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.