Things fall apart in Madison

As of now everybody has the answers to what we should do in changing our football team. In watching the first half over again, it seems that after the second interception our defense gave up some.

The quarterback play was excellent the first 23 minutes and then for the rest of the game it was really not good at all. I would like to see Carnes or Kellogg play to see what they can do when we get down.

I won't get as upset on play calling as some. The pass was there and we just didn't execute the plays. I would like to see Ron Kellogg (or Carnes) play when we are down and Martinez starts to struggle. Martinez is at his best when we are ahead in the game. He does an excellent job in that situation.

Yes, we could have run the ball more and should have to shorten the game but Wisconsin's defense wanted us to pass. The pass was there.

We have to get the ball into Turner and Abdullah's hands more to mix things up. In a quiet way Turner had a great night against Wisconsin.

The offensive line continues to get better. Most of the time Martinez had time but did'nt stay in the pocket. When he starts to get jumpy and moves while he throws the chances of an interception increases immensely.

The biggest weakness we have right now is the defense. I know the Big 10 Ten dictates three linebackers but we need more speed in the field. We have to have more speed. Even running the dime defense on running situations may be the best.

I just don't see a tremendous drop off in the secondary this year. Some of the kids playing this year looked a lot better last year. Are the players understanding the new coach and what he wants? Something is different but I don't think the talent level is any less. Let's hope we find the solution to this problem soon. Otherwise the psych of the team could head to what we had just a few years ago.

This week's top college game I thought would be Ohio State and Nebraska but my has that changed. Ohio State is down this year and having a tough time scoring. Let's hope we don't change that.

The big game of the week looks to be Oklahoma and Texas. This should be a race to the end. Texas has Chase McCoy(brother of Colt) and David Ash sharing time. Malcolm Brown is their leading rusher and they also have Fiswhitt Whittaker. What a great name.

Landery Jones leads Oklahoma. He is much improved from a couple of years ago. Ryan Broyles is an All-American at receiver. Look to Oklahoma to win this game 27-21.

Another big game is Florida and LSU. LSU is the better team at the end winning 30-17.

Now Nebraska. The defense will improve against a pretty weak offense this week. Look to Nebraska to win this game 21-17. It will be close but Nebraska will prevail. The loser of this game will be in a world of hurt for the season as one of them will have their second loss in league play.

Five years ago today!

Just five years ago today, my dad was rushed to Bryan Hospital as his health was deteriorating. Dad was my best friend. He died a week later but he did have the chance for family and friends to visit him that last week. We miss him!!


Also that same day we had a house fire that was described by the Holdrege Fire Department as "one of the hottest in years." We were out of our house for about six months while it was repaired. With everything going on with dad, it just wasn't a big deal at that time or even today.


September 27, 2006 was a very memorable day for our family. Dad is now in a better place but I miss him each and every day.

Nebraska has to play very well to stay with Wisconsin

This writer thinks last week's game was Nebraska's best of the season. Yes, better than Washington. Nebraska just did more things well last week. Anytime we can gain over 330 yards on the ground, we are playing well. The defense gave up some yards but not a lot of points.

Best of all the offensive line played its best game and had some nice holes for the backs. On the passing side, we did some things well and some not so well. But we are getting better.

This week versus Wisconsin, we must establish the run game against a great run defense. We must pass to our tight ends especially Kyler Reed. Reed may have a couple of touchdowns and look to Legate to be active in the passing game. Burkhead will run pretty well but they will make us pass.

On defense we need to play the nickel and dime backs more to stop their QB Russell. Except for linebacker David I am not sure we have the speed to contain him. Will we have a different defense this week to put more speed on the field to stop their running game? That's my guess. Not any huge changes but enough to confuse the Wisconsin offense.

They other key is to put pressure on the quarterback but contain him from long runs.

Nebraska can win this game but for right now I am looking Wisconsin 30 Nebraska 27. With a break or two, Nebraska can win.

Cornhuskers win in a high scoring affair!

This writer never expected this game to a track meet but that's what Saturday turned into. It seemed like the defense let them score quickly at times so they could see if the offense could come back and score. Just kidding of course.

The offense is getting better or Washington wasn't that great of a defensive team. I don't think Washington's defense is that bad so we are getting better.

But the defense was beaten eight to ten times by the long pass. Thank goodness their passes were errant most of the time. Wow, what is happening. Seems like our players were confused by the play action passes and we didn't adjust very well. Somewhere between the cornerbacks and safeties we aren't getting the job done. I would guess this week that there is some major coaching going on to correct all this. Yes, we could use Dennard but we shouldn't be off that far, should we?

The offensive line played better this week. We have a long ways to go to be a team that might challenge for the national championship. A long ways. Our receivers will only improve and our running backs are very good. Taylor Martinez can run and throw the long ball but needs to improve his touch on the shorter passes. We have to have those to succeed.

Nebraska is probably a Top 20 team right now but this writer isn't ready to say they are Top Ten material. We will see in the next couple of weeks.

The Nebraska offense has scored 40 plus points in the first three games for the first time since 1995. That year we won the national championship!!

Can Nebraska get 40 points this week vs. the Wyoming Cowboys. I think so. I am looking for a score of 40-14.

Right

Huskers need improvement but it will come!

The second half of the Fresno St game showed the Huskers can play ball. It gives us hope that this young team will get better.

The defense showed some weaknesses and this week they will get better. This writer is concerned with our linebackers speed, except for David. Also the defensive line has to get much better and play up to their potential. It appears the secondary is making a lot of mistakes and men are wide open. This has to get fixed. This writer would like to see more of Lance Thorell in the game. We seem to play better when he is on the field.

The offensive line just plainly has to improve. They are young but for Nebraska to have a good season, let alone a great season, it has to get much better. Without that other teams can gang up on Taylor Martinez and we will have trouble. This writer would like to see Jamal Turner more involved in the game plan. Maybe he could line up as wildcat like Burkhead has in the past. This could be pretty awesome getting his hands on the ball more.

The defense is better this week but the offense has to prove themselves before I can get too excited.

This week it looks like Nebraska 21 Washington 14. That's as optimistic as I can get offensively.

Nebraska wins game two!

Nebraska wins this week vs. Fresno St. 34-3. Look for Taylor Martinez and Rex Burkhead to have great games. Also one of the three backup freshmen running backs will have a long touchdown run. Who will it be. Jamal Turner will have a couple of great plays on offense. Special teams will play well.

On defense, Nebraska has to rise to the occasion and they will. Nebraska will have three or more turnovers this week and four or more sacks.

Nebraska improves in week two!!

Nebraska gets a basketball recruit

Shavon Shields is coming to play basketball for Nebraska. Shavon is the son of Will Shields, a standout for Nebraska and an All-Pro lineman for the Kansas City Chiefs. Shields is a 6'4" guard and had offers from Long Beach State, Wyoming, and Weber State. There was also interest from Stanford. Shields has a three star ranking with Rivals.com.

Former Nebraska running back Brandon Jackson has been put on IR for the rest of the season with the Cleveland Browns.

Adi Kunalic was released by the Carolina Panthers and Steve Octavian was released by the Browns.

Ricky Henry has been put on the practice squad for the Packers. but Chris Brooks was released by the Colts. Anthony West was released by the 49ers along with Philip Dillard by the Giants.

Lydon Murtha has been put on IR by the Dolphins.

Nebraska's first game is good and not so good!

Good

Nebraska is a young, young team. Nebraska started a number of freshmen and sophomores in their first game of the season. Three of the offensive line members were in these two classes. Tyler Moore became the first true freshmen lineman ever to start his first game. Quincy Enunwa is a sophomore and started at receiver. Jamal Turner is a true freshman at receiver and should start soon. Taylor Martinez is only a sophomore and the three backup running backs are all true freshmen. Jason Ankrah (sophomore) started at defensive end. Ciante Evans (sophomore) and Andrew Green (RSfreshman) started at our corners. Courtney Osborne (sophomore) started at safety.

