A rebirth of Nebraska Football? You’re dang right it is!

So what has been going on with Nebraska football since Thanksgiving?  Oh, not much, just firing of Coach Riley, the hiring of our Nebraska’s own Scott Frost from the University of Central Florida and basically the home run hire of the year by new Athletic Director Bill Moos.

First let us review the firing of Mike Riley.  At first blush, the hiring of Coach Riley was out of the blue and very surprising.  I knew of Riley, I knew of his tenure at Oregon State and I certainly knew of his tenure in the NFL and the Ryan Leaf saga and how Riley never had any success in the NFL.  I knew of his background of turning down his alma mater Alabama for a head coaching job over a decade ago and I knew that he had turned down the University of Southern California before they hired Pete Carroll.  I knew he had always won with less at OSU.  

I talked myself into the fact that he needed a new scene, a new place with better facilities, more toys, more money and the attractiveness of a better environment.  Shawn Eichorst went after Riley right away and knew what he wanted, the exact opposite of Bo Pelini.  This could work I thought, but it’s going to be a transition because Riley relies on NFL type quarterbacks and wanted to throw the ball downfield.  He came in with a link to California and a west coast vibe that should help recruiting.  He started the “Calibraska” movement, he brought in big time recruits and honestly was one of the nicest people you have ever been around.

The problem with all of that, in hindsight, is that Mike Riley may just no longer be a very good football coach.  Shawn Eichorst tried to have too much influence over the coach.  Assistant coaches were hired that may not have been what Riley wanted and people were added to help with recruiting that may have been less helpful that what Riley needed.  The other thing, Riley simply never embraced the physical style of the Big Ten and in the course of three seasons reduced the once mighty Big Red into a pool of blood as other programs treaded over the Huskers like a pebble on the Audubon.

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Enter Bill Moos into the picture.  I believe he gave Riley the chance to right things, but when the snowball rolls down hill and the coach has nothing to stop it with, it just got uglier and uglier.  I won’t bore you with a rewind of the entire season, but let us just say it was possibly the worst season since the Eisenhower administration.  Go ahead kids, Google that name and see what comes up.  It was that long ago.

Bill Moos has handled everything he has done at Nebraska like a seasoned veteran, but more importantly, he leaves no doubt about the direction that he wants, the people he wants to work with and the ultimate goal of this state’s football team.  It just so happened to coincide with Scott Frost becoming the hottest young coach in college football and being available.

Whatever the process it was to convince Frost to come home, it was worth it for Moos.  It was worth it for the state of Nebraska.  Scott may have been ready earlier for the job, but Nebraska wasn’t.  It could have happened that Frost would miss his best chance to become the coach at Nebraska and stay at UCF.  Moos didn’t let that stop him from going after Coach Frost and in the end, he got the man that would fit the requirements to be the next head coach at Nebraska.

Let’s face it, Nebraska had tried other methods since they fired Frank Solich so many years ago.  Bill Callahan came from the NFL, no dice.  Bo Pelini had coached here as an assistant, but wasn’t built for the grind that is 24/7 Nebraska football.  Mike Riley had all the experience you wanted, but didn’t have the chops to grind it out here either.

Scott Frost is the right man for the job.  He has played at Nebraska.  He won with Nebraska.  He left, went to the NFL, went on to work in his coaching career away from Nebraska.  He found his way starting at Northern Iowa, became an offensive coordinator at Oregon, and worked his way into the head coaching job at UCF.  Everywhere he stopped, the common theme was winning.  Scott Frost is a winner.  

Frost not only is a winner, but he wins the way that Nebraska fans want to win.  His motto of hard work, being physical and going fast are music to Husker fan’s ears.  Husker fans want their team to resemble their lives.  Hard working, hard playing, hardened people that love each other, have passion for the state and will defend their way of life to anyone that dares step up to the plate to challenge it.  Frost is confident, a little cocky, seemingly arrogant, but it is not grandiose and after you get to know him, it’s because he believes in what he is doing and the way to do it.  Nebraskans by in large know what they want and great many of them know how to get it and Frost embodies that idea for a great many of the fans.

For the first time in probably 16 years, Nebraska fans have a purpose to come together again.  Too often the last three coaching hires left people wondering if that was the best that Nebraska could do?  Husker fans want to be united.  Coach Frost is the person that will unite them.  

Coach Frost will run an offense that isn’t quite what some fans want, but I can guarantee, if he wins, the type of offense he runs will be of little concern.  College football has changed a lot since Tom Osborne retired and for the first time since Osborne left, Nebraska has a coach that is on the cutting edge of offense in college football.  The defense will need to be adjusted and it’s likely that Nebraska is two or three seasons away from competing for a Big Ten title.  I’ve argued that with all the changes in college football, it would be better to go with a younger set of knowledge, Frost certainly fits that bill.

I know and Nebraska fans know that the run in the 90’s won’t probably ever return.  At this point though, I think Nebraska fans have seen enough the last 16 years to be patient with Coach Frost.  It feels like he is going to continue to win.  This time it feels like he will help Nebraska win.  It feels like a rebirth of something we all have wanted to see for a long time.

