Let's Run It Some More!!!

Can Nebraska hold it Together One More Week?

Nebraska goes to Iowa City this week after Thanksgiving to settle a score from last season, but can they do it?  The Huskers managed to survive Maryland with Ryker Fife playing quarterback last week, but Ryker broke his wrist and Tommy Armstrong is still recovering from a hamstring injury from the previous week against Minnesota.  If ever there was some panic in the streets, it is this week going in to play the Hawkeyes.

So far, so good, Tommy and Ryker have both practiced this week and Zach Darlington, the erstwhile third string quarterback is back taking reps this week.  If I’m Mike Riley (and thank goodness I’m not, he has the hot hand this season) I throw the kitchen sink at Iowa and then some of the bathroom sinks as well.  With a small shot at the conference title game on the line, Nebraska can afford to be a little outside the box if that is what it takes to get it done this week.

Last season, when Nebraska was struggling through one of the worst seasons of the last fifty years, they were able to start to play better at the end of the season and upset a playoff bound Michigan State. Unfortunately it was the Iowa game, at home that they couldn’t pull the magic out.  Iowa came rolling into Lincoln undefeated and attempting to squeeze their way into the national championship picture.  Nebraska was unable to pull an upset that day, as Tommy Armstrong probably played his worst game of the season, tossing four interceptions and basically gave Iowa great field position all afternoon.

Tommy certainly has improved since that time and is by no means the same quarterback he was during that game last year.  However, how much we can expect Tommy to play and be his normal self, no one clearly knows.  Nebraska out everythinged the Herkys last season, gaining more total yards and had more than double the amount of first downs Iowa did.  All of it was for not though because anytime the Husker felt like they were back in the game, Iowa simply allowed Nebraska to play themselves into trouble and Iowa left Lincoln headed to Indianapolis.

I bring all of this up, because I felt like Nebraska could have beaten Iowa last year.  They certainly didn’t do a good job keeping turnovers down. They also failed a couple of times on big runs that Iowa clearly caught Nebraska in defensive formations that were susceptible to outside zone runs.  Nebraska simply beat themselves and Iowa was very content in letting it happen.

If Nebraska wants to return the favor this year in Iowa, they need to not turn the ball over.  Nebraska has surprisingly had no turnovers the last couple of weeks.  The Huskers have not turned the ball over since the Ohio State game.  On the season, for the first time in a long time, Nebraska is plus in turnover margin at +5.  Iowa does what Iowa does and they roll in with a +7 margin.  As Michigan found out a couple of weeks ago, if you get down in a dog fight with Iowa they will roll you around in the mud like an old crocodile until you suffocate and drown.  

This year’s Nebraska defense is much better than the 2015 version, even without two NFL players at defensive tackle.  This defense plays much better together, clearly accepting Mark Banker’s defensive plans, where last season, they seemed to buy in for small stretches at a time.  Nebraska should be able to limit Iowa’s spotty passing game and hopefully unload against the run.  Iowa is feeling their oats right now and nothing would make their season any sweeter than to curtail a Nebraska team that is clearly on the upswing.  Iowa would like nothing more than to keep Nebraska at bay as long as possible.  Iowa knows that should Nebraska ever get the machine rolling again, that they will be playing at best for second place in the west division most seasons.

So what happens if Armstrong and Fife aren’t able to play up to their normal stature?  I think Terrell Newby and Tre Bryant will have to put this game on their stout shoulders a little bit.  Nebraska has slowly gotten healthy on the offensive line.  Along with Cethan Carter, Nebraska is about as healthy on offense up front as they have been since Oregon.  Nebraska will have to show their dominance in the trenches because they simply must establish the run to beat Iowa.

Nebraska has to take care of the ball.  If they do that, they can finish this season with 10 regular season wins and an outside shot to play in the Big Ten title game if Minnesota can pull an upset against Wisconsin.  It’s a lot to ask with a banged up QB situation, but Nebraska is more poised in 2016 on the road, than they were in 2015 at home.

