xlbder

I predict Imani will be the leading scorer among the running backs in his senior season. Just for fun, I'll out on a limb and guess Imani will have 100 carries, 530 yards and 11 TDs in the regular season.. The other backs will combine for another 1200 yards and another 13 TDs. Tommy will get 3 TD rushing, and 15 passing. Other QB will get 5 TDs. The return game will post two TDs, defense will get 1. That totals 50 TDs on the season, for 300 points. The kicking game will add 44 PAT points., and let's say 54 points on FG. Let's add one safety for an even 100 points here. So 400 points on the season, a 9-2 record, if I turn out to be right, I'm going to be a spokesperson for Weller's Whiskey. That's where those numbers came. Maybe I'll be as famous as Jared...

I'm excited not to see Bo's cat.

I think the reason many feel that Cross is not a good running back, is watching him in run plays in Bo's offense that were designed for a more shifty running style. We remember the lateral run that ended in a touchback, and several delayed, zone read plays in which he didn't achieve what we expected when Ameer carried the ball. However, on the play calls that fit his running style, straight ahead handoffs with a designed hole, he performed very well. So well, his YPC exceeds Newbys. I prefer a power running game, and my favorite runnings included Larry Czonka, and Marv Hubbard, which dates me. Used properly, Imani would be a great weapon to have. But to take a senior RB and dismiss him into oblivion seems, I don't know, just don't understand it at all. Not at all. Anyone remember the previous Spring game? 100 yards on six carries? Imani averaged 7.2 yards per carry in the games that Nebraska lost, but he was only given 3 carries per game. I'm just going to have to go back to drinking Scotch. The world is all smart and shifty, and football is some thinking game I just don't understand anymore. Everyone must be right.

Newby has significantly fewer towndowns had Cross, but I don't fault Newby for this. Cross gets the benefits of carries when it is short and goal. Except last season where Bo gave many of these carries to AA on account of his Heisman campaign. But given that Cross has a higher percentage of short yardage situations, it is pretty amazing that he averaged more yards per carry than Newby, in an offense tailored for AA, which also should favor Terrell. I think the are both great backs to have. What I don't understand are the posts that salivate over Newby, Stevenson, Wilbon, Taylor and diss Cross. Don't understand that, and I am not even his mom.

His contribution? He's been steadily more productive as time has went on through his career with both ypc and tds where he got quite a few (10?) Last year. He has not been steadily more productive through his career. Cross' contributions WERE increasing until 2014, when he dropped off in every major category - attempts, YPC, total yards and TD's, compared to 2013. Now, as I stated, a lot of that was because AA was just so good, AA needed to be on the field. But, that's also because I just don't think Cross is a guy they want in there on most downs. He only had 5 TD's in 2014, btw. He had 10 in 2013. Cross and Newby had only had about an 8 carry difference in 2014 with a similar number of touchdowns. Cross had more YPC and more total yards. You'd think Cross would have seen more carries and opportunities by this point if that's what the coaches wanted. Instead, he split them almost identically with Newby. Cross also has a grand total of 4 career catches for 14 yards, and RB catching ability will likely be more necessary under Riley, though not guaranteed. I'm not trying to insult Cross - just stating facts.

I suppose it had nothing to do with him getting more yards per carry than Newby. If he is the 4th string running back, that is a GREAT thing. I felt like Beck's system, (the delayed handoff and read, played better to Ameer's strength's and Cross would have benefited from more straight ahead power running. But even in that system, which should have favored Newby, Cross averaged more yards. Don't understand the lack of love for Cross on this board. He may not have the cuts that Ameer and Newby flash, but what he does, he does very well. Show me another back in the BIG, with as high a percentage of short yardage carries, averaging 5+ yards/carry. I've always felt Beck had Imani do things that weren't his strengths. I'd sigh every time he get called to run laterally and didn't get the chance to get downhill. Felt Cross could've complemented Ameer...if used properly. That's my hope with Riley's philosophy in the run game. He likes to get north/south in general offensively fron what I've seen. BTW, welcome! I was just joking about being Imani's mom, in case anyone took that seriously. I think Nebraska is blessed with five great running backs, Wilbon, Stevenson, Taylor, Newby and Imani. Different strengths and weaknesses. Like you, I feel if used properly every one of these backs could be a huge contributor. Imani is the only one of these five getting dissed into non relevancy on this board. Riley may want to develop the backs that will be around more than one season, so maybe Imani will get benched his senior year. If so, I would be disappointed. I like the power running game and would love to see Imani smashing opponents as part of the total offensive package. Ten TD's in his senior year and I will be happy regardless of the yards. It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out.