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ON WITH THE REWIND…

Our previous score prediction for the Iowa game was Nebraska 34 – Iowa 30.  The actual score was Iowa 56 Nebraska 14.  It pains me to type that.  Nebraska for all intents and purposes threw in the towel in this game.  Iowa could have scored 90 if they wanted to bad enough.  It was time for the season to mercifully end.  And it did.

Quick Notes:

Coach Frost has put a shot of adrenaline back into Husker Nation…. I feel it in my bones.  I feel it every time I open up Twitter or log into a Husker recruiting website.  Fans and recruits feel the rush of a great young coach landing at his home job in a premier program in a premier conference.  I can’t help but feel like Nebraska football is on its way back up.  It feels good boys and girls…no, it feels great!

GBR!!

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Why not Nebraska, Why not now?

It’s not often that you want a Husker season to end.  I find myself not wanting the season to end. When you get old enough, you realize that you won’t be around to watch football forever.  The way this season has been going, I hate to see it be over, even if it has been a huge disappointment.

You see some glimpses that the Huskers could have had a decent season if a few breaks had went there way.  Maybe if Chris Jones doesn’t get hurt last summer, the defense plays a little better and you win against Northern Illinois and things go a little different.

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Maybe doesn’t cut it around Lincoln though.  The entirety of Mike Riley’s tenure at Nebraska has been what if's, maybe's, could have beens or unrealized potential.  This last weekend against Penn State was that in a small window…surprise, again.  Nebraska gets posterized in the first half, makes a heart warming comeback in the second half when Tanner Lee gets hot, and yet they were so far behind, it didn’t matter.  You see it time and time again, Nebraska can’t get out of their own way.  They are young, they don’t have a lot of talent in the upper classes.  That can’t be an excuse though.  Teams are supposed to improve during the season.  Unfortunately, any improvement to this team has been offset by unbelievable bad play at the absolute worst times.

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All of this, and Iowa sucks too.  Why can’t Nebraska pull something together, for what will probably be Mike Riley’s last game at Memorial Stadium?  Do they have it in them to play hard in front of the home crowd for an entire game this season?  Nebraska has had some glimpses where they have really played well, but it has almost been at the antithesis of what Mike Riley has wanted on offense and they have played the best when they scratched the 3-4 and ran a 4-3 on defense.  On offense, they have done the best when they go at an upped tempo and spread the ball out, get the ball out of Tanner Lee’s hands and let the playmakers make plays. J.D. Spielman and Stanley Morgan are good football players. From the looks of it, Jalyn Bradley is going to be pretty good too.  Why can’t Nebraska get those guys the ball early and often on Friday?

We all know that Riley is probably going to be finished after this weekend.  Let’s just hope that he is able to rally the Huskers one more time.

Why not beat Iowa?  We all want to.  Let’s see if the players can summon the energy and stamina to knock the Hawkeyes into a lower bowl.  Make us all appreciate one more game this season.

ON WITH THE REWIND…

Our previous score prediction for the Penn State game was Nebraska 10 – Penn State 49.  The actual score was Penn State 56 Nebraska 44.

When you take a look at this game, sure it was a great scoring binge in the second half, but the first half was so bad, it’s hard to take much good from the game

Quick Notes:

The Season is almost over…. There will be no bowl game for the Huskers.  I hope that Nebraska treats this game like a bowl.  You get an opponent that you don’t like and get a chance to salvage a small bit of pride in this season.

What comes next?  There is enough speculation rolling across the plains about what happens when and if Mike Riley is let go this weekend.  I don’t have any inside information, but I have had some brief interaction with Scott Frost before, I know in the past he really wanted to be the Husker head coach at one time.  That has been years ago, but I have to think the chance to come home and lead the Huskers back to prominence has to be a draw.  I’d put it at about 70% that he returns.  I hope he does, he would be a great fit and I think having a young offensive mind would be a nice turn from what we have had recently.

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Score Prediction: Nebraska 34 – Iowa 30

I don’t like Iowa.  You don’t either.  I have no idea if the Huskers will win, but by golly, it’s my prediction and I say we come out and play well and shock them. Why not? Nothing else this season has made sense.  GBR!!

The Season Winds Down, so does the Riley Experiment

Man, what a year.  That’s what I hoped I would be writing when this season kicked off and we just beat Iowa to finish 9-3 at worst and just came up short on the Big Ten title game.  Nebraska, with Tanner Lee flourishing and a recruiting class poised to finish in the top 12 in the nation according to recruiting websites, looked to be the team on the rise for 2018.  Hard schedule wouldn’t matter I was thinking, Nebraska would be a fine tuned machine with Bob Diaco turning the Blackshirts into aggressive monsters! They would be a bending but tightening “D” in the red zone, to go along with forcing multiple turnovers per game.  2018 was going to be the year and Mike Riley would be on the way to restoring Husker Pride and Husker Nation would be ready to roll to a Big Ten title shot.

Whew…well that dream died about half time of the Oregon game.  I thought Nebraska would shake that horrible half off, and come back, take care of business against Northern Illinois and be ready to fire out in the Big Ten….and then Northern Illinois came into Lincoln and shocked not only the team, but the fans as well.  Nebraska has had its rough times against South Dakota and McNeese State, but we would never succumb to a loss to a non-power five team, right?

