whateveritis1224

The entire CCG was a crap show from the very beginning. It wasn't just on Pelini and the coaching staff, the defense just wasn't making plays at all. Evans getting embarrassed by Ball, Stafford and Smith continually taking bad angles. They were also facing a Wisconsin team that was feeling slighted and mad at how they had lost their last few games. They came to play, and when the first bad play happened for Nebraska, things snowballed like they have happened to do since we've joined the Big Ten.

That. I think Newby is going to spend a lot of time as a return man while Taylor is going to be the main back. Kind of similar to what we did with Helu and Burkhead. Except after Martinez leaves there is going to be a lot more carries to spread around because while Armstrong and Stanton are capable of running (more Stanton than Armstrong) they're not nearly as good or have the home run ability that Martinez has. But both of them start out as better passers than Martinez as a freshman.

If there is going to be a rb that's going to redshirt this year, it's probably going to be Taylor. Newby is a crazy threat in the return game, he can be what Abdullah was 2 years ago. Give him a select number of packages in the offense, but have him focus on the return game and catching punts. I like Cross going crazy on the field and just punishing a defense. Too many guys are going to need to be watched, mostly along the defensive front 7, where we had a very good class last year and they pretty much all redshirted.

The biggest thing about the end of that game is that the exact same situation came up at least twice in high profile games (Michigan vs. ND and Miami vs. FSU). In both of the previous games there was more time on the clock that ran off than in the Big XII game, and both those games did not have time put back on for one more play. FSU had something like 2 seconds run off after an incomplete pass in the endzone. That is what was messed up in that situation. I'm all for getting it right to end the game, but the officials throughout the year had shown one way of dealing with a situation like this and the championship officials decided to do their own thing. My favorite moment of the Pelini era would have to be the Oklahoma game in '09. Even from my house you could feel the electricity. If there's one game I regret missing in Memorial Stadium it would be that one. Watching the tunnel walk on youtube after the game gave me chills.

I agree however...I do like that fact that he is not a "homer" and at times can really put stuff into perspective without drinking the Red kool aide. That would be the Shatels and McKewons. All Dirk does is stir the sh#t. "stats stats we suck. Bo sucks. Bo is mean. Stats stats stats. Taylor Martinez sucks. Bo is mean. Stats. Stats. Nebraska still sucks. Creighton yay. stats. Bo is mean. Stats". That's essentially what I get out of Dirk's writing, unless of course I'm missing something. Dirk does some great writing as long as he's not writing something that involves his own opinion. His piece on Brown and Abdullah was fantastic. He also did one on Stafford before the season that was just as good.

I don't know what you're pointing out, but this is Rittenburg and Bennett's postseason player rankings. Doesn't matter if they're going to be back next year or not. A lot of people are leaving the B1G, through leaving early or graduation, though.

The problem with removing helmets from football, is the shoulder pads. Shoulder pads would then have to be removed and replaced with something else. Maybe eventually you'll see football end up with protection similar to Rugby.

Taylor's probably the last guy we have on the list. Roby, OSU's CB, and Dennard are 16 and 19 respectively, and the perception is they had better seasons (both are 1st team B1G). While we had a good year, we really didn't have anyone outside of Martinez who I'd put in the top 10. Evans was solid, but I wouldn't put him in front of they guys already there. Now if Martinez anywhere but 2, I suggest we all raise heck. My prediction on the top 5 are: 1. Miller 2. Martinez 3. Ball 4. Bell 5. Simon Maybe Mauti breaks in their and replaces Simon, but I'm pretty confident on the top 2.

They absolutely need to have a review if they are thinking about ejecting. Can not have the ejection be put on the on field refs. Way too many bang bang plays to be trusted to those guys. Also they need to look and see if it was malicious. Kyler Reed had a helmet to helmet against FSU in 2011 that I would qualify as malicious.

Taylor's probably going to come in at 2, right behind Miller. But I don't think Bell is going to show up. Allen Robinson, the leader in receptions, receiving yards and B1G receiver of the year, is like number 12. I don't think Rittenburg and Bennett would put Bell above him. Unless they are taking into account he didn't have a TD that traveled for less than 20 yards all year, but I doubt it.

