MMLB

Hope it was a relaxing weekend for everyone, mine was fantastic with the exception of the hangover I woke up to Sunday morning morning. Staying up till 4 in the morning playing FIFA 07 probably wasn't necessary. I'm am neither a soccer or hockey fan, but after NCAA Football, they are by far the best video games out there. Enough about that though, on to the football.

There is a lot of stuff I want to get to after a busy Saturday of spring games, starting with the Big Red. Here's a link to some video highlights of the game for those of you not fortunate enough to either attend or have the NFL Network.

First off, let's start out with the Quarterbacks. If you want a complete analysis, I suggest you check out the OWH's article that breaks down both of their respective performances, or the extremely fancy passing chart they made. As I've stated before, the media loves a QB controversy. It gives them a topic to write about whenever they need one. And after the spring game, they now have four more months to write about one. Neither definitavely seperated himself from the other. Keller had a bit of better game statistically, going 10-13 with 193 yards and a touchdown, whereas Ganz went 11 for 18 for 157 yards and a TD of his own. What terrifies me is that he did the macarena for his celebration. That alone should cost him the QB job in my opinion. In all seriousness, I think the real fun of a spring game is to see if some lesser known players step up and make some plays against the starters, or if somebody establishes himself in a position battle. We have four more months till camp in August, and I'll let other people worry about the QB situation till then. I was more interested in the other QBs anyways......my thoughts? Beau Davis will never get off that bench. He had some downright atrocious throws, albeit he was playing against the blackshirts. Witt didn't have great stats, but he throws a nice ball and looks to have really good velocity.

One thing I especially loved was Cody Glenn's performance, especially in light of the fact he did it with a banged-up foot. I was able to watch the first quarter of the game (click here or scroll down to the posting before this one to see my running diary of it) before the DVR recording quit, and I was having a blast watching him. It literally took three guys to tackle him every time he carried the ball. Sure, he was playing against the second team, but dragging three guys for extra yardage is impressive no matter who you do it against. One play in particular stood out to me: Glenn caught a pass in the flats, turned up field and was met by two defenders after about seven yards. He runs over them both, and then drags a third guy an additional seven. He might have had a pedestrian stat line (11 carries, 44 yards), but you really had to see him in action to get an idea of the havoc he was wreaking. I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do when he's 100%.

When talking about Glenn, one has to think of Lucky. The victim of what Callahan calls a "medial sprain" of his knee, he still logged 16 carries for 94 yards and a TD before he was felled by the injury. Times like these, fans always freak out about how he shouldn't even have still been playing, that the coaches made a mistake by keeping him in a meaningless exhibition or some other BS line. To which I have to reply: ITS DIVISION ONE FOOTBALL! IT AINT INTRAMURALS! It's a f***ing contact sport, injuries are part of the game. What happens if he hurts his knee in practice in August? Should we just keep Lucky out of any situation that involves him getting touched? At what point do you draw the line? I get so sick of people complaining when something like this happens. Anyways, the good news (at least as of right now, we'll see after the MRI) is that it isn't anything serious and that he'll be back to normal in a month. I thought that Brian Christopherson wrote a good article about Glenn and Lucky for the LJS. The bond between a position group is a powerful thing, and it's great to see that both guys are supportive of each other and rooting for the other to do well.

A mathchup I was particularly interested in was the safety battle between Thenarse and Asante. While Thenarse would appear to have the better game based off the tackles comparison (5 compared to Asante's 2), one has to understand that when it comes to safeties, stats are not a good indicator of one's performance. Does he disguise coverages well? Does his pre-snap movement cause the QB to pause? A guy like Troy Polamalu may not fill up the stat sheet, but his impact can't be measured in terms of affecting an opposing team's gameplan. Another huge aspect of safety play is the ability to intimidate the opposing recievers. The fact that secondary coach Bill Busch is emphasizing the big hit bodes well for the Blackshirts, although bringing in guys like Asante and the development of Thenarse will go a long way in transforming this unit into the ballhawks that one always hopes for at the rover position. One thing I was glad to see was that Thenarse did well on kickoff returns, having one for 20 yards and another for 28 yards, respectively. As we all know, the return game was something the Huskers weren't especially good at last year.

