zoogs

He's a senior, correct? I'm not familiar with transfer rules, but why would we want a senior QB to come here? Seems to me we've been focusing a LOT on the skills positions in recruiting. We're pulling in more RBs and WRs than we can handle, the same goes for QB I think (Does BC not have confidence in Ganz??)...while we're getting razor thin in the secondary.

I agree with that assessment - while there's not going to be a magical cutoff point, the idea is our offense needs to be clicking like the Energizer bunny if we stand a shot. USC has questions on defense, I believe - they've had shootouts last year and lots of close calls. We have the defensive edge in the game, so all prayers will be on Zac Taylor and co working out all the chinks by game 3. That said, our defensive edge is not THAT huge and they'll still put up lots of points on us, esp given the state of our secondary without Bowman. I think the Trojans will score at least 31 points in this game, so we had better fan the fire to put up a barnburner. If we fall behind early and get reckless...well, let's not think about that.

On the other hand, we've got a good corps of linebackers, more than we can field at a time. 4-4-3?

Ah, I got you. The three flaming smiley faces didn't load for me the first time, so I missed your point.

If I recall, his brother Eli played us in '02, when we went against Ole Miss in the bowl game. We lost that one though.

USC plays Notre Dame this year, and also Arizona State and Cal, in addition to Nebraska. I'm guessing they could lose two out of four there. I forgot about that. Pretty bad year for our defense. *shudders at PSU game* Then again, PSU had some remarkable talent, look where Larry Johnson is now...

I agree it's probably already been decided. However, while we're hearing all this great news about Glenn, Wilson, and Jackson, we haven't been hearing too much about Lucky lately...have we?

does this make sense?? Sure it does. At any rate he sounds like he's bubbling over with excitement. All indications are good.

Can't be that hard. Remember, back in the recent day until last year? The Red River shootout was the game Texas couldn't win, ever since Oklahoma destroyed them 63-14 or something in 2000. My friend a Longhorn fan has been moaning about that for a while, until this year. USC will be fine this year. John David Booty or Mark Sanchez, I think they'll still come out with a great year, if the recent past is any indication. I mean, three of their last two starting quarterbacks are in the NFL.

Yeah I agree with Bleedin Red, although I wouldn't call it exactly "well behaved." Not storming the field is not indicative of being well behaved, necessarily. It's just, when Kansas snaps a 68-year losing streak or however long it was and throttles us, they go crazy with school pride and Jayhawk euphoria. Let them have their fun, it doesn't happen very often. Whereas, we are never quite so satisfied to win any particular game, because we come in with expectations to win in the first place. I suspect if we went 0-12 for five or six seasons, then welcomed USC to our home turf and laid a 42-0 lambasting on them, you'd see Husker fans storming the field too.

Not one of them even mentioned Tommie Frazier.

Weakness in the secondary doesn't kill a program. It depends on how the team and the coaches respond to it. *Points at the latest Patriots championship team* Which, coincidentally, had a wide reciever playing corner...not unlike what we're trying to do with Fluellen/Spain.

As good as this team is, I think we're still in the improving process and will have some issues with inconsistency this season. I think we'll start off strong, stumble against USC, and have some midseason difficulties before bouncing back to close - hopefully. I think a fair estimate would be 9-3 heading into the conference championship, with the other two losses coming against Texas and perhaps Iowa State, A&M, or Colorado - one of those three. I threw Colorado on the list just because back in the '97-'00 years, it was a hair-raising affair regardless of Colorado's skill level and rank. After that, I think we'll be able to pull off a win in the conference championship game against Texas (probably), and all bets are off if we get into a BCS game. If we do, well, I can't tell if I think we win or if I'm just hoping.

Yep, I believe Hardy is a junior this season. It's nice having more young talent than we have room to list as starters, and I hope we'll get to see all of them contribute throughout the season. Hopefully, egos won't take first place and we won't see receivers or backs complaining about how they're not getting enough playing time...

