FOX News

Sunday, September 30, 2007

How will October treat the Huskers?

The next few games will tell us how good Nebraska is. Starting this week with Missouri, Nebraska will have to step it up a couple of notches. The pollsters did not reward Nebraska a higher ranking even with all the upsets this past week. They are skeptical. It is time to remember our tradition and for the team to jell. The talent is there as individuals but it is now time to play as a team. Iowa State was a start. Some of the intangibles are starting to happen to make us a top team.

Watch the Tribute to the Huskers video and get mentally ready for the challenge.
  • youtube.com
  • Friday, September 28, 2007

    Tomorrow NU plays its easiest game!

    In June, this writer predicted we would beat Iowa State. It is felt that Iowa State will be the easiest team we will face this year. Here is what was written at that time.

    "The Big 12 season starts with Iowa State in Lincoln. This writer thinks this will be our easiest game of the year. Iowa State returns five offensive starters and five defensive starters from a team that was 4-8 for the season and 1-7 in the Big 12 in 2006. They will be led by first year coach Gene Chizek, the defensive coordinator from the Texas Longhorns. They will return QB Bret Meyer. NU wins easy."

    We should win easily however due to the weather, the score will be lower. The score should be in the 28-6 area. Yes, the defense will not give up a TD. We need the revival of "Restore the Order" now. The talent is there but the passion seems to have left the blackshirts. This week we see some spark and they will play well.

    Next week's game vs. Missouri will be the TEST!

    Thursday, September 27, 2007

    Sport Shorts

    Maxpreps talks about high school mascots. They also make this week's predictions. One of them is Cozad 15 Holdrege 14. Other predictions are Minden 27 Southern Valley 12 and Elwood 70 Loomis 12. See how they say your local team will do.
  • maxpreps


  • Jake Gdowski reports from Colorado State.
    "hey,
    Everything here is still going really well. i've realized i have to actually study now, unlike in high school.Football is still going good too. For being 0-3 the team is still pretty confident that we can do well. We should of had Cal but our starting tight end, a potential first rounder, tore his ACL in the first half so now he's medical redshirting. I'm still redshirting as well, i'm pretty sure they've made up their minds on that. I think i'll have to start watching boston legal online since I'm in study hall till 9:30 just about every night. But other than that I'm still liking it out here.
    I probably better get back to studying here. Talk to you later, Jake"

    A report on the NU basketball team!
  • journalstar
  • Wednesday, September 26, 2007

    Sport Shorts

    Huskerlandprep reports on Region I high school football. See details on Holdrege's loss to Alliance.
  • Huskerland Prep


  • If you haven't seen it yet, watch Mike Gundy's explosion on Jenni Carlson, a columnist for the Daily Oklahoman. It will be played on TV numerous times in the next few days. Jason Whitlock didn't like what she wrote either. Read what he says about it.
  • kansascity.com


  • The Big Red Report sizes up the Iowa State Cyclones.
  • Big Red Report


  • Corn Nation wonders "Has NU found a defensive leader?" Read.....
  • corn nation


  • Double Extra Point talks about the issues facing the Huskers.
  • Double Extra Point


  • Athletic Director Bill Byrne addresses whether he will fire Coach Dennis Franchione.
  • fanblogs


  • Notre Dame loses its third player. This one is a tight end and, correct this writer if he is wrong, but NU recruited him heavily.
  • Nfanblogs
  • Tuesday, September 25, 2007

    Defense the Way it Used To BE!

