Nebula

You can disregard anything you hear on NPR as scripted now. They made it pretty clear that there are acceptable viewpoints at NPR, and then there are perceptions that are completely unacceptable and will apparently result in immediate termination. It's entertainment, not news. They aren't interested in expanding any kind of discussion, only in furthering their own agenda. I'm pretty sure the same rules apply at Fox News and MSNBC.

NU - 56 ISU - 7 Rushing - 387 Passing - 125

I wonder if Mr. Hatch wouldn't like to rewind the reels of time now, considering that his Utes are in fact BCS conference bound. I doubt it. Here's just a few reason's why... In 2003 USC was not included in the BCS Championship Game, but beat Michigan in the Rose Bowl and ended up #1 in the Associated Press final poll. The following season, in 2004, undefeated Auburn University, Boise State University and University of Utah teams were left out of the National Championship Game (the FedEx Orange Bowl), although those teams were undefeated as well. In 2001, Oregon, second ranked in the AP poll, was bypassed in favor of Nebraska despite Nebraska's loss in its final regular season game to the University of Colorado. In 2008, the University of Utah was excluded from the BCS championship for a second time despite being the only undefeated Division I-A team at the end of the season and finished second behind 13-1 Florida. In 2009, five schools finished the regular season undefeated: Alabama, Texas, Cincinnati, Texas Christian University, and Boise State, however the BCS selected traditional powers Alabama and Texas to participate in the BCS National Championship Game as they were the top two teams in the BCS rankings. However, only Alabama and Boise State emerged from the postseason undefeated. No, I know what you're saying and I agree. Just a sarcastic remark.

kyle and jack? Lee and D

Kato and Nash Tango and Cash

I wonder if Mr. Hatch wouldn't like to rewind the reels of time now, considering that his Utes are in fact BCS conference bound.

Sure, but the question back then wasn't "Would McCoy be a good rookie," it was, "Will McCoy be better than Suh?" The obvious answer was no, he wouldn't be. The stats bore that out. The combine bore that out. Their play on the field the last two years bore that out. Despite this, despite all the evidence to the contrary, McShay went on every program, article and blog he could find to say that McCoy was the better pro prospect. McShay made a case for McCoy and it could have affected Suh's draft stock and his future, and people were pissed. The fact that McShay was not just wrong but horribly wrong still rankles with plenty of people. Exactly. It's due to the fact that Suh was so incredibly and tangibly destructive in every game he played last year, truly, a once-in-a-decade type of season and type of player. Not to take anything away from McCoy. He is a very fine athlete that any team would take for their roster, but his impact on games vs the utter and total chaos wrought by Suh last year wasn't even close in comparison. A cynical person might wonder if McShay wasn't just horribly wrong but intentionally wrong.

I haven't watched Gameday in years. I quit watching "The Leader" for anything other than games once they stopped showing highlights, and started trotting out "experts" like Mike Golic or whoever...to prattle on and on and on and on.... So, yeah, she annoys the bejesus out of me. No more than anyone else on that network, though. All that forced attitude and b*tchiness got old even before Keith Olbermann left, over a decade ago.

Those games were rough for me to watch. I think it's only because I was permanently scarred by the game against Texas Tech that should never, ever, EVER be referenced that was broadcasted on The Bison King's channel. Gack.

Cameron Meredith has just been arrested for attempted manslaughter. Ed Cunningham was there, along with this guy:

I have not watched ISU play this year at all, but I get the sense that this team is playing with a quiet confidence of sorts. So, and perhaps Cy the Cyclone could shed some light here, just what is ISU about? What do they do well on offense? Where can the Cyclone defense hurt you, and where are they potentially vulnerable? How have their special teams units fared? And for those Husker fans who have seen ISU play or just have a decent grasp on the makeup of the team, do you see any matchups that jump out at you as ones we can exploit?

Right on Blaze, thanks for the clarification.

That's the funny thing. With all of the terrible announcing tandems out there, I actually think Ed calls a pretty good game. I'm not sold on the idea that he has it out for NU, and there are plenty of announcers and other media types who I do believe hold NU in a sour light, for whatever reason. I think Ed just failed miserably in his breakdown of the big hits in the OSU and MU games. He took a current hot button issue and tried to apply the national discussion to these specific instances, and the attempt was ill conceived and horrendously blundered with his inaccurate analysis. Still, Ed has had a better week then a certain writer for Yahoo Sports.