Carriker Chronicles

ON WITH THE REWIND…

Our previous score prediction for Maryland game was Nebraska 24 – Maryland 10.  The actual score was 28-7 as Nebraska dominated the first half and simply held on in the second half.  Nebraska laid out the perfect plan for Ryker Fife to guide Nebraska’s offense.  They put him in situations that allowed him to complete passes he was comfortable with and used the run to take pressure off of Ryker when they needed it.  The Huskers were one play from pitching a shutout, and did what they needed to do to get to the Iowa game as close to full strength as they could.

Quick Notes:

Terrell Newby MVP.  Newby fell just short of the century mark against Maryland, scoring three rushing touchdowns.  Newby continues to impress me this season.  He has transformed himself into a hard running machine that has finally figured out how to instill his shake with his ability to put his head down and gain the tough yards.  With Tommy Armstrong out, Newby played again like a senior that wants to end his career on a high note. If he comes close to those numbers against Iowa, Nebraska will win easily.

Defense Brings the Goods.  Nebraska should have had a shutout against a Maryland offense that was subpar.  They came close, but a broken play in the fourth quarter really soured what was a great effort against the Terps.  They held them to 207 total yards, which included a 92 yard touchdown pass that could have been about 15 yards with some proper tackling.  Take nothing away from this defense, outside of being overmatched by Ohio State, they have come to play every game this season.

Seniors go out on a high.  Whether it was Jordan Westerkamp, Terrell Newby, Josh Banderas, Michael Rose-Ivey or a surprise like Spencer Lindsay, the Husker Seniors cemented their legacy at Nebraska last week.  These players came back after a rough transition year to push Nebraska back into national relevancy most of the season.  This crew won’t be the one to win a conference title to end the drought, but they will be the crew that got Coach Mike Riley’s feet underneath him in Lincoln.  This group of seniors has been fun to watch and may leave a bigger hole next year than I may have estimated at the start of the season.

Sam Foltz Remembered.  Keep in mind, we have all kept Sam in our thoughts and his family in our prayers all year, but it was extra hard to have Senior Day without the bright light from Greeley.  The tributes to Sam all year have been special and we all miss him dearly.  Seriously, how much did we know that Sam’s presence was at the game?  He sent a deflated balloon to the 27 yard line to let us know he was there with us.  How awesome was that?  We dearly miss you Sam, we won’t forget about you.

Time to Close Up Shop.  Nebraska needs to end this regular season with a bang.  Iowa is the hurdle that you must cross each season, regardless of their record.  Nebraska should beat Iowa regularly.  That’s not a knock on the people from Iowa, it’s just a fact.  Nebraska has more resources, better history and has recruited consistently better than Iowa.  If Nebraska wants to get into the National Playoff conversation, and I know they do, they need to set the bar higher than Iowa and that means beating them at a minimum 9 out of ten years.  Kirk Ferentz is a great coach and he definitely evens the playing field with Nebraska, but the Huskers need to overcome his stability and begin the dominance over this Iowa program.

Cornhusker Meme Tees

Score Prediction: Nebraska 21 – Iowa 17

I don’t like this game.  It would be easy to see Iowa, playing well lately, hang a loss on the Huskers.  Iowa has their chest out after beating Michigan, and they know that they can make 2016 a relative success if they beat their neighbors to the west.  Nebraska must make this a game a priority this week.  The worry comes in the form of quarterback, because we have no idea how healthy anyone on the Husker roster is behind center.  If Tommy Armstrong was healthy, I think Nebraska could win relatively going away in the fourth quarter.  As is, I expect a dog fight all game.  If Nebraska can win the turnover margin, they get to ten wins and probably a chance at an SEC power.  It helps recruiting and builds momentum in the program that is on the way back.  The Defense can win this one on their own, but I expect the Huskers to score at least one unconventional touchdown.  That will be the difference this Friday.  Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone and as always, GBR!!

Tommy Needs a Week Off!

Jordan Thanks for the Memorial Stadium Memories

Nebraska rebounded after a rough two week stretch to beat Minnesota in Lincoln and all but sew up a nine win season and probably a really good warm bowl game.  The offensive line was finally healthy with Jerald Foster making his season debut, Tanner Farmer, Nick Gates and the crew all playing together.  Then Tommy Armstrong willed his way into the end zone for the go ahead score.  What happened after that though may have tempted fate a little too much for a ten win regular season.

