FOX News

Thursday, November 30, 2006

Your choice-You pick!

As per Brad Hartzog's suggestion, we will try a new feature on this blog!

WHO IS THE GREATEST QUARTERBACK IN NEBRASKA HISTORY?
Nebraska has had a lot of great quarterbacks that could run, pass, and be great field generals. Who is your pick as Nebraska's best QB and why did you pick them? Who are your second and third picks?

Johnny Rodger's new book.

Deborah Trivitt left this info on the blog. This book for make a great Christmas present!!!!

"Johnny will be in Scottsbluff Saturday at Copperfield's Book Store from 1-3 p.m. signing copies of his book, An Era of Greatness: Coach Bob Devaney's Final Four Seasons in University of Nebraska Football.

Sunday, he'll be in Sidney at the Book Corner from 1-3.

If you don't have the book, or need a gift for a Husker fan, visit his website: www.jr20.com."

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Nebraska will need to be successful passing!

For the Cornhuskers to win Saturday night in the Big XII Championship game, we will need to come out throwing. Penalties will need to be minimal. After we open the game up passing and have some success, we then can run and mix it up. Oklahoma will have some success running the ball and one would think that will be their game plan. The Huskers will need to execute and execute. It should be a great game. With 60,000 fans attending from NU, it will be almost like a home game. Great advantage for the Huskers.

Nebraska plays North Texas tonight in what is called to be a great game. North Texas has beaten Tulsa this year and Doc Sadler says this will be our toughest opponent so far. Wasn't Creighton out toughest?

Adrian Peterson will not play Saturday for OU.

Will Johnny Rodgers be back returning punts Saturday. We need to break a big one!!

Nebraska women are rated 27th. They beat Texas-Pan America by 77-37 last night.

Frank Solich becomes the first coach in NCAA history to take teams to a league's championship game in two different conferences. He has been named the 2006 MAC coach of the year.

Nebraska in an upset over OU, 27-24.

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Jake Gdowski and Noah Keller make Super-State first team!

Grand Island' s Jake Gdowski and Kearney's Noah Keller made the Lincoln Journal Star's Super-State first team!! Both have Division I potential and will contribute to the college they end up choosing.

Gdowski is a three year starter and was double teamed every down on defense. He ended the season with 37 solo tackles, 26 assists, five tackles for losses, and three fumble recoveries in 2006.

Keller had 93 solo tackles, 118 assisted tackles, and seven sacks to lead the Class A champion team, Kearney.

Matt Donahue of Fremont made the first team Super-State team as a defensive back. He had five interceptions, 42 receptions, 905 yards, and seven touchdowns this year. He's a game breaker.

Nebraska recruit's Niles Paul (Omaha North), Juniors Baker Steinkuhler (Lincoln Southwest), and Collins Okafor (Omaha Westside)also made the team. Harland Gunn of Omaha Central still plans to attend Miami Fla was a Super-Stater as an offensive lineman. Josh Cherry (Kansas State) from McCook was the Super-Stater kicker. Philip Bates (Iowa State), another Omaha North athlete, was a Super-Stater. He has opened his college choices back up after Dan McCarney was let go.

Eric Love and Jared Crick (Nebraska) were second team Super-Staters. Lance Thorell of Loomis was all-state in D-1 as defensive back.

Nebraska will play Oklahoma in the Big XII Championship game. This will match the two hottest teams from the North and South divisions. Look for Oklahoma to be seven point favorites. Nebraska can win this if they don't have a major lapse during the game, penalties are minimized, and keep their turnovers down to one or less. Oklahoma has two losses to Texas and Oregon and the loss to Oregon was wrong due to the officials making a wong call. Oklahoma is a top eight team and will be very competitive. They have seven straight wins.

Look for Nebraska to move into the top twenty. They need a win next Saturday to stay there as four losses will hurt their rankings.

Who will play Ohio State in the National Championship game. Looks now like USC or Michigan. Michigan had their chance however when a rematch for the championship occurs the team that lost the first match has won eight out of twelve times. USC has been there before. This writer would like to see the winner of the SEC take on Ohio State. The SEC is the toughest conference in college football and it would be the most competitive game.

Nebraska BB plays two home games this week against Arkansas-Pine Bluffs and North Texas at home. They should look to go 5-0 in a great start. The schedule in December will expose our weaknesses and this team will improve but don't get expectations too high for now.

Frank Solich and the Ohio Bobcats will play in the Mid-America Conference title game on Thursday against Central Michigan. The Bobcats are 9-3 and have their best record since 1968. The coach from Central Michigan, Brian Kelly, will be talking to Iowa State about their opening and may be a leading candidate.

Lindsay Anderson, a former Holdrege Duster, had 17 points for Doane vs. Montana Tech Saturday. Doane is nationally ranked.

