Billyball

So let me get this straight. You are touting Green a "starter" for conference play when the only thing we saw him do was run the ball a few times against a team - which according to you - is a "very poor team from a conference most of us could never name in a list of conferences because they would come to our house and get pummeled for the money"? Nevermind the fact that the game was well out of reach and the FAU defense was just about dead. Where is your logic in that one buddy? If you are going to say we can't judge the overall team by beating a "poor" FAU team, how the hell are you touting Green a "starter" (by conference play) in a thread you started after seeing him run and pass a few times against "poor" FAU team? I guess you misunderstand. Your argument is my argument. While some see Lee as entitled unless injured to start ahead of Green for the next two years based on what happened in one "we buy em, we beat em" football game that for all big programs should be called a "pre season" game, I think it was very telling that they burnt Green's shirt to play in that game. If they didn't plan on utilizing Green in a major way; they would have waited to burn the shirt and see how it's going. It's not like they could not have given him the same number of snaps in practice. In my way of thinking it was a decision that they needed Green on the field likely this season --not "in case" but "because". Otherwise it is a boneheaded move to cut a player of Green's ability down to two years of eligibility to mop up this year and next year. I just found it very telling and asked on another thread if anyone else thought that we would be seeing him start. So shoot me. Start a Zac Lee for the Heiseman thead if that floats your boat. There is NO Quarterback controversy on the team. There is none in the media. There is none on this site. I'm primarily basing my opinion that he will play more than some of the "Zac Lee is our quarterback until 2012" crowd believe on burning the redshirt in the first game. And the fact that he displayed some elusive ability running the ball was good but not the reason I think he will see a lot of playing time this year. I think they are just bringing him along a little more slowly than Barkley at USC but have the same plan to get his talent on the field sooner rather than later. It could be all wet, but one's opinion should not be so threatening to other Big Red fans. Instead of taking shots at those who think that is the case, why not state your opinion without personal attack. We'll see in the fullness of time if I am right or wrong.

And you know this two year scenario from one game in which a Jr. College QB started over a true Freshman exactly how? Nobody wants Lee to fail. Nobody as far as I know has a dog in the fight as far as personalities go as you would have it. I just feel the coaches 1) Envision a greatly expanded role for Green in meaningful situations--I would say if we have trouble when we play a good team, even possibly become the starter OR 2) They would have redshirted him --certainly through the first blow out game. Everybody here trusts the coaches. Just like you did above, they think about the future and their crystal ball is just as clear as the one you are using!!

Hard to say whether Misery is all that good or not. Of course the same is even more true for our team if we our honest. All the comparisons of FAU with Illinois seem a little "homie". Anyone would have taken the Illini over FAU if they played last Sat. and they were favored over the tiggers. I watched the ESPN replay and looked at the stats again. Because we beat the team we paid to come here and get beat and Misery beat a team on a neutral site that was favored to beat them would give any wise student of the game some pause. I'm sure Bo was not pleased to see his first league opponent beat Illinoy that badly. Neither was I. Another thing that is disturbing is that FAU had more yardage against us than Illinoy did against Misery. We had no sacks against FAU and the Tiggers sacked Williams a few times. I never saw a blitz from either team. It is disappointing that with our DL we didn't get a sack against a weak opponent. Our offense looked okay. We ran up the scoreboard, but it really wasn't as impressive a performance as the score. Gabbert vs Lee. Gabbert seemed unsettled a couple plays in the early going and had a grounding and threw another up for grabs. Lee looked pretty poised in his first start and not as rattled as Gabbert was on those two plays. But Gabbert was perfectly on target with most of his throws--where the reciever could get it in stride and the defender could not. Much more precise than Lee I think. Misery's running game seemed to be non existant. Perhaps Illinoy was keying on them and didn't change the game plan, but it was anemic. Our running game looked much better, but how strong is the defense of FAU? I think a lot more FB needs to be played before we have a read on either team. MY takeaway from the start. The tiggers are a lot better than I had hoped. Unless it was a fluke, we are in for one very tough game and all the bravado and "we'll pound them" is silly. And I am wary of all of this talk that VT is a weak and overrated team that we will pummel. Alabama is a very good team and they shut down VT to 155 yards. We let FAU have more than twice that. I have no confidence that we are at this point as good as that Alabama team. It will be a dogfight. We should be confident instead of cocky and lose the hubris until we beat somebody. We need to get much better before the tough games. GBR

