It's Been A Long Week Husker Nation...

Run Tommy!

After a nice win at Memorial Stadium Chicago edition, the Huskers were able to come home from Evanston with a 4-0 record.  What has happened since then has been a bit of blow up, both at home and nationally.

So let’s talk a little bit about the game.  Nebraska was a favorite on the road against a Northwestern team that had come into Lincoln last year and dealt the Huskers a large blow, that helped push the Huskers toward a 2-6 record that they were lucky to pull out of enough to get to a bowl game.  This isn’t the same Nebraska team and it showed.

The first series that the Huskers had the ball looked like they were going to be a runaway, they marched down the field only to have Terrell Newby fumble the ball while leaping Superman style toward the pylon.  Unfortunately for Nebraska, that play changed the complexion of the game slightly.  Instead of blowing out the Wildcats, they hung around and made it hard for the Huskers to blow them out.

On the good side of things, the Huskers amassed over 500 yards of total offense.  Tommy Armstrong continued with his strong play and rushed for 132 yards.  Including 246 yards passing, Tommy is really making a case that he could be all Big Ten by the end of the season.  If you would have told fans that at the beginning of the year, most would have probably scoffed at that.  They shouldn’t, Tommy has been the MVP so far this season for the Huskers.  If he can stay upright and continue with his current pace, there is no doubt in my mind that the Huskers can end up playing for the Big Ten title come December.

Defensively, Kevin Maurice had a big game with his first two sacks of the season.  Chris Jones continued to play like a lock down cornerback and Joshua Kalu and Aaron Williams both had interceptions to help the defense hold Northwestern to 13 points.  This Blackshirt unit has really been solid when they’ve needed to be and continue to improve over last season’s unit.

Nebraska has a chance to move to 5-0 this weekend against Illinois.  After last season, an undefeated record moving into October is a reversal of fortune that all Husker fans are enjoying.  Last year’s debacle in Champagne seemed like hitting rock bottom, losing 14-13 on a last seconds touchdown pass.  Little did we know that getting beat by Purdue was the actual bottom, but this year the Huskers look like they are back on track and should have plenty of motivation for revenge against the Illini this weekend.

One last thing I want to touch on is the three players that kneeled during the National Anthem.   Whether you are offended by the act or not, clearly the players, Coach Riley and the rest of the team have handled the controversy well since last Saturday.  While I can certainly understand people being upset, sometimes you have to put yourselves in someone else’s shoes to completely understand what they feel and what is important to them.  I won’t ever understand what it’s like to be an African American in this country, no more than I will understand growing up in an environment of drugs, crime and broken homes.  While you may or may not agree with the platform they chose to try and bring light to a subject, the fact is, the discussion has been ramped up this week in Nebraska.

All that being said, I’m going to support the team and those three players.  Coach Riley is supporting them, the University President Hank Bounds has supported them and their teammates are supporting them.  That’s enough for me.  I wish it didn’t have to be this way, but I understand that bringing light on a subject of race and the difficulty of the times we live in pertaining to race is important.  I have a feeling that this episode is going to bring this team together this weekend and this season.  

I think a little bit about what has happened this last week.  I then think about Sam Foltz and what this team went through this summer.  Life isn’t always simple, in fact sometimes it is damn hard.  Being 18 years old or 22 years old, sometimes you see things different than someone who is knocking on 40, 50 or even 80.  That’s ok, it’s alright to have differing opinions and being able to express them is about as American as apple pie and football.  Hopefully the end result is that we all are more aware of the circumstances in this country and what we need to do to improve it going forward.  I know cheering for the Huskers this weekend is always a great way to bring all of Husker Nation together, I hope it continues to do that.

ON WITH THE REWIND…

Last week our Northwestern prediction had the Huskers winning 28 to 17.  Considering it ended up 24 to 13 we didn’t do too bad, but we will continue to persevere in our effort for perfection!

While the game itself seemed like it was pretty tightly contested, Nebraska was never really challenged in the final minutes. Though it wasn’t a blowout, the Huskers also never seemed in danger in the fourth quarter.

Nebraska was able to do pretty much whatever they wanted against the Wildcats offensively.  If it weren’t for the two early dropped balls near the goal line, Nebraska could have easily been out to a 28-3 lead.  This Husker team is learning how to put teams away.  They aren’t quite head and shoulders above each opponent, but they are definitely looking like they are a top shelf team in the Big Ten West.