Having a 2-2 record seemed like not a big deal.  Then the Huskers get to three wins and you are thinking, bring in Wisconsin.  We were a bad non call in overtime away from maybe beating the Badgers in Wisconsin in 2016.  We have a better quarterback, or so we thought, surely we will be in it until the end.  Except for the last three possessions, when Wisconsin simply lined up and ran it down our throats like we are a high school program.  Aren’t we invincible at night?  What happened?  Ohio State is coming to town, surely the night time atmosphere will fire up the team, get them back to basics and at least give Ohio State a run.

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Yikes, we realized we are a long way from being at Ohio State’s level.  That much is clear.  First year for Diaco, but the team seems to be crumbling from the inside.  Mike Riley’s got this though.  Mike is a coach that has seen a lot, been around a while, struggled with less talented teams at Oregon State, but he can right the ship.  Purdue seems to be an up and coming team and we go to Indiana and win.  It was on a last second drive, but man, we have a chance to go 4-1 to end the season, salvage this recruiting class, reload and be ready for 2018.

We are up on Northwestern 24-17 with the ball in their territory, at home.  If we run the ball up the middle, let Drew Brown kick a field goal we probably survive and advance again.  We have this.  I told myself we had this.  We have a quarterback that really has played well with much fewer picks since Northern Illinois.  You can’t blame him for getting killed and tossing up a duck, right?  Right???

I feel like going to Minnesota, we have a shot.  They are struggling to score lately, our team has played better on the road.  We will be in a close game, their defense isn’t that great.  If we don’t stub our toe out the gate, we can do this.  Wait?  Was that an opening kickoff returned for a touchdown?  That escalated quickly.  What the hell just happened?

Those paragraphs are a microcosm of how I’ve coped with this year.  I keep thinking we are going to turn the corner.  I keep thinking Beautiful Bob Diaco is going to somehow recover that Notre Dame magic he had.  I keep thinking Tanner Lee makes NFL throws, it’s not a matter of if, but when he dominates.  Tre Bryant goes down, Mikale Wilbon keeps on running.  Down to our 3rd string safety?  No big deal, rated a four star by some services, recommended by Keyshawn Johnson Sr., kid’s going to be a stud.

And yet none of this has happened.  I’m an optimistic fan no doubt.  At this point though, even I have seen the writing on the wall.  It’s in a different print than the 2007 version.  That train wreck was clouded by great recruiting and the fact that Nebraska had just played in the Rose Bowl six years prior.  

Honestly, when Mike Riley was hired, I was a bit skeptical, but right away, he talked the talk.  The recruiting started off slow, but you could see the engine revving up as five star kids started to visit campus again.  Nebraska has a good, not great year in 2016, but man, I thought I could see some promise.  Bob Diaco was supposed to reinvigorate the defense to a new level.  Money was spent on assistant coaches that a person would think would really be beneficial to the team.

And now, after all of it, I’m just a tired fan.  I know there is nothing I can do different or better, that has to be handled in the North Stadium.  I know that in two weeks, a new coaching search will begin.  I will be in Scott Frost’s corner when he is hired.  I hope it’s Frost at a minimum, anyone with a lesser resume not named Frost will be a hard sell.

We will watch the team go to Penn State, I will cheer for them, even though I know that they will be lucky to get out of there without getting beat by 50.  I will go to Memorial Stadium to see us play Iowa, if for no other reason, by all that is holy, no one wearing that ugly black and yellow will get my seat.  I will continue to cheer.  I will hold out hope.  Because even when there is none left, I’m still a fan.  And at this point, that’s all I’ve got.  

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ON WITH THE REWIND…

Our previous score prediction for the Minnesota game was Nebraska 24 – Minnesota 21.  The actual score was Minnesota 54 Nebraska 21.  Not much more to say, this was the nail in the coffin for the 2017 season.  You can probably say that about Mike Riley’s career in two weeks.  

Quick Notes:

Hard season to watch…it’s about to get worse….  There aren’t many notes, positive to share. This season has been one stumble after another.  Like I said above, I will continue to watch, because I’m a die hard, but I don’t expect another win.  I’m not sure I expect another lead.  Penn State and Iowa are simply better than Nebraska right now.  It could be 3-4 years before that changes.  It’s a hard pill to swallow for multiple reasons.  Let’s just hope whoever his hired next makes it a more palatable rebuild for us all.

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Score Prediction: Nebraska 10 – Penn State 49

Penn State still has a few things to play for, namely a good bowl game.  They know they are going to beat us up, but I suspect they will want to get out of this game with no injuries.  This score may be best case scenario.  If there is any fight left in the Huskers, we certainly didn’t see it in Minnesota.  Where they go to find it, I don’t know.  I do know this…I will be in front of the TV, cheering….and possibly drinking.  GBR!!

Husker Fan Frustration

As Goals Evaporate, Bowl Eligibility Remains

As a Husker fan, it’s tiring watching this season play out.  Nebraska’s kids seem to play hard.  They are a really great group of kids too.  They say all the right things, they would be great kids to have as son in laws or as brothers or as friends or relatives.  They love Nebraska, they love Coach Riley and they want what is best with the program.  They come back every week and play really well for a brief period of time, although there have been a couple games that you wondered if they could play any worse.

