Hooray! Husker Football is Back!

Well, hello their Husker Fans!

Anyone else tired of Covid?  I can’t tell you how many days since last spring that I have wanted to just sit back, drink a beer and watch Nebraska football.  My last interaction with Nebraska sports was a basketball game at Pinnacle Bank Arena.  I planned on going to the Spring Game, but of course we never made it that far.  At one point I was sure that the season wasn’t going to happen until later in fall.  When the Big Ten decided to move the season to the spring, I was certain we wouldn’t have any football.  The logistics weren’t on our side.  Two seasons in one calendar year?  Yeah, that was not happening in college football.

Then Scott Frost rode his white horse into the media and basically said, Nebraska will play, anyone, anywhere.  The national media balked at him and said we shouldn’t have a voice.  I’m all for believing in science, but Nebraska was doing everything that the University Medical Center was asking. The Huskers were ready then and are prepared now to play this season.  The results verified what Frost was saying, Nebraska football, along with Big Ten football, is ready to go.

So, what’s that mean for this season?  Well a couple of things have changed what looked like a difficult schedule, into a gauntlet as tough as any in the country.  Nebraska opens on the road with their hardest game, playing at Ohio State.  

Don’t get me wrong, any other year this would be crushing, but I honestly think this will be good for the Huskers.  They will get an Ohio State team replacing many starters on defense and should surprise the Buckeyes with an improved offensive line.  They get the hardest team out of the way early, and if they can survive this game and show positives, it should fire up the Huskers for a strong run.

This shortened season, Nebraska will need to lean on a veteran group up front.  Bringing back the starters, Brenden Jaimes, Boe Wilson, Cam Jurgens and Matt Farkniok, should be the best offensive line Nebraska will have since the early 2012 version.  Coach Greg Austin has done a good job on the recruiting trail, pulling in large humans to compete in the Big Ten.  When Coach Frost came to Nebraska, the biggest disadvantage that he had was the limited size in the trenches on both sides of the football.  

Adrian Martinez was named the starting quarterback earlier this week.  It was a battle this fall for the spot, not unlike his first year here as a freshman.  Luke McCaffrey came into fall camp ready to go and arguably had the best camp of all the quarterbacks.  You have to think that this has pushed Adrian to a point that he is going to compete at a high level.  If everything being equal, Martinez has been through the battles and that should allow him to hit the ground running.  He also should be able to rely on Dedrick Mills as a workhorse back.  Martinez doesn’t have to be the entire team.  His best bet is to be a solid game manager and then burn teams that don’t respect his arm.  He has the ability to throw the deep ball well.  His biggest drawback is his propensity for turnovers.  Unlike the last two years, if Martinez can’t recapture the magic from his freshman season, it looks like the Huskers have options to be successful.

The only drawback is that an inexperienced wide receiver core is going to need to step up.  Wan’dale Robinson was worthy of the hype as a freshman, but with the loss of J.D. Spielman, Nebraska needs to find a handful of kids that are ready to play beyond their experience.  Nebraska has recruited the position well this last year, so the talent is there.  I expect some growing pains.  Luckily, a strong tight end group, led by Jack Stoll and newcomer Travis Vokolek should help by forcing teams to single cover on the outside.  If Martinez can control the ball, the team has weapons.  Not Ohio State type weapons but they are building.

On defense, the front line is the biggest question mark.  After losing the Davis twins and Darrion Daniels to the NFL, kids that haven’t played a ton are going to be asked to go.  Led by Ben Stille, Ty Robinson, Damion Daniels and Deontre Thomas, they may not be all conference, but they should be serviceable.  The issue will be if they can get to the quarterback.  I don’t look for them to touch Justin Fields much this weekend, but when they move into the next part of their schedule, they need to be able to get in the backfield to make this defense work.

The next two levels return a lot of guys that have played a lot of snaps.  Guys like Collin Miller, Dicaprio Bootle and Cam Taylor-Britt should provide enough help to allow the front line to grow up.  They won’t be the best in the conference, but if they can create turnovers and limit big plays, they should be competitive enough to lead to a winning season.  Hopefully the return Deontai Williams will boost the entire back end of the Blackshirts.

