The Big Red Husker

We did quite well against MSU and we were able to win on the road against PSU.....BUT We will have to complete some passes against these guys, we just can't make a living off of playing into their strength. NU does have a few who might present them with difficult matchups and Martinez has improved as a passer IMO, so if we are able to pass for 150+ yards that would certainly help our cause...

One of the biggest Jerks in CFB Bar-none...and literally as well!!

If Ben Cotton is not 100% we are in BIG trouble as we will need his blocking....their DL is extremely athletic and our OL is not very nimble. We might get push but we won't be able to run wide at ALL IMO....again our best bet is for a low scoring game..

Pelini is waaaay to stubborn to change his defense because of one player. However I do expect Dennard to be manned up On Alshon with VERY limited safety help...he looks like a Blackmon twin...Big and Physical but not a burner...In other words a stud but Dennard is probably the best physical corner in the country so that might be a push. HOWEVER.....Your QB will have a field day against us running the ball or keeping our LB's in limbo though...We played 3 athletic QBs this year and lost all three games....Because of this I have to give you the advantage. Our defense this year, especially the DL, has been a big disappointment. We lost our AA DT (Crick), and the others...well their stats speak for themselves. BTW Ace Sanders was Brion Carnes favorite target in HS....If you want to see our backup QB watch Ace's highlight videos from HS, as you won't see any from Carnes this season LOL, he rides the bench whether we are up 30 or down 30 . The one area we might be able to exploit some is running right at you, but I don't see any big plays from us, and I see a Low scoring game our best chance of success.

Ace Sanders....was Brion Carnes favorite target in High school...our backup QB that rarely plays....It looks like he is going to be a great one for you guys too bad we could not get the package deal on both lol.

Burkehead gets an A+ for effort and attitude. However, I am trying to rank him in the pantheon of all-time Husker seasons. With that in mind, he gets an A-. He had 1,385 yards, but he also had about 1,385 carries. If Lawrence Phillips or Ahman Green had as many carries, they would have run for 2,400 yards. Behind our line with that many carries...no way Ahman holds up as well as Rex did....LP would have had a hard time running behind our line this year as well.... The key with Rex was he hit the hole and drove the pile consistently North and South. Without him we are probably sub .500 team this season. I would like to see some position changes for next year. Williams is almost big enough for DT and with his movement that would suit us better anyway. I also would like to see PJ Smith get a look at Peso. I think we will be ok next year on Defense, this season we replaced 3 in the secondary and the 4th was out for the first 4 games. Then we lost 3 of the top 6 DT......and our LB core was thin....spells disaster eh. Secondary: Next season we replace Cassidy and Dennard....Dennard will be sorely missed but we played 4 games without him and that will pay dividends from an experience aspect. Cassidy was a steady player who when in position made plays but I think we can upgrade that spot with athleticism with several different options. We have a lot of young talent here that we have not seen yet, this is an area we have recruited well in the last two years. Cooper, Jackson, Smith, Osborne, Mitchell, to name a few who will have expanded roles. Green really stepped up his game and Evans has a lot of experience now also, and don't forget Jackson who might enroll in January..... LB: Losing David will hurt A LOT, however we return everyone else, so as a group this might offset the loss of David some. Compton really came on late, and will be perfectly suited in the B1G Ten, if any of the new guys can come in and step up, along with Whaley, who I think was ready this season from a physical aspect, we might be ok here. Santos and Zaire both could start from day 1, as I believe Fisher is done seeing the field at NU. Also the TF (Rose) from Kansas City has a shot at playing time if he can learn the defense, he is physically a beast and runs very well. DL: This is the one area that disappointed me the most in 2011, to get almost no production from either DE spot all year was a complete failure. I have said this two years in a row now, we have put too much weight on these guys and now they have lost their quickness and mobility, as they add strength in the offseason hopefully some of this will be regained. Martin is the only legitmate threat to track down a semi mobile QB, the rest are just a nuisance that can be easily side stepped or outrun by 65% of the QB's in our league. Crick was not healthy from day 1, go back and rewatch the Fresno State game and watch how he holds up, his loss won't be felt other than in a leadership role. His loss was definitely felt in 2011, but he contributed very little this season at less than 100%. We need a healthy Randle and a muscled up Jay Guy in 2012, to go along with Rome and Stein, and if Peat is as good as they say we might be much better here than we ever were in 2011. A few JC guys would be welcomed to immediately help and bolster a relatively thin senior class as well. Question: Why is our senior class so thin? Did we not go after the right players or not enough of the right players? Bo's first two classes did not pan out as well as his last two....I think the perception of NU was down a little bit and he had his work cut out for him, and honestly we didn't recruit as well as we had been under Callahan. The last two years have been much better, and now this year we are shooting for top talent..... BUT we have to get some of these guys signed soon.

