Maxconvert

I would love your preditiction to be true. But that is a fantasy, I think even if we don't turn the ball over this is going to be a hard fought game. It is hard to beat someone twice in the same season, I expect a tight one. Hope we get it done. Yes I'm afraid it is a fantasy, because I've become so used to Martinez making at least two boneheaded turnovers in the first half. It's like the Husker O has to put themselves in a hole in order to get focused for the second half or something--it's not good for my health!

I know this thread isn't about the original PSU thing, but I agree that the sports media (mostly ESPN) has tried to play this into some sort of tragedy against poor Penn State, and how they've bravely faced the tragedy of NCAA penalties, etc. It's ridiculous. I agree that this wasn't the fault of the current players or Bill Bradley's staff, but to act like poor PSU is facing some undue hardship compared to the extremely heinous crimes the ENTIRE ATHLETIC DEPT leadership perpetuated for years is absurd. Frankly I think the NCAA penalties were peanuts compared to the crime committed--PSU should have beencompletely banned for 4-5 years. I have no trouble saying that I will openly root against PSU for what happened because I feel like they got off easy. Sorry if that offends our visitors from Happy Valley, but it's not being snide, it's a real perspective that a lot of fans share.

Well, I did ask for it

I think it comes down to that. Otherwise our D is playing too well, and our offense is too talented to make this close. Call me crazy, but if we can cut it down to only 1 turnover or so and get more from Wisc, we win by 10-20 points Sat night

I hope you don't think any of us are as ill-informed as this Iowa guy you're talking about. This stuff should be common knowledge on here.

Not sure--until now, we were supposedly in a tie for the Legends but holding the tiebreaker

Oh, so not even having your offense cross midfield the entire second-half is "just fine"? I'm not sure here. Do you need a hug? Someone to coddle you? Re-read your initial post. Then accept the facts that have been laid before you in this thread. Hahahahaha. Easy to understand why you have to resort to snippy personal attacks, because your point is so utterly stupid Someone needs a time out... Yes they do. Glad to see you taking one.

Oh, so not even having your offense cross midfield the entire second-half is "just fine"? I'm not sure here. Do you need a hug? Someone to coddle you? Re-read your initial post. Then accept the facts that have been laid before you in this thread. Hahahahaha. Easy to understand why you have to resort to snippy personal attacks, because your point is so utterly stupid

Oh, so not even having your offense cross midfield the entire second-half is "just fine"?

Really? Maybe you'd be so kind as to point out how Gardner played well in this game, or how his passes that were routinely behind, underthrown, or short of his intended receiver is evidence that he played well. Or was it the play where he rolled away from a blitzing OSU LB and had 20-30 yards of green field ahead of him, but instead chose to launch the ball behind and short of a TE down the field? Anyway please educate us all on how such inaccurate passing is evidence of really good play, dude

Easy one--Eric Martin

No offense dude, but it seems like you were watching stats instead of the actual game. There were a significant number of Gardner passes that weren't even close to the intended WR, including an incredibly poorly thrown ball into traffic during the final UM drive that OSU easily picked off to seal the deal. So yes his passing accuracy was awful. Anyway this wasn't a "Taylor is better than Gardner" thread, because any doofus can figure that out on their own

Michigan's "passing Qb" Gardner is incredibly inaccurate. Don't really understand why Denard is limited to running, when Gardner doesn't really look like a better passer. For those who still don't like Martinez' passing, flip on "The Game" right now and see MIchigan trying to complete a forward pass

I don't think we have to resort to the Santino Panico method Callahan used of just getting a good pair of hands back there. A good return threat is a very valuable weapon, and even a good catcher is going to have a screw up every now and then. I know the thinking is "just don't fumble the ball and our offense will do the rest", but it's not out of the realm of possibility that we will go against a D that will shut our O down. In situations like that a dynamite returner is HUGE. Just ask the Chicago Bears about how important PR/KR Devin Hester has been to them. If we just put our return threats back there when we're in a tough game, then they won't be as experienced which will increase the chance of a fumble or muff.

Yeah like I said somewhere else since the Boulder debacle in 2001 I think all of us have PTSD and expect another WTF loss when things start to go bad the day after THanksgiving. Although one silver lining to this roller coaster year is that I don't fraek out if we get down by 10, even 14 points, since we've become so good at coming back from behind in the 4th.

Haha, I know how you feel man What the hell, season's almost over, let's go ahead and be confident...it's not like we're the ones that have to go out there and play! Seriously though with all due respect to our B1G friends, other than Ohio state our biggest opponent has been our own offensive miscues. If we can actually have a game with no turnovers, then combined with how our defense is playing now, we should win by 10-20 points.

then I'd say mission accomplished, at least offensively! Great game and great save by the Blackshirts and the up and coming new Dwight Freeney, Eric Martin. I'd like to blame much of the passing problems on the wind, but not sure why Martinez was such a tenative runner today after we saw him learning to make good decisions about when to take off out of the pocket during the middle of conference play. For those at the game--was our O-line just getting beaten to the punch on running plays, or was it Iowa crowding the box because the windy conditions took away most of the passing game? Anyway glad to have that Halloween frightfest of a win in the books. I think all of Huskerland has been permanently traumatized by the 2001 slaughter in Boulder the Fri after Thanksgiving, so any time these contests get tight people fear the worst. Our offense has improved in a lot of ways this season, but we still haven't made a lick of progress in how to not gift our opponents 2 to 3 turnovers per game, usually setting our opponents up with a very short field. If somehow we can master this lesson in the big 10 title game, then I'm predicting a NU blowout

If we add Rutgers, we should change the division names to "Jersey Shore" and "Cornfields"

So let me see if I got this right--the B1G got nervous when Notre Dame recently announced it was partially joining the ACC, so it's decided to try to break up the ACC to try to get Notre Dame? Another reason to hate the stupid Irish

On the bright side, think of all the fun road trips to Jersey!

If this is a tactical manuever to expand to a 16 team conference, you can kiss the prospect of renewing NU-OU, NU-Texas, or NU-Missouri goodbye. With such a large conference our schedule will be more and more conference games, and that is going to crowd out any big out of conference rivalry games

Coincidence? he's paying a potential exit fee or has been tipped off his company is about to go under. Speaking of athletic companies, anyone else notice the two teams with the big "alums" who run Nike and Under Armor (Oregon and Maryland) also have the tackiest uniforms?

Learned: 1. The saying is true--bo's defenses really do get better as the year goes on 2. Our stable of young backs is good enough to rest Rex until the Rose Bowl 3. Stanley Jean-Baptiste is going to be a good one 4. Even against a really untalented Minnesota team, we still can't finish a game without turning the ball over

Coincidence?

ESPN is right on their "reports" about 50% of the time or less (anyone remember the famous "breaking news: Les Miles leaving national title contender LSU to go to Michigan"), but now they're saying B1G is after Maryland and likely Rutgers. If this is true, it's a pretty embarrassing step for the conference IMO. After Nebraska and Colorado left the Big 12 and dominos started falling, the B1G was talking about big acquisitions like Texas or Notre Dame. Maryland and Rutgers?? This is purely a greedy play to get more viewers to shell out for the Big 10 Network rather than expanding the prestige of the conference. I would much rather have taken Missouri than these guys. Maryland will be a big power in basketball, but that sport isn't what drives these decisions. On the plus side, assuming both teams get subsumed into the Leaders division, it will push one of the current Leaders creampuffs like Indiana or Purdue into the Legends. Then again, with teams like Maryland, Rutgers, Indiana it is kind of a joke to refer to these teams are either Leaders or Legends!