cg_8

I'm still going to ignore and not respond to your good addition to this topic... But yeah, his long run against MSU happened because we spread them out, their LB on that side was too far outside of the box, leaving that second level completely wide open. He just hit it and he was gone. His best run was the spins against Wyoming. He has the speed, and is a good size, but as you said, there are just some issues keeping him from being a great RB. Yeah, I like the veer and "inverted veer" variation on the ZR. At least, I've seen it called inverted because the QB is the inside runner, and RB being outside. TM seemed to take more advantage of the inverted variation more than Tommy. But maybe I'm remembering that because TM broke for more yardage than Tommy does. I remember one of the runs against KSU where he ran the "inverted veer" and the KSU guy was right there to make the play, but TM just darting right past him (and everyone else) for a 30+ yard TD.

Good stuff above. If you're a freak at learning more about the game, I'd supplement that breakdown with a specific breakdown of Narduzzi's Quarters system by Chris Brown. I only say that because of how Banker described it early on, about how similar it was to MSU defense. http://grantland.com/the-triangle/michigan-state-oregon-pat-narduzzi-defense-breakdown/ I love their Double A gap blitz they use. It's vicious, and effective. You can tell the season is getting closer and closer, we seem to really be talking football a lot lately... As opposed to the usual "how many wins will we have?" -type offseason discussions. Which is great!

I think I would agree with everyone. Whether you decide to sit there or not, I would definitely wait until at least the season starts. $120 sounds tough, and I know how hard it is to find 5 together. I wouldn't go to the game without tickets, because finding 5 together is going to be near impossible. But I know I would watch it after week 1, and possibly 2 and pull the trigger week 3. That's just how I would go about it.

I have my season tickets there. I absolutely love them. I prefer sitting a bit higher, I like being able to see the whole field to watch plays and routes to develop. So that's a plus for me personally. Another thing is that the concourse is right there. I used to love sitting in South stadium, but I sat there for the spring game, and it takes forever to get up and down if you just want to grab a drink, or go to the bathroom. In upper east, everything right behind you, and if you can time it correctly, you can jump up and grab a runza and drink in between TV timeouts. Also, the aisles are wide and the seats are noticeably wider. Face value is $57 btw.

Whew. Thank goodness we don't play against very many, if any, of those. I would much rather take the risk of getting burned by the pass than letting it be easy just running all over us. I'm not sure if True is joking or not... haha! But I would say that, yes, we don't have anything scary like Baylor. MSU could be scary. Miami is scary only because of Kaaya. I'd agree with getting burned. Truth be told, we still got burned in Bo's scheme. We just got burned differently in the passing game. Like discussed before, the short passes and RB passes. I am still very surprised Miami didn't throw to Duke Johnson more often, considering he'd burn us majorly on his 5 receptions.

The scheme, from what I understand is very similar to MSU. Which is exciting, considering that's a good scheme. But they also have their off games. I expect us to struggle a bit with highly refined passing schemes. For example, MSU allowed 550 passing yards to Baylor. We aren't playing any teams with that type of high octane offense, but I expect us to be more "bendable" to guys like Brad Kaaya. I can still see us winning the game, similar to last year, but I can see Kaaya throwing 350 yards against us, but it not mattering in the end. Then again, MSU only struggled on D against teams like Oregon, Baylor and OSU. All conference champions, all of which had an argument to be in the playoff. We struggled with teams like Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and USC. Teams that are decent (except Iowa, they suck... we had no business strugglin' with them), but not great teams with amazing offenses. I think it comes to how resilient we are to that "bending" and whether our offense can pick up some of the slack. It's hard for me to picture being "dominating" on D this year. But I picture us being a lot more competitive in situations that we struggled with previously.

YES!!! It's always a glorious day when my tickets arrive!

You guys sure are cool makin' fun of the jersey-wearing fan. I wish I were as cool as you guys, pickin' on other fans... I'm not a jersey wearer, but I used to be. More of a good luck thing than anything. I've retired my Frazier jersey. The one I've had since 1995, still in great condition. In the end, who the flip cares about individual apparel choices?

Scratch that, there was a rule change in 2013... (Doing some good ol' reseach...) Same rule now reads as: "When a player enters the game after changing his jersey number, he must report to the referee, who then informs the opposing head coach and announces the change. Such a player who enters the game without reporting commits a foul for unsportsmanlike conduct" So there you go, as long as the player notifies referee, the referee announces it. A jersey change during game can occur during the game. http://www.ncaa.org/sites/default/files/Final%202013%20and%202014%20Football%20Rule%20Changes.pdf

Rule 1 Section 4 Article 2 Part D States: "Numbers shall not be changed during the game to deceive opponents" According to the rule book, cannot switch jerseys during the game. Live ball penalty. 15 yards from previous spot. Player is DQ'd. http://rules.bafra.org/rules/rulebook/2013/1.html Edit: Rule changed in 2013, see below.

This makes sense. I guess it's not unheard of. For the record, I'm not making a big deal out of it, just merely curious what happens. The answer, considering the #9, just comes down to managing who's on the field. Looks like we'll never see Stevenson and Darlington on the field at the same time.

So what the heck is going to happen with Zack Darlington? He's #2 currently. I assume we can't have two guys with the same number on the same side of the ball. OR can we, as long as we manage them not being on the field at the same time? You can't have two with the same number on the field at the same time. So it's possible but I'm sure Darlington is switching to some other number. I don't think Darlington is moving...

So what the heck is going to happen with Zack Darlington? He's #2 currently. I assume we can't have two guys with the same number on the same side of the ball. OR can we, as long as we manage them not being on the field at the same time?