Well I don't understand why a QB discussion should "die down now" among a few posters on the internet when they all want the best for Big Red and not a single person is questioning the coaches decision as to who to play. It would be different if that were the case. Some, including myself are thinking that the coaching staff is grooming Green to play this year. Like Misery not shirting Gabbert last year, I think Bo and company have given Green the accelerated program and if he progresses as he seemed to show in the fall; he will take over the team this year. It's a competition. To declare a winner because a more experienced player started the first game is silly. The important thing in that first game as to the future of Big Red football is that the burned Green's RS. He is competing every week and in every game from now on to take over as the number 1 QB. It is a serious competition and one that will make whoever wins the job that much better. Lee knows this. Green knows this. Bo and his staff are watching like a hawk what goes on in practice and in games from here on. If they feel they have a better chance to win with Green, he will play. The same is true for Lee. I commend the coaching staff on the gamble that Green is ready to contribute big time this year and not redshirt him. I bet they know what they are doing. PS What any of us think does not matter a whit and expressing our opinions is hardly something that needs to be stifled. When Lee leads us to the Big 12 Championship many can say I told you so. When Green takes over as the starter with no injury to Lee and leads us to the big game in Jerry's new stadium, others will say "I told you so"

I just don't think you understand how a top program would handle a special player that they saw taking over the program. You go through fall practice. If you think this top player who has 4 yrs of eligibity and a bright future is not capable of being a starter you REDSHIRT HIM. If you are undecided about his ability to be a starter you: KEEP WATCHING BUT KEEP THE REDSHIRT ON UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NEEDED AFTER A QB GOES DOWN. You would never lift his redshirt in the first game in a mopup role unless you thought he was in the mix for playing time this season and you were thinking he would compete for the starting job. You don't decide in the first game to let Green give up 1 yr of eligibilty to spend 2 yrs backing up Lee. You would wait. Bo didn't fall off a turnip truck. He has been watching this all summer. If he ripped the redshirt off of Green and he was too "green" to play this year or didn't know enough plays to contribute, Bo should be a poster instead of a coach. Bo is a coach. He has plans for Green to contribute in a very meaningful way--I would bet start or be a part of a package that is used in important situations to open up a defense and prevent stopping our traditional offense. Bo sensed a need in the offense for this true freshman to be ready to play THIS YEAR and NEXT YEAR or he would not have made an uneeded decision in a blowout first game to cut this talented kid's stay with the Big Red by a year. It's really that simple. Misery burned Gabbert's shirt because they knew he would be starting this year. But they would have never burned his shirt if Daniels had been a Jr nor would any other Div. 1 coach. I would wager you cannot find another 4* freshman who had his shirt burned in the first game to backup a QB with 2 yrs to play. By the time conference season is well underway I would bet that we are like USC riding the shoulders of a talented true freshman QB. I could be wrong, but the logic is all on that side. No offense to Zac who had a good game at FAU and to those Big Red fans who think he will lead us the next two years. I assume we all want what Bo is keyed in on. What is the best player we can put on the field to give us a chance to win. I'd bet on Bo.

