Sugalean

05 we had horrendous starts and first halves. Last yr out fast but fade. Guess if the staff knew why, we would of been 14-0, 13-1. You can bet Callahan and Co is spending countless hrs for a solution. "Last yr we stressed starting out fast and finishing strong. Guess we should of said something about the middle part." - Bill Callahan disussing the 2005 season at the Big XII media days last season.

Hello, BigWillie. I'd been trying to look up that info and can't seem to find it..(I know I shouldn't care but it was slow at work last week). Seriously..I doubt he really (fully) made up his mind more than a few days before signing day No matter what he supposedly said to reporters... But it did take him a few attempts/hangups to let our coaches know..His bad. But it's sorta like the aftermath of the OU/UO game where Stoops and even the Oklahoma Prez went to the media to complain about the bad calls that directly effected the outcome..And I probably would have too..But what was the bennefit? A kid changes his mind about which school to go to..The timing sucks..Is it our responsibility to label him a "Prima Donna"? or CBC's to call his Mom and tell her she raised a bum? Again..I don't know if any of this happened..But I'm concerned with future recruits believing it did. A verbal commit is just that. A verbal commit. Not binding. In today's world, more than a few change their minds after verballing committing. I heard a story from one of the ppl from Rivals about a Auburn recruit who on signing day announced he was going to Auburn this yr. They had a big press setup at his school with Auburn colors going and and such. His family and coaches were there too. Well on the way to faxing his letter... he switched to FSU. Sent a letter of intent to them instead even catching them offguard. So the Lewis thing (and the Freeman text msg situation last yr) pale in comparison. We really can't get too upset knowing these things can and will happen in today's world. (I still say he wasn't all that and if he wasn't ready to play LB where we needed him he probably was better off playing somewhere else.)

Good one Gamecocks. Best quote so far. Dream big.. play big baby. Beat USC at home. Beat WF on the road. The other pre-conf games hopefully won't be real big challenges. We win those two big ones... we will be sky high full of confidence going into conf. play with a we cant be beat attitude. One game at a time...

You ask and rather you like it or not... Tom Shatel is the Sports editorialist for the biggest newspaper in Nebraska. He wrote a scathing article on access to the AD in the new complex which recieved many of mixed reviews. Actually he did his job, stirred some emotion and sold newspapers. The AD wouldn't take it lying down and wrote a letter to the editor which was printed and they (both Pedey and Shatel) came off as nanny boo-boo artists we see so much on these msg boards. Entertaining but non-productive really. Its been coming to a boil and it finally hit the fans. Pedey won't give them the article the paper has wanted for the past few months (it concerns fund raising or lack of..no wonder) so Tom blindsided him tired of being put off. Kind of funny and childish really...

First of all... After watching Lewis in that Army All-star game I came away disappointed. He looked slow and tentative. Then after listening to online recruit services guru Tom Lemming who was part of the game and observed all the practices I was sold. Tom is on record saying the same. He was much slower than expected and slower than all the other backs. Plus on top of things he balked at playing LB for the game. Wasn't crazy about doing it. He did not impress anyone that week. Now lets see. We recruited him to play LB. No way he plays RB here with the stable already here wouldn't one think? Why waste a schollie on him if he pulls a Beck or Jackson (insert a good 20 players or so too while we are at it) and wants to bolt for greener pastures after a yr? He wants to play RB and OU has said they will give him a look at the spot. I won't be surprised to see he changes positions and plays elsewhere. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if he changes his mind after a yr at OU and xfers somewhere else too. Sorry but the kid didn't look like a 4 or 5 star recruit in Lemming's eyes and didn't in mines as well. (He runs a 4.3? Yeah right... )

$$$$ and age played a factor in the Packers decision. Plus I think Ahman was looking for a longer term contract than the Packers were willing to offer. Ahman is 30. Wow... doesn't seem that long ago I seen him playing when he was playing midget football. He was playing for the Omaha Bears and I had friends that were coaching him. They kept telling me to come watch this little dude run the rock. He in thier opinion was a better back than both of them (one of the guys lettered at Princeton and the other at UNO) at that age which made me skeptical for I played with and against both of them at some point . First of all he wasn't really little and he just amazed me how much better he was than anyone on the field. He ran, threw and kicked. I hadn't seen anything like him at that age and haven't since. Now he is all grown up and signing muti million dollar deals...