2. Nebraska committed only three penalties and the offensive play-calling was very efficient. It has been a long time since this has been the case.

3. Playmakers. Nebraska has more playmakers than it has had in a long time. Nebraska will be the fastest team in the Big 10. This team may be the fastest team Nebraska has ever had. That doesn't mean we are the best, but we will be the fastest. Damien Stafford (safety)played like an NFL linebacker we will see him on the field more as the season goes. Jamal Turner is a Johnny Rodgers clone with size. We need to get him more involved. Ameer Abdullah also looked very good at times and will break a punt return soon.

4. Nebraska did show enough of their offense to make other teams' game preparation difficult. We ran out of the option, I-Back, pistol, shotgun, and a diamond formations.

5. Our special teams were excellent. Brett Maher looks like a keeper.

6. Taylor Martinez can get to full speed in three steps. Just unbelievable.

NOT SO GOOD.

1. The offensive line was a disappointment. We looked bigger and stronger but on a lot of plays we, in no way, dominated the line. Our three freshmen backs need some kind of hole because they are not power runners, at this point.

2. Taylor Martinez zeros in on his receiver and throws a little to late a lot of the times. There are very few plays that the defensive back doesn't have a chance to get his hand on the ball.

3. We do not run the option very well at all. Just doesn't look like we can do much with it at this time.

4. This writer hated to see Lance Thorell dislocate his shoulder during the game. He made some good plays while he was in there.

Hopefully we will improve between the first game and next week's game with Fresno State. Fresno State will be a very tough team to beat.

2.

Nebraskans in the NFL

This last week in the NFL the following Nebraskans accomplished these stats:

Philadelphia/Alex Henery/ One for two in FG's with a 49 yarder. He was also three for three in extra points
Tampa Bay/Larry Asante/ Two unassisted tackles with two assisted tackles
Washington/Niles Paul/ Three catches for 21 yards
Washington/Dujon Gomes/ One unassisted tackle and two assisted tackles
Carolina/Adi Kunalic/One for One in FG's with a 20 yarder and 1/1 in extra points
Cleveland/Steve Octavian/One tackle
Chicago/Zach Bowman/One tackle
Kansas City/Demorrio Williams/ Two tackles
New Orleans/Scott Shanle/Two tackles
Buffalo/One unassisted tackle and one assisted tackle
Indianapolis/Chris Brooks/ One catch for 26 yards
Baltimore/Sam Koch/ Eight Punts for an average of 44.8 yards
St. Louis/Josh Brown/One for one on FG's with a 35 yarder and 3/3 in extra points
Jacksonville/One catch for 20 yards
New England/Danny Woodhead/Two runs for 11 yards
Arizona/Stewart Bradley/One interception

Nebraska wins first game

Nebraska will win the first game in 2011 vs. Chattanooga-Tennessee 49-7.

Dillard has three assisted tackles

Philip Dillard had three assisted tackles Monday night vs. the New York Jets Monday night.

Jason Ankrah starts for Nebraska at defensive end. The competition has been high with Josh Williams, Eric Martin, and Dan Carter all fighting for the position.

Andrew Green will make his first start over Afonzo Dennard who is hurt.

Brett Maher has been named the starting kicker.

Sport shorts

Nebraskans in NFL this weekend

Indianapolis/Chris Brooks Two catches for 18 yards and one TD
St. Louis/Josh Brown Two for two in extra points
Kansas City/Demorrio Williams Three tackles
Tampa Bay/Larry Asante One tackle
New England/Danny Woodhead Four carries for 28 yards and three catches for 21 yards.
Detroit/N. Suh/ One tackle
Chicago Bears/Zach Bowman four tackles
Tennessee/Barrett Ruud Two tackles plus two assisted tackles
Arizona/Stewart Bradley Two tackles

Gomes has great game for Redskins!

Dujon Gomes had seven unassisted tackles for the Washington Redskins Thursday night versus Baltimore.

Roy Helu Jr. had 13 carries for 44 yards and one catch for 14 yards for the Skins. Niles Paul had no catches but had two kickoff returns for 32 yards

For Baltimore, Sam Koch had four punts for a 43 yard average. He had one punt for 61 yards.

Alex Henery had a 37 yard field goal and was 3 for 3 in extra points for Philadelphia tonight.

True freshman Tyler Moore is working as the No. 1 right tackle right now for the Huskers. It will be interesting to see if Marcel Jones can get healthy enough to beat him out.

Nebraska picked up the first known member of its 2012 recruiting class on Thursday when Marshalltown (Iowa) Community College center Keith Coleman committed to the Huskers. Coleman is huge at 6'9" and 240 pounds. Coleman is rated one of the nation's top five big men by Hot 100 Hoops. Nebraska's Almeida is a senior this year and Diaz is a Junior. After them, NU is pretty short. Coleman should work well in the Big 10.

Nebraska Football Jerseys 2011

Nebraskans in NFL

More Huskers in NFL

New Orleans/Scott Shanle One tackle
Oakland/Josh Bullocks Three tackles
St. Louis/Josh Brown One FG of 42 yards and 2 for 2 in extra points
Buffalo/ Chris Kelsey Two tackles
New York Giants/Philip Dillard One tackle and one assisted tackle

See the following videos below!

Husker Pie 3

Lance Thorell and Nebraska in the NFL

Congrats to Lance Thorell who has just received a scholarship for football at the University of Nebraska. Lance is presently practicing as the No. 1 dime back.

Nebraskans in the NFL
New England/Danny Woodhead Five carries for 63 yards
Tampa Bay/Larry Asante Two tackles
Philadelphia/Alex Henery Two extra points No missed Field Goals
Washington/ Dujon Gomes One tackle and one assisted tackle//Roy Helu 14 carries for 101 yards and four catches for 23 yards//Niles Paul Four returned punts for nine yards

Indianapolis/Chris Brooks One catch for nine yards
Kansas City/Demorrio Williams Three tackles
Baltimore/ Sam Koch Seven punts for a average of 43.9 yards per punt
Detroit/N. Suh One assisted tackle
Cleveland/ Brandon Jackson//Eight carries for 10 yards and one catch for five yards
Carolina/Adi Kunalic One field goal of 38 yards and one extra point
Arizona/Stewart Bradley One tackle

Sports Shorts

Bubba Starling decides tonight whether to stay at Nebraska or play for the Royals. His agent is known for last second signings so we will stay with him going to the Royals. However I think we will all be following his future no matter what he does.

This week in the NFL games, the stats were as follows"

Philadelphia/Alex Henery was 2-2 in field goals with the longest being 35 yards.
Baltimore/Sam Koch punted three times for a 35 yard average.
New England/Danny Woodhead ran five times for 17 yards
Seattle/Zac Lee didn't play/Pierre Allen had one sack with a forced fumble/Ricky Thenarse had one assisted tackle

Arizona/Stewart Bradley one tackle
Oakland/ UNK's Mason Brodine one unassisted tackle
Washington/ Roy Helu Eight carries for 28 yards and one catch for 10 yards/Niles Paul one catch for 16 yards/Dejon Gomes two tackles

Tampa Bay/Larry Asante one tackle
Kansas City/Demorrio Williams one tackle
San Fransisco/Anthony West one tackle
New Orleans/Scott Shanle one assisted tackle
Cleveland/Brandon Jackson Eight carries for 28 yards and one catch for seven yards/Steve Octavien Three tackles

New York Giants/Philip Dillard One assisted tackle
Carolina/ Adi Kunalic one extra point
Indianapolis/Mike McNeil three catches for 33 yards

Kudos to Mike McNeil and Roy Helu. Brandon Jackson had a good game. Adi Kunalic had an extra point and Alex Henery was 2-2 in FG's. Steve Octavien had three unassisted tackles. Some Huskers didn't make the box score so maybe this coming week it will be different.

Tidbits

Men of a Certain Age has been cancelled by TNT. One of my Top 5 best shows!

Nebraska actor Justin Bruening will reprise his role as Kamie Martin on "All My Children." He grew up near St. Helena and went to school in Wynot, Nebraska.

