Guy Chamberlin

Maybe it's because I spent last week in my home state of Nebraska and have never seen the corn so tall or so thick. Maybe it's because God strung together 7 consecutive days of perfectly temperate Nebraska weather. Maybe it's because I was reading the local sports pages every day. Maybe it was finding a warm 18-pack of Grain Belt for only $10.99. I don't know what it is, but I left Nebraska yesterday suddenly convinced that Zac Lee is gonna be a revelation and this is going to be a fun team to watch. I guess what I'm really trying to say is I think we can take Florida Atlantic. Also, check out Grain Belt. Good beer.

If you're not a Husker fan, it's hard to make the case that this team is any better than last year's team, and last year's team was #27 by most counts. But as a fan, I gotta go with the intangibles, and I think the return of pride on defense and one more year of a coaching culture that is both more intense and more fun counts for something. I'll take another 9- 4 year, but this time the Big 12 North comes with it.

I like rooting for the defense, especially when we're breaking in a new QB. Hopefully Suh and Pelini get everyone to raise their games. Maybe we can start calling them Blackshirts again.

California.

I've gotten used to getting my news for free, but at some point somebody has to pay someone to deliver researched, accountable and hopefully well-written content, because unpaid blogger speculation tends to hit the wall pretty quick. For years the net and the networks have simply quoted the work of the newspaper and magazine beat reporters. With print journalism dying something has to give. Would you be willing to pay a penny each time you visit HuskerBoard? I would. Micropayments are probably going to be the way of the future. Although maybe it would be better if the internet was more expensive. Then I'd get more work done.

Yes and no. There was a lot of local lineman talent on the team, but not a lot of local speed. After our embarrssing string of major bowl losses in the 80s and early 90s it was clear Nebraska needed a lot more speed in our linebackers (and not surprisingly in our backs and recievers) to compete against teams we couldn't out-muscle. Osborne and the coaching staff recruited accordingly, going outstate more aggressively and some might argue overlooking some of the character issues that Nebraska used to avoid. In short, this "revelation" could have been written in 1991.

I have no idea what you're talking about. You're wildly overreacting. Again. Rather than crying rivers and wringing hands, I was at most mildly amused at the notion that Nebraska fans were sympathetic and non-judgemental when rival football programs faced disciplinary problems. But hey, you just cited an OU athlete who observed behavior that would curl my toes, so thanks for proving my point. In my perfect world there would be far less righteous indignation by people who aren't that righteous themselves.

Not sure how you mean this, but I think the number of programs that are no longer strangers to the Top 25 means there are more competitive programs, making it harder for a team to get on a roll in any single season, much less to consistently dominate from season to season the way elite programs like Nebraska used to do. It horrified a lot of Huskers that we almost lost to Ball State a couple years ago, but in hindsight it wouldn't have been an upset.

Some did. Most just let Nebraska's own experiences with "troubled" players remind them that there are stupid kids in every program, everywhere. Most reacted with typical Nebraska aplomb and moved on. Wrong. There was glee. And jokes. Tons of them. Maybe they were told with aplomb, but Husker fans couldn't get enough about Oklahoma and Miami players getting thrown in jail until.....mmmm....guess it was the mid 1990s when we began winning championships with players of questionable character. Also, look no farther than this very board when a player on a rival team gets popped for something. Not a lot of aplomb in the house. Your loyalty is admirable, knapplc, but your hindsight is a little too convenient.

There's a kind of person who allows someone to mock them to their face and there's a kind of person who doesn't. I'm the kind of person who's going to stand up to that kind of behavior. If you're not, fine, but don't get bent if some here take exception to it. Knock yourself out, Knapplc. But if you're looking for how a Husker fan with a grip on reality handles a (mild) heckling, look at everyone else on this thread who isn't you and Vuren.

so it's ok if i go to jayhawk site and use the term squak or red legs? or go to a mizzery site and say slaver? Depends on what kind of d******d you want to be. But if "Nub" sets you off, you are definitely taking yourself and your football team too seriously.

