NUinID

I like NU's chances in the game. If they can slow down BM just a little and not let him go crazy I think NU can win. OSU's defense is not any better than last year and they don't have a ton of playmakers other than BM. The stadium will be rockin. If NU comes in loose and plays loose it could be a big win.

Really? I think we lost that game because the defense gave up 600+ yards and 36 pts. Did the offensive line play as good in the 4th quarter no, but the defense played horrible in that game and it was mostly due to scheme. I don't know how anyone can lay that loss on anyone but the defense.

It's very true, and that's sad. I think some fans are way to critical, all the time. Like they can't enjoy winning. We really did get spoiled for about 40+ years. Being the so called most knowledgeable fans means that we may be the most critical fans also

My feelings exactly

Didn't you see this I put next to it?

Yes, they would have more responsibility. Most also don't remember that back in the 90's Nebraska played 11 robber or man free in the secondary almost exclusively. Teams wern't playing the spread with 4 wides and a rb with 2 yard splits. on the O-line. NU would man up at the corners and the free safely sorta roam around. The strong safety played a lot more run support. Most the time NU had 8 in the box, becuase they could. Spurriers Fun and Gun threw the ball a lot but it was mostly out of traditional sets. Not as much trips open a lot more pro and miami sets.

Don't worry, you have thousands right there with you. Anyone that pays attention to reality and doesn't have concerns in every single aspect of Husker football as it sits, I would question their sincerity moreso You guys are so funny. Do you even enjoy watching Nebraska play football or are you so worried about living in the real world and fretting about every single aspect of the football team? If to you reality is fretting about whether people are crazy for thinking that NU may or may not have 3 tougher games than UCLA left, I don't do want to live in your reality. Watching your favorite team is suppose to be fun, isn't it? It's supposed to be fun yes, watching Suh was fun, watching Zac Taylor was fun, if they don't kill Burkhead he could end up being fun...... Wow so basically you havn't had fun watching Nebraska since 2009. I can't believe you think Zac Taylor was fun. Nebraska lost just as much with him at qb as now. I just don't understand it. I guess it makes you and others feel better if NU loses and you can say "See I told you they would". I don't like to see Nebraska lose any more than the next guy, but I never go into a game thinking they have no chance of winning. So many of you guys are so worried about NU being what ever you think is an elite team, but you don't seem to understand that it is really cyclical anymore. Lets look at the elite teams from say 1995. Nebraska, Florida, Tennessee, FSU, probably KSU, Michigan, Penn St? Where is Alabama, LSU, Oregon, USC, Oklahoma? None of these teams were elite in 1995, they are now, but they will come back to the pack and someone else will take there place. I'm just going to enjoy watching my Huskers. It's still a big deal that UCLA beat NU. When it is not a big deal that is when you can really worry.

Don't worry, you have thousands right there with you. Anyone that pays attention to reality and doesn't have concerns in every single aspect of Husker football as it sits, I would question their sincerity moreso You guys are so funny. Do you even enjoy watching Nebraska play football or are you so worried about living in the real world and fretting about every single aspect of the football team? If to you reality is fretting about whether people are crazy for thinking that NU may or may not have 3 tougher games than UCLA left, I don't do want to live in your reality. Watching your favorite team is suppose to be fun, isn't it?

You do understand there is a HUGE difference between the football world back then and now don't you? No, I sure don't. I also don't understand sarcasm or hyperbole. We really did play our towel boys back then, didn't we?? Maybe a few more question marks would help... ??????? I think he is talking about how teams are much closer or the parity in the game today. Back in the 70's and 80's playing KU, ISU, KSU et al was literally like playing Florida Atlantic for about 5 games of the year. I am not kidding those teams were very bad. It was a lot easier to win big for an elite program like Nebraska.

Actually Phil Steele is one of the most accurate of the football prognosticators. I say why not. No one looks unbeatable and I will include NU in that mix. IMO at this point I think NU has the most balanced offenses in the league. I think the defense will get better and be good. Probably not great but good. BP just needs to let them play and not give them too much to think about. Look at Mechicken if Robinson plays lights out like he can they will be hard to beat, but he really doesn't do that all that often. Braxton Miller is a phenominal athlete, but he still isn't a great passer. MSU worries me less after watching the ND game. Northwestern I don't think NU will take them lightly this year. It just won't happen. Why can't they go 8-0. They have just as good a chance as every other team.