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Quick Notes:

A Mikale Wilbon sighting!  Mikale had a homecoming of sorts, as he is from Chicago.  He played like he was out to impress his family too.  After seeming to be an afterthought since the beginning of the season, Wilbon averaged over 9 yards on his six carries last Saturday.  I think we all would like to see a little more of that action.

Chris Jones continues to play lights out.  It really is becoming lock-down U on his side of the field.  In fact, I’ve read a stat he is averaging an interception or pass breakup on every four passes thrown his way this season.  Even if it’s not true, he has played like an All-Conference cornerback.

Tommy Armstrong is making a believer out of many.  Tommy continues to improve from week to week.  It’s not a stretch to say that his improvement has been maybe the most remarkable improvement from one year to the next that we have seen since (chokes up a bit) Ndamukung Suh. I don’t want to put Tommy in that class just yet, but the improvement has been remarkable.

4-0. Like I said earlier, the fact that the Huskers are undefeated and ranked 15th in both national polls is impressive.  Considering where things were headed at this time last season, I’d say it’s a marked improvement.  A win this weekend, followed by an off week should be enough to help propel Nebraska into the meat of their schedule.

Recruiting.  It’s hard to understand sometimes because the results don’t always present themselves while recruits are here, but Nebraska is hosting an impressive set of recruits again this weekend.  I can’t stress enough how important it is to get kids to home games at Nebraska.  It is such a game changer for them.  As Coach Riley closes out this class, there are plenty of high profile kids considering the Huskers.  Continue to win and this could be the highest rated recruiting class for Nebraska in over ten years.  

Score Prediction: Nebraska 38 – Illinois 14

Nebraska was feeling their oats a little bit after a big win at home over Oregon.  What happened after that was the first road game, first conference game and the first chance for Nebraska to stumble.  The Huskers didn’t do that.  Now they get an Illinois team that has less talent at most positions, but a quarterback that had a big day against the Huskers in 2015.  This week it shouldn’t matter though, this team is too resilient and too focused to let this game slip away.  Nebraska gives up a couple touchdown passes in the second half, but will cruise to a relatively easy Homecoming victory.  GBR!!

On to Northwestern!

On to Northwestern! 

 Last week was about as much fun as a Husker fan can have, save for the heartburn of blowing a second half lead and having to have your dehydrated quarterback lead a furious comeback that you aren’t sure is going to happen. I digress, it was still fun! Of course when it was all said and done, Nebraska did what it had to do and they plucked those Oregon Ducks and started the season 3-0. 

The game itself, if you were able to attend, was about as much fun as you can have when Nebraska plays a ranked opponent. Oregon is no slouch, even if they dropped from the ratings. A lot of press members have written and said that had Rolls Royce Freeman not been hurt, Nebraska probably loses. First of all, I highly doubt it would have changed the outcome, Oregon ran for 336 yards on the day, so unless Melvin Gordon walked out on the field, it’s doubtful that the Ducks would have ran the ball much better. Second, the Ducks are built on speed, and multiple teams around the country would have had a hard time containing the high octane offense the Ducks run, so for Nebraska to shut down the passing game and force the Ducks to find a way to beat them, it seemed to work out okay for the Big Red. 

Nebraska made plays when it had to make them. Tommy Armstrong played about as well as I can remember him playing. No turnovers from Tommy along with his ability to run the football when called upon, made him the game MVP in my mind. The Blackshirts held when they had to. Wide Receivers made catches that were so clutch, it reminds you just how special this particular group is at catching the football. Honestly, on fourth down in the fourth quarter, I was calling for a punt, but Coach Riley had enough confidence in Tommy to make the play on fourth and long to change momentum and really stick it to Oregon.  

Coach Riley had the weight of the world on him last week. You come to Nebraska to get away from the University of Oregon and all the advantages that they had over him at Oregon State, and boom, your second year, coming off a 2015 season that wasn’t what you expected, you get the Ducks again. Let’s face facts, had Nebraska not won that game, we’d all be sitting around this week, saying “well, at least we can still get to Indy.” Now, it’s not only can we get to Indy, but can this season turn into something special? 

I’ve said multiple times, Tommy Armstrong is the key to this season. So far, outside of one crazy throw to a Wyoming linebacker, he has played like a leader and a senior. If you haven’t been impressed with his play making ability and his leadership in 2016, you probably won’t ever be a fan of Tommy. He has simply made plays, be it with his legs or arm and he is a big reason the Huskers roll into Evanston undefeated. 

Now Nebraska has another quest coming. Since Nebraska has joined the Big Ten, they have had one year that they managed to make it to the Big Ten title game, otherwise it has been a dreary existence in the league. One of the biggest reasons for that struggle is Nebraska’s inability to beat what I would call second tier teams in the league consistently. I would put Northwestern at the top of that list.

