84HuskerLaw

I have not seen enough of Wilbon to know but I really liked everything we saw of Zig and Newby has skills. I would venture to guess that its Ozigbo/Newby go No. 1s and Wilbon and Bryant co No. 2s. There is no reason not to rotate those guys. Newby might have the 'gas' to carry it half a dozen plays in a row but Ozigbo is a bruiser and likely needs a breather now and then. Carrying tacklers several yards takes lots of extra effort and sucks the wind. Fatigue can be a factor but I am guessing that Devine is getting in better physical condition and can really be a gamer now.

So many on the board dismiss 'experience' as not important - hence we should red shirt POB and save his year of playing time. But to say Fyfe is the clear number 2 based on one game of experience seems to suggest that a little bit of experience is extremely important! ? I feel we need to get a QB ready for next year with at least 100 snaps of real live game time experience.

Very interesting back and forth on this topic. The great thing about football and why I enjoy watching the Huskers so much is the strategy of the game. No other game or sport compares really. Each and every play has a great number of variables and factors to consider in deciding what play to call and so on. Personnel groupings, down and distance, physical comparisons of the teams, etc etc etc. Calling the 'right' play as Osborne has described it is really more 'art than science'. Some guys have a knack for it and others not so much. At seemingly key points during games we lost last year, there were howls and criticisms aplenty that the play calling was poor. Typically it was when a pass was called when a run seemed the logical choice based on the relative success of the run game in the preceding series, etc. The play call was criticized of course, for the most part, because the play didn't work! Some were critical about calling a pass when a run seemed appropriate EVEN if the pass play was successful. I found myself agreeing with most of the critics in perhaps a dozen situations throughout the season. That's a pretty small number compared to the large number of plays called so I guess I have to conclude that overall the play calling was pretty good (grade it a "B-") although I would also have liked to see Tommy carry the ball about 35 or 40 more carries, especially in those circumstances where we desperately needed to sustain a drive or keep the clock moving with one more first down. I also agree that there was, looking back in hindsight, clearly a good reason to limit Tommy's risk of injury in the run game as his back up was not good enough. I think nearly all would agree that going into this fall, if we did not have Tommy Armstrong, the prospects for a winning season with Fyfe as 'the QB' would not be good. We would not be planning to red shirt POB certainly. I think the run game improved considerably during the course of the season as the line play improved and the RBs all gained confidence and the plays used 'fit' our abilities better. In fairness too, the strong pass tendency suggested to our opponents that we would throw a lot more and that alone will aid the run game some as teams will play a more pass focused defense too. Passing can open up the run game and vice versa. Ultimately, football success is primarily a function of the success of controlling the line of scrimmage (those big guys up front are huge factors in deciding who will win no matter how clever the play calling is or is not).

Need a holder with excellent hands who can run fast or pass decent for fakes, bad snaps, etc. Be a good time to give a couple of our speed burners a try as punter as a guy with top speed might just break a couple runs on the fake punts. I think we should try atleast 5 five fake punts or look at some kind of trickery on 4th downs. Those can help an outmatched team pull off the upset. We will NEED a couple upsets this year to have a special season.

Recruiting him as another FB or RB or maybe a LB? Just curious as to where this guy might be being considered for?

No doubt the Haymarket area which is in easy walking distance to the stadium is a great area to get food and drink and so on Friday, all day Sat and Sun. After many years of 'tailgating' (never out of a vehicle by the way) before and after games, I found there are many folks to meet and have good times with and you can most likely find people to hang out with and get a great Big Red weekend. There are any number of bars and so on with music, pep band, etc. The Athletic Department has in seasons past also had pregame festivities up by the stadium so I am sure you can check out Huskers' sites and find things to do. Traveling that far - you want to get the most Husker fun packed into a weekend you can get! Things I would suggest are: 1. Allow plenty of time to take in all the Husker fever you can. 2. Enjoy time before the game in your tailgating but as you haven't been to games before, leave plenty early (an hour before kick off time for example) on your walk to the stadium as there are interesting things to see and watch along the way as well. The Husker Band traditionally performs along the trek from south of the stadium in the downtown area. The drum / percussion groups also perform on campus as well. You can hear the sounds from a distance so just listen and walk around. 3. There are Big Red shops for clothes and etc. you will want to browse as well. 4. Remember that there is food at the stadium and Big Red Hot Dogs are GREAT and really are RED and try a Runza (a food unique to Nebraska). 5. Allow plenty of time to get into the stadium and make your long trek up to your seats after that obligatory rest room stop (a long line to get in the restroom should be planned for btw! 6. Relax and enjoy and remember to cheer load and sing along and get into the game!