Armstrong strained a hamstring, and with it probably erased any chance of him playing against Maryland in his final game at Memorial Stadium.  This entire season, up until Ohio State, was a microcosm of Tommy’s career in 8 games.  A lot of ups, including an All American type performance against Oregon, and a few downs, including a gut punch inducing interception against Wyoming and some erratic passing against Wisconsin.  Then against Ohio State, Tommy hit the turf with his head and neck and the team basically was done.  It looked like there was no way Tommy would play against the Golden Gophers and yet, he managed to not only play in the game, but possibly play his best game of the season.

Looking back on 2016, it will have to be said that so goes Tommy, so have went the Huskers.  In every game that he has played well, Nebraska has won and the two games the Huskers lost, against Wisconsin, which was probably Tommy’s worst game of the season and against Ohio State, Tommy wasn’t enough to turn the tide.  Now against Ohio State, Tommie Frazier would have been overmatched, but against Wisconsin, Armstrong nearly rebounded to will the team to victory.  Either way, Tommy has taken the Huskers to an 8-2 mark, including a 5-2 in conference record.  I don’t think you would have found anyone but the most optimistic Husker fans that would have thought the Huskers would have more than 8 wins with two to go in the regular season.

And yet, here we are, about to have a chance to rebound from 6-7 last season to post 9 wins with two more, heck, possibly three more to play.  I think most fans would have taken that.  The problems with this weekend is, Tommy Armstrong is probably not going to play, and that puts Nebraska at a big disadvantage.  Not that we all don’t want Ryker Fyfe to do well, we do, but let’s face facts, in Ryker’s lone start in Big Ten play against a poor Purdue team, he did not fare well.  He alone accounted for four turnovers in West Lafayette last season in probably the worst loss I can remember in the last 15 years and that’s truly saying something.

On the flip side, let us look at the differences in Ryker this year from last season.  For one, this year’s defense is playing about 180 degrees different from the 2015 unit.  A team that was at the bottom of the Big Ten in virtually every defensive category that mattered last year, provided no back bone to stand up to the turnovers that Ryker committed and then when Fyfe had to try and lead a comeback, it allowed Purdue to pin their ears back and forced Fyfe into more turnovers. 

Second, there was no running the football last year against Purdue.  For some reason offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf must have thought Fyfe was Eli Manning light and put way too much of the game plan in Fyfe’s hands.  This year, I suspect Nebraska will try to establish the run if Fyfe is the starter.

Third, it was a road game, and let’s face it, we have all seen back up players play much better at home than on the road.  Who could forget Ron Kellogg III’s last second heroics against Northwestern a couple seasons ago?  Fyfe will be served well having a strong fan base cheering him on, even if he struggles.

Finally, Fyfe is a year older.  No matter what has happened in the past, Ryker has had an entire off season, fall camp and regular season to get more comfortable with what the Huskers will try to do against Maryland.  I expect the senior backup quarterback to have a memorable day that he will be able to tell his grand kids about someday, about the day that a walk on from Grand Island willed the Huskers to their ninth win of the season.

Carriker Chronicles

ON WITH THE REWIND…

Our previous score prediction for Minnesota game was Nebraska 31 – Minnesota 21.  The actual score was 24-17 but the Gophers gave Nebraska all it had.  The fact of the matter is, Nebraska probably isn’t as good as they were at the beginning of the season, simply because injuries to key players, including Tommy Armstrong, Devine Ozigbo, Jordan Westerkamp, Cethan Carter, Brandon Reilly, not to mention. scoreless in the last two quarters.  I’ll be honest, I was pretty hopping mad when Nebraska consistently found ways to stub their toe on defense in the first half and I felt like they should have only given up one score.  As it is, they righted the ship in the second half and outside of a few penalties that didn’t end up being as costly as they could have been, they played as well as the probably could have.

Tommy Armstrong, delivers again.  If you read this blog with any regularity, you know that I keep praising Tommy Armstrong, but let’s face it, without Tommy, this Husker squad would be lucky to win 6 games let alone be in position to finish 10-2.  Armstrong has been the difference maker in multiple games this season.  In my opinion, considering the surrounding cast, Tommy has been as successful as you could have hoped this season.  Through injuries and adversity he just keeps coming back and delivering.  It has been a great ride this season, hopefully if Tommy sits this weekend, he can cap it off with a big win in Iowa City.