Steve didn't and doesn't have to defend himself for every move he makes. IMO this is one of his weaknesses and something he needs to be careful of. Fighting with boosters and writers in the newpapers is counter productive. He wasn't hired to hold nanny boo-boo confrontations with the press or boosters. In fact he need these people in his corner to help make this work for us. Surely he has to see he is further alienating more people in always feeling the need to defend his actions or lack of. Shatel wrote his piece, did his job. Got a great deal of controversey and sold some papers. Pedey should of had nothing to say and if so hold a pow wow with Tom and OWH in private. Not in the public pulse. Didn't help matters any IMO and came off as childish.

Solich is gone... period. Why does this subject keep coming up boggles me. Okay... Frank gave us some 40 yrs. Never seen a losing season the whole time. Great spunky player who gave us oldtimers a thrill. Seen him come into my neighborhood and completely turn around a Holy Name HS squad who almost won the mythical state championship after only winning 3 or so games in the 5 yrs before. Went to Lincoln SE as a assistant and lo and behold they immediately started a run of domination in Lincoln. Went back to his alter mater and helped them win NCs and send many of young man to the pros. Okay so his HC experienced soured quite a few towards the end. Still, must we treat him like he stole our girlfriend to this day? After he contributed more in the world of athletics and football in this state than any of us on here? Why can't we celebrate the good things he did do which in my opinion far outweigh a few bad losses we suffered? Why must we continually hold those games over his head? The man is gone now. Don't know if we should of kept him or not. Wasn't my call. Thought maybe since he had 1 yr left on contract and a new staff he deserved one more yr to prove we were heading in right direction. Then make a decision on his future as HC. Personally I was just as critical of him as I am with Billy Cee, was with T.O. and the Bob father. Point out the good with the bad I say. Still to continually put in knife in the man's back after he is gone is just so wrong...

Hmmmm.... Don't know about adjustments. Yeah we probably could do a ton better in that department when I go back and think of 2nd half struggles last yr. I think the bottom line though is points.... you know scoreboard. We simply need to be scoring more. If you check the scoreboard last season... something marvelous occurred everytime we scored 30 points or more. So IMO there is your goal. Coming to the field every Saturday ready to explode for at least 30. I like the 5 td a game theory. We aint sastisfied as a team unless we scored 5 that day. And I don't care how ya do it. Pounding the rock or airing it out. Heck add in sp teams and defense too. And you need to do it all season long too, not just vs the cream puffs. Go and check the top ranked teams in the country. Many of them avg over 30pts and in conf play too. If you take off the pre conf play patsies we faced last yr... we were short of 30, slightly better than the yr before. Add em in and we are around 30. Raised that in conf play.... we got it going on me thinks. As for Taylor... wasn't he Conf player of the yr? Need we say more?

South Bend where it was widely reported that these bad azzes had T.D. Jesus tied up and gagged at a disclosed place. So I ....

Keeps his elbow nice and high. Appears to me in the pics posted, he now even gets it (elbow) higher than a few yrs ago. His throwing motion isn't all that bad. He tends to bend at the waist on his follow thru like a baseball player. Puts a little more body in it than most QBs. They like QBs to stand tall and deliver tall. Baseball its start tall and finish small. One thing I notice at end of yr is he lost some zip. Throwing too much in practice is my feeling. He really threw well though at the combines. Looked much stronger than say the Auburn or OU game. I seen a 30yd out he hit on the money that other QBs had been having problems with earlier. The scouts and coaches in attendance oooowed and gave him a applause for the throw. He probably threw more accurate passes than most at the camp. I think the time away gave his arm much needed rest. From what I heard, while at NU he would be throwing over a hundy balls a day a lot. Arm wears down after a few months of that.