That’s what makes this so exhausting.  I love these kids.  I love Chris Webber, Stanley Morgan, JD Spielman and Chris Jones.  I think Tanner Lee makes throws some weeks that make me wonder what this kids ceiling is and I keep wondering if he is going to play in the NFL.  Then you watch them and they go out, get more than a half dozen penalties, turn the ball over at inopportune times, fail to stop the run when they need to the most and you just wonder if this team is snake bit.

At this point I don’t think that bad luck is really the problem.  I think the bigger issue is, between roster mismanagement and players that don’t fit this coaching staff’s requirements, this team and this coaching staff are just on different pages.  You see it week to week, guys don’t know their assignments, they make boneheaded penalties or they just look lost when they are trying to cover a receiver.  That in a nutshell is coaching.  Whether it is the head coach, the coordinators or the position coaches, this team is not well prepared.  As Bill Parcels liked to say, “your record is who you are” and this team just isn’t very good.

We all can sit back and play Sunday Morning Quarterback and pretend we would know what to do to fix it. Play the backup more, throw when they run, pass when they throw, go for it on fourth down, don’t go for it on fourth down.  Everyone has an opinion on what happens on Saturdays, but the reality is, what is happening the other six days of the week have not helped this team since Coach Mike Riley has arrived in Lincoln.

I will be the first to admit, when Coach Riley was hired, I knew that he would be the opposite of Bo Pelini. Coach Riley on the surface is really a great guy.  I won’t claim to know him, my interactions with him have been next to nothing, but he couldn’t have been nicer when I have been around him.  He came in and sold the program to recruits, probably better than any coach since Bill Callahan and maybe better in a lot of respects because he respects Nebraska and he understands the culture for the most part.  The problem is, he maybe didn’t understand what he was getting himself into.

The culture under Pelini was surely and defensive at best and arrogant and vindictive at its worst.  There were players that were retained that had no business playing the first year Riley was here, that Riley had no idea that they would try to sabotage practices and possibly games just to stick it to whoever, (Pelini haters) they could just to prove that they could.  Then when a great number of those players left the following season, a large senior class brought everyone together and made a run at a conference title game appearance, but injuries and a shallow roster limited what they could accomplish.

Riley probably didn’t realize that he would have so little depth and I’m sure he thinks the best about people and probably didn’t think players would openly give up during games, just to prove a point about a lousy person (Pelini) that should have been fired a year earlier.

Riley also should have left more of his staff behind in Oregon when he left.  He was given resources to hire better assistant coaches and has replaced at least half his staff since he got here.  That tells me he shouldn’t have brought some of them to Lincoln.  

I think Riley would do things quite a bit different if he had a do over, but most of us would if given the opportunity.  Unfortunately for Riley, he probably won’t get that chance for multiple reasons.  Nebraska will be in the throws of rebuild once more.  That is a hard pill to swallow and will make us all a lot older and a lot more weary when it’s all said and done.  

ON WITH THE REWIND…

Our previous score prediction for the Northwestern game was Nebraska 21 – Northwestern 28.  The actual score was Northwestern 31 Nebraska 24.  I give up, Nebraska had the ball with a 24-17 lead in the fourth quarter, with a chance to go up 27-17 and putting themselves into great position for a bowl.  One more interception later and Nebraska ended up where we guessed they would, losing in overtime.  It just seems par for the course with this group of Huskers.  

Quick Notes:

Tanner Lee, CFL QB….  I know, they are college kids and they are allowed to have a bad game or two, but Tanner Lee goes from looking like a kid that can play on Sundays, to throwing three picks against Northwestern and looking like he will be lucky to finish the game.  Lee clearly had some rust at the beginning of the season, but he has enough experience now. Two of those interceptions were just awful throws.  Throw in a missed open shot down field, and it was a top 4 bad game as a Husker for Lee.

What are the offensive coaches thinking??? Nebraska has the ball, on the Northwestern side of the field, with a touchdown lead and chance to salt the game away.  They could have ran the ball, taken time off the clock and at worst, missed a long field goal.  Instead, they drop back and Lee gets hit and throws a crushing pick.  What makes their playcalling even worse, was the overtime call to run a screen pass.  That play should have been trashed after Tre Bryant went out for the season.  To pull that play out when you absolutely need yards just shows this playcalling by the staff is questionable at best and downright insane at it’s worst.

RIP Nebraska’s Running Game… I don’t want a return to the option.  Heck, I don’t even care if we don’t run the ball, if we are throwing it like an NFL team.  That being said, if you can’t run the ball at least a minimal amount when you want to, you aren’t going to win many games in college football.  Nebraska’s running game has a myriad of issues, but the identity of Nebraska being a hard nosed run the ball team has died.  Can it ever come back?

Can they get to a Bowl game? It is beginning to look very doubtful.  Nebraska could have gotten to six wins with a win over Northwestern and Minnesota, but it was going to be a longshot at best to beat Penn State on the road and now Iowa looks like they could blow the doors off Nebraska.  It may be a blessing in disguise if there is a coaching change, but it’s never good to miss a bowl, especially at Nebraska.

Score Prediction: Nebraska 24 – Minnesota 21

I don’t think Nebraska is very good, but I think Minnesota is worse.  They have next to nothing in the way of playmakers and are probably just a step up from Rutgers.  Nebraska is due for a little luck on the turnover equation.  I’m thinking the Huskers get three up north and steal one more win for Coach Riley before he leaves Lincoln. Wear Red, Cheer Loud, GBR!!

