• Nebraska comes from behind to beat Clemson 26-21
• Gator Bowl Preview from NebSports.Com
• Huskers continue practicing down in Jacksonville
• Huskers suffer bad loss to UMBC
• Nebraska picks up a huge DE commit in Jason Ankrah
• Huskers bounce back to beat IPFW 75-48
• Nebraska gets a big time commitment from Rex Burkhead
• Nebraska picks up a verbal commit from Andrew Green
• Oregon State Bests Nebraska 64-63
• Huskers pick up two verbal commits on Monday
• Buy your Gator Bowl Tickets Today!
• Nebraska has no problem with Alabama State
• Suh and Slauson earn 2nd team Big 12 - Huskers vs Cowboys
• Nebraska vs Clemson in the Gator Bowl
• Nebraska beats Creighton in an ugly 54-52 win

In less then 24 hours Nebraska will face off against Iowa State in Ames. It will be interesting to see if the Huskers build off their loss down in Lubbock last Saturday or if they will play sluggish. As a team they will be trying to break a three game losing streak and pick up their fourth victory of the season.

For a victory the Huskers are going to have to be able to run the ball. I think it is that simple against the Cyclones. The offensive line needs to cut down on the penalties and open up holes for the running backs. I expect Marlon Lucky and Roy Helu Jr. to both be around 60-75 yards rushing each with Quentin Castille adding another 30-40 yards. It all comes down to how well the line is blocking and if they stop with all the holding penalties.

Reports are saying that Cyclones will try to slow down the Huskers similar to what the Huskers did to Texas Tech last week. I don’t see that working because the Husker defense will step up and make some plays. Iowa State cannot pass the ball like Tech did last week, and they can’t even run the ball as good. The Huskers will shut down the run and force Iowa State to pass which will cause turnovers in my opinion.

The Huskers should have Phillip Dillard and Cody Glenn both back at linebacker but expect to see Matt Holt and Blake Lawrence in there as well.

My prediction: Huskers 35 Iowa State 21

It was a great day for the Nebraska coaching staff on Thursday as they received two commitments from high school players. We blogged earlier about J.T. Kerr committing and then last night, Chris Williams said yes to Coach Pelini and the University of Nebraska.

Williams is a highly rated four star inside linebacker from Abilene, Texas who is 6 foot and weighs 230 lbs. Besides Nebraska offering him a full ride scholarship, other schools including Missouri, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and LSU did as well. Rivals ranks Williams the 13th best inside linebacker in this years class and the 22nd rated player out of the state of Texas.

Williams said he can’t wait to be a “blackshirt” up in Lincoln as his high school does the same thing with their defense. The tradition and the fact that he can play for the best defensive coach in the game also played a big role in him choosing Nebraska.

This is the biggest commit for Nebraska since Cody Green committed earlier in the season. It definitely is the biggest commit for the defensive side of the ball this year.

Congrats on choosing the Huskers Mr. Williams!

The Nebraska coaching staff received a very nice telephone call on Wednesday night as tight end J.T. Kerr committed to the Nebraska Football program and the University of Nebraska. Kerr is rated as a three star prospect and will be coming to Lincoln from San Diego.

Kerr chose the Huskers over scholarships offers from Arizona and San Diego State. Florida, Maryland, UCLA, and Oregon were also talking with him about scholarships.

I really like this commit as he stands in at 6-4 and 230 lbs as a senior in high school. He has the body to step right in and contribute for the Huskers in my opinion. I expect him to pack on another 10-15 lbs of muscle when he arrives in Lincoln to help out with his blocking however.

Welcome to the Husker family Mr. Kerr!

I’m not really sure where to start off with the game recap today to be honest. You go from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows in a matter of seconds and sometimes you are lost for words. Anytime you lose in overtime it sucks, but this could have been a very big win for the rebuilding of the Husker program. Hopefully the team can grow from this 37-31 loss.

The coaching staff had a great gameplan for the game and that was to keep the ball away from Graham Harrell and the Texas Tech offense. The Huskers had the ball for 40 minutes and 12 seconds compared to the 19 minutes and 48 seconds that the Red Raiders had the ball. That part of the game plan worked however some players still don’t know how to not hold or have false start penalites.