All in all, with everything that has happened this last nine months, this team is ready to go play.  As a fan, that’s really all we can ask.  As a group, Husker Nation needs something to take our mind off everything else going on, I can’t wait to see us play, no matter what happens this Saturday.  Cheers!!!

ON WITH THE REWIND…

Last season’s final game prediction was Nebraska 28, Iowa 27.  The actual score was Iowa 27, Nebraska 24, with the Huskers losing on a last-minute field goal.  Like most losses for Nebraska last season, Nebraska had a chance to win the game, but made just enough errors on special teams to cost them.  Throw in a scoring drought in the second half it was a pattern that we watched all of last season just recurring.  I expect a completely different team this season.  

Quick Notes:

Quarterback Controversy…Adrian Martinez might be the starter, but Luke McCaffrey is going to play.  I don’t know how much, but you can’t leave an athlete like him on the bench.  He may only have special packages, maybe he gets a series or two to himself, but he changes the game with his legs.  As I said before, he had about as good a fall camp as you could hope for.  I think Martinez will be the starter, but if there are hiccups, I expect a huge does of McCaffrey somewhere down the road.  It’s a good problem to have.  On the flip side, Martinez played most of last season with multiple injuries.  If he is healthy, I expect Adrian to look a lot different this fall.  The fact that he held off McCaffrey makes me believe he will be a lot more like the first-year player we saw.

Special Teams…A new kicker from LSU (Connor Culp) and a new special teams coach should improve this group immensely.  Last year was a mess all over special teams.  If Scott Frost didn’t get this part taken care of during the offseason, the winds of change will start to blow in Memorial Stadium.  Scott Frost is a lot smarter than me about football, I think he will right the ship.  With no worries about redshirts this year, I expect large amounts of great athletes to be on the field at all times.  That alone should be worth a 3-point swing per game this season.

Expectations…Nebraska is flying under the radar this year.  I mean, WAY under the radar.  Most people think they will be lucky to win 4 game this year based on the schedule that they have.  I’m not sure that they will win more than 4 before the extra Big Ten game, but I think Nebraska will be one of, if not the most improved team in the western division.  I don’t know that it means anything more than not finishing in the bottom half of the division, but this team will be better than last years.  Even with this schedule, there should be an upset early by this team.

Scott Frost…It is no secret that the first two seasons of Scott Frost’s tenure at Nebraska have been a pretty large letdown.  From the first cancelled game against Akron to the last second field goal to keep Nebraska from bowling last year, I’m sure Frost wishes he would have done things different in many instances.  I believe in what Coach Frost is doing.  If you follow recruiting at all, Nebraska’s recruiting from 2015-2017 was about as awful as it has been in any of our lifetimes.  The cupboard was bare.  While it isn’t stacked right now, you are starting to see difference makers.  Guys like Wan’dale Robinson, Luke McCaffrey, Cam Jurgens and Ty Robinson are the kind of kids that will turn certain games around on their own.  If you can throw in half a dozen other guys that play up to their potential this year, Nebraska will start to put those close games in the win column, rather than what we have seen the last two years.

Season Prediction…Nebraska could go anywhere from 5-3 to 2-6 in my opinion in their eight-game regular season.  I lean toward 4-4, but probably closer to 3-5 than 5-3.  There are still so many holes to fill, especially at outside linebacker and on the defensive line.  This team should be much improved at special teams and should score a lot of points.  Unless they can stop the run though, teams will look to pound them up front and shorten the game.  Nebraska hasn’t shown they can do that for probably 6 years.  I don’t think it will happen this year, but I hope I’m wrong.

Score Prediction:  Ohio State 54 Nebraska 28

I think Ohio State will let off the gas in the fourth quarter of this game and it will look closer in the end that it probably is.  Ohio State is playing to get in the playoffs.  They can’t allow a slip up out of the gate, even if Nebraska is not the same Nebraska they drilled in Lincoln in 2019.  Ohio State isn’t the same team they were last year either, but they still do have Justin Fields.  I think Nebraska’s offensive line will do some damage in this game, but I expect the skill positions just aren’t full enough of difference makers to compete at this level.  Either way, it’s great to have Husker Football Back!!! GBR!!