I think we'll know where we're at without question after the Idaho game. Second game of the season, featuring an offense that moves the ball quite well and features a Nebraska native (Nate Enderle) eager to play in front of his home-state fans and four different wideouts who caught 30 or more passes in 2009. This figures to be a pretty stiff test for the Blackshirts, since Enderle hasn't thrown for less than 50% completions since 10/2008 when he was a redshirt Sophomore.
In the 16 games since his last sub-50% passing day, Enderle has thrown for 3,400 yards and 27 TDs vs. only 15 INTs. Now, that's only against a strength of schedule ranking 95th in the nation, so it's not cause for alarm, but it's a solid reason to pay attention to this guy.
If we hold Enderle under 50% and mostly out of the endzone we'll know we're in good shape for the Big 12.
Excellent points about that matchup with Idaho. I don't know why people think that's gonna be such a cakewalk for us b/c that team knows how to score. They're defense is weak, so I see us putting up 35+. But, we'll have our hands full with that passing game of theirs.
As far as the defense being better than last year, I say "NO" because that Suh-led D was one of the top 3 defenses in Nebraska history. One of the reasons that D was so incredible was how rarely they allowed opposing offenses to score TDs once they'd got inside our 30-yard line - we were the consumate "bend don't break" defense that imposed its will to the point of becoming arguably the nation's best redzone D. Slice it any way you want, I just don't see that happening again without a player like Suh.
IMO we're in for a rude awakening on D, in spite of the swagger & coaching. I know we don't expect to see this, but I think the offense is gonna need to save our butts in at least 3 or 4 games this season. On paper it would appear our D will be more susceptible to the big plays due to the lack of experience at safety, especially on plays when we blitz LBs or DBs (from nickel & dime packages). Sure, we look pretty solid across the board, but the loss of those 4 seniors is bound to hurt us a couple times. Just sayin...