Astrodawg

Oh, I thought this post was about Dr. Tom telling fans not to wear red to the game or they'd get mugged by the riot or whatnot.

No amount of skill, passion, tactics, nor effort can overcome getting jobbed by the officials. We can only own our own mistakes, and our mistakes were not enough to lose the game. The INT thrown by Price in the red zone wasn't good, but no points came from that TO as our D stopped them. Obviously the fumbled kick off at our 1 yard line was killer, but also should not have been so bad had the bought and paid for refs not completely screwed us over. NE did enough to win this game on their own merits, but the momentum was decisively turned by the refs. The way we were rolling in the first half, that muffed punt was very likely 7 points and 3 for sure with Folk, so a at minimum a 6 point sway and in all likeliness, a 10 point sway. We take a 24-14 lead into the half, and this would have been a much different game. Then the 4th down we didn't convert inside the 20 would have been a FG for 3 points at least, if the game score was where it should have been. The way I see it, the refs cost us no less than 13 points, and that isn't counting the "ifs" like maybe we hold NE to a FG after the other 20 yards of bad call on the other botched interference penalty and Holt's justified outburst. What was the margin of victory? 13 damn points. What a travesty. Revised non-screwed over scoring: Half: 24-14 TD play off muffed punt 3rd Q: 24-21 TD off NE drive 24-28 off fumbled kick off Nebraska up, but still very much a game. And then we were also forced to oneside kick twice in which NE had easy drives starting from mid field.

Being a Nebraskan formerly stationed in New York (state) and California...NE is already regarded as backwater. My advice to Derek Starling is be Derek Starling, not "Bubba." That way you'll be a headline, not a punchline.

Locker was not a run first quarterback either of the two years under Sark, in fact Sark was criticized for not running Locker enough. I've never had a broken rib, but I'd imagine it would be a major hindrance period, but certainly in the passing game. What most perceived as Locker's issues were actually mostly issues of his receiving corps and offensive line. He was behind a different O-line every other game, there were six line changes over thirteen games and our best O-lineman was a true freshman. A LINEMAN true freshman. There is no way to sugarcoat it, UW's line was bad and couldn't hold a pocket which is why Locker got crushed and broke a rib in the first place. As for going against NE corners, it could have been Peyton Manning out there, but if your receivers can't get open, you're not going to be completing any passes. Plus, when they did get open, they had a well-known tendency to drop balls. The whole "overrated" thing, well we'll see, and that is now just between the Titans and their #8 overall draft pick! Undoubtedly, but like I said, the whole rivalry thing is over-hyped. Laughable even. Rivalries do not result from one single bowl game. It was just a freak accident we're even playing three games in two years. I think the last game between UW and NE before that was 1991! It'll be decades before we schedule again, if ever. Hardly a rivalry. Plus, if the players do actually hate the Washington program over one game many on here claim they didn't even care about, well, yeah...hmmm. I think there is a contradiction in there somewhere! Plus, the lost fact in this is they DID beat Locker. Badly. He had the worst statistical game of his career. I don't get all the masochism here. There is so much desire to make a team you won one and lost one to look bad, why? Locker and UW were not a bad team. They were not a good team either, but you don't win seven games off the third hardest schedule if you're a bad team. They were an average team with some key skill position players, that if healthy and on their game, were capable of beating most teams. Sark beat Pete Carrol's #3 USC his first year, after all. Any given Sunday, as they say for pro ball. I completely agree with Texas. As I said, I'm actually from Nebraska, and only moved when I joined the Navy and got stationed north of Seattle. We hate Texas as a program, check. If anything, be pissed off about that loss, because Texas really was a rival and a bad team. Washington was a chance non-con like you said, and I don't understand why everybody is so worked up about a game that really isn't that important, especially moving into the Big 10. It's just a non-conference game with a little extra spice to it that cannot be overlooked heading into conference play. That's it. I don't get the fixation.