Agree with everything but this statement: "This guy is so good he deserves to be considered as the starter." According to Green himself, he's only comfortable with "maybe 15" out of 320 plays. That's 5% of the playbook at best. He also didn't get a chance to play as much as Lee, so outside of running, he could potentially be unexcellent in every area...as far as any of us know. You can't really evaluate him until he plays more. He won't play more until he learns more. He won't learn more until he has time to learn more. So basically, I think we'll all just have to wait and see, before we can legitimately recycle Zac Lee and go "Green" Well it is refreshing to see that others, including a knowledgeable Husker who attended the game shares my thoughts that Green may possibly be given an opportunity to lead this team, out of MERIT and/or necessity this season. Granted he may not be up to the task and the Big Red will go as far as Zac can take us. I can live with that. I do however think there is a ceiling on that plan. I don't think those who claim Zac and these recievers are as good or better than Ganz and last year's WOs are truly knowledgeable fans. When we face a real defense and you lock in on a reciever, you will get shut down. When you throw behind a reciever against a good defense you are not going to be successful and you will have some 'pick six'. Lee is not going to run much. A simple playbook with a great athlete that adds another dimension to the game might well be better than a long playbook with a less athletic and versatile player when we play the biggies. Options well run with Helu, Burk. and Green will worry any defense in the Big 12. Only time will tell. If our passing game under Lee does not really click against topflite opponents, our running game will get shut down. To me the obvious answer if that does happen, is to try Green. We'll have an idea as to what the coaches are thinking (again they would not have pulled the redshirt in the first game of the season to have him back up Lee for 2 years) as to when they use Green. Only in a mop up role or gets some snaps earlier in the game? If that happens you will know that the staff is thinking they may need him to start. Or so it seems to me. I hope we are a dominant offensive team clicking on all cylinders or we try Green by the time we play Misery and then the rest of the Big XII. Fans can differ on how to get to the next level where we want to be. GBR

No way. Georgia OU and VT played high ranked legitimate football teams. We played a barely division I school from a confernece nobody has heard of. If we remain undefeated and lose to a top ten team at some point we sure won't want someone playing "Sister Mary's Blind Team" and winning leapfrogging us. You ain't sh** until you play somebody and BEAT SOMEBODY. When we get by VT and Missouri, we'll be near the top 10. We beat Oklahoma we'll be in the top 5. As it is we are fortunate to be ranked where we are and have proven NOTHING at this point. We allowed those guys to go for 350 yards against out "blackshirts". VT only got 150 against Alabama. There is a reason Ala is where they are and we are where we are at this point. Patience is needed as the season plays out and we need to IMPROVE and BEAT SOMEBODY.

Oh my. We beat one very poor team from a conference most of us could never name in a list of conferences because they would come to our house and get pummeled for the money (all Div I teams do it), and now we are talking about winning the conference and going to a BCS or national championship. Fellas, that is the kind of thing that just makes us look silly. FIRST we have to beat a couple more teams we are paying to come get beat. Then we have to see how we line up with a real football program at VT. Then we have to go to Misery who has beat us like a rented mule for two years and I no longer believe lost a beat and in fact may be a better team than the last two. Other thread says we "Pound them" . Oh okay well hell that's it. Why didn't we think of that game plan before? LOL Then we think we are going to beat Baylor and KU as a given and just might have trouble with Oklahoma and OSU. Let's be happy that things seem to be getting better and not count our chickens before they hatch. We've pretty much beaten NOBODY for several years. Let's be sure we beat SOMEBODY before we start "pounding" our chests. Bo is I am sure concentrating on ASU. I suggest we not get too many steps ahead of Bo. GBR

My money would be on Green in a foot race, but beyond that I believe he has a running style and elusiveness that can be a primary option, rather than an occasional play or escape. If you will he is a better running back than Lee. My money would also be on Green being looked to should we have trouble with VT or Missouri to play when the game is on the line. If we have no trouble, he won't play. If he looks good, it is not unlikely that he will take over the team. It' s college football. It happens all the time. Not something to get hysterical about. We've only play one game against a patsy team. They took the shirt off of Green for a reason beyond backing up for two years.....count on it.

Turner Gill has done a GREAT job at Buffalo. If Colorado offers, he would surely take a long hard look and unless there is another opportunity that he suspects is coming up soon; he'll likely take it. Fans get all goofy when it comes to former players or assistants and what jobs they should or should not take. It is the man's career, not a bunch of yapping fans. We know that he will conduct himself honorably and likely do a good job wherever he goes. If he rebuilds the Colorado program, so be it. What is there for Big Red fans to be afraid of or so petulant about? Anyone of you posters if the competitor of your employer offered you 1 million $ more than you are making would take it in a heart beat. Get Real.

