• Nebraska offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf
• Randy Gregory to enter draft
• What a crazy year for Nebraska Football
• Nebraska and Miami battle it out in Lincoln
• Nebraska rolls past Florida Atlantic
• Three Nebraska Football night games announced
• Statement from athletic director and my quick thoughts
• UCLA embarrasses Nebraska 41-21
• Nebraska survives 37-34 against Wyoming
• I’m ready for some football!
• Thoughts heading into the 2013 season
• It’s Nebraska vs Wisconsin in the Big 10 Championship
• Thoughts on the Huskers season so far
• Big10 releases schedules for 2015 and 2016
• Aaron Green set to transfer from Nebraska

The Huskers used a strong first half performance to beat San Jose State at the Bob Devaney Sports Center today winning 63-46.  The team used some impressive defensive pressure in and some hot shooting from 3 point range to take a 38-20 lead at the half.  The second half started off very slow as it appeared Doc wanted the team to work the ball inside.  The team struggled to get points low and shooting cooled off from the outside.  The Spartans were able to cut the lead to 7 at one point until the Husker second team came in and turned the pressure up.  This pressure led to a nice run for the Huskers and put the lead back to near twenty.  The final spread ended up being 17 points.

First Half Breakdown:

The first half saw the Huskers dominate the game.  Their pressure really bothered San Jose State and they were able to get multiple turnovers using ¾ court pressure.  Then when in half court defense the team was using hard pressure on the ball and stepping into passing lanes trying to create turnovers.  When the ball went into the low post the team immediately double teamed.  What really helped the team expand the lead was their outside shooting.  The team was 7 of 12 from three in the first half.  Threes were raining in from all areas of the court; the Huskers definitely took advantage of their hot hands to expand the lead.  Even with the dramatic size difference the Huskers out-rebounded the Spartans 21 to 18 in the first half.

Second Half Breakdown:

The first 10 minutes of the second half the Huskers were just as cold as they had been hot in the first half.  They could not buy a bucket no matter if it was an attempt inside or from 3.  The team attempted to get some points low by getting Chris Balham a couple of looks to start the half, but he failed to convert.  During the cold streak Toney McCray was the only Husker to be able to get anything going.  The team finally got their offense going by Paul Valander making an open three pointer.  Doc turned up the full court pressure at that point and really disrupted the Spartans.  They had trouble getting the ball in bounds and their point guard really showed that he was a lackluster ball handler.  NU used a series of layups to extend the lead and finished out the game.

Player reports:

Toney McCray appears to be the real deal.  He is physically gifted and has definitely benefited from the redshirt year.  He is a physically impressive player that can get his shot and score whenever he chooses too.  Henry and Miller both did a nice job of running the point and applying solid defensive pressure.  Miller’s aggression and ability to push the fast break will help this team get points inside the paint off of layups in transition.  Ade Dagunduro and Ryan Anderson both had solid games and were very strong on the boards.  Brandon Richardson and Steve Harley both made open shots and took advantage of holes in the defense to get drives to the basket.  San Jose really packed the lane in to stop the dribble penetration from our guards.

Final Thoughts and Questions Moving Forward:

Are the Huskers going to be able to continue to get long rebounds from missed 3 point shots and keep possessions alive?  What will NU do when the other team has a capable point guard with the ability to successfully feed the post?  There were multiple times in the second half were the Spartans had dunks caused by NU’s lack of height.  Edwards and Balham are definitely still question marks down low.  Edwards did not enter the game until it was basically out of reach with 5 minutes remaining.  He did play well during the time he was in and showed the ability to score the ball from the post area.  Balham will have to play because of his defensive ability and size.  What does the team do moving forward if they cannot make their outside shots?  It almost cost NU big time in this game as the Spartans cut their lead.  They need to figure out a way to create some layups or other opportunities for easy baskets in the half court.  The defensive pressure they can apply is going to be the key to this team’s success.  Overall the team played very hard and it was an entertaining game.  This team will be fun to watch this year.

Go Big Red!

