 Points, 8 Turnovers, Zero Hope

2009-10-25T09:18:00.001-07:00

What do you say after a game like that? What words can adequately describe such futility, such complete ineptitude? I find myself at a loss today, unable to come to terms with the nightmarish slew of mistakes I saw Nebraska commit yesterday in a 9-7 loss to Iowa State.

Christmas came early for the Cyclones, as the Huskers gift-wrapped a win for them and handed it over, again and again. We all know about the eight turnovers. Even more shocking than that staggering number is the manner in which they occurred. Fumbles with nobody touching you (Niles Paul). An interception thrown directly to a defender when no Nebraska receiver was within 10 yards (Zac Lee).

Four turnovers inside Iowa State's five yard line. Think about that. The Huskers were just a few feet away from winning this game 35 to 9. Hell, even if you only get field goals on those drives, you still win 19-9.

What initially was anger over turnovers turned to frustration. Then the Huskers hit the 4th turnover, and it turned to bewilderment. Once the 6th turnover was committed, it became disbelief. There aren't enough adjectives in the English language to describe the feeling that sweeps over you when your team commits that many back-breaking mistakes.

The real tragedy here is that the turnovers and garish play of the skill-position players on offense overshadowed a great performance by the offensive line and an even better effort by Ndamukong Suh and the Nebraska defense.

The Cyclones were held to 102 yards passing, 47 of it coming on one long touchdown pass. On 48 carries, Iowa State managed 148 yards rushing, giving them a 3-yards-per-carry average, which dips to 2.72 when you take away the 20-yard gain on a fake punt.

You have to feel for the Blackshirts, who put up a Herculean effort only to watch it be wasted by an offense who couldn't get out of their own way. During the game, I tweeted that the Huskers weren't shooting themselves in the foot, they were blowing off their leg at the kneecap. Which is true.

Shooting yourself in the foot is having a couple of bad penalties. Shooting yourself in the foot is having two turnovers in the red zone. What we saw yesterday was far beyond that.

I don't care what Bo Pelini says: Zac Lee did not play well. I don't know what game the coaching staff is watching, but the quarterback play yesterday was downright awful. Did Lee's teammates do him any favors? No.

There was a litany of dropped passes, and those obviously aren't Lee's fault. Niles Paul and Meno Holt, in my opinion, need to be benched for a game just to give them time to pull their heads out of their ass. And maybe learn how to catch too.

But how many more passes do I have to see go above and behind receivers before the staff is convinced that Lee isn't the best option?

I don't know that I've ever seen a quarterback who delivers the ball to the back hip of receivers more than Lee. Nearly every time he throws, the receiver has to alter his route to attempt to bring in an errant pass. I only saw two or three passes yesterday that hit the receiver in stride, and those are the kind of plays that this offense is built on.

An offense predicated on getting a few yards after the catch isn't going to be successful when the receiver has to stop and reach behind him every time. And it's not just the poor passing, it's the questionable decisions.

On the Nebraska's final drive yesterday, the Huskers faced a 3rd-and-10 with just over a minute to play and no timeouts left. It is OBVIOUSLY 4-down territory, meaning that you don't have to get all 10 on one play, because you know you're going for it on 4th regardless. So what does Lee do?

He throws it 50 yards down-field.

Into double coverage.

Luckily, Niles Paul turned into a defensive back (which he maybe should be one at this point) and broke it up. But the fact that Lee even threw that pass to begin with was mind-boggling. You don't need 50 yards there. Hell, you don't even need 10. You have another down after 3rd, and you can get whatever is left on the next play.

That play would have stood as the perfect example of why Lee must be benched. But then Lee topped himself. When he threw his final interception, I at first thought he had thrown it to a Nebraska receiver.

Why? Because there was nobody within 10 yards of him. It was as if Lee thought the Cyclone linebacker was his own teammate, because that's the only way you can explain a throw that hits a guy right in the numbers. There was not a single Nebraska receiver in the camera shot. That throw was hands-down one of the worst throws I've ever seen in all my years of watching and playing football.

The only way Lee could have topped that series of mistakes is if he had dropped his pants and laid a deuce on the "N" at midfield. I say that in jest, because that's basically what his performance the past three games has been. His play is so bad that I just compared it to a bowel movement.

With Nebraska now mired at 1-2 in the conference and in desperate need of a spark on offense, there is no choice: Cody Green must play.

Not only because of Zac Lee's ineptitude, but because, at 1-2 in the conference and 4-3 overall, it's become apparent that the Huskers must start building for next season.

Let me clarify: I am in no way writing off this season. The Huskers still have an elite-level defense, and in a down Big 12, there are still opportunities to do great things yet this year.

But it has become painfully obvious that Zac Lee is not the future at the quarterback position. Now is the time to throw Green into the fire and let him make his mistakes now, because it surely can't be worse than watching Lee kill the Nebraska offense.

Yesterday was very odd to me. After the Virginia Tech loss, I was devastated. There was literally pain in my chest and stomach.

After the Texas Tech loss, I was angry. I couldn't believe how poorly the Nebraska offense had played, and how awful the play-calling was

However, yesterday's loss didn't result in either of these feelings. I walked out of the bar with a sense of detachment, an odd bewilderment reserved for those who can't comprehend what they have just seen.

I found myself resigned to another year of irrelevance for Nebraska, the reality creeping in that this year may result in an Insight Bowl bid if we're lucky.

I have a little story for you, perhaps one that will resonate for Husker fans after yesterday's game:

Every week, my brother and I watch the Nebraska game at a Husker bar in the Minneapolis metro area. We always bring along our friends, who are Minnesota fans. We always give each other crap about the other's team. We have heated debates about the Huskers and Gophers, the Big 10 vs. the Big 12.

After the loss to Virginia Tech, they were downright merciless, rubbing it in our faces.

Yesterday however, there was nothing. They saw it my face: giving me crap was completely unnecessary. I already knew my team sucked, and they didn't even need to reaffirm it.

Welcome to Nebraska football in 2009.

Midseason Report Card: Suh-Led Defense Earns High Marks

2009-10-23T15:17:00.000-07:00

Crazy how time flies, isn't it? We wait for months through spring and summer for football to finally come back into our lives, but then when it finally arrives, we don't properly savor it. We spend so much time analyzing and agonizing about every game that all of a sudden we take a step back and half the season is gone.

Which is exactly where we find ourselves now. Halfway through year two of the Bo Pelini era, Nebraska stands at 4-2, and while that may be a one-win improvement from last year at this point, many questions remain.

A 4-1 start with a heart breaker to Virginia Tech and a comeback victory against Mizzou gave fans hope that 2009 may be more than just a stepping stone to a big 2010 season, but that momentum came crashing down in a lethargic and head-scratching loss to Texas Tech.

With six regular-season games remaining, it's time for a midterm report card.

OFFENSE

Quarterback

Well, um.....can I give an "Incomplete" grade? If Nebraska was in the Sun Belt conference, this would be an A+, but alas, that's not the case. As spectacular as Zac Lee was against those also-rans, he has been equally mediocre against everyone else. The more I watch him, the more I recall Sam Keller, who would stand in the pocket too long, freak out, and then dump it off to a guy in the flats for three yards. Or get sacked.

Nebraska now stands mired in a quarterback controversy, pitting a beleaguered Lee against true freshmen Cody Green, who has won the hearts of Husker fans with some spectacular mop-up duty and the fact his name isn't Zac Lee.

One thing is certain: whatever the outcome of the competition, it will determine whether Nebraska is playing in a New Year's Day bowl or the Alamo Bowl. For now though, the grade on this position is just barely passing.

Grade: C-

Running Backs

This position, led by Roy Helu, has been the one dependable group on the Nebraska offense. Another pleasant surprise was just how effective Rex Burkhead was in his first season of college football.

Unfortunately, the running backs have also had the most difficulty staying on the field. Between Helu's banged-up shoulder and Burkhead's broken foot (that will cost him the next six weeks), the Huskers have been stretched thin at the position. You think Bo might be regretting booting Quentin Castille right about now?

But this report card isn't based off of what-ifs or injuries, it's about grading the results, and so far, these guys have done a great job.

Grade: B

Wide Receivers/Tight End

What's that? Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't aware these guys were in class this semester. Or perhaps they've just been truant a lot. Either way, this was a group that, while admittedly a question mark in camp, had given Husker fans a lot to expect due to the amount of physical talent they possess.

As we've seen though, talent doesn't always translate to results. Niles Paul looks like Randy Moss for spurts, and then disappears faster than beer at a frat party. Curenski Gilleyen is equally inconsistent. And the most consistent performer among them is senior Chris Brooks, who was all but written off before the season started but has emerged as the most sure-handed of the bunch.

Then there's the tight ends. All through camp, there was so much sunshine being blown about this group that you'd have thought KC and his band had taken up residence in Lincoln. We all knew about Mike McNeill, but then we kept hearing about Kyler Reed, Ben Cotton, and Dreu Young, and how the coaches were scheming to get them all on the field.

But like their fellow receivers, these guys have been missing in action. The question is, how much of it can be traced to the inconsistency at quarterback? If Joe Ganz was still in town, would these guys still be having such run-of-the-mill seasons? It's doubtful.

Grade: C- , only because the Sun Belt games boost them up.

Coaching

The performance of Shawn Watson mirrors that of his unit. He is at times brilliant, mixing a concoction of diverse plays out of multiple sets. Yet, that very word, "multiple," makes me want to vomit. All through the season, we've heard that his offense is striving to be "multiple."

How is it then that it can be so damn predictable most of the time? As I said in my Texas Tech article, there are times where it seems as if this offense only has two plays, and that, as much as the inconsistent quarterback play, is what is holding the entire offense back.

Grade: C+

DEFENSE

Ahh, something actually fun to talk about.

Line

Downright dominant. Ndamukong Suh is an absolute beast, and he recently moved to #1 on Mel Kiper's big board for the NFL Draft. In his shadow, Jared Crick is playing spectacularly well, and he's been getting better with each passing week.

Due to the scheme that Pelini has employed (keeping quarterbacks in the pocket, not letting his d-ends get too far upfield), Pierre Allen and Barry Turner have been somewhat quiet this year, but against Tech, Allen had two sacks and I could see both of these players having a big second half. Even younger guys like Cameron Meredith and Baker Steinkuhler were doing pretty well in the Sun Belt slate.

The bottom line is that without this defensive front, who knows where the defense would be at this point. It is far and away the strength of the entire team.

Grade: A- ........and it only got a minus because I'd like to see more sacks. But that's nitpicking at it's finest.

Linebackers

The big question mark of the defense going into this season; this unit is long on talent but short on experience. The names Will Compton and Eric Martin may already be household names, but it's mostly because of hype, not results. Sure, they've made a few nice hits, a few nice plays.

But when the mistakes came, the experience came back to the forefront. Phillip Dillard, who was two tiers down the depth chart before the season started, worked his way back into the starting lineup and has become a calming presence in the middle of the Nebraska defense, even notching 12 tackles last week against Texas Tech. While the play of this group looks to improve, it's still very much a work in progress.

Grade: C+

Secondary

This was supposed to be a pretty decent unit, and while it has shown flashes of great play, it also has a few examples of truly bone-headed brain farts: the blown coverage by O'Hanlon in Blacksburg, several costly dropped interceptions by Larry Asante (seriously, at what point do you find some Stickum for this guy?), missed tackles by Prince Amukamara against Texas Tech.

No player is entirely at fault, as obviously the play of these guys is determined by the defensive call. That said, there have been many times where the secondary has been in position to make a game-changing play, only to blow it and see it carom off their outstretched fingertips.

Before the season, I thought the Blackshirts would be getting a lot of interceptions, but through 6 games they only have 4 picks, and that has to change, especially in light of how poorly the offense is playing. The offense needs more possessions, and if the defense doesn't start forcing more turnovers, it could spell trouble.

Like seemingly every other unit on the team (excepting the defensive line), the secondary has to play more consistent if Nebraska hopes to have a big second half of the season.

Grade: C

Coaching

Looking at the numbers, Nebraska has improved by leaps and bounds from last season:

Rushing Defense: 16th in the country, 96.5 yds/game

Passing Defense: 23rd in the country, 174.5 yds/game

Total Defense: 12th in the country, 271 yds/game

Scoring Defense: sixth in the country, 11.83 points a game

And while I'm overjoyed at the vast improvement, the thing that stands out to me isn't the dominance 85 percent of the time, it's the other 15 percent, the one polluted with breakdowns, blown tackles, and schematic screw-ups.

Bo has preached all season about living up to his lofty expectations, and it's these mistakes that he is referring to. Playing excellent ALMOST all the time isn't going to win championships. It'll win you a lot of games, and it'll get you to a decent bowl every year. But if this program is going to get over the hump and rejoin the nation's elite, it is these screw-ups that must be fixed.

And it's Pelini's job to keep on the players until they get it right.

Grade: B+ (This is downgraded from an A due to sideline antics and evisceration of refs...that stuff is OK, but not so often.)

Not "Back" Yet: Reality Sets in After Loss to Tech

2009-10-18T10:27:00.001-07:00

So much for going into the Oklahoma game 7-1. All the good will and warm fuzzy feelings from the win a week ago were effectively killed Saturday by a unbelievably bad offensive performance and the development of a quarterback controversy.

When you look at the stats, you wonder not only how Nebraska lost the game, but how it wasn't even close. If someone had told me that the Huskers would hold the Red Raiders to just 260 yards of total offense, I would have been thrilled. I would assume that it would be a 14, maybe even 21-point victory for NU. Which goes to show just how misleading statistics can be.

After the win in Missouri, many Husker fans (including yours truly) were so giddy about the fourth quarter comeback that we shrugged off what had been a putrid performance by the offense for the first three quarters.

Sure, we knew we had struggled, but we reasoned that when challenged, the offense would get back on track and Zac Lee would find a way to make the necessary plays to win. And really, if you look at his statistics from yesterday, you would come to the conclusion that he really didn't play that bad. He completed 16 of his 22 passes, after all. But go up two paragraphs and re-read that line about stats being misleading.

Because if you watched the game, you saw the same thing as everyone else: a tentative QB who seemed to lack any aggression or resolve to rise to the moment when his team needed him most.

Where is this "gunslinger" I heard about through camp, the guy who wasn't afraid to air it out deep? The one who was so confident he bordered on cocky? Because that's not the guy we've seen the past two games under center for Nebraska.

To be fair, it wasn't a banner day for anyone on the offense. There were drops, the most glaring one by Niles Paul. After batting down a bubble screen pass (that was actually a lateral) with the skill of a defensive back, Niles and the rest of the Huskers watched it get taken back by Tech for 6 points.

I would go so far as to say that the receiving corps disappeared, but that would be inferring that they had actually shown up to the game. At least Chris Brooks decided to put in an effort.

In addition to poor performance by the players, an equal amount of blame lays upon the shoulders of Shawn Watson, whose play calling had many fans scratching their heads. And by scratching their heads, I mean hurling obscenities at their TV screen.

Last year against the Red Raiders, Watson called a perfect game in a 37-31 loss that helped the Husker offense establish it's identity the rest of the season. Yesterday seemed as if he was experimenting on how to do the exact opposite.

When the Red Raiders gained a two score lead, Watson decided that the Huskers needed to throw the ball every play, which was odd because it was still the first quarter. Oh, and the fact Nebraska has arguably the best running back in the Big 12 is another reason one would want to continue to use the ground game.

I know Roy Helu was banged up. However, the abandonment of the running game was a harbinger of doom for the Huskers yesterday. Without an effective running game, Tech's defense was able to drop everyone in coverage because they knew we were going to throw it every time.

Even more frustrating was Watson's decision to try to run it when Nebraska was down 3 scores in the fourth quarter. THAT is when you start throwing the ball every play.

It was if he had a sheet of situational play calls for each quarter but accidentally put the "4th quarter, down by 21" plays on the first quarter sheet and placed the 1st quarter running plays on the 4th quarter sheet.

It was truly bizarre to watch a team that can be so diverse at times be reduced to running two plays. Those two plays were either a zone read (which becomes easy to stop when it's apparent the QB has no intention of keeping it), or a shotgun pass where Lee would dance around, become flustered, and either take a drive-breaking sack or throw to a (well-covered) guy in the flats for three yards.

Then there's Cody Green. To be honest, he didn't look all that amazing yesterday. He overthrew receivers. He seemed to be unable to take any velocity off his throws when it was needed.

But unlike Lee, there was no hesitancy. Green always looked authoritative on his delivery. He stepped up in the pocket with purpose and delivered missiles, albeit inaccurate ones sometimes. There was the sense that, even if there would be bumps in the road with him in the game, he believed that he could handle them. Lee has shown that he shrinks in those moments.

After watching Lee stumble his way through another hesitant and uneven performance, people will be calling for Green to start, and that's completely understandable. Halfway through the season, the decision needs to be made whether or not we continue to give Lee a chance or whether the future is now and it's time to let the freshmen try his hand.

The schedule is friendly for such an experiment. Green would be in the confines of home, playing against an Iowa State team that ranks 95th in the country in passing defense. So it will be interesting to see how Pelini and Watson handle the quarterback situation.

Do you give Green the nod but still put Lee in for one or two series a half? Do you stick with Lee but let him know Green will be getting a few series? It's a difficult situation that Nebraska finds itself in, but that is what happens after you lay a bomb like the offense did against Texas Tech.

With Oklahoma coming to Lincoln in three weeks, one thing is for sure. Nebraska had better establish it's offensive identity quickly, or that Big 12 North title that once seemed assured will be in serious jeopardy.

Huskers Will Exorcise Red Raider Demons

2009-10-16T19:06:00.000-07:00

After an emotional and extremely gratifying win over Missouri last week, there was some concern that the Huskers might have a problem on their hands this week against Texas Tech. Not only because of the concern for a potential letdown, but because the Red Raiders, more than perhaps any team in the Big 12 this decade, have been a thorn in the side of Nebraska.

Last year's overtime defeat. The LeKevin Smith fumble in 2005 that lost Nebraska the game. The 70-10 drubbing in 2004 that was a quintessential Blackshirts-under-Cosgrove moment.

With momentum building and Nebraska starting to make waves nationally, Texas Tech comes to town in a match-up that will go a long way in determining just how far the Huskers have come the past year.

In many ways, this game is a classic trap game. Coming off a big road comeback....a team whose offense has given you fits for years....your own offense coming off a performance that stunk of Garbagio Armani for the first three quarters, with a quarterback who still hasn't shown he can put together a whole game against a quality opponent. An injury to a key offensive cog (Burkhead).

Lest we forget, the real reason Nebraska was in position to win last season in Lubbock wasn't because of a stout defensive performance or offensive fireworks. It was due to the Husker offense spending 2/3rds of the game on the field. Literally. Joe Ganz and company were on the field for 40 minutes.

Can Nebraska do that again? And furthermore, do they really have to rely on that this year? Yes, it would obviously help to keep the Tech offense on the sideline most of the game, but unlike last year, I don't think it's an absolute necessity. This season, there's a Nebraska defense that is playing with a confidence and swagger that wasn't there last year.

A year in the system has given rise to a unit that has grown by leaps and bounds, and that will go a long way in stopping the Red Raiders tomorrow. With most of the game spent in the Dime formation, it will all depend on sound tackling and preventing four yard gains turning into 40-yarders.

The biggest advantage Nebraska has is that it's defensive line's dominance enables the Huskers to drop seven players into coverage and still generate a pass rush, something that is an absolute necessity against Texas Tech. If Suh and his buddies on the front get into the backfield and throw off Steven Sheffield's timing, it will go a long way in keeping the Red Raiders off the scoreboard.

The most comforting feeling in Pelini's second year is the complete lack of complacency in Nebraska's program. It seems as if every cog within the team refuses to rest on their laurels or previous accomplishments. The team has adopted Pelini's expectations of perfection, and that will be the reason that there will be no letdown against Tech.

Suh Striking the Pose: Pipe Dream or Legitimate Chance?

2009-10-13T21:31:00.000-07:00

After the Missouri game, I jumped on the Suh-for-Heisman bandwagon, one that I thought would be reserved for my fellow delusional Husker fans. All of a sudden though, Suh has become the fresh face in the race, joining Tennessee's Eric Berry as the only defensive players on the potential ballot. Sure, we expect the Omaha and Lincoln press to start boosting his candidacy, but national media? We were skeptical that they would come around.

However, national writers like Sports Illustrated's Gene Menez and Pat Forde now have him their top 5. SI's Andy Staples has him as his leader, claiming that he fits the billing for Heisman, which is supposed to be awarded to the nation's Most Outstanding Player, not the media's skill-position darling of the moment.

And right now Suh is kicking more doors down than the bad guys from the ADT home security commercials, forcing people to take notice of his dominance.

The question is, can he stay there? Is the media merely finding someone to fill the void that exists because of the sub-par play of the quarterbacks (Bradford, McCoy, Tebow) thus far, or are they really going to give him a shot?

And furthermore, can Suh continue to contribute at this pace, a necessity given the media's penchant for moving on to the next big thing after a bad week or two?

I for one think that if there's one thing we can count on, it's that Suh will continue to put up great numbers. Obviously, every team thus far has thrown double teams and other tricks at Suh in an effort to slow him down, and he has proven that those efforts are futile at best.

Will he continue to put up games like Virginia Tech or Missouri though? That's a tall order. Not many guys have games like Mizzou (six tackles, one sack, one forced fumble, an interception, and three quarterback hurries, along with a pass breakup) twice in a career, let alone a season.

Unfortunately, if he's to stay in the conversation, Suh has to continue performances close to these. Suh has been aided by the aforementioned quiet performances by the the big three quarterbacks from last year. But that cannot be counted on continuing through the season.

Will ESPN and Sports Illustrated continue to list Suh so highly if Tebow and company start putting up big numbers? Will Suh be at a disadvantage from a lack of nationally televised games? It's all up in the air right now.

The good news for Suh is that his fellow linemates are all good players, and that will prevent any opposing team to focus too much attention on him, preventing him from making the plays necessary to stay in the Heisman conversation.

The bad news? So many teams in the Big 12 throw the ball so quickly that it's going to be difficult for him to get the sacks that so many pundits look at to determine how dominant a player is at defensive tackle.

Which shows just how short-sighted the national media is. At least SI's Staples has pointed out that any media member with a vote has to watch Suh play a whole game before passing judgement. It's difficult for some to keep their eyes on the trenches, when the perceived "real" action happens wherever the ball is headed.

But even when Suh doesn't put up stats, he single-handedly can turn the outcome of a game just with his presence. He might not get a sack, but if he collapses the pocket from the interior and forces a quarterback outside to Pierre Allen or Barry Turner, he deserves as much of the credit as them.

The truth of the matter is, Suh's chances of success are directly tied to Nebraska's. If the Huskers continue to win and make a run at the Big 12 championship, Suh will at least stay in the conversation. However, should NU falter (I don't think they will, but then again, I'm chugging the Husker Kool-Aid), then Suh's chances diminish greatly.

What the hell, though. If I'm chugging the Kool-Aid, then I might as well beer-bong it. Suh for Heisman. Why not?

Huskers Show Muscle in Missouri Monsoon

2009-10-09T17:40:00.000-07:00

I'm still dumbfounded. The game ended hours ago, but I'm still sitting here in some kind of idiotic stupor, like a kid who thought he had lost his favorite toy but then found it in the least likely of places.

Which is fitting, because a similar thing happened to Nebraska on Thursday night in Columbia.
For three quarters, the Huskers offense looked less effective than Poland's army did against Blitzkrieg tactics.

Zac Lee seemed hell-bent on trying to replicate his performance against Virginia Tech. The running game was anemic, receivers were dropping passes, and our line was getting pushed back on every play. It was truly painful to watch, and it got so bad that I even tweeted at one point: "It has become apparent the only way we are going to score is if our defense does it."

That's right—the Nebraska offense laid such an epic bomb during the first three quarters that I thought our defense would have to find a way to score two touchdowns and simultaneously keep Missouri from scoring to win.

All of which goes to show that doubting Nebraska might be a very bad idea.

First off, let me say that I know it's only Missouri. This wasn't Oklahoma. This wasn't Texas. This didn't win any championship, and it probably didn't really alter the national perception of the Huskers that much.

But compared to the alternative? If Nebraska loses that game, the entire season swings the other direction. People would have written the Huskers off, and we wouldn't have heard anything about them the rest of the year.

But a win like that? In those conditions, and particularly in that style? It gets people's attention.
Yes, much will be pointed out about the negative—like having approximately 80 yards of offense through three quarters. But numbers, stats, all that crap doesn't matter when the scoreboard reflects the true story: When it seemed there was no hope, both units, both offense and defense, rose to the challenge and responded with a kind of grit that even the most hardened Husker fan didn't know was there.

With Cody Green taking warmup snaps on the sideline, Lee decided to show why Shawn Watson and Bo Pelini had so much faith in him. A guy who couldn't hit the broad side of very large barn for the first 45 minutes threw three touchdown passes in four minutes, not only vaulting Nebraska to a lead it would not relinquish, but simultaneously turning Faurot Field into the quietest group of 70,000 people I've ever seen.

Lee's main target, Niles Paul, finally had his true breakout game. While some may have pointed to his performance against Florida Atlantic, I'd say his six-catch, 102-yard game tonight, complete with two momentum-changing touchdowns (in a torrential downpour, no less), tops that performance by a mile.

Oh, and Bo? You might want to dust off those Blackshirts. Missouri totaled a meager 225 yards and turned the ball over three times, the last two being absolute back-breakers.

Ndamukong Suh turned in a performance that hopefully will open up whatever eyes were still closed to his brilliance. For three quarters, he nearly singlehandedly kept Missouri from opening up a lead—and then, somehow, he topped it in the fourth.

His final stat line is impressive: a sack, an interception, a forced fumble, six tackles. But like most interior defensive linemen, stats don't do the man justice. He dominated that game like few players can.

I'm not the first to say it, but I will repeat it: This man has to be considered for the Heisman. The quarterback club be damned—if Suh keeps this up, he has to get an invite; otherwise they ought to throw that trophy away, because it's a fraud.

For over two hours, I sat in silent gloom, that familiar shroud of a loss creeping in. We've all felt it ruin our weekend in the past. When Nebraska loses, the world just isn't that fun. You're irritable, cranky, and sometimes downright depressed.

Watching Nebraska for three quarters, I feared I'd find myself in that all-too-familiar position.
Fifteen minutes and 27 points later, all is right in the world.

It's too early to say where the season goes from here. There's still a lot of football left to play and plenty of drama yet to unfold. But at the end of the season, and maybe even years from now, we'll look back at this game as a turning point, one where Nebraska, having played 45 minutes of the crappiest football anyone has ever seen, decided that enough was enough.

The Big Red might not be "Back." But they sure as hell are on their way.

Bowden's Plight Highlights Osborne's Good Decision

2009-10-06T15:10:00.000-07:00

There was a time a dozen years ago when two men stood out above all others in the world of college coaching. Bobby Bowden directed the Florida State Seminoles through the 1990's in style, leading a program that finished ranked in the top 5 every season during that decade. FSU won two national championships (one of them coming over Nebraska in the 1994 Orange Bowl) and won or shared the conference title in every season over that span.

The other program at the top was Nebraska, who joined FSU as the only programs to rack up 100 wins in the decade. The Huskers, led by Tom Osborne, won 3 national championships in 4 years to finish Osborne's career, which ended with his retirement after sharing the national championship with Michigan in 1997.

I bring this up because of the current calls for Bowden to step down at Florida State. To think that the man who brought Florida State from the cellars of college football to the pinnacle is being asked to give up the program that he built is one that has stirred heated debate in the world of college football.

Bowden took over Florida State in 1976. The previous three seasons, the Seminoles had gone a combined 4-29. Four years later, the Seminoles lost only one game, the Orange Bowl to Miami, a game that could have awarded them a national championship. For the last 25 years of the 20th century, Bowden was the steward of a juggernaut, and much of the credit for that belongs to him.

Yet, much like his friend Joe Paterno once did at Penn State, he now finds himself confronted with boosters, trustees, and fans who question whether the game has passed him by. And unlike JoePa, who was able to resurrect his program in a highly-suspect Big 10 in the latter half of the current decade, Bowden has not been able to completely right the ship in Tallahassee.

While he hasn't overseen any losing seasons this in this decade as Joe Pa did (Paterno's record during the first five seaons of the 2000's: 26-33), Bowden also doesn't have near as forgiving of supporters as Paterno did. Would Bowden still be the coach at Florida State if he had four losing seasons in five years, as Paterno did? Doubtful, given the run of success that the Seminoles had in the 80's and 90's.

While some of you may say that a run like that would elevate a coach to a status that is beyond firing, I would say otherwise. College football fans are some of the most impatient people in the sporting world: if success becomes so commonplace that it is expected, it doesn't matter what you did to get to that point, you are expected to maintain it.

Why, even Osborne faced calls for his head after he took over for Bob Devaney. Despite the fact he never won less than 9 games and his teams finished ranked in the top 15 in 24 of his 25 years at the helm, many fans, spoiled from Devaney's two national championships in his final two years, questioned whether or not Osborne was the right guy for the job.

The criticism was so bad that Osborne actually considered taking the Colorado job in December of 1978, but fortunately for Nebraska, opted to stay put. But what puts Osborne in deity status is that he left at the apex.

Unlike Bowden or Paterno, Osborne left before his program began it's downward spiral. It is impossible to say whether or not Nebraska would have gone as far downhill as it did if he had stayed. Would there have been two 5-7 seasons in four years? Would the bowl streak have ended? I would argue that those disasters would have been averted had Osborne stayed at NU.

But what if Nebraska had started going 7-5 or 8-4 every year? What if the Huskers had two consecutive seasons with 6 wins? Would Nebraska fans tolerate it for very long, even from a man they consider just behind God and Christ in terms of devotion? I'd like to think that they would. I'd love to think that Nebraska fans would have given him the same leeway that Paterno had in that dark period from 2000 through 2004.

However, with the rise of the Big 12 South and the cyclical nature of college football's hierarchy, it's tough to say just how differently Osborne's career would have played out. Nebraska fans look at 9 wins and they shrug. It's probably delusional to have such high expectations, but Husker fans were spoiled for 40 years, and they expect championships.

He'd undoubtedly be either in the lead or neck-and-neck with Bowden and Paterno for the career wins record. He may have tacked a couple of more conference championships, maybe even recruited enough horses to reverse that debacle at the end of the 2001 season and win another national title.

But there's no guarantee that the same slide suffered by FSU and Penn State could have been avoided by NU, even with Osborne at the helm.

For the record, I think Bowden should be able to stay until he decides to leave. While I sympathize with Florida State fans, the man has done enough for your school that he's earned the right to stay, especially given that Jimbo Fisher is supposed to be the man in charge by 2011. That's the rest of this season and next year, and I don't think it's too much to ask that the man be given that time frame to have one last hurrah and turn it around in Tallahassee.

But having watched fans call for Paterno's head a few years back and people calling for Bowden's now, I'm glad that Tom Osborne got out while he was still on top. Paterno and Bowden, as unfair as it is, will always have the "Yeah, but they tailed off at the end there" arguments as part of any debate over their legacy.

Osborne's, on the other hand, will only continue to gain luster as time passes.

Bo Knows Best About Blackshirts

2009-09-30T17:00:00.001-07:00

Judging by the banter that I've seen on various Husker message boards, the jury is out on whether or not Bo Pelini should give out the coveted Blackshirts to the Nebraska defense. The tradition, which goes back to Bob Devaney's third season, is a hallowed part of Nebraska football lore, which is funny because the only reason that the color is black is that the sporting goods store gave assistant Mike Corgan a deal because they weren't selling. Can you imagine if neon yellow had been the best deal?

Luckily, black was the best bargain, and Nebraska's defense has never been the same since. Which brings us back to the present day. Many fans are pointing to the defense's performance against both Virginia Tech and the shutout performance against Louisiana Lafayette as worthy of having the blackshirts bestowed before next week's melee against the Missouri Tigers, and to be honest, it's hard to disagree with them.

Nebraska's defensive rankings through four games:

Scoring defense: 7 points per game (3rd nationally)

Total defense: 285 yards per game (23rd nationally)

While those are obviously good numbers, this is where Bo Pelini's decision to withhold the blackshirts comes in. Pelini isn't going to hand out something so valuable just because of a few solid games. If you look at Bo's quotes throughout camp and this season, the thing constantly preached is "playing up to expectations". Not the media's expectations, not the expectations of the fans, up to Pelini's expectations.

Which is why the Big Red are still sans blackshirts. Bo doesn't care about rankings, he cares about across-the-board effort and consistency. As we saw with Virginia Tech, one play, no matter how good the other 60 or 70 went, can cost a team a ball game, and Pelini will continue to keep the shirts in the box until the Husker defense can achieve his goal of perfection.