Northwestern has next to no winning football tradition up until the last 25 years. They were perennial doormats in the league for a long time. That said, even in their prime recent vintage, they have been a second tier team most seasons. That doesn’t mean they are bad, but Nebraska is a place that dedicates way too many resources to football to not beat Northwestern consistently. And boy, have they made it tough on the Huskers. Outside of 2014 when Nebraska came roaring back from a rocky start to blow out the Wildcats, this series has been filled with close games, nail biters and fortunately for Ron Kellogg III, a Hail Mary that will live for the ages. If Nebraska is to take the next step in relevancy in the national college football landscape, they need to start by taking care of business this week. A big win on the road to start Big Ten play, may be the precursor to big things come December. 

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ON WITH THE REWIND… 

 Last week our Oregon prediction had the Huskers winning 35-32. Not too shabby, believe me, it could have gone the other way. Nebraska won a game that they hadn’t typically won in about 6 years, against a team that probably would have beaten any recent Husker squad. 

Nebraska’s crowd needed to step up. Man did they ever! That was one of the loudest and rowdiest games I’ve attended in a while. I would rank it up with the Miami game from two years ago, it was fun and Husker fans delivered! 

Expect to see trick plays. Oregon dialed up the two point conversion after each touchdown. The Huskers only allowed one conversion on the first attempt. It may have cost Oregon a chance to win, and as we thought, trick plays had an outcome in the game, it just wasn’t the trick plays that we may have thought were coming. Nebraska didn’t pull out any, but they made big stops on the conversions and that was a great help. 

Quick Notes: 

1. Shoutout to Bryan Reimers and his first touchdown catch as a Husker! His story as a Lincolnite walk-on was great news and was sorely needed with Brandon Reilly unable to play. Great play as well when the Huskers needed a big play! 

2. Oregon won’t forget Michael Rose-Ivey. The senior linebacker made huge plays throughout the game and made a play when Nebraska needed it the most on the final Oregon possession. He gets a game ball. 

3. Oh, Devine! Devine Ozigbo put the pedal down to start the second half running the football. He forced Oregon to respect the run and opened the game up for some big throws later in the half. He gets a game ball. 

4. Tommy Armstrong is the man. Tommy has shown in the past what he is capable of. Now it’s just a matter of consistency from game to game. You are starting to see that now. He was the player of the game against Oregon, no doubt about it. Let’s just hope he drank plenty of Gatorade this week! 

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Score Prediction: Nebraska 28 – Northwestern 17

Unlike last week, I feel like Nebraska has a talent advantage over Northwestern at multiple positions.  The Wildcats are missing 3 of 4 starting defensive backs from the start of the season.  Brandon Reilly will be back and the Huskers WRs have been playing lights out without him.  I expect to see at least two touchdown passes, including Stanley Morgan getting his first.  Throw in a big day rushing from Devine Ozigbo and Terrell Newby for good measure and a game that might be close in the first half, should be well in hand by the 4th quarter for the Huskers.  GBR!!

Expect A Nailbiter Against Oregon!

Shuck a Duck, look who’s coming to Lincoln!

Last week the Nebraska Cornhuskers entertained their neighbor to the west, the Wyoming Cowboys.  The Huskers were a little too hospitable in the first 3 quarters, keeping the Cowpokes in the game all the way into the fourth quarter.  What happened after that isn’t something we have seen much of the last 4 years.  The Huskers held it all together while the opponent came unraveled.

Let’s be real here, Bo Pelini was fired as much for his inability to hang on to leads and his teams penchant for blowing a gasket in big games and getting run over as he was for his boorish sideline behavior.  He also had a hard time getting his team to play hard against perceived lesser opponents.  The McNeese States and South Dakota States of this world probably were a precursor to greater issues within the program than the Wisconsin and Ohio State avalanches.

This time however, the Huskers poured it on in the fourth quarter for the second consecutive week, beating a lesser team by a much greater margin that the game play would have led you to believe.

Nebraska is an improving team and we are seeing it before our very eyes.  And not a moment too soon, because guess who is coming to Lincoln?  Yeah, the Mighty Ducks from Oregon.  This isn’t your mom and pops Oregon teams from the 70s and 80s that played Nebraska and took some large beatings.  This is the second most winning program behind Alabama the last few years.  Oregon has become a hot item in college football overnight, as much for their Nike garish uniforms as their winning success, but they have had great success recently and it has turned this matchup into the ultimate measuring stick for Nebraska.