NO Turnovers!  You can’t stress it enough, when you don’t turn the ball over, it’s much harder to beat you and Nebraska didn’t make any against Minnesota.  In this game it was a big difference maker.  Nebraska shot itself in the foot penalty wise plenty of times, but by holding onto the ball and playing a field position game, it gave Nebraska the chance to hang in a game that wasn’t going their way early on.  Kudos to the kids and the coaching staff that held on to the ball on a cold night on the plains.

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Score Prediction: Nebraska 24 – Maryland 10

As beat up as Nebraska is, Maryland has had it worse if you can believe it.  After a hot start to the season, the Big Ten schedule has not been kind to DJ Durkin and his crew.  After winning the first four games of the season, the Terrapins have been drilled as of late and come into the game with a 2-5 record in conference play.  They haven’t had consistency at quarterback all season and will be without their stud running back this weekend as well.  Nebraska will probably be playing with a backup quarterback, but the Blackshirts should be able to tee off on this offense on Senior Day in Lincoln.  Ryker Fyfe plays the game of his career and the Huskers finish undefeated at home.  As always, GBR!!

In Tommy We Trust!

Tommy Went Down, But He Got Back Up!

When the Nebraska Cornhuskers left last week for Columbus, Ohio, the world was completely different. Donald Trump wasn’t the President Elect of the United States and Nebraska was wounded from losing to Wisconsin, but not broken down and beaten like they were about to be coming out of Ohio.

In hindsight, it probably wasn’t hard to foresee if you didn’t have crimson colored glasses on.  Ohio State was coming into the game fighting for their college playoff lives, loaded with years of top level recruiting. Nebraska was coming into the game, coming off a hard fought game in Madison that was for the division win, but hanging together on the offensive line with duct tape and bailing wire.  Ohio State was ready to unload, and the Huskers were stuck in first gear.

It didn’t help that midway through the game Tommy Armstrong hit his head on the turf on a hit out of bounds, lying there motionless.  As Tommy was being attended to, I know many Husker fans sat there wondering what had just gone wrong.  As much grief as fans give Armstrong, when he goes out, Nebraska’s chances of winning basically go down the drain.  After he went out, the offense was out of options and the defense folded under the pressure for the first time this season.

Nebraska has certainly been on the wrong end of a lot of blowouts the last 15 years, starting with Black Friday in Colorado in 2001.  We all kind of were under the impression that Mike Riley had the ship out of muddy waters when it came to games like this.  Looking a little deeper though, one could easily identify why this team could get into this type of situation.

Nebraska under Bo Pelini languished around the top 35 in recruiting over his tenure.  In 2011 when Pelini had a top 20 class, loaded with what seemed like potential game changers, the majority of that class either washed out or transferred.  Nebraska has recruited one quarterback every year for around 9 years in row, but when the change in staff took place two years ago, Coach Riley opted not to reach on a quarterback that they felt wouldn’t help the team long term.  Two transfers from quarterbacks, along with a change in position from Zach Darlington put Nebraska in a position to have a walk on as the main backup.  Where in college football’s elite is a walk on one injury away from starting for a top ten team?  The answer is only Nebraska.

Nebraska also has missed very badly in offensive line recruiting over the last 6 years.  Highly ranked players never panned out, some transferred and others simply weren’t that good to begin with.  Top it off with only opting to take four, three or even sometimes two lineman in a class of recruits has been an unmitigated disaster.  The walk on program is meant to provide an opportunity of the overlooked kids to make a name for themselves at Nebraska.  It’s not intended to be the only recruiting done at a top ten school.  Believe me, I love walk ons, I think they provide a valuable addition to the program that is unmeasurable.  On the flip side, if you want to play for any championships (league or otherwise), that strategy can’t be the backbone of a team in the Big Ten.

All of this culminated in one of the worst blowouts in school history.  We probably should have seen it coming, but hindsight is 20/20 and it’s time to move on to Minnesota.