While Husker fans bemoan that Pelini is ruining the "tradition" of handing out the blackshirts before the first game, they need to know that Bo isn't the first Husker coach to make players earn the jerseys on a daily basis.

While Tom Osborne instituted the aforementioned practice of giving out the blackshirts before the first game, Bob Devaney's policy is nearly identical to that of Pelini's. Initially, the black pullovers were distributed each day at practice and collected immediately afterward. A player might have it one day and a gray one the next: the blackshirt wasn't a right as a starter, it was an honor that had to be earned on a daily basis in practice throughout the season.

Having lofty statistical rankings is all well and good, but the results in games are not what makes a defender a "blackshirt". It's on a cold Tuesday afternoon in November, when the last place you want to be is on a practice field yet you have the focus and determination to play to your highest level on every play. Anybody can get up for games, it's the times when the lights are off and nobody is watching when championship teams are made, and Bo expects his team-especially his defense- to play at that level no matter what. And I for one agree with him.

With Cream Puffs Out of Way, Eyes Turn to Clash in Columbia

2009-09-28T10:41:00.000-07:00

Is anyone else glad that Bo Pelini and Jeff Jamrog are working on beefing up Nebraska's non-conference schedule the next few years? After watching the Huskers win the Sun Belt title Saturday with their defeat of the ULL Ragin Cajuns, fans of the Big Red can now turn their attention to the conference slate, where we will finally find out just how good the Huskers are in their second year under Pelini.

For decades, Missouri, along with both of the Kansas teams, was little more than a nuisance to Nebraska, similar to a pesky younger brother who would irritate until the older brother responded by taking them to the woodshed and putting them back in their proper place.

That pecking order began to fall apart in 2003, when Nebraska, up 24-14 going into the 4th quarter, gave up 27 points in the final period to a team led by Brad Smith, a collapse that probably contributed to Steve Pederson's decision to fire Frank Solich at the end of the season (though that was probably more of a reaction to the 7-7 campaign in 2002).

Counting that game, Nebraska has lost three straight games at Farout Field, which is why next week's game in Columbia is the game on which Nebraska's season hinges. Last year, the Huskers were embarrassed on their own field by Chase Daniel, Jeremey Maclin, and Chase Coffman, who cruised to an easy 52-17 victory.

This year, the Huskers return to Columbia with an improved defense who has obviously benefited from having a year in Pelini's system and bouyed by their strong performance against Virginia Tech. In addition to the improved defense, Nebraska's running game is stronger than a year ago and the wide receivers have more explosiveness than the duo of Nate Swift and Todd Peterson from a year ago.

The biggest benefit for Nebraska is that all the main characters from the past few debacles against Mizzou are gone. Booger McDaniel, Maclin, and Coffman have all moved on, and in their place are some talented but green replacements. Blaine Gabbert, who a couple of years ago was in many circles regarded as the #1 pro-style recruit in the country, has stepped in to the quarterback spot and has performed admirably, but not as lethal as McDaniel was. In addition to the turnover in offensive talent, the Tigers have had to overcome replacing both their offensive and defensive coordinators.

Missouri opened a lot of eyes with an opening-week drubbing of Illinois, but that the enthusiasm from that victory has been tempered by having to come from behind to beat Bowling Green and struggling with Nevada (coupled with the realization that Illinois is just downright terrible). The Tigers will face their first true test against Nebraska, who already has shown it's mettle with it's near-win against #6-ranked Virginia Tech.

The interesting thing about Mizzou is that with it's rise in relevancy and it's drubbings of Nebraska the past couple of years, the Tigers have seemingly replaced Colorado as the pre-eminent rival of the Huskers in the Big 12 North. Sure, Kansas is a decent program, in many ways equal or better than Missouri in terms of accomplishment and ability. But Kansas doesn't raise the same level of ire in Husker fans as Missouri does. With Mizzou, there is just something that rubs Nebraska backers the wrong way about them.

Maybe it's the arrogance of those within the program over finally playing decent football after decades of underacheiving. And yes, decent. Despite winning 10 games a year ago and 12 the season before that, Missouri has averaged 8 wins a season since 2003, hardly the results that would warrant the Tiger faithful having such a high opinion of themselves.

The rise of the rivalry could come from Missouri fans, who for the most part strike Nebraska as one of the least classy groups of people they have had to attend games with. And I'm not trying to rip on the entire fan base, but what upsets Nebraska fans is this: When there is a jerk at a Nebraska game, he's the exception to the norm. At Mizzou, it seems that the jerk is the norm, while a classy Mizzou fan is the exception. I'm not trying to deride every Missouri fan, but that seems to be the consensus among many who have had to go to a game in Columbia.

That's what makes the showdown on October 8th so exciting. Two ranked teams, a prime-time Thursday night national telecast, and a shot at redemption and payback for Nebraska. These two teams, despite what they may say to the media, have a genuine dislike for each other. Mizzou players expressed annoyance and surprise when the media picked Nebraska to win the North before the season, and Nebraska desperately wants to show to the entire nation that they are on the path back to power. And what better way to prove it than by annihilating the Tigers on their home field?

Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda: Huskers Blow It in Blacksburg

2009-09-21T10:35:00.000-07:00

The picture for this article nearly made me vomit. True story. I wanted to write this article on Saturday night, when my depression, angst, and anger were all at a fever pitch. That article would probably have packed quite a punch, but it wouldn't have been fair to the Huskers for me to write while alcohol and so much ill will coursed through my veins.

Nebraska should have won this game. The statistics all point to a dominant defensive effort by the Blackshirts, and Roy Helu turned in a memorable performance. Nebraska could have won this game, if they had substituted a touchdown for one of their five field goals. Nebraska would have won this game, if they could have gotten one more first down.

But there are no moral victories in football. The stats, the effort, the gameplan, all of it can be commended, but it is an ineffective strategy to help one cope with the cruel reality of what the scoreboard read: Virginia Tech, 16. Nebraska, 15.

There will be many images from this game that I'd like to forget but will be unable to. The 3rd-quarter penalty debacle that not only cost us a touchdown but pushed us out of field goal range. Meno Holt's dropped touchdown pass. And that lonely #19 in maroon and orange, somehow behind our secondary, the feeling of desperation and the realization that yes, he was going to catch the ball, that somehow, Nebraska is just destined to blow these games and tear out the heart of it's collective fan base.

I'm not sure what Nebraska did to anger the college football gods. Perhaps we were too blessed in the 1990's, maybe we were so spoiled that it wasn't enough just for us to lose our identity, our bowl streak, and our national respect the past few years. Maybe we needed to lose games like this in the most heart-breaking ways imaginable to remind us of just how special those glory days were. But at what point does karma evening things out go too far? To lose would be one thing, but to stand on the precipice of a great victory, only to have it torn from us, seems especially cruel.

This loss will sting for a long, long time. I still remember with particular frustration the feeling I had when we lost to Texas at home in 2006, when Terrence Nunn fumbled away a game-clinching first down? Now, is it fair to Nunn that this moment, one bad play, will be what we remember most about his career at Nebraska, a career that includes being among the top-5 pass catchers of all time? No, it's not. But all it takes is one bad play in the wrong situation, and your legacy at NU is forever altered.

And so I arrive at Matt O'Hanlon. I'm not trying to beat a dead horse here, because even that horse's corpse can't have much left on it after what Husker fans have been saying the past two days. I know Matt is well-respected among his teammates, he works hard, and I'll always appreciate his effort during his time at NU. That said, he had no business being on that field. I know, he came back and made a sack on the next play, but that in no way excuses the brain fart of Biblical proportions he suffered on the 81-yard play before it. And this isn't just me tearing into Matt, because everyone makes mistakes. But in that situation, you have to be telling yourself before and during the play, that NOBODY GETS BEHIND YOU. NOBODY.

My question is this: throughout camp, the staff talked at length about the strides that Ricky Thenarse had made, that he was one of the best players on the defense, and he was listed as co-#1 at safety. In addition to Thenarse, Eric Hagg was described by defensive backs coach Marvin Sanders as "the best lockdown guy we have", and in addition to that praise, he is capable of playing both corner and safety. Oh, and did I mention that both of these players are measurably more athletic than Matt O'Hanlon?

I don't know what the staff's thought process is with #33. For some reason, he manages to find himself on the field at the most key points of the game despite the fact he is, in my estimation, our fourth-best safety. I know that O'Hanlon undoubtedly feels like jumping off a building after Saturday, and I'm sure he's aware that people in this state will remember his gaffe for the rest of their lives. He understands our fan base enough, he's aware of that. So while I'm angry and astounded by his failure to do his job, I do legitimately feel awful for him. That said, he shouldn't have been out there in the first place.

In the end, it's not just Matt's fault. His mistake only cemented what was a day of missed opportunities and Nebraska's failure to finish and make a play when they needed it most. When we needed a touchdown (or a first down on the final drive to kill the clock), the offense couldn't do it. When the Huskers needed a turnover or a stop at the goal line, they couldn't do it. For a brief while, NU showed they are capable of playing with great teams, that they are on their way back to where they used to be.

But on the way isn't where we hoped to be today. We wanted to be back. And that, unfortunately, is going to have to wait. We outplayed Virginia Tech, and I fiercely believe we are the better team. But my hat is off to VT, because the team that deserved to win did. Now, NU must figure out a way to move past this knee-buckling stomach punch and look forward to the rest of the season. There may be a hangover, but I don't think Bo Pelini will let them dwell on it. In fact, I take a great deal of solace from reading this quote from Phillip Dillard, the senior Husker linebacker:

"There's only two ways you can go - you can either go up or you can go down," Dillard said. "This team's going to choose to go up, and we're going to keep fighting and we're going to keep proving ourselves, because it's not over.

"It's a long season. I believe in my teammates, and everyone else should. Regardless of whether we won or lost, you saw the fight in us. That's something you didn't see in us for a long time."

There's still a lot of football left to be played, and I hope the rest of the team follows Dillard's lead and uses this game as motivation to avoid having to feel this kind of gut-wrenching loss the rest of the season.

A Big Week as the Big Red Heads to Blacksburg

2009-09-15T17:41:00.000-07:00

I've never been a big believer in "signature victories" or whatever other monikers people are so quick to put on games against big-time opponents. For the four years of the Callahan era, Husker fans waited for the day Callahan would get over the hump and beat a top program, a signal that the program was relevant and powerful again. Of course, that day never came, which is why Callahan is coaching the offensive line for the New York Jets right now.

While beating a #14-ranked Virginia Tech team would hardly qualify as a signature victory, it would go a long way in re-establishing the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the nation's football-following consciousness. For years now, it's been a skeptical eye that looks Lincoln's way whenever the Huskers have a marquee game. Which is understandable after the debacles against USC, the inability close against Texas, and the fact we've won exactly zero-that's right, zero- conference championships this decade.

A win in Blacksburg is no easy feat, as Lane Stadium's 66,000 fans are much louder than Nebraska's 85,000 in Lincoln. Whereas Memorial Stadium is beautiful atmosphere on gameday, Lane is an intimidating one, which will test a young Huskers team that hasn't had to work on audibles or adjustments away from home yet.

A few things that will have to happen for the Huskers if they are going to come home with a win:

- Roy Helu has to re-establish himself after a sub-par game against Arkansas State. The Huskers can't depend on Zac Lee to drop another 300 yard game with 4 touchdowns, especially in light of the fact that there's a good chance that rain could show up on Saturday. Nebraska needs to be able to run the ball and wear down the defense, otherwise it's going to be a long game.

- Stop Tyrod Taylor. Obviously any 4th grader could have told you this, but it has to be said. Taylor had one of his best passing games against the Huskers last year, and NU has to be able to keep him in the pocket and prevent him from making plays with his feet. Force Taylor to become a real quarterback, and NU can blitz and force him into some bad throws.

- Tackle better. The Huskers looked shoddy at times last week, with too many arm tackles. Against Taylor and freshmen standout Ryan Williams, NU will need to fix those problems or it could get extremely ugly.

While I predicted that Nebraska would lose this game in my season preview column, I also have 20 dollars on the Huskers going into Oklahoma undefeated, so you can see that I've struggled to temper my enthusiasm for NU's potential this year with the realization that we are sending an extremely green team to Blacksburg. Despite their youth though, Nebraska has the ability and coaching staff to win this ball game, and it's a win that both the Huskers (and after last week, the entire Big 12) needs right now.

A Belated Nebraska Season Prediction

2009-09-10T16:46:00.001-07:00

While some may consider it a faux pas to post a game-by-game prediction article after the season has started, I think there's nothing wrong with it if you already knew what the outcome of the first game was going to be.

Speaking of the Florida Atlantic game, how much fun was that to watch? I was so excited that I even tweeted that NU needs to start a Roy Helu-for-Heisman campaign.

That's right, I advocated starting a Heisman campaign off of one performance against an out-manned opponent in the season's opening game. (And to answer your inner monologue, yes, I'm embarrassed to use the word "tweeted"). Perhaps my optimism is running too high, but there was a lot to like about last Saturday's 49-3 romp.

The young linebackers played as well as you could hope for in their first start, the secondary didn't suffer any of the lapses that were so common last year (though Larry Asante apparently still hasn't learned how to catch, despite being a senior). The defensive line play was solid against a team that was in max protect the whole night, and even the younger guys (Cameron Meredith and Baker Steinkuhler) looked pretty decent in their collegiate debuts.

To top it off, Cody Green and Rex Burkhead both got into the end zone, with Green's following an electric 49-yard jaunt down the sideline and Rex showing suprising strength for a 200-pound guy fresh out of high school. I think it's fair to say that I'm as excited for Nebraska's future as hippies were for Dubya to leave office. HEY-OH!

So how does the rest of the season shake out? Obviously, had I written this article on time, the result may have been different. Before last week's games, OU hadn't lost Sam Bradford and Jermaine Gresham, Baylor hadn't defeated Wake Forest, and Missouri hadn't destroyed Illinois. All that aside, here's how I see the rest of the season shaking out for the Big Red.

Sep. 12—Arkansas State

Despite having the Sun Belt's preseason offensive (QB Corey Leonard) and defensive (DE Alex Carrington) players of the year, the Red Wolves aren't going to stop the Big Red. They might have had a prayer of sneaking up on Nebraska if they hadn't already beaten Texas A&M last year at Kyle Field, something that is already on the Husker's radar.

Prediction: Nebraska 45, Red Owls 10

Sep. 19—@ Virginia Tech

After Darren Evans went down in the preseason, I thought Nebraska's chances of stealing one from Lane Stadium went up considerably. However, now I'm not so sure after watching freshman Ryan Williams total 113 total yards and two touchdowns on just 15 touches, and that was against Alabama's defense.

The question here is, just what do Pelini and Watson have in their bag of tricks for this game? Against Florida Atlantic, we saw the most vanilla gameplan we'll see all year out of the Huskers, and that's on both sides of the ball.

The key will be stopping QB Tyrod Taylor and Williams from running on them. If we can successfuly do that, it will force Taylor to go to the air, and that's where we can hopefully use whatever blitz packages Pelini has saved through the first two weeks of the season. If NU can get to Taylor, he will make bad throws, despite whatever progress he has supposedly made in the offseason. Even if all this comes to fruition, can NU move the ball on Tech's defense?

If you look at Tech's loss to Alabama, the Hokies gave up nearly 500 yards of offense to the Crimson Tide. That stat is misleading in my opinion because the defense played solidly early in the game. The key number to look at here is time of possession, where the Tide held the ball for 37 minutes to 23 minutes for VT.

Nebraska's forte last season was holding onto the ball and wearing down a defense, and that's when big plays (Castille in the Gator Bowl, anyone?) started coming. The Huskers can't afford a slow start in Lane Stadium, they need to piece together long scoring drives from the get-go and take the crowd out of it, while wearing down the defense before breaking out something sweet at just the opportune time for the kill shot.

That said, if Virginia Tech can put up 24 on Alabama, what will they put up on us? Just how far has the defense really came? While my gut is telling me to put NU as winning this game, my gut has also led me astray many times.

Prediction: Virginia Tech 28, Nebraska 21

Sep. 26—Louisiana-Lafayette

After losing the two most prolific offensive players in school history to graduation last year, the Ragin' Cajuns are in for a rough game, but at least they can take solace in being cannon fodder for the 300th consecutive sellout in Memorial Stadium.

Prediction: Nebraska 45, Louisiana-Lafayette 10

Oct. 8—@Missouri

I was pretty sold on Nebraska winning this game. That is, until I saw Blaine Gabbert torch Illinois for 313 yards passing and four total touchdowns. Pretty much everyone expected there to be some kind of dropoff after Chase Daniel and Jeremy Maclin left town, but the season opener was an eye-opener for anyone who anticipated that.

While Gabbert's blistering start is a cause for concern, I think everyone needs to take a step back and look at the game. First off, it was against Illinois, a team whose defense wasn't any good last year during a 5-7 campaign and whose best offensive weapon (Arrelious Benn) was sitting the entire second half due to injury, making them pretty one-dimensional. Remember, Illinois went to the Rose Bowl two seasons ago. Illinois last year was the Big 10's equivalent of Kansas State.

That said, going into Missouri on a Thursday night for a nationally televised game is something to be a little concerned about. And I'm not talking about the final score; I'm more concerned for our players safety going into Faurot Field, when the whole city will have been drinking since 10:00 a.m.

According to Pelini, the reason we got our asses handed to us last year is because the coaching staff "got cute" with it's game plan and gave the players more than they could handle, which is why you saw Maclin streaking through our secondary like The Flash.

If Nebraska wants to rebuild it's national image, it's games like this one (and obviously Va. Tech) that they need to win. The real X-factor here is that Pelini and his staff have 11 days to prepare for Mizzou thanks to a bye week. The Tigers had a problem with turnovers last year, plunging from 11th nationally to 8th in the Big 12 last year.

I'm sure that the NU staff will "get cute" again with it's game plan. The difference is that this year, our defense actually knows what they are doing, and I think we'll get 3+ turnovers. And that, combined with a stronger special teams (the Tigers lost the most accurate kicker in NCAA history to graduation last season), will be the difference for Nebraska escaping Faurot with a win.

Prediction: Nebraska 24, Missouri 17

Oct. 17—Texas Tech

Last year, the Huskers took a Red Raiders team that was ranked in the top 10 at the time to the brink—in Lubbock—only to lose on Joe Ganz's interception in overtime. This year, without Graham Harrell and Michael Crabtree, it's going to be much tougher for Tech to get a win.

I know, I know, Taylor Potts is already becoming the next guy in the Tech quarterback assembly line, but I still think that losing Crabtree will be a bigger loss than anyone is saying yet. Also, the Red Raiders have to come to Lincoln this time. Still, I could see a nail-biter developing.

Prediction: Nebraska 35, Texas Tech 31

Oct. 24—Iowa State

Win. Best of luck to the Cyclones against the Hawkeyes this weekend, though.

Oct. 31—@Baylor

I'll admit, this is a tough game to call so early in the season. The Bears are coming off a win over a pretty good Wake Forest team, and Robert Griffin has solidified his passing skills to go with his world-class speed. While I'm impressed with Baylor's improvement, I still don't think they have the horses to keep up with the Huskers, especially given Nebraska's continuing improvement on the defense.

Prediction: Nebraska 35, Baylor 14

Nov. 7—Oklahoma

So much could happen between now and this game. Will Oklahoma shore up their pass protection? How will Sam Bradford recover from his AC joint injury? Will Nebraska still be healthy at that point in the season?

While I certainly believe this will be much more competitive than last year's massacre in Norman, I still don't know if Nebraska can knock off OU. This is what makes predictions hard, because my head is telling me that Oklahoma is the smart pick, but my heart is telling me that NU will win.

To be honest, I don't know, I really do think this game could go either way. How much faith does Pelini and company have?

In the summer of 2008, Pelini went on Jim Rome's radio show. Rome asked if he should buy tickets for this game, still over a year away at the time. He was basically asking if that by then, would Nebraska be back to where they need to be and in a position to beat Oklahoma. Pelini's response, simply put: "Buy the tickets."

I hope Bo's right. Because I'm buying tickets, even if the outcome isn't what I hope for.

Prediction: Oklahoma 31, Nebraska 17

Nov. 14—@Kansas

This game will be the most pivotal in the season for Nebraska. Coming off a letdown against OU, they have to travel to Lawrence to battle a very good Kansas team. While the Jayhawks have to work with some inexperience on the offensive line, you'd think that they'd have everything figured out by mid-November. Same goes with replacing their three starting linebackers from last year.

That said, I think the difference in this game is Pelini and the coaching staff. In the past, maybe NU tanks this game after a letdown against OU. I don't see Pelini and company letting that happen. They're going to force the Huskers to snap out of it and be accountable, and I think that's why NU will win this game and regain their momentum going into the end of the season. Reesing, Briscoe, and Sharp are good weapons for the Jayhawks, but by then we'll have faced plenty of good players, and if we beat KU last year, there's no reason to think we can't do it again.

Prediction: Nebraska 31, Kansas 21

Nov. 21—Kansas State

While it'll be interesting to see if Bill Snyder can revive the program for a second time, that's going to take a little while with the talent left over from Ron Prince, who loved JUCO players like fat kids love cake. And that opening 21-17 win over UMass doesn't bode well.

Prediction: Nebraska 42, Kansas State 7

Nov. 27—@Colorado

While some people picked the Buffs as a potential sleeper in the North, I wasn't sold on it, and I'm still not. I don't look at the loss to Colorado State with as much disbelief as some did, mainly because I'm a big believer that anything can happen in a rivalry game. Still, I don't think CU is going to get to the 10 wins that coach Dan Hawkins promised. I think Nebraska uses this as a springboard into the Big 12 title game.

And it won't be the barnburner it was last season, either. The real question is, how much debris will get thrown on the field when Nebraska wins?

Prediction: Nebraska 35, Colorado 15

Dec. 5—Big XII Championship Game

That's right, I'm predicting a Big XII North title for the Huskers, where they earn the right to play spoiler against Texas. The Longhorns should be in position to grab a national title berth if they win this game, which, if they are healthy, will happen. Colt McCoy and Jordan Shipley will be too much for the Huskers.

Prediction: Texas 34, Nebraska 14

The bowl game is tough to call. What if Oklahoma loses to Texas AND Oklahoma State? What if Okie State crumbles for a couple games before beating OU? We could be headed to anywhere from the Alamo Bowl to the Cotton Bowl, but in my opinion, our conference is too deep for us to end up in the latter.

My guess, much like the rest of the pundits nationwide, is that Nebraska will end up in the Holiday Bowl, most likely against the likes of Oregon or Oregon State. I'd rather face the latter, to be honest with you, despite Oregon's loss to Boise State.

Either way, I'm predicting a Nebraska win in the Holiday Bowl, which leaves the Huskers with a record of 11-3, and a springboard into national title contention in 2010, when we'll have 18 starters back and a shot at the whole thing. Don't look ahead, though, guys, this season's ride promises to be one you don't want to miss.

Bold Predictions for 2009

2009-09-04T12:46:00.001-07:00

While I know the season technically started last night with the two crapfests on ESPN and assorted small-college ball (I'm talking about you, Iowa State), the real fun begins tomorrow. We sit on the precipice of a season that will take the college game to even greater heights, with countless dramas and storylines that will unfold over the course of the next four and a half months. Two Heisman trophy winners coming back, and for the first time in history all three finalists from the previous year's balloting will again vie for the trophy.

Here are the stories I'll be paying close attention to in the following months:

-The hope for resurgence among three of college football's heavyweights. In Tallahassee, the vibe coming out of Florida State is that they finally have a QB and offensive line that will put them back to where they belong. In South Bend, Charlie Weis is officially out of excuses at Notre Dame with a cupboard stocked with playmakers at the skill positions. And in Lincoln, Bo Pelini is looking to make the Huskers into a team that competes for national titles, not Big 12 North ones, with a more confident defense and re-emphasizing of the running game.

-Tim Tebow will attempt to lead one of the more stacked teams in recent memory to it's 3rd national title in 4 years, a feat not accomplished since Nebraska's glory days in the 1990's. Though it should be pointed out that the Husker championship teams were all undefeated, and Florida has yet to have one of those.

In addition to chasing a crystal ball and another Heisman, Tebow will also cure cancer, defeat terrorism with one hand tied behind his back, and end the economic recession. Coinciding with this effort by Tebow, ESPN will launch a new network devoted entirely to covering him in all his glory. In case you haven't noticed by now, I'm sick of hearing about Tim Tebow.....and he hasn't played a game yet this year.

-ESPN will declare the Gators the best college football team of all time in week 5. That went real well the last time they did, when they called USC that in 2005. Oh wait, that team didn't even win the national title that year? Oh....well maybe, just maybe, ESPN should stop with the hype and just report the scores. I get so damn sick of watching these roundtable discussions with analysts shouting over each other when all I want to see is some highlights.

-Colt McCoy will win the Heisman trophy, and it will be well-deserved. In addition to the leftover sentiment from last year, I believe few voters want to give a second Heisman to Tebow. Only Archie Griffin has two, and I don't know if people are ready for another two-time winner. Taking that into account, along with Sam Bradford playing behind a new offensive line, and I think McCoy has not only the weapons at his disposal to win, but also the support of most college football fans.

- The only thing stopping USC from winning another Pac-10 title (and assuring another Big 10 beatdown in the Rose Bowl) is wildfires. Oregon looked woeful against Boise State, and I think Cal will continue to falter when the pressure is on. Here's my question: If you were a USC player, wouldn't you get really sick of having to play all your bowl games 20 minutes away? I mean, obviously you want to win the conference title, but wouldn't it be sad knowing that you have to go to the national title game or you're assured of going to Pasadena again?

- Boise State, with their most difficult game already a W, will run the table and "crash" the BCS, leading to another year of bitching and moaning by WAC officials. Look, I get it. It sucks for the Broncos that the system is stacked against them and they have a shot for a 3rd undefeated season and have no national title to show for it.

That said, if the Broncos just manned up and scheduled Oregon, USC, and Cal for their non-conference games instead of teams like UC Davis, Bowling Green, and Tulsa, maybe they would get the shot they are looking for. If teams from the WAC want the respect given to BCS teams, then they should try to schedule as many teams like that as they can.

Perhaps those teams wouldn't want to face Boise State, but the effort has to be made on Boise State's part, because as long as your playing in the WAC, you have to have a brutal-and I mean brutal- non conference slate to get the voters to put you in the title game. Either that, or call the Pac-10 and see if they'd be interested in adding a 12th team to their league. Which they wouldn't because the Pac 10, much like it's Big 10 counterpart, is so stuck in the past they can't see that making some changes might help them, and college football as a whole, to solve some lingering issues about the game.

-Speaking of Boise State and BCS berths, it doesn't help the WAC teams of the world when Notre Dame can fall ass-backwards into 9 wins and snatch BCS invites away from more deserving teams. I don't understand the media infatuation with them....I mean, when was the last time they won a national title, 1988? And if the whole country hates Notre Dame (which that seems to be the case), why do they keep getting the publicity they do? Because they were a juggernaut during the 40's?

Being a Nebraska fan, believe me, I respect tradition, and ND will always rank as one of the all-time greats. But Nebraska has received almost no attention the past few years while they stumbled through the Callahan era. Meanwhile, Weis and the Golden Domers get brought up nearly every damn telecast. And that's not jealousy, that's just me being sick of hearing about them. Can we just hold off on talking about them until they go into the USC game undefeated? Or are we going to do the standard operating procedure for Notre Dame, which is boost them to #9 in the rankings when they start 3-0?

Oh, and while I'm on the topic of Notre Dame, can someone please do something about Lou Holtz? I mean, I like the guy for the most part because he's an old timer and has a lot of respect for the programs that were dominant back in the day (and yes, I'm talking about Nebraska). That said, since when is it OK to have such blatant homerism on what's supposed to be an objective show? Look Lou, we know you love Notre Dame. You had a great run there, and nobody is saying you can't root for them. But could you please stop slobbering through another pro-ND rant on College Football Live? Because quite frankly, I can't take much more of it.

- The Big 10 will be a three team league this year instead of the usual two. Michigan State, the whole conference is counting on you to bring some shred of respectability to it. Um....good luck with that. Let's just say I have my doubts.

-I thought initially was disappointed that Michigan hired Rich Rod to be their coach, because I feared he would fast-track them back to national relevance, and I didn't want to see that happen, because the weaker the Big 10 is, the easier it is for me to live in Minnesota and deal with these idiotic fans. However, its looking like he's going to need a good season to cool off a fan base even more upset now that he's brought NCAA investigations looking into practice-gate.

So I just realized that my "bold predictions" was more of a rant about different college football topics with only a couple of predictions mixed in.....but really, do you expect anything different? We're only 24 hours away from the real kickoff of college football, you can't expect my attention span to be that good with Christmas only a day away. Good luck to everyone's teams this year, and for the Husker fans, I'll be back tomorrow with a game-by-game season prediction.

Nebraska Defense Looks to Make Leap in Pelini's 2nd Year

2009-09-02T09:20:00.000-07:00

A year ago at this time, all of Husker Nation was wondering what Bo Pelini, even with his defensive wizardry and impressive resume, really could do to fix a defense that the previous season had been massacred (and I'm talking Biblical proportions here) on a near-weekly basis. Not only had fundamental things such as tackling and basic gap assignments apparently fallen by the wayside, the thing that bothered Husker fans most was what seemed like a lack of effort by the Nebraska defense, a seemingly lackadaisical attitude that was among the main factors when Tom Osborne ultimately terminated the previous staff.

One year later, we know why we hired Pelini as our head coach. While he may not have turned the Pinkskirts of 2007 into Blackshirts, he salvaged a sinking ship and got it pointed in the right direction. The Huskers improved from 112th in the country to 55th, and while 55th might not be cause for celebration, it was good enough for 2nd in the Big 12, and it certainly was better than crapfest saw the previous season under Kevin Cosgrove.

So what does 2009 hold? Will inexperience hold back the Huskers, or will a year in the system overcome any youth-related shortcomings? Here's a look at each unit of the Husker defense for the upcoming season.

Defensive Line

Much like their offensive counterparts, the defensive line for Nebraska is the strength on this side of the ball. Led by All-Everything DT Ndamukong Suh, this unit will be counted on to put pressure on the backfield by itself a lot of the time, especially considering it's difficult to blitz linebackers or defensive backs in a conference where the average pass is gone in two seconds or less. One exciting thing to watch this season is where Suh positions himself in the pantheon of Husker greats.

How high can he climb? A recent article in the Lincoln Journal-Star put him as the 20th-best defender in Husker history. Obviously he has a long way to go to get into Grant Wistrom territory, but what if he puts up another monster season with a few more sacks? What if by dominating, he enables the rest of the defense to rise to new heights on his back? Stats are not the only thing that measures greatness. Greatness is making the people around you better.

In addition to Suh, the Huskers have proven players in defensive ends Pierre Allen and Barry Tuner. Allen, who last year filled in for Turner after the latter's season-ending knee injury, surprised many with his stellar play. According to defensive coordinator Carl Pelini, he could be the Huskers next "superstar", though Allen was quick to downplay the quote. Still, having Suh on the interior, along with a rejuvenated Turner on the other side, should offer Allen plenty of opportunities to make good on Pelini's prediction.

The guy who is the most unknown player among the starting front four is Jared Crick, a sophomore defensive tackle. While he may be an unknown commodity at this point, Bo Pelini singled him out in his press conference Tuesday as a player who has had a great camp and could make a lot of plays with opposing offensive lines having to focus on Suh. Behind both Crick and Suh is redshirt freshmen Baker Steinkuhler, the former high school All-American who along with Terrence Moore (no slouch himself) will be counted on to give both starters a breather.

Along with Steinkuhler, another redshirt freshmen to keep an eye on this season is Cameron Meredith, who turned heads this spring and will be looked to spell both Turner and Allen on occasion. The only true freshmen that has really made much noise at all in fall camp is Jason Ankrah, the defensive end out of Maryland. Right now it hasn't been determined if he'll redshirt or not, but they could wait the first few games and see how everyone's health is before making it official.

The key to a great defensive line is having quality depth, as any player, no matter how well-conditioned, is going to get tired up front if the defense is out there for an extended series. Carl Pelini didn't switch guys out much last year, but I expect him to be less hesitant to throw some younger players in this year now that everyone knows the system, and it should be fun to watch what should be a extremely good (and potentially dominant) unit.

Linebackers

This is what makes writing a season preview for the Huskers difficult: we are still sans a depth chart. That said, a few things have began to hash out the past week, and apparently Nebraska could be trotting out a cabbage patch kid assortment at linebacker. Two of the projected starters, Will Compton at the MIKE and Sean Fisher at the BUCK, are redshirt freshmen. Obviously we have no way of knowing if they both will indeed be starting Saturday, given the coaching staff's insistence on making competition go up through Thursday, but the staff, and the young duo's older teammates, have been effusive in their praise of Compton and Fisher.