I don't think they will put Misery in front of us now. If we both win this weekend, though they play a better team in Bowling Green, I think we will stay ahead. If we beat VT and they beat Nevada we will stay ahead, setting up the showdown in Columbia. That really concerns me after watching Misery pummel Illinois; but Bo has 3 games to kick it up a notch. Mizzou looked to be in midseason form (of course Notre Dame did as well and I figured they would lose for sure with the ESPN geriatric idiot touting them) against the Illini. Missouri's QB is possibly the best in the North over Reesing. Their recievers didn't seem to miss a beat after losing most of their talent. Their defense shut the same Illinois team completely down that they beat by a small margin last year. Though the Illinois team lost Benn, they had FAyson who is a premier wideout. I sure hope we can beat them or it will be a very long night and a very long season for me. Right now-the odds are not good imo.

Thank you, that has been what I believe is obvious as well. It is not a slap at Lee. Look at the logic of the chatter here. "Green is too valuable to reshirt" and then: "You idiot, Green is not as good as Lee and not good enough to start. Green will be the backup for two years and only play if Lee gets hurt..blah blah" What seems obvious is that you would not burn a year of eligibility on a very talented QB given our thin ranks in that area unless you thought he had a chance to outplay the starter. Now this would be different if Lee were a senior. But you would not want Green type talent backing up a QB for two years and losing a 3 or 4 year starter like he portends to be. Sounds like more knowledgeable fans than me figured this out. If Green comes along as they expect he will be the QB sooner rather than later....otherwise playing him in the first game made ZERO sense. Let's wait and see what happens. "

Now let me address this gem... How is what you're doing any different? You saw Green during mop duty against the SAME TEAM that Lee played against and you're convinced he's our best hope for the season. So people can't justifiably take confidence in Lee from seeing him play 3 quarters of the game, but you can from seeing Green play mop duty for one quarter in the same game? Way to go... Also, nicely done on setting yourself up to only be wrong if we blow out VT and Missouri. I'm sure it never occurred to you that, no matter how Lee performs against them, Green could end up doing much worse. Of course not! That's why you're only wrong if we blow out both VT and Missouri. Give me a break. Husker fans, We have a lot of football to play. We have accomplished absolutely nothing by beating an FUA team except it was the only way we can still go undefeated. We can feel reasonably confident that a weak team will not beat us. You are correct that I do not know from his performance against the weak opponent in a mop up role any more about than we do about Lee standing up against a really good defense. He did as well as needed in the game against FAU as we can say for the recieving corps for that game. I just don't think our passing game will get it done against the better schools we play. My point was not to set any bar for Lee's performance as to whether I was right or wrong about Green, but was meant to say I might be totally wrong. If we beat Missouri by one point or play them close with Lee it is better than we have done lately. I just have a feeling that Green is the QB and that at some point this season he might take over the reins. IF we are successful in moving Nebraska football to a higher plane with Lee, that's GREAT. If however it looks like we are going the other way; I seriously doubt that Bo will do so without shaking things up. I saw the posts claiming Ganz was not the QB that Lee is. I will use the same logic. Ganz got us on the road last year and you could see improvement late in the season and with our two senior recievers, gave us a great passing offense. We'll see if that occurs with this bunch. If it does I will be as happy as anyone here. And in the kibitzing fan department (after all we only play 3 hrs a week 12 or 13 weeks a year so there is a whole lot of time to fill) I will admit that I was terribly wrong about Lee and our passing game. And I'll just bet that if Green becomes the QB and leads us to the next level of competing with the best teams; every one of you will be a Green fan. It's Bo's team. It's our passion.