Danny Woodhead of Chadron State broke the NCAA single season all time rushing record with 2740 yards. No other college football player has had over 2700 yards in a season. Woodhead will play again next week as Chadron beat West Texas A & M 43-17. Woodhead also has 34 TD's this season. Chadron will play Northwest Missouri State in the next round of the playoffs a Maryville, Mo.

Hard to believe Nate Funk had only four points against George Mason and yet Creighton won 58-56.

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Nebraska may be favored in the Big 12 Championship!!

Oklahoma needs a win today to play in Kansas City next weekend in the Big XII Championship. The trouble is they are playing rival Oklahoma St who has a pretty good team and they are playing at Stillwater. For Oklahoma St., beating Oklahoma is the most important goal of any season. This is a HUGE rivalry and the favorite doesn't win very often. Look for a close game and don't be surprised if the hot Oklahoma team is beaten today.

That would lay the framework for a Texas-Nebraska rematch. Colt McCoy isn't healthy yet and the Texas defense doesn't look as quick and fast as when they played NU earlier. Nebraska would be favored in a rematch due to Texas's late season fall.

Thursday, November 23, 2006

Happy Thanksgiving!

It is a time to be thankful for everything we are blessed with. Many lost their lives so that we can have so many freedoms today. I hope we never take that for granted or those freedoms will eventually disappear.

This will be our first Thanksgiving without dad. He was a very special dad who always taught us to do the right things. We miss his humor and his always loving care for our family. I feel blessed that God gave me a dad that was also my best friend, hunting and fishing partner, and parent. We miss him but the memories will allow us to continue on in life. We know he is in a better place now.


The Colorado football game is this Friday. Why is that the Colorado fans seem to hate Nebraska so much? I would enjoy hearing comments on this subject. Colorado hasn't won many games this year but they have been close so we will need to play a very good game to win. It will be the last home game for a number of seniors including Zac Taylor. They will be missed.

Injured Zach Bowman is going through the steps to see if he should enter the NFL draft. He has to commit by mid-January. If it is determined that he can come back 100% by next summer, I would think he will enter the draft.

The Husker BB team is 3-0. They are shooting lights out in the first three games. The team will need to improve a quite a bit before the Big 12 to compete. After the two home games next week, NU will face Miami Fla, Rutgers, Oregon and possibly Hawaii in December. We will see how they compete against these teams away from Bob Devaney. Docd Sadler has created a lot of excitement with the program and is fun to watch.

NU has seven BB recruits and may recruit one or two more players. It will be interesting as to which players will transfer or lose their scholarships as NU upgrades the program. With this approach the players will be working hard to show the coach they are worthy of keeping their scholarship.

The NFL network will show the Denver-KC game tonight. This network is only available in 33% of the households. It will be interesting as to how many viewers watch the game. This game is huge for both KC and Denver.

Dallas and Detroit always play on Thanksgiving. Dallas should win. Detroit will have a tougher game against Miami. Look for Detroit to upset Miami on Thanksgiving day.

Enjoy your day and have a Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Sports in a Glance

The NU basketball team won in a stunner Saturday night beating Creighton 73-61. What a difference Alex Mariks has made to the team in so many ways. NU shot lights out and Ryan Anderson had 19 points and six rebounds. He has been an excellent rebounder. They keep saying he isn't that athletic but he sure is getting the job done. Mariks had 17 points and nine rebounds. There is a lot better feeling right now that NU can compete in the Big 12. We have moved up from the bottom tier to the middle tier and hopefully will continue to improve. Amazing considering a new system with a new coach and all the injuries that we have had.

Will the football team improve its rankings today. With losses by Maryland, California, and Wake Forest, we should move up to 20th to 21st.

The Miami Hurricanes may not make a bowl this year. WOW! Brandon Gunn, please change your mind and go to NU. Don't be surprised if Barry Alvarez is the next coach. What a challenge he would have. He knows the AD at Miami and he may be the coach who could get the program back on track.

Who should play Ohio State in the National Championship game? I say the most excitement would come from the winner of the Floriday/Arkansas SEC Championship game. Ohio State beat Michigan in a close one so a rematch would be less exciting. Ohio State outyarded Michigan 503 to 397.

Remember Randy Moss?

Today is the final NASCAR race. Watch Jimmie Johnson win today with a top ten finish.

Crete finished the season strong beating Holdrege, McCook, and Elkhorn. They have a history of peaking at the end. Elkhorn had a very strong team.

Kearney wins Class A beating a very strong Omaha West side team. Congrats to Overton who won the D-1 championship!

The NBA needs to get tougher on discipline and improve its image before many people start to watch it again.

The Colts will still be undefeated after Monday night vs the Bears.