Burkehead gets an A+ for effort and attitude. However, I am trying to rank him in the pantheon of all-time Husker seasons. With that in mind, he gets an A-. He had 1,385 yards, but he also had about 1,385 carries. If Lawrence Phillips or Ahman Green had as many carries, they would have run for 2,400 yards. Behind our line with that many carries...no way Ahman holds up as well as Rex did....LP would have had a hard time running behind our line this year as well.... The key with Rex was he hit the hole and drove the pile consistently North and South. Without him we are probably sub .500 team this season. I would like to see some position changes for next year. Williams is almost big enough for DT and with his movement that would suit us better anyway. I also would like to see PJ Smith get a look at Peso. I think we will be ok next year on Defense, this season we replaced 3 in the secondary and the 4th was out for the first 4 games. Then we lost 3 of the top 6 DT......and our LB core was thin....spells disaster eh. Secondary: Next season we replace Cassidy and Dennard....Dennard will be sorely missed but we played 4 games without him and that will pay dividends from an experience aspect. Cassidy was a steady player who when in position made plays but I think we can upgrade that spot with athleticism with several different options. We have a lot of young talent here that we have not seen yet, this is an area we have recruited well in the last two years. Cooper, Jackson, Smith, Osborne, Mitchell, to name a few who will have expanded roles. Green really stepped up his game and Evans has a lot of experience now also, and don't forget Jackson who might enroll in January..... LB: Losing David will hurt A LOT, however we return everyone else, so as a group this might offset the loss of David some. Compton really came on late, and will be perfectly suited in the B1G Ten, if any of the new guys can come in and step up, along with Whaley, who I think was ready this season from a physical aspect, we might be ok here. Santos and Zaire both could start from day 1, as I believe Fisher is done seeing the field at NU. Also the TF (Rose) from Kansas City has a shot at playing time if he can learn the defense, he is physically a beast and runs very well. DL: This is the one area that disappointed me the most in 2011, to get almost no production from either DE spot all year was a complete failure. I have said this two years in a row now, we have put too much weight on these guys and now they have lost their quickness and mobility, as they add strength in the offseason hopefully some of this will be regained. Martin is the only legitmate threat to track down a semi mobile QB, the rest are just a nuisance that can be easily side stepped or outrun by 65% of the QB's in our league. Crick was not healthy from day 1, go back and rewatch the Fresno State game and watch how he holds up, his loss won't be felt other than in a leadership role. His loss was definitely felt in 2011, but he contributed very little this season at less than 100%. We need a healthy Randle and a muscled up Jay Guy in 2012, to go along with Rome and Stein, and if Peat is as good as they say we might be much better here than we ever were in 2011. A few JC guys would be welcomed to immediately help and bolster a relatively thin senior class as well.

On defense if you look at all the injuries to key guys... Dennard out for the first several games....Crick hurt in preseason, no one knows what that injury was...then torn pectoral, Rome gets hurt, Randle gets hurt, Osborne and Smith rarely play?...Fisher was an absolute BUST....Then today against a team that Martin would have been a huge help/force he is out. I think Bo meant the team had to overcome a lot of these things, and the injuries played a big role in the season, and it was a grind. I think he was very disappointed in the overall play in several games, and only now are we seeing what the team was capable of. If we can get Martin back for the bowl game we should have a pretty decent defense on display, hopefully it won't be against an athletic QB

The most disturbing aspect in this thread for me is that Cody, I can't hit the broad side of the barn, Green would be texting players to leave NU. As one of the most overrated QB's to ever grace a football field, and a guy who was touted and always praised as a team player, this would really leave a bad taste in my mouth. Cody Green will never be a quality QB at the FBS level, and watching him fail will only reinforce transferring is rarely a good move for a college athlete, very few have success....Russel Wilson is one of the exceptions, and mostly because he is an elite athlete which Cody was not, he had size but not much else.