Compton, a 6'2" 230-pound wrecking ball, was highly recruited out of high school in Missouri, and there were several times last year where he nearly had his redshirt yanked to help a depleted linebacking corps. Luckily for Husker fans everywhere, they were able to resist the temptation and continue Compton's development. According to Carl Pelini, Compton's communication and mastery of the defense are two of the biggest reasons for his rise to #1 on the depth chart. Backing him up will most likely be Phillip Dillard, who in his senior year is looking at his last chance to live up to the spotty potential he has shown the past few years here. Expect senior Colton Koehler, who saw significant time last year, to also see his share of playing time at the MIKE position this year.

Fisher, the 6'6" genetic freak, is someone I'm going to be watching with great interest this season. Anytime you get someone with that frame and speed on the field, it makes life hell for opposing quarterbacks, because it shuts down some throwing lanes and forces the QB to float his passes just a little bit more than he'd like to, which hopefully will lead to more interceptions. In addition to his physical skills, word out of camp is that he also is a student of the game and is becoming, according to fellow linebacker Blake Lawrence, one of the leaders of the defense, which is surprising for a second year player. In addition to being the #1 BUCK linebacker, Fisher is also getting the lion's share of the reps as the #1 linebacker in both the nickel and dime packages as well, so this is a kid who will be on the field a lot this fall. Said linebackers coach Mike Eckler halfway through camp: "His game, it's just elevating by the day."

Lawrence and former walk-on Mathew May are both competing pretty hard for the remaining starting position, though it will be interesting to see how many linebackers are on the field for most of our defensive sets, given the amount of spread looks the Huskers will get in the Big 12. May has more athleticism than Lawrence, but reportedly is still trying to soak up the playbook. Of course, Lawrence also has had multiple concussions, so it'll be interesting to see what kind of rotation Eckler will use to utilize all the players he has at his disposal.

In addition to the two deep, there are also a couple of freshmen to keep an eye on this fall. Alonzo Whaley, a redshirt freshmen, made a lot of noise last year on the scout team, and his speed should be an asset, particularly on special teams if nothing else. In addtion to Whaley, true freshmen Eric Martin and Chris Williams also could potentially see playing time this fall. Martin by all accounts has had a head-turning camp, including the now-infamous hit that Eckler said was one of the best he's seen during his time at Nebraska. Williams, one of the higher-rated linebacker recruits in the country, might not make it on the field till later in the season, as he's working back from a knee injury he suffered last season. While he's reportedly making good strides, the staff is being especially cautious with him, especially after Kody Spano's knee injury.

Secondary

While the name may suggest otherwise, this unit is of primary concern if Nebraska is going to make another big leap in the defensive rankings this year. Last season, while still trying to learn the ins and outs of Pelini's defense, the secondary had several embarrassing mental lapses that led to easy scores for opponents. In fact, I blame this group for the meteoric rise in my blood pressure last year, Larry Asante in particular.

To be honest, hearing the chatter out of camp that Asante is one of the best performers is making me both optimistic and nervous. Optimistic because maybe now I won't see slot receivers racing past him after he bites on the tight end running routes underneath, and nervous because what if he hasn't really improved and it just means that everyone else is playing like garbage? Obviously, I'm joking here. While I'm always hesitant to believe everything I read coming out of practices, it seems that Asante, and the secondary as a whole, have finally wrapped their heads around the defensive scheme and are beginning to simply react instead of hesitating to read everything before doing their job.

With the safety spots, there seems to be a four-headed monster with Asante, Ricky Thenarse, Eric Hagg, and Matt O'Hanlon all looking at being interchangeable parts who will see considerable time. While I expect Asante to be a starter, the other spot is still seemingly for grabs. In camp defensive backs coach Marvin Sanders identified Hagg as his best "lockdown" player, so you would think he would get the nod, but the other spot has usually been a two-player fight between O'Hanlon and Thenarse.

Thenarse, a senior, has been teasing Husker fans with potential for three years now with YouTube-worthy special teams hits, but he has run out of time at Nebraska. While his inconsistency can be maddening, you can't help but root for a kid who lost not one but two brothers to gang violence last year in addition to dealing with nagging shoulder problems. Finally 100% healthy and focused on football, it will be interesting to see if Ricky can be the player so many have long hoped he would become. Sanders has indicated that Thenarse has made significant strides during camp, but also was quick to point out that he's excited about the depth at the position and will "look at ways to get them all on the field."

In addition to the main four safeties, there are a couple of younger guys to keep an eye on. The most promising thus far is redshirt freshmen P.J. Smith, who will definitely see his share of playing time this year after dominating on the scout team last season. Courtney Osborne is another who might see some time, though not as much as Smith. I expect both these players to get a chance to make a mark on special teams if nothing else. In my opinion, if you're the coaching staff you're going to want to get these guys some looks in game situations though, especially when you consider that Thenarse, Asante, and O'Hanlon are all seniors.

As far as the cornerbacks go, Sanders has indicated that juniors Prince Amukamara, Dejon Gomes, and Anthony West, along with sophomore Alfonzo Dennard will all see significant playing time. Though Amukamara has reportedly been making a few mental mistakes, he is still considered by many to be the best player at the position in terms of physical tools. If he can curb the errors, he'll be a starter for sure.

In addition to the main four, Anthonly Blue, who was a freshmen All-Big 12 in 2007, is looking to bounce back after redshirting last season with a knee injury. An injury like that is always unfortunate, but to have it happen when there's a regime change makes it twice as tough on the player, as he misses a lot of reps that would help acclimate him with the defense. Though I haven't heard much about him during camp, he could be a guy who halfway through the year is getting more and more playing time as he soaks up the scheme. The young guy to watch at this position is Andrew Green, a true freshmen who was a three-star recruit out of San Antonio. According to Carl Pelini, he's been doing a lot to turn heads thus far in camp, and could see playing time eventually.

Overview

I wish I could sit here and tell you that the defense is going to take a quantum leap this year. To improve from 112th to 55th last year was quite a feat, and even then we still had embarrassing performances against Oklahoma and Missouri. The thing about total defense rankings, however, is that they don't tell the whole story. The rankings are based off of the total yards given up per game, which can be a bad indicator when you're playing in the Big 12 and basically every team is putting up 400 yards a game through the air.

Pelini's defenses are predicated on everyone doing their 1/11th, and all it takes is one guy being out of position to make everyone else look like a horse's ass (as we saw all too frequently last year). Film study and repetition within a scheme has a way of getting rid of that split-second hesitation that is the difference between making an interception and giving up a touchdown, and I really think we'll see more of the former than the latter this year.

Am I predicting a juggernaut? No, not by any means. We still have a pretty young team, and there will still be the occasional mental breakdown. But I do believe that this staff, and these players, have an air of confidence not seen in Lincoln in years. While some may not see confidence as the greatest indicator of future greatness, I think that we are beginning to see the rebirth of the Blackshirt mentality, one where everyone is keeping each other accountable within the system, and nothing but perfection is tolerated. And that, my friends, will lead to the leap we are all hoping for.

Hot Routes, Big Red Style

2009-08-27T09:59:00.000-07:00

Can you believe we're only 9 days away from kickoff? That long wait through miserable basketball and baseball games, the tease that was spring football, it's all in the rear view mirror as we hurtle toward that first sweet fall Saturday and the feeling that all is once again right in the world.

Considering I've neglected to post much on Nebraska-related developments the past couple of days, I'm going to spend the bulk of today's Hot Routes focusing on the Big Red, then moving on to whatever conference and national matters I find noteworthy (or worthy of making fun of).

-The biggest news, at least in terms of buzz, is the announcement that Cody Green has taken the lead in the race to be the #2 quarterback. Green, the stud freshmen who some thought might redshirt this year behind Kody Spano before the latter's injury, has apparently grasped the intricate Nebraska offense quite well, and has gained the confidence of his coaches and teammates through nearly three weeks of fall camp.

The real concern here is that Watson has already said that he won't change his play calling to protect Zac Lee from injury, which means that we are one play away from having a true freshmen manning the most important position on the field. That said, Green is obviously no ordinary freshmen, and the days of worrying about an 18 year old kid not being able to do the job are for the most part gone.

With the advancements in year-round football camps and clinics, training, and the increase in kids getting on campus one semester early for spring ball, having a freshmen under center isn't nearly as scary as it used to be. Just look at Terrelle Pryor or Robert Griffin last year, I think both of those teams probably had few complaints about the quality of their quarterback play. The other thing that boosts my confidence about Green's rise on the depth chart is that Watson has said he won't dumb down the playbook for him, he's going to coach him till they feel he'll be ready to play with no drop-off from Zac, and it seems like the staff is confident he'll get to that level pretty quickly.

-After the dismissal of Quentin Castille, many bemoaned the fact that the Huskers now lacked a short-yardage battering ram for the goal line situations. I too, was a little concerned about it, since it's tough to find guys who are 235 pounds and can run like Quentin did. After reading this article by Jon Nyatawa over on the Omaha World Herald site, my concerns are put to rest, at least a little bit. Quoting running backs coach Tim Beck:

“It's still about reading holes and getting through there,” Beck said. “It does help sometimes if you're a bigger guy and somebody's in the way .... but you have these guys who can make big plays because they make people miss. Sometimes that 2-yard gain for the first down on third and 1 becomes a 50-yard touchdown.”

Here's my opinion on the usage of big backs like Castille: are they the be-all end-all for short yardage situations? Of course not. One of the best short yardage backs in history of the game was Marcus Allen, whose wiry 6'2", 210 pound build more resembles that of Lester Ward than Quentin Castille. Another instance of battering-ram tailbacks not assuring a first down is from the epic USC-Texas national championship game at the end of the 2005 season. Needing one yard to move the chains and keep Vince Young off the field, LenDale "Kripsy Kreme" White couldn't get it.

That said, my argument in favor of guys like Q is that the deeper you go into a game, the more it wears out the linebackers and secondary having to tackle a guy like that. Have you ever tried to stop someone like that when they have a head of steam? I have, and it felt like someone hit my shoulder with a sledgehammer. Extrapolate that over four quarters, and then you get an idea of what I mean. All of this of course is a moot point, because Quentin is gone, and now the task falls to Roy and Nebraska's stable of speedsters. As Beck pointed out, results are results, it doesn't matter how NU gets them as long as it's effective.

- To no surprise, Tom Osborne isn't really wild about Bud Light's "Fan Cans". Given T.O.'s opinion on underage alcohol abuse on college campuses, this was a given. All I really want to know is, what is the one place in Nebraska that DID get some of the cans? Because I'd like to call them and buy a case to be shipped up here. They have fan cans up here for the Vikings, but I fear that drinking beer out of a purple and yellow can may make me question my sexuality, whereas red and white would probably shoot my consumption to an entire new level on fall Saturdays. I mean, I'm going to be wearing a red shirt and a red hat......to have red and white Bud Light cans on top of it? That might put too much strain on an already-overburdened liver.

Still, my opinion aside, Osborne's request falls in line with nearly every athletic director and college president in the country, and I'm not going to argue with the logic in their arguments. Will this stop underage consumption? Well, no. It won't even slow it down. But if you're in their shoes, you have to make that move and speak out against it.

-While part of me feels for Latravis Washington being disappointed about getting passed by Cody Green, can he really be that surprised? Washington hadn't played quarterback since high school, whereas Green was coming in right after a ballyhooed career in Texas, both of them beginning their NU quarterback career at the same time. Furthermore, isn't competition what makes great programs great?

The most repeated phrase of camp thus far is that nobody- save Zac Lee's- job is safe, that every guy has to be sharp and busting his ass every day or he runs the risk of being passed by. While disappointment is understandable, the good thing is he seems to have the right reaction:

"I'm kind of disappointed in myself I didn't come out as the No. 2, but I'm going to just keep working and keep grinding, just keep on pushing forward.....It's whatever the coaches want. I'm a team player."

- Is anyone loving Bo's mentality and Pelini-isms through fall camp? After a sub-par practice, he comes out and says that "We're not a very good team right now." Which is exactly what needs to be said if the secondary is giving up deep balls, which is reportedly one of the big factors for Bo's surly attitude after practice Wednesday. After watching opposing wideouts fly by our defensive backs over and over again last year because of mental mistakes like biting on underneath routes, it's good to see that everyone is so focused on accountability. I've been one of Larry Asante's biggest critics, but to hear him say "We need to step it up" makes me excited to see what kinds of improvements we'll see from the pass defense.

Q is Out, Rex is In, and Thunder Goes to Prison

2009-08-25T16:18:00.000-07:00

Give Bo Pelini credit: He won't bend his rules for talented players. That was the message made more emphatically than ever with the dismissal of Quentin Castille, a talented if somewhat oft-troubled running back who was going to be option 1b at the tailback position this year behind Roy Helu.

Castille, who showed his true potential in spectacular fashion in last year's Gator Bowl victory over Clemson, sat out his last three practices in street clothes before Pelini made it official on Saturday.

When I found out, I was camping with some friends, but the announcement put a cloud of disappointment over the rest of the day for my brother and I. We, like many Husker fans, were excited to see what Castille could do this year in a season where the running game was seemingly going to become the featured part of the offense.

Reactions from most of the fans, and the media community, have been pretty supportive of Pelini's decision. In an era when many teams would simply handle a non-legal issue internally, Pelini made a stand and showed that every player, no matter how talented, must abide by his rules, or he'll be shown the door.

Said Pelini on Jim Rome's radio show yesterday:

“When you’re setting up a program and you’re forming a culture, in my world it’s pretty black and white. There’s not a lot of gray. You’re going do what’s asked of you. There’s going to be repercussions when you screw up. "

"Unfortunately for ‘Q,’ he made some mistakes and he made one too many…one thing our kids understand here is it’s not about any one person, it’s about the “N” on the side of your helmet…our players understand why the decision was made.”

When I talked to my dad (the man most responsible for my Husker brainwashing), he seemed pretty disappointed with the move.

The way he saw it, if Johnny Rogers was allowed to stay on the team after robbing a gas station back in '72, or Lawrence Phillips after that whole situation in '95, then why should Quentin be booted? While I understand that argument, I think he fails to see the difference between Osborne and Pelini.

Osborne believed that by keeping them in the program, he could continue to help them change their ways and give them a chance to rehabilitate themselves, whereas if they were let go, they could continue a downward spiral. Osborne, in his 1996 book On Solid Ground:

"Permanently dismissing Lawrence from the football team wouldn't have helped any of my family members or anyone else's family. If anything, it might have made things worse. By not getting the needed treatment, something similar may have happened in the future."

"At least if he were on the team, I could make sure he would get the help he needed...I hope people understand that we tried to do what was best for Lawrence as a human being and not simply to win football games."

Pelini, on the other hand, has his own opinions on player discipline. Since he's taken over the program, over a dozen players have left the program, and while not all of them are for player discipline, you have to wonder how many of them knew they would not be able to tolerate the elevated expectations that came with Pelini's hiring.

At first, I was torn on the decision. I have personal experience with this issue, as I was booted from my football team in college for drinking (it was a Baptist school that didn't allow drinking, or for that matter, pretty much anything else). Now, I didn't disagree with my dismissal. I broke the rules, and I should suffer the consequence.

However, half the starters on the defense were the guys I was out drinking with, and they were allowed to stay on the team. I was a second-stringer, and by no means a game breaker. THAT I had a problem with.

With Pelini, you don't see that. It doesn't matter how integral a player is to the team's success, if he doesn't toe the line, he'll be gone, and kudos to Pelini for sticking to his guns.

That said, what now with the running back position? We all know that Rex Burkhead, the schoolboy legend from Texas, has been elevated to No. 2. While I am as excited as anyone to see what the kid can do, he is by no means a proven commodity like Castille was. In additon to that, at 200 pounds he can hardly be expected to be the goal line battering ram that Castille was.

Despite my reservations though, having watched all his high school highlight videos, I am interested in seeing if he can make an instant inpact, particularly in the passing game, as it seems he's a pretty adept receiver.

Another question is, if Burkhead is the backup at running back, then who's the No. 3? Lester Ward has been getting some good reviews out of camp, but he has yet to have a collegiate carry.

What about Marcus Mendoza, who was moved back to the position after practicing with the receivers all fall? It will be interesting to see what Watson and RB coach Tim Beck do with so many unproven players at their disposal.

Thunder Collins Convicted

I'm not going to get into the dirty details of Thunder's conviction. It's yet another sad chapter in an ongoing downward spiral, and it's one I don't particularly like to talk about.

Collins was a guy who never lived up to the hype that he arrived with after being a JUCO All-American. In his best season for the Huskers, he had 647 yards rushing and 189 yards receiving, and he left the team halfway through the 2002 schedule.

Here's what is really chapping my ass about this whole situation though: Why on earth is this getting major play on sports news sites and TV? I could understand if it was a game-breaker who contributed some great seasons and made it to the NFL, but this is a guy who was a blip on the radar for a couple of years and then disappeared.

Somehow, this is making it in the "top stories" sections on SI.com and ESPN. My personal belief is that ever since Lawrence Phillips, any time the national media can point out another troubled former Nebraska player, they'll do it.

Maybe it's because we're in a part of the year that is lacking sports news (preseason football, all they have to talk about else is baseball), but either way, it still pisses me off that this gives opponents and critics another reason to talk bad about the program.

Big 12 South Preview (Part I)

2009-08-24T12:45:00.000-07:00

Due to time constraints today, I'm only going to publish the first half of my Big XII South preview. I know, the fans of Tech, Baylor, and Texas A&M are devastated, but we'll get to the bottom half of the division later this week, most likely after a Hot Routes and then some commentary on the Castille dismissal/Burkhead ascendancy for the Big Red. This should have been posted sooner, but alas, I was out of town.

The teams below are listed in in the order I believe they'll finish in the division race.

TEXAS LONGHORNS

Is it just me, or is Colt McCoy the Big XII's Van Wilder? He's one of those guys who has been in the spotlight his whole college career, and, as a result, it seems like he's been in school for the better part of a decade.

It's unfortunate for the rest of the Big 12, because during that tenure he's been pretty damn good. Holding 42 school records and a 32-7 career mark in the win/loss column will make you a near-deity at a school like UT, but to get on Vince Young's level, McCoy will have to take the Longhorns to where the pollsters didn't allow them to go last year, and that's to a national title.

Fortunately for McCoy, he'll have plenty of help on the offensive side of the ball, where eight starters return from an offense that put up 42 points and 475 yards per game last year. What sets UT apart from Oklahoma this year is that, whereas the Sooners have to rebuild their offensive line, Texas brings back four of their five starters from last year, among them All-Big 12 tackle Adam Ulatoski and center Chris Hall. The 'Horns hope that this experience in the trenches will lead to a running game with a feature back who's last name isn't McCoy, which was the case last year.

Look for the ball-toting duties to be shared among three backs, as was the case last year. This year's edition will feature Vondrell McGee (likely starter), Fozzy Whittaker (change-of-pace-guy), and Cody Johnson (short yardage). Whether or not that will lead to a better rushing game is anyone's guess. The real question here is, with it's fertile recruiting ground, how on God's green earth does UT not have a beast in the backfield?

The receiving corps, while losing Quan Crosby, still has Jordan Shipley, though it doesn't help that the Longhorns have lost four (that's right, four) tight ends to season-ending injuries thus far this year. Shipley is a legitimate Belitnekoff award candidate, and it's well deserved, as he's a beast.

UT's defense returns six starters, the most prominent being LB/DE Sergio Kindle, who is expected to get a lot of snaps at defensive end to shore up a unit still dealing with the loss of three starters, including Nagurski/Lombardi award winner Brian Orakpo. If the defensive line loses anybody to injury, there will be a significant depth issue there, and finding able bodies to prevent that is high on defensive coordinator (and head-coach-in-waiting) Will Muschamp. The good news is that the unit was bolstered by another boffo recruiting class, including Alex Okafor, the No. 1 ranked strongside defensive end, according to Rivals.com.

The rest of the defense wasn't hit as hard in terms of graduations and NFL decisions, and will return some able-bodied playmakers in Roddrick Muckelroy and a pair of stud safeties in Blake Gideon and Earl Thomas, who both excelled as freshmen last year.

OKLAHOMA SOONERS

For a team that has won three consecutive Big XII championships and played in five national title games in the past 11 seasons, the Sooners still have a problem with closing out with a victory. If you look back, the last time that OU won their final game of the year was back in 2005, when they beat Oregon in the Holiday Bowl, and as a result, there has been a little bit of OU backlash in recent years, especially last year after Texas was denied a chance to compete for the national title despite having beaten the Sooners in the Red River Shootout.

Say what you want about Oklahoma, but their consistency this decade is nothing short of amazing in this era of parity in college football. Only once in the 2000s have the Sooners finished with fewer than 11 wins. The question is, when will they get over the hump again and raise the crystal ball?

Last year's Sooner offense was the most prolific (at least in terms of scoring) in college football history, scoring 50 or more points in seven of their games and failing to break 40 only three times. That said, the Sooners face a challenge in restocking an offensive line that lost four starters, in addition to Sam Bradford's go-to receiver, Juaguin Iglesias. Luckily for Bradford, he still has plenty of playmakers to choose from, including a pair of 1,000 yard backs in DeMarco Murray and Chris Brown and tight end Jermaine Gresham, who may be the nation's best at that position.

Bradford faces stiff competition from McCoy and Jesus, er, Tim Tebow for the Heisman Trophy, but as we've seen, OU usually finds a way to simply reload with former five star recruits when they lose any weapons. As long as the line keeps Bradford upright, the offense will keep on rolling.

The defense, as is usually the case in the Bob Stoops era, will be a highly-regarded unit. Anchored by all-everything tackle Gerald McCoy, as well as defensive end Auston English and linebacker Travis Lewis, the Sooners are expecting great things from a squad that expects to return it's front seven from last season intact. According to Stoops's media day interviews, he thinks that this unit has a chance to be one of the better ones that the Sooners have had during his time at OU.

OKLAHOMA STATE

While everyone else may be predicting that OSU is this year's Texas Tech, I'm still not sold on them making that kind of a jump. The offense, though overshadowed by its peers in the South last year, is as good as any in the country. Not only is the attack extremely potent, it's also extremely balanced, as it rushed for 3,191 yards and passed for 3,149 yards last season.

The triggerman for the juggernaut is multi-threat QB Zac Robinson, who has no shortage of weapons at his disposal on the offensive side of the ball. The Cowboys return the Big XII's leading receiver and rusher, with All-American Dez Bryant doing the catching (1,480 yards, 17 YPC) and Kendall Hunter doing the running (1,555 yards, 16 TD's).

The only real losses for the offense were All-Conference center David Washington and first-round NFL draft choice Brandon Pettigrew, a tight end who last year had 42 catches for 472 yards

With all that firepower returning, you may wonder why I'm not sold on the Cowboys living up to their lofty pre-season rankings (No. 9, AP). For any knowledgeable college football fan, you already know the answer: their defense is, well...bad. Last year, the Cowboys lost four games, and in those games the opposing team averaged 47 points.

The reason for so much optimism by the Okie State faithful is that the Cowboys brought in Bill Young as defensive coordinator. Young, an OSU alum, is highly regarded in coaching circles, coming off his experience with Miami last year and Kansas the previous year, as a man known for turning around inept devensive units.

The question is, can one guy really flip the switch for a team that allowed over 400 yards of offense a game last year, lost three starters from a secondary that struggled mightily, and ranked last in the league in sacks? The Cowboys' aspirations of a Big 12 breakthrough hinge on it.

In addition to not being sold on their defense, I still don't think that the Cowboys can get through a brutal schedule that includes Georgia in the non-conference slate and then sends them on the road to face OU, Baylor, and Texas A&M. I think that OSU might be one of those teams that sprints out of the gate and then falls back to earth with another four or five-loss season.

Hot Routes

2009-08-19T14:08:00.000-07:00

I was contemplating posting my Big 12 South preview today, but I didn't feel that I had put quite enough into it yet, and considering I my attention span is shorter than the average Oakland Raiders head coaching career, I thought today would be a good day to do a Hot Routes and look around not only some news from the Big 12 but also some stuff that is either entertaining or noteworthy from around the country.

-This Wednesday practice recap got me extremely fired up about Niles Paul. It's crazy (and depressing) how fast time flies, as he's already a junior and we're still waiting for him to break out. If you read this blurb, however, it seems that the explosion is coming. Up until this point, the former high school All-American has been a special-teamer and the 4th receiver. However, his off-field issue this spring has obviously refocused him, and he seems determined to live up to they hype this year. I'm going to do a feature on the receiving corps at some point, but let me say this: Niles Paul has me giddy with anticipation about seeing some deep balls this fall in Memorial Stadium. To quote Shawn Watson from the article:

“Niles Paul is the guy, no doubt.”

What does Paul bring to the table?

“Plays. Big plays,” Watson said. “Respect is earned. You earn it by performance. I think everybody here, everybody on this team — offense, defense, coaches, managers, everybody who sees practice — goes, ‘Wow, he’s done a nice job.’”

- Came across this Pat Forde article over on ESPN via the guys over at Double Extra Point, and it lists his 40 worst college football villains from the past and present. As DXP points out, Matt Davidson is at #5 on the list because of his season-altering, national title-saving catch off of Shevin Wiggins' foot. He goes on to bitch and moan about how the officials should have called the play illegal because of the kick. Perhaps he's right, as technically, that was indeed illegal according to the rule book.

Then again, if we're going to nitpick, the media should have voted Nebraska #1 after they trounced (Peyton Manning-led) #3 Tennessee 42-17, while Michigan scraped by (Ryan Leaf-led) #8 Washington State 21-16, with the game coming down to the final play. So you'll have to forgive me if I think the Miracle at Mizzou simply enabled the better team to continue it's march to the national championship. Pat Forde, as pointed out by DXP, is a Missouri graduate. Shocking.

Other notables (pertaining to the Huskers) on the list:

#16 Bernie Kosar, Miami QB
Supposedly hated by the Huskers for his Orange Bowl derailment of the '83 juggernaut that both lost the Big Red the National Title and established the fact that Tom Osborne has testicular fortitude on par with the Gods.

#33 Barry Switzer
We all know why most consider this guy a villain. Husker hatred for him, while still present, has subsided over the years due to his praise of the rivalry and Tom Osborne, who he for the most part owned during their time at OU and Nebraska, respectively.

- I thought this article on the ACC by Mark Schlabach was interesting for a couple of reasons. The ACC is often regarded, as Schlabach points out, as perhaps the 4th or even 5th-best BCS conference in the country. The SEC and Big 12 are always at the top of that list, followed by the Pac-10, Big 10, with the vomit-inducing Big East bringing up the rear. Schlabach points out that the ACC has produced more 1st round NFL draft picks than any other conference the past four years, as well as the fact that it sent 10 teams to bowl games last year, an NCAA record.

While I don't refute that those are impressive stats, my question is, at what point does a conference's depth take away from it's ability to put teams in national championship games? Sure, they sent 10 teams to a bowl game. However, if you look at the standings, you see that only one team (Virginia Tech) finished with a double-digit win total (10), and that was helped by the Huskers giving them 30 yards on their game-winning drive with personal foul penalties.

After Va Tech, you have a bunch of teams with anywhere from 6-9 wins, and while that may get you into a bowl game, doesn't mean your conference is at the table with the Big 12 and SEC. Furthermore, how hard is it to make a bowl game? The field gets more diluted every year, and what's sad is that they keep trying to add more games. In my opinion, a .500 record should not be rewarded with a trip anywhere, even if the game in Boise, Idaho. If you only did your job right 50% of the time, would you get a bonus? I doubt it, and I don't think these schools, in this economic climate, should be paying to send their players and band anywhere either.

The other side of this argument is, would you rather have top-to-bottom depth, with no national title contenders, or would you rather be the Big 10 and be essentially a two-team conference? Both sides have advantages and disadvantages. The good thing for the Big 10 is, all it takes is to run the table in your conference (which reeks of Garbagio Armani), and you're assured a spot in the national title conversation. The downside of that is that you then get embarrassed in those BCS games on an annual basis. Well what about the Big 12, you say? They're as top heavy as the Big 10, right? No, they're not. Sure, we have OU and Texas. In addition to them though, we have top-10 Okie State this year, followed by respectable teams such as Nebraska, Kansas, Mizzou, and Texas Tech. Heck, even Baylor is becoming decent, and it's just a matter of time before Texas A&M comes back to the pack. So the Big 12 is the best of both worlds. That's right, I went through all those arguments just to tout Big 12 supremacy.

- Speaking of the Big 2, er, Big 10, Stewart Mandel's latest over on SI discusses the lack of parity in the conference and three teams that could be "sleepers": Iowa, Michigan State, and Illinois. While I'll be honest and admit that he makes some valid points about Iowa, I refuse to jump on either the Spartans or the Illini's bandwagons. Sure, MSU finished 6-2 in the league last year, but as Mandel points out, the two losses were one-sided woodshed beatings at the hands of the only two good teams in the conference. So you're telling me because they whooped the junior varsity, that this year they will break out?

I have my doubts. What makes the Big 10 the Big 10 is that there will always be the Indianas and Minnesotas to beat up on, and until the teams like the three Mandel mentioned bring back some kind of middle class to the league, it will continue to be an annual punchline. My favorite sentence of the article: "Of late, though, the league has been lacking in depth, as its putrid 6-16 bowl record over the past three seasons shows." Pointing that out never gets old.

I had to put this in, and no, I don't care that it rips off the "Rudy" song:

Big 12 North Preview

2009-08-17T15:39:00.000-07:00

Like taxes and death, it feels like Big 12 North bashing is one of the certainties in life. It's hard to think of more oft-maligned group of teams, mainly because even when the division isn't that bad, the South is so good that it makes the North look like terrible in comparison. The thing is, it really is warranted, particularly if you look at the conference in this decade. Sure, there was Colorado's defeat of Texas in 2001 and K-State's upset of OU in 2003, but those aren't the games the nation remembers. They think of the fact that the South has won the Big XII title game 5 years in a row, and by a combined score of 233-51 at that (thanks in large part to Colorado's 42-3 and 70-3 losses in 2004 and 2005).

When you put up stinkbombs of Hindenburg-ian proportions, people are going to be skeptical any time you claim that the North is rebounding. The thing is, I really do think that the next two seasons will go a long way in rehabilitating the division's image. Kansas and Mizzou have put together a couple of good years now, and Nebraska's continued improvement may finally balance out the conference to a certain extent. Today I'm going to look at the other five Big 12 North teams and make my predictions for their respective 2009 campaigns.

KANSAS JAYHAWKS
What sets the Jayhawks apart from the other main contenders for the North crown (Nebraska, Mizzou) is that they have an established and proven trigger man coming back in Todd Reesing, who by the end of his career (barring injury), will own every passing record that KU has. 20-6 as a starter, including two bowl victories (albeit one of them was over Minnesota, so nothing special there), Reesing will have a bevy of weapons to pick from this year.

He returns one of the best receivers in the country in Dezmon Briscoe, who put up a jaw-dropping season last year when he hauled in 92 catches for just over 1,400 yards and 15 touchdowns. In addition to Briscoe, Kerry Meier, the former backup QB who turned into a more-than-serviceable receiver, is back and now can focus solely on honing his ball-catching skills. To top it off, Jonathan Wilson (43 catches) and Jake Sharp (860 yards rushing/12 TD's) return as well. So barring Briscoe getting suspended or Reesing getting injured, this offense has the potential to be pretty powerful.

The KU defense, like much of the Big 12, is adapting to deal with the proliferation of the spread offense. Formerly a predominately 4-3 defense, most of the time you'll only see two linebackers on the field with an additional safety subbed in to deal with all the receivers. The secondary and defensive line returns a great deal of depth, led by safety Darrell Stuckey in the back and Caleb Blakesley at defensive tackle. The only downside for the Jayhawks is that they lost all three of their starting linebackers, including leading tackler James Holt.

Despite having 18 starters back, expectations are likely being tempered by a schedule that is downright brutal in the second half of the season. KU could very well start 6-0, but then has to face OU, Texas Tech, Nebraska, Texas, and Missouri in 5 of the last 6 games, and that's not counting if they make it to the Big 12 title game. Maybe I've been drinking too much Husker Kool-Aid, but I see the Jayhawks finishing 9-3 with losses to Oklahoma, the Huskers, and Texas.

MISSOURI TIGERS
While Mizzou's ascension the past few years has been difficult for me (and all Husker fans) to deal with, the one upside is that now there is a palpable hatred between these teams, something that was absent before due to NU's one-sided dominance. Now that Mizzou has had their day in the sun (22 wins the over the past 2 years), the question is, can they maintain it? Losing Chase Daniel, Jeremy Maclin, and Chase Coffman will test this team, even if it does have talented players to step in. Blaine Gabbert, the much-ballyhooed former Husker commit, will take the reins of the offense this year, and it will be interesting to see how he'll respond. He certainly has all the physical tools, but high school accolades don't always mean assured stardom in the college ranks.

