Enhance

D-1 AA and D-2 are just a little different... UNL vs. UNO. Bad idea. It would have been a blowout even last year. THats a two level jump. Forget about App St and Mich. That was by far the best 1-AA team playing a 1-A team. UNO is good, but not even a top level D-2 team. NWMSU is one of the top D-2 teams for about 10 years running now and they couldn't sniff D-1A teams. Maybe, just maybe, they could run a little with the absolute worst 2 or 3, but even that is a stretch. It would be no good for either school. UNO would be destroyed, UNL would play the freshman team. It would be a huge waste of time.... much like when I was in 8th grade and ourschools undefeated girls team wanted to play my good 8th grade boys team. Our coach said no for 1 month straight, then finally told the girls coach, "Fine, you get your wish!". They stopped the scrimage before half. It was 64-2, two girls had been hurt and all it did was waste what would have been another practice for our boys team. It was a waste. UNL vs. UNO would be the 8th grade boys vs. 8th grade girls... (funny side note, throughout highschool our team was average, but the girls played in 3 straight state title games) Almost makes me think of the talk about the best college team playing the worst NFL team. I think the Lions would have dominated any of the top 5 teams this year in college.

Poor Orange Bowl. It was a bad game, anyways.

exactly!!! so why wasn't this ever used? I don't know, often thought the same thing myself. Well we all know Nebraska simplified it's offense shortly after the Missouri loss, and since then we haven't seen formations with two halfbacks with the quarterback in shotgun. This formation might have been left out to make the offense less complicated as it was pre-Missouri. Just my guess though.

It'd be a fantastic formation with Helu and Q in the backfield and Mendoza in the Slot. All the backs would have to improve their pass blocking, however, if Nebraska wanted to use it to open up the pass. But man you could have reverses with Mendoza, power running with Q, and some slash and dash with Helu. It would be very powerful.

So when Witt is named the starter you'll know where Nebraska will finish next year. What data do you need to correctly predict this years Superbowl score? Monday mornings paper after the game would be good... Oh man, if only we had the Delorean.

Yeah I agree, the big guy just needs to stay healthy is all.

1. Because Mizzou won their bowl game and Okie State didn't. 2. Utah should be ranked higher. Not National Champs and No.1, but they should be higher. Going undefeated, no matter what conference, is pretty damn good. 3. Despite my like for the Clemson team, I think their ranking is pretty fair. They only won 7 games and their offense wasn't very good this year, and Spiller's/Davis's play in the Gator Bowl wasn't very impressive, neither was the entire offense.

So true. To be completely honest, even our Big 12 North Champ 2006 team didn't have that dominant of an o-line. We need to get back to the traditional, powerful Nebraska offensive lines even if we don't run the ball as much.

I don't believe so, but I could be wrong.

Rightfully so.

Couldn't agree more. As of right now, Bo Pelini is everything I could have hoped for as a fan. Now it's just a waiting game to see how far we can go.

Honestly, whether Pitt is good or not, losing 3-0 is ridiculous. Just like losing 7-6 against Nebraska was ridiculous. They don't deserve to be in the top 15. And what about Utah? I know this is preseason 2009 but they should still be ranked in the top 15 even if they may not have as good a season. I don't have a top 25, but I still think Nebraska should be in the 22-25 range. Keeping them out is just a low blow.

Agreed. But I do have a question for all of the ESPN haters out there, and I myself do dislike ESPN quite a bit. Would you all prefer Nebraska be lauded like USC is, or would you prefer the level of attention we get right now?

I don't know if we will see significant changes to the offense quite yet. At the same time, we might. New quarterbacks mean coaches are less willing to take chances down field and turn pass happy. This could open up the running game quite well if we rely on it more than the pass. I don't see us going back to the pure option attack of course, but I think we could see a split like 60% passing plays, 40% running or something like that. Next year, we probably won't be down as often as we were this year and have to rely on the passing game. I do expect to see the option filtered in a bit more, but I don't see that happening till maybe Cody Green.