In '01, I believe, when we played a ranked Notre Dame team the broadcasters noted that we had two games under our belt while Notre Dame was in their first game of the season against us, and it showed. I think USC, despite having to break in a new quarterback and running back, is considerably better that '01 Notre Dame team. And having a 2-1 advantage is a far cry from a 2-0 advantage. It's too little to draw conclusions on - they have one game, we have two; they'll be breaking in John David Booty (or Mark Sanchez?) while we return Zac Taylor...it's all guesswork at this point. I think it's too early to expect a win here. I'll hope and cheer for one with the rest of you, but let's be fair here: to pull off a victory at USC would be a huge upset, which by nature indicates it's completely unexpected. In that same Notre Dame game mentioned above, the broadcasters also said it was just pure, simple football, not much to analyze or give away. Of course, I don't think you could say the same about WCO. That said, I don't think we'll necessarily limit what we do. I think it's good sense to add in a few surprises, bells and whistles for the USC game, but I don't really think it would be a good idea to constrict the gameplan against any opponent. The advantages are too sparse, IMO, for it to be worth it. Think about it: the first two games, our team has to gel together and tune-up for USC. We can't do that if we're going to be playing a fundamentally different game against USC. And if we don't play a fundamentally different game, there's no advantage of not letting them screen videos of us at all. True, but we do return a lot of starters, too, particularly on defense. And we return Zac Taylor, while they've lost a QB, two trophy running backs and I believe their top WR.

I don't recall any black on the helmet, but as far as uniform changes go, I'm pretty sure the last change they made was in '02, when the Away Team uniforms were all white, with a red stripe running down the sides. I think a year later we had gone back to the red pants again.

Eric Crouch was in CFL news not so long ago. I don't have a link handy, but the third-stringer QB for the Toronto Argonauts got a chance to start when the two guys in front of him went down. He went 4-9 I believe, and threw a 90-yard pass en route to a victory. Imagine that.

XD!

Short of cloning Zac Taylor - always possible - I don't think it's really a good idea to pull up a juco. Why take a junior coming up from the JC levels to play out two years of eligibility, when we've got a junior (or two) for next year, having spent two or three seasons already in this system? I mean, aren't juco players supposed to plug serious gaps, and not to form the backbone of a team on? I'd rather entrust this offense to Joe Ganz for a couple of years, and then see how Witt and any other future QBs we take from high school are doing. I'd like to see that too. Homebrew talent

But you gotta reach. When one of those sixteen teams makes it to the NC, he wants to be the one that says, "You heard it here first!" This is all just wild speculation anyway. Who knows what unknown team will pull off a fairytale season? I hate to say this, but we're kinda a reach, too...

Very true. I was kinda hoping he would get taken by the Pats and be our next franchise RB...from my possibly biased point-of-view, he SHOULD be a Pat. He's like Corey Dillon reincarnated. No, but I remember Fabian Washington Which team was he on?

all you have to do is register with Omaha.com with your email and a pass word. it is easy and it is free Alternatively, you can refer to bugmenot and not have to deal with websites that nag you with required free registrations I hope so! But I think you'd want to break them in as quickly as possible to the rhythm, rather than one-dimensionalize the playbook. Who knows, it worked with Tom Brady. I know, far out example.

Omaha.com article on Joe Ganz

Taking a step back and putting it into perspective, I suppose we're all being a mite unfair on Beck. True, what he did was inexcusable - but understandable. Well, a little bit, anyway. What his mother did was likewise inexcusable - but understandable. But, look - if everything had been settled, if he had come back - we wouldn't be lopping all this hell on him. I bet we all would've welcomed him back with open arms. And made all the necessary counter arguments dismissing or excusing his previous behavior.

I remember Isiah Fluellen tearing up the field with some great runs...he's fast. And a junior, I believe? ... Or...was that Mark Leflore? Or...I'm so confused x_x After the West Coast shakeup, I've completely lost track of the receiver scene, who's who, and all.