drfish

Never put much stock in self-ascribed labels. Calling yourself "Lockdown U" the year after you were "Swiss Cheese U" was as laughable as "Hell in a Helmet." Now if somebody labels you, that is different. Otherwise is more like wishful thinking. Slogans can sometimes serve a purpose, like Unfinished business served to focus and motivate the '95 squad. Otherwise it is so much turd polishing.

We win out, that would mean a win over tOSU and a win in the CCG and yes, you could assume a high ranking would follow that set of events.

Yes, it is another loss to Wisconsin. BUT, it was not an embarrassment. Neither in the way the Huskers played, nor in the sideline demeanor of the team and its coaches. After so many times getting "pantsed" on the big stage, I can take this loss. There is clearly movement in the right direction and I am hopeful about where the Huskers are headed.

If Alvarez had become Nebraska's coach in 1998 we could have had his DC coaching here. Wouldn't that have been a treat?

History doesn't win games. Teams win games. This team has something that teams in the recent past have not. There is something about this team. I don't see them backing down or folding tents the way some of the Pelini teams did. No panic. Just determination.

I think this is a pretty evenly matched game. Losing is not a foregone conclusion. I have been impressed that these Huskers seem to be able make plays when it counts on both sides of the ball. The defense has shown a lot of improvement during the year. Three sacks this last game, all by linemen. Also, with better long throws by Tommy there are probably 18 more points on the board. The long touchdown throw by Blough was almost tipped by one of the backers. Now, the Huskers will have to limit mistakes, which they haven't done that well on recently to beat Wisconsin, but I would not be surprised to see them win. A loss appears more likely, but this team has some real grit to it, too.

More than half of their D Line is out. Their starting CB. I think things are pretty even on the injury front. Their D is about as beat up as our OL...Of course, their 2 main guys out (Cichy and Sagapolu) are probably bigger losses than our injured OL... These 2 are impact players. You can't replace a guy with 60 tackles though 7 games.... Yeah, I saw that. The injury front matches up well. Almost all of theirs are on defense and all of ours are on offense.

Really would like to see him do well. I glanced at their record and they are 4-3, with a loss to Virginia Tech, SMU and FCS #2 ranked Jacksonville State. Hopefully they can make the playoffs again.

Although it's apples to oranges considering the differences in style, I would point out that this Tommy's completion percentage is better than that Tommie's. Clearly that Tommie was throwing fewer high percentage passes and more downfield play action. That Tommie had a better TD to INT ratio though too. Anyway completion percentage isn't everything, though it is certainly not nothing either.

Saw that too. I think MP must be in charge of preventing Banker from getting a sideline interference penalty, a la Urbs.

Learned one other thing. Clearly Kevin Williams is bad luck.

I learned that my attitude about the Huskers has changed because I was not really worried at halftime. While I don't think they are playing well enough yet to beat Wisconsin, I will not be surprised if they find a way to win that game. It seems to be what they do. I learned that T. Newby will never please some folks.

Let's also be honest. Tommy hasn't been sharp as he looked at times earlier in the season and has had some bad habits revert. Also, No Westy and Carter is more problematic than maybe we thought it would be. There were 2 TD's there for the taking in the 4th that Tommy missed. Purdue stacked the box and Nebraksa did not take enough advantage. On the positive side, it did not look like Tommy tweaked his ankle again this week. Maybe he will be the healthiest next week that he has been in a month.

I like the fact that the warts are glossed over. "It was good to win...and then we had to watch the film."

Two games in a row where MR has called him a "man" for his tough running in the fourth.