The Nebraska Football team will be taking a bus down to Manhattan, Kansas on Friday as they get set to take on the Kansas State Wildcats Saturday afternoon. The Huskers are hoping to come away with another Big 12 conference victory and keep the momentum building as they get closer to the regular season finale with Colorado.

The Huskers come into the game with a 6-4 overall record and 3-3 record in the Big 12 while the Wildcats are 4-6 and 1-5 in the conference. The Wildcats don’t have a lot to play for as they already know that Ron Prince won’t be back as head coach next year. Beat writers in Manhattan have already said that they feel that some of the players have already given up on the season and they would not be surprised to see a Husker blowout victory.

For the Huskers to come away with a victory they will need to slow down Josh Freeman. They need to get pressure on him and force him to make some bad decisions with the football which he has done this year. Freeman is hoping to have a big day against the Huskers as he is looking to improve his draft stock if he does indeed choose to enter the draft after this season so I expect him to really bring it Saturday afternoon.

I see the Huskers coming out and really piling up the yards against the K-State as they are ranked 110 nationally as they give up 451 yards per game. Look for Joe Ganz, Roy Helu Jr., and Nate Swift to have huge days against this defense

Also look for Latravis Washington to get a lot more playing time this week as he helps fill in for Cody Glenn who has been suspended. The Huskers will be without Phillip Dillard and probably Lydon Murtha as well as they are both still injured.

I’m looking at a Nebraska victory with the final score being 42-27

Well Husker fans, you have been wondering when players on the defensive side of the ball would be receiving blackshirts. Here we are with two games left in the regular season and it has happened. Some of the players were seen wearing blackshirts during practice today and it was made official that they were awarded after practice.

In total, 11 Blackshirts were handed out to: Pierre Allen, Larry Asante, Phillip Dillard, Eric Hagg, Armando Murillo, Zach Potter, Ty Steinkuhler, Clayton Sievers, Ndamukong Suh, Anthony West and Tyler Wortman.

It’s been a crazy day for Nebraska Football but with the handing out of the blackshirts, hopefully it overshadows the bad. It’s too bad that Cody Glenn was suspended the day the jerseys were handed out.

This came as a shock to me this afternoon as we have received word that Cody Gleen has been suspended indefinitely by head coach Bo Pelini. The only thing we know at this time is that Glenn has been suspended indefinitely from the Nebraska football program for a violation of team rules.

The Athletic department said that the coachers and players will not have any other comment on this situation. If we hear of anything else, you will know about it right here at NebSports.Com

Husker Basketball 2008

When Doc Sadler came to Nebraska in the fall of 2006 people expected an up-tempo pressing style of basketball.  So far that has not happened.  Alecs Maric by far the teams most talented player while creating mismatches against opposing teams was not suited to a run and gun game.  Also the depth and talent at the guard and forward positions was not where it needed to be to play fast.  Things have changed, Alecs is gone leaving a big hole, but the Huskers finally have the depth of guards to be able to play the pressing style of basketball that was promised when Doc arrived on campus.  The big question though is who is going to fill the void left down low and can Nebraska win without a prominent post presence?

This year’s lineup will feature a group of guards and forwards as there is not a true center on the team.   The probably starters will include familiar faces that have been in the program.  The only real question of who starts is at the point guard sport where Cookie Miller and Sek Henry are battling daily.  Here is my prediction for the starting lineup:

Sek Henry or Cookie Miller, Steve Harley, Ade Dagunduro, Ryan Anderson, Chris Balham

With the plan to run coach Sadler and the players have said that who starts will not matter as much because there are going to be playing 9 or 10 a night.

The other players that will probably fill out the regular rotation are:

True Freshman Eshaunte (Bear) Jones,  the Redshirt Freshman Brandon Richardson, Alonzo Edwards, and Toney McCray, Senior Paul Valendar

The biggest question mark on this team is down low.  Who is going to fill the big shoes that Alec Maric left?  It appears that the team plans to use a rotation of big men to get this done.  Chris Balham is going to be first looked at to fill this role, but as we saw last year his knees are questionable at best.  He had off season knee surgery to make his knee situation better, but his role with the team will be limited.  Doc will probably be happy with getting 15-20 minutes a game from Chris.  More likely though his minutes will be 10-15 a game with some games missed due to his knee problems.  With Balham’s physical issues redshirt freshman Alonzo Edwards must step up and play very well this season.  Coach Sadler is really pushing Edwards to get better everyday in practice.  If Edwards can live up to his potential he should be able to fill in the majority of the rest of the minutes at the 5 spot.  There are a couple of other people that are probably going to get minutes down low: Alex Chapman and possible Jorge Diaz if he can get qualified in time to start the second semester.  Diaz is working on his English proficiency test.  He needs to complete that test to be able to fully qualify at UNL.

