Enhance

Yeah, the NFL definitely isn't as interesting to watch. It is a business, after all. I would say everybody here could help cheer on the Vikings but nope, they bottomed out again.

I am not the foremost expert, but I believe he was injured for part of the year, which contributed to him redshirting.

 

However last night on Big Red Wrap Up, Matt Slauson praised him as being an amazing talent while playing on the scout teams defensive line this year.

Yeah, after watching Big Red Wrap Up and hearing Slauson praise Baker, I'm confident Baker will see playing time this upcoming fall.

Here's who I want as team captains, any of these guys would be nice.

Castille

QB

Niles Paul (hoping he will have a breakout season next year)

Suh

Dillard

Turner

WOW! 55th in total defense!

 

I remember at the beginning of the year some husker fans predicting that we might finish around the top 50 in total defense, which is an improvement of over 60 places. Others said that that kind of improvement with our linebackers (Cody Glenn, really?), secondary, thin D-Line (remember Kevin Dixon getting kicked off the team?) was not possible and would take a miracle. I guess we witnessed a miracle.

Our linebacking corp would have been much better this year but injuries sidelined Dillard for practically the last half of the season and Glenn was suspended for the team for reasons unbeknown to us. Dillard just needs to keep his butt healthy and be a strong rock for our defense

Oh yeah, and did I mention all Nebraskans think Bo Pelini and his staff are Gods?

 

 

 

what is this, think business?

Stupid mistype on my part.

We all know they are Gods.

Nebraska would never leave the Big 12. There is so much history with the Big 8 and Big 12 and all the decades of being great that it wouldn't make any sense.

Before we assume anything about a team and how bad there D was. Please look in the mirror people. Some of you act like Nebraska D was top notch. It wasnt. Was it better than last year. Hell yeah it was. It would be nearly impossible to get any worse. Ku was not great on D, no big 12 team was. But like I said before NU was GREATLY helped by an O, that held the ball and played keep away VERY sucsessfully. That is a great credit to the offense and Joe Ganz more specifically. His play making did alot to extend drives and get first downs. Nebraska's avgs per play are no better than KU's. But again a fast paced O like what KU/MU/TT and others run do nothing to help their rankings. KU didnt run near as many plays as MU but still left their Defence on the field for almost 10 more plays a game then NU. Doesnt sound like alot untill you see that NE gave up almost 6 yards a play on D. 10 more plays equals 60 more yards. That is enough to move NE from #56 to #97 in total D. MU defended 20 more plays a game. adding 120 more yrds to NU totals. That would give them the #116th D. This is not to say there is anything wrong with what Nebraska did. Infact I wish MU would have slowed it way down to help out there D. Just stating its not like teams were not moving the ball on NE. It had much more to do with the number of plays NE saw compared to the others. Again, this is a credit to NE and their staff for recognizing about half way through the year they could not afford to go at a quick pace.

 

As I joked before Numbers and Stats are good but can easily be manipulated (always right 100% of the time, 60% of the time). Just because Nebraska gave up an avg of nearly 6 yrds a play doesnt mean the extra 20 plays would go for 120 more yrds. Maybe they go for 200, maybe 50. It really doesnt matter.

 

And why are Nebraskas unproven players better than KU's or MU's or TT's or anybodys? Maybe they are, maybe not. Chances are they are probably about the same... okay back on track people...

 

The whole point is, its too early and this sort of 'matter of fact' crap is just that, ... crap. Not that anyone cares but I think the biggest loss NU will have from this years Defense wears the #12. Joe Ganz. That is not saying that NE didnt have some good D players. I would even say Suh and Stienkuler were great. It is just of my opinion that Ganz's ability to make plays and consitantly move the ball was the largest factor to NE sucsesses the second half of the year.

 

 

And please dont preach to me about what you did to Clemson. That team sucks on O. One of the worst 30 teams in college football on offense. Not to mention that they have a spaz for a QB. He may be the only guy that sucked worst that Daniel did.

 

BTW the only team that had a shut out in the big 12 this year....my Tigers. They have a freakin shut down D baby!!! (just how bad did CU have to play in that game...)

My God, information overload in that first paragraph.

Nebraska wins more games when humidity is 5%, the sun is at a 78.6 degree angle, and Pluto is aligned with Mars. << Doesn't make a lot of sense does it? I think, given the season being over, we all can't sit here and think about the "what-ifs" of last season and just pull crap out of anywhere.

People are saying Nebraska's unproven players are better than anybody else for a few simple reasons.

1) Bo Pelini and Staff = Gods Among Men

2) TT and MU lose a ridiculous amount of starters. KU is a bit of a stretch, and I think will be the most balanced team next year.

3) I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say that Bo Pelini is the best defensive mind in the Big 12 right now. If he has the defense playing at the level he wants them to be at next year, or even close, Nebraska will be the best defense in the Big 12. Even Texas's Muschamp couldn't escape a horrific passing defense.