    Watch this video of the NU defense in the 90's. Nebraska needs to get back to fundamentals and making things happens. It needs to start this week. Thanks Jessica for sharing!
  • youtube.com


  • Major Culbert switches to Mike linebacker on defense. Corey McKeon speaks out.
  • journalstar
  • Saturday, September 22, 2007

    Deep Thoughts from the Shallow End of the Gene Pool

    Well, what a difference a week makes. You could really feel the electricity in the state leading up to the show down in Lincoln last week. As for this week, you feel the frustration once again. Several questions come to mind in regards to the USC/NU game. Is Craig Bohl still our defensive coordinator? Not since Colorado embarrassed us the day after Thanksgiving (this game is still looked at as one of the major catalyst for change at NU) has NU looked that bad at stopping the run. So, what is it; coaching or players? Well it could be a little of both. My overall concern is that it is coaching however. If you saw any of the game film, you saw NU miss a ton of tackles and they were constantly out of position. Being out of position, in the third quarter, after they have ran the same play all night long is clearly, to me, a coaching problem. You make adjustments; simply not acceptable. Yes, players have to be held accountable and it would appear for the most part that the players step up this week and held themselves accountable. Please don't let us forget in all this mayham, that USC was and still is, debatably, the number one team in the nation. Okay, let's put that game away, burn the film and move on with life. On a side bar, I'm sure I stated last week in order to be successful the ball would need to be ran between the tackles; too bad I was talking about NU instead of USC.

    As for this week, if you couldn't find a ticket to the game you had to be under house arrest. I'm sure there will be plenty laying on the ground out in front of the stadium if you still have the desire to go. I hope that the ticket situation speaks more towards the opponent than to the status of the program. Its really quite a shame and kind of shows how spoiled we as Husker fans still are. Good grief, you don't think Michigan or Notre Dame fans would trade us in heartbeat? Be proud to be a Husker; my opinion is we still might be the second best team in the Big 12.

    Today's game will provide a little more insight in the 2007 Huskers. How do we recover after a loss? Who are the leaders on this team? Will we see more younger players on the field? Ball State is in the top 40 in passing and rushing yards per game. Yes, this wasn't against top 25 teams, however they do have talent specifically at quarterback and running back. Nebraska needs to find its ground game again, however their ability to rush the football may be contingent upon our defenses' ability to get off the field. Look for Callahan to try and establish the run early in order to aid his defense. We should continue to get better on offense but we will be scored upon. The spread is around 22 and NU should cover; NU 48-21.

    Thursday, September 20, 2007

    Sport Shorts

    BALL STATE- NEBRASKA CABLE INFORMATION!
  • FOXSPORTS.COM


  • Elkhorn will have a new school. The Elkhorn South Storm. Maxpreps discusses this and makes this week's prediction for Nebraska high schools. See what they predict for your school!
  • maxpreps.com
  • Wednesday, September 19, 2007

    Maybe David Letterman this week!


    Ball State will be solid test this week!

    This is the last of the non-conference scheduled games. The Cardinals went 5-7 last year. They return 13 starters. Ball State almost beat Michigan last year but lost with freshman QB Nate Davis 34-26. A much matured Davis should make Ball State competitive this year. The defense is still a weakness and won't be able to stop NU.

    Look for a 34-7 victory for the Huskers! They will be 3-1!

    What will the Huskers say now when the break huddle. National Champions! Could be hard to continue saying this!

    The answer to last week's trivia question "When was the last time Nebraska was rated in the Top 10?". It was in the last season Frank Solich was coach which was 2003.

    Check out the latest on the injury to Zac Potter. Also read about Zac Taylor signing a contract for pro football.
  • Huskerextra.com


  • Kearney football is for real. Brandon Cool coached them to a deciding victory over Millard South last week. The Kearney team have developed a tremendous program.

    The above picture was taken last week at the USC game. It is a picture of Will Ferrel and my daughter, Sarah Boehler.

    If David Letterman comes this week will he spend a lot of time with Larry The Cable Guy?

    Sunday, September 16, 2007

    Ferrell discusses crashing weddings with Sarah!


    Saturday night the Nebraska fans thought for a while that we were back. Back to the Top Ten that is! USC 457 Nebraska 427. The total yardage may not entirely represent how close the game was as some yards were piled up by NU late in the game against second teamers but the game may have been closer than what the score would indicate.

    At the nine minute mark of the second quarter, Nebraska had taken a 10-7 lead. The special teams created a fumble on the kickoff and Nebraska recovered the ball, right? No! A USC player took the fumble and ran 30 yards up the field. That was the play of the day as a Nebraska recovery would have changed the complexion of the game entirely.