Losing the top 2 receiving threats is painful, but capable players remain in the form of WRs Brandon Gerau (who stepped up in spring practice), Jared Perry, and Danario Alexander. Notice, I said capable. There's a big difference between capable and electric, which is what Maclin was. The good thing for the Tigers is that they return RB Derrick Washington, who established himself as one of the best all-around backs in the conference last year (17 TD's).

While the offense may still be serviceable, the defense is, shall we say, um....screwed. Only 3 teams in all of Division I (and yes, I still call it that, I'm not going to cave just because the I-AA had it's panties in a bunch) had worse pass defenses than Mizzou, and that doesn't bode well in the most pass-happy league in the country. To top it off, not only was the secondary horrible, it lost 3 starters...which, if you think about it, might not be a bad thing. I mean, it's not like there can be that much of a drop off, right?

The defensive line only returns one starter (NT Jaron Baston), but at least the linebacking corps is solid, anchored by Butkus candidate Sean Witherspoon, who has 1st-round talent. Unfortunately, one defensive stalwart can't save a defense that laid a season-long B.M. last year. Sadly, I can't really say much because they mopped the floor with Nebraska. In Lincoln.

That said, this year doesn't look promising. They are looking at a potential 3-4 start due to their season opener against Illinois and then playing NU, Okie State, and Texas in consecutive weeks, and it could be even worse than that considering they have to play OK teams Nevada and Bowling Green in their non-conference slate. Due to what should be a porous defense, I'm predicting a 6-6 record, not counting whatever garbage bowl game they make.

COLORADO BUFFALOES
"Ten wins and no excuses." That's the gauntlet that coach Dan Hawkins laid down at the awards banquet after last year's 5-7 season, which ended in spectacular fashion with Cody Hawkins on the turf courtesy of one Ndamukong Suh. Few things are better than keeping the Buffs out of a bowl game, especially since I watched them do it to us twice during the Callahan era. Anyways, with that warm memory out of the way, back to this year. Colorado fans are getting restless, as Hawkins' team has yet to finish above .500 in any of his three seasons at the helm. Those aren't the kind of results fans or pundits expected when Hawkins arrived from Boise State, and if he wants to stay off the hot seat he'll have to at least get back to a bowl this year.

One thing I will say for the Buffs is that they were decimated by injuries last year, as the final two-deep featured 27 sophomores and freshmen. Then again, this is FOOTBALL! IT'S THE BIG 12! And as such, those excuses ring hollow. If CU is going to turn it around, they have to get more consistent play from the QB position. Hawkins has some competition from Tyler Hansen for the starting QB job, though Hansen's spring practice injury set him back a few weeks.

In addition to the play of the quarterbacks, the Buffs also need former #1 overall recruit Darrell Scott to live up to the hype and have a big year running the ball, it's the only way they are going to take some pressure off of Hawkins/Hansen. Scott had a huge spring game, and also has Rodney Stewart to help him carry the rock, so the running game should be much-improved. In addition to a solid running back tandem, the Buffaloes also have a dangerous weapon in Josh Smith, who racked up nearly 2,000 all-purpose yards last year playing WR and returning kicks.

While the defense lost a couple of key players, they return a solid back seven, including standout linebackers in Jeff Smart and Shaun Mohler, as well as (according to Colorado promoters, anyways) Thorpe award candidate Cha'pelle Brown at corner. Looking at the schedule though, I don't see the 10 wins that Hawkins promised. I think they will finish 6-6, though I have a gut feeling that even that may be a stretch. It all depends on the QB position developing, because without that, a promising running game won't have a chance and this team will be too predictable for opposing defenses.

KANSAS STATE WILDCATS
20 years ago, Kansas State was awful, a running joke in college football. Then a guy named Bill Snyder was hired to coach the Wildcats. We all know the rest of the details about the Manhattan Miracle. The question is, can lightning strike twice? The game has changed a lot since then, and it'll be interesting to see if Snyder can even get K-State back to respectability, let alone to the level they were at in the mid-to-late 90's. The team is largely devoid of high-end talent, thanks in large part to Ron Prince's habit of assembling JUCO-only recruiting classes, and compounding the problem is that the offensive tackle who was playing QB last year is gone. Yeah, I just busted out a Josh Freeman-is-fat joke. I mean, c'mon, it's almost too easy.

Taking Freeman's place is Carson Coffman, who actually was a pretty good player in high school. The younger brother of former Missouri TE Chase, Coffman steps in behind a thin offensive line and has few weapons to distribute the ball to. The best he has is most likely WR Brandon Banks, a diminutive-but-speedy player who averaged over 15 yards a catch last year in addition to being the primary kick returner. Also look for TE Jeron Mastrud to have a decent year, considering Coffman will probably be looking to get rid of the ball in a hurry.

The defense has a few decent players, among them DE Brandon Harold (10.5 sacks as a true frosh last year) and CB Joshua Moore, who was among the leaders in pass breakups in the Big 12 last year. Unfortunately for Snyder, the schedule is devoid of the non-conference patsies he enjoyed pounding during his first go-round. Surely in the coming years we'll see St. Mary's School for the Blind and a few D-II teams, but this season they have UCLA to deal with. While my gut is telling me that the Wildcats are in for a 4-8 season, I'll predict they match last year's 5-7 season. What will be more telling than the record, however, is to see if this team starts to right the ship under Snyder after Prince's reign came to an ugly end.

IOWA STATE CYCLONES
For those of you outside of Ames wondering what that awful stench is, that would be your football team. ISU, who in the past three years has gone a combined 9-27 (topped off by a 2-10 mark last year), once again have a new coach after Gene Chizik got the hell out of Dodge and headed to greener pastures at Auburn. Enter former Auburn defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads, an Ankeny native and former ISU assistant coach. While that may sound sweet and nostalgic, that doesn't matter when your playing in the best football conference in the country (and yes, that's what the Big 12 was last year).

Just how far has Iowa State fallen? An unidentified Big 12 South player, being polled on the best and worst mascots in the conference at this year's media day, gave this answer for worst mascot: "The worst mascot is the Iowa State Tornadoes, or whatever they're called." Any time that an opposing player doesn't even know what you're called, that's a bad sign.

While he has an uphill battle, Rhoads is a very good coach who directed some great defensive units at Pitt before going to Auburn for last season. He's going to need it too, considering the Cyclones gave up 42 points per game in conference play last season. The secondary has a lot of experience, though I'm not really sure if that matters or not. Returning starters, in my opinion, can be a misleading factor, because sometimes those starters weren't that good to begin with. Safety James Smith is a decent presence at safety, and Jesse Smith (no relation) has been a consistent presence at linebacker, though he's no game-changer.

The offense, led by the capable Austen Arnaud, will be switching to the spread this year, and he'll be joined in the backfield by Florida transfer Bo Williams at running back. 8 other starters return on offense with Arnaud, and Rhoads brought in highly-regarded offensive coordinator Tom Herman from Rice. The thing is, as much as I've ripped on ISU here, they played well at times last year. They were up 20 on Kansas at halftime last year before collapsing, and they lost to UNLV in overtime. In addition to those games, they played a few other teams really tough. But playing teams tough doesn't keep coaches employed, winning does. A soft schedule could get them off to a 3-1 start in non-conference play, but after that they have their work cut out for them. I'm going to predict that they'll steal at least one game they shouldn't and finish with a 5-7 record.

Swagger is Sweet

2009-08-13T14:53:00.000-07:00

Of all the story lines coming out of fall camp, there is one that has me trembling with anticipation more than any other, and that's the confidence that is emanating from the Husker football team. Every day brings another quote, another snippet, of an attitude that for too long has been absent from the program. To highlight a couple:

RB Quentin Castille:
"I always have high expectations for myself, and I know I have high expectations for the team," Castille said."We're not going to back down."

"We're not going to be that one team that everybody's all, 'Yeah, we can run over these guys.' It's not going to be any of that stuff like last year. Let's just say I'm not here to win just nine games."

DC Carl Pelini:
"Nine wins isn’t what we expect at the University of Nebraska, so there better not be any complacency going on.”

Throughout camp, despite the naysayers always pointing to the QB situation, there seems to be an air of calm over the Huskers, a sense that this team knows it has the potential to come out of nowhere and be something special. It's especially refreshing to see even compared to last year's camp, when guys still didn't know their calls or responsibilities and the emotional scars of 2007's collapse were still fresh in their mind.

A perfect example of confidence is when USC came to town in 2007 to play against the then-#13 ranked Huskers. I was watching the game at a Husker bar in Minnesota, and throughout the pregame, I could sense, in myself and my fellow fans, a sense of foreboding. Not that we knew we were in for an ass-kicking, but almost a feeling of "Please let's just keep it close". And that, my friends, is not the mindset of a good football team, or it's fan base. As sad as it is to say that, I think there were some players that had that look in their eye that night as well. We all know how that game turned out, but as painful as it is to rehash it, that was the beginning of a long road that led us to Bo Pelini and the Big Red's (ongoing) return to prominence.

Last year's 6-1 run to end the season, in my opinion at least, seemed to turn on a light above this team's head, and the players realized that they can beat anyone when they do their job (obviously nobody did their job against OU). Now, with another year in the system, the mental breakdowns will be less frequent, the Blackshrits will force a lot more turnovers, and I really think we'll see a team that on both sides of the ball is ready to physically impose their will on opponents.

The best teams are so confident that they are just a little bit cocky. While I do believe it's important to practice humility, I believe that there has to be that attitude, just a slight air of arrogance that one can only see when they really study a person. That swagger is the difference between NU football in the 90's and the mid-00's. A great team doesn't believe it can win, it knows it will. In the 1995 Orange Bowl, when the Huskers were down 17-7 to Miami, you could look at the Nebraska sideline and you'd have swore that they were in the lead, not the Hurricanes. It's epitomized by Tommie Frazier, who had been out for the 2nd and 3rd quarters, telling Warren Sapp "It ain't where I've been fat boy, it's where I'm going" before leading the Husker comeback to win the national title.

That's why I think all of the pundits and experts out there are making a mistake penciling us in for 8 or 9 wins. I'm not saying their foolish or anything, to someone who isn't a fan of the program, all they have to do is look at the loss of Ganz and write the Huskers off. To me though (and apparently Steve Sipple as well), there seems to be a steely determination to this Husker team, an attitude that 9 wins and a Holiday bowl berth isn't what they have planned for this season. And damn, do I like it.

And now, a few quick links for the weekend:
- A must-read by Stew Mandel over on SI about the upcoming bowl tie-ins shakeup that would put a Big 10 team in the Gator Bowl instead of a Big 12/ACC team. This would then trickle down to the Alamo, which would replace the Big 10 with a Pac-10 team, therefore upstaging the other Pac-10/Big 12 game, the Holiday bowl. Anyways, Mandel has the ins and outs handled a lot better than I do, so you should probably just click the link. The real question here is, if you're the Big 10, do you really want more publicity for a bowl game in which you'll probably get your ass kicked?

- Sports Illustrated ranked Nebraska #34 in their preseason issue. Pretty much the only thing mentioned about the Huskers in the whole magazine is a miniature paragraph about Suh and a small blurb about Pelini being the "Coach on the Rise" in the Big 12. Both were about the size of one digit of my thumb, which I guess goes to show that we'll be flying under the radar to start the season. One more aside on this issue: This is why the only rankings I actually care about is the coaches poll, because even if it isn't filled out by the actual coach, it's probably done by someone on his staff with actual football knowledge, not a writer who has never stepped between the white lines.

Hot Routes & Spano Injury

2009-08-12T10:32:00.000-07:00

For those of you not familiar with my writing, sometimes in lieu of an actual column, I'll contribute what I call Hot Routes, just snippets of things I'm thinking about pertaining to the Huskers or other areas of college football. I'm still working on my next real column, but I thought this would be a good time to dust off the Hot Routes just to get the rust off my writing.

- Kody Spano tearing the same ACL he hurt earlier this year is a huge blow for the Huskers. It seemed like he had been playing really well in camp and had the confidence of his teammates, and then to see this happen to him, you can't help but feel for the kid. Now it comes down to Cody Green or LaTravis Washington for the backup job, and putting a redshirt on Green seems like a no-go after this news. That said, as we saw last year, this staff is not above keeping a redshirt on guys when they believe it will help them in the long run (Will Compton). Furthermore, does this force Pelini and Watson to leave Taylor Martinez at quarterback when it still wasn't 100% he'd stay there? This injury changes a lot of things for this team and makes protecting Zac Lee all the more important. I mean, with no proven backup behind him, can you even attempt to run the option? That seems like you're inviting fans to have heart attacks every time he carries the ball.

- Darren Evans, the beastly running back and reigning Orange Bowl MVP for Virginia Tech, is out for the year after tearing his ACL. Obviously by now, unless you're living under a rock or aren't a huge college football fan, you've heard about this. I do feel bad not only for Evans but for the Hokie fans, because they had a legitimate shot to make a run at the national title. Va Tech must now choose between Ryan Williams or Josh Olson, both highly regarded freshmen (albeit Williams is a redshirt frosh), or Josh Oglesby, a redshirt sophomore who is the only one of the three to have a college carry. This will make it easier for the Huskers to focus on Tyrod Taylor, but you still hate to see a guy's season end that way. Just a reminder of what Evans was capable of:

Given our shoddy-at-times tackling last year, that would have made me nervous.

-The nation's #2 defensive end in the country (and #19 overall player according to Rivals) Owamagbe Odighizuwa has confirmed that the Huskers will be one of his five official visits. This is a coup for the Huskers staff and a testament to the kind of work John Papuchis is doing recruiting. I'm not one to get all that wound up about recruits who have never played a snap in college, that has a way of not panning out sometimes. That said, it's key that Nebraska is starting to get kids of this caliber to travel to Lincoln, especially when his other schools include Oregon, USC, and Florida. Do we land him? Tough call, especially when it's no sure thing that he'll make it to an actual game. The appeal of Nebraska can only truly be seen in Memorial Stadium on autumn Saturdays, not on a tour of an empty complex on finals week. Still, progress is being made in recruiting, and I think this staff knows how to relate to kids really well. Plus, any defensive lineman should salivate at the thought of being coached by the Pelinis.

- Just stumbled across this article and was excited to see that former Husker cornerback Zach Bowman, finally free from injury long enough to recover, is making some headlines at Bears camp. This is awesome for me on two levels. The first is that few people deserve success like Bowman does. His injuries at NU, his fall in the draft because of them, the limitless potential that hadn't been realized, he's making up for lost time now. This is welcome good news after Stew Bradley injured his knee and is out for the year, stopping him from joining Barrett Ruud as one of the best 'backers in the game. The other reason Bowman's ascension is fun for me? It's nice to have one more guy to cheer for against the Vikings.

-Really liked Stew Mandel's opinion here on Notre Dame. Every year, we're subjected to the Irish getting an asininely high (and unwarranted) ranking. Luckily, they've been atrocious enough that they are quickly forgotten about. However, coming off of last year's bowl win in which Jimmy "I should change my name to Jim to be taken seriously" Clausen threw for 400+ yards and 5 touchdowns, everyone seems to be penciling in this year as a potential 10-win season. Obviously, this would be a nightmare, because once again a potentially more deserving (and higher ranked) team would be left out of the BCS. The thing is, when you've been as irrelevant as Notre Dame the past couple of years, people are usually hesitant to chalk up wins before you've played the games. And as Nebraska fans know, that can be an extremely bad decision (remember 2007?). So I'm going to hold off my criticism of the Golden Domers for now, because if I were to bitch and moan about it, it would only give them more undeserved attention. Let them gain relevancy the way we have to: win games.

Watson is Gonna Wow Us

2009-08-11T11:00:00.000-07:00

I struggled to think of what to write about with my first real posting since my reentry into blogging. However, after thinking about it for all of about 10 seconds, I realized that the thing I am most curious and excited about this upcoming season is what offensive wrinkles Shawn Watson will be implementing in the Husker game plan.

The point most often brought up by Husker doubters this off-season has been the loss of Joe Ganz and the fact that Zac Lee only has 3 more pass attempts in actual games than I do. The thing is, (and this may just be the sunshine coming out of summer and camp chatter) I really do believe the hype. I think that Zac Lee is going to come out and surprise some people, not only with his running ability, but with his (according to reports) 70-yard arm. I seriously have daydreams of seeing Lee in the shotgun, Castille at his side, Mendoza and Helu at the slots, and Meno and Niles on the outside. Or maybe you have Helu in the backfield and put McNeill as an H-back? There is a bevy of options when you have a bevy of athletes, especially when you have the football acumen that Watson has.

Some things I wouldn't be suprised to see:

1) More elements of the spread-option game. I know we saw a little bit of this last year, but I think with Lee's speed and Mendoza's move to receiver full-time, I think this element could be utilized to higher degree this year. That's part of why the above paragraph mentioned putting Helu in the slot. When you have two beast tailbacks, why not get them both on the field. Imagine a play where we can bring Helu in motion to the right, snap the ball and fake the zone read to Castille going left, and then have Zac and Roy in perfect option relationship with Mendoza coming inside from the other slot for a potential shovel pass. How do you defend against that? Is it even possible? The one factor that makes this option less attractive is protecting Lee's health, given the lack of proven depth behind him.

2) As Sam McKewon mentioned in this article, with McNeill being such a versatile weapon (as well as having developing players like Kyler Reed and Ben Cotton behind him), the potential is there to go no-huddle, making our offense even more hard to defend. Ideally we pummel Florida Atlantic and Arkansas State with our ground game and save the no-huddle for Virginia Tech. Though now that I think about it, breaking out an unproven offensive system that relies heavily on on-field calls in Lane Stadium probably doesn't sit too well with the coaching staff.

3) The deep ball. We gotta have it. I keep hearing about this blazing speed we have, Lee's cannon arm, and all the bombs they'd been completing this summer in workouts. Then again, hitting them in 7-on-7 in front of 20 teammates and a bit easier than doing it in front of 85,000. That said, I'm not going to let it temper my enthusiasm for the potential of Niles sprinting under a gorgeous 60 yard play-action pass from Zac against Oklahoma in prime time. In addition to how exciting the plays are themselves, they serve another purpose in the recruiting area. Kids want to play at places where they go for the big play. Big plays make in on SportsCenter, and they get people talking about us more than they otherwise would. Obviously, our dink-and-dunk offense is great because it keeps opposing offenses off the field, an especially valuable factor with the video-game offenses the Big 12 has. But you can't put a price on seeing a gorgeous go route completed just like it's drawn up.

I'm Back

2009-08-10T13:17:00.000-07:00

And with that, the most inconsistent Husker blogger has announced his return. Surely, the blogosphere will buzz with the return of my posts. OK, so that's probably not true. But what I have come to realize is that I miss writing. I miss sharing my thoughts about everything Nebraska football with fellow Husker fans. And almost as much, I miss making fun of the Big 10. Regardless of the reasons though, I wanted to say that I'm returning to blogging about the Huskers, the itch was too much to ignore now that camp is in full swing and the second year of the Bo Pelini era is looking to further Nebraska's resurgence. My first real report will be tomorrow, but expect a few things:

1) I promise. Seriously, I promise: No less than 3 postings a week.

2) Let me state first that I hate twitter. The fact that the human attention span has gotten so small that we can only keep up with 140-character updates makes me have serious doubts about the future of our species. That said, the platform is perfect for doing in-game updates of what I'm thinking about NU's performance or other random thoughts I might be having. And I promise you, I'm not going to be updating you about when I'm grocery shopping or taking a deuce, which is apparently what some people seem to think twitter is for.

3) Expect Nebraska to return to greatness. More on this in the coming days.

And let me conclude my return press conference (attendance: 1) by saying that as excited as I am about this year's Huskers, I am almost equally giddy about Kevin Cosgrove being the defensive coordinator of the Minnesota Golden Gophers. This is going to be too easy.

Blogging the game

2008-10-25T10:31:00.000-07:00

So once I realized that we were going to have problems with Baylor, I figured, why not just blog the game? We are currently down 14-7, and the whole punt-that-supposedly-wasn't-touched fiasco where we were screwed out of not only possession but field position. Our offense is having problems sustaining drives and our defense is tackling as poor as ever, though much of that can be contributed to them playing a world-class sprinter.

12:38--Nice sack by Prince, and one we desperately needed for momentum's sake

12:43-- Finally have something going here on offense again with consecutive first downs, down to the 29. Good no call on the deep pass to Petersen there, which the two terrible announcers also point out.

12:44--Just dodged a huge bullet with that Young fumble. And I know that it just got us 5 yards, but can we please find some faster guys if we are going to run the little quick pass to Swift where he trys to make like Terrell Owens and just out-quick two guys?

12:48-- At least we got 3 points out of the drive, but that didn't do much to dull their momentum. The botched kick was nice for the momentum, but then Griffin burns us for a quick 11 yards. This guy is going to kick our ass throughout the day. 7 carries for 100 yards in the first half for Griffin. Where is the team we saw last week against Iowa State? I know Griffin is amazing, but you still have to come up with a way to stop him.

12:55--Of course, right after I say this, Allen comes in and drops Griffin for a big loss. I can't believe that Griffin didn't see him coming. Top it off with a botched Baylor punt and we might go into half with a lead here if our offense can take advantage of the short field.

12:57-- Oh, so Colt McCoy is your Heisman leader, announcer guy? Wow, what a shocking announcement!

12:58-- Touchdown, Marlon Lucky! What a great little drive he just had, a great catch followed by a nice run in traffic to finish the job. Everyone in red is breathing a little easier right now. I'll be honest though, I may retire my "Blackshirts" shirt I'm wearing, it seems like every time I wear it we play poorly out of the gate.

1:03-- Glad to see Thenarse is in there, if I had to watch O'Hanlon get burned over and over again, I was going to throw up. Of course, right after I say this nearly beat us deep only to have the receiver drop the ball. Then Glenn manages to give them a first down with another personal foul, followed promptly by Griffin hitting a guy wide open at the 17. Down to the one on a slant route. What the f*ck is going on?

1:07-- How do you let a team drive down on you in the last minutes of the half to regain the lead. It was a painful flashback to last year, where we looked absolutely helpless and kind of had a deer-in-the-headlights look.

1:09-- Touchdown, Baylor. Great block by Suh, would have been nice if we could have taken that the distance, but it wouldn't have mattered because we had yet another personal foul on Nebraska. How many is that in the first half for the team? At least 3 if you count Glenn's two, though I still think we have more than that. Pretty embarrassing half of football for Nebraska, especially with Griffin making it look like the Blackskirts '07 edition. Why aren't we putting a spy on Griffin? Or are we doing that and he's so fast that it doesn't matter?

1:19-- What is going on down in Manhattan? OU is up 41-28 in the first half on K-State. Tech is up big on KU, which will even their conference record at 2-2. If NU and MU win today, it's three teams with that record who will be tied on top with MU and KU still to play. Should be an interesting couple of weeks if we can regain the form we saw against Tech and Iowa State.

1:35-- According to Bo, we didn't tackle well in the first half. That's kind of like saying Paris Hilton is a smelly pirate hooker. Pretty obvious to anyone who was watching.

12:37-- Great break on the ball by Dillard to force the punt.

Okay, I'm way too far away from my TV to type this and watch at the same time. No, I don't have a laptop, and yes, that sucks. So I'm going to go watch the game then finish this up afterwards.

Post Game Thoughts

- Nate Swift is having a bigger season than even I expected, and I predicted 2nd-team All Big 12, which he should easily do if he keeps it up. Of course, I don't think he'll be putting up 11 catches for 120 and two TDs every week, but still, even grabbing five or six catches a game through the rest of the season would put him in in 60+ catch territory. But after 8 catches in the first half last week and the 11 from today, he's obviously on fire right now. Living in Minnesota, it's fun to hassle our friends and remind them that if Swift had stayed here to play for the Gophers, they'd have the best white receiver combo in college football if he was teamed with Eric Decker. Let's just say I'm glad he defected to Lincoln.

-Still too many personal fouls, it's inexcusable and needs to be fixed. I said the exact thing last weekend.

- I ragged on the defense in the first half, but they did a great job in the 2nd half to shut Baylor out, though the hobbling of Griffin was a huge help in that area.

- Larry Asante continues to baffle me. What is so frustrating is that he can seem like a playmaker one minute and then look like a 3rd-grader attempting a tackle. The safety play is an on-going issue, as Baylor had several guys open downfield today that Griffin luckily missed. OU won't make the same mistakes.

- We still need to fix tackling problems throughout the defense. If Baylor can gash us for long runs, what is a healthy Demarco Murray going to do?

The W that We Needed

2008-10-21T11:12:00.000-07:00

So I wanted to let the Iowa State win soak in a few days and kind of gauge where Husker fans are at with their feelings on the program before I wrote anything. A couple of days later, it's become apparent that almost everyone sees the past two weeks as a potential turning point in the season. While I'm not going to go that far, I will say that ISU this past week was the most fun I've had watching Husker football since the Taylor-to-Purify Texas A&M game of 2006. That is both incredibly sad and encouraging at the same time, sad because of how awful we were last year and encouraging because for the first time in forever, we saw a dominant Husker team. And I'm not saying they are an overall dominant team, I'm just saying they dominated Iowa State, which might not mean much considering the Cyclones aren't that good, but at this point I would have taken any kind of win, and to have it be an ass-kicking was all the more fun for me.

Some more ISU/NU thoughts:

- Shawn Watson is en fuego. That's two consecutive games that he has called pretty much perfectly, at least in my opinion. Against ISU, the Huskers had 41 rushing attempts and 37 passing attempts, a near perfect balance that enabled them to efficiently rack up over 500 yards of offense and once again possess the ball for basically 2/3rds of the game. Any time you can keep the opposing offense off the field for 40 out of 60 minutes, you're doing a damn good job of piecing drives together.

- Does anyone else wonder if we might have made a bowl game or even better last year if Joe Ganz had been starting the entire time? I never really wanted to be part of the what-if-Ganz started crowd, but every time he comes out and completes over 70% of his passes I can't help but wonder. I know Keller completed 63% last year, but take into account that a good portion of his 205 completions last year went to Marlon Lucky, who had 75 catches. Ganz has been lethal in terms of ball distribution this season, and it's gotten to the point that you really don't know which way he's going to go with it. I'll be honest, watching the offense has been thrilling the past few weeks, and hopefully this execution continues. The amazing thing is that despite the gaudy completion percentage, Joe still only ranks 5th among Big-12 quarterbacks.

- Marlon Lucky: 15 carries for 74 yards. Roy Helu: 6 for 66. Quentin Castille: 11 for 70. Makes it hard to defend a running game when you have 3 backs with significantly different styles who all can carry the load if asked. Part of the credit goes to Watson, who is doing a good job of not making any back a "situational" guy. Whenever this happens, all you're really doing is tipping off the defense as to what might be coming. By not pigeon-holing any guy into one role, Watson is keeping a lot of options open for the offense, and as a result, every guy is producing.

- Through the first few games, I was concerned that my pre-season Nate Swift prediction was going to turn out like a lot of other famous declarations by me and be proven false. Luckily, the offense has kicked it up a couple of gears and you're seeing the results I thought would be regular occurence. Not that I thought Swift was going to put up 8 catches and 112 yards and a touchdown every game, but I figured he'd be getting more production than he had. Against ISU, he contributed the previously mentioned stat line in the first half, including a highlight catch-and-run for the games first touchdown (though it may have as much to do with Iowa State's inability to properly tackle him). Swifty currently sits just 7 catches behind Johnny Rodgers for the school record, and it could come as early as this week if Ganz gets going.

- Yardage total aside, no excuse can be made for fumbling the ball 5 times. You can get away with it against ISU, but we're going to need to protect the ball better the rest of the way if we're going to beat teams like OU and Kansas.

- Wasn't it refreshing to see the defense flying around and making plays for the first time in forever? Holding any team to 218 yards of offense is a job well done, especially when one third of them comes on one play (the 67-yard TD by Robinson in the 3rd).

- Nice hit, Ricky. Good to have you back, and I think I speak for us all when I say we'd love to see that become a regular occurrence.

-How fun was it to watch the D-line on Saturday? Suh was living in the ISU backfield, and all four of the starters were making their presence felt throughout the game. Seeing Potter come off the edge for a blindside sack was especially exciting, I love it when the QB can't see you coming, it's like teeing up with your driver......it might not look pretty, but no matter what, it's going to be hit hard. That said, it'll be a much bigger test for them this week as the opposing QB is a stud sprinter, and we all know the struggles the Big Red have had containing mobile quarterbacks.

- Is Armando Murillo emerging as a lock-down corner? Let's not get ahead of ourselves. But he made several nice plays on Saturday, including a very athletic pass break-up as well as a fumble recovery in the 3rd, and I never really saw him get beat at all. He's starting to get it just in time for the stretch run.

-The punting situation needs to be fixed, and sooner rather than later. Like, this week.

- Came out pretty lethargic in the 3rd quarter, something I hate to see after Callahan became an expert on how to lose games in that portion of the game. It's important to come out and re-establish your will on a team after you have a first half like that, and I think the whole team knows that they need to work on slamming the door shut when they find themselves in that position.

- This was an important win for us, as it helped establish some momentum for the rest of the season, something we need after going 3-3 in the first half. If the team plays like that the rest of the way, every game looks winnable save for the OU game in Norman. I'm not going to get ahead of myself and predict that's what's going to happen, because this team is still definitely a work in progress. But thankfully, last Saturday was definitely a sign of that progress, and it judging from the glowing press tidbits we've been seeing this week, this is a team that believes the ship has been righted and is in position to have some fun the rest of the year. Believe it or not, the Big 12 North is still up for grabs, as Kansas is the only team in the division with a 2-1 record right now, whereas the rest of the members are sitting at 1-2. KU, by the way, still has to play Texas Tech, Texas, and the Huskers. Anything is possible (though I'd hate to see us go to the Big 12 title game only to get embarassed by Texas, like Colorado in 2004).

Some other Big 12 thoughts:

- How good are Colt McCoy and Texas? I don't complete 80% of my passes on NCAA '09, and McCoy has that completion percentage halfway through the season. It's just mind blowing how efficient he's become, and his ability to run the ball if need be is going to help him win the Heisman when it's all said and done.

- What happened to Mizzou the past two weeks? After they demolished the Huskers, I thought I was looking at the eventual Big 12 Champion. Two losses later (the second one an ass-kicking by the Longhorns), they are in a dogfight to win the Big 12 North. It'll be interesting to see how Daniel and his team respond to the adversity they now face. If they continue to struggle, could we see something along the lines of the Huskers last year? I don't think they'll get shut out of a bowl or anything, but I could see them losing to Kansas and missing the conference title game altogether.

Big Red Roundtable

2008-10-16T08:43:00.000-07:00

Now we're at the halfway point of the season, it's time for the Husker blogosphere to come together to discuss what we've seen so far and where we think the Big Red is going to go from here.

How do you see the Huskers finishing the 2008 season? Final win loss/record?

While I don't think it's likely, NU has the ability to go 5-1 in the second half of the season. Realistically though, I see the Huskers finishing this part of the schedule 4-2, with an obvious loss to Oklahoma and then losing to Kansas or Colorado in a close game where we don't force any turnovers and have 12 penalties for 100 yards, which would be par for the course when it comes to this season. I think that we'll finish the regular season 7-5 and beat a Big 10 team in the Insight Bowl. It's what I predicted before the season, and I'm sticking to it here.

What is the most disappointing aspect of NU's performance in the first half of the season?

The lack of a running game, particularly after all the sunshine we had pumped up our ass during the preseason, is my choice for this question. I just can't believe that with the "stable" of stud backs we have and supposed bull-dozing offensive line, that we can't get more yardage on the ground. The penchant for penalties is my 2nd place finisher here, those flags have legitimately cost us 2 games, whether it be dumb personal foul calls or drive-killing holding/false start penalties.

Through 6 games, what do you think of the defense coming off of last year's debacle? Have they improved more or less than you thought they would?

The effort has no doubt improved, and you can't argue that the numbers are better. I think a lot of people expected them to take a quantum leap, but Pelini has gone to great lengths to describe it as a work in progress, which he was smart to do because the defense has been terrible at creating turnovers and pass coverage. I don't know whether the schemes are that complicated or our safeties are that bad, but either way it has to be addressed fast. Hopefully the return of Cody Glenn and Ricky Thenarse will help. I'll be honest, I was one of those people who expected a big leap. And compared to last year's showing, we really can't complain. Sure, the Huskers have struggled to create turnovers and have given up a fair amount of big plays. The difference is that this year you can see that they actually care that they are giving them up, and they definitely turn it up a notch in the red zone, whereas last year they might have folded. Overall, with the exception of a few busted coverages, I can't complain too much, though that might be because after last year I would take any sign of improvement as a reason to rejoice.