First, let me correct some things for you. Pud is a local guy. He's originally from North Platte, NE. Frank Solich is not from Nebraska. He played for Nebraska and was a coach here for several years, but he's not a native Nebraskan. You may be right that Solich wouldn't have been hired if there was a search committee. If I remember right, Dollar Bill Byrne wanted to hire Bob Stoops. TO stepped in and recommended Solich, so Solich was hired. In TO's defense, I believe he did this to keep NU from stepping into the same arena as other college football programs. He wanted a coach to be here until they retired. He didn't want someone new to come in for a few years and then jump ship to the next best paying job. Volleyball has been near the top for several years, try over a decade (NC in 95). Baseball was coming on strong long before Pud ever took over the reigns. Mens basketball has always been kind of a joke. We've had a couple of runs when we won the Big 8, but we've never been consistently good. NU has been regarded very high for graduation rates long before Pud was ever hired. I believe we are still #1 in football academic all americans. IMO, there were some lies about the Houston game a couple of years ago. There were some lies in regards to who had been contacted and in what regard before BC was hired. I believe the reason for Solich's dismissal was a lie. Solich spent from 1961-62 to 2003 here in Nebraska as player and coach (never seen a losing season... not as a player... not as a high school coach... not as a collegiate coach.) Makes him a Nebraskan for me. As for Pedey... shame on him in getting in a childish tiff over a silly media guide. Just mind boggling if you ask me. The main problem with Pedersen is this. He alienates the wrong people. Boosters, fans, school administrators at other schools, ESPN and now the biggest newspaper in the state. Not the smartest moves on his part. Seems to me, if I were AD at a football happy school in a football happy state... Id be extra careful to keep them (OWH and the press in general) in my corner. Accesibillty to the program is becoming a bigger issue with each yr now. Now we are seeing a adverse effect from it now. This is a situation that needs to be addressed by the administration IMO in the near future. The press can make ya or break ya if you aren't careful. I wrote this on another board that goes into detail why these titans are squaring off in the public. http://www.bighuskerfan.com/phpBB2/viewtop...88&start=60 They were getting on me pretty good but sorry... I don't sugar coat it. I SUGA coat it!

Well Travis... I thought the same thing when we played OSU this season too. I know it was on the road but it was OSU for Christ's sake. We just don't lose to OSU often. But we did. The thing about WF is they won games they used to lose annually. That made them a major player in thier conference. You can't take them lightly. They made great progress since we last seen them while its arguable on the progress made by the Huskers since we last seen them. They will know what to expect from us (as so should we) and both teams could possibly be ranked going into that game. It will be huge to come out victorious. Lets don't forget they finished some 8-9 places in the rankings ahead of us this year.

This reminds me of a time when the Huskers had a lousy 1st half and the coach came in the lockeroom red as a beet madder than all get out. After the game (which we won) one of the players said that was the maddest they had ever seen him get. That he even used the "DG" word, which really got the press attention. Then the player goes yeah... he used the dadgummit on us a few times. When he does that you know he is not happy and he got our full attention then...

Good points Sker... I also think playing us at home helped them get better too. Going into that season I don't think they were getting a lot of love from the pundits. This season, they kind of had the season we had last yr in terms of improving. Had they won thier bowl game they would be flying high going in to the spring game. Now they have incentives to improve because they will hate how they finished as will Nebraska too. Husker fans are difficult to follow I think. If we lose to WF it won't be a big thing unless we lose futher down the line a few times. Then it will be a issue to many. If we can win those games on the road next yr... each one will be a big boost to the squad. We are so at a crossroads right now.