Let’s not think that this Gopher team is a walkover.  They are far from it.  They run the ball, A LOT and they do it right at you.  Nebraska needs to be prepared or they will be completely out of the Big Ten race by Saturday night.

Nebraska may or may not have Tommy Armstrong in this game.  That will probably be the determining factor for Nebraska if they have any chance of winning.  It’s rather stunning that he may be the only thing separating Nebraska from being 8-2 and possibly being 5-5 or worse.  Love him or hate him, in Tommy we trust.

Carriker Chronicles

ON WITH THE REWIND…

Our previous score prediction for Ohio State game was Nebraska 27 – Ohio State 26.  The actual score was 62-3 Ohio State and it felt like it was 100-0.  I probably was sucked in by the great game at Madison the week before, but in reality, Nebraska was probably worn out from that game.  Throw in a bad offensive line performance, a defense that went AWOL and Tommy Armstrong going out, it made a perfect recipe for disaster.  On the bright side it’s one game, one week and you get another.  Nebraska has a chance to make that a sour taste that only lasts a while.  They need to come out physical against Minnesota.  You have to beat the Gophers consistently if you want to be a threat in the Big Ten.  

Cornhusker Memes Tees

Quick Notes:

Lock Down U.  For all the hype of Nebraska’s defensive secondary, they laid an egg against the Buckeyes. Granted JT Barrett had too much time to sit back and pick them apart, but often times they were out of position on pass plays and they simply didn’t make the run fits that they had made the previous 8 games.  I expect that to be an anomaly.  Ohio State has the best athletes in the conference. It won’t be often that the Huskers are that physically outmatched the rest of the season.

Offensive Line Finally Gets Some Good News.  At the start of the season, when Nebraska lost DJ Foster, starting guard to injury, we knew Nebraska may not be as good as they could be.  Throw in injuries to Tanner Farmer, Nick Gates, David Knevel and well you get the idea, the Huskers O-Line has been pieced together all season.  Foster actually started practicing this week and for the first time all year, the original starting five on the oline practiced together.  No matter what, this is a good sign for a team that has been behind the 8 Ball for injuries all season.

Nothing Stands Out.  I like to make a point to stress great play from the week before, but against Ohio State there really wasn’t anything that stood out.  For lack of anything positive to say, let us just all agree a much better effort is needed from the entire team moving forward.

Score Prediction: Nebraska 31 – Minnesota 21

I was going to pick Nebraska to lose if Tommy Armstrong didn’t play.  It’s not that I don’t think Nebraska can win with Ryker Fife starting at home, but Minnesota has prayed on Nebraska’s vulnerabilities in the past and I figure they will exploit them again if given the opportunity.  But…it’s a night game, at home.  If we have learned anything, the Huskers typically play their best at home at night.  I don’t have much more reasoning other than Minnesota isn’t Ohio State and Nebraska has leaders that aren’t ready to give up on the season.  As always, GBR!!

Let's Break the Door Down!

Back to Back Top Ten Match Ups

Nebraska is coming off their first loss of the season, which is normally disappointing, but this week feels a little tougher than normal.  The Huskers played, considerably their hardest game of the season on the road against a foe that they have not had much success.  Wisconsin is built like an old Ford Pickup, one that has been rebuilt three or four times, had a new engine and clutch dropped in them, but keeps humming on the original transmission.  Nebraska had their opportunities to take that pickup apart, but they just didn’t have all the tools that they needed.

Heading into Madison, Nebraska was getting a big lift, David Knevel, Nick Gates, Tanner Farmer and Jordan Westerkamp all were supposed to be nearing better health.  It showed.  Nebraska’s offensive line had looked horrible the week before against Purdue, but against the Badgers, they held their pass pro in check.  Nebraska didn’t get so lucky in the run game, and then to add insult to injury, Tanner Farmer was been back like a pretzel and had to come back out of the game.  

The Huskers couldn’t really ever get the run game going, but sometimes it felt like they never were calling plays to be able to run to their strengths.  Where was the fly sweep to Alonzo Moore?  Where was the read option play to Terrell Newby?  What about more outside zone running?  And where was the Tommy Armstrong rushing attack that helped Nebraska upset Oregon earlier in the year?