While there may not be a position battle at wideout for the Huskers, their performance was still of great interest to me. We all know that Purify is going to be the main guy at the X reciever, but what about the Y on the other side? Some say that Nunn will be there, others argue Swift. According to many observers this spring, nobody established themselves through practice as the frontrunner. From what I've heard, reciever play has actually been somewhat poor in practice, which is surprising considering the talent we have there. In the spring game, Swift appeared to outplay Nunn, with 3 catches for 70 yards and a score, wheras Nunn had only one reception (although it was for a touchdown). That said, Swift also had a couple of drops that a third grader could have caught, so let's not get ahead of ourselves.

The real stud of the day was Todd Peterson, who had over 100 yards recieving (granted, 47 of them came on one catch, but a hundred yards is a hundread yards). Petersen and Keller were in sync the whole day, hooking up on a couple nice catch-and-runs where Keller hit him in stride for big plays. The thing I was disappointed about was how little of an impact the younger recievers had. Granted, it doesnt help when your playing against the starters, your offensive line doesn't give the QB any time to throw, and the QB's name is Beau Davis, but I thought we'd see a lot more of Will Henry and Menelik Holt, yet neither of them had a single catch.

One thing I was disappointed with on Saturday: fan turnout. I know we still probably had the largest or second largest (to Ohio State) in terms of numbers, but I thought with Keller and no ongoing stadium renovations that we'd get 65,000 plus, but the announced crowd was just over 54,000. Oh well. Speaking of the crowd, apparently they gave it the 'ol college try when it came to impressing all of the recruits on hand. I love the fact that our fans are that obssessed that they know all the kids by name when they come. It shows them just how much we care about our team, and the passion of Husker fans is something that often times awes recruits. Unfortunately, it didn't have that effect on heralded Riley Rieff, the 6'6", 235 pound d-line prospect. Despite attending our spring game, he commited to Iowa on Sunday, saying that the fact they were the first to offer was a big factor when making his decision. Rieff is widely considered to be the best prospect coming out of South Dakota, which probably isn't that hard when there are only 200 people in that entire state and only three football teams. Either way, a setback in our recruiting momentum, but it's still reeeeaaly early.

In other Big 12 spring game news, the Cyclones' spring game was won by the offense. Instead of having two seperate teams, they use a scoring system where the D gets points for turnovers, three-and-outs (something I call TKO's, which is what we called them at Bethel), and other factors. Bret Meyer looked good, which is expected when your playing against a defense that ranked next-to-last in almost every important defensive category last year. I'll be honest with all the Husker fans: I went to Iowa State my freshmen year. That was the year Seneca Wallace tore from the gates and led them to a #9 ranking, only to lose their last six games. So I know something about the Cyclone mindset, which is to say they are extremely poor fans when it comes to supporting their team (evidenced by only 7,000 people coming to the game).

Over at Colorado, a mere 6,000 people came out to watch the train wreck that is Buffs football. Apparently it's so bad that they have resorted to keeping stats for the QBs in 7-on-7 pass skelly drills. Against live competition, the two leading contenders for the job (Nick Nelson and Cody Hawkins) combined for a Jammal Lordesque passing line of 15 for 30, 150 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. In the 7-on-7 drills they combined for 430 yards and four touchdowns, which is great news for the Buffs if any opposing team ever decides not to send out a defensive line. Seriously, you keep stats for pass skelly? How desperate are you? When there isn't a pass rush, you can sit back there till someone gets open, which is bound to happen considering your defense sucks too. But then again, I'm just a former D3 player. And as coach Hawkins knows all too well, ITS DIVISION ONE FOOTBALL! The poor turnout for the game is really no surprise, considering they are coming off a 2-10 season and most of the student body was most likely passed out in the parking lot. I'm guessing the beer pong games being played outside the stadium was more enticing than the football being played in it.

In the Okie State spring game, Zac Robinson outplayed Bobby Reid, leading his team to a come-from-behind victory in a rare competitive spring contest. We shouldn't be surprised that Robinson out-performed him, considering I thought Gundy was an idiot for even putting Robinson in games last year. The lesson, as always: I'm an idiot. That said, I don't care who ends up starting, as long as we end up beating them. Last year's game against OSU was one of the most infuriating Husker games I've witnessed, and it was our season in a nutshell: play great in the first half, stake yourself a nice lead, watch the other team storm back in the third quarter assisted by our poor offensive playcalling, lose at the end. I remember watching that game and being so dejected afterward that I didn't even go out afterward. It's one thing to lose to USC and Texas (both of which were winnable games), but to lose to OSU after having a lead is inexcusable. If your looking for a few more things on Big 12 spring games, I suggest you head over to the Fanhouse, Jeff Adams has done a nice job over there briefly talking about some of the games.

