FOX News

Friday, October 30, 2009

Happy Halloween







Here's my Halloween costumes for 2009. Which one should I wear?

Is a new era starting on Saturday?

Look to some new faces on the Husker offense. Khiry Cooper looks to start at wide receiver. My prediction is that Cody Green will start his first game for the Huskers. Green will give us a different look. He is a confident player and he should do well. Baylor starts a young quarterback also so it is a good game to make the change. Green is from Texas so it may help him through the jitters. I think a start away from the home crowd will be better for the team. The crowd always wants the second team quarterback to play so the yelling and booing is not good for the psych of the team right now.

Look for Green to go 19-32 for 275 yards and add another 50-75 running.

The defensive front four will have a hayday. Barry Turner will have his best game to date, Crick will have a great game, Meredith will look like a starter and Suuuuhhh will be Suuuuuhhh!

This week in turnovers, Nebraska will get five turnovers and Baylor only three.

Nebraska 31-7.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

The Nebraska defensive line will control Baylor!

Baylor has a rookie quarterback and a below average offensive line. The Nebraska defensive line will have its best game yet. Nebraska wins the turnover battle this time. Look to the offensive to play better. They will show improvement but they will still have a ways to go.

Nebraska 31 Baylor 7

Predictions 5-2
Against the Spread 5-2

Sunday, October 25, 2009

On to Baylor!

Nebraska had one of those days that can't be explained. Hopefully soon we will have a day where the other team has five to seven turnovers.

In Hidden Game of Football, Pete Palmer and Bob Carroll propose the theory for what a turnover costs a team. According to them, a turnover is always worth -4 points. How did they figure this out? Well, they ran a number of seasons worth of data to determine the answer to this question: "If I'm on yard line X, what will be the next score in the game, on average." It didn't matter whether this score took place on the current drive, or the next drive, or in the next quarter. They only plays they didn't count were those when halftime or the end of the game came before the next score.

With Nebraska's eight turnovers, it cost us 32 points by their data. This data was put together with years of statistics. Therefore the game should of been 39-9, which is realistic, if Nebraska had not had any turnovers.

Overall, the defense played well. Suh and company had a good game. Phillip Dillard is playing outstanding.

Offensively the team has to regroup and the leadership of the team has to get control of their emotions. Confidence has to be a factor on offense. Team unity is essential. All the bunk about we need to start this quarterback or that receiver is getting old. Maybe there needs to be another blackout of the press. The stupid questions are getting old and I would just as soon not hear them answered anymore.

In a more serious note, Jamie Boehler is doing pretty well after her surgery. She needs a lot of rest and recovery will take a long time. Her surgery lasted 16 hours but was successful. The surgery was to take out a brain tumor the size of a lemon. Please continue to pray for her quick recovery.

VIKINGS MUSIC VIDEO: 2009 Week 7: Minnesota Vikings at Pittsburgh Steelers -The Vikings Come To Town

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Pray for Jamie

This morning at 7am Jamie Boehler went into surgery to have a brain tumor removed. It is now 9:21 pm and there is no word that the surgery is complete yet. Jamie is my brother Michael's wife. She found about the tumor in July. Please pray for her quick recovery.

In a very unimportant note, Nebraska 34 Iowa State 3. 5-1 in predictions and 5-1 against the spread.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Texas Tech 31 Nebraska 10


Oh my!

Positives
1. Defensive line

Negatives
1. Receivers getting open
2. Quarterbacks hitting receivers when they did get open
3. Penalties, stupid penalties
4. Special teams
5. Running attack
6. Turnovers
7. Secondary on defense

Enough said.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Will Texas Tech have 70 passes this week?


Whether Taylor Potts or Steven Sheffield is in the shotgun formation running the spread offense is immaterial. The Texas Tech offense will be throwing the ball. Steven Sheffield, who wasn't recruited until Greg McElrod decided to go to Alabama, threw for 490 yards and seven touchdowns last week. SEVEN TOUCHDOWNS!!! Sheffield threw for 370 yards in the first half last week against K-State. That was a school record for one half.

(By the way McElrod is the current quarterback for the Crimson Tide. Alabama may be the #1 team in the nation. Florida would disagree.)

Texas Tech is second nationally in total offense. Nebraska has one of the best defenses in the country. Sounds like quite a match up. Texas Tech only allowed 55 total yards in the first half last week also. Meanwhile for three quarters the Nebraska offense sputtered to describe it kindly.

Texas Tech is 4-2 with a ten point loss to Texas and a one point loss to ranked Houston.

Expect Nebraska to have a similar defensive game plan as last year. This year the talent is better and the game is in Lincoln.

Should be a high scoring and who has the ball last kind of game, right?

Well this writer thinks it may be different. Turnovers will be huge with Nebraska having four plus turnovers this week. Nebraska will be able to put some pressure on the QB, however Texas Tech will make quick passes to remove part of the pressure. But the Nebraska defense is much much better than K-State's.