In non-sports news, we lost a great one in Milton Friedman this week. He was a top economist that had major influence on this writer. His book "Free to Choose" should be read by all college students and discussed. He was a strong advocate that keeping as much away from the government to manage was much more efficient. He believed in free capitalism and not the socialistic approach we take today where the government needs to take care of us. He believed that free enterprise was the way to go and that people would feel better about themselves if they were not supported by the government but supported themselves. He believed that free countries have to be close to free capitalism or we would move away from freedom itself. How free can we be when many rely on the government to the extend they do?

The high school basketball season is about ready to begin!

NU looks like it will either go to the Cotton Bowl or Holiday Bowl. The problem with the Holiday Bowl is that they might have a rematch with USC but would likely play California. If they go to the Cotton they may play a team like Arkansas.

Friday, November 17, 2006

Texas gets beat by Michigan St

The Texas Longhorns took their first loss of the season losing at Madison Square Garden 63-61 to Michigan State. Texas played with four or five freshman in the game most of the game. Matt Hill had four points, one block and seven rebounds.

Ohio U won the East side of the MAC Conference last night beating Akron. Ohio U goes to 8-3 for the season with a big victory over Illinois at Illinois.

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Doc Sadler and more

Read the Tom Shatel article in the Omaha World-Herald today. One of his best. Now if he could stick to columns like that, instead of praising or critizing coaches after they win or lose, he would consistantly have great columns. Doc Sadler continues to excite this writer for the future of Husker Basketball.

What happened to Tommy Frazier at Doane. It is surprising he didn't put together a better team. He must of been tough.

Five Huskers are still injured ant not playing for the NU BB team. They are Marcus Perry, Kyle Marks, Chris Balham, Jay-R Strowbridge, and Paul Velander.

The Ohio U football team is 5 1/2 point favorites at home vs Akron tonight. What a turnaround!

Bo Pelini is being considered for the Michigan St and Iowa St jobs.

The Husker football team continues to add value to our team with the addition of a kicker and QB.

The new BB recruiting class is rated higher than teams like Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, UNLV, and USC. The fun begins!

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Nebraska Basketball team wins

Alex Mariks return last night showed how valuable he is to the team. They played much better than the previous two exhibition games. NU beat UNO 76-62. NU has to get at least two more big men to contribute or it could be a tough season. This team is very similar to Connie Yori's first women's team. Short on numbers and at some times only had six or seven players that could contribute. Hopefully by year-end the outlook for bodies wille be better when Kyle Marks and Marcus Perry returns.

The press has made too big of deal of Bobby Knight's actions where he "quickly lifted"the chin of one of his players. The player, Michael Prince, and his parents feel he didn't hurt anything. Let's leave it alone.

NU BB signed seven players for next year and the recruits have been rated #20 in the nation. Things will be better.

The NU football team needed a bye before the Oklahoma State game. This writer believes if this would have happened, we would only have two losses. This has been a long season with no breaks for the players and coaches. Last year the NU team played much better after the bye weeks.

NASCAR seems to be a letdown this year. A lot of the races have been "boring" and the point race isn't as exciting as many had hoped. Jimmie Johnson will take it easy this week and finish as high in the race as he needs to win the points race.

The Creighton-NU game of Saturday night should be competitive and much closer than last year. There will be a lot of blue in Bob Devaney that night but the home town crowd will help the Huskers. Marik, Richardson, and Jamel White will all need to perform well. Jim Ledsome has to get to where he can make a major contribution in a reserve role. We need the big men to improve quickly.

Sek Henry has played well.

Matt Hill is making a major contribution to the Texas team. He is in the ESPN magazine this week. Texas plays Michigan St. on Thursday. Kevin Durant, who plans to turn pro after his freshman year, plays like a pro now. Texas plays the Phoenix Suns offense and they aren't afraid to shoot threes.

The Nebraska volleyball team needs to rebound from their loss to Colorado. Follow them and see how they do. It is now the time to start peaking.

Let's hope the Husker football team scores 28 points in the third quarter against Colorado. So far this year they have only scored 42 points in the third quarter. Zac Taylor is completing 49% of his passes in the quarter compared to 62% for the year.

NU has another commit from a QB for the 2007 class. His name is Jared Lee and he looks like he can compete for a starting position. With Sam Keller, Patrick Witt, Joe Ganz and Sean Hillebrand, the Huskers have upgraded their talent since losing Harrison Beck.

Josh Freeman is showing why NU wanted him.

High school football finals start tomorrow. Should be fun.

What will the score of the Colorado-Nebraska game be? My prediction in July was 45-21. I will stay with it.