Well I'm back from my last post which was pre-Holiday Bowl urging Huskers to show some respect to Washington. They didn't and look what happened. Bravado and whatnot, I get it, but it would be doubly silly to make the same mistake twice. I didn't figure UW would actually win the Holiday Bowl, but I figured it would be a battle. And I was home at Grand Island over X-mas to watch the game, and I can say nobody was like, "Meh whatever, it was just the Holiday Bowl," after the loss. In fact most people were pretty pissed. And yes, I was rooting for UW. Bash me for split loyalty, but they needed it more. But saying NE wasn't motivated...I just don't buy it. If you come into it and expect to roll and don't take it seriously in the first half, okay. But. It was a 10-7 game at half time, and I don't care what you say, if you're right in the game and in danger of losing to a team you killed earlier in the season on national television, you're motivated. Maybe NE didn't have much to gain, but they still had a lot to lose. Being born and raised in NE, I can tell you it is not "okay" for Nebraska to lose football games...ever. I don't buy it. As for UW, when the word came out we'd be against NE again in our long-awaited bowl game, most people were not so thrilled either for the exact same reason NE wasn't. We got killed in the first game. Thrilled to be in a bowl game, not so thrilled to be in a bowl game we were likely to lose. Skimming through the posts here about why NE wasn't at full strength can pretty much be countered by the same circumstances for UW: 1. T-Mart was hurt. So was Locker (broken rib not fully healed). 2. Watson's offense was one-dimensional. Locker didn't even have a completed pass in the first half! 3. There were a slew of other injuries. UW couldn't even sub on the D-line, and our best starting corner Richardson got injured in game and had a true frosh replace him. And the OP covered other issues. Locker had no TE at all that season. Our "TE" was a converted lineman brought in for blocking and only for blocking. As for this upcoming season's game, I also doubt UW will win. I don't think that not having Dennison on D was that big of a deal, personally. Fact was it was game three against a team that played 16 true frosh that at times looked lost and blew their assignments. Fast forward ten games to the Holiday Bowl, and those true frosh are really sophomores and they know what they're doing, having been coached well for a full regular season. It will be a similar situation next game. The previous "coach" at UW left the cabinets pretty bare and Sark will once again be stuck with a very green team against a tough opponent in the early season. I wouldn't be terribly surprised at a lopsided loss for UW, but similarly I wouldn't be terribly surprised if UW won a late season rematch. There is a lot of untested talent coming into UW, and Sark has proven ability to develop talent, but UW will not be able to field a veteran early season team for at least another year, probably two. I also don't think this game is really all that important in the grand scheme of things. NE may want "revenge" but this will be a post-Locker era UW led by a (for all intents and purposes) freshman QB. Even if it is Price and not Montana (it is not yet set in stone), Price has started a grand total of one game. He may technically be a sophomore, but he's a freshman. One game does not a year make, imho. If they win, NE can talk some trash, but they can't revenge themselves against the Holiday Bowl team because that team no longer exists (the difference makers were Locker, Polk, Foster and Aiyewa of which only Polk is still on the team). But those players can certainly "redeem" themselves by playing a good game if they thought they didn't play a good game in the Holiday Bowl, that is certainly valid. Nebraska will have much more important games with their transition to a new conference. Sure, losing would be bad, but I don't think anybody in the Big 10 is going to be impressed with a win over Washington. For UW, losing to NE won't kill their season or anything. Been there, done that, still got to the first bowl game in eight years and got Sark's first winning season. This whole pop rivalry thing is way over-hyped. End summary is that both teams are going through major transitions and this game is best viewed as a litmus test for how those changes have gone, due to the familiarity of the programs from playing two games the season before. I can't say which way my emotions will go, but I'd like to think I'll be fairly even and just want to see the two programs playing well. I don't think either program should be too upset with a loss. I think whoever loses can point to the victor and say, "That is a legit well-coached and talented team, no shame in losing to them." Lots of Huskers seem to think UW was a bad team last season, and I get why, but look at the fact UW finished third in the Pac 10 behind only Stanford and Oregon, the #4 and #3 teams in the country! Then add that Washington played the Sagarin third hardest schedule, and UW was not nearly as bad as most people would have you believe. And then both teams will still have to cement their status in two new conferences. Like I said, bigger fish to fry. Should be fun, I look forward to it. *PS one good thing about having a team in the Big 10 and Pac 12 is I'll still get to enjoy beating up Colorado every year!