You obviously haven't been reading all the other posts about how bad the defense sucks this year. I tend to agree. A couple of things. UCLA was not too bad. They will win 9 at least this year. The tackling in that game was terrible, and the scheme was terrible. Pelini gets too cute and complicated sometimes and that is what he did against UCLA. NU will have a decent defense by years end. It may not be as good as most want but I think it will end up being better than last year.

I completely agree. UCLA will win at least 8 games this year. 1. They have talent. Skippy recruited fairly well at UCLA his laidback tree hugger, hippie style of leadership didn't play well. 2. They have a good coach who has brought discipline to the team 3. Look at the Schedule. In all honesty the NU game at least on paper is no less than the 3rd toughest game they have.

If you really want a good coach that gets his team ready to play and works wonders with what he has. Paul Rhoads of ISU is your man. He would be a great hire for any school IMO

It is pretty common knowledge that Stevie P and Frankie S really did not like each other when they were underlings at NU. The fact of the matter is that not too many people did like SP. Anywho Frank basically would have had to win the division to keep his job. Peterson thought he could come into Lincoln and remake the Huskers just like he did with Pitt and he would be the savior of Nebraska FB. If you haven't figured it out by now SP is a major league egomaniac Nebraska wasn't broke though, it just need a really good tune up. Solich was doing this with his new coaches and they were actually having a pretty good year recruiting up to the point when he was let go. IMO FS would not have even stayed that long. I think he would have retired after 5-6 more years and turn the team over to TG. He would have won his 100 games and a couple of conference titles and quit on top.

+1 we played a terrible game and only lost by 6, to a team that far superior talent on both sides of the ball. Do you really think UCLA had superior talent on the offensive side of the ball? I guess I didn't see it. I don't think there's much doubt on the defensive side of the ball. I'd even throw in there that Mora and staff coached that game superior to our staff. I don't but our offense doesn't play there offense. Even defensively I am not sure they have more talent. They exploited Nebraska's scheme on defense and combined with really crappy tackling had a great day. Don't get me wrong UCLA has talent. They found some really good matchups with there RB on our LB's and went with it. The QB is the key that kid was lights out good. Better than Braxton Miller or Dennard Robinson has looked this year. He throws way better than both of them.

I guess the question we should ask is...why? Why did you think we were going to blow out a team that we had zero film on, has had consistent Top-30 recruiting classes, and has a NFL-caliber coach at the helm? The lack of film alone had us going into this game with one-hand tied behind our back, and with relatively new coordinators to boot. All the warning signs were there, and we're nowhere close to being 1994-97 Nebraska, talent-wise; why would you expect a blow-out with all of these negative factors sitting out there? The reason I put the 2500 down!( Actually,lost 2750) Red Shirt freshman QB. I for the first time in a long time am not scared of 2nd and TEN with this team. 3 Freshman O-Lineman for UCLA. Watched part of the Rice game! I pay no attention to recruiting classes. Look at the Miami when they recruited that High school team that won the High school national title. I was sure our Run game would do very well. Turned out to be true in the 1st half. New coaching staff and I always hear about a new system and problems the teams have. Figured we would force a couple of turnovers for field position. Did not expect Abdullah to fumble on the first play of the 2nd half.Originally my bet was for a grand. I got drunk on Friday night and got confident raised it another 1500. I talked to a Insider within the UCLA program ( Not on the Staff) and he thought my bet was Golden. I lost and that is it. I actually was liking the play calling in the 2nd half. The reason why was I needed that spread covered. Plus I was drinking. In reality Beck called a terrible 2nd half. Now, My question is this? Why do People pay all that money to fly out to California to sit and watch a 3 hour football game. How much did they spend over that weekend! Plus NFL coaches have not had a great track record in the college ranks. This team was 6-7 last year. They were terrible. I lost and it happens is all. But the positives of this game are is that Nebraska was competitive and fought till the end. I fully expected NU to win, but was a little worried. UCLA has good players Skippy did a pretty good job of recruiting, he just did a lousy job of coaching. Mora has brought a little disipline and lit a fire under their butts and see what can happen. The starting of a redshirt freshman can be bad but if the kid is really talented and confident as this Hunley appears to be I don't think it is a problem. Besides the pressure usually doesn't bother them. A lot of times they don't know any better so they don't let it get to them. Sounds silly, but it is true. Don't be surprised if UCLA only loses a couple of games this year. They play USC and Stanford that will be pretty good. Most of the other Pac 12 opponents are not very good or are in the same boat as they are with new coaches, and I don't think ASU or Arizona has as good a talent as UCLA. NU's biggest issue in that game was that they tackled so poorly. Missed tackles happen, but not that many. Take away 75% of the misses and UCLA has 400 yards of Total offense instead of 600.