Now on to sports. Scott Frost wants to be a head coach when the time is right. He is now receivers coach at Oregon and he will be speaking to the Coaches Assn this week.

Rivals.com has named its Top Ten in the Big Ten players. DE Jared Crick and LB Lavonte David are on this list. Both are great players and will anchor the Nebraska defense this year. David and Crick have a chance to both be All-Americans. Without injuries, these two will go down as two of the best in Husker history. Both are seniors this year.

Denard Robinson (QB) from Michigan, Montee Ball (RB) Wisconsin, Reilly Reif (OT) Iowa, Edwin Baker (RB) Michigan St., Shaun Prater (S) Iowa, Michael Brewster (Center) Ohio State, Jerel Worth (DT) Michigan St. and Dan Persa (QB) Northwestern are the other eight. Prater played high school football in Omaha. He is a senior. Persa and Brewster are the other seniors otherwise the other five players are juniors.

Its hard to believe that Rex Burkhead is off the list. Watch for Taylor Martinez to challenge for all conference. His game last year against Oklahoma St. was the BEST I have ever seen from a quarterback at Nebraska. If he is injury free, watch out.

Rivals also predicts Wisconsin to win the Leaders Division and Nebraska the Legends Division.

Nebraska defensive line coach John Papuchis is one of this writer's favorite coaches. He expects to play five to nine players this fall. Papuchis says Crick's best football is ahead of him and he hasn't reached his potential yet. He also praised Cameron Meredith. He is fully recovered from his shoulder injury and has improved himself in the off-season.

Coach Tim Beck is very excited about the speed the running backs have this year and the incoming players will contribute.

Coach Beck said there will be five to seven players that will get a look as kick and punt returners this fall. Some will be freshmen and my guess is that Jamal Turner or Aaron Green will get the nod.

Coach Beck said that offensive linemen Tyler Moore and Jake Cotton and receivers Jamal Turner and Kenny Bell were his biggest surprises coming out of spring ball.

Coach Papuchis said that defensive ends Eric Martin and Jason Ankrah, safety Austin Cassidy, and defensive back Justin Blanchard were his biggest surprises.

The two back offensive is the biggest difference between the Big 10 and the Big 12 according to Papuchis.

Jennifer Lopez is near a deal to do another season of American Idol.

No deal on the debt ceiling yet. Good grief! Cut expenses and save our children and grand children.

The NFL is near an agreement. Hopefully tomorrow. We will see soon how much the season is shortened.

Tyler Gabbert without a team!

Tyler Gabbert who once committed to Nebraska, is now without a team. Tyler, Blaine Gabbert's brother, left Missouri and recently said he was going to Louisville. Louisville is where Shawn Watson, the former Nebraska offensive coordinator, is coaching.Tyler Gabbert, who was thought to be the next starter at Nebraska until he got beat out this spring then left Louisville after a week. Missouri does not want him back as of now.

Zac Lee has signed a Pro deal with the Las Vegas Locomotives of the United Football League. He is one of three quarterbacks listed on the team. The Locomotives still have Chase Clements (RICE), who led them to the championship last year.

The Royals lost again tonight 8-4 to the Twins. Alex Gordon was 1-4 and is batting .299.

Taylor Martinez is listed as the No. 5 quarterback in the Big 10 this year. Kirk Cousins, from Michigan St., is listed No. 1.

Eric Crouch has signed with the Omaha Nighthawks of the United Football League. We will watch his progress closely. Omaha also has Maurice Purify, Mike Smith, Jay Moore, and Anthony West plus others trying to make the team. Taking Huskers will help team support.

The Cox Classic will have John Hurley, the former O'Neill High School graduate. Hurley has graduated now from Texas A & M and is trying to move up to the pros. He is known for his 400 yard drives.

Welcome to the Big 10

Nebraska is now an official member of the Big 10. Something new and something exciting.

Lots of memories remain from the Big 12. There were some great games and great competition in all sports. Nebraska had much success, but didn't dominate. Oh yes we have had great football teams. Our volleyball team has been National Champs. Our women's basketball team was one of the nation's best a couple of seasons ago. Rifle and bowling have done well. The track teams are towards the top each year. Our baseball and softball teams have competed well in the past. Competition in the Big 12 was really good.

In football, most of the rivals were created by "chip on our shoulder" type of attitude. Colorado developed this against Nebraska in the early 80's and hated Nebraska. They proclaimed Nebraska their "rival". Missouri did somewhat the same. The old Big Eight was the best. Much better than the Big 12.

We had much success with Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, and Oklahoma State but they won some big games also. Sometimes those losses hurt much more.

Oklahoma was our rivalry. I think it started with Nebraska have a "chip" because we couldn't beat them. They found a way to beat us almost every year until the 90's when we dominated the series. It was a great rivalry but sadly the Big 12 broke it up.

Now on to the Nebraska fans. Once known as the country's best for some reason we aren't much different than most other fans. Yes, Nebraska football is the only game in town so we only route for one team, generally, but the complaining has raised to an annoying level.

Let's take Texas. The Texas players like playing at Nebraska. I think the Nebraska players like playing Texas. But because of the "conspiracy" that Texas gets what they want, the fans complain and gripe about everything. Texas does have money and they like the power but we would too if we had the resources they have.

The last half of last year was the worst. After the Texas A & M game, every time a ref threw a flag most of the fans would yell and boo. Pretty sad. Show some class. Hopefully this will get much better this year.

I am not sure how excited I will be this year going to watch out games with new opponents, but I do want them to win. I think this alone will raise the level of Nebraska's fans' class. We want to win! But if somebody beats us two years in a row, I hope we don't start feeling there is a "conspiracy" to beat us and we develop a "chip". Some teams in the Big 10 will be able to beat us. It should be great competition.

A real rivalry may be when there is a hate-hate relationship. Texas never hated Nebraska but we may grow to hate Iowa and Iowa hate us. This would then become a great rivalry. Wisconsin is a possibility also. We just want it to be fun.

I am a little worried that the Big 10 doesn't have the desire to make baseball a higher priority in the league. Let's hope that doesn't happen. Nebraska could push them to a higher level and this would be good for the league. Let's hope there is no league limits on scholarships for baseball.

Can you believe!

41 drivers have lost their lives over the years at the Indianapolis Speedway!

The Big 10 basketball league play begins this December.

If Cody Green leaves, Nebraska has a somewhat depleted quarterback group.

The Big 10 Conference is know as a very weak baseball conference, at least at this time.

A Tucson, Arizona restaurant advertises African Lion tacos. Business around the country are offering lion meat as a novelty. The big cats can be butchered and sold like hamburger in the United States. They say it tastes like pork, except it's chewy and costs $60 a pound.

Scotty McCreery, who just won Idol has signed a $250,000 record deal. I knew I should have tried to get on the show.


Master Chef starts in about a week on Monday nights.

What a finish to the Indy 500 today. What a bad deal for the young rookie driver, JR Hildebrand and a great thing for Da Wheldon.

Alex Gordon was 0-5 in a 7-6 loss to Texas today.

Kyle Busch was picked up for going 128 in a 45 mph zone. If he loses his driver's license, he can still drive in NASCAR.

Tony Romo finally got married.

New Grandson!!

On May 13th, I became a grandpa again with the birth of Nolan Scott Wheeler. His proud parents are Scott and Jessica Wheeler. Jessica is my daughter. Nolan was born 7 lbs 11 ounces and was 21 inches long. Nolan is very cute and we feel VERY blessed.

When baseball was the summer pastime!

Before I was even a teenager in the 1960's, baseball was most kids favorite sport to watch and follow. The New York Yankees were the best team most of those years; at least to the middle 60's. I was a Yankee fan. They had pretty much the same players every year or at least it seemed like it. There was Elston Howard and Yogi Berra catching. Whitey Ford, Steve Hamilton, and Mel Stottlemyre were the pitchers I remember the most. Al Downing is also memorable. Joe Pepitone and Moose Skowron were the first basement. Tony Kubek was at shortstop and Bobby Richardson played second. Clete Boyer was the third baseman. The awesome outfield was Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, and Tom Tresh.