5 Things I'm thinking about this morning

1) Great career, Will Shields. The former Husker was one of the best offensive linemen in NFL history, and he's hanging up the pads after 14 years playing for the K.C. Chiefs. The league needs more guys like Shields, who was one of the most active players in the league when it came to philanthropy. He won the Walter Payton Man of the Year award in 2003, and was a consummate gentlemen. He will be missed.

2) For those of you that saw the spring game on Saturday, you may have noticed that Ndamukong Suh was an intimidating presence on the interior of the d-line. From what I've been reading, this guy has top-10 level ability if he keeps developing at his current pace. While I am nervous about replacing some other guys on our defensive front, I am not worried about the inside at all. Suh, who is working on developing a nasty streak this spring, will play a key role in whether or not there is a drop-off from last year on the d-line.

3) I, along with pretty much everyone else who follows college football, think that the Ohio State Buckeyes are in in for a long and hard season after last year's success. In the battle to replace Heisman runner-up Troy Smith, the unhearalded trio of Todd Boeckman, Antonio Henton, and Rob Schoenhoft combined for a sub-50% completion rate and four interceptions. It should be noted that the Buckeye's spring game allowed the QBs to actually get hit, whereas almost everywhere else in the country they are strictly hands-off. Still, this performance can't bode well for the defending Big 10 champions. They lost a lot of talent to the NFL draft and graduation. It's a good thing they play in a conference with only two other good teams (Wisconsin, Michigan).

4) Over at USC, they once again are having the good-to-have problem of having way too much talent. All-everything backup QB Mark Sanchez played well in an intrasquad scrimmage, which is important to note because he went against the #1 defense, a unit which, according to the USC media guide, is comprised entirely of guys that should be All-Americans. There are some saying that Sanchez could take the job away from Heisman favorite John David Booty by the time fall camp rolls around. My hope? That the two have a bitter falling-out, forcing other team members to pick sides, causing morale to sink and leading to a loss at Nebraska. Wishful thinking? Of course. But a guy can dream. When an entire team is made up of former Parade All-Americans, it's tough to be optimistic. The good news is that thanks to my ticket-broker uncle, I may be getting tickets to the NU-USC game for free. Words can't even begin to describe my excitement.

5) I usually would never comment on or link to an article on Miami football, but I thought Ivan Maisel had an interesting article about new head coach Randy Shannon over on ESPN. After descending into a lax state of discipline under former head man Larry Coker (whose early success I always thought was the result of the spectacular talent assembled by Butch Davis), it appears Shannon is intent on implementing a new attitude at "The U". Among his new rules: if a player has a GPA below 2.5, he has to live on campus. If Shannon ever gets a phone call after midnight about a player, that athlete will not play the next game. And hats will not be worn inside the football facilities (a rule I love, considering we had this same rule at Bethel under d-coordinator Jimmy Miller). I am about as anti-Miami as one can get, but I'm glad to see someone instilling some discipline in Coral Gables. After the brawl with FIU last year, it became apparent that losing games was the least of Miami's problems. Here's to hoping that Shannon can repair the program's image......well, repair it as much as he can anyway. Miami will always be Miami.

Just a little side note: beginning in May, I will be undertaking an extremely ambitious beer pong table construction project. I realize that I'm graduating, which means that maybe I should leave the game in my college era. But in my opinion, for fall Saturdays, nothing gets you the football mindset more than some pre-gaming competititon. You can take the kid out of the college, but you'll never take the college out of the kid. Anyways, it's going to be an exact replica of the Memorial Stadium's field, brought down to a 4' by 8' size. I will be putting a picture up upon completion.