It seemed as though it all wouldn’t matter.  On a special night that had a lot of energy, due to the Sam Foltz factor, Nebraska came back twice during the game and wound up tied at 17-17 at the end of the regulation.  We all know the Huskers ended up getting a couple of missed kicking gifts from Wisconsin but they were unable to capitalize.  I would have liked to see Nebraska try a rollout or a bootleg with Tommy on the second down play in overtime, but never the less the Huskers just couldn’t quite get it past the finish line.

I often sit and criticize the play calling when I watch a game.  I’m not like most people, I don’t do it out loud, but I find myself wondering what if a lot, especially after a loss.  You could say that last Saturday against Wisconsin I was especially critical.  Nebraska couldn’t run the ball all that well, and yet they kept plunging it into the middle.  I may be mistaken, but I don’t think the Huskers threw a pass on first down against Wisconsin.  It makes you wonder what the strategy was.  Maybe after Tommy Armstrong had 3 passes batted down at the line of scrimmage, the coaches wanted to stay out of passing unless they absolutely had too?

After reviewing the game, I remember that often times, being a play caller is probably one of the worst jobs in college football as you are constantly second guessed. I think it’s probably about as bad at Nebraska as any place because Nebraska fans know their offense and what great offenses look like.  Husker fans take a back seat to no one when it comes to second guessing a play caller.  Heck, I remember times watching the Huskers in 1995 that people in the stands wanted to get Damon Benning more involved or thought that the Huskers might be, “just a little more dominant, if Brook Berringer was throwing the football.”

The point I’m trying to make, probably poorly, is that while I felt like Nebraska should have tried some different things on offense, often times we don’t know what is going on down on the field that we don’t know about.  Maybe Corey Whitaker was unable to pull, or maybe Dylan Utter had to help more on the left side in, which allowed Wisconsin to crash down and blow up the run on certain plays.  Maybe Nebraska isn’t capable of doing the things that allowed it to be successful earlier in the season, simply because Gates, Knevel, Westerkamp and Devine Ozigbo are too beat up to be able to make those same plays.  Nebraska isn’t quite where they want to be depth wise.  That has shown a lot with this offensive line.  Cole Conrad is playing way more than probably anyone would have guessed at the beginning of the year, just like Sam Hahn is.  It’s possible against solid defenses (make no mistake, Wisconsin is a top 20 defense in the nation) Nebraska simply doesn’t have the horses right now to beat the top teams on their schedule.

Either way, we find out how good Nebraska is this weekend.  The Big Ten did Nebraska no favors scheduling back to back road games with Wisconsin and Ohio State, arguably the top two, at least top three teams in the conference.  There is no time to back down however.  Nebraska needs to try and set the tone against the Buckeyes.  The Huskers have been able to do it defensively so far this season.  To beat OSU, Tommy Armstrong has to play way above average.  I will watch with great interest to see if the play calling reflects the changes that we all want, or if the team simply needs more depth to be able to beat top ten teams.

Carriker Chronicles

ON WITH THE REWIND…

Our previous score prediction for Wisconsin game was Nebraska 19 – Wisconsin 17.  The actual score wound up 23 to 17 Badgers.  I thought we had them when we had the ball near the 50 with over a minute left, but the Huskers drive stalled and forced the game into overtime. Nebraska shouldn’t have to apologize for going toe to toe with a top ten team on the road, but it feels like the Huskers let one slip away that they could have had.  I think if Nebraska played at home, they beat the Badgers by 10 points.  Some bad officiating didn’t make Husker fans feel any better, but I could argue that the non-holding calls along with no pass interference being called may have evened the game out a bit for Nebraska.  Never the less, the Huskers control their own destiny if they want to win the Big Ten West, and that is all you can ask for.  

Cornhusker Memes Tees!

Quick Notes:

Nathan Gerry – All American.  Nebraska has had their share of great defensive backs, heck you could say in the last ten years, the one constant is the greatness of the team often times lined up in the defensive backfield.  Prince Amukumara, Dejon Gomes, Eric Hagg all played at a high level.  Nathan Gerry has played better than all of them in my opinion, at least this season.  Pro Football Focus has Gerry as the top rated statistical player at safety, in the country this year.  His game against Wisconsin showed why he should be getting All American mention, with two late picks and countless correct tackles and occupied blockers, Gerry was the defensive player of the week.