One might argue that since Chip Kelly moved to the NFL and Marcus Mariota followed, that Oregon has been moved down a peg or two.  That may be the case, but nationally, the Ducks cache is still great and believe me, they have enough weapons that if Nebraska doesn’t come to play on Saturday afternoon, the Huskers will get boat raced.

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This Nebraska team is probably equipped to play Oregon as well as any Husker team in the last four years. The last two years with Coach Pelini led to some dog races against teams with more perimeter speed than Nebraska and last season with the changeover in staff, the Huskers couldn’t stop Purdue, let alone one of the top offenses in the country.

Things seem to have turned for this Husker team this season.  Coach Riley and Coach Banker have really upgraded the defense in their second year and position coaches at each level are having a great effect on their groups and it’s starting to show.   Brian Stewart has the defensive backs intercepting passes; Trent Bray has the linebackers leading the team on the field and newly hired defensive line Coach John Parrella has the line playing better than they did all of last season when Nebraska had two NFL draft picks starting next to each other.

This Nebraska team is built to stop the run first and that is what they will need to do with Oregon.  The Ducks try to force you to use all your resources to stop the perimeter runs, then beat you over the top with quick hit passing when the safeties come up to far to help with the run.  I expect the fact that Coach Banker and Coach Riley have spent over 10 seasons playing against Oregon should allow for them to plan their schemes adequately.  I think Nebraska’s defense should keep the Huskers in the game.

That leads us to the Husker offense.  As much as we all want the defense to play well, this game really hinges on the play of Tommy Armstrong.  If Nebraska is to have any chance this weekend, Armstrong is going to need to limit turnovers to no more than one and Tommy will need to run the ball with authority to keep Oregon honest enough that he can find wide open receivers down the field.  I don’t know how much faith I have in this happening, but Nebraska is due to win a game that it should, against an opponent that they maybe have equal talent with.  If Nebraska can find a way to do well offensively this weekend, I think they can come out of this game 3-0 going into conference play.

Quick Notes:

Getting Mick Stoltenberg back on defense should be a nice boost to the defensive line this weekend.  Oregon plays fast paced and Carlos Davis may need a breather for a few series.  Mick is a beast when healthy and should provide enough depth to help Nebraska slow the Ducks run game.

Losing Brandon Reilly for this game sucks.  Missing Brandon in the first game of the season showed that the WRs that are backing him up weren’t quite ready for prime time.  Having him back against Wyoming opened up the field and Nebraska had WRs running open all over the place.  This week they won’t have that luxury, so Alonzo Moore, Jordan Westerkamp and De’Mornay Pierson El will need to step up their games this week to make up for it.

Nebraska needs to limit Oregon possessions.  You can put it however you want, but the Huskers need to stay out of a track meet with the Ducks.  Oregon has an Olympic hurdler on their team at wide receiver and has plenty of speed at almost every skill position.  Nebraska has to be patient on offense and not turn the ball over.  Keeping Oregon from having the ball keeps them out of rhythm and keeps them from scoring.  Both of those things would be a great help in winning for Nebraska.

The home crowd needs to show up.  In the past Nebraska fans have been better than great for night games.  Afternoon games have been kind of a tossup how loud the fan base is.  If Nebraska repeats the crowd rowdiness from Miami and Michigan State of the last couple of years, Oregon will be in for surprise that they aren’t expecting.  And yes, I will be there losing my voice with the rest of the Big Red Faithful!

Expect to see some trick plays.  Oregon and Nebraska will have a trick or two up their sleeve this weekend.  Whoever is successful in running one or two may be the difference maker in a game that is bound to be close.

Score Prediction:  After thinking this over, I think Nebraska is going to pull this game out.  I don’t know how, I’m not sure I believe it anywhere but in my heart, but something tells me it’s Nebraska’s time to shine this Saturday.  I think they pull out a close on, Huskers 33, Ducks 30.  Let’s hope I’m able to type next week, as I expect a nail biter!  GBR!

Here Come the Cowboys!

Giddy Up!!!

Game one is in the books Husker fans and no matter what you think about it, the best part is, 1-0 sure seems a lot better than last year’s 0-1 on a heartbreaking Hail Mary from the Stormin’ Mormans from BYU. Fresno State won’t be confused with BYU anytime soon, but sometimes that’s a good thing. Nebraska isn’t quite ready to play a big dog the first week like we did in the 80s and 90s, but they may be closer than you think!

