Caliborn72

We struggle with Arkansas State, not looking especially sharp on offense while giving up a few big plays on defense. Final score of 23-17. This has many fans rightfully nervous until we beat Oregon on the road by 10 the following week.

There's a bit of a cult feel to it which is the weird part to me. I don't mind the corn. I don't even mind the commercial really, I'm just saying.

Weird stuff can happen to even the most experienced offenses in week 1. Pre-snap penalties and holds that kill drives. Not being completely sharp and missing throws, that kind of thing. Always the safe bet to assume lower scoring output even if the opponent is a G5. I'd be more than okay with the offense putting up 30 or so points assuming it's a comfortable win and there are promising flashes that suggest the offense will get better as the season goes on. But I understand why that seems like a pretty low O/U.

https://www.twitter.com/AndrewGreif/status/902215398434643968 Lots of freshmen in the two-deep. We should be able to take advantage of their inexperience at NT. Nervous about their offense but I feel better about this game.

The IMG game is tomorrow.

Tom Loy tweeted that Clemson offered. Bring on that 5th star.

Sounds like he had a great fall camp. We have the benefit of redshirting him thankfully, which sounds likely, but if we weren't solid at ILB then he'd be a contender for early PT. He didn't get the Florida/FSU/Miami offer so he went unnoticed but this guy is an ideal 3-4 ILB in my opinion and I think we got super lucky to land him (or land him as easily as we did I should say). He also didn't play the recruiting game, which hurt his chances at being a 4th star that I believe he should have been. Bray and Diaco will turn him into a conference all-American is my bullish take.

He does have an excellent offer list, no denying that. I think he has tremendous potential and those offers reflect that. But I've thought he might be boom or bust at the next level. An interesting prospect who I will trust our staff's judgement on if he commits to us but I won't be overly concerned if he ends up elsewhere.

Even if he is never able to cover an outside WR, you still need DBs like him in today's football. Quick twitch guys who can cover the slot while also stepping up and blowing up run plays and screens. Only issue with a DB that height would be physicality which Bookie has in spades. He's a fiery competitor and I really don't care about his height. Bookie will be on the field a lot and I love that national people keep sleeping on him, it only adds fuel to the fire.

Comparing and contrasting the "5 takeaways" from Dienhart, he's far more bullish about Wisconsin. He was very complimentary of our practice but I thought he did an unfortunately good job of being complimentary without really saying anything. Which was fine, I figured he'd do that for most of the teams. Then he went out and basically said Wisconsin is impressive everywhere and that losing their defensive MVP hasn't really shaken them up. "A lot will have to come together," was his takeaway from Lincoln. Seems like we have a lot of good in places, with the hopes that greatness will rise, both from the talent here and from the system on both sides of the ball. I'm still cautiously optimistic, could use some more good news though.

Tommy Bush seems really boom or bust. Obviously, I'll trust our staff and KDub to help him reach his potential. But I'm also interested to see if he ends up at a place like Texas or FSU (or here), or ends up somewhere more like Baylor. Texas seemed like such an early favorite that it's weird to me that he hasn't committed there yet.

Does make you wonder how the heck the OLine could have had such a bad day with Stoltenberg out. If anything, you'd think we'd hear about how the OLine dominated up front and then the observers would remind us that the DLine was missing the key man in the middle and not to freak out that the defense got worked over. ??? All around.

There was a mention that Stoltenberg might get some days off as a precaution with his injury history and to also get valuable reps for other guys. Is there more to it?

https://www.twitter.com/HuskerExtraSip/status/898239905263886336 Well, okay. I've seen some speculation that Knevel is really struggling lately. There's still some time left to get things figured out.

Will OV Oregon for the game against Nebraska. Wise choice so he can check out both teams

Great reports. Have to love that the tempo was impressive despite new coaches on one side of the ball. Easy to see Diaco was worth the money.

Not pointed at you Norhusker because I completely agree, but I've seen some people on twitter and other boards suggesting that Freeman is all they have. I just want to say, Herbert scares me a great deal - possibly even more than Freeman. He's a really good QB, he had a great true freshman season, and is primed for a breakout year.

http://www.cfbanalytics.com/predictions.php This was posted on Scout. This site has us going 8-4 with 1pt losses to Ohio State and Wisconsin, a 7pt loss @Oregon, and a 16pt loss @PSU. They have us in a lot of dog fight wins, which probably signifies that their formula doesn't know what to expect from us at this point (how could it?). Seems fair but it would be brutal to have all these close games this year haha. How would people feel about this version of an 8 win season? A close loss to Ohio State would be heartbreaking, but also promising. Another close loss to Wisconsin would suck though, need to get over that hump already. Wisconsin: 11-1 Northwestern: 9-3 Iowa: 6-6 Just for discussion purposes, obviously can't take any analytics as complete truth yet, especially with how many changes we have in place.

http://sportsformulator.com/en/college-football-predictions-week-1-2017/ This site has us as a 70% favorite, winning 34-16. I'd be more than happy with that output from the offense in game 1.

Mod Edit: Link removed A quick, bastardized summary is that he thinks we have some real strengths this year, Lee is the real deal and the offense can finally do some of the things DL and MR want them to do. He thinks the OLine can be good this year but is also in the "prove it" stage. Defensively, we are good on DLine, ILB, and S - depth is the only concern. He feels CB and OLB are the biggest weaknesses on the team. He concluded with his thoughts that we probably have enough strengths to win 9, maybe 10 games if the right things fall in place, but we also have enough weaknesses to exploit to think we won't end up with 10. 8 is his prediction, reminding everyone that @PSU is a tough swap on the schedule and that 8 could still mean a better year than last year.

Like anything, it's probably not worth overreacting about yet. But during camp, all around the country, coaches make statements that require some reading between the lines. I'm not sure that it's an effort issue, it could be any number of things including Gebbia being really, really good. I've now read updates from two different writers stating that POB has struggled in fall camp thus far. POB is still young, but he's been here for two spring camps and is now working in his second fall camp. Definitely don't want to hear that he's regressing or not making progress. Especially when the back-up role is essentially falling into his lap. Something to keep an eye on is all I'd say.

Regardless of what it says about Gebbia (I do find it promising about him), it's definitely a read between the lines situation with POB. Something isn't right there. He should be pushing hard for #1, not struggling to keep the back-up job. Especially because I don't think Gebbia will be ready physically. DL trying to light a fire under POB.

Not all that encouraging but sometimes you just have a bad day in camp. This is the crucial part of camp, where the excitement of the first week or so has worn off and now you're looking at 20 more practices before the season is here. Sometimes guys lose a little fire around this time. It's not a big deal as long as the offense comes out angry and kicks butt tomorrow.

No longer committed to Tennessee although it sounds like they're still one of his favorites along with us and Oregon.