I remember 1961 when Roger Maris broke Babe Ruth's record and hit 61 home runs. What a year!! A lot of the year it looked like Mantle would break the record and then he got hurt. Years later I found out that people didn't like Roger Maris because he broke the "Babes" record and many thought that Mantle should have broke it if anybody did.

I am presently reading "The Last Boy Mickey Mantle". It is a great book but it led to to view Mickey Mantle a little differently than when I was a kid.

Mickey Mantle was probably even better than I imagined when I was younger. He hit mammoth home runs. Now he was my hero as a kid but he was a better hitter, according to his peers than I even viewed him as at that time.

But Mickey Mantle would not have survived with today's press. The press used to protect their sports heroes. I know the Nebraska Cornhuskers used to do a lot of things wrong but never received space in the newspapers or on TV. It was ok then.

The same happened with Mickey Mantle. He drank in excess even when he was playing baseball. Some of his best games came after a hard all night drunk. He is reported to have spent a lot of time with other women even though he was married. By the way his wife stayed with him until the end even though he knew a lot of these things were going on. Mantle later died of alcohol.

I didn't realize when I was following the Yankees as a kid the injuries that Mantle suffered. He had so many that we never really saw him reach his REAL potential. Mantle's knee had so many scars from operations that he never wanted to wear shorts when in public.

The Yankees were dominated by white players. Al Downing and Elston Howard were a couple of players who weren't. This may have attributed to their downfall in the late 60's. The National League had embraced non-white players and they went past the Yankees and the American League during this time.

The late 50's and during the 60's major league baseball was everything. You found a way to watch the game of the week. I can remember Pee Wee Reese and Dizzy Dean did a lot of the games I used to watch. It was a very special time and unlike today when you could watch every game on TV if you want to pay for it.

I looked at every newspaper during the baseball season to see how my Mickey Mantle had done the day before. I followed Bob Gibson, Don Drysdale, and Sandy Koufax. I liked the Minnesota Twins and I followed Harmon Killebrew. I remember actually listening to the Houston Astros, of all teams,on the radio. Joe Morgan, Nolan Ryan, and Rusty Staub are some of the players I remember following. Those were the days.

I would be curious to know if others have memories from this time.

Finally the fullback runs the ball!

Tyler Legate ran for two touchdowns in the Red-White game on Saturday. This fall we should get some fullback traps in a real game. This writer has been talking about this for seven years now and finally...........Use ALL our weapons.

Taylor Martinez is still hobbled by his injury and until he gets that taken care of, he should stay off the field. Hopefully he can get healed by the first game but right now he doesn't look much different than the Big 12 game and the Bowl game.

Let's try Cody Green at tight end. Get him on the field but not as a quarterback. He seems to be a leader for the football team.

Burkhead is our offensive MVP.

We have not had a game changer for quite a few years but Jamal Turner can be that person. He may be the best since Johnny Rodgers. He will be great barring injuries.

Brion Carnes and Ron Kellogg can play. I hope if the others don't get better we let them play. Brion Carnes is good enough to play Big 10 football.

Our defense across the board is very good. From the defensive line back to the safeties, we should be as good as ever. Lots of speed.

Not completely comfortable that the offensive line is where we want it. There is hope but we still have a long ways to go.

How about Alex Gordon and those Kansas City Royals. WOW!!

Jimmie Johnson wins the Nascar race today. The restrictor plate races are now down to pairing up with somebody to draft with. It does provide some pretty good racing.

Former Huskers try out for Omaha Nighthawks!

The Omaha Nighthawks, under former Husker consultant Joe Moglia, have invited some former Huskers to try out. This is great marketing. Nebraskans love to watch former Huskers play football. Eric Crouch and Zac Lee have both tried out at quarterback. Marlon Lucky is trying to make the team at running back. Add Menelik Holt, Jon Briekemeier, and Will Henry and you have the Husker eye.

The Omaha Nighthawks have some financial concerns as does the entire league. If Crouch would make starting quarterback that definitely would help ticket sales. The Nighthawks want a championship team so hopefully the former Huskers can be part of this.

How about Alex Gordon? He is batting .380 and is helping the Kansas City Royals win some games. Billy Butler and Gordon are the offensive leaders. Great job Alex.

Nebraska to the Big 10 is becoming a reality. It has taken time for reality to hit but here we go. The Iowa rivalry may be unlike any we have had in the past. This may be the first hate-hate rivalry we have had. In the past we hated Texas but they didn't have the same feeling towards us.

Sounds like our offensive line and defensive line will be better. That right there will make us a much improved team. Can't wait until our fullback runs the ball for the first time. Can't wait.

The Masters is one of the best sporting events to watch on TV. Can't wait for the the 1pm telecast on CBS today.

Logan Ehlers starts for the Huskers today. It will be very interesting to see how he performs. The Huskers need him to pitch well to take the series from Kansas. He will be an important piece for the Huskers for the rest of the season. This game is on the radio today and it starts at 1pm also.

On the high school front, Scott Boehler's Gretna golf team looks like they could take a run for the Class B title this year. Also watch for the Holdrege girl's soccer team to take a run for the championship.

2 cute twin babies communicating/conversing/talking in baby language

John Pinette : I Say Nay Nay Part 6/6

John Pinette : I Say Nay Nay Part 4/6

John Pinette : I Say Nay Nay Part 3/6

John Pinette : I Say Nay Nay Part 2/6

Surprise Final Four?

Florida and Florida St both look very good. Everybody is talking Kansas and Ohio State but look to some surprises in the final four. Could we see Kentucky, Connecticut, Florida, and Florida St in the Final Four? Anything is possible right now. Should be an interesting finish.

Nebaska in the NIT!

Nebraska will play at Wichita St. on Wednesday at 6 in the first round of the NIT. The game will be shown on ESPN2. Nebraska is the number five seat so they may not have any home games or there is upsets in the bracket. Nebraska looks to play Virginia Tech in the second round if they can knock off Wichita St.

Look to a low scoring game with a Nebraska victory. Nebraska 57 Wichita St. 51.

Nebraska hopefully will make the NIT!

Colorado, who beat K-State three times this year got left off the list to make the NCAA tournament. The Big 12 has five teams in the Big Dance. They are Kansas, Texas, Texas A & M, Missouri, and Kansas State. Kansas is a number one seat but then the next Big 12 team is Texas a number four seat. The Big 12 was not looked at very favorable with the NCAA selection committee. The Big 10 has seven teams playing in the NCAA tournament.

Now, can Nebraska, Colorado, Okie State, and Baylor all make it to the NIT. Let's hope so. I have seen brackets where Nebraska will be anywhere from the number two seat to a number six seat in the NIT. The seating is very important as Nebraska plays much better at home than away. A number two seat would allow them to play at least the first two games at home. A number six seat may not allow them to be at home at all.

This writer loved Dirk Chatelain's article about Doc Sadler needs to recruit Nebraska talent. Nebraska has to have some Nebraska boys on their team. It develops the culture and provides a work ethic that is important. Doc needs to land Mike Gesell, who is a great guard that can play in the Big 10. He has one year left at South Sioux City, this year's Class B champions.

Then there is sophomore Akoy Agau from Class A champion Omaha Central. He has two more years to develop but he is a big man that can also play in the Big 10. He is projected by Andy Markowski to be 6'10" and 240 lbs when he graduates.

Andy Markowski played on NU's last NCAA team and also announced for NET for this year's tournament. He is very very good as an analyst and keeps the fans informed as the game progresses.

With the new arena coming in, Doc has to has recruit these to young men to be Cornhuskers.

Nebraska starts spring ball

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Holdrege Basketball teams excel!

Congrats to the Holdrege girl's basketball team for taking third at the State Tournament. The girls beat Lexington by one. Lexington beat Holdrege twice earlier in the year. Holdrege lost to Seward #1, Elkhorn #2, and rated Lexington twice. Holdrege beat Beatrice by two for third place.