See, this is what I don't understand. We are supposed to feel good about going 9-3, just because the team was a dumpster fire last year? Bo and his staff got fired for repeatedly having 9-3 regular seasons, and falling short of expectations. So, why are we supposed to lower our expectations after Riley's terrible first year? This is where you are wrong. Bo got praise from the national media for the consistent 9-3 efforts. Where he got canned was the way he treated the people within Nebraska. As long as we are flogging the deceased equine, it was that Bo Pelini embarrassed the University and the state by his infantile sideline behavior and having his teams pants repeatedly on national TV. Not counting his first year for which it is not fair to judge him, his teams lost by 21 or more points 7 times usually on ABC. Plus, his teams lost by 20 points once and 17 once. That's NINE three score losses in six years. That included the 39 point loss to a 5 loss Wisconsin team. It included giving up the then most rushing yards ever to as single player 405 freaking yards on 25 carries. 16 yards per carry!

They have beaten everyone on the schedule so far. They have found a way to win whenever the game was in doubt late. The defense is performing at a much higher level than last year and appears to be improving. The offense has been money in the fourth quarter, but has yet to play a complete game. TA has, in general, limited the mistakes. Will they keep winning or will the inconsistencies on offense lead to a loss? Don't know. I would not want to bet either way on Nebraska this year. I would not be surprised to see them lose to both Wisconsin and Ohio State, but I would not be surprised to see them get one of those (most likely Wisconsin) if the offense can put together a complete game. I would be shocked to see them get blown off the field the way they have been some years in the recent past. There is something about this team that I really like, in terms of shear grit and determination. 2002 tOSU had plenty of ugly wins on the year, too. They just never lost. I am not saying the Huskers are going to somehow go unbeaten and win it all, but don't discount them just because some of the wins were not pretty.

Once again this week, Nebraska will face the toughest opponent of the year, so far. Themselves. That is the team, other than OSU, most likely to beat the Huskers. I think if they play up to their potential, they can beat just about anybody on their schedule.

The composite average points per game of the teams the Huskers have played is 28.1. The Huskers are giving up an average of 17.6, so I would reserve the panic for now. On red zone trips, opposing offenses are scoring TD's 42% of the time. Eighth best in the country. For all scores, 75%, (5TD, 4FG, 12 attempts) Total TD's 11, so 6 TD's from outside the red zone. Obviously, blown tackles, blown assignments and bad angles are the biggest problem. Hopefully that can get corrected

First of all, I solidly support running the ball. We are wearing down opposition defenses and that is a good recipe for success. However, I am not so certain that that the above observation is due to cause and effect. Taking the 4 quarters with the most pass attempts: These are the halves with the highest passing attempts It includes the first half against Oregon with a redzone turnover that led to a TD for Oregon but should have been either 3 or 7 points. Of course the turn over did come from the passing game in this case. The Wyoming first have is the same scenario, a redzone turnover from the passing game, but the second half had only 1 fewer attempt and netted 35 points in one of the "pass happy" quarters. The Northwestern first half scoring was held down by two turnovers at the goal line that occurred in the running game. It is pretty certain that in both cases a TD would have been scored, so it would have been a 24 point half. I submit that the numbers show that turning the ball over leads to less scoring. Of the six halves in which the Huskers scored less than 21 points, 4 are halves in which turnovers occurred. A turnover occurred in only 1 of the 4 quarters where 21 or more points were scored.

that the Huskers were in the NC discussion, even as only "next in line" contenders and not front runners? (see ESPN article that I was too lazy to link to) Wish they would be in that discussion in late November, but I don't think that has much chance of happening unless they learn to play 4 quarters like the 4th quarter.

They would have been better off to have punted once. As HCMR admitted after the game, the long FG attempt was a poor decision.

tOSU is 3rd in scoring offense and 1st in scoring defense. Huskers will have to play perfect and need some lucky breaks to win that one. Wisconsin is 5th is scoring defense, but 87th in scoring offense. They can be beat. That being said, the Huskers cannot fail to score from the red zone and win that game.

The Huskers have one win against a team with a .500 or better record (Wyoming). The team that has given the Huskers the hardest time, so far, is the one with the red "N" on the helmet. No way the Huskers should be above Wisconsin at this point.