Husker-Glorifying Quote of the Week

"I'm always proud when someone says to me, 'Where did you play?', and I can say, 'I played at Nebraska.' That makes me very proud."----Barry Alvarez

Some small thoughts on a big weekend

Well, the weekend is finally upon us. It has been 103 days since the Cotton Bowl, and that's a hundred days where I've been really bored and in need of some college football. Obviously this doesnt carry the significance of a fall Saturday. Nothing is at stake in this exhibition in terms of standings or championships. But what this game does offer is a glimpse of what awaits us come August and September. Position battles have gone back and forth the past couple of weeks, and the performance in this game, while not determining the final depth chart, will go a long ways in seeing the strides made thus far during the offseason. So let's enjoy the last bit of Husker football we'll see for 5 months, and take solace in knowing that no matter what happens tommorow, Nebraska will win.

A few things about this weekend:

The coaching staff has made the smart move (but one that was a no-brainer) in making this game a recruiting event. While other schools, including football factories like Auburn and OU, bring in roughly 15,000 fans, Nebraska expects to draw 55,000-plus at their spring event (although I expect us to be north of the 70,000 mark). This offers a sneak peak to high school juniors a taste of what football means to the state of Nebraska and it's fans. This weekend, roughly 80 recruits are expected in Lincoln to take in the Red-White game, meaning the opportunity to make an indelible impression must be taken advantage of. And as the article points out, not only is the atmosphere a great way to build enthusiasm with recruits, the coaching staff is able to spend a lot more time with them than they would on a game day in the fall. Nebraska, who doesn't have the glitz and media attention provided to the Southern Cals and Miamis, has to capitalize on events like this when it comes to recruiting. Luckly, it's looking like its going to be a gorgeous spring day, with highs in the mid-50s and sunny.

This is a great opportunity for the Huskers, who have already been making a lot of noise on the recruiting trail this spring for the class of 2008. Among those attending the game this Saturday is stud QB prospect out of Missouri who stands 6'5", weighs 230 pounds, and runs his 40 in the 4.6 to 4.7 range. Now, ever since the Harrison Beck debacle, I've been slow to get excited about stud prep players, particularly quarterbacks. It's hard to stay that reserved when reading about this Gabbert kid though. It's looking like he may be this year's Jimmy Clausen, only he's not a douchebag like that kid is. Right now we are ranked among his four favorite schools, the other three being Alabama, Iowa, and Mizzou. He is actually headed to the latter's spring game next Saturday, where presumably Chase Daniel will be tutoring him on the finer points of picking his nose.

In an article by Sipple in the LJS, our defensive mastermind Cos is looking for big plays this Saturday from his defense. As everyone knows, these spring tilts are geared towards offensive fireworks. Last year, Taylor passed for 300+ yards in the first half alone. At the time, it seemed like offensive wizardry. In retrospect, it might have been a harbinger of things to come from our less-than-stellar secondary. I'm still not sold on Cosgrove's ability as a defensive coordinator. When he was at Wisconsin, their defensive units were never that strong, and it might not have been a coincidence that when he left their defensive play greatly improved. I think that his schemes are solid, but I think he (and perhaps our entire staff, judging by our horrible 3rd quarters last year) really struggles at in-game adjustments to opposing offenses. If he is stressing big plays this year, good for him. Obviously everyone wants big plays, but what I'm getting at specifically is turnovers. Last year, Nebraska was even in the turnover ratio, and while that may not be horrible, I've always thought winning the turnover battle was one of the three most important keys to winning games (the others being time of possession and having a larger score than your opponent at the end of the game). Obviously the last one was in jest, but I firmly believe in the first two, and I'm hoping that Cos is going to encourage his players to be more aggressive in looking for the strip-scoop-and-scores that we have been lacking the past few years. This, in addition to a more ball-hawkish secondary (I hope), will go a long way in winning more games, particularlly ones like USC and UT.

Thought Jeff Adams pointed out an interesting thing over on the Fanhouse: six teams in the Big 12 are currently looking at some form of QB competition. Even though a few of those have clear-cut leaders (Reid at OSU, Hawkins at sCUm), the fact that half of the teams in the conference are in some way auditioning multiple signal callers behind center means that either coaches really don't trust incumbent QBs or they want to give the illusion that there is always a competition for the job. In the case of KU, where the returning starter (Kerry Meier) had 13/10 touchdown to INT ratio, it might not be a bad idea not see what your other options are. The one I really dont understand is the one at Oklahoma State. I dont know why Gundy insists on getting Zac Robinson snaps at QB, Reid is by far the better athlete and passer. Why put the backup in for 10 plays a game just to mix things up? I've never believed in a multiple quarterback system, ever since Spurrier rotated Rex Grossman and Jessie Palmer (better known as the Bachelor) EVERY OTHER PLAY back at Florida. It's always been my belief that the other 10 guys in the huddle like to see the same face leading them every time they go out there, the thought being that continuity builds success.