How about we declare a ceasefire as between the Boleavers and Bolievers! It is getting long past due and there will never be a complete agreement as we can all just agree to disagree! It is over and it is history. Bo is no longer the coach and is never going to be the coach again. No matter who the next AD is, it is inconceivable that he or she would rehire him in the future! Bo would not come even if we all magically decided he was the perfect solution to all of the football program's problems. We are ready to start season two of the "Riley era" so let's just try to focus on this year's team, this year's recruits and the prospects going forward into the future! Fall practice is underway and there is a game in about four weeks!!!!!!! Go Huskers!

CBS kind of late on an article about a sell out in question as apparently all the tickets but a small number sold (some tickets alloted by conference rule to opponents' fans being returned). Those will be sold without a question unless somebody is asleep at the wheel in the ticket office. I am amazed at how some want to question the 'validity' of the sell out streak suggesting such notions as that because some boosters bought larger numbers of tickets and resold or gave them away as public relations programs or whatever. The 'sell out' is just that - a sell out of the available tickets. Some will say that - there were empty seats and that is a whole other topic. There are many, many factors which come into play when considering whether or not someone attends vs bought a ticket to attend. I dare say that with 70 or 80 or nowadays 90 thousand people acquire tickets to a college football game in an outdoor stadium, many circumstances will arise which prohibit or infringe upon the ticket holders' choice to actually go and sit in his or her seat for the game. People have daily lives and families and jobs and illnesses and myriad other conflicts which arise on a hourly basis. Attendance figures will vary for any activity or event whether or not tickets are required, are free or highly sought after or not. The ticket office selling all the tickets it chooses to make available for purchase for any given event is also impacted by any number of considerations. A facility is always in the process of remodel, maintenance, repair, cleaning, etc. and of course the events attract media and so on which will vary in number and so on. How many coaches, players, assistants, media and other representatives a given participating team may bring will vary every week as well. TV coverage and their crews and the fact that most games are now broadcasted live to anyone who wants to find a TV set is a great factor in the demand for tickets without question. The fact the economy is not good and has not been for nearly a decade certainly is a major factor as well. The majority of Americans today live on much less income while inflation has driven up dramatically the ticket prices. Additional costs to actually attend have also risen. When the sell out began, attendance would have been cheap and easy for the relative smaller number of seats. Still Bod Devaney had to personally drive all over Nebraska to sell tickets to businessmen and so on just to get funds to help build the program. Many many businesses subscribed to season tickets to help support the athletic department and football even though they didn't plan to attend. Those tickets were in turn given away to friends, family, customers, etc. as promotional items and 'thank yous' etc. Once the winning tradition was established, Nebraska football became very popular for many Nebraskans and of course as the word got out and many casual fans got a taste of the fun of attending, the tickets sold quicker and the need for more seats begot many additions and expansions etc. Smart marketing works! I give the Athletic Department and Coach Osborne and many others whose names are not even well known tremendous regards for a job WELL DONE! It continues to this day many decades later despite all the naysaying and so on. Last year's team did not have a winning season and there was plenty of negativity from the fans but it is also true that the games were very entertaining and fans continued to support the team evidenced by the fact that Memorial Stadium on football Saturdays is STILL aptly described as one of the largest cities in the State. Nebraska has less than 2 million total population spread over an area over 100,000 square miles. Travel is NOT cheap and time is precious, yet nearly 90 thousand (5% of the population almost) takes the trouble to go, when the game can easily and comfortably viewed from the comfort of their own easy chair! This is an amazing thing and should not be belittled! Just my opinion!

Most average people outside the "media" which would be a very broad collection of the TV, print media, radio, internet, Hollywood, political and social organizations, etc. in today's communications world don't even know the difference between right and left in the political or social sense. This same 'media' has, perhaps purposely and perhaps without any particular intent or design or motive or agenda, has so skewed and distorted the messages they spew forth that it is difficult for the relatively uninformed or inattentive to really know what's actually going on. In some cases, the leftist leaning media will hide their agendas and in other cases they are blatantly obvious and do so deliberately. The 'truth' is no longer important - only the effect created or caused by the message's content. To most left leaning media, the impact of the message on the minds of the targeted audience is all that matters. The effort is to sway public opinion on any given topic to a leftist perspective without regard to any attempt to honestly inform them. The slant is often in the omitted information as much as in the 'facts' included in the story. The left learned years ago that 'what the public does not know won't hurt the cause to be supported. When the facts honestly are told, a relatively large majority of the public can think sufficiently rationally so as to make reasonably good judgments as what is and is not best for the Nation and the people who live here. Distortion, lies and misrepresentation is the modus operandi of the left. This approach was promoted by the communists and socialists of eastern Europe and Russia for many decades. For decades, the hard core left (perhaps a couple % or so of the population generally) denied and hid their socialist/communist inclinations for obvious reasons. Being a radical leftist was simply unacceptable to the general public, particularly in electoral politics. For good reasons of course but they knew to hide in the closet so to speak. Bernie Sanders is really the first major political candidate to publicly campaign successfully in a national election in American history. He was a legitimate threat to win the nomination but for the obvious conspiracy within the establishment of the national democrat party to prevent his campaign from actually winning. He came perilously close.

