Dr. Saturday's Premature Husker Assessment

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formerly the blogger who ran sunday morning quarterback, matt hinton now writes for yahoo sports. he's doing a preseason series on different college teams and has now turned his attention to nebraska...

here's the final part of his article...

Best-Case. There are two top-10, mythical championship wannabes on the slate, Oklahoma and Virginia Tech, alongside 10 very plausible victims. I don't think I want to get too far out on a limb about their early trip to Blacksburg, but if the Huskers take care of business elsewhere through the first two months, the Nov. 7 home date with Oklahoma could be one of the biggest games in Lincoln in years. (Even if it's still likely to turn out more or less like the last big game in Memorial Stadium.)

It's not promising that the top challengers in the North, Missouri, Kansas and Colorado, are all on the road; given that Nebraska has lost seven of the last nine in those locales, I can't go in for the sweep there. But if it takes two out of three, that should be good enough for the North title, a spot in the low 20s in the polls and a nice Cotton Bowl bid.

Worst-Case. There's not much danger of an upset from Florida Atlantic, Arkansas State and/or UL-Lafayette, and a loss at Virginia Tech -- unless it's a complete disaster, which the Hokie offense seems unlikely to inflict -- is no harbinger of doom. Another clunker against Missouri in the Big 12 opener, though, would be a bad omen, especially with always-dangerous Texas Tech coming in to close the window on a division title before the Huskers can even get a foot through. Throw in an upset loss at suddenly confident Baylor and a disembowling at the hands of the Sooners, and it's a lot harder to get up for those late November trips to Lawrence and Boulder. If the quarterback doesn't work out and the offense can't keep up with a series of prolific offenses on the other side, the schedule is formidable enough to drop this bunch back to 5-7.

Non-Binding Forecast. Nebraska looks like the tacit favorite to win the North, and based on talent and they way they finished last year, I'm willing to back that up. Kansas is a contender as long as Todd Reesing is in the shotgun, and Missouri has a feted, up-and-coming quarterback itself, but the key game for Nebraska might be Texas Tech: The Huskers only get one of the "big three" from the South, Oklahoma, while Kansas gets Texas and Oklahoma and Missouri gets the Longhorns and Oklahoma State. Even if Nebraska only splits the road trips with KU and Mizzou, it can still take the division if it grounds Texas Tech in Lincoln and holds serve against everyone else.
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not bad, but i really didn't like the final part of the article...

I don't know about the quarterback, but I do like Pelini, and assuming some improvement from the defense, this team has a very good chance of getting its teeth kicked in in the Big 12 Championship game. (The best news? The Cowboys' new stadium is equipped with a squadron of robot dentists who can perform a quick cosmetic procedure right there on the sideline. It really is luxurious.)
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ouch.

 
How does he mention Texas Tech on the schedule, then in the very next sentence say Nebraska only gets one of the "Big Three" in the South? Is he replacing Tech with OK State?

All this talk about the demise of Texas Tech is premature. That offense will score points, and their QB is more seasoned in their offense than Zac Lee is in ours. People act like losing a "10" QB and a "10" WR automatically drops a team down to 4's in both positions. Nuh-uh. Potts is going to be just fine, and you're going to see yet more crazy scoring from Tech this year. On top of that, their defense is going to be about as good as last year, and probably better.

If this crazy talk about the demise of Texas Tech continues, be sure to bet the farm on their first couple of games. You'll thank me for it later.

 
knapplc said:
How does he mention Texas Tech on the schedule, then in the very next sentence say Nebraska only gets one of the "Big Three" in the South? Is he replacing Tech with OK State?

All this talk about the demise of Texas Tech is premature. That offense will score points, and their QB is more seasoned in their offense than Zac Lee is in ours. People act like losing a "10" QB and a "10" WR automatically drops a team down to 4's in both positions. Nuh-uh. Potts is going to be just fine, and you're going to see yet more crazy scoring from Tech this year. On top of that, their defense is going to be about as good as last year, and probably better.

If this crazy talk about the demise of Texas Tech continues, be sure to bet the farm on their first couple of games. You'll thank me for it later.
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Ok so does that logic apply to Mizzou as well?

 
knapplc said:
How does he mention Texas Tech on the schedule, then in the very next sentence say Nebraska only gets one of the "Big Three" in the South? Is he replacing Tech with OK State?
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Yes, he's just speaking in terms of rankings and projected results.

 
knapplc said:
How does he mention Texas Tech on the schedule, then in the very next sentence say Nebraska only gets one of the "Big Three" in the South? Is he replacing Tech with OK State?