I have tickets to the Misery game. I have relatives who are Misery fans. I fear that we will not be able to throw on them with this group of recievers and Lee. If that is the case they will shut down our running backs. Though some tell me how great Lee is at running the ball; I just don't see it. Green might be the incompetent freshman that will lose games that many seem to think. But if I am right, he is the only chance we have of not getting embarassed for a 3rd consecutive year and having to listen to my family rag on the Big Red. If VT shuts down our offense with Lee, I am confident Green will get an opportunity. Option football is still alive as Navy and Ga Tech seem to thrive. I fear against real opponents our passing game will be successful only when a defense has to really be afraid of our running game, with a very dangerous running quarterback. Saying after one game against a team that was hired to make us look good that Lee and these recievers are capable of moving the ball against VT or the conference tough teams is whistling by the graveyard. If he can and we blow out VT and Mizzou, then I shall say that I was indeed wrong. I watched that Misery-Illinois game. I was very impressed with them on both sides of the ball. Though I think Illinois does not have a good game day coach; Misery manhandled their offense just like they did ours the last two years. Their offense looked unfortunately like it was better than the teams we have played the last two years. I think that with a QB who can throw adequately and run the option very well, we could even have a shot at the big South programs. I don't like our chances without that added dimension. If Green can throw the ball well enough on the move that will put tremendous pressure on a defense that most of our opponents are not used to having. They play against some form of the spread constantly, Baylor is the only team with such running ability at QB, but he doesn't have the surrounding cast that we have and I doubt can throw the ball as well as Green. Green, rolling after ripping off a 50 yard run two plays before, with Helu or Burkh. trailing would put pressure on any defense we face. Or so it seems to me. The coaches will make a decision and we will all root for it to work.

I agree, Mizzou looked much better than I thought they would or had been led to believe they would by the media. In fact I think a case could be made that they were a much better team than they were last year, especially on defense. Perhaps Ilinois is that bad but they were a very experienced team with the same cast of characters that played Missouri to the wire last year while we performed miserably against Misery. Even in his first start I like Gabbert better than Daniels, though it remains to be seen if he can play at that level for a season. VT will tell us a lot. If we come out of there able to move the ball well and score a lot of points, then I will feel much better about playing Misery and Oklahoma. And I strongly disagree with the comment about Oklahoma's defense being suspect. Watching them against BYU, I figured they would shut us down badly at this time. The only weakness I really saw was the offensive line and of course Bradford going down. How we can move the ball against major college defenses will tell the story. Hopefully we are successful at VT and play with or beat them and/or Missouri and continue to improve. IF we get shut down, I say it's time to try it with Green.

I don't take it as an "attack". I just posed the question Opinions of Big Red fans are like noses--everyone has one and the coaches will make the decisions without considering any half baked fan comments. But my thinking is that we had a scrimmage yesterday against a very very weak team. Further I believe that our passing attack will not be near that of last season with Ganz and his senior recievers. If I am right teams will key on our running game and shut it down. I don't believe we will beat good teams with our passing attack. With Green, assuming he gets more time and proves himself capable or Lee doesn't prove me wrong and win games against tough opponents, teams will have a very much tougher time shutting down the running game. There is a very dangerous QB with designed running plays. It opens up the option play and also reverses to keep a defense off balance. Play action passes should then open up. I could be wrong but assuming he can assimilate the offense, Green will be much more likely to compete with teams like VT, Misery, Oklahoma and KU. Time will tell. I am in no way disrespecting Zac and feel there is a good chance he will prove me wrong. However I believe there is an equal chance when we actually have a worthy opponent, Green will be a better option.

Anyone else think that there is a good possibilty that Green will get more playing time and become the starter? I think it is within the realm and should Zac Lee have trouble leading the team Bo won't be afraid to move to Green. Not your average freshman

Yes we should not be enthusiastically translating defeating a lessor opponent to being a great program ourselves. Nebraska football is not so bereft of success that we need to go crazy over beating a minor football program who came here to get beat for he money. On the negative side, FAU was beaten soundly by all major teams it played last year and was beaten by teams like Arkansas Sate and Troy and middle Tennessee State. On the positive side we beat them about like Texas did last year --they won 50 something to 10. But to take away some sort of "aren't we great, bring on the best of the Big XII" from beating a school that nobody on the street has likely heard of is getting carried away. Look at it like we arranged a scrimmage with the third string of a good BCS program and we dominated them in all phases of the game but learned that we have more work to do. Like a good running back that scores a touchdown, hsnds the ball to the ref and head to the sideline instead of looking like he has never been there before or has a bad case of fleas -- the Big Red should focus on this team improving and developing the skills to defeat a ranked team on the road in a big game. There is a lot of work yet to do. GBR