I think the Safety positions are interchangeable and you can't call either position FS or SS.

After the game against OSU, name a running QB that torched us? Whatever they did in the bye week semi-worked. Colter did nothing, and while Robinson was getting yards, he wasn't running all over us. Now this year we have an overall more athletic defense better made for stopping those types of QBs.

I really think our home field is getting back to where it was. Since 2010, our only home losses came in games where we had multiple drops on assured tds, and a flukey loss to Northwestern. Overall we've played a heck of a lot better at home (that span also includes 2 victories over top 10 teams). Coupled with what happened last year in Pasadena, and I believe we'll win comfortably (2 scores). NW doesn't have the guys on defense, and Pelini has finally seemed to get a handle on running QBs (though it does put a lot of pressure on our CBs). We do have a big date with Michigan in Ann Arbor no matter what. The team has to get over the hump in big time road games.

That with straight black. I liked Northwestern's helmets when they played us. I wouldn't mind them doing something similar with the blackshirt logo. The problem I see though is there really isn't an opponent that is special. I guess we can do it for homecoming.

I'd like an all black alt uni to commemorate the Blackshirts this year (something like the 50th Anniversary). All black with some red accents. I like what Northwestern did with their helmets when they faced us, but like that picture shows, Herbie isn't very good for a helmet. Matte black helmet, with a matte red or grey N.

Yeldon was a True Freshman. But after watching Newby in the International Game I think he has the same impact in the return game that Abdullah had when he first came here. I'd rather have Abdullah focus exclusively on being a RB. Let Turner, Bell, Newby, and whoever else be the returnmen.

He gets up to his top speed really quick, he just doesn't have a 6th gear. Everything else about Burkhead is impressive though.

Rex is going to test exceptionally well everywhere except the 40.

Rex just doesn't have the top speed to break long runs. If you look at his long runs this year he got to the third level really quick, but didn't really seem to accelerate past that. That said,he's probably going to have the best 10 yard split. He's also going to show really well in the other agility tests.

If you have CBS Sports Network, Newby is playing in an All American game.

I watched his highlight video (the offensive portion) and it looked like Drake's, the competition might be a little suspect, but he's taking care of business. And if he hasn't lost any of that speed, well put him back as a returner and see what happens.

He choked on the 50 yarder in the team competition, missed it off the upright. Glad Maher did good in the individual competition though. Also there was 1 stat threw out there about how the kicker from Louisiana Lafayette was the most accurate ever at 90%+. Is that correct? Because I remember Henery missing like 5 kicks total in his career.

I'm not saying Ameer doesn't need to focus on ball security, but keep in mind FOUR of his fumbles were muffed punts. Obviously we can't have those on our team either, but I view that differently than him taking a draw up the middle and a LB stripping him. I think you bring up a really good point. While I think that overall fumbles are important, I'd be curious about how our team ranks in fumbles per touch/running play. Put the behavior in context. For instance, muffed punts are a different skill set then not getting it stripped on a run. Anyone have the down time at work to look into team rankings in fumbles per running play (factoring only fumbles on intended running plays/scrambles)? I can tell you that one of those muffed punts was an absolutely atrociously bad call by the refs that was upheld by review that clearly showed the ball 2-3 yards away from Ameer's foot. (the Arky State muffed punt) The biggest thing with Ameer though is that he's fumbled in the absolute worst opportune times. In our comeback against Wisky, which Martinez was right there to pick up and run for a touchdown. If we lose that one, we're most likely not winning the game. Then there were the 2 fumbles in consecutive Capital One Bowls that absolutely killed our momentum. I have faith he will work on that problem in the offseason. Hopefully he and Martinez get together to figure things out.

I don't want Abdullah to have more than 20 carries a game, and about 10 carries a game for Martinez.

Freak turnovers are going to happen that aren't necessarily the fault of the player, especially when it comes to interceptions and fumbles while passing. If a QB gets blind-sided because his left tackle got beat, that's not really on the quarterback. I would say those probably only account for a couple of overall turnovers though. Even if you take em away, we still have problems. We definitely have a problem with turnovers, I just had this observation while rewatching the MSU game. Probably should have been a penalty, especially with the way the refs were calling that game.