Billyball

As I said. Helu will be a seldom used backup--or transfer. Burkhead is going to be Da Man.

The kid is a horse--Helu is going to be simply a backup

yeah, just like they rolled aTm. If you didn't watch, ATM had an offense. WE DON'T

ABC is overstating our offensive ability to hype the Texas game. We had less than 100 yards in that half and did nothing except for one play against Colorado . There is no reason that anyone not wearing red would think we match up well against Texas. I'll take the hype, but I think they know that unless Texas is flat as can be, the Big 12 Championship game is likely a blowout. All Green fans get their chance. It really can't hurt much.

Usually the simplest explation is best. Our offense is inept because they are simply not very good. Our defense is great because of great players. Next year without Suh et al, we will have a chance to test your theory. I don't subscribe to a notion that the players are dogging it and getting their a$$ chewed out by coaches and ridiculed by fans and press because we have a good defense.

Unfortunately, their offense seems much better than what we've shown so far. I wish we were playing A&M.

I think you are getting way too wound up with Zero facts. Though I dislike the Misery Football program, I don't buy this huge conspiracy in a Kansas City restaurant which would mean that most of the people in the restaurant at the time did not know each other. Kansas City is not at all like say Lincoln, having spent a lot of time in both. I will guarantee you that there were people in that restaurant that didn't give a tinkers damn about Misery or the Big Red. So even if you think a Missouri fan would lie to cover up for an assult on an innocent woman minding her own business with her kids, I would guarantee that there were people in the restuarant in the KC area who could have cared less or even wanted Missouri to get pounded. Independence(Kansas City Metro) is not like Nebraska where everyone hangs on fooball games and cheer for the same team. My guess is it's an old story where there are two sides and the big item is the line that is usually hidden in the story. "Alcohol was involved". My guess which is all we have to go on since it seems to be one woman's claim against everyone else is the complaintant was sloshed along with others. An argument ensued and got out of hand. Could be wrong--but no way was there an establishment wide conspiracy on the basis of the alliegence of a football fan. Indeed it would be more likely for that to happen in Lincoln or Norman --not Kansas City. So many people there could give a krap about the Misery kittens. I don't think we need a likely false claim by a person claiming to be a wronged Husker fan, to have us dislike Misery. Their team and pos quarterback is enough.

Of course 9 wins is a great thing for a rebuilding football team. I am not sure when we began playing 12 games in the regular season and of course a Conference championship game was not in the Big 8 days so there was one or two less opportunities to win 9 games. 9 games if you play 11 regular season games, I think in the early TO and Devaney days they only played 10. Big difference in going 9-5 say and going 9-1. But still we'll take 9 wins anyway we can get em. I also am not sure when we (and many other big programs) began paying 3 of four out of conference foes to come to our house rather than having a home and home with them. That too makes it difficult to compare. At any rate this is far too early. We have to go to Boulder and beat Colorado. Then let's talk about how big a deal it is to win 10 games AFTER winning at CCG. Right now quite honestly we have not done that much other than earned the right with a 6-2 or a 5-3 conference record to represent the Big 12 North in the CCG. Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, but comparison to the TO era seems overdone.

I like my koolaid Big and Red as a lot of folks, but to compare our current team to the elite of the SEC is laughable. Though Alabama or Florida may beat Texas, not terribly sure of that this year; the only way we beat them is to have the luckiest game we've had in decades and they have the inverse. Comparing us playing a fersh*t Ksuck team to Texas is silly. Can we beat them? Yeah maybe 1 time out of 30 or 40 tries with these teams, so there is a slim chance. Right now I worry about winning in Colorado. Losing that one would be Iowa State like bad.

I don't see how this is a must-win game at all. We've already wrapped up the North, so there's no urgency there. We'll go to a bowl game win or lose, and possibly the same bowl win or lose, so there's no urgency there either. Suh isn't a genuine Heisman candidate so there's no need to pump his stats, so there's no need there. The season lost all credibility by losing to Iowa State, and beating a 3-8 Colorado team (3-9 if we win) won't legitimize anything about our record. We gain nothing by beating this team. Nothing. Only true if you want to see a team going into the Big 12 championship with their tail between their legs and get stomped while the media laughs at how impotent we were at CU, the rest of the big 12 North laughs and the recruits we are trying to attract reconsider as the bowl representatives also reconsider and say--"No thank you" to a Husker team, twice beaten in their last two games--one by a terrible team . Other than that you argument that getting our A$$ whupped in Boulder doesn't matter makes perfect sense. Right now it is the only thing that stands between a decent season and humiliation.