This week the Holdrege boys take on one of the top teams in all classes, South Sioux City. The Holdrege boys are seated eight with SOuth Sioux City seated first in Class B.

Mike Gesell plays for South Sioux City and will be a division I player. Hoperfully he will play for the Cornhuskers in a couple of years as he is now a junior. Great player and Holdrege has their hands full. But in basketball, you never know what may happen.

Nebraska plays Oklahoma State tomorrow in the Big 12. OSU is 8-0 in Big 12 opening round games so this will be a close one also. Nebraska pulls this one out 71-67. Then comes Kansas.... Look to Kansas or Kansas State to win the Big 12. Texas isn't playing its best ball right now and Texas A & M isn't that great. Nebraska can actually have a 50/50 chance against every team but Kansas or Kansas State.

Nebraska basketball still has some good times ahead.

Ok Nebraska's hopes for a NCAA entry into this year's tournament is out. Or is it? Nebraska will play three, four, and maybe five more games before the selection committee makes its picks. Of Nebraska would have to win the last two games at Nebraska vs Missouri and at Colorado to have a chance but these games are both even games. It is possible.

Then Nebraska wins the first two games at the Big 12 tournament and we are probably in the NCAA tournament. It isn't over yet.

Nebraska lost to Kansas by three, Texas Tech by one,Baylor and Kansas St. by four, and now Iowa State by one in OT.

Now an NIT bid would not be the end of the world. Nebraska could get an early view of the Big 10 by playing Penn St. Minnesota, or Michigan. Hopefully the game or games would be at home as much as possible. That would be fun also. Even the the NCAA tournament would be great, the NIT may be more of a fit for late success.

This writer is looking to a one point victory over Missouri on Tuesday night. We need to keep them in the 60's.

M2U00055

M2U00058

Did You Know?

Nebraska nips K-State tonight

Prediction:
Nebraska wins narrowly against a very good K-State team. Nebraska 65-Kansas State 64.

Gilmore to USC

Coach Ted Gilmore is headed to USC to coach their receivers.

Trevor Bayne won the Daytona 500 today. He is an up and coming star. On a family trip last year, we saw him up close at Daytona. Seemed like a really nice kid and as we watched him on the nationwide tour last year, you could tell he has talent.

The Nebraska men's team won a big game vs. Texas yesterday. This improves their overall record to 18-8 and 6-6 in the Big 12. Nebraska beat the hottest team in college basketball and the number one college player in Jordon Hamilton.

Every game from here on out is very important and will be very close games. Next up is Kansas State in Lincoln on Wednesday night. This will be another tough matchup and definately not a gimmee. Kansas State was, for some, the preseason pick to win the Big 12. We can't let up now.

Nebraska needs to beat K-State to have a chance at the NCAA tournament. That's this writer's prediction. The Big 12 will probably have six teams go, maybe five. Texas, Kansas, Texas A & M, and Missouri are locks so that leaves Baylor, K-State, and Baylor for the other one or two spots. Nebraska has home games with K-State and Missouri and away games with Iowa State and Colorado. All winnable but we could go either way. If we play well hopefully we go 3-1. That would give us a 9-7 record in the Big 12. If we lose against K-State that will probably put them into the tournament with two wins against Nebraska.

One more thing. This writer knows of a few incidents that happened yesterday with Nebraska fans being VERY rude to the Texas fans. This took away from the victory because Nebraska should be represented much better than the way some ignorant fans acted yesterday. The Texas team enjoys playing in Lincoln and they are a bunch of good kids even though many fans think anybody from Texas are a bunch of low class citizens. Texas won the consideration for other contest and I am embarrassed as a fan.

You start to realize that next year will be so much different. We don't have any rivalries that will get the fans fired up about. I think it football, we get enthusiastic no matter who the opponent is because of tradition. But in basketball it will be interesting to see how big the crowds are and how passionate the fans are during the game. It will feel like our normal pre-conference games in the past, I think.

Nebraska will win a road game Wednesday night!

Nebraska has lost 13 conference road games in a row. Wednesday night that string stops!! Nebraska will win because they have too many weapons including Lance Jeter, who is this writer's pick as all conference point guard. Nebraska has a supporting cast that can play good ball. Toney McCray has to continue to score. Nebraska 65 Oklahoma 58.

Many times I have mentioned that the men's basketball team has to have Nebraska kids on the team. This year's main Nebraska player is Drake Beranek. He provides spark and Nebraska fans like to see players from their state playing. Mike Gesell is a player that Nebraska needs to get on the team. He is a star for South Sioux City. Gesell is only a junior this year. The Nebraska senior class is sparse this year with Big 10 talent but hopefully there is a diamond in the rough out there.

This fall let's incorporate the fullback back into the Nebraska offense as a threat. Garrison and Cotton both know how to teach trap blocking and we hopefully will have some fullback runs this fall. I'm telling you if we do our offense will start to produce. The spread is a threat but tough power football is where this team needs to be.

Wednesday night the men's basketball team gets to 5-6 and hopefully can end the season strong!

Dedicated to Our Soldiers and Family "SHARE" - Rhema "Note To God"

Nebraska has the biggest game of the year Wednesday!

Nebraska went against a very tough and number two ranked Kansas on Saturday and was in the game with ten minutes to go. However, Kansas, playing its best game of the year, beat Nebraska 86-66. Kansas and Texas are the two best teams in the nation. When they are on, they are a class above even Ohio State.

Nebraska has a must win tomorrow night. It is so important that they put a stop to their 16 game road loss streak. This writer thinks they will prove they are still in the top half of the Big 12. They will win in a huge game 62-61 versus Baylor in Waco.

62-61!! Nebraska wins!

Cripes

K-State drilled Nebraska tonight and the road loss streak continues at 16. Nebraska can Not make it to the NCAA tournament without a couple of road victories in the Big 12.

In football news, there is something going on in the coaching ranks. The Indiana head coach announced at his press conference today that his cornerback coach is coming to Nebraska to coach the entire secondary. Marvin Sanders, Shaun Watson, and Ted Gilmore were not at the recruiting event in Omaha tonight. Changes are coming.

Can Nebraska break their 15 game losing streak on the road.

K-State is prime to be beat but they do have a ton of talent. Will they finally start playing like the team that some thought in pre-season might win the Big 12? We'll see tomorrow night without our big man Almeida. Jorge Brian Diaz is supposed to make it for the game but will have no practice time this week.

If Diaz is present, we could win this but the prediction right now is 64-63 K-State. If Nebraska can win, they could establish themselves in the top four or five teams in the Big 12. The K-State game is huge!!

Nebraska basketball and the NBA!

The Nebraska men's basketball team continues to have an interesting season. They are 15-5 and ranked 40th by the Pomeroy rating. They are just coming off a big win vs. #13 ranked Texas A & M. They are a top half of the Big 12 team and they have a legitimate chance to go to the NCAA tournament. It's been a while since we did that.

We are going to Kansas State this week. Kansas State is primed to be beat. They just lost by 24 points to Kansas and aren't playing very well right now. But we have lost 15 road games in a row. Big man Almeida is hurt with a badly sprained ankle and probably won't play. Jorge Brian Diaz is gone early this week to his aunt's funeral and won't practice. Nebraska is good enough to beat K-State in Manhattan but there are some reasons we won't.

I am not an NBA fan. But today I looked at rosters to see how many Big 12 players are in the NBA and also how many Big 10 teams are in the NBA.

I found there are 41 Big 12 players and 27 Big 10 players in the NBA. The Big 12 has had more big time players.

In the Big 12 the following teams have players in the NBA. Also listed is the number of players by school:
Kansas 12
Texas 10
Oklahoma St. 4
Kansas State 3
Missouri 3
Oklahoma 3
Texas A & M 2
Texas Tech 1
Iowa St 1
Colorado 1
Baylor 1

That's right, Nebraska is the only Big 12 team without an NBA player.