With the reality that the Big 12 may now be as tough as the SEC, how does that bode for Nebraska's attempt to regain it's former status? How long of an uphill climb do we have to re-join the leaders of the conference?

It's going to be more difficult than it would have been 5 years ago, there's no doubt about it. Mizzou is going to be tough for years to come, Colorado will continue to improve, and Kansas will be a solid team. I still think that the Big 12 isn't yet to the point of being in SEC territory yet, and my reason is this: in the Big 12, there's no doubt that UT and OU still hold sway and will always be the prohibitive favorites. This is in contrast to the SEC, where every year it's a brawl with one bloodied team emerging from the scrum at the end of the year, and you're never entirely sure who is going to be the last team standing. The Big 12 has come a long ways, but we are still top-heavy in my opinion.

That said, I think Nebraska is still going to need all of NEXT season to work through the kinks and get some new players into Pelini's system before they are going to challenge anyone for a conference title. I think that 2010 would be the most realistic year where we could make a run at something, if only because I don't think that there is enough talent in place right now to win next year. Unless we get a freakish recruiting class along the lines of Alabama's last year (and that's not going to happen), we are still a ways out. I'd say 9 or 10 wins next year is possible, then make a run after that.

Most disappointing/surprising players for NU thus far?

Surprising: Cody Glenn. Who would have thought that a converted running back would be our best defensive player? He's the heart and soul of the defense, and a pleasant surprise at a position we desperately needed help at.

Disappointing: Marlon Lucky/ Larry Asante. Marlon still has the skills to be a good back, but you can only get away with showing flashes of it when you're a freshmen or sophomore. When you're a senior, it's time to turn it on every game. He showed how dangerous he was last week as a receiver out of the backfield, but I still think he has to show more in the running game, though that may be a product of poor line play.

Asante still can't cover or properly fill gaps in the run game. I would go into greater detail, but I don't like beating dead horses.

Make sure to check out all the other Husker blog responses. I'll be adding more of their responses as they roll in.

Big Red Network
Husker Faithful
Husker Mike
Corn Nation

Everything but the W

2008-10-13T12:14:00.000-07:00

When I sat down to watch the Huskers against Texas Tech this past Saturday, I did it with the expectation that I would be leaving at halftime, believing that by then the outcome would surely be all but decided. After all, we were going against two Heisman trophy candidates, an offense that suddenly had a running game that complemented their lethal passing attack, and a solid defense, and that's not even mentioning how awful we had played just a week earlier against Missouri. To top it off, we were in Lubbock, where 4 years earlier there was a massacre of biblical proportions. 4 hours later, my brother and I sat, in shock, after watching a thrilling game that was well within our grasp but was taken from us in heartbreaking fashion.

It was a stomach punch game, one that undoubtedly doubled over many players as well as Husker fans. We HAD IT. Everything that NU had to do to steal a win was there, but unfortunately for anyone with an "N" on their apparell, the Huskers also brought the gun to Lubbock. You know, the gun that they've shot themselves in the foot with for countless games over the past few years? It's the one that LeKevin Smith used against the same Red Raiders when he fumbled away a win in 2005. It's the same gun that Terrence Nunn used against Texas in the 2006 snow game. Yet again, we found a way to lose a winnable game. Two consecutive holding penalties pushed us out of field goal range before half, taking away an opportunity for 3 points that would have eventually won us the game. Joe Ganz, playing lights-out, gets sacked trying to get rid of the ball, but because of the man wrapped around his legs, the ball goes directly to a defender. For 10 years, we got the breaks. Now, it seems that they are dead-set against us.

During the 3rd quarter, I mentioned to my brother, "You know, you'd think that after the past 5 years, especially our games against Tech, that maybe football karma will go our way this time." I could not have been more wrong. The interception was especially painful, but you shake it off because without Joe Ganz, we aren't even in position to win this game. But the real ammunition for the shoot-our-foot gun was once again penalties. I can't remember seeing a less-disciplined Nebraska offensive unit in my lifetime, it's simply astounding how many drive-killing penalties one team can have. Really, you take those away, I think we win this game, and I know I'm not the only one.

The one thing that all of us know though is that wouldas, shouldas, and couldas don't count for a damn thing in the standings. All that matters is the W or the L, and no matter how much hope NU may take out of this game, the bitterness all of Husker Nation is tasting today will not reside for some time. I had a coach once who told me that at the end of the day, winners make plays, plain and simple. We were one play short, and that's all that people will see when they look at our record at the end of the season, not two "shoulda" games against Va Tech and the Red Raiders.

Some more quick-hit thoughts on NU/Texas Tech:

- Attn: Nebraska Safeties

RE: Coverage Responsibilities

Guys, that guy running free behind you? Yeah, you should cover him instead of letting him jet by unimpeded. Thanks.

- The spot was questionable, but my real question about Castille's carry on 4th down at the TT 30 was this: how does a massive man like Q get literally stopped on a dime? Once he was hit by that guy, he went straight down. I figured that a guy that big would take at least two or three feet to stop, but apparently even the biggest of trees can be taken down in one fell swoop.

- Todd Peterson was BOC in the 4th quarter. For those of you unfamiliar with the acronym, he was Balling Outta Control.......talk about some clutch catches, my hat's off to you Petey.

- For a guy whose defenses were known for creating turnovers, we haven't seen much from Pelini's unit this year. Tech was the 3rd consecutive game without one (and we REALLY needed one this time). That aside, it's hard to get interceptions when nobody is covering the opposing team's receivers.

-The lack of depth was never more apparent when we realized that a true freshmen walk-on was our starting inside linebacker. If you're a recruit looking for immediate playing time at a tradition-rich and desperate school, look no further than the University of Nebraska.

I don't even want to discuss this game further, let's just get to ISU on Saturday.

Some assorted non-Husker thoughts from the weekend:

-Star Tribune's main headline on the sports page Sunday morning: "The Toast of Champaign". It went on to say that Minnesota's win over a 3-3 Illinois team was a "defining" victory for Brewster's crew, which is hilarious because despite the win, the supposedly "much-improved" defense still gave up 500 yards of offense to Juice Williams alone. The Gophers newfound success, coupled with NU's struggles, is making this season just as hard to stomach as last year. And yes, this is just a bitter man trying to nitpick a team's rapid improvement over a season ago. Congrats to the Gophs for your success. Next year, if Nebraska is smart, they'll make sure ALL of their non-conference games are complete patsies, and then go into the hapless Big 10 to continue their success. Seriously, the Gophers have played one decent team thus far (Ohio State) and have one decent team left to beat (Wisconsin). One of the weakest schedules in the country in my opinion, thanks to the garbage Big 10 (Penn State excluded, of course).

- Was Okie State's win over Mizzou an abberation, or Zac Robinson and Co. that good? All of a sudden, the North isn't looking as strong as it did before the season. Colorado (like I predicted in the preseason) is still a year away, NU obviously has issues, Iowa State and K-State are nothing special, and Kansas is not near as good as they were last year on the defensive side of the ball. I still think the Big 12 is barely below the SEC, but I'll be shocked if we have anyone left standing at the end of the season, because this conference is a meatgrinder. I think that with rare exceptions (meaning teams from weaker conferences like the Pac 10/Big 10), we won't see many undefeated national champs anymore. One loss will be far more common in the current college football climate.

- The Red River Shootout was quite a game to watch, and it was crazy to see Gunslinger 2.0 out there. Colt McCoy, rebounding off last year's disappointing campaign, is bigger and stronger than he was a year ago and has mastered the offense. I really hate when people go to college and somehow keep growing another two or three inches. Why is it that I stopped growing at 6'1" in the 8th grade? McCoy has grown 2 inches since he arrived in Austin, and his game is rising in turn.

And I thought Va Tech hurt....

2008-10-10T09:54:00.000-07:00

You know, I thought having better internet access at home would enable me to write on here more often. I had every intention of following through on that, but I've realized that my writing (and the frequency of it) rises and (especially) falls with the Huskers. When it's spring, or when the Huskers are doing well, I write more. It's hard to say much about the latter part of that, because I've only written about NU since the spring of '07. We all know that since that time that the Huskers have been anything but good. When we lose, and especially when we lose big, it's tough to write about. It's like finding out your girlfriend is cheating on you: you still love her, but you don't want to talk about how the bitch tore your heart out. The disappointment is always palpable, but this last week was just brutal. It's not that I expected us to beat Mizzou. I knew that Chase Daniel would be lethal. I knew Maclin would run wild. But still, I held on to the false hope that with proper coaching and Memorial Stadium behind them, that the Huskers would at least slow down the Tiger attack and keep it respectable.

No such luck.

For the second year in a row, we got our asses beat by Mizzou on national television. Adding insult to injury, Daniel accused a still-unnamed Husker player of spitting on him, also calling our entire team "dirty". While the spitting is inexcusable, at least we were punishing their QB consistently, even if it was after he had already thrown the ball. The question is, how do you get to the QB if he throws the ball in less than 2 seconds?

It's a problem that Pelini is no doubt addressing this week in preparations for Texas Tech. I don't even want to think about what's going to happen in Lubbock. Obviously, the same crap we were preaching about last week (ball control, keeping the opposing offense off the field, running the ball, etc) applies to this week as well....the question is, will it actually happen this time? I'm not getting my hopes up. Our run game is, in a word, awful. I don't care how many quotes I have to read from people saying "It was really close, we're one missed assignment away" and s*it like that. You know why? Because those are excuses, and to quote a wise man, they're like assholes because everyone has one. If it was really one missed assignment, how does it seem to happen on every damn play? We seem to be amazingly consistent at just missing a big play.

For a few weeks now, a lot of people (myself included) have bitched and moaned that maybe if Helu had more of Lucky's reps that we would start being more effective. Well it's become blatantly apparent that the running backs are the least of our problems. Whether it's the gameplan, the mindset of an offensive line that has been accustomed to dropping into pass blocking for the past four years, or whatever, something has to be done to fix the running game or we will continue to get our asses kicked by the high-octane offenses of the Big 12.

So where do we go from here? I was one of those people who thought 8 or 9 wins was realistic this year, but anyone who has seen the Huskers the past couple of weeks knows that bowl eligibility is really what we should be shooting for at this point. I'm not sure whether Iowa State has improved that much or Kansas just had a rough week, but all of a sudden the match-up in Ames doesn't look like a sure thing anymore. At least we still have Baylor on the schedule.....though it seems that they are steadily improving as well. I really don't know what to think anymore. But when fans are half-joking about selling their fandom, which my brother did (though he quickly brushed it off) after the Mizzou loss, it's become apparent that this is going to be another rough fall. The bright side tomorrow? At least with the Red River Shootout and LSU-Florida going on tomorrow, the attention should be off of us for the most part.

Like Andy Dufrense, I am clinging to hope like it's all I have, because we are going to need it to get through this season and the cold winter ahead. I still believe we have the right guy, I still believe that the football Gods will again smile upon us, but it won't be this year. That said, if there was ever time to steal a game, tomorrow would be it. Well, that or in Norman in a couple of weeks......

GBR

Ramblings

2008-10-01T17:24:00.000-07:00

So Bo has apparently seen the light and is considering starting Helu on Saturday against the Tigers, which is both exciting (because we may actually gain more than 3 yards when we run it) and sad, because if it does indeed happen, the Marlon Lucky era will essentially be over. Sure, he'll still get plenty of touches, he may even have another couple of 100-yard games in him, and he'll still be a threat out of the backfield. But ever since he was brought in, he was THE guy, the signature recruit of Callahan's tenure, and one that Cally always looked to establish despite his penchant for running into the back of his linemen. Let me make it clear: I'm not ripping on Marlon. He's a decent back, and he's spectacular coming out of the backfield in the passing game.

But his inability to live up to the hype may be what he is remembered for than anything else. And it's not fair, because any guy who rushes for over 1000 yards and has over 75 catches as a running back doesn't have to prove himself to anyone. Of course, this whole paragraph may be pointless, because he could still be the starter come Saturday. But the odds are that Helu will start to get more and more touches, with Marlon relegated to the 8 carries/3 catches a game role that we expected Helu to be in this season.

Some other thoughts:

- Hope everyone enjoyed the Big 12's rise to power in the non-conference season. Now that we are getting into the real part of the schedule, it'll turn into an SEC-type bloodbath where we just beat up on each other, only to have maybe one team still in contention for a national title. Remember last year, where all Mizzou had to do was win the title game to secure a NC game appearance, only to lose to OU? It's going to happen again folks.

- I'm torn on all the "We want to shut them out" talk coming from NU this week. Don't get me wrong, I believe confidence, bordering on cockiness, is healthy for a defensive unit, maybe even necessary. You want them to have that swagger. My problem is, we haven't earned that confidence yet, and must I remind everyone of Andre Jones promising to restore the order, only to have it restored all over his face against USC a couple years back? Be confident. Have that swagger. But wait till Saturday to unleash it, because it's going to look real dumb when Maclin puts up 300 all-purpose yards on us.

- This isn't about football, but how unbelievably dumb is the commercial where a bunch of guy are sitting in a recording studio and all of a sudden they spontaneously start playing "Viva Viagra" and laughing together? Really, guy with E.D. find it funny that they can't get it up? And how embarrassing would it be if the producer was recording at the time and put it on their next album?

- The "insert-color-here-out" has officially passed the point where it's cool. It passed the novelty point long ago, but now that they are bringing it to baseball (White Sox did it against the Twins last night), can we move on past this and have fans start wearing whatever they want again? I mean, if teams really wanted to be original, they would have a "30's Day" where everyone would wear suits and fedora hats like it was back in the day. Is it just me, or was that one of the cooler times in sports? I always see that old footage and think it's pretty bad ass that every guy in the stadium was dressed like Frank Sinatra.

Reality's a Bitch.....

2008-09-29T15:54:00.000-07:00

So now we know why Bo has been preaching patience and been sticking to his "lot of work to do" mantra. The optimism in all of us took a big hit this past weekend, mine especially. Sure, the final score didn't look too bad, and we battled back numerous times from two-score deficits, but the fact of the matter is, when we needed it the most, we were unable to stop the Hokies, especially Tyrod Taylor. My thoughts from Saturday's game:

-FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, SOMEONE TEACH LARRY ASANTE TO TACKLE OR GET HIM THE F#@* OUT OF THERE! I think his inability to tackle has nearly driven me to the point of getting gray hairs. How someone can be a senior in college and still be unable to properly execute a tackle is dumbfounding. Furthermore, why is it that no one has taken his job yet? I know our defensive recruiting wasn't stellar under Callahan, but you're telling me that nobody can play safety? Nobody can cover a deep third or half and still tackle? I remember when he came in as a ballyhooed JUCO transfer, I was absolutely giddy. Now he's driving me toward alcoholism. Seriously, he is garbage personified, at least on the football field. In fact, here's an acronym for his last name: Absolutely Spectacular At Not Tackling Everytime. I don't care if the last word isn't supposed to be a compound word, the situation warrants it.

- Not only do I have to stick my foot in my mouth over the pre-game prediction, I also have to apologize to Nate Swift, who proved me wrong by taking a punt to the house when we desperately needed it. For a long time on here, I've bitched and moaned about us having him back there, mainly because I always was under the impression that it was akin to having Steve Largent return punts. When you're a receiver, crisp route running and sure hands make up for a lot of shortcomings. But punt returns? You gotta have speed, and I underestimated him. Is he going to have anyone bringing up Tim Dwight comparisons anytime soon? No. But I give him credit that was one hell of a play when his team needed it dearly. Though I do blame him for convincing me to stay at the bar and spend 30 more dollars only to watch us blow it anyway. But you know what? It was worth it seeing him take it the distance.

- I'm just going to keep it going with my "I-suck-at-predictions" theme, and point out that once again our running game cost us a victory. I really thought that our line had gelled and that we'd come out and run it at least somewhat effectively against the Hokies. 25 carries and 55 yards later, I'm beginning to wonder what the hell everyone was fawning over during fall camp. Lucky, a guy I thought would make a statement this season, once again looked hesitant and indecisive. If I have to watch one more carry where he runs into the back of one of his lineman and rides him for 3 yards before falling down, I'm going to vomit. Castille, someone who could have been used to beat their linebackers into submission, had 3 carries for 8 yards. It has become apparent to most Husker fans that the most dangerous weapon in our backfield is Roy Helu, and the staff has to find a way to get him into the game more.

- Where was a spy on Taylor? He broke contain at will, and then there was nobody attempting to tackle him until he was a good 5 or 6 yards past the line of scrimmage every time. What made it even worse is that we usually missed that first tackle.

-Nice work by the defense holding them to field goals on 4 consecutive possessions, but why is it that we only start toughening up when the opposing team gets inside the 30? I would love to see a couple 3-and-outs, if only to prove that it can be done by this unit. Seeing any opposing player in the open field is one of the most terrifying things I deal with on a weekly basis. Every time there's a punt or a pass completed in space, it's almost as if you can feel Memorial Stadium collectively gasp with fear, like they know that a big play is imminent. That'll happen when you watch your team whiff on tackles like a damn 7th-grade B team on a regular basis.

- The late-hit call on Suh that changed the game was correct but a reach in that situation. That ref took the game out of the players hands and decided it himself, and I don't think that should happen in a potentially game-changing scenario like that. If it was a blatantly obvious call, then sure. But Suh was a heartbeat late, and I think to a certain extent you let them play there. Maybe it's just me stubbornly holding onto the thought that we would have stopped them and won the game instead of giving up the game winning TD a few plays later, but I still say you let them play there unless it's flagrant (though I'll admit it's much easier to say that then call it in a split second like refs actually have to).

- The Hokies re-affirmed my belief that they are a bunch of showboating prima-donnas. The constant jawing, the celebrating, it all was there. Not as bad as years past, but still present nonetheless.

-The really scary thought: If this is what happen against Virginia Tech, what is going to happen against Mizzou and Tech? Absolutely terrifying to think about. We are most likely looking at a three game losing streak here (and yes, I'm hoping that by predicting it, I'll be proven wrong and the Huskers will win at least one of the next two).

Picture taken by William Lauer/Lincoln Journal Star

Va Tech isn't USC, But Still Important

2008-09-26T13:45:00.000-07:00

Finally, in a week I've heard the phrase "measuring stick" way more than I care to, the game is almost here so we can see where the Huskers are really at before conference play begins. I was bullish on NU when I wrote on them a couple days ago, and I still believe we will win, but there are a few causes for concern heading into today's game.

The first area of concern is, will Ganz force any balls into what has always been an aggressive secondary and turn it over? Joe is the ultimate game manager when it comes to this offense, but he's also thrown some W-T-F was-he-thinking balls, which can cause concern when Macho Harris and company are lining up on the other side. I don't think this will be as big of an issue as some have made it out to be, mainly because I suspect our running game to continue the improvement it showed against New Mexico State. Will we get 300+? No, I wouldn't expect that against a team as well-coached as the Hokies. But I do think we will get around 200, which would enable us to open up some play-action and sprint-out for Joe.

I'm thinking Huskers win this one somewhere in the neighborhood of 31-17. Sure, the game will be overshadowed by Georgia/Alabama, but there's still a large portion of the country that will be able to watch this game, and I'm hoping we put on a show and make our first real step back towards relevance.

Another Step In the Right Direction

2008-09-23T17:50:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm back online at home, which means that I can procrastinate and write sparingly from the comfort of my basement, whereas before I was doing it on company time. For those of you who have been aching for an update, at ease. What's that? Nobody has been aching.....Oh.......Well, it shouldn't come as a surprise that I've been less than active on here, as I usually am slower when the Huskers are off. However, with the bye week gone and three consecutive big games coming up, those days are over. Tonight I'm going to take a look at Virginia Tech and break down why I believe NU will win this week's game, as well as why despite my admiration for Frank Beamer as a coach, I've always kinda hated the Hokies.

First off, let's look at the basics. The thing that the Huskers have struggled with the past few years (meaning: the Cosgrove era) is spread offenses who take our run support out of the box, allowing running lanes the size of a truck to develop. Anyone care to remember this? I didn't think so. The Hokies, however, run a more traditional two-back offense, meaning that Pelini can finally get a break from trotting out 5 to 6 defensive backs this weekend. This, along with Ricky Thenarse coming back, hopefully will give us Husker fans a few breaks from having to watch Larry Asante attempt to tackle people.

The question is, with the lack of depth we have at linebacker and now defensive line, can we hold up against the Hokie rushing attack, one bolstered by Tyrod Taylor's abilities? Will Beamer, having scouted our limitations, implement a few wrinkles that get Taylor in open space, perhaps some zone-read packages? I wouldn't be surprised in the least bit. Particularly with them starting kids a year removed from high school at wide receiver, one would think that the running game is going to be their sticking point. However, my concern is that they'll beat the run into the ground, counting on our safeties to creep up, and that's when they'll get us with a gadget play or play-action. I think they'll get one touchdown because they're lucky, one because they're good, and then a field goal because our defense always seem to be extremely flat at least one drive before pulling their heads out of their ass inside the 20 yard line.

I think the offensive line is starting to mesh at the right time here. Will we get over 300 for the second game in a row? No, but I expect us to get a solid rushing game going against the 72nd-ranked rushing defense, one that thus far hasn't been as effective as units of seasons past. I think Watson will call this game and nail it, and with the Sea of Red in night-game mode, it's going to turn out pretty good for us.

Now, the thing I don't like about Tech is that for the past five or six years (and maybe longer), it's seemed that the Va Tech defense were among the least classy players I have seen in some time. Every seemingly ordinary play was celebrated, it got to the point that I changed the channel during a couple of their games, I was getting so irritated with it. Now, to be honest, I haven't seen much of Tech's games this year, so I can't say if there has been any of it thus far this season. But I'm not too worried about it in our game, I don't think they'll have much to celebrate against our offense.

Random Thoughts

-Does anyone else who plays NCAA '09 get pissed off with how many plays somehow end at the one yard line or closer? How is it that I've had dozens of long plays go 60+ yards yet they can't go the last 12 inches? Is it a glitch? Some cruel joke by the programmers? This happens multiple times a game......I'm not saying that some plays don't end at the one yard line, but I can't believe the frequency with which it happens. I haven't gotten this frustrated at a video game since my dad discovered the Bills had a secret audible on Madden '92 that was a direct snap to Jim Kelly 25 yards down field.

- So last week in fantasy, I lost by 5 points. You know who was on my bench? Ronnie Brown, who accounted for 5 TD's and 117 yards rushing in the Dolphin's shredding of the Patriots. I'm now 1-2 in the league, but I'm confident that my lineup of AP and Matt Forte will help my rushing game pick up the slack.

- Va Tech and NU play in a split telecast, with Illinois and Penn State being the other game. Naturally, being in Minnesota, I'll be stuck with the Big 10 game, even if it is a mildly decent one. At least the Gophers will finally lose so I can stop hearing about them from my friends. No state has as many bandwagon jumpers as Minnesota.

I'm Still Here

2008-09-19T13:32:00.000-07:00

For those of you wondering why my Pulitzer-caliber writing has been absent here, the reason is that I recently started a new job where my computer use isn't as free as it was at my old position. As a result, I can't really get on here to write at all. However, the good news is that my family is moving out of 1996 and is actually getting decent internet, so when that finally happens, you can count on more frequent, and more important, more lengthy posts. Hopefully it'll be up and running by next week in time for Va Tech. Hope everyone enjoys the off week.

We're Going to Miami (in 7 years)

2008-09-12T09:26:00.000-07:00

I can't wait to bust out my old Will Smith CD when the time comes to head to Coral Gables. For those of you who don't know, the Huskers agreed to a home-and-home with the Hurricanes set for 2014 and 2015, meaning that we finally get to revisit one of the better rivalries of the 80's and 90's. I know I am as thrilled as every other Husker fan about this news, mainly because it's hard to get too enthused for Husker games when we're playing MAC and I-AA retreads. No disrespect to them, but I'm sick of watching us beat up on the little guys, which is something we can thank Steve and Bill for, as they often needed the non-conference schedule to try to make a bowl game during their tenure. It's not that I want a bunch of landmines in our first few games, but there is somethign to be said about playing some tough competition before heading into the conference slate.

This year our big one was Virginia Tech, though they are not as good as many hoped they would be before the season. However, with Pelini and Osborne making a renewed commitment to finding exciting non-conference games, it shouldn't be long before we are getting College Game Day stopping by campus more regularly. Look at the hype created by games pitting teams like OSU and USC against each other (I would talk about our games versus USC, but I hate to bring on flashbacks for all of us). Big time games mean big time ratings, which bring in more recruits and get more publicity for the program. Plus there's the added benefit that by 2014 we hopefully will be back to competing regularly for national titles (I'm saying we'll be a juggernaut or anything, but hopefully at least back to 10 wins regularly and then make a run every 3 or 4 years at a title).

See, I know we have a game this weekend. But am I really getting that pumped for it? Sure, I'll go to a watch site, and I'll cheer like I always do. But what I really want is some electricity, the anticipation of a huge game, and I'd like to not have to wait a month into every season to get it. My ideal scenario would be to schedule a patsy (La-Lafayette or something like that), one decent non-BCS opponent (Southern Miss, Fresno State), then get the big-time game against a good program (Miami, UCLA, Tennessee, etc), and then finish off with another mid-level opponent to beat up on heading into conference play. Looking at the future schedules, this seems to be what Pelini and T.O. are gunning for, so I'm excited for the next decade of Husker football.......not that I wouldn't have been anyway....

Some other quick thoughts heading into the weekend:

-Just a reminder, Kansas plays South Florida tonight on ESPN2 tonight at 7:00 central, in case anyone is looking for something to watch while pre-drinking for evening festivities.

- Anyone else see Rutgers get annihilated by North Carolina last night? I know UNC and Butch Davis are supposed to be on the rise, so I want to give them some credit, but the real reason I mention this is to point out how bad Rutgers is struggling right now. Anyone remember a couple years ago when ESPN and the eastern media were ready to anoint the Scarlet Knights as the next big thing? It just goes to show that while there might be some upstarts now and then with all the parity that is present in college football, there will always be the traditional powers to keep things in balance for the most part. USC, Ohio State, Texas, and hopefully Nebraska, to go with a handful of others, will always be the top dogs, no matter how many challengers step up to try to fill the gap when a few of the big boys struggle.

-Did ESPN really have to give the OSU/USC clash a monkier as stupid as "The Coliseum Collision"? I mean, doesn't a game between two top-5 teams market itself? I can't stand how the media feels the need to give every weekend a nickname.

- Can the Huskers please, PLEASE establish the run this week? I'm thinking the Huskers win by 24, despite having little idea as to what the Aggies are going to throw at them.

Hot Routes

2008-09-11T08:59:00.000-07:00

So I know this is a college football blog, but I couldn't help but sit in delight on Monday as I watched Vikings QB Tavaris Jackson struggle in his first start of the season against the Packers. All year, delusional Vikings fans and sportswriters have been touting that this was the year that T-Jax (which is what some were calling him) was going to break through and take the Vikings to the playoffs. Well then they watched him complete 16 of 35 passes and throw the game-sealing interception on what could have been a winning drive.

Now that the realization has begun to set in that he's actually awful, it's been an especially fun week for me to read the morning papers, nothing beats seeing homer sports writers have to eat crow. Still, they are stressing patience, that it's only one game, that he'll rebound and be fine. Which is hysterical, because they still haven't fully accepted the fact that they wasted a 2nd round pick on an erratic passer who does better running the ball than he does throwing it. I hope Vikings fans are ready for a year of Adrian Peterson getting 30 carries a game and watching a terrifying 2-headed QB monster of Gus Frerotte and Jackson cost them the division.

And speaking of Jackson's nickname, shouldn't there be some official rule that you can't have a nickname if you're just downright terrible? The same thing happened a couple of years ago when Michael Olowokandi played for the Wolves and everyone was calling him the Candyman, even though the guy played like a 7-foot tall cardboard cutout. Which is why we called him Candi-puke. Creative? No, not really. But fitting nonetheless, considering a cardboard cutout probably could have outplayed him.

Anyways, with that round of Viking-bashing out of the way, on to some college football thoughts from this week.

- I was glad to see Frank Solich's Bobcat team play the vaunted Buckeyes of OSU so tough last Saturday. In my hungover fog I cheered along with other Big Red backers as Ohio played tough only to lose the upset bid. With USC looming, the question is this: Did Ohio State just sleepwalk through the game, or is the Big 10's most vaunted team destined to blow it again this year? Obviously the loss of Beanie Wells hurt the Buckeyes, but even without their stud tailback, one would think that there is enough talent in Columbus to put away a solid MAC team. If the Trojans were coming to Ohio Stadium, I would give the Buckeyes a slight edge. But having to travel across the entire country to face USC in the Coliseum doesn't bode well for Jim Tressel.

There will be 92,000 salivating (and mostly fair-weather) fans in attendance, though 20,000 or so of them might be Buckeyes. I'm sure USC is pumped for their 25th or 30th consecutive home sellout (such passionate fans down in Troy!), so it should be a fun game to watch. I'm still betting on the Trojans, mainly because I think that Ray Maualuga and Brian Cushing will neutralize Wells and make the Buckeyes' passing game beat them. Since that won't happen, I'm going with the Trojans by two scores. The opinion of many is that the loser of this game will still be able to play it's way into a national title game bid, but as Pat Forde of ESPN points out, that's probably wishful thinking:

"Look at the top nine teams in the USA Today coaches' poll. You'll see USC at No. 1 and Ohio State at No. 5. The other seven? They're all from the SEC and Big 12, which are considered the nation's two best leagues (by a mile).

If, come December, voters are choosing between a one-loss champion of either the SEC or the Big 12 and the once-beaten Buckeyes or Trojans, you know where the nod will probably go. (Especially if the choice is between an SEC team and its pinata from Columbus.) So the loser of this game will need a bloodbath in those conferences to clear its comeback path to the BCS National Championship Game."

Forde also points out something that made this game even more watchable to me: two of the nation's best middle linebackers, Maualuga and James Laurinitis of OSU will both be showcasing their abilities. Should be fun to watch.

- Congrats to Skip Holtz and ECU for beating West Virginia. I hope the Pirates enjoy the ride this season, because I've got 20 bucks that says Holtz will be elsewhere by the time camp starts next year.

- You know, I wanted to talk some s*it about the Big 10 winning all it's games last weekend, because the media up here touted it as some indicator that maybe the conference isn't so terrible after all. Then I read that the Big 12 did the same thing for the first time in conference history last weekend.....so yea, I guess I can't say much there except congrats to both conferences on the feat. Though I did find the opening sentence of Gophers coverage Sunday morning to be downright hysterical. The Gophers ran away from Bowling Green last Saturday, though at one point it was close, with the Gophers needing to convert a key 4th down to keep a drive going. They converted, went on to score and obviously win.

So I sit down the next morning, expecting the media to fawn over Brewster and his 2-0 team. They didn't disappoint: "You can call Tim Brewster a gambler. You can also call him 2-0." The article, by the Star Tribune's Jack Youngblood, is the standard homer crap that I am subjected to every time a Gophers or Vikings team does something remotely impressive. I know, we have the same thing down in Lincoln. The difference is that at one time the Huskers were actually good, whereas the Gophers haven't been nationally relevant since the 50's and the Vikings haven't been to a Superbowl since the Carter administration.

- I was intrigued when I read that the Huskers have scheduled 3 games with Fresno State, known for Bulldogs coach Pat Hill's insistence that they will play anyone, anywhere, anytime. The thing is, I think the time for him to be saying that has passed. I've never viewed the Bulldogs the same since Reggie Bush single-handedly won the Heisman by running roughshod over them in 2003. Anyone else remember that? The Bulldogs had the lead, but Bush put up 513 all-purpose yards and led the Trojans back. I think that was Fresno State's best chance to get over the hump and trumpet their arrival, and it was squandered when Bush went into human highlight mode. Besides, these games against the Huskers are scheduled for 2011, 2014, and 2016. Who knows if Hill is still going to be there that far down the road?

- I know nobody cares, but my fantasy team, Boats & Ho's, is now 1-0. My genius was on prominent display as two of my sleeper picks, rookies Matt Forte of the Bears and Chris Johnson of the Titans, both had over 100 total yards and a touchdown. It also helps that I have Drew Brees and Adrian Peterson. My only weakness is wide receiver, where I have Steve Smith (out because he punched a teammate) and Roy Williams as starters with a crap-tastic tandem of Devin Hester and Issac Bruce to back them up. Hester's QB is Kyle Orton and Bruce is like 55 years old......so here's to hoping that my starters don't get hurt. (One more thing about my fantasy team: if you don't understand my team name, you have to go see the movie Step Brothers. Ferrell's best effort since Talledega Nights, by far. )

- Did anyone else realize that Notre Dame and Michigan play each other this weekend? It's comical how far this rivalry has fallen. I know that Husker fans aren't in a position to tout supremacy right now, but still, it's especially satisfying to me to see two of my least-favorite programs struggling so mightily.