If we lose to CU we will be a joke, a total joke. The announcers for the Big 12 Championship game won't be able to stop laughing that Texas has to play a joke from the Big 12 North to get to the NCG. If we rip through CU, there will be a measure of respect in the media and some confidence on the team. If we lose in Boulder, there will be neither.

You mean other than offense defense and special teams where does Texas outshine us? Don't know, think the cheerleaders are pretty much even, The Tejas gals have something wrong that causes their forefinger and little finger to stick out a lot. Kinda deformed hand look. But the players on the field for the Tejas crew are pretty damn good. It will take a huge letdown on their part and much better than the best we''ve played all season for it to be close going into the 4th quarter.

With 3 games left there is a lot of Football for this year's Huskers to play. But I was just thinking about next year this morning. This is not an elite season unless we win the next two games, then regardless of the earlier losses or what happens in our BCS bowl game, this is one of the better Husker seasons, because they would have come back from the death bed and proved everybody wrong. Likely won't happen but one can dream. Likely we split the next two and see what happens in a bowl game. Next year we have a whole lot of starters coming back. I counted 10 on offense coming back and 6 on defense. Unfortunately as we all know our offense sucks and our defense is arguably the best in the country. The losses on defense are huge and it is overly optimistic to think that we will be as good without Suh, Turner, Dillard, Asante and O'Hanlon. KSU who was our opponent for going to the Big 12 championship, return 7 on offense losing their QB, Gregory and playmaker Banks and 6 on defense. It is obvious that the old man can coach and it is possible they could be as good next year, but I don't see them being a lot better. Iowa State has 8 coming back on offense and just 5 on defense. Arguably the best coaching job in the conference, it is hard to see anything but a spoiler out of Ames next year. I'm throwing out KU and CU, because there is going to likely be coaching changes and turmoil at both that should not help their chances of vying for a North championship next year. Misery has 8 returning on offense and 8 returning on defense. There is our "rival" that many wanted to find in a thread yesterday, at least for next year. The good news, their defense was not very good against any passing team. The bad news, their offense has improved as the season went on while ours has not. Good news, they lose the top WR in the conference other than Shipley and I'm not sure that he is not better than the Texas WR. There will likely be a huge drop off in talent at that WR spot. Bad news. Gabbert is going to be a very good QB and he returns. Should be the top QB in the conference in 2010. Looking at the South teams--Texas is Texas until proven otherwise and if they go to the NCS game, there is no reason to necessarily expect a North team to beat them next year--though it will be much more likely without McCoy and Shipley. OU obviously has big holes to fill and are experiencing things they have not in a good while. Losing McCoy to the NFL will hurt them just as losing Suh will our defense. So the big two of the South have to be considered down next year from the norm. Whoever wins the North should have a much better chance to compete....maybe. The maybe is because of the difference in talent that Texas and OU recruit and has access to. There is no comparison to the rest of the league. They are the only two teams that truly "reload" rather than "rebuild". TT loses only 3 on offense and 4 on defense and have to feel pretty good about their chances in the south next year--but until they prove otherwise they will remain a Bridesmaid. And Pirate Leach is mentioned in a lot of rumors to leave. If that happens they won't get it done. It seems the guy could take any QB and have him throw for 400 yds pg. But like the North, next year will be the best chance in a while for them. I would give us the edge to win it all if we had a top QB and had shown some life offensively. As it is, I fear we will have trouble scoring enough points for another season. The good news is that we play Missouri early and at home. That game, everything else being equal will be huge. I realize that super sophs we have not heard of and some fantastic freshman on any team may make this whole thing look silly. But my take is that our big rival or "problem" if you prefer for taking the next big step in 2010 is Misery. I think whichever of those two teams is best will have the best chance in years to win the Big 12 title and go to either a BCS or an outside chance at a NCS game. GBR