    USC took a 21-10 lead by half and little did we know at that time that the game was over. USC started running the ball like Colorado did in 2003. They averaged over ten yards a carry and the defense wore down. Suh was double teamed most of the game and the linebackers just seemed to be in the wrong place. Final score USC 49 NU 31.

    Sam Keller played his best game of the year and the receivers played real well. Todd Peterson played his best game ever. Cody Glenn had his best game of the season.

    Problem areas were our offensive line. The injury to Christensen does not look good. The defensive line did not play well and except for Octavian, the linebackers were not in plays. The secondary did ok but they need to tackle the ball carrier and not the ball. Hitting the runner high only leaves the defensive player going backward. Do we tackle around the knees anymore? The injury to Bowman did not look good and he could be out for a while again. This writer hopes that doesn't come true.

    Nebraska remains in the top 25 with rating of 22nd and 24th.

    The crowd included Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Rush Limbaugh, Will Ferrell, Keanu Reeves, and Larry The Cable Guy. The crowd was electric for much of the game. It was fun!

    The above caption shows my daughter, Sarah Boehler, talking to Will Ferrell in the background. Lucky her!! He is letting her know he plans to be a wedding crasher for her wedding next April. She tells him if he does, that her dad will streak the reception. Pretty sure he won't be showing up now. Larry The Cable Guy is holding his baby. Hopefully he can have a few more babies and at least one of them can be an offensive lineman for NU. I don't care what you say that would be funny right there. Larry the Cable Guy was hoping we would Git-R-Done but we we couldn't quite muster the win.

    Friday, September 14, 2007

    Fearless Predictions!


    Fox Sports has their fearless prediction of the week! Get ready Big Red fans! Thanks Sarah for sharing this.
  • foxsports.com


  • The Nebraska State Paper gives the five ways to beat USC.
  • statepaper.c


  • Callahan says this is a mature team.
  • statepaper.com
  • Deep Thoughts from the Shallow End of the Gene Pool

    Happy Friday. Well one more day to the showdown in Lincoln. I meant to get on here last Sunday and post my thoughts on the Wake Forest game. Heck, I even thought about doing it Saturday right after the game, but the heartburn I was experiencing was a little overbearing. I'm still not exactly sure what to think about the Wake game and maybe we really won't until a few weeks pass. Maybe this is why the rational people in college football think we shouldn't have polls until .................. we ACTUALLY see these team play a few games. I know, I know, but what would we debate and how would we measure these teams.

    I would like to think that all-in-all, the Wake Forest game may have provided a reality check at just the right time. Let's pretend we walked into that game and destroyed them 35-10. Now think about how much different the predictions by fans and "experts" would be this week. Don't you think the players would have had a little different attitude headed into this week? The talk last week before the game was not losing focus on Wake as it was a trap game. The good news this week is we won't have any players looking forward to the that big Ball State game.

    Now then, for the USC game. Head versus heart. The head has the ideas of what USC is suppose to be. The "experts" say this is the best defensive in college football history with up to seven potential first day draft picks. After one game, v/s Idaho, I would say the jury is still out on that one (seriously, are you kidding me?). I think that this game is going to come down to how well Nebraska can run the football, specifically between the tackles. USC has some injuries but they also have depth. How good is that stable of running backs they have? They are young at the wide receiver and I personally think Booty is over hyped. The focus has been on USC defense v/s Nebraska offense. What about NU's defense v/s USC's offense? If Nebraska can grab an early lead the crowd will be able to sustain the early energy and help carry this team. If it is the opposite, the home field advantage may go away quickly and it could get ugly. As is in every game, turnovers will be key. The heart would like to believe that this game will go down in the great storybook of Nebraska football. The spread is around ten in favor of USC. Collectively, the "experts" are in favor of USC. The head says USC 31 -24; the heart says NU 24-17.