Another player who had the best game of his Husker career was Jason Ankra....was able to get off his man and make some plays at or near the LOS, encouraging considering the lack of production at the position.

Has arrived folks....in the first series he just blew up their pulling guard sending him off his feet and two yards back with both feet in the air...the play ended up being a big gain for Iowa but it set the tone, then later on in that series he just ran over Coker on a run blitz knocking him on his rear ....again setting the tone for the day. If Whaley can also elevate his game we might have a very nice LB crew next year with the addition of Zaire, Santos, etc. Go Big Red!!

I think I am as guilty as anyone being hard on the team after a loss, but I still trust in Bo. I think some NU fans say Fire Bo, but even they are not 100% confident that this is the right course of action. However as NU fans will tell you there were some who wanted to fire TO, and BD as well, this isn't something entirely new. We are hungry for the days of old, but we have the opportunity to win 10 games for the third straight season, something only 7 other teams have a shot at after this season. It could be a lot worse. I am not sure our "fans" are better than every other teams "fans" ....we do hold the sellout streak and we do treat opposing fans very well, which we still do. I think you have most of NU's fans respect as a quality program, and I think in due time this will be a rivalry game with mutual respect. I don't know if what you say is true about our fans or not, but I think after you get feedback from your fanbase, you will get some of that respect back win or lose.

It is amazing that a team that lost to Iowa State and Minnesota in the same season has as much confidence as they do, but they did beat Michigan....we'll see Tomorrow I guess. I predict if we play our A game we win by 14, if we play our B game 7 point win...C game and it's a toss up!! Michigan type game and we lose BIG.

So which is it? They are better against the run or the weakness is the depth along the front 7? Depth along their front 7

The thing you have to remember is the rest of the teams are not as strong as those 4 so that Leaves Iowa and Wisconsin as teams of substance the rest could not accomplish that in 100 tries, but having said that we had a tough road, and we looked pretty pathetic at times, but we also won 8 games....weird season.... I will say and I considered making a thread on this but watch Mike Martin ...only focusing on him when we had the ball, he absolutely changed that game by himself, Choi did not have the quickness to stay in front of him and Caputo just got manhandled against him, and Long was tossed aside as well.... On one play he lined up at MLB and he blitzed and Burkhead had the task of slowing him down... well Rex lost that battle pretty quickly of course.....another DL beast in the B1G 10!! ....but he was a factor in 80% of the plays and he wreaked havoc on Martinez, hitting him again and again. On good plays it was no coincidence he was often on the sidelines getting a breather.....he killed us, the other 3 lineman were really not that impressive. This is what has been missing from our defense....difference maker on the DL.

Excuse me?!?!? You realize NU's top corner is better than their top two by himself. Zo and Green right now>>>than Prater and whom ever the other asshat is. HMMMM you mean the other a$$ hat who won the bowl game for Iowa last year on a 65 yard pick six late in the 4th quarter? The guy who led the B1G Ten in Int for a time? Yea he is better than our number two corner....which is not saying a whole lot really as our corners opposite Dennard have struggled, and Yes of the 4.... Dennard is #1, Prater is easily #2, and Hyde is easily #3....yea there really are better players on teams other than NU, and Iowa has a few, Daniels would also start for NU IMO. What I mean by your bolded part of my statement is in tandem their top 2 is better than our top two....if I am a QB I would prefer to throw against a team that had #17 out there vs #18 from Iowa...is my point. It takes two quality CB's to be dominant against the pass....we have had that when we were a truly good defense 2010 1994 1995 1999 etc...that has not been the case in 2011. Bernstein was a player we wanted out of Lincoln High school in DSM, we actually wanted him as a RB or CB(4 star recruit I believe), but he is a very athletic safety (compared to #8 especially), but he has been hurt, although he is healthy now. Again I know their team pretty well, this is not coming out of my A$$...but it is only my opinion...finally relax we will most likely win if we contain Coker but their weakness is NOT their secondary..if anything it is their depth along the front 7, they have wore down, and they have sustained losses, like we have along their DL.