Who said anything about forgetting roots? I'm actually a Nebraska alumnus. I'm not even going to a university in the same conference, Big 12 or Big 10. I could have come home to resume college in Nebraska, but as my handle may suggest, I'm an astronomy major and Nebraska doesn't even offer that major and the prof I did research under moved to UTA. UW is a good research school and I had state citizenship for tuition from being stationed here. If it were Texas or anybody else at all talking down, I wouldn't give a crap, but I have pride about the Husker fan base and expected better that is all. Pardon me for holding Husker fans to a higher standard, my mistake.

First off, thanks to the classy fans out there. I'm not saying you have to respect the Washington program, but you should respect the kids. Because that's what they are out there in college football, a bunch of young kids just doing their best to make their fans, parents, their coach or what have you proud. I respect Auburn and even Oregon as programs and teams, but they have rosters full of Boise State player punching, ankle-bracelet wearing, thieving, girl friend assaulting, bought-and-paid-for thugs. Respect for a program and respect for its players are two different things. When you say things like playing Washington is an insult, that sort of thing trickles down to the honest players and they hear it. That's not cool. You got beef with the broken BCS and bowl system take up with the Beebe types and NCAA, not the kids.

Washington is not exactly thrilled about a rematch, either. But don't kid yourselves, NE could have (should have) easily avoided the Holiday bowl by not choking against A&M and losing a winnable OK game. Bottom line is Washington did the best they could to get to the Holiday and Nebraska did about the worst they could, going out of the Big 12 by losing about every big rivalry we wanted to win (Texas, Oklahoma). If NE goes into the bowl throwing a hissy fit and feeling sad for themselves and get upset by Washington, it will be well deserved, imho.

A little about myself, I was born and raised in Grand Island, NE and wound up in Seattle after being stationed on the USS Abraham Lincoln just north in Everett, WA in 2004. I stayed in state to go to college at the University of Washington which is a great institution. I have been championing the classiness of Husker fans to the Husky fans in Seattle and to have them give you a welcoming and enjoyable experience at our stadium, which I believe they delivered. First off, I'm pretty pissed about these so-called Husker fans out there saying that getting Washington is an insult and they won't even watch the game. You should be ashamed of yourselves. Being both a Husker and Husky, I can tell you this: being a Husker fan is easy, being a Husky fan is hard. Nebraska has had nothing but fair weather for decades. Washington is a program that has suffered through years of incompetent and/or scandalous coaches who apparently forgot that recruiting was in the job description. Washington hadn't been to a bowl game for eight years. I can assure you there are zero fair weather Husky fans. They are a team coming off an 0-12 season two years ago and through the efforts of a 36 year old second year head coach and the heroic Jake Locker have finally found something resembling success. Jake Locker is the type of guy who gave up a sure top draft pick and millions of dollars to come back to lead his team through hell and lift his program out of the pit and into a bowl game, and by God he did it. And I'm sick of hearing how UW is "just a 6-6 team." This is a team that played 15 true freshman and underwent six different offensive line shifts due to injury and inexperience. As a result Jake Locker got battered, bruised, and broken-boned and when everybody had given up on a 3-6 team that lost three straight games to blow-outs, he once again put his team on his back and willed them to three straight wins and bowl eligibility. Mind you, this was through the second hardest schedule played by any team in the entire nation (check the Sagarian ratings). They played in a conference with the #1 and #4 teams in the country and finished 3rd in the PAC-10 behind just Oregon and Stanford. Washington didn't get to phone in two free wins against Western Kentucky and South Dakota State. Every non-conference team they played is going to a bowl game. They had to earn each and every one of their six wins. These guys may not be the greatest group of athletes, but they are the best of college players and they deserve your respect.

I'm a Nebraska transplant living in Seattle where I'm currently a Husky, so that makes me both a Husky and a Husker! Anyway, this game is sure to be a battle and I was lucky enough to watch the game two years ago where UW got ahead two sets and NE battled back for three straight. The lady Huskers better bring their A game as UW looked very strong against Hawaii.