Imani is way too humble to promote himself I'm his mom...

I suppose it had nothing to do with him getting more yards per carry than Newby. If he is the 4th string running back, that is a GREAT thing. I felt like Beck's system, (the delayed handoff and read, played better to Ameer's strength's and Cross would have benefited from more straight ahead power running. But even in that system, which should have favored Newby, Cross averaged more yards. Don't understand the lack of love for Cross on this board. He may not have the cuts that Ameer and Newby flash, but what he does, he does very well. Show me another back in the BIG, with as high a percentage of short yardage carries, averaging 5+ yards/carry. Be honest...are you Imani Cross?

I suppose it had nothing to do with him getting more yards per carry than Newby. If he is the 4th string running back, that is a GREAT thing. I felt like Beck's system, (the delayed handoff and read, played better to Ameer's strength's and Cross would have benefited from more straight ahead power running. But even in that system, which should have favored Newby, Cross averaged more yards. Don't understand the lack of love for Cross on this board. He may not have the cuts that Ameer and Newby flash, but what he does, he does very well. Show me another back in the BIG, with as high a percentage of short yardage carries, averaging 5+ yards/carry.

I grew up in the 1970s, and remember Nebraska as a big, simple dominating machine. It was my favorite team, probably because of the National Championships in the early seventies when I was 14 and just getting into watching football. I liked the simple, unadorned red N, on the helmets. Nothing fancy, they just came out to play and win. Years later, my good friend's son started playing for Nebraska, I started following the team again, and enjoyed reading the game day thread on Huskerboard. But in place of that solid reliable, "in your face we will beat you" attitude, there was this spread offense, and sort of a schizophrenic identity where the team seemed to beat itself as often as the opponents. That is dang frustrating to watch. I also watch Georgia Tech, as I attended that school, and feel like many that the power running game would have yielded better results. Flexbone? I didn't even know what that was called. But yeah, I'd like to see something like that.

Sweet!

I would bet that Ameer makes all of the same long runs that Imani made. But I'm not sure Newby does. And I'd bet money Mark Weisman doesn't. And I'm not convinced Ameer makes the two yard TD run in one of the above videos. Mark Weisman, with his 4.3 YPC average signed with the Bengals. I think Cross with his 5+ YPC gets his chance at the next level, drafted or not. He's faster and bigger than Weisman, and like lo country sez. he did well playing in an offense that wasn't even tailored to his strengths. But that is just my opinion. For the most part, the Cross supporters state their beliefs in his merits as opinions, while the Cross detractors tend to acclaim their negative opinions as more enlightened truth. No matter what the topic, the negative nellies tend to rely on proof by assertion. Asserting their opinions as facts. I am an unabashed Imani Cross fan who hopes he plays a significant role in the offense in his senior year. He is the kind of player I would want on my team. But whether Riley uses him or not, Nebraska is loaded at RB. Go Big Red.

Ameer could have made all of Imani's long runs. Imami could not have made all of Ameer's long runs. I agree with that. But why take away Imani's long runs before comparing him to Newby? I believe Imani has made some short runs, that Ameer and newby might not have made.

I'm for what ever makes sense to me. I think Imani has a role on the team at least as a short yardage back, but I am not convince he isn't a major every down contributor depending on what type of offense Riley fields. I like pound the ball football. Perhaps Taylor or Wilborn will be the second coming. But Imani has been more impressive to me than Newby, based on the games I have been able to watch. It is true, particularly in Imani's freshman year, that his yardage was against weaker competition. But against the toughest competition, ALL OF NEBRASKA'S LOSSES, he averaged 7.2 yards per carry. Running with the first team offense, he has done very well. It makes sense to me that he should have been getting more carries against the touch competition. At the beginning of last year, people were worried that Imani's goal line carries would negatively affect Ameer's Heismann campaign. The truth is, Ameer's Heismann campaign negatively affected Imani's goal line touches. This was to the detriment of the team. Ameer got banged up running short and goal, and the whole board preached the mantra of "give it to the better back." First and ten at the twenty, the better back was Ameer. I buy that. But third and goal at the one, Imani seemed like the better back to me. So many people on this board write Imani off as not relevant, stating facts about his inability to make lateral cuts, etc, etc. What I saw was him moving the chains. the few times he was given the opportunity against the big boys. But the board seems to only remember the lateral run for a safety.