The only game I ever walked away from and I watched the 70-10 all the way to the end was the OSU game where they had us 35-0 in the first half....at that point I knew that era of football was over whether I hoped for it or not...

Are you kidding with this? They have the worst secondary in the Big 10, we are only allowing opposing QBs to complete 53% of their passes. They rank right below us in pass defense yes, but they are better against the run so teams have had to throw against them, whereas against us when you can get 5 yards a pop throwing is not as important....their top 2 CB are better than our top 2IMO...and their safety's are more athletic by far than our two starters combined...so NO I am not kidding...I live in Iowa and I know their team pretty well, even saw a few games in person. Trust me their issues are not their secondary.

Also to think Travis Lewis was considering NU too...man that would have been a tandem indeed!

I think David has earned the award, but there is stiff competition. The amazing part of the Butkus award is the guys who have won it, most have excelled at the next level, which is not always the case with some of these position awards. He needs a quality final game before the award imo, as many voters/fans etc. will be watching the game..... even though for all intents and purposes this game does not mean much in the college football landscape this season.

We have absolutely owned Iowa over the years, and if we win, we beat an average footbal team with an overpaid coach and a program that has done nothing of importance ever IMO, other then lose a bunch of Rose bowls in humiliating fashion. Having said that I hope we beat Iowa, they are kind of like your little brother, and I hope we bring at least our C game this Saturday, that should be enough to win a close one which is what I expect. As the week goes on I am getting more and more confident, the more I read about the two teams.

Stopping Coker will obviously be our first priority...Iowa has the 11th best running team in the conference, and their QB is definitely not a big threat to run the ball. If we can't stop Coker it will indeed be a long day, but with only one guy to focus on, that sure simplifies things for our defense. Davis is solid, and he definitely benefits having a guy as talented as Mcnutt on the field at the same time, altho I am not sure he is a Sunday player, but he will get a lot of opportunities on Friday, hopefully we can slow him down. I am just glad Mcnutt is not your QB, if he was I would have little to no confidence. Despite all that has been said this game is really a step down from importance than this fan thought it was going to be, and if we drop another home game against a team that has 1 win on the road in the last 1+ year in the conference.....well we better find a way to win, and I think we will.

Mike Daniels is a pretty good DT for Iowa, if he played for us he would probably be starting right now, other than him their DL is not too intimidating, Binns is a decent DE but nothing spectacular. Their LB's are not as athletic as some but they are pretty decent at the point of attack, I think we can expect to see more yards on the ground vs Iowa than we have in the last two games on the ground. Thier secondary is led by a guy that should be our second lock down cb, but Callahan deemed him to be too short(Prater)but he is very good. Hyde is not quite as physical, but he has the ability to make plays as well, if they have an edge over us it might be here, as their safety play is also better than ours imo. We need to run the ball a lot, so hopefully we rest Burkhead this week. Martinez needs to do more running, and make his decisions quicker than he has been on when to leave the pocket! This is our last game for over a month so if he takes a pounding he will have some time to rest, this game will set the tone for a rivalry for many years to come, we must play well IMO to win. Huskers win a close one!

For me the most frustrating part of seeing Cassidy out there is that I am confident we have guys who are more physical, better athletes, and who could be learning from game to game, guys with a lot more upside. I appreciate Cassidy's hard work and he probably represents everything that is good about NU football, but he just is not gifted enough to get the results we all want ON THE FIELD. Thorell was also again obviously targeted as well today... The ongoing theme for me is the limited player development of the young guys during game situations, and the doghouse is really a dark cloud around the NU program as well. Forgive them BO.....and Move on!!

DING DING DING...we have a winner....I agree 100% ...I also agree that because of the complexity of the scheme we see guys like Cassidy and Thorell vs our more athletic younger albeit inexperienced guys...watching other great defenses fly to the ball today......well that just does not resemble our defense this year.