Kevin Maurice, forget about Valentine and Collins.  One of my favorite players the last few years, including when he was a recruit, was Maliek Collins.  I followed his high school career a little bit and had a strong feeling he was going to make a lot of noise at Nebraska.  I followed Kevin Maurice a little bit, but he has been one of the bigger recruiting wins from the Pelini era.  I think having coach John Parella has helped catapult Maurice into and all conference defensive tackle.  I shudder to think where the Huskers would be without Kevin.  He has played significant minutes all season and has probably been Nebraska’s best pass rusher.  He has been a star.

LockDown U Strikes Again.  Nebraska’s secondary just continues to make plays.  Over and over again, they are deflecting passes, making tackles on the perimeter and setting the tone for the defense.  Because of them, the defensive line has managed to make some coverage sacks and allowed the defense to tee off on passing downs.  Coach Mark Banker and Coach Brian Stewart really have them playing at a high level.

Wide Receivers Need More Touches.  Tommy Armstrong struggled mightily against Wisconsin and the play making abilities of the wide receivers showed it.  Nebraska has to make a better effort to get the talented corp of wideouts the ball more.  Either on flash screens or jet sweeps, or whatever it takes, they need more touches.

Tommy Armstrong is gun shy.  Tommy Armstrong has been running for his life a lot the last three weeks and he has started to regress when he throws the ball.  All that pressure has him throwing off his back foot more, making quicker decisions and making improper reads.  Tommy is never going to be Tom Brady in college, but he has to get back to at least 55% or better as a passer or Nebraska won’t beat anyone good.  Tommy must play well this game to beat Ohio State.  He is truly the difference maker that can give the Buckeyes fits.  

Cethan Carter is back!  Sam Cotton and Trey Foster have filled in admirably for Cethan Carter while he has been sitting with an elbow injury since the Illinois game.  Carter has been practicing all week and hopefully will play against Ohio State.  Cotton especially seems to have improved quite a bit this season, but Carter is still on another level.  Carter sets the tone in the run game more so than maybe any other player on the team not named Nick Gates.  If Carter is ready to go and can play at least 80 to 90 percent of what he is when fully healthy, you should see a large increase in Nebraska’s yards per rush attempt this week.

Defense.  Nebraska has played defense better this season. They have probably played better than anyone could have hoped.  They lead the Big Ten in interceptions, they have held all teams not named Oregon below 25 points and given the team more than enough chances to win every game.  For Nebraska to beat Ohio State this weekend, the defense must play their best game this season.  I honestly feel like this game will be their coming out party.  If that happens, the nation will get a big shock at what a Blackshirt is for the first time since Suh played in Lincoln.

Go CUBS Go!  Sorry, had to throw this in the blog.  The last month of baseball games has been a heart wrenching experience for this seasoned Cubs fan.  Love them or hate them, Cubs fans, at least long time Cubs fans, had resigned to the fact that the Cubs would never win the World Series.  I know I was just thrilled with them playing in the World Series.  Now that they finally have won, it’s a wonder that I never would have expected.  

In the last 18 months, we lost my dad, a cousin, Sam Foltz and gained a baby girl.  Our family has been through a lot of emotional roller coasters.  It made this win a little more heartfelt for me.  It’s crazy to think, my new baby girl has never lived a year that the Cubs didn’t win the World Series.  This after so many lived for so long without one. Sports are awesome, and if you read this blog, you already know that.  It really does bind a lot of us together.  Sometimes it’s the salve we need, at the most important times.  Now if Nebraska can beat the Buckeyes!

Score Prediction: Nebraska 27 – Ohio State 26

I’m not sure why, but I feel like Nebraska is better than anyone else thinks.  They have played up to their competition all season.  I think they will do that again this week in Columbus.  The Buckeyes have great athletes all over the field, but they seem to be lacking a little bit in the teamwork department.  The last two weeks, they were beat by a hungrier Penn State team and taken to the wire by a much improved Northwestern.  I realize the Huskers are 17 point underdogs, but that is just crazy in my eyes.  Nebraska has been beating down the door this season, now it’s time to break it down!  GBR!!