Cataclsymic? I don't know if I'd go that far. Actually, it's quite remarkable the 2002 season didn't happen in 98'. When TO retired, he left with a lot of the experienced players. We entered into the 98' season with two freshmen QB's with zero experience whatsoever. Ahman was gone. It's somewhat remarkable we didn't see a lot worse season than we did. The reason we didn't was because OU was still reeling from probation, and Texas hadn't gotten it quite together yet. In 2002, OU had already won a NC and Texas was getting pretty dominant. When Solich was fired and Clownahan was brought in, I'm not sure how anyone thought we were going to have a good season in 2004. You can't just dominate when the offense with players recruited for the option are converted to run a prostyle offense without some major losses. Clownahan also brought in very good talent which is why the 2009 team was incredible on the defensive side of the ball. Bo had some sure misses in recruiting in probably the 2008, 2009, and 2010 classes with regards to both OL and DL. Shawn Callahan even addressed it on Big Red Wrapup last night. He basically said we're going to have to get at least two if not three JuCo DL in this upcoming recruiting class. Cataclysmic to me is more or less programs like what Miami is facing. We've seen several teams go through exactly what we're going through. Look at Michigan for instance. Even though Texas hasn't gone through a coaching change, they've had some somewhat dismal seasons ever since Colt McCoy graduated. Washington is another team that went from greatness to being mediocre. Notre Dame is another one. It happens. Losing to UCLA is not the end game for me in any way. UCLA has athletes. I'm very disturbed giving up the second most yards in half a century, but it is what it is. From the rumblings I'm hearing, it sounds as though this week we will be getting out athletes on the field. Competitiveness is all I ask for. I agree arn't we being a little dramatic. I see losing to UCLA as being as a wake up calll similar to the thrashing by MU in 08. The defense actually came back and didn't play too bad the rest of that year. Things need to be rectified and quickly. Hopefully they get some younger more athletic guys on the field. Hopefully they practice tackling a lot. The tackling is what really killed them in that game. Missed tackles happen, but that was terrible. Get rid of 75% of the missed tackles and UCLA has 200 less yards of offense. I really think you need to give UCLA some credit also. They have talent, Skippy recruited pretty well. Look at there schedule. They could only lose a couple of games this year. We will have to wait and see though, just like we will have to wait and see about NU.

I live in the Boise area. Moved here from Ne a little over a year ago. Had season tickets to the BSU games last year. It was fun and the football was good, but I only made it to 3 games and ended up giving away 2 games and the other one no one went to. I didn't renew becuase of the few games I made it to. I had at least 3 different calls and a couple of letters about renewing my tickets clear into August. I do plan on going to a game this year, but it will not be a problem to get tickets. They do love there BSU football though. I think it is BS that no one goes to games becuase there is so much to do in California. My brother lives in the LA area and we never seem to go do anything earth shattering when we are there. We wanted to go to the beach and he was like why, no one goes really goes to the beach. We went though and he was right. No was was there. I think they just don't care.

My brother lives in the LA area and says the exact same thing. What it really comes down to is that the people that are Native to Cali just don't care. If they are a winner they will come watch, but not if they aren't