Oh yeah, and did I mention all Nebraskans think Bo Pelini and his staff are Gods?

Bo Pelini has the KSU game circled in red after 2003.

Idk about point scores..but here it is in wins vs. losses.

FAU - W

Ark. St. - W

Va Tech. - L

LA Lafayette - W

MU - L

TT - L

IA - W

BU - W

OU - L

KU - W

KSU - W

CU - W

Everything looks much better, and we can only go up from there. The great part is that next year we have a lot of returning defensive starters, and if Suh comes back he will be a great anchor for the defense. Having faced Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas Tech, and Kansas for that matter, they were sure bets to give us difficulties in the passing defense aspect especially for a new coach.

Just out of curiosity, does anybody know how we rank against the other Big 12 defenses?

I hate it, but I have to agree. Nebraska shouldn't have been in that game. On a side note, Eric Crouch was very deserving of that Heisman. Everybody has been saying that Rex Grossman should have snagged it because made it to the NFL. I say bull s. I hate the combination of "Good Heisman winners make it in the NFL". Eric Crouch was the Nebraska team and we all know it, thanks to Solich's style of offense. Without Crouch, we wouldn't have won as many games as we did.

Suh is good but think about the ramifications of the Gator Bowl victory compared to having one player.

1) We had a 9 win season. Our second 9 win season in five years and a statistically better season (in wins and losses) than any season in the last 5 years.

2) Beating a good Clemson team in Florida opened up the eyes of plenty of recruits in Florida and recruits in the East. Playing a major state like that can hook you some great recruits, which is why everybody loves to play in Texas for bowl games.

3) Imagine how Nebraska would have felt finishing 8-5 and not capping a foundation season for the Huskers?

Suh is good, but he's not worth the benefits of beating a team like Clemson.

Your idea sounds pretty thought out. I like it.

Callahan was more concerned about the offense, no question. He turned the Huskers into a business rather than a passion filled college football program. Personally, I think Nebraska had one of the better showing's in the bowl games. Our offense is good but still has a lot of kinks, and the game between Clemson was predicted to be close. People tend to overlook that this is Pelini's first season. Getting to a bowl, being 9-4, and winning that bowl game is quite a year for a first year head coach. We can't forget that even though we had a nice year overall, we are still rebuilding. Just thought I'd throw that in.

Also, kind of an interesting fact I realized today. Statistically speaking, Nebraska had it's best season this year in wins vs. losses than it has had in it's last 4.

2004 5-7

2005 8-5

2006 9-5 64%

2007 5-7

2008 9-4 69%

Granted we had the extra game in 2006 but still, kind of interesting.

Obviously OP would love to have the Huskers in a BCS bowl. I believe he is just saying the broadcasting was horse sh#t and he would probably have preferred listening to it on the radio rather than watching it on FOX.

The CBS announcers were horse poop. They ragged on Nebraska the entire game and did nothing brag about Clemson most of the game. My favorite part of the game, was when the announcer said something along the lines of "Nebraska has not been able to run the ball at all against Clemson all game." Next play, Castille broke one for a huge gain, and then did it again a few minutes later in the game.

I have no problem with implementing short passing attacks, but we do need to have a more vertical threat more often than once a game. If we could get a stronger power-running game, this would really open up the play action pass. It's tough to run the play action out of shotgun since most people are all ready expecting pass.

Who's to say the power run game is kaput? Have you guys seen Georgia Tech this year? Granted they run a triple option, but they lit up quite a few teams this year running the ball. It's not dead.

I predicted this on another thread a few weeks ago. Defenses are recruiting smaller, faster, more athletic guys to help compete against the spread offense. A team that recognizes this trend and revamps their offenses to smash mouth football will get way ahead of the curve. Can you imagine a power running game against a small but speedy defense? It would be devastating. The team may be able to fly to the ball, but powerful blocking and a big guy running you over negates your speed. Nebraska doesn't need to go back to the power run game, but they need to implement some formations into their game plans and practice power run more often, need a strong lead blocker though which is something we didn't have in 2008.

What's funny is the lack of respect Spano gets in all of this. Spano is one stud QB. I live in Texas and follow Stephenville and I can tell you this kid is fast and has a gun. I think just because he's a redshirt and he's white, everyone assumes he's 4th down the list.

 

If you watched Stephenville High School football much, you'd know that Spano is one tough nut.

 

Don't count him out.

What?? Because he is white?? Time to get a few things straight. Cody Green is the only black quarterback on the depth chart, behind Witt, Lee, and Spano.

Most starting quarterbacks in College Football are white. Just look at the Big 12. Robert Griffin of Baylor is the only black quarterback, and you could count Sam Bradford as not Caucasian because I believe he is Indian. Josh Freeman doesn't count anymore because he is going to the NFL, and the Iowa State quarterback situation is a giant toss-up with no real starter.

Spano isn't getting attention because he's a young guy and less experienced than the rest.