Should they? No, and for a couple reasons. 1) Even the idea of Nebraska playing UNO would spark some folks (I know a few) into talk about an intrastate rivalry between the two, and we can't have that. We don't want to be like Colorado and Colorado State. 2) UNL would flat out destroy UNO, even last year when UNO had a good season (2007). The level of play and athletic ability it takes to play at Nebraska far outweighs that of UNO. 3) If you think UNO could beat UNL, consider this. UNO is Division 2 I believe, and UNL wouldn't want to risk the chance of losing to a D2 school that might deter recruits and make them think less of Nebraska. Look at what happened to Michigan in 2007...

I had a pretty bad Monday, but this definitely makes me feel a whole lot better. Thanks, Suh.

You know what's funny? The 2007 Nebraska defense was either the worst or second to worst defense in the B12 last year. Now, they ended up ranking higher in total defense than HALF of the B12, and that was in one year with a bunch of back up linebackers and a secondary that was pretty much undeveloped. He wants toughness? What more can you ask for in one year? Just wait a year or two, and that writer will be rather surprised.

Hungry troll is hungry.

We know Bo can motivate when you're down and turn things around. The big thing that I'm waiting to see, is how Bo reacts when he is on top and needs to keep his teams going. A great coach can have a year like Bo had, the best coaches keep things going. I have all the faith in the world that Bo will be one of the best coaches.

This biggest problem I see with this guy's writing is that he seems to refer to Nebraska as the same Nebraska it was a decade ago, which we aren't. He talks about our powerful o-line blocking, but we haven't had powerful o-line blocking for years. He also apparently believes that we can reload and come back firing, but the season is really going to show what we can do.

Who doesn't?

Either the 2008 or 2009 recruiting class for the Huskers put up exceptional 40 yard dash and 20 yard burst times (not counting o-line men and d-line men of course). Some non-Nebraska affiliated sportswriter wrote about it in an article I read a few weeks back. I think this year could even prove to have great progression for team speed. Some Redshirts may get time this upcoming season and our new strength and conditioning coaches are really taking it to the players. "Unnofficial" winter conditioning is scheduled to begin Monday, January 12, even though actual winter conditioning isn't scheduled to begin until the 18th or later.

He's a damn good QB. I think anybody would take him lol. It's good he didn't get the trophy two years in a row, however. Yeah, he's good, but to put him in the mix with Archie Griffin (I think that's the guy that won it twice?) is way over the top. I still think Colt McCoy was the most deserving this year, but that's just my opinion. If McCoy had been in the B12 Championship game, I'm convinced he would have won the Heisman.

Cody Green and Spano ran option and zone reads in HS. The Harvin's and Demps are not NFL RBs or WRs, they are tweeners. Florida runs a veer offense from the gun. They have 2 tall outside WRs and a TE which are the main receiving threats. They have to very fast HBs or slot WRs, which they play one in the slot and the other in the backfield. They sub one back with a traditional FB for more blocking or put both in the slots and run an empty set. They run inside zone, traps, counter sweeps and isos and even powers along with the options and shuffle passes to TEs, basic WR bubble and tunnel screens, PAs and boots off zone read and other base plays and basic spread 3 and 5 step pass plays. The offense is VERY simple and you could run it. Make Castille the main back, put Helu or Gilleyen/Paul in other slot and the tall WR like Holt out wide, with a TE and with Lee, Spano or Green you can run this offense! I see your point but you didn't once answer or bring up one of the biggest parts to all of this..the O-line. You need an extremely powerful o-line to run any sort of offense, especially the one Florida runs. NU's OL in the 90s wasn't the biggest, some years they had like most guys in the 280-290 range. You can run that offense and a power-I. It is much harder to prepare for the option than a power I, unless they mix in some option! I didn't mean "biggest part" as in size, I simply you mean you need powerful guys who know what to do and how to get the job done.

Amen. Callahan wouldn't have been able to take Texas Tech into overtime. I will take the high intensity, high anxiety wins over over Callahan any day (as most Husker fans would). Nebraska is trying hard, not giving up, and actually looking like a damn good football team. Great time to be a Husker fan.