    The regular season for baseball will be wrapping up soon. My Cardinals have hit the skids, losing seven in a row. The pitching has been the catalyst. Not making the postseason will be disappointing, but the Cardinals have still amazed me this year. Chris Carpenter, Yadier Molina, Adam Kennedy, David Eckstein, Scott Rolen, Chris Duncan, Jimmy Edmonds and Juan Encarnacion; a list of the Cardinals opening day line up right? Yes and no, these players along with Scott Spezio, Mark Mulder, Braden Looper, Preston Wilson, Josh Kinney, Tyler Johnson, Todd Wellemeyer and Mike Maroth are players that have spent time on the sidelines this year. Sixteen players that have missed significant time on a typical 25 man roster and the team is still near .500. The Cardinals have multiple decisions to make this offseason, starting in the front office w/ Walt Jocketty who is the GM. LaRussa is also in the final year of his contract. The Cardinals brass would be complete idiots to not retain this group. The Cardinal fans will be a little ticked at the fall off this year. I liken it more to injuries, parity, and a few poor decisions on pitching that were made in the offseason. The Cardinals fans are a lot like Husker fans and when things don't go right they are going to be looking for someone to blame, so there will be a call for LaRussa to exit stag left. I think LaRussa wants to continued to manage and hopefully St. Louis is the place for him. If he or the Cardinals decide this is no longer a fit, I would think Jose Oquendo would get a hard look at his first managerial opportunity. He is an excellent coach and relates extremely well to the players. I personally think LaRussa will be back because ironically Dave Duncan is signed through 2008 and he has been w/ LaRussa forever. The Cardinals will continue to want to be thrifty in their dealings, which it would appear in a market thin of free agent pitching, might be very difficult. They currently have two starters they could feel good about penciling in next year (Wainright & Looper). The problems from there are great. Looper is at best a number three, Mulder has not looked good in his first two outing's of the year but should be better next year. After that is Kip Wells (free agent), Joel Pinerio & Anthony Reyes; YUCK! Carpenter will be lucky to be back by August, so pitching will need to be a priority. Do not be surprised if the Cardinals try to get better at this department by dealing a position player or two over the offseason. The minor league prospects are still, at best, a year away. All this offseason talk before October 1st, I guess I finally know what it feels like to be a Cubs fan. Wow, how can you do that year after year after year after 98 years?

    Enjoy the USC/NU game. I will be back next week w/ a review of the game and a look at the Royals season and what lies ahead for them in 2008.

    Tuesday, September 11, 2007

    Praying for a win!


    Maybe emotion is taking over or maybe it is contrary opinion. Most Nebraskans think NU will get killed this week because of what happened last week against Wake Forest. Most of the time the fans are wrong. So.............my prediction is Nebraska 30 USC 27. Yes Nebraska will win. USC is going to see what NU fans are made of and they will see at site that they have never seen before as the stadium will be rockin!

    Even though this writer's preseason prediction was a loss, Nebraska will prove that guess wrong. They will win and this is how they will do so.

    1. Nebraska will attack USC's speed by running directly at the linebackers between the tackles. Cody Glenn and Quentin Castille will run 20 times and with Marlon Lucky our line will wear down USC. Strength against speed.
    2. Maurice Purify will have a great game scoring twice. Sam Keller will be more accurate. Todd Peterson will have the game of his life.
    3. Suh and Octavian will be possessed. Booty won't make it through the game as the fans will jack up the defense. USC will have four turnovers and Nebraska will score on two of them and the offensive will score after one of them.
    4. Nebraska will take care of the ball and will only have one turnover.
    5. The fans and the home field will be worth 10 points.
    6. Zach Potter will block one crucial USC FG.
    7. Special teams will get an A+ rating.
    8. Zach Bowman will show his leadership and captain the secondary to a very respectable game.
    9. One trick play will result in a TD.
    10. USC has had the week off and has only played Idaho. The NU-Wake Forest game was great preparation for the USC shootout.
    11. USC's kicker is David Buehler (pronounced Beeler). No Boehler or Buehler have ever won a big game.

    So, start doing your research because this writer would guess that the trivia question on next week's Big Red Wrap-up show will be "Prior to this week, when was the last time Nebraska was rated in the Top 10?" Nebraska moves up to #7 after this game. And keep praying!