Things to watch for:

This team should have very good guard and forward play although the front line players will not be any better than the other teams in the Big 12 conference, the second wave of players is just as talented as the starters are.  Watch to see how Ade Dagunduro has developed; has he matured to where he will not get two very silly fouls to start a basketball game?  Can Steve Harley get his shot going on something other than a screen?  The guards are not going to have the space they had to operate last year with Maric playing down low.

The key to the season:

The team should be able to score on offense with the players they are putting on the floor.  They will be able to score points when they are aggressive and play to their talents.  The big question is when they get into the half court sets how are they going to get that all important defensive rebound to closeout the possession?  If Balham can stay healthy this team is headed for over 20 wins.  If Balham can’t play this team is going to struggle especially when it comes to conference play.

Predictions: 

My prediction is 20-10 regular season with a 9-7 conference record and on the NCAA bubble.  They will need to win at least one if not two games at the Big 12 tournament to make it into the NCAA tournament.  The team is going to have to live up to their potential to be able to achieve these goals.  The team is driven and Doc will push them very hard to be the best they can be.  It will be a very interesting season to say the least.

Go Big Red!

Corey

Basketball season is kicking off and we are glad to have two new bloggers on board at NebSports.Com. Grant and Corey will both be blogging about the Nebraska mens basketball team throughout the season.

Look for a season preview from Corey later on today or tomorrow! Welcome to the site guys!

The Nebraska Cornhuskers picked up a huge win Saturday afternoon over the visiting Kansas Jayhawks. The Huskers got great performances from Ndamukong Suh and Roy Helu Jr. as they came away with a 45-35 win and improved to 6-4 on the season. Suh and 12 tackles and 2.5 sacks while Helu Jr. ran the ball for 115 yards and two touchdowns. Suh also got a touchdown pass from Joe Ganz when he lined up as fullback late in the game.

The win was Nebraska’s 20th straight victory over Kansas at Memorial Stadium dating back to 1968.  The win also gave the Husker’s their much needed sixth with of the season to make them bowl eligible.

Husker quarterback Joe Ganz completed 28-of-37 passes for 324 yards and three touchdowns. It was the fourth time in the last five games that Ganz has thrown for over 300 yards. He did have one interception and was sacked twice as well. Overall it was a pretty good game for Ganz, he just needs to work on getting rid of the ball a little quicker to avoid the sacks. Chris Brooks, Nate Swift, and Suh all caught touchdown passes from Ganz. It was Brook’s and Suh’s first touchdown receptions of their careers

Mike McNeill also caught a touchdown pass from Marlon Lucky. Lucky was lined up in the Joker formation and faked a run up the middle and then did a “Tim Tebow like” pass to McNeill who was wide open in the middle of the endzone.

I was very surprised with how well the defensive line played in the game. Suh was a beast all game long, while Zach Potter and Pierre Allen both played well as well. They kept pressure on Todd Reesing all day. Reesing was still able to pass for three touchdowns and 304 yards but you can’t really blame the d-line for those yards.

The defensive backs still need a lot of work as they did give up some big plays and missed some tackles. The missed tackles and terrible angles are hurting the defense in every game and I doubt we see anything different this season. Problems in the secondary are just something that everyone is going to have to get used to for the remainder of the season in my opinion.

Right now look for the Huskers to possibly be playing in the Sun Bowl. Sun Bowl officials were in Lincoln for the game and they would love to have the Huskers. The Sun Bowl committee is also honoring Tom Osborne this year by electing him into the Sun Bowl Hall Of Fame so they will really be pushing to have the Huskers in the game.