Take away Ameer's and Newby's long runs, and see how that affects their averages. Nebraska's toughest opponents are the games in which Nebraska LOST. For his career, Imani is over seven yards a carry in those games. Purdue stacked the house to stop the run last year. Ameer left the game injured with 6 carries for one yard. Imani got 66 yards and two TDs in the game. It is amusing to note that people can Dog Imani for being too slow, and then turn around and say his high YPC is solely due to long runs. Properly used, Imani is a force. Under Bo he was not properly used. We'll see what Riley does with him.

Cross has averaged over 5 yards a carry every season he's played. Against the toughest competition Nebraska has faced, Nebraska's losses, he also averaged over five yards a carry, Newby and Ameer can't say that. Considering the high percentage of short yardage carries, it's even more impressive. If he were put in Iowa's offensive scheme, he would be a 1000+ runner. I bet he doesn't get over looked by the NFL scouts. You're going to pull a YPC stat? We will agree to disagree. Unless he gets significant playing time this year, and I'm talking splitting the carries, he's not getting drafted. It's not too great of an accomplishment to average 5 yards when you get maybe 5 to 10 a game. Of course you are right. When a third of your carries are short yardage situations and everyone in the stadium knows you are getting the ball, and you still average 5 yards a carry, nothing at all impressive about that.

Cross has averaged over 5 yards a carry every season he's played. Against the toughest competition Nebraska has faced, Nebraska's losses, he also averaged over five yards a carry, Newby and Ameer can't say that. Considering the high percentage of short yardage carries, it's even more impressive. If he were put in Iowa's offensive scheme, he would be a 1000+ runner. I bet he doesn't get over looked by the NFL scouts.

This is beautiful. I formation power ball. I would throw my walker off the stands to see this...

Ditch the fancy zone read, stuff. Shaky quarterback, four strong running backs. Pound the rock! But I am sure my uneducated opinion won't be what happens.

^- This.

Stop it! Few things drive me more crazy than a "short yardage" back. If you need 1 yard, give the ball to your best RB. I don't care if he is 5'9"/190 lbs or 6'2"/230 lbs. Last year, if the game is on the line and you need 1 yard, who would you trust more to get it? Imani or Ameer? For one yard? Yeah, I would give it to Imani. But Ameer needed TDs to win the Heisman. We are all entitled to our opinion, I won't try to stop you from expressing yours. Call mine stupid if you want. Ameer had 24 carries against MSU for 45 yards in 2014. That wasn't working. I would have pounded Imani at them a dozen times. Would they have stopped that too? Maybe, but we will never know because Bo didn't try that. This year, does Riley fit his team into his scheme, or does he adapt his scheme to his players? I don't see a dominant QB, but I do see a loaded RB corps. I'd go with two backs, pairing muscle in speed in the backfield, maybe Taylor and Newby as one set, and Cross and Wilborn as the other. I'd plan to run people the f*** over, substituting the pairing every series. But what do I know? I'm an old guy with no appreciation of the West coast, pro set, razzle dazzle stuff that looks pretty. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Taylor, Newby, Wilborn and Cross. Four backs each capable of anchoring an offense. Plus a couple of pretty good others. You can move the ball with shifty and you can move the ball with smash mouth. Pretty good position to be in. I prefer smash mouth. I know the Cross family, and am a big Imani fan. Ameer's Hiesmann campaign took away some of Imani's goal line touches last year, which I believe was the to the detriment of Ameer's health and the best interests of the team. Personally, I think the offense would have been stronger with more Cross runs in the mix. I was perplexed that Imani got NO touches against MSU in 2014. Here is an interesting statistic. In the three years in which Imani has played, Nebraska has had 10 regular season losses, 8 in the BIG and two to UCLA. In those ten games, against the toughest competition, Ameer had 848 yards on 177 carries, an impressive 4.8 yards per carry against the toughest competition Nebraska faced. If you leave out the 2012 UCLA loss and the 2014 MSU loss (Imani did not appear in either game) Ameer's average per carry goes up to 5 yards per carry. In the 8 losses in which Imani appeared, he gained 166 yards on 23 carries a 7.2 yard/carry average against the toughest competition. Ameer would go for much bigger gains against lesser competition, (like Florida Atlantic) but I was perplexed at the lack of carries for Imani given his success in moving the chains against the toughest competition. I believe Bo stuck with a one back philosophy to the detriment of the team. How did Newby do in the last two seasons against the opponents that beat Nebraska? He appeared in six losses, with 56 yards in 16 carries, a 3.5 ypc average. Nebraska is in good shape in the backfield. I just hope all the backs get the opportunity to do what they do best.

Wiesman averages 4.3 YPC. Cross averages over 5. They are similar size, but I would say guess Cross is faster. I would guess Cross would do at least as well as Weismann were he running at Iowa.

Great job capturing the ugliness that was the win.