Last Second Comebacks and a Small Sliver of Hope

Just when you think the Huskers are done and Mike Riley’s job is probably finished, this group of Huskers comes back on a miserable night for the offense in the red zone and stuns Purdue in Indiana.  If you didn’t watch the game (and who could blame you for 3 quarters) Nebraska held serve when they needed too, probably for the first time this season and gave their offense a chance to win it at the end.

It wasn’t a pretty victory.  Quite honestly, beating Purdue isn’t really a monument victory either, but for this team and this coaching staff, all hanging by a thread, it keeps the Huskers in the Bowl hunt and maybe even propels them to finish the season on a high note.

As we say all of that, the reality is, it is a long uphill slide for Mike Riley and this staff.  Injuries are really starting to mount up.  Michael Decker, the best center on the team is out for the year and right guard Tanner Farmer will miss the rest of the regular season.  Tre Byrant has already been ruled out for he year, but Mikale Wilbon has been banged up and now Jaylin Bradley has a bum wheel after his breakout game.  Defensively, Luke Gifford continues to be hampered by a hip problem, and the safety position doesn't have a player in the group that hasn’t missed some time and will continue to miss time.

College football is a long slog, almost a war of attrition.  At this point, Nebraska is losing that war.  This is where one the of the biggest complaints of the Mike Riley era is starting to come to fruition.  For a staff that is so organized in recruiting, they failed to address some of the issues with the upper class and have undersigned the first three years they have been here.  It is killing depth and may cost Riley his job.  He has failed to recruit Junior College kids to fill holes and the transfer market, outside of Tanner Lee has yielded no fruit to speak of.  I understand Riley not wanting to add more dead weigh to the roster, but when you go after big time high school kids and finish runner up on a lot of them, you have to supplement that somehow.  You have some of the best JUCO teams in the country in your back yard.  If you fail to take advantage of that at Nebraska, that is your own problem.

Nebraska’s roster has holes and young players sprinkled throughout.  The good thing is, some of the young guys on the roster are delivering.  Coming back to beat Purdue on the road shouldn’t be sold short.  Purdue has improved immensely under new coach Jeff Brohm this season.  The problem is, the Nebraska bar had already been set way above Purdue, and Nebraska is playing at their level.  For Mike Riley, these last four games have to be above that if he wants to stay in Lincoln.

ON WITH THE REWIND…

Our previous score prediction for the Purdue game was Nebraska 24 – Purdue 18.  The actual score was Nebraska 25 Purdue 24.  You have to give Nebraska some credit, they hung in the game as long as they needed and Tanner Lee drove them to a last minute win.  For those who have criticized Tanner Lee as the starter, you wouldn’t have wanted anyone else throwing the ball that last drive.  

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Quick Notes:

Tanner Lee, NFL QB….  It sure didn’t look like it to begin the season, but the reality is if Mike Riley is let go at the end of the year, Tanner Lee is probably headed to the NFL draft.  Lee graduates in December, and let’s face it, without him in Big Ten play, Nebraska is probably 1-4 and in way worse shape than they are.  He has improved to the point that he is the best throwing quarterback in Nebraska history.  I know I beat the drum that he is the best I’ve ever seen in Lincoln to begin the year.  It’s too bad it took 3 or 4 games to shake off the rust, this season may have gone a bit differently.

The team answered the heart question…. There was a moment in the 3rd quarter against Purdue that the defense started to bull up a little bit.  They made a couple plays in the Boilermaker backfield and you could see their confidence rise.  I think this had an effect on the entire team.  If you can find that little bit of spark in the darkest hours, I think they can continue to play hard.  For this state and coaching staff let’s hope that continues.

Jaylin Bradley shows potential… Nebraska’s run game was down right awful last Saturday, but the freshman from Bellevue showed great potential, outrunning Purdue to the outside.  It’s clear that his speed is Big Ten worthy.  He has a banged up ankle and probably won’t play this weekend.  That is too bad, he might have been the horse that gave Nebraska’s run game a little pop in the last half of the season.  For whatever reason, the offensive line is no longer opening up anything in the run game.  Bradley showed that maybe he could make something out of nothing.

The final ride begins… I will just say that if Mike Riley wants to coach at Nebraska next season, he better hit the gas this weekend and keep it on through Minnesota.  If making a bowl game or finishing with 7 wins is the bar for staying, you can’t lose to Northwestern or Minnesota.  You win those two games and beat Iowa, you have a chance to stay.  Losing to Purdue would have sealed this staffs fate in my opinion.  They made it over that bar, but the higher bars start this week.

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Score Prediction: Nebraska 21 – Northwester 28

Since we have started doing this blog last season, I have rarely had to pick against Nebraska, outside of Ohio State and probably Wisconsin, I have felt like Nebraska could win the majority of their games.  That hasn’t really panned out and therein lies the problem.  Mike Riley has lost too many games he should have won in three years.  Barely pulling out the game against Purdue almost put me on edge.  With Northwestern’s ability to stifle the run and having a dual threat quarterback and superb running back, I just don’t like Nebraska’s odds against the Wildcats.  Nebraska needs physical play on both lines and I don’t now that they can do it, especially on offense.  I want Nebraska to win so bad, I’m afraid we all will be disappointed.  That doesn’t mean I won’t be at the game cheering loud, trying to turn the tide! GBR!!