Up next for the Huskers will be a road game against the Kansas State Wildcats. The game is once again on pay per view and will start at 2:30 CST. Time to break out the credit card one more time Husker fans.

The Nebraska football team will be looking to get back on track as they face off against the Kansas Jayhawks on Saturday afternoon. The Huskers are coming off a blow out loss to Oklahoma where they were knocked out in the first three minutes and really never had a shot at getting back into the game. With three games left in the regular season, they are calling this a three game season and it starts with Kansas.

Last year the Jayhawks got the best of the Huskers as they won in Lawrence by the score of 76-39. I don’t expect that type of score this year in Lincoln but the Huskers will have their hands full that is for sure. It all starts with the Huskers trying to slow down Todd Reesing who has thrown for 20 touchdowns and 2,368 yards. If the defense can get pressure on Reesing and keep him contained they will be sitting pretty I think. However if they let Reesing sit back in the pocket and pick apart the defensive backs it could be a very long day just like it was last year in Lawrence.

I look for both teams to try to establish a power running game early in the game. With the weather in the 40′s and some strong winds the team that runs the ball better will win this game in my opinion. I don’t think you will see the teams throwing as much as they usually do and when they do it will be more short pass patterns then the bombs. It will be critical for the Huskers offensive line to block well and create holes for Marlon Lucky, Roy Helu Jr and Quentin Castille.

I expect Lucky to get the start as he has been but Helu should get some touches early in the game. He needs to touch the ball atleast 12-15 times and the same for Lucky. I’m not sure if we will see much of Castille has he is putting the football on the ground too much as of late.

This game might just come down to turnovers. I think it will come right down to the end and the team that holds onto the ball will come away with the victory. Call me a homer but here is my prediction: Nebraska 35 Kansas 31

Nebraska fans will be breaking out the credit card once again this season if they want to watch the Huskers on tv. After not being picked up for a tv slot, the Nebraska vs Kansas game will be played at 1:30 CST and will be shown only on pay per view.

Once again the game will cost around $30 if you choose to order it. It is my understanding that the university wanted an afternoon game as they feel they have had to many night games this season and that could be one of the reasons why the game is on pay per view. Of course, Fox would rather have the game on pay per view anyways because they know Husker fans will be paying the money to watch the team.

As of right now there will be no tv for Nebraska vs Kansas State game however. It is up to K-State and their officials to decide the gametime and if they want to have it on pay per view. I doubt pay per view really matters to them as they can’t even sell out their stadium. Hell, they probably can’t even pack it full if they were giving away tickets. We might be turning to the radio for the game in a ten days.

So will you be ordering the pay per view for the Kansas game or just listening to it on the radio?

I’m not really sure where to start blogging after watching the Sooners roll to a 62-28 victory Saturday night against the Huskers. Things happened so fast before Husker fans knew it, it was already 21-0 Oklahoma. Two interceptions and a fumble by the Husers put them in a deep hole that they were never able to get out of.

Pretty much every aspect of the game was struggle for the Huskers. It wasn’t just the offense or the defense, even special teams played terrible. Multiple times the Sooners were starting at mid-field or on their side of the field because the Huskers kickoff and punt coverage teams played terrible.

There was really only one highlight for the Huskers and that was Roy Helu who ran for 157 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries. Helu carried the running attack for the Huskers as Marlon Lucky was sidelined with a injury in the game and Quentin Castille fumbled the ball on a mis-handle by Joe Ganz and Castille.

I found it pretty interesting after the game that Coach Pelini did not allow his players to talk to interviews. He was clearly pissed off with the way the game went and did want the media asking the players any questions about the game. He directed everything at himself once again but at some point, he can’t be taking all the blame after every loss.

The Huskers will have to forget about this blowout loss as they will now start preparing for Kansas. It was announced that the Nebraska / Kansas game will be played at 1:30 CST and will only be available on PPV. Had the Huskers played a little better last night I’m sure we would not have had the Kansas game on PPV. So now most Husker fans will probably shell out the $30 for the game and hope for a better outcome.

Stay in their Husker fans…