This has already been stated above, but the key is the severity. I destroyed my ankle...doing some stupid little hop thing off of the fourth stair from the ground outside of my apartment complex when I lived in California. There was a group of like six really good looking young women congregating out on the parking lot, right below my apartment and the stairs. So I jauntily stride out of my apartment, straining with effort in my attempt to convey total coolness and general apathy...making sure to light my Parliament in what I'm sure was just the most super suave way ever, then to the stairs. On the fourth stair I jumped...and somehow managed to bend my ankle back far enough on the landing that I heard two pops. RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE CUTE GIRLS. Who, God bless 'em, couldn't help but start laughing hysterically at first as I writhed around in pain. That's how you impress the ladies, guys. Anyways, I had a pretty bad sprain. I was on crutches for 4 or 5 days, but then it got markedly better pretty quickly. I was playing basketball within 10-14 days or so and my ankle was really swollen at first, swollen enought that on first look the ER nurse said she thought I had probably broken something. Sprained ankles suck, but it just depends on the person and the type of sprain. Mine was lower ankle. High ankle sprains can be more troublesome, I think.

I like him!

Is that really what you took from that article? Overall, it was a big, fat cheap shot at MU, the kind of which other posters on this forum have been critical of when it was about NU. He basically said MU sucked so bad that they couldn't even adjust to a simple alignment change up front. That's about as red-tinted as it comes. Yeah, that's why I asked if I was being overly sensitive. It really isn't about this one article, it is a culmination of slights that I have perceived (whether real or imagined) from Lee over the years. My real intent with this post was to gauge the perception Husker fans have of Lee's NU football coverage. I could be way off base. It wouldn't be the first time in my life that has happened.

Omaha.com LINCOLN — The “American Society of Second-Guessers’’ heartily thanks Missouri coach Gary Pinkel for his work in Saturday’s 31-17 loss to Nebraska. Our cup runneth over with material after that showing. We had been led to believe this was a new and improved Tiger team, with poise and chemistry and not haunted by previous poor showings under pressure. But Pinkel, instead of traveling with his undefeated and Top 10 team, brought ol’ Mizzou to town. The same ol’ Mizzou that can’t run — and rarely tried — against an opponent ranked 79th nationally in rushing defense. The same ol’ Mizzou that was outsnookered by a simple wrinkle in Nebraska’s defensive front. The same ol’ Mizzou that couldn’t take advantage of NU’s best offensive weapon (quarterback Taylor Martinez) and top coverage man (cornerback Alfonzo Dennard) leaving the game for good with injuries in the first half. And the same ol’ Mizzou that operated in such confusion that it used all three second-half timeouts in the first 10 minutes of the third quarter — and tried to call a fourth. To speed things along, let’s boil down Missouri’s mess to a four-play sequence with the ball 6 inches from the Nebraska goal line. This was after the Tigers had cut a 24-point deficit to 31-14 in the third quarter. I asked for an explanation of that sequence of play calls and formations. “I don’t understand the question,’’ Pinkel said. OK. Let’s try again. You tried a quarterback sneak with 6-foot-5, 240-pound Blaine Gabbert under center, and it failed. You backed into the shotgun on second and third down, and two more runs failed. Then you moved Gabbert back under center on fourth down, but an illegal-procedure penalty led you to try a field goal. “We just call plays,’’ Pinkel said. “We try to get the ball in and call plays. We think it’s the best plays. We analyze a lot of film and do what we think is best.’’ That’s known as a tap dance to protect MU offensive coordinator David Yost, who had a bad, bad day. Last week, Missouri used a strong game from its running backs to dash for 178 yards in a win over then-BCS No. 1 Oklahoma. So what does Yost call against Nebraska, which has struggled against the run? Five wide receivers and no backs on the first three snaps. That led to a three-and-out. Then came another. Then after one first down, another. By the end of the first quarter, Missouri trailed 24-0 and its running backs had all of four carries for 1 yard. “We were planning on having a few different running attacks,’’ center Tim Barnes said. “But Nebraska came out and lined up a little differently than they had shown in any games. “The way they were lined up (defensive tackles head to head over offensive tackles) changed the approach we had all week. It took away our focus on the run.’’ It should cause every Missouri fan major discomfort to know five days of practice can be negated by a routine front-four tweak. Gabbert gamely tried to make something out of the stubborn play-calling from the spread. But his happy feet in the pocket returned after a two-game absence. It was understandable. Gabbert was sacked six times after going down only seven times in the season’s first seven games. He completed just 18 of 42 passes (42.9 percent). Did the better team win? “I don’t know,’’ Gabbert said. “Football is football. You’ve got to come out and play your ‘A’ game.’’ Missouri, with a victory Saturday, would have had a Grade A chance for direct involvement in the national championship race. Instead, the Tigers lost control of their destiny, need Nebraska to lose to even have a shot at the Big 12 title and look headed to another non-BCS bowl. Same ol’ Mizzou. My first attempt at linking an article and if I did poorly I apologize. So...we didn't win the game, Missouri simply lost it? Am I overly sensitive, or does it seem like Lee Barfknecht prefers dental surgery over writing positive things about NU? I'm not looking for some dishonest optimistic spin on everything Husker related I read...I'm all for journalistic integrity. But this guy kills me. I read that part in bold, and I feel like I've got a pretty good idea what Lee thinks the answer is to that question. His coverage of NU football just always seem to lean toward the negative, imho. Is it just me? What do you guys think?