---------

Seven years ago today, I was sitting in my Wars in American History class when someone came in, interrupted our class, and turned on the TV. I've never forgotten that moment, and it forever changed the history of both our country and the world at large. We saw both the terrible depths and soaring peaks of humanity that day, a cowardly act of terrorism followed by incredible displays of courage. Seven years later, none of that unity remains. In a time when yesterday is old news, September 11th recedes farther from people's memory each day. We'll see the usual tributes, the presidential nominees will stop their ridiculous sniping and bickering and put on their patriotic face to honor those who were lost. But tomorrow, the world will go on, and we'll go back to the grind until next year's ceremonies. It's a shame that something so tragic can so easily be pushed to the outer reaches of our consciousness, but I guess that's the time we live in. I still remember watching highlights from the first NFL games after the tragedy, stadiums full of people chanting U-S-A! U-S-A!, and swelling with pride and emotion that the terrorists had only strengthened our nation's resolve and that we were more unified than ever. We no longer are, and that pains me. You can blame it on time, a war some say we shouldn't be fighting, or a laundry list of other causes. No matter who is to blame though, I wish that we still stood in defiance as we did in the weeks following the attacks. My longing for national unity aside though, let us still honor those who were lost that sunny Tuesday morning seven years ago. God Bless them, they will always be missed.

Despite the Score, an Uneasy Feeling

2008-09-08T09:57:00.001-07:00

Maybe it was because I was extremely hungover....maybe it was the live band they always have at Joe Sensers that insists on playing a little fight tune for every play that results in a Husker first down. No matter what it was, there was a sense of foreboding when Nebraska came out and executed like a 4th-grade Pop Warner team through the first 3 quarters of Saturday's game against San Jose State. For the second straight game, the Huskers failed to establish the run, getting a paltry 99 yards on 30 carries, causing Big Red faithful to question why we had all that sunshine pumped up our ass by the coaching staff in camp.

The running game was supposed to be a strength this year, something that would enable us to keep all those lethal Big 12 offenses off the field and allow our thin defense to get some rest. Now, we're not so sure. If it wasn't for Niles Paul going untouched for 85 yards in the 4th quarter, we might be looking at a loss right now. Sure, we ended up winning going away, but I doubt anybody was very optimistic when the score was narrowed to 14 to 12 on a SJSU field goal with just over 12 minutes to play. When Niles split the sea of red blockers, it's as if the team collectively reached back and pulled their heads out of their asses and decided to play. The thing is, we won't have that luxury against better teams. If we play like this against Mizzou, Kansas, OU, or any of the other landmine games we have on this schedule, it's going to get ugly pretty quickly. Some other thoughts from Saturday:

- Did anyone ever teach Larry Asante to tackle? When he arrived on campus as a JUCO, he was supposed to be this head-hunting freak who would be a difference maker. Now he just looks like a matador who apparently doesn't know that it's perfectly legal to use your arms when tackling. If I was an opposing ball carrier, I'd be looking for him every time I got to the second level of the Husker defense. We need Ricky T back, and sooner rather than later.

-I'll say it again, it peeves me that much: 99 yards on 30 carries. Not acceptable by any means, and the whole team knows it.

- Great job by the defensive line. Sure, in the first quarter opposing ball carriers were getting to the second level way too easily. But Potter and company kept fighting, and came away with some big plays. Suh's nifty interception, along with Potter's, helped the morale of the team tremendously, and Pierre Allen's stat line helped ease the pain (not much, but a little)of losing Barry Turner for the year.

- Back when I played in college, the goals were to give up less than 200 passing yards and less than 100 rushing yards. The Huskers gave up 216 passing and 137 rushing, which means in comparison to last year, they are making progress. But if we don't do something quick to fix the missed tackles, we are going to be in for another long season (and my preseason prediction of 9 wins is going to qualify me for learning-disability status). The first San Jose drive was excruciatingly painful to watch, though it warrants mentioning that NU held them to just 30 rushing yards in the second half. Hopefully whatever adjustment the defensive staff made carries over the rest of the season.

- 12 penalties is asinine. I'm thoroughly convinced the three consecutive false starts are responsible for making my hangover worse than it already was at that point.

More on NU and other assorted thoughts tomorrow, I just wanted to vent a little bit of my frustration about Saturday's lethargic start. But all criticism aside, we improved the one stat that matters, and that's the W column.

Long Way to Go

2008-09-02T09:26:00.000-07:00

Good opener for the Huskers, though 24 points surrendered is a bit more than most of us hoped for. Still, one can't complain coming off the worst defensive season in school history, and maybe now we (and I say that because I was way too optimistic too) will listen to Pelini when he says that there is still much work to be done on defense.

Due to some issues regarding time constraints and internet access, Husker Guy might not be updated daily like I had hoped. Look for more quick entries and less lengthy stories, but I am still going to make an effort to include some of those as well. I am hoping to have all issues resolved before we get into conference play, but time will tell. My quick thoughts from last week's game:

- Turns out all those rave reviews Cody Glenn was getting weren't just lip service. That guy can flat-out play.

-Glad to see Mason Wald will not be redshirted this year. Kickoffs and punts just became a lot more interesting with "Stone" Mason on coverage.

- Nate Swift: 5 catches, 121 yards and 2 TD's......Just the beginning of what I already predicted to be a breakout year.

- I, like every other Husker fan, am wondering where this supposedly unstoppable running game was. Sure, Western Michigan was giving us the pass to a certain extent, but aren't these the games where we are supposed to just physically wear them down as the game goes on? As Tom Osborne used to say, those 2 or 3 yard runs in the first quarter turn into 7 or 8 yard carries in the 4th. We have to beat the hell out of opposing teams, it's the best way to extend drives and keep the opposing offenses off of the field, something that is going to become even more important once we enter conference play.

- There was only one place in all of the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area that had the game showing on Saturday....and not surprisingly, there was a 3 hour wait for seating. Some devoted Husker fans up here. Also, having the Gophers playing at the same time didn't help matters. For what it's worth, it was thouroughly entertaining watching last-in-the-MAC Northern Illinois take them down to the final plays, and even more hilarious when Gopher fans celebrated the victory as if they had just won the Big 10.....I always wonder, now that it's obvious just how tough it is to win at Minnesota, do the Gopher fans ever long for Glen Mason and his 8-9 win seasons? They bitched about him not getting over the hump, but maybe they should have been kissing his ass for the job he did, because in my opinion, that's what Minnesota realistically should shoot for: 3rd or 4th in the Big 10 and a good bowl game. That is their ceiling, not the Rose Bowl.

-Speaking of teams I hate losing, I was ecstatic that Pittsburgh, the annual media darling who never lives up to expectations, once again stumbled out of the gate, losing 27-17 to Bowling Green. Kirk Herbstriet called this upset on Gameday, and it turned out to be a very wise pick. There are some media obsessions that are understandable. USC is good every year, they have history, etc. But for some reason, they fawn over Pittsburgh regularly, and every year it blows up in their face when the Panthers underachieve. We were subjected to this crap through Fitzgerald's time there, we had to deal with constant media BJ's for crap QB Tyler Palko, and then this year they were supposed to break out because they had some decent recruiting classes under Magnum P.I. So can we please not hear about these guys until they show they're worthy of a ranking?

- I wanted to predict East Carolina over Va Tech. But then it became a trendy upset pick, which of course scared me away, because whenever a pick is so trendy that it becomes the expected outcome, then all of a sudden you have to question your upset pick. This makes it twice as frustrating when the trendy upset pick that you shied away from comes true. Whether it be football or March Madness, the lesson as always is, go with your gut. I wish Va Tech had done well in this game, if only to keep the redshirt on Tyrod Taylor, I'd rather not have him under center when the Hokies come to Lincoln.

Bank on It

2008-08-29T07:25:00.000-07:00

OK, so maybe banking on anything I write isn't the best idea. I've been proven wrong before, and I have no doubt that it will happen again. However, like most Husker fans, I can't help but think that somehow, we've found our guy, and that we will manage to exceed expectations and win one or two games that we shouldn't this year. It's probably not smart to do that, considering the efforts Bo has made to temper the enthusiasm surrounding this year's NU squad. The thing is, I've never been accused of being smart. Which is why I predict the following outcome for this year's team (with apologies for lack of detail, as I have to leave work at 12:00 today, so I have to keep it brief):

2 0 0 8 S C H E D U L E

08/30 Western Mich. (WIN)
09/06 San Jose St. (WIN
09/13 New Mexico St (WIN)
09/27 Virginia Tech (WIN)
10/04 Missouri (LOSS)
10/11 @ Texas Tech (LOSS)
10/18 @ Iowa State (WIN)
10/25 Baylor (WIN)
11/01 @ Oklahoma (LOSS)
11/08 Kansas (LOSS)
11/15 @ Kansas St. (WIN)
11/28 Colorado (WIN)

That's right, I'm predicting 8 wins in the regular season. Ballsy.....stupid, but ballsy, to quote Tom Arnold in True Lies....but I really think that Va Tech has suffered too many off-season injuries and suspensions to win in Lincoln, and I think that K-State is beatable at home (they have a penchant for late-season collapses), and the Buffs are still a year away (of course, we're not awesome either, I'm just saying they're beatable in Lincoln). I think that if the season played out this way (a big if, given my ability to predict entire seasons before they happen), we'd most likely be sent to the Insight Bowl to play against the Big 10's #6 team, which if I were a betting man is going to be either the Iowa Hawkeyes (which would be f***ing sweet) or Michigan State. If this does indeed happen, and we play a Big 10 team in our bowl game, I forecast a win based off of how terrible the Big 10 is and the fact that by then our defense will have gelled.

And you know what that gives us folks? 9 wins. We used to take that number for granted, thinking it was the birthright of all Nebraska fans. Funny how right now 9 wins and some stability would be pretty damn sweet, huh? Everybody have a fantastic Labor Day weekend, and let's start the Pelini era the right way...

GOOOOOOO BIIIIGGGGGG REEEEEDDDDD!

The North Rises Again

2008-08-27T09:01:00.000-07:00

I always thought that the Big 12 North would return to relevance, unfortunately none of the teams that contributed to that wore Scarlet and Cream. Missouri, a long-middling program under Gary Pinkel, exploded onto the national stage thanks to Chase Daniel and Jeremy Maclin. Then Kansas went out and won the Orange Bowl, leap-frogging a MU squad they lost to and into the BCS. Colorado showed signs of improvement, even shocking Oklahoma, and Iowa State actually played decent football the last month of the season. Now the North has to prove that last season wasn't a fluke, and they are in good position to do so, as both Missouri and Kansas return a large percentage of their starters and CU brings in the top-rated running back recruit in the country to help out Cody Hawkins. Here's how I see the division (and the conference title game) shaking out.

1) Missouri

The offense, with the exception of TE Martin Rucker and RB Tony Temple, returns essentially intact. Chase Daniel is a returning Heisman finalist and a front-runner this year. And why wouldn't he be? He has a bevy of weapons at his disposal, the chief one being Maclin, an all-purpose guy who is a threat to score every time he touches the ball. Also coming back is TE Chase Coffman and receivers Danario Alexander and Tommy Saunders, all reliable targets who work well within the offense. The big question is how they replace Temple, who fit into the MU's spread attack perfectly. They will most likely work several backs in and out, starting with senior Jimmy Jackson and sophomore Derrick Washington. I don't see much stopping this unit, unless there are adverse affects from eating boogers, in which case all bets are off, given Daniels' appetite for snot.

The Mizzou defense suffered a few injuries this spring, something that could hurt them given their lack of depth at linebacker after starter Van Alexander tore his ACL in spring ball. William Moore and Justing Garrett are one of the better safety combinations in the conference, and Ziggy Hood is a pretty good player up front. If the defense holds up and stays healthy, the Tigers could challenge for a national title....that is, if they can get by OU.

Player to Watch: Maclin, a Reggie Bush-type player who is fun to watch as long as it's not against your team. A sure-fire first rounder in the draft if he stays healthy.

2)Kansas

Will they be as successful as last year? No, I really don't think so. Their schedule gets significantly tougher, with Oklahoma, Texas Tech and UT replacing Okie State, Baylor, and Texas A&M (and South Florida on the non-conference slate). With Reesing still leading the offense, they should do well, but they still have to find a back to partner with Jake Sharp in the backfield, something that very well could fall to JUCO transfer Jocques Crawford. The defense returns 9 starters last year's strong squad, led by LB Joe Mortensen. They do have a new coordinator in Clint Bowen, and if this unit slips, the blame will fall on him. Replacing stud (except against Maurice Purify) CB Aqib Talib is a priority, but the Jayhawks think they have their guy for that in Kendrick Harper.

Player to Watch: Reesing. There's a lot of pressure to prove that last year wasn't a fluke, and this team's success depends on the right arm of their diminutive QB. If he goes down, it could be a long season in Lawrence.

3) Nebraska

I'll explain my rationale for this choice on Friday in my season prediction. Yes, I know that we aren't expected to finish this high. But I have faith.

4) Colorado

I knew that when the Buffs hired Dan Hawkins that it spelled trouble for the rest of the conference, particularly the Big Red. Kids like his type of football, and their recruiting success as of late has reflected that, landing RB Darrell Scott over every other program in the country was one of the biggest surprises of the recruiting season. He won't start right away, as that job will go to Demetrius Sumler. Cody Hawkins will continue to progress in the offense, though he doesn't have any real game breakers at receiver, something that will definitely hurt his development. Also, depth on the 0-line is a legitimate concern. The offense definitely has some holes to fill, but the defense is in the same boat. Stud LB Jordan Dizon is gone, as is CB Terrence Wheatley. The tackles and safeties are good, but the lack of an outside pass rush is going to really hurt this team, a problem exacerbated by the slew of good quarterbacks in the Big 12 this season. A tough non-conference slate, with both West Virginia and Florida State, will keep CU from getting the hot start they need going into conference play. The Buffs are still a year away from making a move in the Big 12 in my opinion.

Player to watch: Darrell Scott, RB. Could be the starter by mid-season, but he needs his line to develop along with him if he's going to be as productive as the Buffs need him to be. Still, a special talent, which blows, because we gotta deal with this kid for at least the next 3 years.

5)Kansas State

Josh Freeman returns, but stud WR Jordy Nelson and RB James Johnson are gone. Everyone knows that Prince brought in 20 JUCOs to bolster his team for a run while Freeman is still there, so it's tough to call how it'll play out when a solid chunk of the team is thrown into the Big 12. The switch to a 3-4 last year didn't pay off for the defense, which was a mess by the end of the season (remember that 73 point outburst by NU?). Switching back to a 4-3, along with putting Ian Campbell back at D-end from linebacker, should go a long ways in making improvements. Also, getting CB Joshua Moore back at corner after academic issues last year should be a big help with the pass defense. Really, the success of this team this year depends on how good all those transfers really are.

Player to Watch: Freeman. It's weird to think about what it would be like if he had stayed a Husker, but having him in Purple makes it that much easier to hate the Wildcats.

6) Iowa State

The Chizik era didn't start like many Cyclones had hoped, but hey, at least he did better than Tim Brewster, am I right? All Gopher bashing aside, this team made strides at the end of last season, though it's tough to guage how that will affect this year's team, now that Bret Meyer and Todd Blythe, who both seemed to be 28 last year, are gone. The QB job will be manned by Austen Arnaud and former Husker recruit Phillip Bates, who was a wide receiver. They have a strong running back trio in Alexander Robinson, Jason Scales, and J.J. Bass, but the real question is whether they can find some people to catch the ball, as there is a lack of proven receivers. On defense, they have to replace both outside backers, but their D-line looks decent. Still, the Cyclones have a long way to go.

Player to watch: Arnaud/ Bates. Who wins the QB battle? It seemed like Bret Meyer played in Ames for a decade, but it's a new era for the 'Clones, and one of these two is going to have to step up and lead a very green offensive unit if ISU is going to top last year's win total.

Big 12 Looks to challenge SEC

2008-08-26T09:40:00.000-07:00

Last year, despite NU looking like Ed Norton in the prison shower scene from American History X, the Big 12 managed to pull itself from the doldrums and raise it's national image significantly. For the past few years, with the exception of a couple of 11 win seasons by Kansas State and the Husker's 10-win season in 2003, the North division had been pulling down the conference, the starting point being Miami's beatdown of NU in the Rose Bowl to cap of the 2001 season. The South (OK, basically Texas and Oklahoma) made it seem that the scales had permanently shifted away from what had once been dominant KSU and NU squads. However, with the unexpected rise of Kansas and Mizzou (I know, I still have to look at articles from last year to remind myself that it actually happened), the North finally began to establish some parity in the conference and let the nation know that the SEC wasn't the only powerhouse on the block anymore. Today I'm going to look at the South division and predict what the standings will show at the end of the year, along with naming one player to watch for each team. Tomorrow I'll finish up with the North.

1) Oklahoma

A real shocker here. The Sooners, loaded with a bevy of talent at tailback and a proven QB, will do their usual stomping of the Big 12, as they simply reload when they lose key players. DeMarco Murray will deliver on the promise he showed as a freshmen (which sounds dumb to say, considering he scored 15 touchdowns last year), and Sam Bradford has another year in the system. Granted, word is OU will try to implement more no-huddle offense this year, but I don't think that'll affect Bradford's accuracy and decision-making at all. If anything, that'll only give him more plays, which translates to more potential stats. What gives many pause about OU's national title hopes is the defense, where it will be hard to replace playmakers like Reggie Smith and Curtis Lofton (both in the NFL this season). Ryan Reynolds will be a stud at linebacker, but the defensive line looks to be the real strength of the unit. Of course, with Bob Stoops in charge, I'm sure they'll do just fine.

Player to watch: DeMarco Murray. When Stoops said that he has a chance to be BETTER than Adrian Petersen, defensive coordinators league-wide pooped their pants. Better? How the hell is that possible? Also look for frosh Jermie Calhoun, an especially talented recruit who has been getting a lot of buzz through fall camp.

2) Texas Tech

This is THE year for Tech football, at least if you believe everything you read. They have the best system QB in the history of Tech system QBs, and a jaw-dropping collection of receivers led by Biletnikoff winner Michael Crabtree, who is simply put, a f***ing freak. You know what, he's so good, I'm just going to retype that sentence without censorship. He's a fucking freak. But it's never been a shortage of offense that has held back the perennial 7/8/9-win Raiders. The Tech defense, long the blame of Tech's shortcomings during Mike Leach's tenure, returns 8 starters, and the buzz is that this is the year they make a run at the South division title. It's not that I think they can't handle OU, they proved that the Sooners are vulnerable last year (as did CU, obviously). The question is, can TT get up for the games that it's SUPPOSED to win? I could see someone catching them sleeping in conference play, and that's what will prevent them from getting over the hump.

Player to watch: Michael Crabtree. Playstation stats, only it's actually happening.

3) Texas

We all know about Colt McCoy's struggles last year (shocking, since he's such a gunslinger), but what really gives me pause about UT is their defense. The burnt orange was burnt last year to the tune of nearly 24 points per game, and the bad news is that they only return 4 starters on that side of the ball. Also, they have to replace stud Jamaal Charles, no easy task. UT had a good run there for a while, but I think this year they'll really struggle and settle in the 8-win range.

Player to watch: McCoy. How he rebounds from a sophomore slump will determine how far the Longhorns go this year.

4) Oklahoma State

Zac Robinson returns to quarterback what was the #7 offense in the country, but unfortunately for him, there are some holes to fill if that kind of success is going to continue. RB Dantrell Savage and WR Adarius Bowman are both gone, as is O-coordinator Larry Fedora. The Cowboys have to hope that sophomore WR Dez Bryant can build on his big bowl game (117 yards, 2 TDs) and replace Bowman. Robinson gives them a chance to compete in every game, as he was one of two (Tim Tebow being the other) QBs to run for over 800 yards and pass for over 2,800. While OSU may talk up it's defense, it's going to be hard to just replace half of it with JUCO players, which is apparently a big part of the plan. Three starters must be replaced on the line, two more in the linebacking corps. If this D is going to gel and keep them competitive, it'll be on the secondary, which returns intact. And don't forget, Mike Gundy is a man. And he's 41. So if they suck, make sure to go after him.

Player to watch: It may seem lame to keep stating the obvious players (and believe me, I tried to find more compelling choices), but anytime a QB puts up the numbers Robinson did, you have to take notice. The question is, can he do it with a new group of skill players?

5) Baylor

Poor Bears. The team parity seems to have forgotten, Baylor once again faces a daunting league schedule with little hope for a bowl berth (OK, no hope). There is reason for some optimism though. 17 starters return, 9 of them from an offense that gained over 350 yards a game. That might not be a good indicator of things to come, however, as new coach Art Briles brings a new system to Waco. They have to find a new tailback now that Brandon Whitaker graduated and took his.......40 rushing yards per game? with him......you have to wonder if having someone else carry the rock will make a difference or not. The defense might be improved. I know, that's a really strong endorsement. They return their two top tacklers from last year in safety Jordan Lake and LB Joe Pawelek, though it might not matter, because they have a new d-coordinator who is switching them from a 4-2-5 to a standard 4-3.........anyways, I'm not sure why I'm working so hard on the Baylor entry......they've got some speed, but that can't do it all for them.

Player to watch: Whichever QB emerges from a 3 man battle to lead the Bad News Bears. Kirby Freeman, a former Miami player, should come out on top.

6) Texas A&M

Sure, Stephen McGee and Fat Alber.....um, Javorskie Lane return, but that might not matter as the Aggies transition to a pro-style offense under Mike Sherman. And to make it worse, those two make up 1/5th of their returning starters.....that's right, only 10 of them return to College Station, making the rebuilding all that more of a daunting task. Their best returning receiver, Pierre Brown, caught only 19 balls last year.......Looking at their schedule, not one game can be inked in as a win right now. The state of this team makes last year's manhandling of NU (which I saw in person) all the harder to stomach. But at least under Sherman the Aggies won't go for two when they're up 3 touchdowns......of course, they might not ever be up by 3 touchdowns this season, so that may be a moot point.

Player to watch: Lane, if only because I'm wondering if he'll fit in his jersey this season.

Back tomorrow for the North preview.

Two Words: Game Week

2008-08-25T12:43:00.000-07:00

It seems like just yesterday we were slogging through spring ball, perusing over roughly 7,000 articles about Cody Glenn's position switch, and counting the days until fall camp. Well, fall camp is over now. No more beating up on each other, no more scrimmages. It's time to put another team in the crosshairs and to quote Tom Green in Road Trip, "Unleash the Fury". After 4 years of relative mediocrity, a state and it's team stand on the precipice of perhaps the most important season in school history. Will it be the best season? No, not even close. But what we search for isn't only additional victories, but the hope that somehow, someway, a return to prominence is realistic. We long not only for wins, but for relevance, to regain our alpha-dog status after being kicked to the bottom of the pile.

I have friends who are Gopher fans who give me crap, despite the fact that their team only won a single game last year. Things like this are unacceptable, and it's our also-ran standing that hurts more than anything. Which is why we find ourself hoping just to reach the old 9-win threshold this year. Will it happen? Tough to say, some things will definitely have to bounce our way. But either way, this year's attempt at a Big Red revival promises to be an exciting journey no matter what the outcome. We have the legend in the AD's office, the coach we hoped for, and a team hell-bent on redeeming themselves.

Today I'm going to look at 5 players to watch this season for the Huskers. When I say watch, I mean that these players are either essential to a successful season or are players who are looking at a breakout year.

1) Marlon Lucky, RB

What hasn't been written about Marlon? He was the signature recruit of Callahan's tenure here, a 5-star tailback from Hollywood who many thought would be our Reggie Bush, expectations that were stupid, unrealistic, and unfair for the reserved Lucky. For so long, we waited for him to break out and deliver on the promise, and even through portions of last year, we wondered if he would finally just lower his shoulder and start hitting the holes with authority. And even after the opener against Nevada when he ran wild, I still had my doubts. Sure, he was racking up catches at an astounding rate (thanks partially to Sam Keller's insistence on waiting for every receiver to be covered before checking down), but when would he become a complete tailback?

Then we played Texas. His total from that game wasn't astounding if you simply looked at the stats. 24 carries, 111 yards. But for any Husker fan who watched that game, you saw something else: a lowering of the shoulder, a determination and maybe anger that we hadn't seen to that extent. He was breaking tackles, punishing defenders, no longer looking to bounce outside when he knew that 4 or 5 yards would do. This year, Marlon enters the season as the Big 12's leading returning rusher. Yes, he has two good players behind him in Helu and Q that will take some touches away, but I doubt that will affect his stats all that much, as Pelini will look to establish a strong running game and control the clock to keep all those spread offenses off the field. I can see Marlon getting 1,100 rushing yards with 13 or 14 scores, and another 30 or so catches (which would give him a good chance at getting the school record, depending on how things shake out).

2) Nate Swift, WR

I've always followed Swift's progress with more interest than most, mainly because of my affinity for slow white receivers and also because of the Minnesota connection. After he posted 45 catches for 641 yards and 7 touchdowns his redshirt freshmen year, I thought we had a guy who had the chance to be something truly special, a potential 1st team All Conference-caliber guy. But when he followed up that campaign with a 22-catch season in his sophomore year, I began to wonder if his frosh season was merely an aberration or if he simply had received more attention from defenders. I don't even want to count last year's totals, mainly because it's hard to tell how it might have shaken out with someone else than Sam Keller throwing the balls for the bulk of the season. Swift has sometimes had issues with drops, something the Huskers can ill-afford from someone who is a starter this year and is going to have to lead a young position group. That said, I think this is the year that Swift finally delivers on the promise he showed those years ago as a 19-year old. I don't want to predict stats, because now that NU is looking to re-establish the run, it'd be foolish to forecast a statistical breakthrough for the Hutchinson, Minnesota product. But I think you'll see him make a lot of clutch 3rd-down receptions and make a run at Johnny the Jet's school record for receptions. Plus, it doesn't hurt to have a year of working with Joey Ganz under his belt either. I'm predicting 2nd-team Big 12 honors for Swifty, which might seem unrealistic, but at this point, it's all about blindly optimistic predictions.

3) Ricky Thenarse, S

Is Ricky T really a junior already? Seems like not that long ago we were all breathlessly predicting great things from the kid who had playmaker written all over him. Two consecutive Special Teams POY awards later, and we finally are going to see him trotting out with the starting defense this week. Does he stray looking for the play sometimes? Yes, much to the chagrin of the coaches. Of course, last year it wouldn't have mattered who strayed where, I would have thrown Ricky out there just for the hell of it, because at least he would hit people, something last year's defense failed to do. But with Pelini in charge now, I'm looking for Ricky to establish himself as the playmaker we have long envisioned him being. There might be a few mental gaffes now and then, but I think that if he can stay disciplined he can get 6 or 7 interceptions. Along with Thenarse, fellow safety Larry Asante will have to rebound from a disappointing campaign last year if the NU defense is going to return to form. (Yes, I know Asante had a lot of tackles last year. But he missed quite a few too.

4) Cody Glenn, LB

When Glenn arrived on campus as a freshmen, people immediately assumed that he would be the Thunder to Marlon's lightning for the duration of their time on campus. Which shows just how dumb we are to look 4 years into the future and predict stardom for kids before they even have played a snap. Over the past couple of years, we've watched his playing time fluctuate like the weather in Minnesota. I was at the ISU game in 2006 where he bowled over Cyclones to the tune of 148 yards on just 19 carries, and his bull-dozing style endeared him to NU fans who still have a penchant for a dominating ground game. But after he injured his foot on his "Let's go motherf***ers!" run against Texas A&M, he was never quite the same. The coaching staff seemed to give up on him after that as well. So when news filtered out of spring practice that he had not only switched positions but to the other side of the ball entirely, he became the talk of camp. I was skeptical, I really didn't think he'd be able to make the switch in so little time and be a big contributor. Which shows how big of a dumbass I am, as he went on to become a starter. But now camp is over, and the real experiment begins. Glenn, along with Phillip Dillard (another player we hope to see deliver on his initial potential) are the two seniors on the most important position group of the defense. They are the elder statesmen who have to make the supposed weakest link (and maybe the most important one in Pelini's defense) strong enough to combat the lethal offenses in the Big 12. How fast Glenn comes along will go a long way in determining how successful the defense is.

5) Joe Ganz, QB

There's a reason I put Joe at the bottom of this list. It's not because I think the previous 4 guys are more integral to the success of this year's Huskers. Everyone knows that quarterback is the most important position on the team. Rather, I was just sick of so many articles leading off with him, so I decided to flip the script a bit and write about him last. At this point, most Husker fans know by heart that Ganz passed for 1,399 yards and 15 touchdowns in just 3 starts last year. But what can he do with a stronger running game and a defense that hopefully doesn't force him into throwing 40 or 50 times a game? And who is he going to look to in the redzone now that Mo Purify is gone? Make no mistake, Ganz is the heart and soul of this team, the unquestioned leader and heavy is the burden on his shoulders to make his one season in the spotlight count. He can take solace in the fact that he has a line and backs who should significantly lighten that load. While it's hard to imagine Ganz being on par statistically with the likes of Chase Daniel or Todd Reesing this year, the potential is there for him to do the only thing we really want to see: Win. And if that were to happen, Ganz will find himself in the company of other tough-as-nails QBs who endeared themselves to the Husker faithful, guys like Zac Taylor and Brook Berringer.

Tomorrow: Big 12 predictions

One More Week......

2008-08-22T12:14:00.000-07:00

You know, I've tried to temper my enthusiasm and excitement for this season. To be honest, it's been difficult, what with Bo returning and all. But after last year's implosion, I try to keep the pre-season optimism down, especially because last year was when we were supposed to make the great leap forward. Now that we are in the single digits in the "days till game" category, I find my mind already drifting to that crisp autumn air and a 10:00 AM Bud Light. I just bought a Husker hat for the season yesterday, and will probably have to add a new shirt as well at some point, though I'm trying to pace myself in that category, considering I already have more than enough NU shirts.

Just a couple links/thoughts for today, because it's Friday and I'm feeling particularly lethargic. Next week I plan on doing my full season prediction, as well as the national prediction.

- Wanted to link to this article about the Huskers on EA's NCAA 2009 game. I found this particularly interesting, because I'm beginning to wonder if the programmers at EA are Husker fans. This is the third or fourth edition in the row that I've heard of this phenomenon of Nebraska kicking ass whenever you simulate. Last year, just for shits and gigs, I simmed a whole season, and sure enough, we were Big 12 champs and nearly won the whole thing. According to this article, the author had similar results with this year's edition. Hopefully life imitates games in this case.

- Anyone else find it odd that K-State and ISU agreed to play in Arrowhead in 2009 and 2010? I mean, it's one thing to throw Kansas and Mizzou in there, that rivalry has historical implications going back to the Civil War. And holding the Big 12 title game there is a no-brainer due to it's central location that isn't too far from any Big 12 school. But is anyone really going to drive all the way to Kansas City to watch a JUCO-laden pussycat squad take on a perennially rebuilding Cyclone team? I may be wrong, maybe Chizik is going to turn it around and Kansas State will recruit some good kids this year. But I still don't see this as anything more than 2 teams playing in front of a stadium filled to 2/3rds capacity.

-To no surprise but to my disappointment, the NCAA announced that horse-collar tackles, made famous by OU alum Roy Williams, are now banned. Look, I know it's not the right way to tackle. Hell, every football player knows it's not the right way to tackle. Sometimes though, there is just no other way to bring down the ballcarrier. Let's say that it's a footrace down the sidelines to the endzone, and the defender takes the wrong angle by one step. He's now faced with a choice: dive from behind at their legs and hope they can somehow grab on to the offensive player's churning feet, or he can make sure that the guy doesn't go any farther and grab him by the neckline of the shoulder pads. Having had to do this, let me tell you: I've saved a couple of long runs by doing the horse-collar tackle. Am I advocating that it be used for every tackle? No, of course not, it's not fundamental and it risks injury. But football isn't for the meek, and sometimes, when you have to make the play, you do it any way you can.

-Came across this article via Blue-Gray Sky, a Notre Dame blog (don't worry, I only found it because I wanted to find a way to trash Jimmy Clausen). But instead I found an interview with DE Pat Kuntz (pronounced Koo-NTZ), which was pretty damn funny thanks to stuff like this:

II: Your last name, obviously, what's the worst mispronunciation you've had?

PK: "(Laughs uncontrollably) Let's just say people call the house, the telemarketers, and they pronounce it, I don't know if I should say it but people can probably think about it. They are always like 'Mr. Blank.' I'm like 'Nope, none of that here.' And I hang up the phone."