Yeah, he was tearing up the Scout team, but it's the Scout team. People constantly talk about how great Spano is and how he will have a shot next year, but the coaches have admittedly said the battle will most likely come down to Witt and Lee. When asked about Spano, all they say is that he did a great job on Scout team and has potential. If Spano were a serious threat, they would say he was.

I'm not getting angry at you BuzzardBilly, but calling out a form of racism isn't very smart on HuskerBoard, considering most of us don't believe in the "it's cause I'm black" or "it's cause I'm white" bs. After all, Nebraska just shot down affirmative action, so we're not fans of special treatment or mistreatment based on race.

I tend to want to put my money on Lee and here is why.

From what I have read, Lee is a bit more mobile (please correct me if I am wrong) which fits perfectly into Watson's scheme. You need to have a fast quarterback to help sell the zone read. Second, Lee has more starting experience than any of them considering he is a transfer from a JUCO program. Granted, it's Juco, but starting experience is starting experience.

Witt, however, seems to have more qualities of a starting quarterback. As the roster shows from the beginning of the season, Witt is 225 lbs. and 6'4". He is built like a starting quarterback. Witt is also very agile as you can see from his touchdown run against Oklahoma.

Idk. My money is on Lee but I think Witt might get it. The biggest problem with Witt is that he seems a bit jittery in the pocket and hasn't really impressed anybody when he has been put in. Granted, our games this year didn't have a whole lot of opportunity for younger players to get playing time and coming in to start is probably pretty nerve-wracking and intense once the starter goes down/out, but still.

It will be interesting to see how it all unfolds.

at least he isn't eating a booger...

LOL

Maybe Steve Pederson will become GM

The only team I have seen that is overly successful with the WR screen is the Missouri Tigers. They had Maclin and Daniels running it like it was the easiest play in the world this year, but even Northwestern was able to shut that play down.

Isn't it strange nearly a year after our 5-7 debacle, I'm now more worried about how the offense is going to score points and less about how the defense will play?

OP Here.

Read my post carefully. I didn't say that we "need to go back to the power run game", I said I would like to see more power running formations. Those of you who criticized didn't read my post correctly. Yes, I did say I'd like to see less spread and less reliance on it, but I didn't say we needed to go straight back to power run game.

Clemson's passing attack is nothing to brag about. Davis and Spiller were supposed to be why we would lose yesterday, and they played only a small factor (except for Spiller on Special Teams). Clemson's defense was also supposed to be why we would lose this game.

Inexperienced quarterbacks display certain tendencies under pressure, and that must have been one of his tendencies to only roll out to the right. Nebraska seemed to have noticed this, because most of the pressure they brought came from the right side of Clemson's offensive line. This was very noticeable in the last sack of the game from Eric Hagg, because he blitzed from the right (either tackle or tight end) spot.

1. Suh

2. Castille

3. Henery

4. Ganz

 

Ganz mistakes nearly cost Nebraska the game.

 

I'm sorry but where is Steinkuhler in all of the posts saying that Suh should get the game's MVP? Steinkuhler had a way better first half then Suh did, and Suh didn't really come alive until the second half.

 

Also, quarterbacks get the mvp because they are the quarterback. If you are another player, you have to have a ridiculously good game to steal the show from the quarterback. Even mediocre play out of your quarterback will get him the MVP. And don't forget, Ganz was responsible for the only two touchdowns we got the entire game. The only other points we had were 4 field goals.

 

Steinkuhler has been mentioned in multiple posts (starting with mine 3rd on the page). In fact he is mentioned in the post just before yours. Reading Is Fundamental.

 

Also as it has been mentioned. Stein had a huge game in the first half because Suh was getting doubled and tripled. Then when Ty was all over the place, they had to make sure he was accounted for. After all that Ty did...Suh still ended up with more tackles, sacks, tackles for loss and the blocked kick.

 

The complete "Blackshirts" may not be back...but the front line is.

I didn't call out every post, just specifically the posts on the page that didn't say ANYTHING about Stein, which is why I specifically quoted the one I did.

I got the entire 1995 National Championship Season on DVD, free of commercial breaks, timeout breaks, and everything else. Just every play and all the commentary and extra dvd features you could want.

 

I plan on watching a game every saturday to get me through the pain of off season.

 

 

 

lol where did you buy this at?

Well if you live in Omaha, I bought it at the Husker store (I think it's called Red Zone) at Oakview Mall on Center St.

If you don't live in Omaha, just go to this exact link http://huskernation.com/index.php?_a=viewCat&catId=80

If the link doesn't work, just go to huskernation.com and search for it there. It costs $120.00 though

I second that. Potter and Steinkuhler are both srs. If Suh were to leave as well.....let's just hope it doesn't happen. We have another Steinkuhler (I think we are required by state law to have at least one Steinkuhler and one Makovicka on the roster at all times) but I'm not sure where Baker is at as far as being ready to start, he's quite a bit bigger than Ty though.

LOL

I think you might be on to something.