All this talk about the demise of Texas Tech is premature. That offense will score points, and their QB is more seasoned in their offense than Zac Lee is in ours. People act like losing a "10" QB and a "10" WR automatically drops a team down to 4's in both positions. Nuh-uh. Potts is going to be just fine, and you're going to see yet more crazy scoring from Tech this year. On top of that, their defense is going to be about as good as last year, and probably better.

If this crazy talk about the demise of Texas Tech continues, be sure to bet the farm on their first couple of games. You'll thank me for it later.
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I couldn't agree more. Leach has found a way to get more production out of each subsequent QB. Even though it will be hard to duplicate the numbers Harrell put up, it's pretty impressive. Now that they're putting some emphasis on defense, they'll remain a solid team. Some Tech fans aren't convinced they'll be better on D, but they don't think it will be bad either.

 
Got Carl? said:
I couldn't agree more. Leach has found a way to get more production out of each subsequent QB. Even though it will be hard to duplicate the numbers Harrell put up, it's pretty impressive. Now that they're putting some emphasis on defense, they'll remain a solid team. Some Tech fans aren't convinced they'll be better on D, but they don't think it will be bad either.
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Careful there Carl. Where there are ups...there will be downs. Has Leach's offense hit a ceiling and now it will start to fall back? And I don't care what you say Michael Crabtree was one of those special players that isn't easily replaced. I agree Potts will get some good numbers, but it won't be as good as Harrells' was. I will admit that I have a hatred for Leach, so that could affect my judgment some. He crys like a little girl all the time. Plus I remember his quote on running up the score when he put 70 up on us one year. He said, "in other games nobody stops scoring because they have the lead...why is that way in football? Well I don't have that mindset (about not running up the score) and frankly Nebraska doesn't think that way either" (implying that we run the score up on teams on purpose). Leach has no class and pretty soon his team is going to fall. The guy is a d*ck and a joke in my opinion.

 
Ok, don't get me wrong - I said what I said without bias. If I added my bias in, I would tell you that I absolutely can't stand the man, and not for the whole scoring points thing. And, with my bias in place, I'll also say that I hope they do crash and burn this year -- but taking out the bias again, I still say they won't. (But, dang it, I really do want them to!)

Is that better? :)

 
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Got Carl? said:
Ok, don't get me wrong - I said what I said out without bias. If I added my bias in, I would tell you that I absolutely can't stand the man, and not for the whole scoring points thing. And, with my bias in place, I'll also say that I hope they do crash and burn this year -- but taking out the bias again, I still say they won't. (But, dang it, I really do want them to!)

Is that better? :)
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Oh no man I completely understand what you were saying and a part of me believes it too. Just a smaller part of me believes they will be just as good as last year though and most of me believes they will be good but not overly impressive.

I just saw you talking about Leach and I had to throw in my 2 cents in thats all. But I am really bias and I wish I could stop it. I just hate Leach too much and I apologize, because I don't really give a fair judgment on the situation. Oh and well done not being bias when talking about that man Carl. You have a much stronger will then I do.

 
Well a trip to the Big XII Championship game would be great for Bo's second season, but I don't want us to get our teeth kicked in again like we did with Oklahoma, what four season's ago? I froze my a$$ off at that game and had to listen to an 8 year old kid run his chops to me for the ENTIRE game! When his dad got up to use the restroom I was ready to throw his little a$$ down the stands.

I think we have a real shot at the North this season, but it's going to be neck and neck with Kansas for awhile. Colorado is a big unknown this season due to all the injuries they had last season. I don't know if Missouri will have a shot because it all depends on how their guys step up, but in the same breath we are in the same situation.

 
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I have said it many times...but I will say it again. The entire conference is about to see a major STEP UP in the BLACKSHIRTS. Our defense will carry us and keep us in some games that we haven't been in the past. If we can get a good performance from Lee this season, this will be a season we mark as the resurgence of all the is good and should be in the BIG 12....Nebraska competing year in and year out with Texas and OU for conference championships!

Mark it...

 
BIGREDIOWAN said:
Well a trip to the Big XII Championship game would be great for Bo's second season, but I don't want us to get our teeth kicked in again like we did with Oklahoma, what four season's ago? I froze my a$$ off at that game and had to listen to an 8 year old kid run his chops to me for the ENTIRE game! When his dad got up to use the restroom I was ready to throw his little a$$ down the stands.

I think we have a real shot at the North this season, but it's going to be neck and neck with Kansas for awhile. Colorado is a big unknown this season due to all the injuries they had last season. I don't know if Missouri will have a shot because it all depends on how their guys step up, but in the same breath we are in the same situation.
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We really didn't get too embarassed by Oklahoma in the '06 championship game. We had more total yards than they did. We were essentially 4 turnovers away from a totally different ball game.

 
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