AR Husker Fan

Anyone planning on seeing Friday Night Lights? I read the exerpts in Sports Illustrated years ago, and bought the book. Amazing read. If the movie is at all true to the book, it should be excellent.

True, but then again, who would have thought K-State had a chance against them last year? While a position-by-position comparison makes it look like a mismatch, year after year upsets occur. I agree that the Huskers will have to play lights out, and probably OU will have to have an off day. But it can happen.

True, and good points. But, conversly, I think you're right about the "uniqueness" factor. That's what makes the player perform at a higher level - the fact that the Blackshirt is limited and is conferred on only a select few.

What I find intruiging about it is that it follows - a little bit - of the forumla used for the Indania Jones films. A return to the serials and a bit of camp. One I'll probably catch when it comes to the premium cable channels - I can't stand going to the movies.

Once again - thanks! Thought "the spread" was my nickname for my ex-wife, but what the heck...

Can't have two in motion at the time the ball's snapped. Teams that run the West Coast - or any attack that involves passing - run motion as much as anything in the hopes that the defense will reveal what they intend to do at the snap. If you see the DB following a motion man, you have man-to-man in the secondary. Another reason to run the motion is to hopefully catch the defense out of alignment, or to confuse them as to what you're going to run.

Knowing damn near nothing about them, I'd have to think one of the receivers - Franklin or Bowman Both have some heighth and good speed, and should help stretch the field. Also, assuming they can block at all, there's less of a learning curve for that postition than for just about any other except perhaps running back.

Give the guy a break? No way. No one forced him to do what he did. No one forced him to let down his teammates days before the season opener. This guy has had break after break after break - and his flushed them all down the crapper.

Given the Janet Jackson Super Bowl halftime "show", a lot of media is self-censoring now - just to be on the safe side. Wouldn't be surprised if that's the case here...

Or Colorado recruits over the last hooker...

Kind of odd, isn't it? I can think of two reasons why they are doing that - and it could be a combination of both. It allows the coaches to emphasize a point concerning the play. Something like, "If the safety is cheating up, look for the hitch-and-go". It could be that they aren't comfortable with Dailey's check-offs, and doing this doesn't give him time to audible. Could be that he's checked-off once too often to the wrong play.

Couldn't agree more. What makes getting a Blackshirt special is that its one of eleven. Eleven. Not fifteen. Not twenty. I respect the fact that more than eleven contribute. And I appreciate those contributions. But what you want is every member of the defense fighting over it like starving pit bulls over a scrap of meat. Survival of the fittest. Seems to have worked well for evolutionary purposes...

Talk about head up the ass. Kentucky? Hawaii? Middle Tennessee????? And I just love this quote from the site - "All of these elements combine to give you the most authoritative, definitive ranking of all 117 Div. I-A teams in the nation." Yeah, right. And my dog's farts are the most aromatic, fragrent scent known to mankind...

Precisely - which is why I hope fans' temper their expectations somewhat - something that isn't easy given the level and longevity of sucess at NU. But ultimately I see NU gathering the same level of talent. Just a matter of time...

Well, if I had to vote, I'd probably go with Wali. And, actually, the reason would be found in Red November's post. Ruud is so consistently good that you actually come to expect the level of play he's giving. Wali, however, had to sort of "suddenly" rise to that level - and did a helluva job doing so. I gotta tell ya - the Blackshirts are looking damn good right now...

You know, the similarities between OU and NU are incredible. One reason I think that Callahan's approach will work at NU is for that reason. Oklahoma took a year or two to begin to see results from their recruiting and from their diversification of the offense (and the latter helped the former). And consider - is there anything about Norman, OK that makes it more attractive then Lincoln? I mean, neither is what you would consider a "hotbed" of afterhours activity. If OU can recruit the kind of talent to run that wide-open offense, there's no reason NU can't do the same for the West Coast offense. The tradition, coupled with the chance to showcase your talents - and get on TV - is what draws them...

Hmmmm...given my inevitable proclivity toward verbosity, perchance this policy should undertake a reassessment with an eye toward payment by the word? Just kidding!!!!!!!!!

Don't know if you saw it in the Headlines section, but here's an exerpt from a recent article: Man, if ever anything shows what an institution NU is, this is it. Guys, mosts schools in the county - even the other "elite" schools - would kill for "anything even close to 7000 fans for an away game against an unranked opponent. Over 60,000 for the spring game, close to 7000 for this game. Incredible support.

Welcome aboard, husker-stv! Glad to have you here. I can understand folks having concerns and negative reactions, but I hope that they follow your lead and really think things through. If they do, I think they will come to the conclusion that it isn't as bleak as it may have seemed after the game, for the very reasons you pointed out. And I love your Pitt analysis!

The trouble with being one-dimensional on offense, though, is that you have to have superior players. In just about every example you cited, the team that won it all had clearly superior players. In Florida's case, the year they won it all they had perhaps their best, most dominate defense - something that they rarely had under Spurrier, who liked to put his best players on offense and basically ceded control of the defense to the corrodinator. But when you use that formula, you run a real risk. A slight dip in talent - a key recruit lost, a key injury - and suddenly your personnel is not superior. At that point, you've basically taken yourself out of the national title picture. Don't get me wrong - no one wins it all without excellent players. But if your offense is one dimensional, you become so dependent on having superior players that one lost player can cripple you. With a diversified offense, you have a fall back. Star running back goes down? Plug in the next best, and rely a bit more on the pass. Star receiver goes down? Continue to throw enough to keep the running lanes open, and hand it to the running back. Star quarterback goes down? Rely on the star receiver to catch less than perfect passes, and rely heavily on the running game. In this regard, I look to Miami as the example. Year in and year out (with some exceptions, as will always happen) they tend to have a diversified attack. Drives defenses crazy - they never can be sure from which direction the attack will come. Florida State's best teams - the ones that have always been in the hunt - followed the same formula.

Hmmmm...well, let me add this. Benson racked up over 100 yards rushing in the first half alone. Arkansas, after halftime, put 8 men in the box to stop him, and did reasonably well at it. Young didn't do diddly when that happened - his passing didn't impress me or score them any points in the second half. And Arkansas had to replace all it's secondary this year. I suspect that Oklahoma will do throughout the game what Arkansas did in the second half - load up the box and dare Texas to throw. And when they do, I suspect that the pass rush will be better than Arkansas, and the secondary play will be much better. It may not be a blowout of last year's proportions, but no way does OU lose that game - or even have a particularly difficult time, unless Young makes major improvements. Texas reminds me a lot of KSU - take away their primary running threat, and they have nothing on which to fall back.

Ooooooh...that's cold, man. Funny as hell, though...

Sure hope they washed their hands first. Never know what can run a recruit off...

Thanks, Eric. For those of us out-of-state, this is a great benefit. NU available to me on TV two weeks running! Ah, life is sweet...

Whether this is good or bad for Incognito, it's a blessing to NU. This guy has become a cancer on the team. He's a top talent upon whom NU was depending, and he goes and gets himself suspended just before the season starts? So long, good riddance, and don't let the screen door slam you on the arse on the way out...