knapplc

We're up to #6 in the AP poll. AP 1. Alabama 2. Ohio St 3. Boise St 4. TCU 5. Texass 6. Nebraska 7. Oregon 8. Florida 9. Iowa 10. Oklahoma Coaches 1. Alabama 2. Ohio St 3. Boise St 4. Texass 5. TCU 6. Florida 7. Nebraska 8. Oregon 9. Iowa 10. Oklahoma

It's probably not going away. The question asked for five things I would like to see during the Idaho game. That wasn't directed specifically at you. That's been brought up a good 50 times in the past week. Just an observation.

The defensive calls were my main concern when Compton went down. They have time to learn on the job before the real season starts, so let's hope they pick it up and are ready for the big leagues come Big 12 play.

The players call him T-Magic. Why does everyone think this is going to go away? My five things: 1) An end to the nonsense that we're still evaluating QBs. We're going to live and die by Martinez, and we're doing it this year to gear up for next year. Competition may open again next Spring, but for 2010 TMart is the QB. Let's stop with the nonsense (I'm looking at you, Bo). 2) A ridiculous amount of hits on an immobile QB, including at least .5 sacks from each of our front four. 3) Earned Blackshirts across the board. 4) 150 yards from Helu, or barring that (since they'll likely spread it around) a minimum of 80 yards each from Helu, Burkhead and Martinez. 5) 17 points or fewer allowed. This isn't Missouri's spread, or Oklahoma's. Let's put Enderle on his butt and pick off some passes.

LINK - more notes in full article We talkin bout practice? Yeah, you know practice - where championships are made. That practice.

Bo says it isn't over. I think this is BS. LINK - more notes in full article

Also remember that they wouldn't be playing NU's 2009 offense. HUGE difference. In anything past game two of the season, NU would be too much for them to handle. In a neutral field, NU by 17 easy. That's presuming the 2010 NU offense is an improvement over the 2009 offense. I can't help but think it will be, but that's not a guarantee.

It didn't matter how hot that chick was, that commercial was OVERPLAYED. But here's my question - I'm paying $40 to watch this game, so why the hell am I forced to watch commercials, too? What kind of BS double-dip is that by the PPV guys? If I'm paying to watch the game, don't force me to watch commercials, too. I cannot wait for the Big Ten Network to arrive so I don't have to give another dime to these PPV leeches. I don't care if NU makes more money from PPV than from regular broadcasts. These PPV games have gone WAY beyond annoying at this point.

Also remember that VA Tech was not playing with their 2009 defense. They lost seven starters from the defense we played last year, while Boise St. returned nearly everyone on offense. It's a huge advantage to play a team in rebuilding mode when you return the opposing unit nearly intact.

If this turns into another QB discussion thread, it'll get merged. Just sayin'.

Our best means of combating their quick passes will be quick pressure against Enderle, preferably without blitzing. Hagg and the LBs (Whaley and David) need to shore up their coverage across the middle on those quick-hitters, giving the line time to get in Enderle's face. Enderle isn't a mobile QB, so we should be able to pressure him quite a bit. I imagine we'll play a lot of bump-and-run coverage and mostly man-to-man.

I said in my first response that they're "very good." I'm not arguing that they're good/not good - they are a good team. All I'm saying is that being a good team isn't good enough when you play top-quality opposition week in and week out.

jsneb83 agrees with you.

Why do we care about what some guy said?

You cannot discount the advantage of that weak schedule. For 80% of the nation's top teams, the season is a marathon, not a sprint. Boise has the luxury of gearing up for - MAX - one or two games per year. They can easily sleepwalk through the rest and not concern themselves with a loss, or (for the most part) with the loss of stamina or players due to injury. Non-AQ football is a very different animal than AQ football, as we see with our weak non-con opponents.