Moos is in, Football Starts Again!

A lot has happened since we last posted a blog about Nebraska football.  First, Nebraska was smoked by Ohio State at home in the worst loss in Memorial Stadium in over 70 years….yeah, that long ago.  Second, new athletic director Bill Moos was hired to start a new era in Husker athletics.  So what does that mean short term and what can fans expect long term?

Make no mistakes about it, the Nebraska football team was on life support two weeks ago.  Ohio State has beaten Nebraska so badly and so soundly the last two seasons, it’s reasonable for Husker fans to throw in the towel on this coaching staff.  Nebraska has been blown out by the two best teams they have faced, crushed in the first half against Oregon and lost to a middle level Northern Illinois in Lincoln.  That’s enough to test the most loyal fans.  Head coach Mike Riley knows that this season has been unacceptable for the standards in Lincoln.  If he doesn’t think it’s unacceptable, then I would say all hope was lost.  He seems like a reasonable man, I think he wants to be in Lincoln.

Lucky for Husker fans and Coach Riley, this season will play out in two parts.  It starts Saturday night in Purdue.  Should the Huskers win that game against a much improved Purdue team on the road, that should give them a bit of a push to finish these final five games on a high note.  It’s doubtful that Nebraska can beat Penn State on the road, but Purdue, Northwestern, Minnesota and Iowa should all be games that Nebraska has a chance to win.  I’m not saying the play so far would get that done, but any improvement at all could propel the Huskers on a run through the softer part of the schedule.  A record of 7-5 would do wonders to save a recruiting class that has stalled.  If they go 6-6 it starts to get a little hairy, and anything with a losing record would almost certainly bring change in Lincoln next fall.

Enter Bill Moos.  The newly hired athletic director from Washington State is now tasked with the next step for Nebraska football.  From everything in his tenure as an athletic director from his start in Montana, his building of Oregon football, to his most recent hire in Mike Leach, Moos seems to have the touch for what to do with a football program.  All of the amenities that Nebraska needs is already in place.  Bill Moos will decide if Mike Riley is the right man to run the program.  Riley has five games to prove if he should.

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ON WITH THE REWIND…

Our previous score prediction for the Ohio State game was Nebraska 21 – Ohio State 48.  The actual score was Ohio State 56 and Nebraska 14.  This game was awful from the start.  Nebraska not forcing a single punt by Ohio State was ridiculous.  Not much to say after a disaster like this.

Quick Notes:

Can we find our defense?  Bob Diaco has been under a hot lamp the last two games, with the defense completely incompetent the last six quarters.  They couldn’t stop Wisconsin from running it right at us and they couldn’t stop Ohio State from doing anything.  We know that Nebraska may not be talented enough to play beat those teams, but it has been inexcusable the way that they didn’t compete the last six quarters.  Lets see if a subpar Purdue offense shakes the doldrums off the Blackshirts.

Is there heart in the program…. This might be the hardest question to answer.  I know the kids want to win, by times it seems that they are playing hard, but it has been inconsistent and it begs the question, is it just coaching or has this team’s ceiling so low that until we get an influx of talent, this is the best that we have?  I have to think it’s a little of both, but the coaching staff has a responsibility to put the best team out there, and the last two games hasn’t looked very promising.

Offensive Line pass blocking… Amazingly enough, Nebraska’s offensive line has started to pass protect and provide Tanner Lee enough time that he has some options.  I’d like to see Nebraska push more up tempo on offense and run shorter routes.  If the line can keep Lee clean, let him use that quick passing with high accuracy to keep the defense on it’s heals.

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Score Prediction: Nebraska 24 – Purdue 18

I feel like I’m going out on a limb saying that Nebraska can win against Purdue.  That tells you how this season has panned out.  Nebraska has a lot of tools on offense.  They need to pound Ozigbo, Wilbon and Bradley and look to challenge Purdue in space.  Purdue will throw the kitchen sink at the defense, but they have a tendency to turn the ball over.  We will find out if the Huskers heart is still beating this week.  I think it is. GBR!!

Buckeyes, Coaches and Playcalling

Man, woman and child, did that Wisconsin game suck. This Ohio State game may not be much better. Nebraska, which has sometimes played well this year, played really poorly last week against the best team in their division. The crazy thing is, they were tied at 17-17 after a pick six and it really seemed like momentum was on their side.

Three long drives later, basically after the Badgers ran the ball down Nebraska’s throat, the game was a blow out.  Nebraska couldn’t or wouldn’t get their run fits correct and the Badger line basically pushed the Huskers into the end zone, one run at a time.

I have to admit, I thought the Huskers had a chance last week.  I even predicted an upset.  Unfortunately, my thought process with this team is clouded by practice performances.  I am absolutely flabbergasted that Nebraska can run the ball and gain yards all over Wisconsin and yet they were never really in the drivers seat.

So why is that?  Nebraska is a young team overall, but there are plenty of juniors and redshirt sophomores on the team.  Tanner Lee has played 2.5 seasons already.  He should be a qualified leader by now, if he ever will be.  I think that is part of the problem. I saw in practice is that Tanner Lee may not be a great leader, but he throws a really pretty football.  Problem is, throwing the football isn’t leadership. Not so much that he can’t play quarterback, I think he is going to be a good to great one down the road, it just isn’t going to be this season.