Penalties on the offensive line are the reason the Huskers lost this game in my opinion. The offense pretty much moved the ball at will against the Red Raider defense but penalties always seemed to push them back. One case of this was right before halftime after a huge kickoff return by Niles Paul. The Huskers were already in field goal range, but back-to-back holding calls on Mike Smith pushed the field goal attempt back to 53 yards which fell just short by Alex Henery. Those three points right there cost the Huskers the game.

Some people will put the blame on quarterback Joe Ganz. Yeah he threw the interception in overtime when he held onto the ball to long and then tried to throw it away but he also kept the offense moving the entire game and put points on the scoreboard to push it to overtime. Ganz finished the game 36 of 44 for 349 yards. He threw two touchdowns and threw the one costly interception. Dreu Young and Todd Peterson both caught touchdown passes from Ganz.

Marlon Lucky, Menelik Holt, Nate Swift and Peterson all caught atleast six balls from Ganz as the receiving corps had a great game. Lucky also added 16 rushes for 66 yards as he got most of the work load in the game.

One huge play that allowed the Huskers to get back into the game was the fake field goal in the fourth quarter. Jake Wesch hit Mike McNeil who was dropped near the goal line however it was a first down for the Huskers. Ganz then ran it in on the following play to make the score 24-17.

The Husker defense could not stop the Red Raiders offense in the first half but once the second half hit they played pretty good. There were the mistakes like Murillo allowing Michael Crabtree to get behind him on the fourth and four but overall the defense stepped up and got a couple of stops in the second half that gave the offense time to put points on the scoreboard.

It’s a tough loss to take Husker fans that is for sure. I would rather lose like this then be blown out and show nothing on the field however.  The team will now be flying back to Lincoln and will start preparing for Saturday’s game against Iowa State.

What’s everyone’s feelings about the game? Did you like what you seen with the game plan? Are you mad like I am with the bonehead mistakes (penalties) that the offensive line is making?

Leave us a comment and let’s talk about the game.

The word out of Husker practices this week is that the team is getting back to the basics just as if they were opening up practice for the beginning of the season. That means proper tackling and blocking. Coach Cotton said “We’ve had probably the best three-day period of practice we’ve had all year,” after Wednesday’s practice.

That sounds good and all but I don’t think it will make one bit of difference against Texas Tech this Saturday. No matter how many points the offense scores, I don’t think the defense has enough speed to keep up with speedy wideout Michael Crabtree and the Red Raider defense.

Hopefully Cody Glenn will be able to play on Saturday as he would help out a little bit but not enough for the Huskers to pull off the upset. Expect a lot of nickle and dime coverages out of the Nebraska defense and not as many blitzing linebackers.

For the Huskers to pull off the upset or keep this game close they need to go into the game with a attitude of them against the world. Similar to the game at Texas last year. All or nothing and go balls to the wall.

Anyone want to take a shot at predicting the score of the game on Saturday? Leave us a comment and let us know your prediction.

Good news for those Husker fans that have Versus on their cable or satellite systems. The October 18th game against Iowa State has been selected to be shown on Versus at 11:30 CT. Many people figured that this game would not be on tv at all due to the fact that the Huskers have lost two games in a row and the Cyclones haven’t been playing that well either.

In Omaha and Lincoln, Versus is available on the digital tiers of Cox and Time Warner, respectively. Versus can be found on Channel 231 on Cox Communications in Omaha and Channel 229 on Time Warner Cable in Lincoln. The network is also available on Direct TV (Channel 603) and DISH (Channel 151).

The game plan that the Husker coaching staff drew up to stop Chase Daniel and the Missouri Tigers sure didn’t work as Missouri clobbered the Huskers on Saturday night by the score of 52-17. Missou jumped out to a huge lead in the first quarter and never looked back as they won in Lincoln for the first time in 30 years.