So it turns out I don't dislike every guy on ND's roster. Just 104 of them or so. Speaking of the Irish, do they really think it's smart to honor their legendary coaches (one per home game) coming off a 3-9 season? Is Jimmy Clausen flat on his back really what these guys and their families want to see on the night their national titles are celebrated? Also, I thought it was cute that one of the tickets featured the graphic "200th consecutive sellout" on it. I would say good effort, but they'll never catch us (nor will anyone else, for that matter).

Just a reminder, Double Extra Point is starting up their pick 'em again this year, as is Corn Nation, so pick one (or both, if you really like pick 'ems) and get into the spirit of competition with some fellow Huskers.

Hero of the Underground

2008-08-21T07:36:00.000-07:00

I had always wondered what happened to Jason Peter. The apex of his career, when the Huskers eviscerated Peyton Manning and the Volunteers to clinch a share of the national championship, took place when I was 14 years old, and back then (Jesus, was that really 10 years ago?), you cheer for your favorite team, but it isn't a year-long obsession. When you're that age, you follow other sports, you go season-to-season. Still, throughout the 2000's, I followed the graduates of that team like Grant Wistrom, and wondered where his beastly D-line counterpart was.

Consider that question emphatically answered. For those of you who haven't read Peter's memoir "Hero of the Underground", you are missing out on a harrowing tale of despair and hope repeatedly renewed.

Football, drugs, suicide attempts. Little is left to the imagination by Peter, who goes into great detail describing his rise from a small New Jersey high school into a first-round draft pick, and later, his fall from grace. This book is an eye-opener on many levels, not only into underworld of heavy narcotics, but also the machines that are college and pro football. Peter speaks lovingly of his time at Nebraska, which is to some extent expected. All of us, for better or worse, look back at our collegiate years as our halcyon days, when the uncertainty of the future mixed with the invulnerability and invincibility of youth, and this part of the book, there are some genuinely heart-warming stories. The Nebraska portion of the book really makes you think about the pedestal we as fans put kids on. It's not just the Huskers I'm talking about, I'm sure it's the same thing if you go to Tuscaloosa or Norman. I've never thought what happens to guys after the machine churns them out. And obviously Peter's tale isn't the norm, but one still has to think about the psychological effects going from the highest levels of college football to the real world.

Jason Peter didn't go to the real world though. He was drafted by the Carolina Panthers with the 14th pick in the draft, and this is where the story radically changes and his drug abuse begins to mount. Those who are hoping for an in-depth look at pro football will be disappointed, because this isn't a football book. This is a memoir of a football player who becomes and addict and then fights his way back. The injuries started to set in for Jason, and that's when the reader is introduced to just how commonplace painkillers really are in football, particularly the NFL. I only played Division 3 football, and I'll tell you that I still deal with the effects of the wear and tear on my body. So to imagine what it must be like for an NFL player, whose body is routinely subjected to car-crash type collisions on a daily basis, is a painful thought. Jason was out of the league in 4 years, left with a lot of money and an addiction to painkillers that eventually leads to abuse of amounts of narcotics that seems almost inhuman.

I'm not going to go into detail, because you should definitely read the book. There are times when you really wonder how he emerged from his personal hell and beat his demons. There are several attempts at rehab, and with every relapse, you lose a little more hope for him, which makes his victory all the more satisfying and inspiring. I'll be honest, there are some parts of the book that seem repetitive and drag a bit, but what do you expect? Drug addicts tend to do the same thing over and over again: drugs. So naturally there is going to be some repetition. But while the writing is simplistic, it makes for an easy, everyman-type read, one that any person could pick up and become easily engrossed in. While it may be a quick read, it's also a good one, a story of one man's redemption after a journey through hell.

Buy the book here through the publisher's official website.

Or do it through Jason's own website, jasonpeter.com.

Two Down, Two to Go

2008-08-18T10:23:00.000-07:00

So here we are, halfway through camp. Two weeks have passed, and we've been subjected to roughly 20,000 articles about the running back depth chart and 15,000 references to Castille's penchant for putting the ball on the ground (I've never heard a few fumbles brought up so much in my entire life). At this point, the excitement of camp starting has subsided and now the itch for some real Saturday afternoon action is becoming harder and harder to ignore. Yesterday, I forked over 7 bucks for a SI's annual preaseason preview, which was dumb because I already possess at least five or six other preview magazines. But it doesn't matter what you feed it, the hunger for college football information is one that is insatiable. I'm pretty sure I've read the same information from 10 different authors about the top 25 teams, yet am still searching for more.

I'll be honest, there isn't a whole lot of news to report about the Huskers, at least not any new stuff. More bad news for Husker opponent Virginia Tech though, as projected starting WR Zach Luckett was suspended indefinitely for violating team policy (meaning his 2nd DUI arrest). It's been a tumultuous off-season for the Hokies, as they have lost several players to injury or suspension, and Luckett's suspension further depletes an already razor-thin position for Tech. They lost starter Brandon Dillard to a ruptured Achilles during summer workouts, adding to the stress of having to replace four departed seniors from last season's conference title squad.

You have to wonder who QB Sean Glennon is going to throw to. Six incoming freshmen, along with converted quarterback Ike Whitaker (and maybe even CB Macho Harris) will vie for playing time for a decimated unit. It'll be interesting to see as the game gets closer just what kind of team will come to Lincoln to face the Huskers on September 27th. A slate of patsies would have gone a long way in helping develop the young Hokies, but unfortunately for them it isn't a cakewalk: a solid East Carolina team, followed by Furman, Georgia Tech, the rapidly improving North Carolina Tar Heels and then NU. Good thing they play in a terrible conference, or they could be in for a rough season.

It's Finally Friday

2008-08-15T09:22:00.000-07:00

So that whole I'm-going-to-write-every-day thing hasn't worked as well as I had hoped thus far. It's been a hectic week at work, topped off by finding out yesterday that they are downsizing our branch, which means I have three to four weeks to find a different job. Disappointing to say the least, but I'm confident it'll all work out for the best, I was looking for a new challenge anyways. I am even contemplating moving to Omaha, due to the fact that it is still growing there whereas it feels like the Twin Cities is especially struggling. Plus, below zero temperatures aren't a daily winter occurrence in Nebraska like they are here. Anyways, with that little intro out of the way, I want to look at a couple of articles and bounce around a bit today between the Big Red and some other teams in the Big 12. I originally wanted to post my review of "Hero of the Underground" today, but I want to finish re-reading it to do it justice, I don't want to half-ass a book review.

- Interesting article about Ricky Thenarse in the OWH today. Since his arrival on campus in 2006, he's been an oft-discussed Husker, with a penchant for big hits on special teams and a lack of regular playing time on the defense. For a long time, this rubbed many fans (myself included) the wrong way, as we saw an athlete we thought could contribute more than kick coverage. Well one of the things this article points out is that Ricky hasn't always been so keen on knowing all his X's and O's, which might explain why the last coaching staff kept him off the field for the most part the past couple of years.

In college football, and especially when it comes to playing for someone like Pelini, it doesn't matter how hard you can hit someone, it's a question as to whether you can analyze personnel groupings and tendencies and then using them to perform your specific task. It turns out that until this past spring and the current fall camp, Ricky had to a certain extent been content to just go out looking for hits instead of relying on the schemes to shut down the opposing offense (though maybe he just didn't trust Cosgrove's D and decided he might as well light some people up, it's tough to say). Regardless, the fact that he is settling down and diving into film and the playbook is relief to me and the thousands of Husker fans who have been impatiently waiting to see him trot out with the starters.

- Though it's about a week old, I had to link to SI.com's in-depth article on conference supremacy, which has become the defining debate in college football. No longer can you just argue about individual teams, now you must factor in teams like Iowa State and Baylor when you discuss the sport with your peers. Most shocking: using their rating system, the Big XII is 5th out of the 6 BCS conferences. That's right, second to last. This has a lot to do with the fact that our conference, with the exception of OU and UT, took a gigantic nosedive starting in 2001, and only really started to recover last year, when Mizzou and Kansas finally made the North somewhat relevant again (something I hope they and the Big Red continue to do this season).

One thing Mandel writes about in the article that is especially gratifying for me personally is the slow downward spiral of the ACC. Remember all the press and hullabaloo about the merger that brought in BC and Miami? Well, it hasn't exactly panned out as well as everyone involved had hoped. FSU isn't looking any better this year, though both they and the Hurricanes inked really good recruiting classes last year (though that doesn't figure to help Bowden, whose successor Jimbo Fisher is already waiting in the wings). Being a Husker fan, it's fun to watch these two programs, who for so long in the 80's and 90's were thorns in our side, struggle like they have the past couple of years......of course, I guess they could probably look at us and say the same things...

While he also points out the Big 12's downfall, the best part of the article is where he rips my least-favorite conference, the Big 10. Having to be subjected to countless regional telecasts of Indiana vs. Northwestern and similar matchups the past couple of years, the backlash against this skidmark assembly of teams has reached a fever pitch after consecutive humiliations of Ohio State in the national championship game. With Michigan putting in a new system and Illinois losing their stud tailback Rashard Mendenhall, it will again be on the shoulders of the Buckeyes to somehow redeem their entire conference.....which, even if OSU goes undefeated, I doubt many voters will allow to happen after watching the past two drubbings put on them by SEC teams.

- They might have kicked our ass the past two years, but at least the Huskers aren't suffering from jock itch, which is apparently a problem this fall at USC. Says receiver Travon Patterson simply, "It burns."

- Is anyone else kind of disappointed that thus far no one has supplanted Nate Swift as the #1 punt returner? Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge Swift fan, he's one of the few you can count on to catch the ball every time. That aside though, I'd hate to see him get hurt trying to return punts. Of all the kids that came into the program the past couple of years, you're telling me that nobody can provide a spark on special teams? Nobody can catch a ball and run with it? Seems a bit ridiculous to me. Though I will say the chatter coming out of camp is that Khiry Cooper, the freshmen baseball standout, is making waves in practice and could be the main returner by opening day. My question is, with word leaking out that Marcus Mendoza is doing well at tailback (and considering the logjam we have there), why isn't Mendoza getting some looks at PR? He seems like a natural fit.

Back on Monday, everyone have a safe weekend and enjoy it, there aren't many left in the summer.

Back in Action

2008-08-12T11:43:00.000-07:00

So after four days, five cases of beer, three concert performances, and approximately 700 games of flippy cup, I return from WeFest with no voice and a battered body. I took some great memories from the experience, though I probably blacked out just as many. But since this is a Husker blog, not one for me to blabber about my personal life on, I'll just pass on a few tidbits:

- I highly recommend anyone from the midwest going to this event. Expensive? Yes. But for 100 to 150 bucks, you can see some of the best acts in country music, which was worth it to me. I saw Kenny Chesney, Dierks Bentley, and Brad Paisley. That's not even counting to the acts I didn't go to, such as Sugarland, Rascal Flatts, and Taylor Swift, among others. One of next year's headliners? Tim McGraw.

-Some kid at an adjacent campsite made the mistake of wearing an OU hat around. My brother and I (and this was at about 1 AM, so we were in rare form) went over and proceeded to talk about the glory days and how we were going to return to prominence now that we had Bo back in the fold. The funny thing is, about 1 minute into the conversation, he told us he wasn't even an OU fan, he just likes the hat. The sad thing for him is that we kept going for about 20 minutes.

-I was wearing my "Big Red Code" shirt around all day Friday and received several "GOO BIIIG REEEDDD" chants from campsites I was walking near. I chatted up one group from Sioux City for a while about this year's prospects, and came away with that warm feeling you get from being part of such a loyal and knowledgeable fan base. I'm not trying to pump up Husker fans, but it's true what they say: You can't really describe it unless you are one.

-I didn't realize it at the time, but afterwards I realized I had never closed the valve on my sleeping pad, which means I essentially slept face-down on the ground for 4 nights in a row....along with the dehydration and sleep deprivation, it might explain why I felt like I was hit by a car on Sunday morning.

Anyways, on to the Huskers.

-Glad to hear that Major Culbert is thriving at safety. Last year seemingly everyone was desperate for the coaching staff to make a decision and just stick with it, no matter what it was. Now, given the opportunity he's been waiting for, Culbert is turning heads and giving Larry Asante a run for his money at the strong safety position.

- I was wondering how among all the hullabaloo about the Lucky/Helu situation that Quentin Castille had seemingly been neglected. It was to my relief then when I read that he has been just as impressive through camp as anyone, save for maybe Culbert or the surprising Jared Crick. I thought at times last year that Castille was playing well above his necessary playing weight, so it was no surprise that he was getting into Javorskie Lane territory, nearly topping out around 260. When pictures from spring ball started coming out showing him running around at a svelte 235, I nearly started drooling with anticipation of what is going to happen to the first poor safety or corner who runs up with the intention of tackling him in the open field.

Speaking of which, is there a more disappointing development in football the past 10 years than the fact that no people in the secondary wrap up and tackle properly anymore? Who the hell is going around telling these kids to do combat rolls into the ballcarrier's legs? It's completely inexcusable and drives me insane. Usually, they whiff on 5 out of 6 attempts, but you can bet your ass that on that one time they make the play, they get up and act as if they had cured cancer and wanted the whole world to know about it. I hate bad fundamentals, and even more so I hate those who practice them and then show off when they somehow trip up the back or receiver. Do your job, go back to the huddle. OK, rant over.

-Another position battle I've been keeping my eye on is the backup QB spot, which Patrick Witt and Zac Lee are fighting over. I'll admit, I've always preferred Witt after seeing him two spring games ago and throwing some nice balls while getting his ass kicked by the #1 defense (which was the only squad our #1's beat last year). Lee's mobility, on the other hand, is a factor that can't be ignored, so it'll be interesting to see how this plays out throughout the season and who comes out with an early lead to be next year's starter.

For the rest of the week, I'm hoping to do a look around the nation a little bit, as well as review Jason Peter's new book, "Hero of the Underground". So check back in throughout the week (and uh, the rest of the season, of course).

Dixon Gone, Cooper Arrives

2008-08-05T09:48:00.000-07:00

The big news on the opening day of practice was the announcement that Kevin Dixon, an experienced defensive tackle who was going to supply key depth to the line, was booted from the team. Two arrests, both of which ultimately ended up getting dismissed, seem to be the reason, though only those on the team know if there was more to the story or not. Is there more than meets the eye, or is Pelini simply making a statement that trouble, whether later dismissed or not, would not be tolerated? Either way, it hurts to lose a solid contributor like Dixon on the first day of camp. But what Bo says, goes.

The other development was Khiry Cooper's arrival to the team. Cooper, a wide receiver recruit who has been mulling over playing for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim or whatever they call themselves, reported yesterday and seems content to play football until August 15th, which is the deadline for him to be signed. Good for him that he's coming to camp no matter what. If he signs, he signs, but if not, it'll be to his advantage to be playing and learning the offense in the meantime.

Quote of the Day, Practice 1
Pelini on the common factors between his former championship teams
“Effort and attitude and a willingness to learn and an eagerness to understand not just what to do, but how to do it and why. A lot of getting turnovers is getting the right people at the right places at the right time and getting there with an attitude and a tremendous amount of effort. Getting a lot of people around the ball so you can take advantage of opportunities. We don’t talk about turnovers, we talk about takeaways – to have an attitude to go take the ball from the offense. That’s something that will always continue as long as I’m associated with this football team.”

Attitude. Effort. Takeaways. Think that it sounds a bit better than what we've seen the past few years from KC's units? I can't wait to see these guys play........one other interesting tidbit from the media circus yesterday: Larry Asante's goal for interceptions this year: 15.........by himself!

"We've been talking about it long enough. Let's get after it now."

2008-08-04T11:52:00.000-07:00

And with that, Carl Pelini spoke the mindset of not only a team but an entire state. Though it has seemingly passed in the blink of an eye, the past 7 months have dragged by, a monotonous stream of slow summer news, everyone waiting counting the days until fall camp started. Well, the wait is over. All over the country, fans are shaking off the cobwebs in giddy anticipation of another season of college football. So many questions surround the upcoming season, not only for our Huskers but for teams nationwide.

Will our defensive back seven be ready to return the defense to Blackshirt status (or at least a level above mediocre?) How many touches will Roy Helu and Q take from Lucky? Will the Big 10 continue it's slide down the conference rankings, or are they already so lowly regarded that nobody cares? How will Pelini and Company do in recruiting with a full season of campus visits to work with? Does Chase Daniel have enough goobers in his nose to feed him for the duration of the season? And will Jimmy Clausen finally come out of the closet? So many things to think about, it boggles the mind...but in a good way. The Huskers, 8 years removed since their last CONFERENCE title, are beginning yet another "new era", and while we're all drinking the Kool-Aid, I think this flavor is going to leave a much more satisfying taste than the last one we had, which might as well have been named "Callahan-sucks-berrymuch". Or it could have been "Cool Cosgrove Collapse". And yea, both of those are reaches. But I couldn't think of a flavor that was funny without having to resort to profanity. But just think, with Pelini in charge, at least we can go with "BO-dacious Berryfying Blast" and other things like that. See, it's not just coaching he's a better fit for.

But as excited as we all are, it comes with the realization that only thing going on today and for the next four weeks is practice, which we will breathlessly dissect and analyze, only to begin anew once actual games start. Really, the only thing we can hope for is the rapid development of the younger guys, as well as the good Lord having mercy on our secondary and sparing their knees/patellas/etc; from any harm. That and that no renegade TV sets attack any femurs.

I'm going to make it my personal goal to do daily postings throughout camp (with this week being an exception, as I'll be punishing my liver from Wednesday through Sunday at the country music festival WeFest in Northern Minnesota). I've been somewhat (OK, extremely) lazy this summer when it comes to writing here, and I want to change that. Part of it is that we are woefully understaffed at work (taking away a lot of my writing time), and part of it stemmed from the fact that thanks to Pelini ratcheting up the discipline, there was relatively little in the way of off-the-field incidents, the hallmark of summer college football news. But those days are over now. Nationwide, there is a bevy of topics to discuss, whether it Tim Brewster getting paid 1 million dollars per win in Minnesota or Texas Tech making another futile attempt to overtake the Big 12 South (more on both of those in a later post). I have several topics I plan on writing about, but in the interest of better involving the 4 or 5 people who commonly read this column, I do accept ideas for topics......so if you want me to write about/make fun of any topic pertaining to college football, feel free to drop me a line at cfballer58@yahoo.com, I'd love to hear some potential ideas to make fall camp pass faster.

Either way, like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, yet another season of God's greatest game is upon us, and nationwide everyone's day is a bit brighter with the knowledge that in a matter of weeks, the beer will flow, the brats will cook, and the slightest of fall breezes will again stir the hearts and hopes of college football fans nationwide. Maybe, just maybe, this is our year.......

Just some Independence Day Thoughts

2008-07-07T09:56:00.000-07:00

So I hope everyone's Independence Day celebrations went off with less police interference and more drunkenness than mine did. I say Independence Day because I think it's important to remember the true significance of the holiday, rather than just calling it the 4th of July and shooting off some fireworks. Maybe it's the history degree I earned, but I've always found the revolution and the formation of the United States to be one of the most interesting and history-altering events in the history of mankind, and I think that more people should think about the sacrifices (and gargantuan balls) it took to give the English the middle finger and decide we could do it our own way without their interference. Plus, we really just didn't want to pay taxes when we weren't being represented. But over 230 years later, here we are, the great melting pot experiment, chugging along (albeit with a faltering economy and a lack of a true national identity). But enough about that. Hope it was a good time for all of you, and hopefully your liver is in better shape than mine.

My holiday was marred by one cop and his day-altering decision to be a dick and not only give minors to kids with a BAC of .005, but take our six cases of beer and several bottles at 2:00 in the afternoon. Now, I understand that they don't want minors drinking. So fine, give them the ticket (even though that's about one sip of beer). But to take 15 people's alcohol supply on a sunny holiday? That's just un-American and a douche-tastic move of epic proportions. The other 3 boat cops with him were all apologizing to us quietly on the side, all the while the prohibition officer who apparently stole the Delorean and came to ruin our party was confiscating a couple hundred bucks worth of our beer. We even offered to pour all of it out right in front of them, but we know that wasn't an option, because it was pretty apparent that Turd Sandwich and his buddies were planning to dispose of it in their own mouths. I'd rather have seen all that golden brew be dumped into the lake than in the hands of a power-hungry jackass with a power trip that was obviously compensating for his low IQ and feelings of penile inadequacy. But hey, maybe I'm just bitter.

Other than that, I still had a good weekend. Any weekend you can spend in the company of good friends with a beer in hand is one to be cherished, because it's stuff like that that gets you through your weeks at work where you wonder why you keep plugging away with no end in sight. Life is about memories, and while there was one bad one this weekend, I made others that more than make up for it. Hope everyone had a good one, and (this never fails to sound cheesy, but I really do mean it when I write it) God Bless America.

Summer Update

2008-06-20T10:32:00.001-07:00

Wow, there isn't much to write on here in the summer months, what with coach Pelini cracking down on the drunken shenanigans of our players. That's a good thing of course, as nobody likes to see anyone missing time because of spending time in the police blotter.....On the other hand, that leaves me with next-to-nothing to write about, whereas last year we had the Mo saga to talk about. So you're probably wondering what exciting escapades have been happening with me......No? Well tough sh*t, because I gotta write about something, and dammit you're going to have to suck it up and read it.

First off, summer actually only started about two days ago when we finally broke through the 70-degrees-and-breezy mark. Don't get me wrong, I usually love that weather. Plus, I'm sure there's people in Iowa and Illinois that would kill for it over the flooding they have been dealing with (more on that later).But it's really not conducive to fun boating trips, and it sure as hell doesn't heat up our lakes. We are finally hitting 80+ the next five days, and with it has come the patented Minnesota humidity, capable of killing small children, animals, and drunks who don't properly hydrate. Thus far, it's been the usual bar hopping and working, so it's been a lackluster summer. Next weekend I head down to my farm in Western Iowa to hang out with some family and pick up my brother, who is working there this week. Most people wouldn't get excited about a trip to Iowa, but you'd be surprised how much fun townie bars can be (something city folk will never understand), particularly when you run into people you haven't seen in five or six years.

I was excited to see Kevin Garnett and the Celtics win the title, like pretty much every other Minnesota resident. In doing so, the C's proved my previous post about Kobe Bryant, as he was for the most part ineffective for the entire series (he only had one good game), and they completely shut down his penetration (though someone telling him no hasn't stopped before, hey-oh!). All jokes aside, it was a fun series to watch, with several historic comebacks and a complete annihilation to clinch it. Unfortunately, with the end of basketball season, it means all we really have to do the next two months till camp and the Olympics start is watch baseball.......yeah, baseball.......ugh...

Getting back to the floods in Iowa, I just wanted to say that it's difficult to watch the suffering taking place in America's heartland. I lived in Iowa during the flood of '93, and I can vividly remember that you wanted to, you could have jet-skied from town to town, the valley was flooded that bad. So when I hear that this one is even worse, I can't help but feel sick for the farmers and townsfolk of those communities along the Mississippi. What is truly terrifying is that there appears to be no lull in the immediate future, as more rain and storms are forecast throughout the summer, and as bad as that is for Iowa, it spells trouble for Missouri and other states as well. Factor this disaster with our already-troubled economy, and it's looking like a tough year for a lot of people. My prayers go out to all of those affected, as corny as that sounds.

Hope everyone else's summer is going well. Hopefully nobody on the team will give me any reason to get on here again any time soon. After all, no news is good news, even if it makes for a slow and boring summer. GBR

Indy recap & other thoughts

2008-05-30T11:48:00.000-07:00

So I know I promised that I'd try to take some pictures at Indy to give you guys an idea of what goes on there, but I didn't take a single photo the entire weekend. Not that it mattered, there wasn't much that would have stood out anyways, we were all too intoxicated to really walk around, and despite the large crowd on Sunday, it was somewhat quiet on the streets the night before. There were a few highlights though. My brother's friend tagged along for the trip, and in a drunken state, tried to hit on a fine-looking girl Saturday night, which led to this exchange:

Ben: "Hey, how's it going?"

Girl: "No!"

You know your prospects aren't good when a girl doesn't even let you make a pitch before shooting you down. How do you come back on that? "Wait, you haven't even heard my line yet, it's a good one!" Ben responded by just walking away dumbfounded, which made it even more classic.

As I predicted, Danica didn't win. And I don't think she ever will there, despite being on one of the best teams in the sport. What made it even funnier is that ALL THREE women in the race wrecked. But I wasn't surprised, that happens pretty much every year.

Some other thoughts:

-Sam Keller in the Arena League? Did these guys watch any of our games last year? The last thing you want in that game is a QB who stands in the pocket for 15 seconds, waiting for someone to get open when he should have thrown it after three steps....I just remember him getting hit as he threw nearly every time last year, and unfortunately for him, in the AFL, there's not going to be a tailback to check down to after every other option is closed off. He's going to get hit. A lot. What makes it almost comical is that on the article (like every other article ever written about him in the post-ASU era) is that it brings up his big game against LSU and his Sun Bowl MVP game against Purdue. At what point do people realize that those games were aberrations, not something you should count on? Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful for his effort at NU, and I wish him nothing but the best of luck, but let's face it, he's not a great QB, particularly for a league that is predicated on getting rid of the ball in less than 2 seconds.

-Typical Minnesota: We get one perfectly sunny day (yesterday, on Sunday), followed by a week with rain forecast for every f***ing day. I know it gets old, me bitching about it, but seriously, I'll ask again: Why does anyone live here?

-Lakers vs. Celtics is going to be the first Finals that I will watch in it's entirety since.....well, probably the mid-90's.....I say Lakers in 6, though I'm hoping that I'm wrong, since I'm hoping for KG to get a ring. I will admit though, it is fascinating to watch Kobe Bryant now. He's playing near a level that Jordan was back in the early-to-mid 90's. I know that's borderline sacrilegious to say, given Jordan's stature in the game, but Kobe does what he wants, when he wants, just like MJ used to do. He can bring his team back from 20 point deficits by himself, or do it by dropping 10 or 12 assists if he needs to. He makes his teammates better, but at the same time knows instinctively when he needs to just put them on his back and carry them. He's a lot of fun to watch, and on the plus side, he somehow seems more likable now that he dropped that perfect McDonald's posterboy image that he used to have. I don't know how that makes sense, but it seems the more real and asshole-ish he is, the easier it is to admire his skill as a player. He used to be kind of fake in his early days, and now he's just being himself it seems. And he, and the Lakers, are better off because of it.

Let me make it clear: I'm not saying Kobe is as good as MJ. I'm saying that there are spurts where he plays like him.

-Fall camp can't get here soon enough. I need college football back, and soon.

Memorial Day Weekend Potpurri

2008-05-23T08:46:00.000-07:00

Memorial day weekend is a special time of year for me. In addition to an important and overlooked holiday (more on that at the end), this weekend also is when all the men in my family pile into an RV and head for Indianapolis, where we take in the Indy 500 and all the drunken festivities that come with it. I'll be honest, the race is pretty damn boring. I mean, for all the hoopla, it's cars driving in circles. But you don't go for just the race, you go for the spectacle of it all, the pomp and circumstance, the EVENT. It's not a race, it's a three-day tailgate with 300,000 other people.

The highlight is Saturday night, when everyone has officially gotten into town and you take to the streets with your coolers of beer and let the night take you where it may. You see your fair share of not-in-their-prime boobs, and drink way more than your fair share of Coors Light, but maybe that's what makes the aforementioned breast-eses even passable. Either way, it makes for a great weekend trip, and it's one that I have failed to adequately capture on film during my previous 16 trips. That is something I plan on remedying this year, and I'll try my best to properly document the fun and post it on webshots so those of you who read the blog can look at them and get an idea of what I am talking about.

Some thoughts on various topics before I get out of here:

-Danica Patrick is not going to win the Indy 500. I even made a sign saying she can't, which I will bring to the race with me. Yea, she won the race in Japan, but that was mainly due to the fact that the three or four guys in front of her had to pit on the last 5 laps. I still don't think she can win a race of this magnitude, despite the media's infatuation with her. I'm not sexist, I just think it's unfair that the better drivers on the circuit don't get the respect they deserve. Of course, if she does win, I'll be showered in beer and food as I try to run out of the track with my anti-Danica sign........so for my sake, she HAS to lose.

- So when I was running the other day at the health club, NFL Live came on. At first, I was psyched......"Oh, good, there's going to be some football stuff on, that'll make this run tolerable at least"........but for the next half hour, all I got was analysis of Jason Taylor and Bill Parcells' relationship (which was supplemented by heavy doses of "highlights" of Taylor's run on Dancing with the Stars), followed by more Spygate news......which brings me to my next question: At what point do we just come to the conclusion that maybe we don't need an NFL show in May? If this is all they have to talk about, isn't it time to call it off until fall camp? I watch NFL Live to hear about actual news, not see some giant doing the tango while his relationship with the front office is discussed. Totally pointless, and unfortunately, NFL coverage is only going to become more and more saturated with crap like this. People have an insatiable appetite for any football news, but can't we agree that this doesn't qualify?

-I wish someone at the 'ol Alma Mater had sat me down and really explained to me just how utterly useless a history degree is. I mean, I knew it wasn't the most attractive BA, but I had no idea that it literally had no applicable use in the work force....unless of course, you want to sell insurance.....to be completely honest, I'd like to wipe my ass with it and mail it back to them. So I am presently looking at either grad school or an officer program with the Marines....if anybody has any suggestions, feel free to let me know.

- You know what is one of my favorite parts of the spring and summer in the Midwest? The annual tradition of the DOT blocking off entire roads...........and then not doing anything to them. It's especially fun when they funnel it down to one lane, and then you look at all those closed-down lanes with absolutely no construction being done. Right now, in my own neighborhood, they've completely gutted nearly ever road, only to leave them that way. I don't mind driving on gravel, but it's especially frustrating when I have to follow all these city folk who drive about 5 miles an hour because they don't want the rocks to scratch their 1992 Dodge Stratus.

- Listening to the radio all day, I am often subjected to some really crap-tastic fare that today's youth considers music. Lately it has become somewhat of a passion of mine to try and spread music such as Creedence, Zepplin, and Skynyrd to my friends and those younger than me. Sure enough, most everyone that hears it and gives them a chance is converted, and one by one, we'll show the younger generation what real music is. Because you know what it isn't? Talentless, studio-manufactured skidmarks like T-Pain (if you're over 30, just look him up on YouTube. You'll see why you should be concerned about what your kids call music). And I'm not capping on the entire rap or hip-hop genre. Some artists still put out real quality stuff (Kanye, T.I.), but now there are so many dime-a-dozen pieces of s*it like Soulja Boy that it sickens me. If you try to explain to an 18 year-old how good someone like Dr. Dre or Tupac was, they just stare at you blankly. I don't understand how you can claim to be a fan of something and not understand it's beginnings and best artists. It'd be like saying you're a basketball fan without having watched Jordan.

The last thing I wanted to say before I sign off for the weekend: Thank a veteran. They deserve both our respect and thanks for the sacrifices they made to make this country great. I'm not going to make some long impassioned plea. Just do the right thing, and say thanks.

Potpourri

2008-05-16T06:27:00.000-07:00

Well, now that we've settled into the dead period between spring ball and fall camp (also known as "pray there are no arrests or freak TV moving injuries" time), it's gotten pretty quiet around the Husker blogosphere. For those of you desperate for continued Husker coverage, I suggest clicking on the other blog links to the right, as you'll find that unlike me, many other Husker blogs continue to crank out quality stuff. DXP continues to impress with it's statistical analysis, as well as their new project of naming the best Huskers in history for every uniform number. I would have love to have done that, but unfortunately, my memory only goes back about 14 years, so with the exception of the role players of the early-to-mid 90's and the obvious stars, I don't think my list would have been nearly as good as theirs.

A few things I wanted to weigh in on:

-The whole Eight Belles Kentucky Derby saga. Look, I don't deny that it's unfortunate. It's too bad to lose such a beautiful animal, and I have no doubt that the trainer cared about it much like I do my dog. But as for the whole outcry from PETA and others? Hey, it's a f**king horse, OK? Can we please try to remind ourselves of that? There are 100,000 people likely dead in Myanmar, there are probably 50,000 more in China because of the recent earthquake, and these people are bitching because a horse broke it's ankles and had to get sent to the glue factory? There are bigger issues going on in the world right now, how 'bout we focus on that? The same sh*t happened with Barbaro a couple of years ago, and we had to sit there and watch while Sportscenter devoted hours of coverage to the doomed horse's attempted recovery, before it finally succumbed and had to be put down, all while there were more relevant and real sports that could have been talked about. Surely I can't be the only one who thinks that PETA needs to stop bitching and moaning about it, right?