I know you have to not assume UCLA is indicative but while they were not a great run defense, we also did get better running the ball as time went on. Ozigbo made a big difference as opposed to Newby in the inside the tackle stuff. None of them could get wide consistently as for much of the first half of the year we couldn't block on the outside. We don't run enough basic 'pitch' plays and try to use the reverse / fly sweep plays for wide stuff in attempt, apparently, to get more speed out there so we can hopefully turn the corner. But power up the middle plays were darn good last year. We blocked them better as the year went by and had luck against several opponents. Not just Bruins. I am all for getting wide too but you need real speed!

I am positive guy these days and am willing to give Riley lots of opportunity but I am a little uneasy about the use of the phrase "its about selection" in the run game. We saw a little success in the run game outside of the tail back spot in the UCLA with a couple decent gains on the reverses and end around type plays but about three or four of those per game is plenty! Those end around deals blow up and you find yourself in 2 and 16 as well. Those are drive killers as the percentage chance of getting a first down in 2nd and 3rd and 10 plus are low. 3rd and 5 or 6 is one thing but 3rd and 12 or 15 means O line holding blocks much longer, QBs throwing the ball 20 yards or more in the air, etc etc. Short quick throws are much easier for most QBs to complete as the accuracy is much easier. Most people can throw well enough to play catch with someone but when you start throwing hard 20 or more yards to hit a WR on the crossing pattern, it takes some dam good skills and strength. You need to have your footwork down so you get the zip on the ball and accuracy, etc. Errant throws and weak or 'flutter' balls turn into INTs, etc. Sacks and big losses in the run game are drive killers. So 'selectivity' to me is a warning alarm.

Yes, let's all pray seriously and daily for injury avoidance! This is a big year to avoid the ugly ones.

I seem to recall a mention lately that the coaches are expecting to have solid 8 or 9 linemen that have legitimate skills and we should be able to find a solid bunch. From there, you find a couple more decent back ups to spell guys for a few snaps here and there for a month or so while more young'uns get more comfortable. We should be OK absent serious injuries. But we usually have to count on several during season so it could be touch and go at times.

*Starts having flashbacks from the Illinois game Lets remember that Tommy A is a senior and more mature and most likely stronger and every bit as fast as ever. We can expect he will make a bunch of great plays as he is a great athlete. He has always had his share of errors but his physical skills and athletic ability will outshine and give us the chance to get something out of nothing. I just feel we need to have faith that Tommy will be the all conference caliber QB we all know he can be. If they let him make plays with both his arm and his legs and distribute the ball among the many options at RB and receivers (we are as deep as we've been across the offensive skill spots in many years people!), there is every reason to believe we can be quite powerful on offense. The O line will need to gel as we all know but I have faith they will surprise the whole country. Go Huskers.

The rest of the Big Ten doesn't share the amount of loathing Nebraska fans have for Texas, and they would bring in a lot of TVs. They already showed geography and fit don't matter much when they added Maryland and Rutgers. I can't imagine why Ohio State or Michigan or Penn State or Wisconsin or any other school besides Nebraska would WANT Texas. TV Sets you offer? If that were so, why wouldn't they have taken Texas instead of Nebraska or Texas instead of Rutgers or MaryLand? I would offer that those schools don't bring powerful football which is a threat to the 'big boys' and the conference is already plenty strong. They wanted Nebraska because we have a national reputation and don't bring all the ugly baggage of Texas and Nebraska 'fits' geographically compared to most other power name schools. Notre Dame was the best 'fit' but they are too damned independent. Texas thinks they are the Kings and can dictate as we all know. But the MO Tigers and Buffies and Aggies thought better and moved on quite easily. OU is somewhat tied at the hip to Texas because of many cultural connections such as Oil wells and the long Red River boarder, etc. But I could see OU divorcing the LongWhorns in the future because the marriage of convenience is not so happy these days. Of course, if Texas should fall prey to NCAA violations in a desperate attempt to get back on top of the State's football kingdom, then who knows. The Big Ten needs to find a couple more eastern schools situated in the midst of all those big cities and can find bunches of TV sets without all the UT BS. Basketball schools it seems to me make the most sense. Maybe UCONN would be good choice. Or even Boston College if you want some football name without the football power.