When "troubled" Oklahoma and Miami players got busted, I don't recall that Husker fans avoided rushing to judgement. I seem to recall them gleefully holding it over the entire program. For years.

For God's sake get some skin, men. Dude can say "Nub" all he wants. And bring up painful losses. And point out when Tom Osborne got outcoached because it happened. More than once. And yes, Nebraska fans have been known to visit other team sites and do a little tweaking. He's totally within bounds. At least on the kind of football site I like to visit.

The entire defensive game strategy against Colorado in 1994. Colorado was the biggest threat to NU that year. They ran the option with Kordell Stewart and Rashaan Salaam (who would win the Heisman) and could pass, too. with Westbrook their star receiver. I think they were ranked #2. Osborne was famous for trick plays, but he was pretty conservative with game plans. Yet for Colorado he decided to do something risky. Every play was designed to hit Kordell. Even if he pitched to Salaam. Even if committing to Kordell meant letting Salaam break a play or two. Or three. Which they did. The Nebraska D blizted. They got burned a couple times. But kept blizting. Kordell got hit on every play. By the second quarter he was hearing footsteps before they even snapped the ball. The whole high-octane Buffalo offense totally folded, scoring only one touchdown all day. I guess the defensive coach deserves credit, but as I recall Osborne was given credit for the strategy.

I see no evidence that Helu and Castille are the rebirth of a dominant rushing team. Zac Lee is going to need to be good in all phases of the game. I have faith in Watson to design game plans that will bring him along as needed. I think it's also entirely possible that neither Helu or Castille is our go-to back by the end of the year. There will be surprises. I'm really starting to look forward to this season.

In the case of Purify it was common sense. But it's clear that some QBs and receivers are on a wavelength: they know where the other is going to be, even when a play breaks and everyone is improvising. And by "wavelength" I mean of course more common sense, mixed with playing experience.

Also in a tip of the hat to our Jayhawk friend, Gale Sayers might just be the best running back to step onto any football field.

Chemistry is a funny thing. For some reason Ganz was able to see what everyone BUT Sam Keller saw: that getting the ball to Maurice Purify was a smart thing to do.

Lawrence Phillips looked like a man among boys. He was that good. Rozier was that good, too. Ahman Green was just a tick or two behind these guys. The others had plenty of greatness, but it becomes kind of a blur. (but no, Marlon Lucky is not even close and would have seen fewer snaps under Osborne than Callahan. Good player, tho, who might find a niche in the NFL) Also sad to see no votes for Guy Chamberlin. What's wrong with you people?

I'd like to see you form a coherent sentence before I turn my life over to you.

Cody Glenn shot JFK?

I heard Ganz more than made up for it during a spirited game of Red Rover, Red Rover.

"Senators and Presidents don't have men killed."

Hard to talk about the present when it's April. But it is worth standing back and considering the possibility that the 2007 Cornhuskers fielded one of the weakest defenses in recent major college history, with a huge amount of the failure traceable to inept defensive schemes and a refusal to adjust. The level of meltdown was damn near baffling. You almost have to work at it to be that bad. So perhaps I'm not a fan of Cosgrove. But the entire team doing the deer in the headlights routine? That's on Callahan's shoulders.

Can't have it both ways. people were blasting him for not giving a source and when he does he gets blasted for throwing his source under the bus. This is probably why our athletic dept has said virtually nothing on the matter. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Uhm.....no. Brasky cited Kenny Wilson as his source. Then he said no, it wasn't Kenny Wilson, he was just trying to get people to leave him alone. Traditionally, telling a lie does not enhance one's credibility. It's also a pretty crappy thing to do to Kenny Wilson. And if the rumor is true, keep in mind that all parties might prefer to keep this mum to protect the victim as much or more than Cody or UNL. They do tend to run these actions by lawyers.