It is way too early to celebrate and I'm sure Bo is not doing any. For fans a Big 12 NC is a big deal and we've now got an extra game to watch or travel to. And it is a step back to being relevant. But it is just a step and there is no "order restored" and really no "we mean business" needed with two big games before a bowl game. The truth is that with our offense, Colorado might be a pickem game after their Thursday night performance against a team with their offense crippled. Texas, will be an opportunity to make brash statements after the game or wish we'd have kept our mouth shut before. We backed into a North championship that is sort of the laughing stock of achievements. That is not something a Big Red fan is going to be crowing about unless we beat CU and play a respectable game or win against Tejas. If KSU would have won, does anyone think there was some sort of purple power that had been restored? No they are not a good football team but play against other not very good football teams. WE didn't blow them out of the stadium. When we can talk about "order restored" it will be an undefeated Big Red team going to the Big 12 North showdown. We are a long way from getting that done. It will depend on Bo's recruits to get it done and it will take a while. We need much better players to restore Big Red to their former place. This is a baby step. Actually there is a bigger step in Boulder next week and a huge step in Dallas. We need to climb higher. A h*** of a lot higher.

The truth is that we have not had a true rival since OU and that is primarily because we have not been a very good football team since 01. In the Big 12 North without OU we kind of picked CU for a while because they were the best. I think lately we've more considered Missouri a rival since they have dominated the series of late until this year. But I don't think OU considers us a rival certainly, and Misery has Kansas as their big rival. We have been too mediocre and other teams have come and gone to get into the 'rival' thing the last several years. Let's beat KSU tonight or next year some will be seeing them as our "rival" because they won the North. Until we become a more dominant team, we should not use decades old data to claim we are a rival to OU and far above the more modest competition of the Big 12 North. We certainly haven't proved it. GBR

People said something similar last week before KU and we scored 31 points. KSucks isn't that great people, yes the team has to be prepared for them and not take them for granted. This game is at home and it is Senior day, I think THE CORN is going to role. Remember, Mizzu put a serious hurt on these guys and exposed them for what they are. So, to answer your question, Yes, I think the Huskers will cover the spread and then some. Mizzou had a passing game, we are still trying to develop one, although we really should score more than 13 pts., IF we take care of the ball. I don't think it would be a good bet. Misery has an offense. We don't . Glad we don't have to play them now. And for those that think we proved something by beating OU, TT is kicking OU's A$$ at 27 -6 in 3rd Qtr. We can win this game but it's foolish with our anemic offense to ever think it will be easy or to bet with any spread.

It shows you just how important a QB is to a team. OSU was doing okay without Dez Bryant and their big RB, looked like they were headed for a BCS bowl; but without Robinson, they are fer$hit. Unfortunately we do not have much in the way of QB play with either of our "starters". The coache's kid, looked pretty good after their starter was hurt. Be a bad time for that team to get confidence and go home to face us. I think we will get by KSU, though it may be semi close(and after ISU and with our inept offense anything is possible) , but now I worry that we will have a hard time winning at CU and will get killed by Texas. If that comes to pass I'm not sure that winning the Big 12 was a good thing from a recruitng or momentum standpoint. Hope I'm wrong.

I don't get the Bo coach of the year support. We might win the big 12 North with a nearly even won/loss record because our division SUCKS, hardly a stellar coaching achievement. At least the Fat Man at KU had a number 1 ranked team and only one loss a couple years ago. I'd vote for Lane Kiffin at Tenn. He has the hottest wife by a wide margin and it probably is some sort of record that only 3 felony complaints have been allege against that bunch he assembled in Knoxville. I look for him to do much better with those they are buying for next year--maybe a manslaughter or bank robbery in that bunch.

I'm glad Gill got his shot. He needs to be a head coach. I'd rather he went somewhere other than KU but it will be a step up and a lot more money for him. I think the fat coach's plight is a good lesson in not being an Ahole if you have a real sucky season. After two straight bowl games the wheels fell off this year. But it seems all the nastiness he sewed as a human being is coming home to roost. I think it is something our HC might take note of and avoid "sideline browbeating TV". Any personality usually works if you are winning....but woe be unto you if you have a fall apart season. Looks like this is the year the fat man pays for arrogance of the past.