Abso-f-ing-lutely NOT! Why on God's green Earth would the Big Ten want Texas. Talk about "fit"? They don't fit on any level. The Big Ten has a reputation to consider and geographically it is nuts! Unless Texas agreed to join and pay an entrance fee of $200 million split equally amongst all other members and Texas would not be permitted to participate in intercollegiate athletics for the first 35 years of membership. At the end of 35 years, the then existing members would vote on whether or not Texas could remain in the conference and what additional sum of 'dues' would be due and payable to allow them to stay. A second vote would then be had, after Texas paid the subsequent membership fees, to decide if they would be allowed to participate in women's sports programs and for how many years. Then after 75 years, Texas could ask for permission to participate in mens' sports and which ones.

The closest candidate to a faschist in this election is of course the self described socialist (socialism, communism, fascism, totalitarianism) are the the opposite ends of the political spectrum from the capitalist/democracy/representative republic forms of self governance. The easiest way to really comprehend the political spectrum is not as the simple straight line but rather the circle which truly depicts the relationships of the various forms of governance/rule. Democracy and self rule are on one side of the circle and the various other forms which include tyranny over the individual by the many in any number of forms is the other. The radical left/right sit side by side on that circle opposite the free and libertarian opposite.

Agree that Ohio State should clearly be higher than Nebraska but by maybe 100 to 85 or so.

Amen! Go Huskers!

... and a new baseball coach, the softball program under Title IX investigation, enrollment is down... Based on Missouri's resume' as listed, then the SEC is unquestionably the place they ought to be! Go the head of the class!

He's got time to reconsider. He can watch the season play out and presumably Huskers exceed the Heels.

I've mentioned it before but I sure hope we have several games this year, before mid October, where we have a big enough lead that we can play some of the non senior seconds and thirds. We desperately need to build depth with real game speed experience. Not just the QB but the young receivers, the younger linemen, and youth all over the defense. We need to reload not rebuild. And, with both TA and Fyfe being gone, 2017 QBs need to have at least a dozen or more passes and 40 or 50 snaps running the offense full bore, not just basic hand offs and running out the clock. They need to have some game time BEFORE we have to put a frosh type starter out there in '17 with nothing but nerves and a 'deer in headlights' reaction.

Just let your Husker family and friends be there to stand by you and with you as you make your way through life. Once a Husker, always a Husker!

Amen!! The best choice for a great football player. His video shows he's almost ready to be the next great fullback. He already runs and hits like a Husker FB! He'll probably have the playbook memorized (heck he probably already has it down!) and a few months pumping Epley iron and getting down the little things like picking up those feet in traffic to avoid the little trips, etc. and he can be breaking those big runs up the gut. Go Huskers! And let the avalanche of new commits begin!

Interesting points on all sides of this discussion. I always look at running back stats by taking out the two longest and two shortest carries and then recomputing the yards per carry, etc. To me, you get a much better indication of how well the back and the running game in general is going if you toss out the longs and shorts and look at what is left. Of course, you need a back or backs that have carried the ball 15 or 20 times to get a more realistic picture. At this point, I kind of prefer the look and running we are getting from Ozigbo over Newby for this reason. Newby may have as good or even better yards per carry overall average but he has a handful of long runs that raise up the average a bunch. Ozigbo gets the extra tough yards and often turns the 2 or 3 yard gain into 4 or 5 while Newby generally does not. I know it is nice to have the home run threat which Newby seems to have much more of than Ozigbo or Cross had. But, if you watch the UCLA game, you see there is a great deal of difference in the typical carry of the backs. Newby seems to be a bit more feast or famine. We need to be able to count on the 4 or 5 yard gain and the wear down the defense with the power game. Now, if Newby adds a few pounds by this year and shows more push, then he might have the edge. Throwing out the big plays for both Nebraska and Iowa might be revealing as to what is really happening on the lines of scrimmage. But to be fair to Iowa, if they don't have their big plays, presumably they would have had more snaps and a few more first downs which would raise their time of possession and lower our snap count as well. The numbers might have been more balanced, you never know. We have to cut down our opponents big plays but in doing so we need to also force more punts, rather than allowing more plays for similar yards.