Good news for me: a buddy of mine has a DVR, meaning that he is going to record the spring game for me. I would watch it at 8, but I'm a 23 year old college kid who has other things to do at that time of day. Thanks again to the NFL network for putting it on tape delay, assholes. Anyways, now that I know I'll be able to watch the game, I plan on doing a running diary (a'la Bill Simmons) and posting it on here. I know, all ten of you who read this are pretty excited. I've been trying to figure out what my schedule of posting is going to be. Right now I kind of wing it, but I'm thinking that I'm going to try to set up some kind of set format for each week. Have the Monday Morning QB on Mondays, Hot Routes on Tuesdays, some links and a look around the Big 12 on Wednesday or Thursday, and then a more "serious" piece on Fridays (this will usually be more in the format of an article, unlike my usual ramblings)......

My prediction for this weekend: Nebraska wins big. I'm hoping that the secondary steps up and shocks us with some shut-down play, even if the 1's arent going against each other.

Just a few quick thoughts......

I for one am thrilled that the spring game is going to be carried by the NFL Network. I realize that a lot of people don't have the channel, but this makes that extra couple bucks I spend on the cable bill worth it. What really pisses me off though is that they are taping it and then showing it at 8:00 on Saturday night. Really? 8:00? Why the hell can't they show it live? Do they have NFL Follies on? A replay of a NFC divisional playoff game? I dont know whether to be more angry or dumbfounded. Don't they realize that some people might have things to do at 8 on a Saturday night? Right now I'm in the process of finding someone with a DVR so I can watch the entire game and keep a running diary of the events to put on here. I'll keep you posted on those developments.

What makes me even more incensed is that the resident assholes over at ESPN put on Oklahoma's game, live and in primetime last Saturday. What storylines do they have? Finding someone to replace Adrian Peterson and a QB battle? Why is that game so enticing and worthy of coverage but the Huskers' isnt? We have a high-profile transfer locked in a battle for the starting QB job, a battle that nobody expected to develop (even if it might just be smoke and mirrors from Callahan). We have a defense that is trying to replace the entire starting D-line, the members of which will all get drafted in a few short weeks. What I'm getting at is that it is beyond me why the NU game isn't televised on a broader scope. You know what ESPN is showing at noon on Saturday? Women's billiards. On ESPN2? Something called the Family Circle Cup. I don't even know what the hell that is!

Look, I'm not the head of ESPN programming. There might be a lot of factors that go into who gets to cover which spring games depending on time frames and previous contracts to pro billiards leagues and all kinds of other extenuating circumstances. All I know is that for once, I'd really like to be able to watch my favorite team in action without some kind of hassle.

In other news, the Husker's most recent spring practice was visited by the offensive staff of our Cotton Bowl counterparts, the Auburn Tigers. I'd have more to say but the details are pretty limited at this point, although I do know that our defensive staff went down there during there during their spring practices. Staffs visiting other schools is a pretty common thing this time of year. Just a couple of weeks ago, Dan Hawkins and his son, Buffs QB Cody, went down to Florida to meet with Urban Meyer and the Gators coaching crew. Coming off an abysmal 2-10 season, topics that were most likely discussed were things like: How not to suck. Yea, thats about it.

Also, in a little spring game news, according to Rivals.com (I can't link it because it's for subscribers to their site), Callahan will not be calling plays. That will be handled by Watson and Gilmore, with Callahan observing from the booth as well as taking part in NFL Network's aforementioned telecast. Should be interesting.

Quick hits:

-Keller and Ganz will be on the Red team while Witt and Davis suit up with the White side.

-Asante and Green will be on the Red squad, while Thenarse and Eisenhart will be on the white. I am genuinely excited to see how the secondary plays, even if it is just a spring game.

If you want to see some vintage Husker footage, head over to Double Extra Point for some great stuff featuring Turner Gill, Irving Fryar, and Mike Rozier. Fun stuff.