Will that change? Lance Jeter or Jorge Brian Diaz?? It is possible. They are probably, at this point our only chances to make the NBA. The last players from Nebraska were Mikki Moore, who played even last year and Tyrone Lue who retired a couple of years ago.

In the Big 10 the following teams with the number of players are as follows:
Ohio State 7
Michigan St. 5
Purdue 3
Indiana 3
Michigan 3
Illinois 2
Minnesota 2
Wisconsin 1
Iowa 1

Only Northwestern and Penn State don't have representatives in the NBA out of the 11 Big 10 teams.

Latest on Nebraska men's basketball and football

Here is a list of the walk-ons for 2011 for Nebraska. There will be more walk-ons but the number will reduced down to about total of fifteen this year. The following is just a partial list.
Will Sailors - OL, Lincoln (Neb.) Northeast, 6-4, 245

Greg Milliken - ATH, Wahoo (Neb.), 6-1, 195

Aaron Hayes - OL, Elkhorn (Neb.), 6-4, 265

Broderick Boehm - LB, Lincoln (Neb.) Southeast, 5-11, 205

Chris Long - OL, Blair (Neb.), 6-4, 265

Wow, I thought NU would beat Texas Tech in men's basketball last night. This writer just didn't see that coming. NU has a series of games ahead where they could win all of them or lose all of them. They could all be a one to two point game.

Now they are off for a week until next Saturday's game vs a very good Texas A & M team. Nebraska can and should win but we'll see which team shows up.

Nebraska has a huge game vs Colorado tomorrow night!

After losing a close game to Kansas at Lawrence on Saturday, the men face a very tough Colorado team in Lincoln tomorrow night. Colorado is really good and beat Missouri last week. They are 3-0 and just recently beat Kansas State and Oklahoma State also.

After watching Kansas play, they may be overrated in the Big 12. Texas and Texas A & M look tougher right now. Texas is the team to beat.

Look to Nebraska to win tomorrow night and continue their journey to the NCAA tournament. Nebraska 69 Colorado 63. Brandon Richardson will hold Burks down and he will be under his scoring average.

Again Nebraska 69 Colorado 63

Nebraska men's basketball is much improved!

The Nebraska men's basketball team is much improved and has a very good chance to go to the NCAA tournament this year. To do that they must go 8-8 in conference play and win a game or two at the Big 12 tournament. They should be able to do that.

Tomorrow they face a buzz saw. They'll probably be in the game for quite a while but this will be their biggest loss of the year. Kansas 70 Nebraska 59.

NU has a couple of good players in Jeter and Diaz. They have ten more players who can play well. They just have to find the right combination for each game/each matchup. Each win may have a different hero; no superstars, just a lot of players that play hard team ball. That's why they will be better this year.

The other factor, and I have mentioned this for years, is the Nebraska connection is so important. Drake Beranek shows what the Nebraska work ethic is all about. We have to get a couple of very good Nebraska kids on the team for the future also. We have Mike Fox from Beatrice but who can step up and get a lot of playing time?

Nebraska sports!

Nebraska football had another non-commit. Niklas Sade, the number three rated kicker in the nation, is now committing the North Carolina State.

Having non-commits is a normal thing but Nebraska has lost three really good prospects lately.

Three and half months until the Red-White game.

Changes need to happen on offense. The defense overall had a great year. The offense continued to get worse after the first quarter of the Missouri game. The offensive line is too good to give up 12 sacks in the last two games. I wished Zac Lee could have played the last two games and this season may have been a lot different. Enough said. We need leaders and a complete check-up to see why this offense fell apart. Its more than physical talent but what is the source of the problem?

Now on to more fun things. Nebraska basketball is playing well. They are rated 40th by the Pomeroy Ratings. Look to Nebraska to have over 20 wins this year and go even or one better in the conference.

Nebraska is starting to shoot the ball. They have big men to rebound. They have leadership in Lance Jeter. They are shooting free throws better. They are very much improved. Here are the top Big 12 teams in the ratings:
3 Kansas
14 Baykor
16 Missouri
22 Texas
30 Texas A &M
38 Kansas State
40 Nebraska
45 Iowa State

Al Zikmund talks to Buck Mahoney on his touchdown in the 1941 Rose Bowl

This is an awesome article by Buck Mahoney of the Kearney Hub. If you like sports, you will like this article. I can remember Al Zikmund when he coached football and he was very active when the state track meet was held in Kearney for years.
http://www.kearneyhub.com/sports/local/article_9f016298-15ae-11e0-beba-001cc4c002e0.html

Rhema Marvanne on Maury Povich Show "Most Talented Kids 2010"

All I Want For Christmas is You - 7 yr old Rhema Marvanne..Truly Amazing...

This writer is in hiding after loss to Oklahoma!

Nebraska's offense was ineffective the last two and and a half quarters of the Big 12 Championship and lost 23-20. This writer attended the game and what looked early like a NU blowout ended in a collapse of the offense and a loss.

Points this writer noted during the game:

The game turned around when NU was ready to go up 24-3 and we threw into a crowd of OU players and the pass was picked off.

I kept thinking we would replace the QB or let Burkhead take over more of the game but it didn't happen.

Nebraska fumbled 42 times this year which affected drives even though we lost only 21 of them. Fumbles killed NU all year.

The defense played well but we can't put ever game on the defense to win.

The line seemed to block harder and have more urgency when Burkhead was in the wildcat.

Why did we send Martinez deep on a key play to catch a pass when he didn't run much of the game?

The offense got worse as the year went compared to a team that improved in 2009.

Nebraska shouldn't complain about the bowl when we could have played in the Fiesta with a win.

I wonder now how tough next year will be with losing a lot of very good defensive players this year and having no clear direction or improvement going into next year on offense.


Enough of that but I just wonder how Scott Frost would be directing the offense next year. He has been voted as one of five young assistants that have a great future. Former player who is from Nebraska???

We need some good recruits at the wide receiver position. This needs to be an emphasis. Recruiting has emphasized defensive players the last three years. We need wide receivers and hopefully an offense that they can excel in. Run the ball down their throats and then pass when we need to or as a way to throw off the defense. Throw deep now and then. Open up the field and of course, run the fullback.

In men's basketball, the win over USC looks pretty good right now. USC knocked off Texas last night in California by 17 points.

Christmas Food Court Flash Mob, Hallelujah Chorus - Must See!

Nebraska beats Colorado and memories of the best Big 8 or Big 12 game of all time!

Nebraska beat Colorado in a crucial game. They will play against Oklahoma or Oklahoma State next Saturday. The Huskers played well. Cody Green did great. Penalties hurt the Huskers and led to two touchdowns by Colorado. If we could only cut down on the penalties. Nebraska has a 50-50 chance to win next Saturday which means it should be a GREAT game.

The following was written in the Nebraska Sports Journal a while back. Good memories; especially with the Big 12 coming to an end for Nebraska. Of course this was back in the Big 8 days.

It was No. 1 Nebraska vs. No. 2 Oklahoma in front of 63,000 fans at Owens Field. Never has the quality of a game been so strong. Yes, there has been buildup of many games over the years. This game, however, featured two teams that performed brilliantly all day long. The errors of the game included three turnovers by Oklahoma and one by Nebraska. There was only one penalty the whole day, an offside penalty against Nebraska.

Oklahoma ran the record breaking Wishbone T. Nebraska was able to stop the main weapon of Greg Pruitt's end runs but was not able to stop the keeper, fullback, or most of the passing game.

Nebraska ran the I spread and the I slot. Oklahoma took away Nebraska's passing attack but Nebraska was able to the run the ball effectively. The difference in the game is the play all Nebraska fans remember. It was Johnny Rodger's punt return. It was the play we have heard called by Lyle Bremser a billion times and it is never enough. That play was the difference in the game that day.

Joe Wylie punted the ball high and deep which helped Rodgers' return. Oklahoma was down to him when he caught the ball. You can't describe the run. You have all seen it. Rodgers went 72 yards for the score!! He should have called a fair catch the way they had him covered. Greg Pruitt spun him around. Ken Jones almost had him. He darted, caught his balance, twisted, dodged, disappeared a couple of times and then ran for the end zone. Joe Blahak bumped Joe Wylie out of the way. He put the fans in the aisles. Man, woman, and child!!!