Another thing to look at is coaching.  Nebraska is consistently penalized and turns the ball over, at an alarming rate.  Good teams, let alone great teams, don’t do those types of things.  I mean, what are we up to in returned pick sixes this year, 6?  I don’t know how any team in the nation can deal with that, let alone a team trying to compete in a top conference.  What type of play calling are we doing that we put guys in positions to fail?  If you think it isn’t in the playcalling, then who is coaching the kids during the week to make sure that if you don’t have your head around, you at least have your hands ready, or maybe the quarterback doesn’t bounce the ball off the running backs helmet?  Game day coaching is one thing, but what goes on during the week?

The next thing is on defense.  Nebraska’s safeties and cornerbacks may be as bad as any in the country when it comes to being physical.  Wisconsin’s safeties and corners made every route runner and Ozigbo know that they were going to be dealt with physically when they made it to their level.  That wears on a team.  Nebraska simply didn’t have the toughness to compete in the fourth quarter against Wisconsin and it showed.  Nebraska’s defensive backs were soundly beaten and got obliterated on long runs.

This week doesn’t get any easier, in fact it may be a lot tougher.  The Huskers will need to be able to run the ball effectively and make sure that when they do throw that Lee has plenty of time.  Ohio State has great athletes at every position on defense.  Nebraska will need to be assignment sound and physically ready to play four quarters to have a chance.  We haven’t seen that from Nebraska yet this season.  I hope we see it this week.

ON WITH THE REWIND…

Our previous score prediction for the Wisconsin game was Nebraska 31 – Wisconsin 27.  The actual score was Wisconsin 38 and Nebraska 17.  Nebraska had multiple opportunities to cash in on the Badgers in the first half and couldn’t do it.  I still think if Nebraska doesn’t throw the pick six, gets out to a 7 or 10 point lead, the game switches a lot.  Wisconsin isn’t able to just run the clock and beat Nebraska into submission and the Huskers have a shot to make quarterback Alex Hornibrook work harder.  Unfortunately, none of that happened and the Huskers were steamrolled in the fourth quarter.

Quick Notes:

Where do the Huskers go from here?  The Huskers reach the halfway point at 3-3 and are probably going to be 3-4 going into their bye week.  The Huskers have a chance to get to a bowl game, but they likely won’t be favored in any matchups the rest of the season.  I think Nebraska can get to 6 wins, but it’s going to be awfully difficult.  If Nebraska can play Ohio State well, maybe it will give them confidence to keep improving the rest of the season.

Nebraska for all their faults continues to play hard…. Even as Wisconsin beat the stuffing out of Nebraska in the fourth quarter, the Huskers continued to play hard.  The team, for all it’s problems is still giving effort.  As long as that is still there, Nebraska and this coaching staff will still have a chance to keep this team together.  If you see them give up against Ohio State, it will go a long way on any decisions that will be made after the season.

Devine Ozigbo keeps churning… The Huskers have continued to run the ball well with Ozigbo.  I thought they should have given Jaylin Bradley a few plays last week to keep Ozigbo fresh.  I thought he was gassed in the fourth quarter.  Hopefully Mikale Wilbon plays this week so that Nebraska can at least have a fighting chance to run the football and shorten the game against Ohio State.

Score Prediction: Nebraska 21 – Ohio State 48

It’s getting a lot harder to think Nebraska can keep it together this season.  It’s probably wishful thinking that the Huskers can get to 21.  Nebraska needs to run the ball, run it well and try to shorten the game.  It’s clear that the Huskers simply don’t have the horses to compete against the best Big Ten teams.  I would love to be wrong.  As always GBR!!

Bring on The Badgers!

Badgers live in holes in the Ground.  Let’s keep it that way.

Here we go, finally.  Nebraska has a chance to turn their entire season around with a simple win, in a game that most had circled on their calendar at the start of the season.  Contrary to what most people (including me) thought was the end of the world after losing to Northern Illinois, Nebraska controls their own destiny.  Mike Riley controls his own career and maybe, just maybe, Nebraska can control the future road this program takes.

It’s no secret that the first two games of the conference season were supposed to be blowouts.  That’s what teams that have a chance to win their division need to do, blow out the bottom teams in the conference.  After the Northern Illinois debacle, we weren’t sure how this team would react.  What happened was, the team changed players, adjusted their approach and finally figured out some things that worked consistently.  Now is the time to put that to work against the best team in their division.

If Nebraska wasn’t playing at home, I don’t think this game would be open for interpretation.  Last year was the first time that Nebraska played Wisconsin tough at home, taking them to overtime.  Remove that game, since joining the Big Ten, Nebraska simply has gotten their doors blown out by Wisconsin away from Memorial Stadium.  I doubt that would change this year, but luckily we don’t have to find out.  That’s why Nebraska might win this game, regardless of the 12.5 point underdog that Las Vegas thinks the Huskers are.

