carlfense
Heisman Trophy Winner
Now that we've made it to the end of the regular season I think it's probably a good idea to look and see where we expected to be and where we ended up. Overall, despite 2 extremely frustrating losses (Iowa State and VaTech!) Nebraska's record is about where I expected . . . actually slightly better. I think I predicted 8 wins regular season . . . and we ended up with 9. On to thoughts about specific games.
Missouri: Make no mistake . . . this win was a big one for the program and it set the tone of mental resiliency and defensive toughness that is probably the hallmark of '09 Nebraska football. Missouri fans will complain about the rain and Gabbert's hurt ankle . . . blah, blah, blah. Both teams played in the same weather and we passed the ball for more yards and more touchdowns than Missouri's "vaunted" offensive wizzardry. Congratulations Missouri. You did an excellent job of beating the worst Nebraska teams in recent memory with your best teams ever. Now with your best defender (Weatherspoon) and your only real offensive threat (Alexander) gone . . . where will you look for hope in the offseason?
Oklahoma: Similar to Missouri's wins over Nebraska in the last couple years . . . this game probably requires an asterisk. Oklahoma was absolutely riddled with injuries and the backups, while young, simply haven't looked too impressive outside of a convincing win over OSU. That said, beating OU was huge for this team, and particularly for Bo and Carl. Nothing like beating your close friend and mentor in a hard fought November grudge match. Finally . . . 3 points. The lowest point total in Stoops time at OU. Wow. Game ball goes to the entire defense.
Kansas: This was the game nearly everyone had circled on their calendars in the pre-season as deciding the Big 12 North. Turns out we were all paying attention to the wrong Kansas team. This was also a big win . . . Kansas probably has more offensive weapons than any team we'll play this year outside of Texas . . . and the Blackshirts handed them a convincing defeat. Kansas has no excuse for losing as many games as they have this season, and don't get me started on the play calling at the end of the KU/MU game yesterday . . . just when I thought Watson's quarterback draw was a godawful call the day before . . . Mangino and company call a three play series that made Watson's call look like the best in CFB history. Just . . . wow. Embarassing.
Colorado: Ugly. Hardly any other way to describe it. 217 yards of offense . . . while giving up over 400 to a bad, bad, team. I'll take an ugly win over a pretty loss any day . . . but there is no sugarcoating this one. It almost made me feel like a VaTech fan . . . and I don't mean that as a bad thing.
Apologies if this is laden with typos . . . I didn't take the time to proofread it. Also . . . in my opinion if you want to see an outline of what Bo wants Nebraska to look like in the next couple years . . . watch Alabama play. Hard nosed, athletic, aggressive defense and a grinding pound-it-out offense. Just my guess. I think he'd be satisfied with an undefeated regular season like Bama has this year as well...
Anyways. Those are my thoughts. What are yours?
Missouri: Make no mistake . . . this win was a big one for the program and it set the tone of mental resiliency and defensive toughness that is probably the hallmark of '09 Nebraska football. Missouri fans will complain about the rain and Gabbert's hurt ankle . . . blah, blah, blah. Both teams played in the same weather and we passed the ball for more yards and more touchdowns than Missouri's "vaunted" offensive wizzardry. Congratulations Missouri. You did an excellent job of beating the worst Nebraska teams in recent memory with your best teams ever. Now with your best defender (Weatherspoon) and your only real offensive threat (Alexander) gone . . . where will you look for hope in the offseason?
Oklahoma: Similar to Missouri's wins over Nebraska in the last couple years . . . this game probably requires an asterisk. Oklahoma was absolutely riddled with injuries and the backups, while young, simply haven't looked too impressive outside of a convincing win over OSU. That said, beating OU was huge for this team, and particularly for Bo and Carl. Nothing like beating your close friend and mentor in a hard fought November grudge match. Finally . . . 3 points. The lowest point total in Stoops time at OU. Wow. Game ball goes to the entire defense.
Kansas: This was the game nearly everyone had circled on their calendars in the pre-season as deciding the Big 12 North. Turns out we were all paying attention to the wrong Kansas team. This was also a big win . . . Kansas probably has more offensive weapons than any team we'll play this year outside of Texas . . . and the Blackshirts handed them a convincing defeat. Kansas has no excuse for losing as many games as they have this season, and don't get me started on the play calling at the end of the KU/MU game yesterday . . . just when I thought Watson's quarterback draw was a godawful call the day before . . . Mangino and company call a three play series that made Watson's call look like the best in CFB history. Just . . . wow. Embarassing.
Colorado: Ugly. Hardly any other way to describe it. 217 yards of offense . . . while giving up over 400 to a bad, bad, team. I'll take an ugly win over a pretty loss any day . . . but there is no sugarcoating this one. It almost made me feel like a VaTech fan . . . and I don't mean that as a bad thing.
Apologies if this is laden with typos . . . I didn't take the time to proofread it. Also . . . in my opinion if you want to see an outline of what Bo wants Nebraska to look like in the next couple years . . . watch Alabama play. Hard nosed, athletic, aggressive defense and a grinding pound-it-out offense. Just my guess. I think he'd be satisfied with an undefeated regular season like Bama has this year as well...
Anyways. Those are my thoughts. What are yours?
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