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Sports shorts

Tom Shatel wrote today "Nebraska beat Missouri 34-20 in a game the program, and the coach, really needed." His articles every week are centered around whether the coach should go or not and he is hot or cold depending on whether we won that week or not. If we win, the coach is great and if we lose, he should be fired. Same stuff as when Solich was coach. It gets old. Many fans do the same thing, which I think shows their ignorance and knowledge about football or any sport. We always want to blame the coaches or the referees.

What has happened to Iowa and Iowa State. Iowa State has been a major disappointment. They have had injuries and players suspensions, but they are still not playing very well. I suppose I should say they need to get rid of Dan McCarney but he is a great coach and they will be back.

The receivers were great on Saturday. Except for one dropped pass by a tight end, the NU receivers made some unbelieveable catches. Nate Swift was awesome and the TD from Purify to Nunn was perfect.

NU started one freshman, three sophmores, and a junior in the offensive line on Saturday. Do you suppose they will continue to improve? Yes, they will.

Texas A & M will be very tough this week. It would be a great victory but they will be tough away from home. I am sure if we lose that the cry will go out to fire Callahan. Sad.

Frank Solich is now 7-3 and they are looking at a winning season for one of the few times in the last twenty some years.

Turner Gill and Buffalo slaughtered Kent State yesterday. They continue to improve.

Joe Dailey had a good day with three TD's and almost 300 yards passing.

Bo Ruud made some huge plays vs Missouri. He is a gamer.

NU seems to struggle most against teams with excellent WR's. It is impressive how we held down TEs Rucker and Coffman.

This writer enjoys watching Cody Glenn play. Hopefully he will get a few more snaps next week.

Another player fun to watch is Suh. He makes things happen. Barry Turner makes big plays also. Moore and Carriker will be in the NFL next year.

Patrick Deuel has lost over 700 lbs. He was in the crowd close to where this writer sits. Congrats.

Josh Freeman of K-State continues to improve. He will be a fine QB. That's why NU wanted him.

NU is 25th in the nation and back in the polls.

NU BB starts tomorrow night in an exhibition game against UNK. I hop Doc Sadler can field a team because he has a bunch of injuries. Sounds like they will be fun to watch.

Wishing the Loomis and Holdrege football teams well in the playoffs on Monday night. Holdrege plays a very tough Crete team. Waunita-Palisade has upset Arapahoe and Axtell to get to the quarter-finals vs. Loomis.

Millard North is some kind of playoff team. They have three losses but upset Lincoln Southwest in five overtimes. When the playoffs start every year, they are there.

Friday, November 03, 2006

NOAH KELLER

Picture Source:Rivals.com

Class A playoff team Kearney has two outstanding linebackers that are as good as pair in high school football in Nebraska this year. One is Joey Rousseau. The other is Noah Keller. Scout.com says this about Noah. "Keller ranks as the top linebacker prospect in Nebraska in 2006. As a junior, in nine games, he recorded 121 tackles (48 solo), 10 tackles for loss, two sacks, and one interception. "

Noah is 6'1" and weighs 225 lbs. He benches 330 lbs and squats 600 lbs. He runs the 40 in 4.6 and has a vertical jump of 37 inches. Allen Bradford, the five-star recruit that went to USC in the 2006 recruiting class, had a vertical jump of 29 inches.

In 2005, Keller had 306 yards rushing as a fullback and 147 yards receiving. Keller and Rousseau both can become Kearney's all-time tackler with app 100 tackles this year. They were tied at the beginning of the year.

As a junior Keller won the all-class gold medal with a throw of 62' 31/4" at the Nebraska State Track meet.

We received Noah's questionaire and here is what he had to say.

Favorite Game Memory:

"Shutting out Millard West, then the #1 ranked team in the state, 24-0."
"Winning the State Class A and All-Class shotput this last May at the Nebraska State Track meet"

Best Athlete You Have Played Against:

"Zach Potter"

Favorite Team (Pro and College):

"San Fransisco 49-ers and Virginia Tech Hokies"

Favorite Player:

"Lawrence Taylor"

Colleges Interested in You:

"Colorado State, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Ohio plus many others"

College(s) You Are Interested In:

"Same as above"


Personal

What Is Your Favorite Books:

"Bleachers , By John Grisham"

Who Is Your Favorite Movie Actor:

"Will Ferrell"

What Is Your Favorite Movie:

"Friday Night Lights"

What Is Your Favorite TV Show:

"Family Guy"

Which Actor Would You Like To Be Like:

"Samuel L. Jackson"

What Are Your Hobbies:

"Football, hanging with friends, and paintball"

What Is Important For You To Be Successful:

"Grades"

Noah was picked as one of the "Super Six" players in Nebraska this year by the Omaha World-Herald. Noah has been offered Division I scholarships by Colorado State and Ohio. He would look great in a Nebraska uniform. Good luck in picking your school.

Thank you Noah for completing the questionaire!