    Monday, September 10, 2007

    USC pay tribute to Mario Denelo

    Mario Denelo tragically died earlier this year. He was the placekicker for USC. Watch this touching video of how USC honored him. You have never seen anything like this before. Mike's Blasphemy has an article and the video.
  • Mike's Blasphemy


  • By the way, when you are looking at a video and it keeps stopping to loud, it may be easier to pause it for 30-60 seconds and then you can watch it uninterrupted.

    Saturday, September 08, 2007

    Relief!

    "It didn't even feel like we won." "I am just glad to get out of there with a win" "This doesn't look too good for us going into next week" This was some of our fans' reactions to our 20-17 win over Wake Forest today.

    Wake Forest stopped our running game today or at least stopped the machine we had last week. The offensive line was overpowered at times today. Receivers continue to drop passes and a number of passes for touchdowns were overthrown. Zac Bowman played well with seven tackles and a game saving interception. Marlon Lucky ran better today breaking a few tackles. He seems to run with a passion. "Q" ran well. Cody Glenn was absent. Terrance Nunn looked better. Sam Keller looked good at times and not so good at others. He will need to rebound quickly.

    N. Suh looked all pro on a few plays. Zach Potter is developing. Larry Asante had some nice tackles. Octavian continues to dominate.

    Our opponent next week will be much more talented. We will have the home field. Nebraska will need to improve its passing game by great lengths before next Saturday to compete. The offensive line will need to step. Defensively we have trouble with misdirection. This will be a factor next week with USC's speed.

    To win next week, we will need to win the turnover war and play much better fundamental football or it could be a long night.

    College football is crazy this year. Michigan and Notre Dame start the season 0-2. Going back to last year they have both lost their last four games.

    Corn Nation is suggesting a change at QB if Sam Keller doesn't get better soon. They say Callahan isn't to blame. Read more........
  • Corn Nation


  • Husker Mike is more critical of the coaching staff. Read what he has to say about the game. He also mentions what our own Charlie Wiiest said last week. Keller seems to stare down his receivers. Read more.........
  • Husker Mike


  • And then there is Iowa State who is the worst team in the Big 12. They were beaten by Northern Iowa. Changing coaching staffs has a horrible short term effect. As noted this summer in my preseason predictions, Iowa State will be our easiest opponent this year. Yes, a lot easier than Ball State.
  • clonechronicles.com
  • Friday, September 07, 2007

    PREDICTION FOR THIS WEEK'S NU GAME!

    Nebraska will win this week in a nail biter 27-24. Adi Kunalic will kick a 59 yard FG with time running out to pull out the game.

    Maurice Purify will catch a TD.
    "Q" Castille runs for a short TD.
    Todd Peterson catches an acrobatic catch for a TD.
    Wake Forest will pass for 250 yards or more.
    Steve Octavian will cause a turnover.
    Suh will plug up the Wake Forest running game.
    Barry Turner will have two sacks.
    Cody Glenn will play well.
    Our special teams will play well with Grixby having at least one good kickoff return. Andre Jones will have a great punt return, if given the chance.

    What are your predictions for the NU score?

    By the way, Joba Chamberlain pitched two innings of scoreless ball tonight. He gave up two hits and had one strikeout. But he faced Alex Gordon in the eighth and guess what, Alex got a single. The Yankees won 3-2 and lead the wildcard race by three games.

    Thursday, September 06, 2007

    Holdrege-Fairbury game is MaxPreps game of the week!