I'm still in shock over that. Blatant fumble. Cunningham, unbelievably, starts in again with his "this is what we're trying to remove from the game" horsesh&*, meanwhile, we score a defensive touchdown. A flat out defensive touchdown. No review. (Of course we could only have gained possesion through a review and not the 6 points that we had, in fact, earned, but possession nonetheless.) And no mention of fumble by either broadcaster. Un....real. Oh well. They still couldn't take it from us, could they? GBR!!!!!!

I want us to be +2 in the turnover battle at the end of the game. I want to see our offense put together a physical drive at the beginning of the game that puts the Mizzou D back on their heels.

Holy cow! I don't ever remember liking a kicker as much as I have liked Henery. Some NFL team is going to be lucky on draft day. To think Rivals had him ranked as a 2 star kicker after his Senior year in high school....fools! I will never, ever forget that field goal against Colorado. That ball seemed suspended in the air for a full twenty seconds, 85,000+ strong in dead and utter silence, and then seeing those officials stroll two steps forward and slowly, simultaneously raise their arms. Madness. As loud as I've ever heard Memorial, and I've been to my share of games. The far reaching impact of that kick might be bigger than we'll ever know. We lose that game, we don't play Clemson in the Gator Bowl, maybe we even finish the season at 7-6. That groundswell of momentum that carried us over into last season and hit an apex with our complete and utter dominance of Arizona does a Quantum Leap thing, and never occurs. All random speculation obviously, who knows. But to me, fwiw, Alex Henery is one of the great Nebraska Cornhuskers. He belongs in the NU pantheon, right next to the likes of Rich Glover and Dave Rimington and Tommie Frazier as far as I'm concerned.

I wagered half of my testicles on this game. (I have an extra, older set. From the 50's.) Soooo...If NU loses, things won't be much different for me a decade from now. I'm still not going to be having any sex. Really, though, in terms of historical relevance, this game means way more to Missouri then it does to us. Not in terms of this season, for this game is clearly and equally HUGE for both of us, but going forward past this year. Listening to soundbites and reading clips from Mizzou media types has let me know one thing, for sure. We mean a lot to Missouri football. You all are screwed without us. Where is all that bitterness, jealously, and anger going to go after we're no longer around to serve as a conduit? I'm serious. You gonna get all riled up for your annual match ups with 2-7 KU teams? 5-3 KSU teams? Ten years from now the Tiger base will still have ample venom ready to direct at anything NU related. We, meanwhile, will have moved on.

It's infuriating Blaze. I was on the fence for awhile, with the standard rebuttal of "I don't want college football turning into the NFL." Time has eroded all conviction on that stance. Give us a playoff, now!

ok, im concerned. now what do i do? Whatever you want. Folks on this board go on and on about how you can get "real" football discussion here. Well, there you go, do whatever you want with it. You're friendly. I would caution you, however. Just because your defense has gone from being an afterthought to a relevant part of your team does not mean they are now a formidable unit. The Blackshirts are formidable. Especially against the pass, which is where you all live. Your strengths play right into our fangs. You all have had a nice season up to this point, and you have a legit team. But this Saturday is when the loss of Derrick Washington shoots an arrow into your hot air balloon. With Washington, I think you had at least a 50-50 shot of winning, and really, maybe even slightly better odds then that. Unfortunately, we all know what happened with one of your esteemed team leaders. You knew when you heard about it that it was a huge loss. You knew that there was a really strong chance that this development would have a detrimental impact on your season at some point. Some point is one day and a shade under seven hours from now. The trudge to the bus will be with heads down, TigerNuts. Heads down.