Oh, well, I voted before really understanding the question. Which, is still pretty open ended. I voted the trophy with Wisconsin because that will be the most valuable victory. I changed my vote after I wrote what I wrote. However, I love the broken chair, because of how it began. It was a joke started on twitter. Kind of the way any 21st century trophy should start, if you ask me. It's the first truly "viral" trophy (that sounds terrible without knowing it's from the internet). Started on twitter. Designed on Reddit. The trophy wasn't forced upon our two teams like the Iowa and Wisconsin trophies. There probably will not be any "real" pride in winning it, but I imagine the players having a blast carrying the thing after the victory as if it was a championship trophy. It's the kind of fun that is needed in sports. Especially at the collegiate level.

The Huskers official shop is still selling customized replicas. Just FYI. http://shop.huskers.com/COLLEGE_Nebraska_Cornhuskers_Jerseys/adidas_Nebraska_Cornhuskers_Team_Color_Replica_Football_Jersey_-_Scarlet Will this still be allowed?

AND Thunder Collins...

I'd say this was trash talk, but if you read the context of the question, he's just describing the moment in which he decided to commit to Wisconsin. If I wasn't a Nebraska fan, that game would have made me feel the same way. Heck, as a Nebraska fan, that game made me feel the same way. That was by far one of the worst performances of football I have seen in my life. If I were a running back, it's also a no brainer. Watching that game and watching that Wisconsin team put up numbers on the ground with numerous guys carrying the ball. At the same time, screw this kid... haha!

So when do we start the #Blackout2015 campaign?

The Big 12 has always been a mess. THEN does not act on anything. Examples: We stop playing OU every year. What did they do? Nothing, that's just the way it goes. During the whole conference expansion frenzy, all the Big 12 did was sit back until it was late in the game. They should've been working hard to add Boise State, but Mountain West already claimed them. Utah was the next one that would've been good, but Pac12 took them, and took away Colorado. When they finally acted, they added TCU, which is a no brainer, and they lucked out that they turned out to be a great team. Then added West Virginia, which was OK at the time, and still OK. Then this last year, they were kept out of the playoff because they didn't have a championship game and no true champion. The commissioner even admitted that's why they were kept out. So the obvious thing to do is to add 2 teams in the off-season and add a championship game at Jerry World to avoid this from happening again. It's a great idea, and I think would be an excellent addition to CFB in general. And of course, they did nothing... And now, all their relevant teams and coaches are talking about it. The leadership is probably just sitting back and shaking their heads in agreement, but doing nothing... Yet again... It's a mess, even after we left, it's still a mess. It is not going to get better.

I like them. Best one so far. I'll probably end up buying one for my son and a few t-shirts.

Yep, Miami was about as close to great execution as it can get. Just look at how the line moves forward, and how easily it is for them to just get to the second level and make (and sustain) each block. We did this all game... I mean, Westerkamp even blocks the safety in addition to the guy he's blocking. I mean look at this, this is a thing of beauty, the play, and especially the execution. Granted Miami's side of the ball wasn't great, but this is what getting a hat on a hat looks like. Even with MIami's speed, the line wasn't consistent like they were against Miami. What a great game.

I thought Texas' last contract was roughly $5.5-6M. I have to think Texas' next contract is bigger than UM. Probably not. When Michigan signed with Adidas, they had something in the contract that guaranteed that they'd stay their highest paid client. I am unsure if this will be the case with Nike, but I wouldn't doubt that they had that in there as well. http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/blog/threads_and_laces/2013/12/how-michigan-remains-no-1-with-adidas.html

So wait... For top ranked teams who win more than 70% of their games... Is it possible that 70% is a terrible predictor considering that the top 10 teams are going to win around 10 games anyway? I mean, "predicting" Alabama, Oregon, Ohio State, FSU, etc. are going to win 11 of their games, then saying "I was 70% correct..." wouldn't you call me an idiot? (although, a lot of people would call me an idiot either way...) It's not hard to be 70% correct on us beating Southern Miss (the 2004 version of myself says hello...) but even this model predicted Ohio State beating VT, it still predicted Ohio State winning all of their games. That's a 91%. I'm thinking too much about it... Anyway, the season needs to start for a guy like me...

So does Bama have a QB better than their QB they just lost? The one that wasn't great to begin with? Yet they're #1? I don't know why I waste the time on this stuff. No knock on you guys that love this stuff, but I find it harder and harder, year after year, to call these guys experts and to say that this is "valuable" stuff. The guy even wrote, "if I considered Ohio State's 3 returning starting QB's, they'd be #1, above Alabama" then proceeds to just keep Alabama at #1? He kind of indicates, "this COULD be better..." but really needs to say, "this sh*t is flawed..." I don't know why this stuff angers me so... I'm gonna go lay down...

When you first asked, this was going to by my number 1 answer. Tommy had to rely on WR making the same read as himself too many times. The talk of "progressive" reads get thrown around here a lot too, but some of those reads had to be coverage reads from Tommy and WR. Beck relied too heavily on it. When it worked, it worked, but when it didn't, Tommy was the one that looked like an idiot. Anyway, I'm looking forward to limiting those reads and although some reads are built within some route concepts, I have a feeling that Langsdorf and Wideouts master Keith Williams know how to coach it up better than Ganz and Fisher. Out of it all, I think that's a major key we've been missing. Guys to coach it up properly. I'm super excited for the season. The Playoff added a ton more excitement to an already exciting college football season. Jan 1st was one of the funnest days I had watching the game in my life.