    Fairbury QB Horky had five TD's in the first half last week. Both Holdrege and Fairbury are rated so it should be the Game of the Week!
  • maxpreps.com
  • Wednesday, September 05, 2007

    Sports Shorts

    Nebraska Sports Journal's Top 10 high schools in Nebraska are as follows.
    1. Omaha Westside 2-0-This year's team is led by Ron Kellogg Jr. Yes, his dad was a Nebraska high star and starred at Kansas University in basketball.
    2. Millard South 2-0
    3. Omaha Central 2-0
    4. Omaha North 1-1
    5. Millard West 2-0 Moving Up!
    6. Kearney 2-0
    7. Millard North 1-1
    8. Lincoln Southwest 1-1
    9. Bellevue West 2-0
    10.Grand Island 2-0

    McCook star player has season-ending injury.
  • huskerlandpreps


  • Huskerlandpreps has their high school Top Tens.
  • huskerlandpreps



  • Colorado State's Lubick concern centers on more than bitter loss to Colorado
  • denverpost.com
  • Jake Gdowski-Colorado State

    Heard from Jake yesterday. Thought I would pass on a few of his comments. Sounds like things are going well.

    "Yes I did get to suit up for a trip down to Invesco and it was a great experience. Having the fans
    and students divided like that and then playing in that big of stadium was awesome. My workouts
    are going very well, I'm the strongest freshmen of the group and the strength coach really likes me.
    We do a lot of explosive movements and a ton of pull-up type movements. School is going really
    good so far. My classes almost seem too easy but then again I haven't really taken an actual test
    yet. They make us get in 8 hours of study table a week. Overall the team moral is good and we're looking
    forward to Cal. Coach Lubick is happy that we have an offense that can move the ball and a defense that
    can make plays, just need to work on our special teams so hopefully we keep getting better."

    Monday, September 03, 2007

    Wake Forest QB injured!

  • journalstar.com
  • Sport Shorts


    Gary Pinkel and Missouri went for two points leading 13-6. They failed. They ended up winning 40-34 but how important might that extra point have been if Illinois had scored again. Read Jason Whitlock's amusing column today.
  • Jason Whitlock


  • Pedro Martinez pitched for the first time in a year. Kansas Coach Mangino goes beserk after his player dives into the endzone. Watch the video in the second article.
  • fanhouse


  • Appalachian State beat Michigan at Michigan in what many say is the all-time biggest upset in college football. Jerry Moore is their Athletic Director and head coach of their football program. Jerry Moore was an assistant at Nebraska for a few years in the middle 70's. He recruited Junior Miller to Nebraska. In 2006, he won the Eddie Robinson Award beating out Craig Bohl in the closest voting ever. In 2005, they were the national champs in Division II football. They are a pretty good team. Read an interview with Jerry Moore in April 2006, after they had won the national championship.
  • findarticles.com


  • Here is a complete breakdown of numbers for the NU/Nevada game. Learn these and you can be the expert in this week's conversations.
  • doubleextrapoint
  • Sunday, September 02, 2007

    Sport Shorts

    Read below as we have a new writer on the blog. Should be fun!

    Jason Whitlock talks about the Missouri win vs Illinois. "Hard for MU fans to enjoy the Win"
  • kansascity.com


  • Maurice Purify won this Blog's Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year. Pretty good considering he wasn't allowed to play the first game. Nebraska needs him. He will be the go-to guy. He doesn't drop balls. We'll have to see where he stands at the end of the year against the likes of Chase Daniels and Colt McCoy.

    Colt Brennen of Hawaii, one of the leading Heisman candidates had six touchdown passes against Northern Colorado yesterday. He was 34-40 in passing. There was no evidence of Leon Jackson playing in the game. Hawaii beat Northern Colorado 63-6. Northern Colorado is coached by former NU assistant Scott Downing.

    Ohio beat Gardner-Webb in their opener 36-14. Freshman Matt Donahue from Fremont had two catches for 30 yards.

    North Carolina beat James Madison 36-14. Joe Dailey did not catch any passes.

    North Carolina St. was upset by Central Florida 25-23. Harrison Beck came into the game as backup and was 17-28 for 207 yards with two TD's. Looks like he will be the future starter.

    USC beat Idaho 38-10. North Platte native Nathan Enderle was the QB for Idaho and played pretty well against the #1 team in the nation. He was 16-34 for 155 yards.

