JTrain

How is it clear that most of the veteran Ohio State players do not like Pryor? You can see it in the way they play and interact with the guy. Boeckman was well liked and the seniors on the team felt like he got a raw deal. Anyway, Granted he might have a ways to go in the passing game, but would Watson consider playing Green in some kind of "Wild Husker" formation? I think you meant Wild/Crazy Cob/Corn formation. If we keep landing kids like Cody Green, then the next several years are going to be very good times for Huskers around the world. I think Crazy Maize has a nice ring to it, if not for the Michigan connotations. Crazy Cob sounds kinda cool too.

I don't understand your point about the high scoring state championship showing low competition. If Oklahoma beats Florida 52-51 on Thursday, does that mean neither team is any good? Maybe you were implicitly making the point about the defenses only. You clearly know a lot more about high school football than I do, but I still maintain that the class Green played in has a higher level of competition than the class Pryor played in. And Green's numbers were more impressive. Let's hope Green's toughness and will to win is considerably greater than Pryor's. But I don't expect Cody Green to start or even play next year. I expect him to redshirt and compete for the job in 2010. And of course he has plenty to work on (nearly all incoming freshmen do) but if his attitude is right, he has the tools to be something special. Of course, not even the most skilled talent analyst has any clue how Cody Green will turn out. Maybe he'll be the next Turner Gill (legend), the next Curt Dukes (complete bust) or just the next Jammal Lord (somewhere in between). There are a million factors. Since he isn't likely to take a snap for at least another 606 days, I'll gladly imagine him as a future All-American. Because what would my life be worth if I couldn't spend my time fantasizing about 18-year-old males?

I don't know if that needed clarification. Yes, we all realize he is in high school, and he is playing against fellow high schoolers, of course. But does that mean you discredit stats completely? Of course not. AAAA high school football in Texas is nothing to scoff at. We're not talking about eight-man football here. There are some pretty impressive athletes on that level. And Cody's numbers are impressive for just about any level if you ask me. They are better than Pryor's (whose completion percentages were in the low to mid 50s) who played in a smaller class in PA. Now I'm not calling Green the next Vince Young of course, as I've seen way too many major recruiting busts at Nebraska (don't forget Curt Dukes!). But there's nothing wrong with being excited about him, and having good reason to believe he has the tools to be a successful D1 passer. If anyone is weighing these kids down with expectations, it's not the fault of HuskerBoard, or even the Husker fan base in general. It's the hundred million-dollar recruiting services that turn high school seniors into superstars before they even step on a college football field. Nothing we say (or don't say) here is going to slow those companies down. So I say, have fun! Keep your feet in the ground, but your head in the clouds. We all know the chances of Cody being the next Tommie Frazier are slim, but we can dream! Having absurd and irrationally high expectations is a fun part of being a fan. Hell, I know the odds of us winning the national championship next year are about 0.00261%, but don't think I won't make time to slip on my rose-colored glasses and think we have a chance. I like to think of Cody Green with giant eagles wings, and singin' lead vocals for Lynyrd Skynyrd with, like, an angel band. But if he doesn't turn out that way, I won't be down on him. I just hope he works hard and develops into the best player he's capable of being. And by the way, I fully expect him to redshirt next year. All that being said, I hope he turns out better than Pryor, who is a very mediocre passer and shies away from contact like no one I've ever seen before. I almost got sick watching him run out of bounds well before making contact with any defender, regardless if the first down marker was near. Even most of the million dollar assets in the NFL aren't that frightened of taking on a tackler.

According to Rivals, his 2008 passing stats were as follows: 230 of 351 (65%), 3226 yards, 36 TD, 5 INT If that is not being able to throw the ball, I sure wish I was not able to throw the ball.

I know I'm a little biased, but you have to put the Gator Bowl in the top five I would think. I didn't get to watch a lot of them around New Year's (driving) but listened to most of them on the radio at least. So for anyone that got to watch them all (or most of them at least) how would you rank your top five? I would think the following should be in consideration: New Mexico Colorado State 40, Fresno State 35 New Orleans Southern Miss 30, Troy 27 (OT) Poinsettia TCU 17, Boise State 16 Meineke Car Care West Virginia 31, North Carolina 30 Papajohns.com Rutgers 29, NC State 23 Alamo Missouri 30, Northwestern 23 Humanitarian Maryland 42, Nevada 35 Armed Forces Houston 34, Air Force 28 Holiday Oregon 42, Oklahoma State 31 Sun Oregon State 3, Pittsburgh 0 Music City Vanderbilt 16, Boston College 14 Gator Nebraska 26, Clemson 21 Liberty Kentucky 25, East Carolina 19 Fiesta Texas 24, Ohio State 21

I think you nailed it. Nice work I can't say I remember that game. Or at least not very clearly.

Gator: Suh, Castille, Peterson, Henery Season: Ganz, Helu, Suh, Henery

It's sort of amazing if you think about it. Bo's team just did something that hasn't been done by any Husker team in a long time. Now if someone can just tell me exactly how long.

We were down 10-7 at half against Miami.

No, he's just insanely pissed off. Michigan '05 was tied 14-14 at half. Texas A&M '02 was a seven-point deficit at half. You're gonna have to go back to before 2002, probably waaaay back.

That's a tough question to answer. Both defenses played very well against us. The Oklahoma game is tough to judge, because it was 35-0 before you could blink, so they didn't have to play too aggressively for the final three quarters. They made us look like a high school team in the first quarter, so for that alone I would have trouble picking against them. As good as Clemson's defense is, I felt like we killed ourselves offensively, especially in the first half. Our playcalling just wasn't very good. I was at the game and kept wondering when Wats was going to test them deep, since they were playing without much safety help the majority of the time. We didn't even try it until the 3rd quarter, when it resulted in two touchdowns. So I would give the nod to OU's defense by a slight margin. Now, if you asked the same question but substituted "fans" for "defense" it would be Clemson's hands down.

