Dr. Strangelove

I really like how TA is running the ball this year. But he needs to stop trying to jump over people. See Brett Hundley.

Exactly. You can tell he looks a bit quicker and faster running the ball this season compared to last year. But he needs to learn to protect himself when running the ball.

No need to leap or lower your shoulder for that extra yard, it isn't worth it for any player let alone our starting QB.

TA needs consistency in the passing game, but threw some nice ones today.

Defense is yet to produce a legitimate turnover, this has to change going into the bigger games.

Offensive line didn't give Ameer much help, which is concerning considering the competition.

We'll learn a lot next week. We've looked good beating up on some bad teams (make no mistake, this is a historically bad Fresno team we just pummeled). A win next week tells us we've taken a small step forward. A loss likely means another 4 loss season, when considering the conference isn't impressive.

Fresno ran so many plays, kept the game going and going...

http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-rise-and-fall-of-modern-empires-2014-9

 

Interesting chart. Shows that China will soon become the # 1 economy - probably no surprise. The quote by Napoleon at the end of the article is insightful.

 

We replaced Britain as the # 1 economy at the time Britain was trying to finance and survive WW 1. The USA was at its economic zenith during the 1950s - which makes sense as the rest of the world was trying to rebuild and recover after WW 2.

 

Question: How important is it for the USA to remain # 1? Is it more than 'bragging rights"? And does it matter to you what position we are in as long as we are towards the top of the list?

As far as economic GDP is concerned? It's simply mathematically difficult for the United States to remain number 1. China, in terms of population, is just over four times the size of the United States. They can have just 25% of our production per capita, but be equal in terms of overall GDP.

America is still by far the world leader in technological innovation and academia. This is far more important than any GDP measure.

Maybe in the backwoods of Mississippi stringfellow and his mom found a witch doctor to hex on us

Oxford?

Great post OP. It's not so much our performance today that has husker nation down, but the fact that we're not surprised by the meltdown of our team. This has been the issue for years.

Luckily the rest of the conference we're in happens to be horrible, so Nebraska itself isn't the single laughingstock but we're being laughed at along with the rest of the big ten.

It's flat out embarrassing really.

Only 1 game fellas, 1 game. Even very good teams can have close, head scratcher games....period. NEB has a whole season ahead of them. It would be foolish for fans to already pack it in.

The issue is that this has happened over several seasons. We've seen this story before.

The student body tried a 'Can't Be Beat', 'Won't Be Beat' chant/thing a few seasons ago. Is that still happening? It didn't seem that successful at the time.

 

Josh Harvey ‏@JoshHarveyScout 20m

This weekend. ($) http://nebraska.scout.com/story/1441470-4-star-visitor-set-for-weekend?s=204 … #Nebraska #Huskers pic.twitter.com/YfaTvLR8Fv

Kansas City DB Djimon Colbert. He's actually Class of 2017 but we don't have a thread for that so I just put it here. His Scout profile looks like he has a Nebraska offer but the article says his only offer is from Missouri.

This is really great that we're getting to some of these kids early, but having rankings out for the Class of 2017 is just ridiculous. Those kids have probably played one year of High School football, and they can already have 4 stars?

Sagarin has us at #31. Miami is #33.

 

He has Ohio State at #12, and they didn't look too good beating Navy.

 

Way too early for any kind of accuracy from his numbers, but interesting nonetheless.

Pros:

1) Rushing offense looked fantastic today from each position. TA had a few nice runs, Newby had a 100 yard day. Ameer was dominate as he should be. O-Line was impressive in pass pro and run blocking.

2) 0 turnovers. The biggest thing holding the program back is that we almost always lose the turnover battle, was nice to see us take care of the football.

3) Defense was fantastic most of the game. Losing Gregory hurt, but outside of the first drive they really took over the game. We faced a second string QB for a lot of the day though, but overall looked great.

Cons:

1) Special teams looks iffy. They gashed us on a few kickoff returns (Bondi needs to get a few more touchbacks). Nebraska still can't manage to field a punt, this must improve to help Nebraska in the field position game later in the season.

2) Defense didn't force any turnovers. Would've been nice to see an interception considering the amount of pass attempts FAU had.

3) TA looked poised today, but the completion percentage needs to improve. His throwing ability, at least downfield, seemed to be much better than it was at any point last year, but the % needs to improve for this offense to take the next step forward.

Starting the season off with a convincing win feels so much better than how I felt after the Wyoming game last year. Particularly after watching the rest of the conference struggle today, I think Nebraska has a real chance at the division this year, and looked like one of the top 3 teams in the conference after week 1.

 

 

Nebraska, Florida and North Dakota State have impressive streaks on the line

By David Fox, 8/27/14, 10:00 AM EDT www.http://athlonsports.com/

 

In all likelihood, the two longest active season-opening win streaks will continue Saturday when Nebraska goes for its 29th consecutive season-opening win against FAU and Florida goes for No. 25 against Idaho. Nebraska has won 28 season openers in a row since the Cornhuskers last Game 1 loss to Florida State in 1985.

 

<snip>

 

That said, Nebraska hasnt gone 28-0 on cupcakes alone.

 

Nebraskas streak in season openers includes two appearances in the old Kickoff Classic in East Rutherford, N.J., in 1988 (Texas A&M) and 1994 (West Virginia).

 

Since 1986, the Cornhuskers have opened against Florida State (avenging the 1985 loss), opened twice on the road against major opponents (Iowa in 1999, Oklahoma State in 1995) and four times faced a team ranked in the preseason top 25.