    The BIG RED NETWORK reports on the game.
  • Big Red Network


  • Corn Nation grades the Huskers and the Big 12.
  • Corn Nation


  • Observations from Double Extra Point on the NU game.
  • doubleextrapoint


  • The Big 12 Roundup.
  • bringonthecats.com
  • Deep Thoughts From the Shallow End of the Gene Pool

    Hello to all of Johnny's loyal readers. John has given me the rare invitation to post on his site. I'm pretty sure that its because he gets tired of me running him down to talk about sports and the like.

    This is all a little weird to me, you see I'm a virgin blogger. Yes I know, I know, but its true. I was planning on saving myself for that right gal, you know one I could really build something with, but when I got this invite from Johnny I just couldn't wait any longer.

    So what really goes into a blog? Johnny does such a nice job of putting things people might want to read in his posts and to be honest it is a little intimidating. I convinced myself when I was in college that I would write a couple of books, so I guess this is my chance to practice. I knew the title to my first one would be "Deep Thoughts from the Shallow End of the Gene Pool". I mean to me that just sells the book right there.

    Well, I should try to apply some intelligence to this, but a quick oversight on who I am. I mean I can't just come in here and start spewing crap out without a quick intro. Its a good thing this is a sports journal as that is my passion. Baseball is numero uno. My team is and always will be the St. Louis Cardinals. I read the Post-Dispatch every morning before I go to work (part of the reason I can't get there on time). Check out the website at www.stltoday.com/sports/cards. I grew up in a family of Royals fans so I follow them in a secondary manner. College sports in general would be my next passion.

    Speaking of college sports, is Labor Weekend about one of the top sports weekends or what? College football kicking off, pennant chases, pro football is right around the corner as well. And as most of you did, I watched the NU and Nevada game yesterday, and surely now that we have had a chance to see NU against a mighty foe from the WAC conference we can all pass judgement on this coming season. In all seriousness, it is so hard to judge after one game. Clearly Nevada was out manned, however I can't remember over the past few years our offensive line being as good as they were yesterday. Coach Osborne would have to have been proud of the big fellas. Yes Lucky had 200 yards blah blah blah, but only on a couple of plays did we finally see him break tackles. The Castille kid or now commonly known as "Q" was very impressive. He should be very fun to watch run over the next couple of years.

    Keller really didn't have to do much yesterday but manage the game. Its really too early to even begin to evaluate him. If you look purely at the stats and see he completed over 56% of his passes and had just shy of 200 yards with a pic and TD you would think he did just fine. People talk about this offense being a rhythm offense and you could tell he just wasn't completely in rhythm in the first half. Yes there were some dropped passes but on the interception he looked like Jamaal Lord in the way that he used to stare down his receivers before the ball was even snapped. Bottom line, I really don't think we saw nearly enough of the guy to begin to tell us what he is going to be like in a more competitive game.

    On the defensive side of the ball, the first thing that you notice is that we continue to put more speed on the field. You have to be kind of curious as to how we will do against a team that has the offensive line to line up and run between the tackles. Wake Forest probably won't give us that test, but USC will definitely try it out.

    I saw a few of the other Big 12 games yesterday and once again the league got off to a little bit of a rough start. Texas almost became the night version of Michigan. OU wasn't tested and neither was KU. Missouri tried numerous times to give the game to Illinois but they didn't seem to want it either. If not for an interception at the goal line Illinois would have won the game. Missouri was up 17 at one point in that game. The two most intriguing games were Ok State and K State and their road trips to the SEC. Ok State is going to once again score a bunch of points this year but when you give up 35 to Georgia it could be a long defensive year. I saw part of the Colorado game; they are better and probably will beat a few teams this year that people won't think they will (hopefully that isn't on the 23rd of November). For those of you that didn't see the K State game and only saw the score, K State had the game won with less than four minutes to go. For those that watch the games and not just look at the scoreboard, K State should have won that game. What ever happen to them opening w/ Fort Hayes State? Not to worry K State fans, you have San Jose St and Missouri State at home in the next two weeks.

    Well, there you have it, I'm tired and we didn't even get to talk about Royals baseball yet. Johnny, you can send my check to my personal residence. I guess I'm no Tom Shatel but those are just a few thoughts from the shallow end of the gene pool.