If you are smart, you do your A$$ chewing in private. You don't chew on someone responsible for a leadership role in front of those who are taking orders from them ie-assistants in front of position coaches and position coaches in front of players. You can say you want not to see anything like that again directly to them but not a public meltdown that makes them look small and you look SMALLER. Bo is going to have to learn to be a head football coach that has some class. Right now he is fast becoming seen as "intense" and "passionate" by those just happy to have a winning season. If he stumbles and we start losing, those "that's just Bo being Bo" public tantrums at subordinates, players and officials, those same fans will view him as a tyrant and a stuborn bully with boorish behavior. They will be calling for his head even more quickly than someone losing but being a man with some control. There will come a time when a ref will have a tirade from Bo in the back of his mind and all things being equal (and that happens a lot) whether to throw a flag or not will hurt the team. When/if he has a good coordinator and another school comes calling those public humiliations on national TV that he hears about from his family and friends, will be a factor in giving the one finger salute and moving on. There are repercussions for being a jerk. Not always are they apparent for a very long time. But eventually you reap what you sew. If he's smart he'll learn to chew a$$ in private and praise in public.

Bo is not yet even a good and far from a great HC. He is not a class act. He acts like he is a defensive coordinator who gets paid to raise hell. Yapping at a player coming off the field in the heat of battle is probably to be expected for a relatively new head coach, or even an experienced one. Yapping at assistants on camera is bush league, plain and simple. Does anyone think that we would have been better off if the offensive coaches he was belittling on national TV where friends and family watch would have walked and let Bo little call the plays and run the offense? Does Pellini think he would appreciate it if the head coach made him the scapegoat on national TV when he was a DC? There is time for that krap when the cameras are off. Class is not something you pick up unfortunately. If he doesn't change his ways and we start losing, Bo will be kicked out of Lincoln much faster than the last two HC's . He hasn't figured that out yet. He is FAR from a class act. And ragging on Watson only increases the reason for Gabbert to decommit. Watson was the only reason Gabbert committed. His family cannot be happy to see the reason they wanted to come to Nebraska being humiliated week after week on TV. BUSH LEAGUE and will only work as long as there are more W's than L's.

Helu--hands down. We were losing with 6 minutes to go. Without Helu, we lose. With him we win. easy call

It kind of shows how far we have fallen to be in this p*ssin contest of my DT can beat your DT, when we are playing Oklahoma not watching a sumo match between Suh and McCoy. There is not a great deal of difference in the two great players. There is not a lot to brag about unless we win the game. Otherwise it's just plain silly. Both will be high first round players and we know that Suh will be gone next year and I'm guessing so will McCoy though he could come back. The point is that if we lose badly what we know as a team, Suh didn't beat OU and neither did the Big Red. That IS ALL THAT MATTERS. I get really tired of the "we outgained this team" or "if not for this play or that play" or "our running back is better" or "our defense it better" you name it. All that matters is winning and that is all you will remember a week from now. GBR

The fact that we have played generally mediocre or lousy offensive teams (and still lost to three of them) should be included before we start thinking we have a great overall defense. We have the best player in college football, another very good tackle and a couple ends that are quite capable. Beyond that our defense is not spectactular at all. Don't get me wrong, I am happy that with the dismal offense the D has kept us in games that we would have likely lost the last couple years. TT is not the powerhouse that they were in former years as evidenced by a buttwhippping that ATM gave them. I think OU is obviously off their game lacking Bradford and Pettigrew, but I will feel a lot better if their offense doesn't run up and down the field. It will tell us a lot about our game with KSU since they were able to move the ball and hold OU to keep it close deep into the game. If we do that then I will join in the kudos to the overall D. This will be the big test for the D. The last few years we've had teams come in here and embarass us in games like tomorrow's and it seemed that the D just stopped trying. Tomorrow I hope that stops! Perhaps a great game from the D will give a spark to the O.

Who knows? But I'm sure that Tyler might see it easier to compete with a kid in the same class and take a chance on taking over for his brother with 3 years of eligibility. Though the older Gabbert has not shown a lot to this point, he has been hurt. I would not doubt that the family is thinking that it is possible that he will go to the NFL after next year if it is a big year. The kid has a better arm I think that Freeman did. They will have a better offensive line next year and so I could see a possibility of being a high draft choice. The NFL doesn't look at records or wins obviously. So if he would leave after next year, Tyler would only be competing with someone in the same class for taking over. Obviously they don't have anyone else or they would have played him in our game and the Texas game. And a lot will depend on if it looks like Watson is on thin ice. If this team loses more games other than OU, Bo may be wanting to bring in someone else, since it was T0's idea to keep Wats. At any rate I hope we have another QB as an insurance policy lined up in case Tyler flees. If the staff plays Green the rest of the way at least we know if we are seeing some improvement or whether to get really worried.