He was the POY, but that does not mean that he was great at everything that he does. He won POY because he was great at throwing the underneath routes which lead to a high completion percentage and high touchdowns and low interceptions. He did not win the POY because he threw the ball down field with great success. If Zac would of thrown a better pass there, it would have been a touchdown not just a catch. But because it was a poorly thrown ball, we ended up having to go for it on fourth down just to score a touchdown rather than having Matt walk into the endzone with a perfectly thrown pass. Throwing the ball a long ways does not make a person a great long ball passer. Like I said in an earlier post, Lord could throw the ball a long ways, but he was one of the worst passer that Nebraska ever had. Oh that long slant pass that was caught within five yards of the line of scrimmage that Nunn ran the rest of the 52 yards for a touchdown. Or his 14 yard touchdown pass to Swift. Or his 13 yard pass to Hardy. Those were his three longest pass plays against Michigan. So I wouldn't say that he threw it long effectively at all. Maybe the coach knows that he can't throw it downfield with great success so they don't call many plays for him to do so. He may have connected on a few long passes this year, but he has not shown that he can consistantly throw down the field with great accurarcy and be successful at it. It is a Duke Aviator, and I will talk about basketball with ya if you want. But you might want to freshin up on some of your football knowledge before you start telling other people what to do. Awwww don't get yer panties all twisted in a wad Homeslice... You have selective memory ... Michigan game he hits Nunn on a deep post that set up a score. Not a slant in. (maybe you need to bone up[ your football too...). You are just illing on Zac. Right now he is about to win the starting job in the shine bowl this week beating the others out. When you are as open as Matt was on that pass... you make sure he catches it over trying to get the TD. Besides Matt should of scored had the turf not jumped up and tackled him. Anybody that comes to a NU board with a Duke avi... and starts hatin on Zac Taylor... can't be taken seriously. And naw.... you can have Duke basketball... I'll stick to NU football anyday baby...

The only two long throws he made against USC, in my memory, was the streak pass to Nunn and the long pass to Herian where he under threw the pass and Matt was waiting at about the five for a good two or three seconds before it got there. Sure Taylor made a couple of passes down the field, but they were not great passes. Jamal Lord mades some down the field throws but that does not make him a good passer. Sheesh... the guy was POY in the Big 12- !?!? Plus Herion was so open Zac underthrew it so he could make the catch. Same in the KU game. Sometimes you need to ya know. I also remember him throwing a bomb on OU that had to be 65 yds last season that just missed Swift. He threw it long effectively vs Michigan as well. I think his arm is underestimated. Seemed to me that when he underthrew it, most of times he may needed to get rid of it a little quicker (ala Big XII CC game). I don't get it... the coach doesn't let him go vertical very much so how can ppl claim he can't make those throws when past history says he is capable of making those throws? What are they going off of? The throw this yr he had problems with was the sideline medium outs. I thought quicker release myself. He was making that throw too last season. He seemed to struggle at times this season with that throw. Besides... isn't that a Duke avi? You may need to stick to roundball my man.

Huh? Where are you guys getting this info? http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/news;_ylt=As...p&type=lgns They are returning 15 starters minus one... (John Abbate-Stud linebacker going to pros). This team is going to be very tough to beat on the road. I hate it they have improved since we last played them (Michigan too) and we kinda took a small step backwards or to the side. They were ranked ... we were not. NU will need big road wins and take care of business at home next yr or the boo boirds may come out by season's end me thinks. Another 4 or 5 loss season will have more than a few not happy...

