Nebraska like last years alabama's team?

Rep The 402

Rep The 402

Special Teams Player
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football;_ylt=AvPScZKizmgHY9sD8.LnoOM5nYcB

Let's play "Name That Team."
This team was coming off a season with a double-digit victory total, but had gone more than a decade without winning a national championship. It most recently had faced Miami with the national title on the line.

Coming off a conference runner-up finish, it had questions at quarterback but was deep at running back. Its offensive line was rebuilding and had a junior college transfer at tackle. It also had a powerful defense featuring a defensive tackle and a cornerback with All-America capabilities. It had a dangerous punt returner and an extremely accurate kicker.

Furthermore, its coach was involved with a national championship team at LSU.

Obviously, last season's Alabama team fit that description.

This season's Nebraska team does, too.

Alabama coach Nick Saban was the head man at LSU when the Tigers won the 2003 title; Nebraska's Bo Pelini was LSU's defensive coordinator when the Tigers won the '07 national championship game.

Last season, Alabama was coming off a 12-2 finish in '08, when it lost to Florida in the SEC championship game. Nebraska went 10-3 last season, when it lost to Texas in the Big 12 title game.

Alabama hadn't won a national championship since defeating Miami in 1992. Nebraska hasn't won a national title since 1997, but it did face Miami for the crown in 2001.

Alabama's 2009 offense faced questions because of a rebuilt offensive line that had juco transfer James Carpenter at tackle and uncertainty with Greg McElroy at quarterback. But the Tide's running game was solid with running backs Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson. An outstanding defense featured tackle Terrence Cody and cornerback Javier Arenas, who also was a dynamic punt returner. Kicker Leigh Tiffin was amazingly accurate.

Nebraska has uncertainty at quarterback, but juco transfer Jermarcus Hardrick is at tackle to boost the line. The Huskers also have a strong pair of running backs in Roy Helu and Rex Burkhead. The defense, which led the nation in scoring defense last season, features a star tackle (Jared Crick) and a stud cornerback (Prince Amukamara). Niles Paul is a dynamic punt returner. Kicker Alex Henery converted 85.7 percent of his field goal attempts in '09. (Tiffin had the same percentage.)

Could Nebraska duplicate Alabama's feat and win the national championship this season? That's a question to ponder in this week's mailbag.

Got a question? Click here to send it to Olin's Mailbag

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Huskers' year?

Nebraska is coming off a dominating win over Arizona in the Holiday Bowl. With enough pieces in place on defense for the coaches to say that the defense could be better than the 2009 unit and with 10 returning starters on offense, is this the year Nebraska returns to the national title game?

Bryan in Kearney, Neb.

There are a lot of reasons to be optimistic about the Huskers, who should open the season in the top 10. It would come as no surprise if the Huskers win the Big 12 this season.

But ?

I have to admit some skepticism about Pelini's claim that this season's defense will be significantly better than the '09 unit. Last season, Nebraska led the nation in points allowed (10.43). How much better can the defense be without tackle Ndamukong Suh, the second player selected in the NFL draft? Suh was the single most dominant player I saw last season. I'm betting some other players on that defense performed better because they were playing alongside Suh.

Pelini knows his team better than anyone else, so maybe the defense indeed will be better. We'll see.

That defense will ensure that Nebraska will be very top-10 worthy. But the offense must make significant improvement before the Huskers can be serious national championship contenders. Remember, Nebraska was held to fewer than 20 points in six games last season; three of those were losses.

Zac Lee struggled last season and will have to fight for his job.

Nebraska's passing attack was among the worst in the nation (101st, at 175.7 yards per game). And while it's true that quarterback Zac Lee was playing hurt, there is no guarantee that he'll be substantially improved this season. Indeed, he may not even be the starting quarterback.

Sophomore Cody Green may be ready to step in, and redshirt freshman Taylor Martinez made a nice impression during spring drills. But I've seen too many players who were great in the spring fade in the fall. There remains much to prove for both.