Let's face it-If we were to lose to these guys, we suck! There is no if ands or buts. But we won't. If we can't blow them out by the half and have a laugher in the second half to play people we are not the team everyone was expecting. Start worrying about VT and Misery. If we don't blow these guys out in the opener, it's going to be a long long season.

I don't think Helu is even on the radar screen of NFL teams. A 1,000 yard year will in no way make him a top draft choice, though lets just hope he is that productive for us. Chickens before they hatch and all of that. The NFL would consider him very suspect as a major contributor I believe. Worry about a player leaving after they have gotten All America or at least all conference citations. He may not even be the starter 5 games into the season. Lots of football to play. Suh is the only talent that the NFL is beaming over right now. Hopefully others will be attracting attention for great play after a good year. We have to show that we can beat a top program and win our division before many of our skilled players will be taken real seriously by NFL We haven't beaten a top program in years. Helu leads us over VT, Oklahoma etc. with huge games, he'll be a hot commodity. Indeed we need to stop getting beat by teams in the Big XII North, like Misery Let's hope it happens this year!

I would love to share your confidence that we get to that part of the schedule unbowed. But first things first. VT at their house is unlikely to go well. Can we win? Sure. Will we be favored? Very unlikely. Misery, of late they have had our number. I fear them more than VT this year. They have the QB we wish we had, with no disrespect to Zac. They have the best running back tandem with the exit of Q in the north. Their offensive line looks very good. Like Tex Tech, I suspect they will have recievers that can catch and run even thought hey don't have the Maclin kid and that tight end. We will have to score a whole lot of points to beat them at their house I think. Can we win? Sure. Will we be favored? Not if they are undefeated and beat Illinois and Nevada and we lose to VT. If we lose those two games early then the three you speak of will be tough to get through. FIRST THINGS FIRST. We have to play close or win at VT and we have to win at Misery that has beaten us by several TDs the last two tries. Worrying about later season and playing Ok is silly until we prove we can play with/beat Missouri and VT. We need to establish that we are the NU of old and not wuss out on the road early. We can do it. Now they have to go out and do it. GBR

After the last two years of total embarrassment; I dont' care so much about "humbling" Missouri as I do escaping with a victory of any kind. They haven't been beat at home the last couple years except by Ok state I think. It won't likely be a romp. However we just have to win that game. I don't think we will have much of a shot at the North title if we don't win in Columbia. Like Texas Tech, their system which is well entrenched down there; will kick out a lot of yards. I hope without Daniel and Maclin they will make more mistakes. I worry about the Missouri game, but if we get things going, win three routs and play VT close, I will feel a lot better. GBR

We can pretend there is nothing wrong as long as we want but the truth is there for all to see. Recruiting has changed dramatically. Kids make up their minds sooner than ever. We are losing the war. We have lost two 4* recruits and have a class smaller than even the doormats of the league. We have offered seemingly every 5* player in the universe but will not get any of them. It seems this staff uses Rivals to send out letters and see what shows up. if there is not a big turn around this will be a debacle. Anyone who is comfortable with the trend, simply is whistling past the graveyard. Something is keeping recruits from valuing our program. Are other coaches spreading rumors ? Are we going to be that bad this season? What is the reason that we are losing the recruiting wars?

I'd rather think 1) Nebraska 2) Missouri 3) tie--Kansas Colorado 5) tie --K-state -ISU The north teams all have queston marks but I think we have the better defense and until last week the best running tandem. I think we will still get it done but will be harder. KU doesn't have the horses in the OL or defense. I worry much more about Mizery than I do any of the other North teams. The south? OU and TU, very far above the rest of the conference. OSU, not so much.