- Spygate is over, OK? They cheated, they got caught, fined, and embarrassed. Despite the scrutiny, they nearly had a perfect season, which would have been great, because then we never would have to hear about the '72 Dolphins every time someone started the season 5-0 again. Either way, to hear Specter call for an independent investigation is ridiculous. The guy needs to find some real problems he could work towards solving. As Ted Kennedy (someone I loathe usually) said to the Boston Globe :

"With the war in Iraq raging on, gasoline prices closing in on $4 a gallon, and Americans losing their homes at record rates to foreclosure, the United States Senate should be focusing on the real problems that Americans are struggling with."

Damn straight. I'm so sick of hearing about this, it even surpasses the Eight Belles thing. I'm tired of watching NFL Live devote an entire half-hour every day to Matt Walsh (who is really just an attention whore, if you ask me) and Spygate when they could be talking about position battles and personnel decisions throughout the league. You know, football stuff. Let's just let this thing die so we can stop talking about it for the first time in 9 months.

-If you like the Spurs, you apparently support soccer on hardwood. Every time I see these d-bags flop whenever someone breathes on them, it sickens me to think that these guys are so respected by the public as a team who "plays the right way". Really? Tim Duncan whines more than my 6 year-old cousin, and if I have to see that bug-eye look with his arms up in frustration every time he thinks he's fouled (which apparently every time someone someone comes within 5 feet), I'm going to vomit. I really, REALLY hate the Spurs. If I played for the Hornets, I'd lower my shoulder and give them a real reason to fall down. If they are going to fake it every time, why not make it real and earn my foul?
-----One more note about this series: If you haven't watched Chris Paul this postseason, you are missing out. Best point guard I've ever watched. I'm serious when I say that I think I could average 10 points a game in the NBA if I played with him. He's that damn good.

-Can NOBODY in the state of Minnesota drive? I can't adequately describe how irritating it is when people tailgate and then blow by me when I'm already going 10 miles over the speed limit. What makes it even more hilarious is when they slingshot around me, cutting me off to gain ONE F**KING CAR SPACE on me. Really, what did that save you on your commute, 4 seconds? At what point do these assholes realize that even if you drive like a complete douchebag, you're probably only going to get to work approximately 2 minutes before I do?

-Not surprised at all by the O.J. Mayo situation. Hell, if there was a way I could have wagered on him taking money before the college basketball season started, I would have.

Back nest week with some more Potpourri, as well as preview of the Indy 500, which I go to every year.

A Disappointing Draft

2008-04-28T08:35:00.000-07:00

Another NFL Draft marathon come and gone, and another disappointing result (on many fronts). My original plans had called for morning golf followed by drinking and draft watching. However, due to the fact that the state of Minnesota is stuck in some kind of winter purgatory that has no end in sight (it felt like 25 degrees with snow throughout the day Saturday), we were relegated to sitting inside and drinking, along with several games of NCAA 2008, a tournament that yours truly dominated easily.

In addition to weather that is causing many Minnesotans to contemplate suicide, the draft sucked even worse due to lack of draftable Husker prospects. Many expected Carl Nicks to go in the 3rd round (some people speculated he was a 2nd rounder), yet he fell all the way to the Saints late in the 5th round. He is expected to come in and challenge for playing time after some development time. We could see him helping Reggie Bush get 3 yards a carry sometime in a couple years if he comes in and impresses. This continues to make the Saints a popular place for ex-Huskers in the league, as they have both Scott Shanle and Josh Bullocks on their roster in addition to Nicks.

The real surprise was oft-injured CB Zach Bowman being drafted by the Bears early in the 5th round, making him the first Husker selected this year. At one time, before suffering his two knee injuries, Bowman was considered a first-round talent. Obviously, teams were wary of his injury history, but the Bears' medical staff obviously thought that the worst was behind him, and that at 100% he could be a good project to work into their secondary. They already have good corners in Nathan Vasher and Ricky Manning, but this gives them someone who could develop into a contributor once he is completely done rehabbing and gets worked into the rotation. Also, if everything were to pan out perfectly (a longshot), we could see two Huskers in the same secondary: Husker legend Mike Brown, and Bowman.

The last Husker drafted may have landed himself in the best situation, depending on whether or not he can make the team. Bo Ruud was drafted in the 7th round by the Patriots, whose linebacking corps is the NFL equivalent of an old folk's home. Aging vets Tedy Bruschi, Junior Seau, Mike Vrabel, Larry Izzo, and Adalius Thomas are all on the wrong side of 30, some of them well past it in NFL years. While that bodes well for Ruud's prospects of making the team, the bad news is that in addition to Bo, the Pats also drafted Jared Mayo out of Tennessee and Shawn Crable out of Michigan, both linebackers. Bo's best shot is to impress in camp with his smarts and maybe make the squad as a special teamer and work his way into the rotation over time. Many will write him off immediately due to his lack of agility, but I think a lot of his struggles at NU were due to the fact his defensive coach was Kevin Cosgrove. Last time I checked, Bill Belichick is a somewhat more highly regarded defensive mind.......

5 Picks I liked......

1) Glenn Dorsey, DT, Kansas City
A great pick for the Chiefs, whose interior defensive line has been terrible for years. After some misfires (Ryan Sims, anyone?), KC finally has a guy who can anchor the inside for the foreseeable future and quickly make an impact on this fast-improving defense.

2) Jordon Dizon, LB, Detroit
While some say the former CU Buffalo lacks the size to play outside backer in the NFL, they were saying the same thing about Ernie Sims a couple of years ago, and he's turned out to be pretty good in the League. While Dizon isn't the physical specimen that Sims is in terms of speed, he is a consistent player who does what is necessary to make the plays. He has a high motor, and is always around the ball. He's going to be a great fit with Marinelli in Detroit, and should get time on special teams right away in addition to getting a look at OLB.

3) Limas Sweed, WR, Pittsburgh
Taken in the 2nd round, the big-bodied Longhorn is the perfect fit for the Steeler's offense, and he'll work in with a talented group that includes an aging Hines Ward and former 1st-rounder Santonio Holmes. Factor in stud TE Heath Miller, and Big Ben is going to have plenty of options to throw to. Look for Sweed to be a big factor in the red zone this coming season.

4) Martin Rucker, TE, Cleveland
Yes, I realize that my "Picks I liked" section is a bit Big12-heavy, but these are the guys I've spent a lot of the past few years watching, so of course I'm going to feel a bit more comfortable evaluating their talent. Some of you might be saying "Wait, the Browns already have Kellen Winslow", but he is used more out of the slot in a H-back role than a traditional tight end, which is what Rucker is. While he's a bit slower than the elite pass-catching tight ends, I think he's going to be a very serviceable pro, particularly for a 4th rounder.

5) John David Booty, QB, Minnesota
While I absolutely hate to give the Vikings credit for anything they do, I thought this was a great pick so late in the draft (5th round). The QB situation in Minnesota is one that needed bolstering, with still-doubted Tavaris Jackson starting and Gus Frerotte and Brooks Bollinger backing him up. Booty was once considered a Heisman candidate, has an adequate arm for the Vikings west coast offense, and has experience in the pressure cooker of a big-time program in college. Reminds me a lot of Tom Brady way back in the day, when people slept on him coming out of Michigan.

5 Picks I didn't like...

1) Matt Ryan, QB, Atlanta
Arthur Blank on the BC product's first day in Atlanta: "Mr. Ryan, welcome to the Falcons! I'd like you to meet the guys that you'll be competing with for our QB position: Joey Harrington, Chris Redman, and DJ Shockley. Please, don't make us look any dumber than we already do. As long as you don't sanction any dog fights, we're already headed in the right direction!"
I still think Ryan is going to be a bust in the NFL. I've thought so for a couple of years now, and I'm sticking to my guns on this one.

2) Vernon Gholston, LB, NY Jets
A huge upside, but an inconsistent college performer. For the amount of guaranteed money he's going to get, you would expect more from him than he gave in college. An absolute freak physically, he has the potential to be a game-changer or a huge underachiever. I like the player, but not in the top 10.

3) DeSean Jackson, WR, Philadelphia
An explosive but incomplete player, Jackson will immediately boost the Eagles' return game, but he's an spotty route-runner and is waaaay undersized (5'9", 175). He didn't produce that much in college either, despite his freakish speed. If he turns into a Devin Hester-type player though, you can't argue with the pick.

4) Brian Brohm/Matt Flynn, QB, Green Bay
Two QBs to back-up your new starter, Aaron Rogers? Seems like kind of overkill to me. Some see this as a message to Brett Favre that he needs to just stay retired. I see it as a waste of at least one draft pick. Flynn is one thing, but to grab Brohm as well is a bit much, though I guess the Packers figure they have a young and deep team and that they can afford to take a few gambles.

5) Joe Flacco, QB, Baltimore
I think he has the tools to be an NFL QB, but he's a couple of years away to me, and this is a Ravens team that is aging quickly, particularly on defense. The window is closing, and they don't have time to sit around and wait. It's a good thing they have Kyle Boller there to.......oh wait, nevermind.....

Closing thoughts
A high of 40 degrees here in Minneapolis........I was waiting for spring, but apparently we're going to skip that and just go from winter to summer, probably in early June. It will be 42 and windy, and then the next day will be 96 with 94% humidity and baseball-size mosquitoes........damn this place sucks...

-Wish Danny Woodhead had gotten drafted, thought he had a really good shot.....

-Octo signed a free agent deal with the Chiefs, giving them two former Huskers at LB (the other being Demorrio Williams, who came over from Atlanta). Should be interesting to see what Octavien can do and if he can stay healthy.

-Reports from the LJS have Mo Purify going to camp with the Bengals

-Courtney Grixby signed a FA deal with Carolina

Hot Routes

2008-04-24T07:08:00.000-07:00

Due to a rare busy week at work, I didn't really have time (or, to be honest, feel the need) to write a recap of the spring game. We didn't see much that would lead us to believe there has been a huge transformation in the defense, and nobody really stood out and had monster days. Even the guys that made several good plays (like Curenski Gilleylen, who hauled in a 77 yard bomb from Ganz but also dropped a couple balls) balanced them out by having a few gaffes. I'm still confident that the team will continue to improve over the summer through workouts and diligent film study, and that after fall camp, they'll be ready to go out and surprise some people. But let's not kid ourselves, they aren't going to come out and pitch shutouts right away. It's going to take work, patience, and time.

Some thoughts from the spring game:

- If someone had told you two months ago that our starting outside backers going into fall camp would be Cody Glenn and Tyler Wortman, what would your reaction have been? It's a shock that a former running back and a 5th year walk-on are our starters right now, but it's shocking in a good way. I was skeptical that Glenn would contribute much after playing running back exclusively the past few years, but it just goes to show that I'm a complete idiot (though, to be honest, we already knew that, didn't we?). And Wortman is a testament to the value of the walk-on program. A guy busts his ass for 5 years, and his diligence is rewarded by the new staff, who gave him his shot, one he took and ran with. Will they be our starters on open day? Who knows. Blake Lawrence and a group of talented youngsters will have ample opportunity to grab the spots in fall camp. For now though, my hat is off to the two seniors who were the big stories of camp (Glenn) and the spring game (Wortman).

- Does anybody else wonder just how many carries that Lucky is going to get with the other studs behind him? If Castille can learn how to hang on to the ball, he and Helu will be breathing down Marlon's back. It's not a bad thing (competition never is), but it's going to be an interesting scenario to watch next season, especiallly considering Helu seems to improve with each passing day. We are going to have a very dangerous running game, and that'll open up some things for Ganz, whose interceptions last year were often due to the fact he had to throw 45 times a game to keep us in the shootouts. I really hope that Watson gets creative with these three, I'm talking having Ganz in the shotgun with Lucky and Castille on each side of him with Helu in the slot, stuff like that. If you're a defense, who do you key on? I've advocated for SOME elements of the zone-read from the shotgun in past posts, and it's something that Terry Bowden agrees with me on. I can't decide if that's a good thing or not.........

- With 'Bama having 92,000 last year and the Huskers having 80,000-plus this year, the fascination with spring games will continue to grow, as everybody now knows that it is a huge recruiting tool. Almost everybody already knew this, but with increased interest in college football and the coverage of it growing, even impartial people are taking notice of these events. It's going to be a competition every year now to get the headlines and banner recruits for these glorified practices. Not that it's a bad thing, the more college football coverage, the better.

Some NFL thoughts, with the Draft Marathon coming this weekend:

- Why did the NFL move the draft start time back to 2:00? This crap takes forever, the last thing we need is a delayed start. Plus, that means if I start drinking at 10:00 AM (which was the standard operating procedure when the draft started then), I am now classified as a drunk instead of just being your average football fan.

- While I don't plan on keeping a running diary of the draft like I did last year (where it took 4 damn hours for the 1st round, causing my laptop battery to die), I do plan on keeping an informal journal throughout the day (which will include my golf round in the morning with my buddies), then posting it on here Monday. I'm not sure how it will work out, but it's worth a shot, even if most of the stuff that my buddies and I talk about will probably not be postable due to inappropriate comments about pretty much every single race, sex, orientation,......you know what, it's not going to matter. Just imagine watching a Judd Apatow movie for 12 hours, fueled by heavy drinking. It's going to be a bunch of guys ripping on each other, so you know it's going to get pretty bad (in a fun way though).
While I'm on this topic, I gotta say, has anyone done more to take the male art of ripping on each other to a whole new level than Apatow and his cast of buddies? Movies like 40-year-old virgin, Knocked Up, and Superbad have taken sh*t-talking to a whole new level, to the point that women can't even be around when men interact with each other, it just gets too graphic. This may be a phenomenon reserved for those of us 25-and-under, but what happens as we get older? Will we still be ripping on each other like this when we're 50? I certainly hope so.

- Living in Minnesota, I have to comment on the Jared Allen trade. First off, let me say that I am a big fan of Allen. He's a hell of a player who plays the game the right way, and he's an absolute beast. But I still think the Vikings overpaid for him. Giving up a 1st and a 3rd would be fine, but to give up a 1st, two 3rds, and swapping 5th round picks, in addition to giving him one of the richest contracts in NFL history in terms of guaranteed money is a big investment for one guy. I realize that they need an edge pass rusher, but damn, he better get them at leas 12 to 15 sacks every year the next 4 years, or you have to say that it wasn't worth it. A lot of this depends on what KC does with the bevy of picks they acquired, and with Carl Peterson in charge, they'll probably do pretty well (though picking Brody Croyle a couple years ago is still a head scratcher, and in my opinion was a terrible choice from the get-go). Either way, it's fun to watch all the Vikings fans talk themselves into the trade, saying that a good pass rusher was all they needed. Apparently they've all forgotten that their QB is Tavaris Jackson. Then again, with some guy named Adrian Peterson in the backfield, they might be good despite that.

-Kudos to Marvin Lewis and the Bengals, who despite getting some good trade offers, are moving forward with their collective F-you to Chad Johnson's bitching and moaning. This guy has always played the happy-go-lucky version of T.O., but you had to know that deep down, the guy would eventually turn into a cancer, and sure enough, his douchebaggery has risen to the top. I hope they keep him the whole year and just let the asshole sit out like he is threatening to.

No TV Coverage?

2008-04-16T14:17:00.000-07:00

So I'm still a bit miffed as to why this year's spring game hasn't been picked up for broadcast on TV.......last year, the NFL Network came to town to watch Keller beat up the sixth string defense while Witt was assaulted behind an offensive line comprised of some kids found at the local Y....but this year, nothing. Now, if it was a week later and the NFL draft was going, I'd understand why neither the NFL Network or ESPN would want to commit to covering the game. But it's not draft weekend. On the "Worldwide Leader in Sports" networks, they are showing (and I wish I was kidding): a women's billiards 9-ball tournament, the Indy 300 from Japan, and the World's Strongest Man 2007 competition.

On the NFL Network, though I haven't checked, I can only assume they are re-re-re-covering what needs the Miami Dolphins and other top-10 pick teams have, which most of us already have seen in some form about 1,000 times (and if you haven't, don't worry, it'll be on 24 hours a day all the way through the draft, at which point they will fill out "report cards" based on players who have never played one snap in an NFL game, which makes as much sense as doing a job review of someone who hasn't completed their first day on the job yet. Man, I LOVE media over-saturation.)

Now, with ESPN, there are obviously contracts with those sporting events that have to be honored (particularly the one with Indy Car). I don't mind this, and being someone that attends the Indy 500 every year (I go for the drinking, not the racing), I can accept that. But do we really need to see last year's strongest man competition? What is this, the Ocho? First of all, these competitions aren't even fun to watch anymore. The only WSM contests that should be on TV are the classic ones from the '70s that starred Lou Ferrigno and Bruce Wilhelm, the contests they had back then were so primitive and ridiculous that the chances for some comedy (and atrocious freak injuries) were through the roof. Now, it's just a prolonged MET-RX commercial with freaks that look like blimps.

Speaking of the NFL network, there are few things on the sports calendar I hate more than the annual release of the NFL schedule. ESPN stops all other activity, and we have to be subjected to Jaws and company breathlessly break down every "must-see" matchup from the upcoming season. What these guys forget is that with the exception of the Pats and Colts, the good teams in the NFL vary EVERY SINGLE YEAR. What might seem like a good game in April might turn out to be a crapfest between two sub-.500 teams in November. So why the hell are we subjected to these guys yelling over each other, arguing about games? What makes the NFL very appealing is also what makes it difficult to care about: the parity that enables teams that went 8-8 one year to leap to a Super Bowl Champion the next also guarantees that there is going to be a high level of mediocrity as well, and with the exception of a few teams, year to year you have no idea of whether your team is going to suck or make a run to a division title. That's what I love about college football: traditionally, there is always going to be a top 20 or so programs that will be strong, even if there are a few roadbumps where they struggle (um.....Nebraska, anyone?). With the NFL, it's a year-by-year crapshoot. That said, it works for them, and it is comforting if you're an NFL fan to know that a team that sucks for a couple years is only three or four seasons from potentially becoming good. Maybe that's why all these delusional Minnesota fans cling every year to the fantasy that they're going to turn it around soon (which makes it all the more satisfying for me to watch it go down in flames in dramatic fashion every season).

Anyways, I guess I'm just bitter that Florida's spring game was televised by ESPN but we're getting passed over in favor of women's billiards and steroid abusers. Stupid, I know, but it's my job as a Husker fan to make sure that we always feel slighted by ESPN. I'll be back tomorrow with thoughts on the spring game rosters and other tidbits.

Outta Control Optimism

2008-04-08T07:37:00.000-07:00

So we're halfway through spring ball, and despite my best efforts to keep from getting too excited about all the glowing reviews coming out of practice, I just can't help myself. Bo seems to already be changing the mindset of the once-downtrodden Husker defense, and word coming out of camp is that they are flying around with an enthusiasm and confidence that was (obviously) non-existent the past few years. While this is encouraging, we have to keep in mind that the Huskers were the 112th-ranked defense last season, so even an incredible improvement would only put them in the top 50 units in the nation. Of course, couple that with a top-15 offense, and you'll probably finish with more than 5 wins.

I know that everyone is probably really distracted today due to tonight's title game between Tennessee and.....um.....whoever else is in the women's championship game, but before we get too carried away with all the exciting lay-ups and set shots that are sure to make it a barn burner, let's look at a couple developments with the Huskers.

- While it's a bit early to hand him the Bednarik, it seems that Cody Glenn, despite my expert analysis that he would struggle, seems to be doing well thus far on the defensive side of the ball. I thought that there might be too much rust for him to make much of a contribution, but time may prove me wrong. But the main thing to stress at this point of the experiment, as always, is patience. After all, Bo knows:

“It’s either (that) he shows it’s a fit or not a fit. So far he’s done a lot of good things. He’s made some plays. But it’s too early on making a rash judgment. I do like some of the things I’ve seen out of him.”

The real question is this: being a senior, will he make any kind of contribution in games this fall? Even if he can provide about 20 snaps a game, that would be considered a huge success.

-In a move that will have traditionalist Husker fans bowing at Pelini and Watson's feet, the Big Red have apparently been working a little bit of the option game into their practices. When we were going through the interview process after Callahan's ouster, many of the old-school Husker fans were clamoring for Paul Johnson, mainly because he loves the option like a fat kid loves cake.

I was never part of that camp, but at least they'll be appeased by some elements of the option this fall. What I am really hoping to see is some elements of the spread, with Helu at the slot and Lucky in the backfield, where we have Ganz either pitching to Lucky or giving Roy a shovel going the other way, against the flow of the defense, who will be keyed on Marlon. This kind of offense will keep defenses guessing all game, and make our already-good offense extremely potent. Nobody knows how much Bo and Watson actually use the option, but the fact that it will have even a small part in the Big Red offense this fall can't help me from feeling nostalgic.

-One article I enjoyed thoroughly was the OWH's article about Jared Crick taking some of his city-raised teammates home to Cozad, Nebraska. It's truly a satisfying experience to take kids who have never been out of a metro area to a small town community. I grew up in Iowa and still have a farm about an hour East of Omaha, and several times I have taken some of my friends from the Twin Cities there for four-wheeling, tractor driving, and relaxation. It's a rewarding experience, and the guys gain a new appreciation for a slower pace of life and genuine small-town kindness. I'm just glad to hear that it's happening with the Huskers, because that is a huge bonding experience. Maybe I'm biased, but to look in every direction and see farmland and hear nothing but the breeze.......that, to me, is the good life.

Relentless

2008-04-04T09:33:00.000-07:00

This little snippet of an interview is why I am ACHING for next season to start. If this Ron Brown interview from Huskers.com is any indication, we're going to be knocking guys on their ass like we did back in the day. Also, I highly recommend looking at the entire article, because Brown has a great perspective not just on Husker football, but on life. Being in the ministry full-time for the past few year has given him a great outlook on what is really important in life.

Huskers.com: What will be the philosophy of this staff?

Ron Brown: Relentless. There will be a relentless pursuit to the football on defense. There will be a relentless physicality on offense, where players will not only block, but every player will block. When Tom was coaching, even quarterbacks blocked on the backside of a toss sweep. Nobody runs out of bounds. You don’t just run out of bounds unless you’re in a two-minute drill. You take on ball carriers, and you fight for extra yardage. And you don’t take punishment – you give punishment. Everybody blocks downfield. Wide receivers block like crazy on the perimeter. Linemen get up off their block at the line of scrimmage, and they go downfield and block.

Click here for the entire interview

Glenn to Linebacker?

2008-04-02T08:36:00.000-07:00

It's been a pretty quiet spring thus far. Every day, we get the same tired quotes from the players as well as the coaching staff, which is understandable. They probably get sick of answering the the same questions day after day, just as I'm sure the media gets tired of asking them. But dammit, it's Husker football, and there isn't much else going on, so the routine continues. There was one interesting development we found out about this morning though: Cody Glenn is contemplating a move to linebacker. The former standout running back, who has battled injuries throughout his career at NU, apparently barely even played defense in HIGH SCHOOL!

Now, don't get me wrong, I don't blame him for thinking about the move. If I had to pick between fighting for playing time in a crowded backfield or a position group that returns no starters, I'd probably start to think about switching too. But when I read that his high school used him on defense only occasionally (and at defensive end at that), I became highly skeptical of this decision. It'd be one thing if Glenn had been pulling a Major Culbert and had been switching back and forth for a year or two, but to play running back your entire college career and then decide as a senior that you'd like to play on the other side of the ball seems like a stretch to me. Believe it or not, muscle memory is important when it comes to things like pursuit angles and tackling. And while Glenn undoubtedly has the athletic ability and size to play linebacker, it's a whole other thing to actually play the position well. The nuances and subtleties of being 'backer in the college game is no simple task, particularly if you barely even played it in high school.

The motivation for this move is easy to understand. With Marlon Lucky, Q, Helu, Mendoza, as well as the soon-to-be-active Kenny Wilson all competing for carries, Glenn faced an uphill battle for playing time, particularly considering his role as goal-line battering ram would likely be filled by Castille. That said though, does Glenn really think he's going to be getting significant playing time behind guys who received scholarships specifically to play the LB position? In addition to this, would an experiment like this stunt the development of younger guys who could use the practice snaps? It's tough to say, and Glenn hasn't made a final decision yet, so this might all be pointless to talk about right now. As much as I have my doubts about this maneuver, I think Glenn has the right to play where wants to, considering he's a senior who has sacrificed his health for the program for several years now. I don't think it will be successful, but the guy deserves a shot if that is what he wants.

Some random thoughts to end the post:

-It may be un-American, but I really don't give a rat's ass about pro baseball. Not one bit. I appreciate the skill the game takes, and I do acknowledge it as an American institution, but that doesn't change one simple fact: 95% of the time, it is the most boring damn thing I've ever seen. The only thing fun to watch is the playoffs, or if there is a dominant pitcher on the mound. Other than that, I'd seriously rather watch golf. Lone exception: if former Husker Alex Gordon is batting, I'd watch it. But then I'd change it after his AB. Most of this dislike stems from the fact the baseball season (counting spring training) stretches from February to November, which would be too long for even an exciting sport (which baseball isn't most of the time).

-I haven't really cared about pro basketball since Charles Barkley retired. Sure, I like KG and followed the Wolves there for a couple of years, but I've never really found a team I care about enough to sit down and watch entire games. That said, for the first time I am genuinely looking forward to the NBA postseason (well really only the Western Conference playoffs, but better than none, right?). It has been incredible to watch the emergence of so many players jumping to the next level this year. Have you seen Chris Paul play? It's like watching a created player abuse people on a video game. He's really that good. It's not just him either: Kobe made the leap from selfish jackass to selfless jackass who is playing on a whole other level, Garnett has made the Eastern Conference a legitimate threat in the Finals, and Shaq is rejuvenated in Phoenix. How crazy would a Lakers-Suns Western Conference finals be, followed by Lakers-Celtics for the title? How could you not watch that, even if you were just an impartial observer?

-51,000 tickets sold for the spring game thus far........the chances for a sellout are high, but we're going to need a lot of walk-ups to get there. I think Husker nation will come through, if only to show Alabama (who had 92,000 in the stands for last year's spring game) that they aren't the only ones who have nothing to do right now besides obsess over college football.

Where's the Kool-Aid Stand?

2008-03-28T06:47:00.000-07:00

*** My apologies to any other Husker bloggers (and readers), as we inevitably all have some variation of the exact same information. This tends to happen when there are 20,000 bloggers for one college football team.

WHOOOOO! SPRING FOOTBALL MOTHA-F***ER!!!!

That seems to be the collective feeling of Husker Nation as we enter the first spring practices of the Pelini era. Everyone you talk to seems to be completely bombed off of the Pelini Kool-Aid, myself included. Unlike the last time we had a regime change, there's no bitterness over firings or anything like that--everyone is genuinely excited we have a different coaching staff, which is understandable considering everyone (including the players, apparently) really didn't like Callahan and his crew.

Every player has given glowing endorsements of Pelini's practice style, and the media as well as the fans are eating up every sound bite they are fed by the Big Red. I'm not going to analyze or quote every single interview that was given or try to break down Pelini's defensive schemes after just one practice (that would be pretty dumb at this juncture). What I am going to do in this post is look at what some of the the players are saying about the new staff as well as the old one (these quotes were particularly eye opening). Anyways, I, along with the rest of Husker Nation, find myself with a spring in my step this week. Sure, it's a new staff, a new outlook, and we are back at square one. But I'd rather be at square one in the Pelini era than whatever number we were at last year in Callahan's......because his "drive program into ground" square completely sucked.....

One article I definitely want to touch on is this gem by the OWH's Dirk Chatelain, discussing how the players last year would often fall behind mentally because Callahan's staff wouldn't stop to make sure that everyone understood what was being taught. If you fell behind, someone who understood was going to be playing instead of you (which is probably why we saw a lot of guys playing who weren't really the best football player). Typically revealing was this little soundbite:

"Coaches weren't really in teaching mode," safety Larry Asante said.

So whoever understood the information, Asante said, "that's the guy who played."

"There were guys out there lost."

Really? No way! I always thought the defensive guys were spot-on in their assignments. I mean, those 15 yard-wide holes against USC had to have been planned, right? Oh, wait, it's because nobody knew what they were doing? I really couldn't tell. As the article states, Callahan's practices were better set up for NFL players who could quickly pick up his schemes with minimal instruction. After all, by the time you make it to the league, you're expected to understand most football schemes, and there isn't much individual instruction and follow up to make sure the players get it. Because if they don't you can simply find someone who will. College ball is different. You still need to be a teacher, you still need to help the kids out, you can't expect 19 and 20 year olds to be able to pick up a scheme instantly. In addition to that, apparently the staff waited till they were in film later that night or even the next day to point out mistakes made in practice. This is one of the DUMBEST things I have ever heard of. Players need correction and re-enforcement right away, you don't wait a day to let them know they screwed up.

One thing I have loved reading about is the intensity and effort that Pelini is demanding (and apparently getting) from his Husker defenders. Take this quote from Phillip Dillard:

"Every play he's yelling, 'Run to the ball, run to the ball. D-linemen, I want you running 10 yards to the ball no matter what,"' Dillard said. "If you're not, you're going to hear from him."

"If you're messing up, he's talking to you, and he's going to correct you because he wants everything done right," Dillard said. "If you're not doing something right, he's going to call you out. And the other players are going to call you out. That's the way it's supposed to be."

I know that seems like a given, but there were a lot of times last year where the effort was questionable at best, and to be a successful, ball-hawking unit that Pelini likes, there has to be guys flying to the ball every single play. The goal is to always have about 7 guys in the picture when you're watching film of a tackle. There has a to be a wolf-pack mentality, where every one is fighting for scraps. This is especially true of a unit that wants to create turnovers. There were several times last year where the opposing team fumbled, only to recover it themselves because nobody was around the ball (which was partly due to Cosgrove's insistence on sticking with man-to-man defenses). This quote by Niles Paul to Brian Christopherson of the LJS was particularly encouraging: “The defense was flying to the ball, picking up fumbles, dropped passes, they were picking them up and taking them to the house.” After watching the Blackshirts sleepwalk through embarrassment after embarrassment last year, it's refreshing to hear of their enthusiasm to impress their new coach.

Anyways, I just wanted to check in with some stuff on this post, we're only one practice in after all. But I want to leave with you with one more snippet from Barry Turner about what Bo is telling his troops about the upcoming season:

"Coach Pelini is doing a great job of just saying there's no team on the schedule we feel like we can't beat," said Turner. "That's how your mind's got to be."

Damn right.

The Decline of Drinking Prowess, along with Husker tidbits

2008-03-10T12:46:00.000-07:00

I just realized it's been several weeks since I've posted anything new on here, so I figured I'd at least check in and write something, even if there is very little new Husker news. Yes, there is that little issue of losing Anthony Blue for the spring (and some say longer) to a knee injury, but I didn't want to write about that because it is, to be completely honest, downright depressing. Just once, I'd like to make it through a spring without having one of our best cover guys blow something out......

Also, sure-fire starter Andy Christensen was arrested for allegedly putting his hand up a girl's skirt at the Brass Rail in Lincoln. If sports followers have learned anything, it's to let things like this go through their due process before jumping to rash conclusions.......I made the mistake of predicting Mo Purify getting kicked off the team last summer after his two arrests, and I was only off by 11 games, considering he only missed the opener. The lesson, as always, is that I'm a dumbass.

Now, to the main part of my post.

Having turned 24 this past winter (I should say the one we are currently in, considering that there is no such thing as spring in Minnesota), I've noticed over the past few months that my ability to consume large amounts of alcohol has lessened severely. Now obviously, I never thought I could drink like I was 20 forever, but I really didn't think that my ability to recover would be so greatly affected at such an early age. I went out Friday night, and over the course of the night drank enough booze to kill a small-to-medium sized family of people. Even two years ago, this wouldn't have fazed me all that much. I never used to get hangovers, and when I say never, I really mean I'd never get them. I could drink liters of hard alcohol and wake up the next morning and go work out. I've noticed over the past couple years that I can't drink as much as I used to, but despite that, my recovery time was still seemingly way faster than that of my peers.

That illusion came crashing down this past Saturday morning, when I woke up feeling like someone had hit me in the head and stomach with a boat oar. Usually, something like that would dissipate pretty quickly for me, but this was different. I didn't feel human until about 10:30 that night, and there was no way I was going out after what I had just endured. I've never had an all-day hangover, and it marks the first time one has prevented me from going out for a 2nd consecutive night. Now, maybe this was an aberration, a fluke occurrence that won't happen regularly. Or maybe, as I suspect, the time has come when my body has finally started to punish me for my liver abuse. If it sucks this much when you're 24, let's just say I'm really not looking forward to when I'm 30 or older.

That said, I'm going to test which is really the case this coming weekend. I figure, what better time to figure it out then on St. Patty's day weekend? Hope you are all finding something to do to satisfy your Husker fix, because I myself am going into withdrawl......Spring ball can't get here soon enough, it's getting so desperate that people are starting "blackout" threads on message boards just to have something to argue about.