Offensive line play also needs to be improved, though the general feeling is Hardrick can be for Nebraska what was Phil Loadholt was to Oklahoma two years ago -- a massive tackle with NFL ability.

Still, questions about quarterback and the passing game are legitimate reasons to doubt the Huskers.

Of course, last season, they were legitimate reasons to doubt Alabama, too.
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Difference: Nebraska stomped Arizona in their bowl game...Alabama just got stomped by Utah. Where can I buy tickets to the Nat'l Title game?

 
Rep The 402 said:
Well this is a complete dud thread. haha.
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Meh, it happens.

Much of our posting comes from the regular season, and much of that comes from analyzing games or talking to opposing fans. Right now, we have no game to analyze and no other fans to talk with. Other than expansion talk, most people aren't frequenting the board as much, myself included.

 
That, and the connection this writer is making between Nebraska and Alabama is pretty much unbelievable.

 
Yeah, I really don't think much when someone takes a few commonalities, some of them just coincidences, glosses over or ignores the differences and draws some kind of conclusion how one will follow the path of the other.

 
Enhance89 said:
Rep The 402 said:
Well this is a complete dud thread. haha.
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Meh, it happens.

Much of our posting comes from the regular season, and much of that comes from analyzing games or talking to opposing fans. Right now, we have no game to analyze and no other fans to talk with. Other than expansion talk, most people aren't frequenting the board as much, myself included.
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I read the tigerboard sometimes and I felt bad for you because you had to argue with a 12 year old, limenats (or at least he acted like it). From the persons point of view of reading that topic, you made him look really dumb.

 
Comparisons like this are cute, and this one is especially interesting, but some of those are pure fluff. "having a junior college offensive tackle" for example.

 
FWIW, I convinced myself by November of last year, if we had an offense like 'bama with downhill running and alittle playaction, we would of won every single game last year. Including the Big 12 and NC game.

 
zoogies said:
Comparisons like this are cute, and this one is especially interesting, but some of those are pure fluff. "having a junior college offensive tackle" for example.
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yes,

we still have to beat Washington on the road. UT at home, T & A n M on the road and probably UT/OU in the Big 12 C G and they play the winner of the SEC and beat them. Other than that, we are just like Bama last year. Bama peaked at the right time, when they played Florida in the SEC Championship.

Having to not face Colt McCoy didn't hurt either. Colt puts up a lot more than 22 against Bama.

 
huskerscott said:
FWIW, I convinced myself by November of last year, if we had an offense like 'bama with downhill running and alittle playaction, we would of won every single game last year. Including the Big 12 and NC game.
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You really don't need to convince yourself. Bama did it, and Nebraska's D was much better.

 
I like all of the analogies. It's a refreshing take. Kinda like the Lincoln-Kennedy thingy. You know bookstore/theater.... Just fun, cool little read. Thanks

 
Everything in that article is spot on aside from the LSU and Miami references. Just the fact that Nebraska could seemingly come out of nowhere and be on top again -- Alabama was in the same boat. They went through several "Callahans" before they got Nick Saban.

zoogies said:
Comparisons like this are cute, and this one is especially interesting, but some of those are pure fluff. "having a junior college offensive tackle" for example.
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I don't think it's fluff at all. Usually it's ambitious teams that get JUCO players to replace weakness on the team immediately. They're usually some of the best players in the country.

 
UGAHusker said:
Difference: Nebraska stomped Arizona in their bowl game...Alabama just got stomped by Utah. Where can I buy tickets to the Nat'l Title game?
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Indeed, our Crimson Tide took a licking from the Utes. In just a few minutes, we were down 0-21. I witnessed the horror live as it unfolded on the floor of the Superdome below my end-zone seat.

 

You can bet Coach Pelini will use last year's disappointing loss to Texas a motivation for this year's team. Coach Saban used the Sugar Bowl and SEC championship losses to motivate our team last season. Results were outstanding! Good luck Cornhuskers! Perhaps, we'll meet again in a bowl, soon. It couldn't be better, than for all the marbles.

 
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