I thought Marlon showed great progress. He had the best natrual instints of the commitee. Did the little things the best of them like ball security, always having the ball in the right hand and a great tuck. I think Jackson having such a great yr running with the ball took some of the shine off Marlon. PPl started comparing the two a lot. I wasn't really impressed with none of them in pass pro. Seen em all get ran over including Glenn or whiff on blocks. We must also remember Marlon's back gave him some ugly moments. He lost a little lean into the line and started running a little more upright. Its understandable. I thought what grit in the Cotton bowl. You could tell he was really hurting. Also thought he was best coming off the bench as I did with Jackson. They both seemed to be a step faster than everyone else when they came into the game fresh. Plus it seemed Marlon was taking notes before he entered the game when he came off the bench. Like he knew exactly how he would attack defenses by watching it unfold on the bench before entering game. Next yr he will be stronger, faster and more experienced. We may forget all about BJax before the season is over. We need to keep him healthy and happy.

Ouch!!! But you have a valid point there... Then again he could be a sleeper pick (like that 7th rd pick rookie WR who is starting at New Orleans) and wished he had stayed and showed he could go a whole season. I think that is the biggest question mark with NFL teams going into the draft. Can he last though pre-season even? Maybe that played into him deciding to leave early too. Thinking he may only want to play so many seasons in the first place? His resume is filled with incomplete seasons. Maybe he is thinking "get it while you can?". Who knows what these kids think these days...

Lets hope the coach lets him stretch the field more than he did with Taylor. There were times I felt Zac played with handcuffs on. Ppl kept saying he couldn't make those throws but I clearly remember him making those throws. KU and USC games comes to mind. I also have a friend whom I correspond on another msg board who lives in Mesa Az and he said the only bad rap he had on Keller was he sometimes will force the ball into coverage. They all do that thou, even the best of them. Also said he had problems with a few of the older guys on the team and some of the staff thus the mutiny.

If that is the case than that is a pretty f'ing stupid reason to go. Straw that broke the camel's back? I don't get that. He might not have been happy with the cotton bowl experience but I don't think it played any part in him leaving. Its pretty plain to see he has someone(s) advising him. I still think another yr like he had this yr would of pushed him near the top of backs coming out next yr. Right now he is iffy 3rd rd pick and probably a sure 4th rounder. Next yr he would of been a first day pick. He missed out on all the hype going into the next season he would of received too. He would of been a cover boy on all the regional publications. The press would of made him a media darling by the time the season started. You can't measure what that type of thing can do for your future. Brandt was right on this one. The combine could help him but the pros already know he is capable of running a fast 40. He wont surprise anyone there really. Plus whats the hurry? Another yr would help in his case. WE are talking earning thousands over making millions a yr? A no-brainer if you ask me.

Byrne rarely had press conferences in his tenure. When he did he wouldn't speak much. He kinda let things speak for itself. Sure he had the ones announcing schedules, and coaching changes. And one of the most difficult ones he had was explaining the loss of the swimming team and the firing of a wrestling coach. He didn't even hold one when Nee was let go. Probably the most I've seen him talk was when they annouced the new baseball park to be built. Whenever he hired a new coach he would simply say a statement or two and let the new coach take the podium. When Frank was introduced as the new coach it happened on the same day Tom announced his retirement. I think Tom wanted to do this and Bill obliged. I really can't read much into that. Tom has said he was on a time table. Why can't we leave it at that? No conspiresy involved. It was no secret that Frank was next in line and his position as ast HC under Tom during the final yrs screamed this. If there is one thing Dr Osborne didn't do to us through the yrs... its lie to the public.

Nate is also (arguabaly) the best route runner on the team.

If he could pick up another 5-10 lbs of muscle and not lose a step would serve him very well. I was noticing this week that all the feature backs playing in the playoffs last weekend were 220 plus behemoths. Now days the starters are like fullbacks of 7 yrs ago in the NFL. Maybe Jones of Chicago was the smallest one starting. Presently BJ is 210 lbs and kinda small these days for a starting back. Another plus for him would be to show that he could maybe return kickoffs. A negative will be there is not a lot of teams hurting at RB right now. Still that could change by next fall. He definitely will need to beat someone out to make a squad whereas Adrian Petersen will have someone possibly be cut to make room for him.