So why can Nebraska win this game?  The first thing to look at for Nebraska the last two games is the trenches.  Since Michael Decker and Brenden Jaimes have been inserted into the lineup, Nebraska has protected Tanner Lee better.  Not only that, but it seems like the team has been better at communicating up front.  There are still the occasional lapses when blitzers have not been picked up, but man to man, the team seems to be more physical with these two in the lineup.  Not only that, but running back Devine Ozigbo has brought a physical style to the team that seems to be rubbing off onto Mikale Wilbon as well.  The entire team feeds off from their aggressive running.  For whatever reason Ozigbo didn’t play the first two games, he has taken the position as his own since and will start this week.  If Nebraska can continue the improvement up front on offense, this game may have some life to it for Nebraska.

On the defensive side, Bob Diaco continues to figure out the chess pieces that he has.  Nebraska has shifted more from the three man front to a four man front on passing downs and it has paid off handsomely.  Nebraska is starting to get pressure on the quarterback.  You might say, well its Illinois and Rutgers, but Northwestern proved last week that you can get to Badger quarterback Alex Hornibrook.  He wasn’t the same quarterback in the second half when Northwestern started hitting him.  If Carlos and Khalil Davis along with Ben Stille and Freedom Akinmoladun can continue to apply pressure while clogging up the middle, Nebraska should be able to slow the Wisconsin running game down enough to stay in the ball game.

I say all this, in a vacuum that Nebraska will continue to improve on offense and defense.  That’s not a given, we know that.  The thing that works in Nebraska’s favor though, is the game is being played at night in Memorial Stadium.  The games that Nebraska has lost in the past at home have been early games that the team has started out flat and never really recovered, at least in the Riley era.  If you recall though, when Nebraska played Michigan State at home in Riley’s first season, the Spartans were the better team, but the crowd energized the Huskers and it paid off.  Nebraska came out and played well right away.  They need to hit that same stride early to beat Wisconsin.

I’m not as sold on Wisconsin being a top 5 or top ten team.  I think they are very good, they don’t make many mistakes and they are very physical with you up front.  Where I see the kinks in the armor, is that Wisconsin hasn’t faced anybody with a lot of talent.  Their wins have come against teams that are much less athletic than the Badgers are.  Nebraska, for all their problems, has playmakers on the team.  

I think the thing that has me most excited is the Husker Blackshirts that are slowly becoming a physical unit up front.  On the back end, they are by no means a finished product, but Josh Kalu and Chris Jones will both play this week.  That has to build the confidence of the defense.  Antonio Reed has played great in Kalu’s absence, but Chris Jones is a huge upgrade at cornerback if he is healthy.  Even if he only plays half the snaps, it’s a big lift to the defense.  Don’t underestimate the amount of will a team has by getting their best player back.  Having two of them might make a huge difference.

Nebraska needs to come out and punch Wisconsin in the mouth.  They have been beating on the door the last two years.  It’s time for them to knock it down.

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ON WITH THE REWIND…

Our previous score prediction for the Illinois game was Nebraska 31 – Illinois 21.  The actual score was 28-6 and the Huskers left little doubt that they were the better team.  I thought Illinois would have more success with their offense.  They had really good receivers, but their quarterback simply wasn’t a good passer.  Nebraska attacked their defense methodically and put together long drives.  If the Huskers continue to do that, using both the air and ground evenly, they will be a tough team to beat the second half of the season.

Quick Notes:

The Season really starts on Saturday…  Whatever has happened, good and bad, Nebraska can really change the narrative on their season this weekend.  Beat Wisconsin and you are 3-0 in conference and basically have a 2 game lead on Wisconsin to win the west.   Nebraska still has a hard schedule with Ohio State at home and Penn State on the road, but if you beat Wisconsin, you are saying to the rest of the Western Conference, that you are playing for keeps.  I said it above, but Riley’s job may depend on it.

Mike Riley mentored Wisconsin’s Head Coach…. I don’t think it is coincidence that since Mike Riley has been the head coach at Nebraska that the Huskers have played the Badgers well.   Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst started out on Mike Riley’s staff back in 1991 and has spent a lot of his career with Riley.  Wisconsin has ran Paul Chryst’s offense basically since Riley got here (Chryst was the offensive coordinator for the Badgers before leaving and coming back to be head coach) and the offense that they run is similar to Riley’s.  That is an advantage to Riley because he knows how to counter a lot of it.  I am anxious to see if it pays off on Riley’s third try to beat Wisconsin.  I think it will.

Danny Langsdorf hitting his stride… Nebraska seems to be figuring things out on offense.  They understand that they don’t have the burners to stand in the pocket all day or wait for a screen to set up.  They are executing the quicker passing game and I think it is paying off for Tanner Lee.  Lee needs to be quicker with his reads, but Langsdorf has implemented some different running plays to take pressure off of Lee and in turn, spent more time in max protect when Nebraska has needed more time in the passing game.  I expect this to continue.  Lee will continue to get better.  This week he needs to be at his best.

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Score Prediction: Nebraska 31 – Wisconsin 27

Call me a homer, call me a dreamer, but I have a feeling Nebraska wins this game.  There are so many things that are snowballing in Nebraska’s favor, from getting healthy, figuring out the running game, the defense getting better and a night game at Memorial Stadium, this is a lot for an opposing team to overcome.  My biggest fear, is that Nebraska gets punched in the face early, like they did at Oregon and they don’t have the mental fortitude to figure it out and battle back.  This game is an awesome opportunity for Nebraska Football in so many ways.  I think the good guys sneak one out this weekend.  Yeah, I’m a homer!   GBR!!!