Prior to the Gator Bowl, when was the last time Nebraska came back from more than one score (at least nine points) at halftime to win a game? I started thinking about this sitting in the stands at halftime down 14-3. I know Baylor this year and 2003 Penn St. had been the last two times we overcame halftime deficits, but those were only three points and one point respectively.

He's no longer considering us. He'll probably end up at USC or Ohio St.

Any Husker commits or prospects in this?

Nebraska 31 Clemson 20 Rushing 122 Passing 296

These are still available! For anyone who made the last minute decision, this is going to be your best option. $36.25 per ticket. Please email me or PM me ASAP if you're interested.

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And if that defense under-achieved as you believe, surely that would not show well for Pelini's coaching ability. For how a group plays in relation to its talent level is usually a direct result of coaching competency. I prefer to think they over-achieved slightly, given the circumstances. And apparently others agreed, seeing how Bo's career path went after 2003.

^^^sad but true. when i think about all those guys in the nfl (and i love following them) i cant help but think they underachieved while here somehow. oh, im sure someone will bring up the offense this or that, but doesnt defense win championships? Offense and defense are intricately intertwined, whether anyone cares to admit it or not. I doubt any of Osborne's offenses were ranked 83rd in the country, so McBride didn't have to deal with carrying such a burden often (not to mention the Big 8 schedule didn't offer too many explosive offenses, other than OU). And when our offense finally saw a significant decline (1998, although it still wasn't as bad as '03) McBride's defense had PLENTY of problems. Like giving up 500+ yards and 40 points to Kansas St. And let's not forget Troy Edwards (NCAA record 405 receiving yards). But let's not get into a Bo vs. Charlie argument. We love them both, of course, and they are both great defensive coaches. On the 2003 season, the numbers don't lie. Check them again if you don't believe me. That defense was exceptional (throw out the NFL careers if you like... just focus on the stats) for the most part and their statistical rankings show it. And no, they weren't perfect. But when you're offense isn't even getting into double digits, even the '85 Bears are going to give up some points. And as Bo would not have us forget, Kansas St. poured it on us when our starters had already been removed. And your claim that we had 40 points scored on us three times is simply untrue. That happened once, against Mizzou (41), and one touchdown came on fake field goal. Kansas St. scored 38, most of which came after the dam broke in the fourth quarter (and at least one touchdown against our which were allowed to play once the game was out of reach, because it was Senior Day). And Texas only scored 31 with Vince Young and Cedric Benson (despite the fact that our offense was completely impotent, putting up 175 yards and 8 first downs!). So you show me a defense that could overcome an offensive counterpart that was inconsistent at best and flat-out ugly at worst, and still be #2 in scoring defense AND at the same time consistently shutdown prolific offenses led by players like Brad Smith, El Roberson, Darren Sproles, Vince Young and Cedric Benson. Show me that defense and I will surely bow down to it But until then, I'm going to go on being pretty damn impressed by the body of work that the '03 defense created.

#2 in scoring defense (aka the stat that matters) #11 in total defense #1 in pass efficiency defense #1 in interceptions BY FAR (#2 was 33% behind us)* #2 in turnovers gained 10 players made NFL rosters 5 players are NFL starters five years later If that doesn't fall under your definition of great... I don't know what to say. The biggest issue with the defense that year was our offense. Our total offense was ranked 83rd in the country, so our defense had to be on the field way more than we would have hoped, and the opposing offenses often had better-than-average field position. Put the '03 defense with a top 20 offense (like this year's) and they would have been unquestionably dominant. But to put up those types of stats in spite of a poor offensive counterpart, there's no way you can call that anything but impressive. *32 interceptions on the season. I don't know of any McBride-coached team that had even close to that many. And no team in I-A has had even as many as 30 in the past decade. I'd like to know the last team that had 32 or more in a season.

I still have the official "Husker Defense 2003" poster on the wall in my room. It's hard to believe how much our talent level has diminished on that side of the ball since then. I love our guys now, but aside from Suh and Potter, I don't know if a single one of them would have been starting in '03. It makes me excited for the years to come when Pelini gets the guys he wants in there and we can have another great defense like '03 or '99. Here's a look at some of the '03 Blackshirts, and where they are five years later: Dan Bullocks: NFL (starter) Josh Bullocks: NFL (starter) Barrett Ruud: NFL (starter) Fabian Washington: NFL (starter) Demorrio Williams: NFL (starter) Ryon Bingham: NFL LeKevin Smith: NFL Trevor Johnson: Not on a roster, but played several years as a backup in the NFL TJ Hollowell: Not on a roster, but saw limited time in the NFL and CFL Patrick Kabongo: CFL (starter on offense), signed NFL FA contract for a short time in '04 5 current NFL starters 7 current NFL contributors 10 made NFL teams at some point Those numbers are pretty staggering.

He's a running back through and through, just like Cody Glenn I agree he doesn't have the size to be a LB, but I think he'd make a great safety. Everything I've read about him makes me think he could excel at safety. And while I think he would make a solid RB, I think we will need someone a little more explosive at RB to get where we wanna go (Big 12 Championship, etc.).

Gritty, tough, football smarts, good speed. Sounds like a hell of a safety prospect to me. We could use a guy like that at safety. Or he could be the next Swift.

You also have to remember, as with any bowl game, there will be a good number of neutral fans there as well. Jacksonville residents and Jag fans.

As nothing more than a complete guess, I will say 35,000.