The Cornhuskers twice were able to get 11 point leads that day; 14-3 in the second quarter and 28-17 in the third quarter. Remember the punt return was in the first 3 1/2 minutes of the ballgame. But the punt return forced OU to fight from behind most of the day.

With seven minutes to go in the game, OU's QB Jack Mildren had ran for two touchdowns and passed for two more. Nebraska had the best defense in the country but Oklahoma had 467 total yards. Oklahoma also had a 31-28 lead. It was reported that Devaney lost his temper and yelled at the defense on the sideline "Why can't you guys give Rich Glover some help once in a while?" Rich Glover seemed to be doing it all that day.

Then is was NU's Jerry Tagge's turn to direct NU on the winning 74 yard drive. "Nobody said a word in the huddle but me," Tagge said. "We all just knew what had to be done." And they did it.
The drive took 12 plays and over five minutes. Jeff Kinney ran for 30 yards on two plays early in the drive. He broke a few tackles. Do you remember his torn up jersey? Tagge hit Rodgers on a third and eight with Rodgers making a great catch.

Jeff Kinney ran the ball into the end zone with little time left running behind All American Daryl White. Nebraska won 35-31 and we all felt great for hours, days, months, and years to come.

Alabama, behind Bear Bryant beat Auburn 31-7. A little bit of an upset as Pat Sullivan was the QB for Auburn. He would win the Heismann that year. All American Johnny Musso was the star for Alabama. Alabama was headed to the Orange Bowl to play Nebraska. We had never beaten Bear Bryant.

It was No. 1 Nebraska vs. No. 2 Alabama in the Orange Bowl for the National Championship. Jeff Kinney scored a touchdown followed by a 77 yard punt return by Johnny Rodgers. Jerry Tagge ran for a touchdown and so did Gary Dixon before half. NU led 28-0 at half.

Rich Sanger had a field goal and Van Brownson, subbing for Jerry Tagge scored also. NU went on to win 38-6 and beat Bear Bryant for the first time in three tries. Nebraska had won its second National championship in two years!!!!

Kudos to Nebraska Men's Basketball!

The Nebraska men's basketball team was down by 20 points with less than four minutes to go in the first half. They fought back and beat USC tonight by 60-58. Brian Diaz had 14 points and Lance Jeter had 13.

Caleb Walker had some key plays from Nebraska and Drake Beranek ignited the crowd with a three. There were only 6000 at the game tonight. Hopefully with the victory the men's team attendance will grow.

Nebraska rolls against Colorado!

Many think tomorrow that the game will be very close and possible Colorado will continue to roll. This writer thinks otherwise. Nebraska should roll vs. Colorado! The crowd will be fired up, turnovers will go NU's way, and Cody Green will have his best game as a Husker.

Let's start with turnovers. Cody Hawkins can throw the ball but he is nimble-quick and NU should have a lot of good things happen when we put pressure on him. Hopefully we won't be flagged for some of the hits because we will have a lot of them. Fumbles and interceptions. We should have at least four of them tomorrow. Yes NU will turn the ball over once or twice but four or more for Colorado will be more than we have been getting. Last week it was zero.

Cody Green is a little scary but he is definitely better than this writer has previously given him credit for. We have never lost a game when Cody Green starts and we won't this week. I just hope we don't run the same running offense we have been running. Run power football. Set up in an I formation and run the fullback now and then. THROW TO MIKE MCNIEL!!

The crowd will be loud and fired up. Last week's game got everybody's adrenalin going. Tom Osborne has asked for our support. A couple of early Colorado turnovers will have this crowd rockin.

Last week's mess is over with and after this game, we will forget about the events for a few days.

Look to Nebraska to win 37-10.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING AND SAFE TRAVELS TODAY!

I would like to wish everybody a Happy Thanksgiving!!! We have a lot to be thankful for. I am blessed have a great family!! I wish all our friends a nice Thanksgiving and enjoy the fellowship!

Top Ten Things I’m Thankful for Part I

Top Ten Things I’m Thankful for Part I

Todd Jones is a great guy and I am fortunate to have him as a friend!

Taylor Martinez gets chewed out by his coach Bo Pelini!

Ben Cotton violated by Texas A&M player 11/20/10

I had to share this!!

I hope the writer is ok that I am sharing the following. It is so neat.

Count me as a big fan of Lions 'BY JEFF SEIDEL
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

Over the years, I have grown to hate several professional football players.

OK. Hate is a bit strong, and I used to put my kids in a time-out if they ever used that word. So my bad, put me in a time-out, and let me explain.

Years ago, in my first lifetime, I covered the NFL. I was the beat writer for the Minnesota Vikings. I went to all their practices and games, and I know this might sound like a dream job, but it was harder than you might think, mainly because, um, for most of the time I was in Minneapolis; my fingers were frozen together because Minnesota is so close to the North Pole.
Being a sports writer can make you hate sports because the relationship between the news media and the players is like a bad marriage. Basically, the players looked at sports writers as vultures, a characterization I can't dispute.
One time during the off-season, I was on deadline and needed to interview a player, but he was in a rush. Another writer and I were brought into an off-limits area, and we interviewed the player as he showered. Rub-a-dub-dub, three men in a tub.
I held my tape recorder into the steam, praying I wouldn't drop it. And he was one of the good guys. Other players were jerks. They wouldn't even talk when they were fully clothed.
Over time, I grew cynical about all professional athletes.
But that quickly changed after spending some time around Ndamukong Suh, up close and personal, and best of all, it didn't involve a shower.
A few weeks ago, the Detroit Lions rookie showed up at my son's football practice. Seriously. Suh is friends with one of the players' dads and he came out to watch. "Good luck in the playoffs," Suh told the boys. "I'm going to try to catch one of your games."
Of course, I didn't believe him.
Then something surprising happened. A few weeks later, Suh came to a game. He sat in the front row on a cold Saturday afternoon, cheering for a bunch of 9- and 10-year-olds.
"Come on ref," a voice screamed. "You suck pickle juice!"
Whoops, that wasn't Suh. He's too classy. That was me.
Anyhow, Suh bought all the boys hot dogs and hot chocolate. Granted, this guy makes a gazillion dollars a year, but the gesture was touching. And I stood there thinking, this guy is seriously cool.
"He is all about the kids," said parent Terri Markray. Her son Tyler talked some trash to Suh. "Did you see my touchdown?"
Suh just smiled. It's like he has turned into an honorary member of the Lakes Area Hawks.
After the game, Suh walked onto the field and the team circled around him. "You did a great job out there," Suh said. "You played hard."
The boys were in awe, looking up at this giant. Suh patiently signed autographs and posed for pictures. It was just a small moment, but it was real and genuine, an amazing opportunity to see a different side of a pro football player.
And now, I have an admission to make: This old, cynical, crusty reporter has turned into a big fan of a man named Suh.
Contact Jeff Seidel: 313-223-4558 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 313-223-4558 end_of_the_skype_highlighting or jseidel@freepress.com

---

Nebraska has a tough game this week!

Texas A & M is a team we better be at our best playing this week. They are a "hot" team with their new quarterback. They are dangerous. If Martinez is healthy and he is able to run like he did before the injury, look to Nebraska winning 35-24.

Of course, if we play like we did against South Dakota State or Texas or our offense struggles like they did against Kansas, watch out. We will be 9-2 when we play against Colorado. So if Nebraska plays like they can, we will win in a close one. If we don't, it's loss number two. Texas A & M is too good to not be at our best.

Our head coach said some disturbing things this week. Let's start with the him saying he really didn't care much for the tradition we had with Kansas. He wasn't around for much of it so it doesn't seem to matter to him. Wasn't that one of Bill Callahan's problems was he didn't understand tradition.