Zac Lee is one of the best quarterbacks in the country at home and will continue where he left off at Missouri. Watch for him to hit the tight ends regularly. Gilleylen and Holt will have big games. Watch for Dreu Young to have his first touchdown. Helu will have to have a big game to control the game tempo. The interesting part of the game will be his replacement. Marcus Mendoza should make a contribution and we will see if Robinson comes out of his redshirt. It would be nice to see Lester Ward and Collins Okafor contribute with Austin Jones and we save Robinson for this year. We'll see what happens there.

Nebraska will dominate the line play on offense and defense so we see a big NU win this week. NU wins 36-17. Yep 36-17!! Projection record for 2009 is 5-0. Next week the BLACKSHIRTS come out so we can talk about who got one and who didn't get one. Just don't get cocky because we have some tough games ahead.

Quentin Castille is playing for Northwestern State in Louisiana. He has 63 carries for 210 yards. He has averaged 3.3 yards a carry with a long run of 59 yards. He has scored one touchdown. Take the 59 yarder out of his total..........

Patrick Witt has lost his starting position with Yale to Brook Hart. He did not play in the game last week. He is 50-94 for 532 yards. His longest pass is 28 yards. He has three TD's and four interceptions. He has been sacked nine times.

I am reading a book by Jeffrey Marx called "The Long Snapper". Great book about Brian Kinchen, who was called by the Patriots in December of 2003 to do the snapping for field goals, extra points, and punts. Gives you an interesting view of the touch job they have. Nobody notices them unless they mess up. Ask P.J. Mangieri from Nebraska. Good luck to him this week.

The Red River Rivalry: Texas Longhorns vs Oklahoma Sooners

Sunday, October 11, 2009

NU has played in some weird games!

The Virginia Tech and Missouri games were very unique this year. The games were both memorable because of the last quarter of each game. The Virginia Tech continues to look very impressive so our game with them did tell us a lot. Maybe we can play them again in a BCS bowl. We have a long ways to get there.

Sportswriters are wondering why we didn't try running the ball more. Well, the first three quarters nothing was working on offense. Thanks for the defense and the players will to succeed, we were still in the game to win it. I thought we would hit the tight ends more. But there wasn't much of anything that was working and we sure didn't look like we could score 27 points at the end of the third quarter. Did you notice how the offensive players ran up to the line and looked like they knew it was time to go? If you can, watch the film and you will see a different attitude in that fourth quarter. This happened before we scored for the first time. They knew they could do it.

Has anybody heard how Helu is?

Suh is amazing!! A leader and the best defensive player we have had in years.

Nebraska is much improved. We have a chance to win any week. Of course, we also have a chance to lose about any week for the rest of the season too. We will have to be at the top of our game each week. Texas Tech will be very tough. Could be a replay of last year with the outcome of the game going to the wire. Iowa State is much improved and I will promise you that Colorado will have their best game of the year against Nebraska. K-State is struggling. Baylor will be easier without Griffin but no game will be a given.

Nebraska continues to recruit defensive players with the emphasis on the defensive line. The 2010 class includes five defensive players, three offensive players, and one athlete, who will probably play safety. A little unusual is that three of the recruits are from Missouri.

Now to Nascar....What happened to Dale Earnhardt Jr. With the best racing team, he continues to struggle. He is the only team member to not make the Chase. Many from the outside says he needs to get in shape. His miscues have come mostly in the second half of the races. Hopefully he can pull off a victory soon.

Fantasy Pro football is bad this week. Hope things pick up or I may not get in double digits in scoring.

Texas Tech Vs. Kansas State Daily Toreador post-game review

Monday, October 05, 2009

Can Nebraska overcome the Missouri crowd?


This Thursday Nebraska goes to Missouri where the fans will be hostile. More hostile than Virginia Tech. The students will skip classes to indulge in their favorite spirits and they will be out to make Zac Lee's night a disaster.

Last year in Lincoln, Missouri completely dominated all phases of the game. It was like a pro team vs. a college team. No question who was better that day although this writer believes that Nebraska was the better team at the end of the season.

Now we go to Missouri to face this crowd.

What will happen this Thursday? Nebraska will win in the trenches. We are fairly even on offensive lines but our defensive line will dominate. Look for the dime and nickel defenses along with lots of pressure on their quarterback from our line. This will be the deciding difference in this game.

Nebraska will get three to four turnovers. We will see some blitzing at times and Gabbert won't like the pressure.

But what will keep Zac Lee from having another Virginia Tech like performance? In this game we will run, run some more, and hit our tight ends on a regular basis. I also like Chris Brooks and Menelik Holt in this game on quick passes. Helu and Burkhead will have great games with some pass catches. The coaches will make this game easier for Lee and he will outplay Gabbert on this night.

Also Jeremy Maclin is gone and that is huge for Missouri. Their punt returns are nothing. They fair catch most of their balls. Our special teams will be far superior to Missouri's.

Missouri's Danario Alexander will be the best player on the field this night. He is a great receiver and may score two touchdowns against Nebraska.

Putting this all together, Nebraska will win 30-14. Yes, we will win at Missouri 30-14. Suuuuuuuuhhhhhhh! You'll yell that in your living room a few times. Nebraska 30-14.