NU 48 SMU 17 NU- 317 Rush NU- 143 Pash

Nebraska might have averaged 200 yards a game, but the losses are far more telling of the situation. 159 yards against Wisconsin, 207 vs. Northwestern (should have bee more), 138 against Michigan, 137 against South Carolina, and 88 against Ohio State in the first three quarters. Although Ohio State wasn't a loss, I believe we can all safely say that it would have been were it not for Braxton Miller's injury. For an offense that predicates itself on the run, these are unacceptable numbers. The only good defense Nebraska played well against last year was Michigan State, and even then, we amassed 190 rushing yards. Again, if we are going to base ourselves on the run and only have Martinez throw 20-25 times a game, these numbers are bad. I completely agree with you as to why Nebraska had great lines, but we shouldn't require a tenured system to have good offensive lines, wouldn't you agree? We should have good offensive lines every year with great offensive lines every couple. We haven't had great here in a decade, and we've only played good games, never seasons. Last year's offensive line, overall, was average to above average. I think they played better than the 2009 and 2010 lines, but there's a lot of room for improvement, and my biggest worry is that it will take Cotton four years just to have one good line (if we have a good line this year, it will be year five), and then three-to-four years of mediocrity. That's unacceptable for what our goals as a program are. The lack of offensive linemen we've sent in the draft the last four years is also very telling. See now you are changing your tune. NU did average 200+ yards a game, but now it is not enough. Just say it, you want NU to average 350 a game and get 200 against Meechicken, Sparty et.al. So what if NU had 88 against OSU up till the 4th quarter, that is called wearing an opponent down, or was that becuase Miller hurt his ankle? That sounds a lot like the old pipelines of the 80's and 90's. . Just being a smart ars. Sometimes it does take a system a while to get going. Do you think Wisky just all of a sudden had great O-lines? Alverez did pattern his team after NU after all. There pipeline has 20 years of a system going right now. As far as the NFL goes. NU having a lot of guys in the O-line playing in the NFL is a rather recent event. The 80's and early 90's were pretty slim for NFL linemen. But they O-lines were good. I guess I think the O-line is pretty good. The only line in the big 10 that I think is better is Wisky, the rest I think we are on par with or better.

Consider this more a set of goals rather than what actually has to happen each game: one or more pancake blocks each play, over 200 yards rushing per game, and no sacks given up in the first three seconds of the play. But the offensive line isn't like the running back - you can't judge everything based on numbers. Most importantly, you want guys winning their one-on-one match ups, meaning you need guys using their technique, strength, and speed to overcome the opponent. If everybody does their job, then the whole unit looks good. The problem is that not everybody does their job on a given play, and sometimes in the most painfully obvious ways. I beleive NU averaged over 200 yards a game last year. As far as sacks in the first 3 seconds of a play last year, how many did we have last year. I bet it is not some astronomical number like you might think, maybe 5 for the whole year. As far as your second paragraph is concerned you are absolutely correct. If 4-5 do things correctly and one doesn't, it breaks down. I guess that is my point. O-line is the most complicated thing that you can do and the most difficult position to coach. I know I have done it before at the HS level. Nebraska had great O-lines becuase of the system that was in place to build great lines for 30+ years a linemen came into the system and either played freshman ball and then RS or like now RS as a first year guy. He then played in mop up for a year and then was maybe a backup for a year and then he might start for 2 years. He may only start for 1 year. That is the way it was. Rarely you had some really great players who started as Sophs., but most didn't start until they were RS jrs. That system was completely broke when Milt and DY retired and Callahan came into the system. That system IMO is slowly being built again. Look all the starters are going to be Jrs and Srs. this year. I think you will see a better line this year, bucause of the way the system is starting to work again.

I guess my big question to all you guys who know what you want a dominate line looks like please explain what you want to see. I want numbers. I want quantifable things. Not better execusion etc. Tell me IYO what the NU O-line should look like by the numbers.

Penn State is the one team that I would say has the best chance to unexpectedly beat us. Ever since they had the sanctions cast upon them, everyone has counted them out already. I honestly think that they will be pretty good this year. They will be stout once again on defense, and with an offensive-minded head coach taking a new (and probably better) approach on the offensive side of the ball, Penn State is one team that could be pretty dang good. I agree Penn St. could easily go 8-4 or better this year. It will be year 2,3,4 and beyond of the sanctions that you see them slip.

Some of you guys act like the line just completely sucks. The simple truth of the matter is that they have been a decent line the last couple of years. I said decent not great, but that is a far cry from the way some portray the O-line. No they are not getting 300+ yards a game rushing like the great lines of NU's past but what were we ranked nationally in rushing last year, something like 12th. Rex didn't gain 1300+ yards all by himself last year and TM didn't run for 800 yards all by himself either. I guess I get a little tired of the perception that the o-line just sucks. When that is far from the case.