He was correct that the fans weren't very excited at the game with Kansas. The reason being there wasn't much to get fired up about on the offensive side. This writer doesn't understand the last couple of passes at the end with the first team on the field either. What was the point?

Sometimes the refs might be right also. They can't be wrong on every play. Why yell at them constantly. My guess is the result is more flags. It is human nature to get back at those that are constantly nagging about everything.

I think our defensive coaching is great but for us to be looked at by other schools, other fans, and referees as a second class team is embarrassing for this Nebraska fan. I'd rather take another loss here and there than to feel like we can act anyway we want because we think we are better than them. We pay our coaches a ton of money to represent Nebraska. Let's earn our money.

On offense we need to run more power football. Our offensive line is pretty good and what will it ever take to let the fullback run the ball. That's tradition. That's Nebraska football. Throw to Mike McNeil. He's OPEN and probably our best receiver. WE have a great football team. Use the weapons.

How It's Made Baseballs

Jeff Gordon, Jeff Burton Fight/Crash - 2010 AAA Texas 500

Nebraska wins today!

Prediction

Nebraska 45

Iowa 20

What do you think?

Recruiting and Missouri

First of all, Nebraska got a great running back out of Texas today in Aaron Green. The third top player in Texas this year and the number five rated running back in the nation, Green is the only RB recruit so far. He could make an immediate impact in kick returning and punt returning. Maybe he will even get a lot of playing time at running back right away if he can learn the NU system.

In the 2011 recruiting class, which is now rated twelve by rivals, the class includes four defensive backs and four offensive linemen. There are also two quarterbacks. We have one of the following; wide receiver, kicker, running back, linebacker, and defensive tackle.

Looks like we need to fill in another defensive linemen or two and a couple of wide receivers.

Now to Missouri! Missouri is going to be tough. This should be another great game. Look to a game like last week but with less scoring. Nebraska 27 Missouri 24

Aaron Green will announce his school choice on Wednesday PM

Highly touted Texas high school running back Aaron Green will announce where he will play football and attend school in two days. Nebraska is one of four schools in the running.

Nebraska won Saturday in a great game. In re-watching the game I wonder what would have happened if Eric Martin would have been flagged on his hit on the Niles Paul kickoff return for a touchdown. That would have been huge. Some don't think it was a flagable hit but it sure looked like it to this writer. Didn't do Nebraska much for its image when he was hamming it up when the kid was laying on the field.

Taylor Martinez put on one of the best performances we have seen in a Nebraska uniform. His ability to miss tackles and make great plays was amazing. What fun!!

Our offensive line played really well overall. Let's hope they continue to improve.

Defensively we played well enough to win. Oklahoma State is a great offensive team and we held them down some in the second half to get the win. As I have said all season, we are not a great defensive team but we are pretty good. The run continues to hurt us and to be back in the Top Five teams we have to get much better stopping the run.

The win against a Top 20 team was the first since the win over Oklahoma in 2001 when Stuntz threw the pass to Crouch. That's too long and maybe this weekend we can get number two.

I watched some of the 2009 Virginia Tech game this weekend also and noticed or at least it appears Pierre Allen is a lot bigger and maybe a little slower this year. Probably just my simple mind playing tricks. Hopefully he will be healthy for the Missouri game this week.

Only about a week away for the first NU men's basketball exhibition game with Peru State.

How in the world did Texas beat Iowa State. That's three losses in four games for Texas. We are the only win for them in that stretch.

This week's game is as big as it gets as far as playing or getting a chance to play in the Big 12 Championship. We lose this game and it is really hard to figure a way if getting into that game. But coming off a week where Texas, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma St all get beat by teams from the North anything is possible. Baylor could be the best in the South as wacky as things are.

Holdrege Dusters beat McCook!!!!

Holdrege beat McCook 20-7 Holdrege had lost 17 straight games to McCook in 15 years. Last victory was 1996 when Mark Waller was the coach. That year Clinton was President and Tom Osborne was Nebraska's coach. Great job Dusters!!

Nebraska will have a tight one this week!

Oklahoma St. is undefeated at 6-0. OSU is not as good as Texas but they are still very good. Nebraska will have to be at the top of their game this week. Oklahoma St. has a great offense and they are playing in Stillwater. Maybe that's a plus for NU the way they have been playing away this year.

Which Nebraska will show up. The one that struggled against South Dakota St and had 28 missed tackles, numerous penalties, five fumbles, and 6-8 dropped passes against Texas. Jekyll and Hyde?

Nebraska is still pretty darn good. They are not a national contender, yet, because of all the error they had last week. But their defense is much more than anything OSU has seen. OSU has played a bunch of patsies against the pass. They have scored at will. But our defense is much better and i can be pretty sure we will be rapping up this week or there will be others on the field taking their places.

Mike McNeil has to have a great game for NU to win. He has to get involved. This writer still thinks he is our best receiver and he is sticking to it.

I see Nebraska 28 OSU 24. Should be a great afternoon game. College football at its best. We will be proud again of our team after this week.

Washington State at Oklahoma State - 2010 Football Highlights

Nebraska will win this one!!

I just finished my last crow pie from last week! But this week we are going a different direction. I want to say 42-7 Nebraska but Texas always plays us tough. Texas has a very good defense and they will be ready to play. So will Nebraska of course. No worry of getting up for this game.

We'll go 24-3 this time around. Nebraska will not get beat in a close one this time. Close enough but we'll win. We have the better TEAM!!

I felt bad watching some of the Kansas game tonight versus K-State. I think the final was 52-7. Kansas is the worst team in the Big 12 right now but under Turner Gill, they will improve over time.

Worst onside kick ever!!!! Texas Tech vs Baylor

Funny Prayer about Getting Old at the Caregiver of the Year Dinner

Martinez has a historic night!!

Taylor Martinez had four touchdowns and 246 yards rushing and passed for another. Just an amazing performance. The offensive line blocked well and had its best night for penalties. Tonight Nebraska played like the #1 team in the nation.

This writer missed the close game prediction by ten miles. The first quarter was close. But after that it was ALL Nebraska. ALL Nebraska!! Now on to face Texas October 16th. Should be a whale of a game but right now you have to say Nebraska will favored by a ways for sure.

KUDOs to Nebraska!! LaVonte David had 16 tackles and overall the linebackers had a really good game. It is time to give them some slack. Lorenzo Whaley had a great hit and the hit of the night was #12 Osbourne, a non-linebacker. He did all the fundamentals correct and just nailed the ball carrier.

What a night!! Can we carry this emotion through Texas and Oklahoma St. Let's hope so but it will be tough to be high three games in a row.

Now off to eat my humble crow pie!

Nebraska to win in overtime!

Nebraska has its hands full this Thursday against Kansas State. His name is Daniel Thomas. Possible Heisman candidate...He will be a difference maker tomorrow night. Earlier I had Nebraska losing by seven points in my mind. I think it will be that tough however I do believe now Nebraska will pull out an overtime victory. This victory may take a Matt Davison type catch to win.

Why will Thomas be such a challenge. It appears we have a weak spot when teams run to their left. Teams have controlled the ball at will running in this area. We have to have our linebackers step up! We have to hope the safeties don't have to help so much they get beat a couple times in the game on long passes.

So Nebraska will be able to run. Kansas State will be able to run. Both passing offenses will have some success and a bomb or two for touchdowns. Mike McNeil has to have a big night for NU to win. Both coaches are excellent. Trick plays will be a factor and watch Daniel Thomas out of the backfield throwing the ball a couple of times out of the wildcat or on an end around play.

Special teams are both good but I might give a nod to KSU on punting and punt returns.

This game could last a while with the overtime so don't go to bed too early.

NU 34 Kansas 31 in Overtime!!!!

I have watched both UFL game the Omaha Nighthawks have played. Wouldn't the Bears, Eagles, or Cardinals like to have either Jeff Garcia or Josh McCown. McCown actually looked the best of the QB's I have seen but Garcia is nothing to sneeze about. Daunte Culpepper can still throw the ball better than anybody but his legs are gone.