The Huskers square off against the Idaho Vandals in Lincoln this week. This is the first ever meeting between the two schools. Idaho is coached by Robb Akey. Akey was hired in 2007 and has an 11-26 record with the Vandals. Idaho finished the 2009 season with an 8-5 record, including a 43-42 win over Bowling Green in the Humanitarian Bowl. Idaho's QB is Nebraska native Nathan Enderle. Enderle is a Senior from North Platte, NE, and is on the Davey O'Brien watch list, the Golden Arm watch list and the Manning Award watch list. Enderle finished 2009 ranked fifth among QBs in Pass Efficiency, throwing 22 TDs vs. 9 INTs, with a QB rating of 157. Enderle enters 2010 without his favorite target, Max Komar, who graduated following the season. Enderle ripped North Dakota last week to the tune of 311 yards and two TDs on 24/37 passing, with one INT. The Vandals finished 2009 ranked 42nd in the nation in rushing, averaging 165 yards per game, but lost DeMaundray Woolridge to graduation. Last week the Vandals handed the ball to Jr. Princeton McCarty, who ran for 89 yards and two TDs against North Dakota. The Vandals' claim to fame is a high-octane passing offense, and they return four of their top five weapons at Wide Receiver: Senior Daniel Hardy (39 catches, 691 yards, three touchdowns), senior Maurice Shaw (32 catches, 666 yards, six touchdowns), junior Preston Davis (33 catches, 460 yards, one touchdown), senior Eric Greenwood (32 catches, 401 yards, three touchdowns). Komar led the Vandals in receiving yards, receptions and TDs last year. The biggest issue facing the Vandals this week will be the protection they afford Enderle from an Offensive Line almost entirely lost to graduation. The Vandals start just one lineman with game experience from 2009, Matt Cleveland (LT), but otherwise broke in an almost completely rebuilt line last week, surrendering four sacks to the Div II Fighting Sioux. The Vandals are relatively weak against the run, surrendering 155 yards per game on the ground last year and 27 total TDs - an average of nearly two per game. Overall the Vandals were abysmal on DEF, allowing opponents to score 20 or more points in 12 of 13 games, and 30 or more five times. Idaho was 107th in the nation in Total Defense last year, allowing an average of 433 yards per game. While the Vandals return nearly every starter on defense, the guys they return aren't much to speak of. Special Teams is also not a bright spot for the Vandals, who surrendered yards in bunches in 2009. Their end-of-season ranks: Kickoff Return Yardage: 109th (25 yards per return) Punt Return Yardage: 102nd (12 yards per return) Field Goals Made: Trent Farquhar, 13/19 (102nd) Turnover Margin: 106th (Net -.62) OVERALL ASSESSMENT While the Vandals have shown improvement under Akey, they are far from a potent team on either side of the ball. If the rebuilt offensive line cannot keep pressure off of immobile pocket passer Enderle, the Vandals could find themselves in an early hole - and with a damaged Quarterback. The defense faces a capable running attack and has been known to surrender yards in bunches to far weaker opponents than the Huskers. If the Vandals can keep the Blackshirts off balance with a precision passing attack, they could stay in the game longer than the first 15 minutes. If they are unable to keep the Huskers on their heels, or if they allow Nebraska to apply pressure using only their front four, this will be a long game for the visitors.

There is doubt that BSU has had, and continues to have a weak schedule. And... this is the largest reason for their incredible record. Certainly. Yet the point is that they play with reckless abandon --- yet not so reckless... more like incredibly intense focus balanced with calm (bearing up under pressure). THIS is what every school should look to BSU as an example for --- because it is that which enables them to win so often when they should not. There is doubt or there is no doubt? I think you meant there is no doubt, right? The thing is, it's pretty easy to play with reckless abandon for one or two games and basically take the rest of your games off every year when you know you don't have to play anyone tough. Nobody is saying BSU isn't good - they are. They're about as good as Missouri when they had Chase Daniel, Rucker and Maclin, and that pretty decent defense to boot. You put Missouri in the WAC during the past decade and I'll bet you their results are very similar to Boise's. But you see what Missouri was able to accomplish in the Big 12 in the past decade - some success, sure, but no BCS games (although they coulda/shoulda gone to one).

Yes and no. Boise State has beaten the top teams when they've played them, but they have a huge advantage in that they play such a weak schedule for 90% of their games that they are never battle-weary. Boise's SOS over the past decade averages somewhere in the 90s (of 120 teams). Their strongest SOS in the past decade was something like 74th in the nation (I ran the numbers last year, but can't dig them up right now). In contrast, Nebraska's most embarrassingly weak SOS in the past decade was 54th in the nation, meaning our weakest SOS was 20 spots higher than their toughest. Bottom line is this - put Boise St. in the Big 12 over the past decade and they don't have nearly the same success. They'll get worn down in an AQ conference through sheer attrition. It's easy to stay healthy when you're playing the equivalent of Div II schools every week. They'll have to go through a conference championship game, adding another layer of difficulty to the mix, and they'll have to scheme against real defenses/offenses every week. No matter how good a staff, when you're challenged every week, the odds of missing something or failing to prepare properly for something goes up quite a bit. I give full props to Boise State for winning the games they should win. But they have a HUGE advantage over AQ schools right now, regardless of the fact that they're very good.

Robert Siavii / Olmec Statue Brian Reader / Matthew McConaughey Tom Hennessey / The Mask Tyrone Novikoff/ Larry the Cable Guy

I doubt it. Our uniforms are iconic. The most we would do is wear all red or all white. But with TO at the helm and Bo running the day-to-day stuff, I don't see us wearing much different from our traditional colors for a long, long time.

Osborne was announced as the AD on 10/16/07, three days after the OSU loss. We then lost to A&M, Texas and Kansas, the KU loss being the 76-point game. Immediately after we lost to KU we pummeled KSU and scored 70-something points doing it, then lost to Colorado the next week, giving up another 65 points. I know people think that Callahan could have kept his job had he only won those games, but I just do not see it. Osborne was brought in to return Nebraska to its roots, and Callahan was NOT the guy to do that. In fact, he was about the polar opposite of that. Even if we'd have beaten Texas and made the other three losses after TO took over respectable, the odds of Callahan keeping his job the way he helped ostracize past Huskers and the way he so eagerly changed the culture of the program, there's no way he would have stayed.

Ankrah played a bit after Meredith got hurt, but mostly Williams filled in for The Stache. I think Ankrah played at least two series.

The TV guys mentioned it in the second half, saying it wasn't that serious and that he was unlikely to return. It almost sounded like if the game was tight we might see him again, but not in a blowout.

I despise the sound system. We sit in the North end zone and are absolutely smothered in noise. It's very annoying. Here's the new Tunnel Walk video. It's OK. LINK

You can see the play where Meredith got injured at 4:30. He was all twisted up, and it looked like the lineman had a LOT of jersey there.