 

LINK

 

One of the only streaks that survived the Callahan era. Nice!

Yea, wish we could get a marquee opponent for game 1 though.

 

I actually like cupcakes in week 1. Gives the team a chance to practice and tune up more for the tough opponent in week 3 or 4.

Personally, I don't get the UCLA picks. I get that their SOS is insane, but too much so. It's going to be hard to do better than 11-1 with that schedule, there's no way they get in at 10-2 which I think is likely for them.

Hard to disagree with him here. This is the first season in a long time that I find myself hard to get excited about. I'll tune into every game and cheer my heart out, but deep down I know the road schedule is just too difficult to get a breakthrough 11-1 season. 9-3 or 8-4 seem likely.

No conference championship. No division title. And if TA hovers around the same stats, low 50s completion percentage and 1/1 TD to interception ratio, I'll have a hard time getting excited for 2015.

Memorial Stadium is located in downtown Lincoln, there are loads of restaurants and bars in the area within walking distance. Being that it is a night game, I'd recommend mingling with Husker fans (and other Miami fans) in the area. I personally recommend Misty's as a restaurant/bar to visit, seems to be a popular choice.

Enjoy your time in Lincoln!

 

 

#2015

 

#onemoreyear

Man. 2015 is going to be great. It's all set up perfectly.

 

 

Nah, there will be an injury to someone in 2015. And in 2016 the schedule isn't fair, what with playing at OSU and Wisconsin in back to back weeks? Obvs the Big Ten hates us and is plotting against us. By 2017 Armstrong will be graduated and we'll be breaking in a new QB. So... 2018?

 

Exactly. There is always a reason you can point to to justify a less than desirable season.

Is Bo on the hot seat? Probably. He certainly can't afford a 6-6 or 7-5 season. But top 3? I don't think his seat is that hot.

Good job by Bob Stoops.

I don't know how this situation can surprise anyone. The University has treated the student fans poorly for a number of years now, and lots of students now have an "F-off" attitude toward the administration.

 

This situation really began when the University decided to move virtually the entire student section to BFE South Stadium. This is in contrast to many other large universities, where student sections are closer to the field and/or closer to midfield. Anyone, for example, remember our game at TAMU a few years ago? They brought in extra seats to put at field level so more of their students to come to the game and make it loud. Meanwhile, we moved our students farther away and minimized their impact on the game.

 

All the friends I have still at UNL decided for the first time this year not to get student tickets due to the inability to validate and transfer tickets to non-students. The inability to do this is essentially pissing money away for many students, and it was the straw that broke the camel's back.

 

I really think, and have heard, that the new policy on ticket transfers combined with the opportunity to buy some of the worst tickets in the stadium are the primary driving forces of this situation.

This was insanely common when I went to school there. Now they have a digital system and only 250 or so non-students are allowed to attend. It's sad that the athletic department got greedy and ended the students ability to sell their tickets.

I remember having to log into the website in April to reserve student tickets for south stadium my freshmen year. Now their going into game week with some in hand, and will have to find an alternative way to sell them (no doubt they will).

 

 

 

Just based on the tweets, we still have a QB game that is a liability and not an asset at this point. We need to lean on the run and hope for some Connor Cook like improvement as the season goes on.

Pardon my stubbornness but, I'm not going to take the word of a couple outside reporters that watched one day of practice when they were working on 3rd down plays to decide if our passing game sucks.

Right, forget the 8 starts from last year. Need a better sample size before we jump to conclusions.

 

 

Sarcastic or not, that's exactly right. We do need a bigger sample size because the sample we have is muddled by a whole lot of external factors.

 

Starting a week from Saturday we're going to see an offense that's (hopefully) built around TA's skill set and that he has actually prepared for a full offseason to run. Ideally this version of the offense will not rely on a dropback passer slinging it around fifty times a game. Tommy's prowess throwing the ball had better not be the difference between a good season and a season that goes into the toilet, or we are likely looking at a season about to go into the toilet.

 

Give me a QB who is neither a liability nor an asset. Abdullah, Cross, Bell, Newby, Turner, etc. are the assets. Lean on them and watch Tommy grow into his role. Hopefully by season's end he's opened some eyes.

 

I don't agree with the statement that we can win the conference with a QB who's just a 'game manager'. Unfortunately with the schedules of Iowa and Wisconsin, we have no room for error this season. We have to develop a QB who is an asset in order to win the division and conference.

Now, I would say if our offensive identity has been option oriented for several seasons, and something we've recruited specifically for, I might agree with you. But moving to a option offense (or not sticking with any identity on offense) on the fly during one season and through fall camp is not ideal.

 

 

Just based on the tweets, we still have a QB game that is a liability and not an asset at this point. We need to lean on the run and hope for some Connor Cook like improvement as the season goes on.

Pardon my stubbornness but, I'm not going to take the word of a couple outside reporters that watched one day of practice when they were working on 3rd down plays to decide if our passing game sucks.

I think the biggest issue here is playing the "I don't have money to pay bills" card when he wastes thousands on tatoos and trips.

 

College athletes don't NEED more money, they WANT more money. Be honest about it and we are having a completely different conversation.

I have a problem with the 'small sample' and 'it was 3rd and long' talk. We watched 8 starts last year as a sample size in all kinds of situations, the passing game just wasn't there and it sounds like it's still not there.

I do think the QB controversy, however, is over. TA is the guy, I hope he limits the turnovers and gives us the opportunity to win some close games this year.

Just based on the tweets, we still have a QB game that is a liability and not an asset at this point. We need to lean on the run and hope for some Connor Cook like improvement as the season goes on.