Nebraska ran the ball against Fresno State more than they had probably planned, but when you average over 5 yards per carry and only have one negative play on a botched end around, you will take it. Tommy Armstrong didn’t need to pass a lot to win and honestly, that’s ok. There will be other games that he will have to throw more, probably even this week, so to not put much stress on the passing game while wide receiver coach Keith Williams sits out his suspension, is probably a good thing.

So what went right last weekend? First, the Huskers dominated the line of scrimmage for the most part on both sides and that was a nice surprise. New to the left side, tackle Nick Gates had the best game for a left tackle according to Pro Football Focus for any college left tackle so that makes the move seem like a success so far. With three new starters on the offensive line and pretty much no one in the same spot they were last season, I would say that would qualify as success. A rough first quarter, followed with improvement in the second and finally a domination in the running game moving into the fourth quarter. Not a bad way to kick off the season.

The running backs looked solid, if not spectacular against Fresno and will need to continue that. Being able to run the ball effectively will really open the Huskers offense as we move on into the season. We even got to see Tre Bryant and Mikale Wilbon a little bit, so there is some really good depth.

We didn’t return any punts, but that had more to do with bad punting than anything Jordan Westerkamp did. We get to see De’Mornay Pierson-El this week and believe me this will be a nice spark plug for the team.

Defensively, the young guys on the defensive line didn’t shine super bright, but they also forced the running game to be shut down, which is a credit to them and new d-line coach John Parrella. I imagine we will continue to see them improve week to week, which would be a large step forward from last season.

Linebackers played really well last week and they will have to continue to play well. The Husker Linebacker group is deep and has experience this year. It will be tested as Wyoming has a really great running back coming to Lincoln, so it will be interesting to see if the Huskers can shut down the run game like they did against Fresno.

The secondary as a whole played pretty well, with some new starters like Kieron Williams and Lamar Jackson playing significant roles. Adding back All Conference player Nathan Gerry and Antonio Reed coming back from early season injury, should inject more life into a unit that seems to be improving and looked light years ahead of last year.

Overall, I give the Huskers an A- grade for the Fresno State Game, they did what they needed to do, which is put away a bad team and get young kids into the game in the fourth quarter. If they can duplicate that against Wyoming this week, Husker fans will be ready for a real prime time matchup with the Oregon Ducks, but let’s get this Cowboy win out of the way first!

A few notes…

• It can’t be overstated how great the tribute to Sam Foltz went. It was pretty dusty around Memorial Stadium as the players all took a knee on the sidelines as the team sent no punter out as a tribute to Sam. Great statement Coach Riley and great coverage of Sam in the press this week.

• Whoa be to the guy that stole from Sam Foltz’s brother. I don’t know how big an idiot you had to be to steal from the most loved family in Nebraska last week, but I’m guessing they guy won’t ever be welcome in Nebraska again. Talk about an idiot.

• More passing this week. Expect the offense to open up this week. It sounds like there was some lackluster play from the wide receivers last week, which led to the ground and pound game that Nebraska used against Fresno. I expect Nebraska to throw more than 20 times this week.

• Nate Gerry and Brandon Reilly return. No matter the reason, suspensions for starters is always hard on a team. These cats are starters for a reason, they are the best players at their positions. I look for them to provide a spark for the Huskers this week.

• Expect the Wide Receivers to play better this week. I don’t know why or how they played as bad as they did against Fresno State, although I assume a combination of Reilly being gone and Coach Williams not being at the game may have something to do with that. Remember, Jordan Westerkamp and Cethan Carter missed time this fall during practice, they also were shaking the rust off. I expect a much better performance this weekend.

• Family coming to the game wearing yellow and brown? I don’t know about many of you, but I grew up in the panhandle of Nebraska, so I’ve always had a soft spot for the Wyoming Cowboys simply because they were closer to us than Lincoln. A lot of my friends and family went to school in Laramie and dare I say, are probably the second most popular school outside of UNL when it comes to college football out west. Either way, many of them are coming down and wearing Wyoming gear this weekend. Now I won’t say I condone it, but I will gladly have a drink with them and show them a lot of hospitality. For most of them, the Huskers are there second favorite team, so let’s try to keep it that way. Heck, who knows, we might even convert a few!

• Score prediction – Nebraska 38 – Wyoming 22. I expect the Cowboys to try and run right at Nebraska. It’s the DNA of their team, but they also have a really good quarterback, so the Blackshirts will have all they can handle. I expect Nebraska to have their way offensively though, as Wyoming is very young and small on defense. Let’s hope we see Nebraska have a dominant game on offense this week! As always, GBR!!!