The defensive scheme that the staff drew up didn’t work out because they were unable to get pressure on Daniel and it also hoped up huge running lanes which the Tigers took advantage of. With three linemen, and then a roaming defensive end, the Tigers use the huge running gaps to run for 201 yards and passed for another 261 yards. It seemed like we had no linebackers out there and with the secondary getting blown up on most passing plays it was a very long night. There just wasn’t enough speed on the defense for the Huskers to keep up with the Tigers and it clearly showed.

The Huskers offense started off good with Joe Ganz hitting Nate Swift in the endzone for a 20 yard touchdown. But the Huskers would only score 3 points in the second quarter and then did not score again until at the end of the game on a 20 yard touchdown pass to Menelik Holt.

The offensive line played terrible once again. They could not give Ganz enough time to make all of his reads, and they also did not open up any running lanes for the backs. Marlon Lucky led the rushers with 46 yards on 14 carries. Quentin Castille had 12 carries for 26 yards. Roy Helu Jr. finished up the rushing attack with 11 yards on five carries. The backs were getting hit just after they got the ball and they pretty much had no chance to break away and make a big play.

Coach Pelini had this to say after the game:

“I’m not used to losing,” NU head coach Bo Pelini said. I’m not used to getting beat soundly. Once again, that’s my fault. Yes, damn right, yes, I am embarrassed. I apologize to the team, I apologize to the state of Nebraska, I apologize to everybody associated with the University of Nebraska football (team) and it’s my responsibility. I was hired to do a job and I didn’t do that job tonight.”

It’s going to take time that is for sure. Husker nation needs to stay behind this team and coaching staff. Don’t look for thigns to turn around quickly because they have to play another spread offense as they play the pass happy Texas Tech Red Raiders this coming Saturday. Hopefully we can see some improvement as the Huskers play their first road game of the season.

Stay positive Husker fans.

Well I am finally back at home after the dissapointing lose to Virginia Tech on Saturday night. The Hokies played “Beamer Ball” to the fullest as they scored on special teams and did a lot of little things to beat the Nebraska Cornhuskers 35-30.

Things got off to a rough start as the Hokies blocked Nebraska’s first punt of the game out of the endzone to give the Hokies the 2-0 lead. They never looked back as they quickly scored a touchdown off a Joe Ganz interception to take a 9-0 lead.

Ganz finished the night 17-of-26 for 281 yards and two touchdowns but did have the costly interception. Ganz made a few bad reads at the line of scrimmage and didn’t get rid of the ball when he needed to a couple of times that really hurt the team. What really hurt the team on the offensive side of the ball however was the lack of push from the offensive line and the lack of a running game.

Once again the line did not open up any holes for the running backs as Marlon Lucky only had 17 yards on eight carries. Roy Helu Jr. once again led the running backs with yards as he finished with 21 yards on four touches and one touchdown. You just can’t sit back and expect to beat a stingy defense like the Hokies had when you can’t run the ball.

On the defensive side, it was a very poor game by the linebackers and secondary. We all knew it would be a tough year for the secondary but I didn’t expect it to be this bad to be honest. Larry Asante was out of position and gave up big plays way to often. The linbackers missed tackles like crazy and always seemed to be out of position. (After the game, Coach Ekeler took the blame for having his players out of position) The defensive line played very good I though. Zach Potter led the team with six tackles, three of which were for a loss and also half a sack.

The biggest play of the game for the Huskers came in the fourth quarter when punt returner Nate Swift took back a 88 yard punt for a touchdown that got the Huskers back in position to win the game. However, with less then a minute left in the game after forcing the Hokies to punt, Ganz hit Todd Peterson in the middle of the field and was stripped of the ball and Virignia Tech recovered.  Even had Peterson held onto the ball, I think the clock would have ran out before Ganz would have been able to spike the ball.

Congrats to Virginia Tech as they won a tough game on the road. Nebraska just made to many stupid penalties and to many mental mistakes on defense. Things sure don’t get any easier either as the Missouri Tigers will be coming into Lincoln for another night game on Saturday.

The secondary and offensive line better have a great week of practice or things are going to ugly pretty fast against the Tigers.

It’s going to be an exciting weekend in Lincoln as the Virgina Tech Hokies come to town to take on the our Nebraska Cornhuskers. Game time is set for 7 p.m. CT so that means we will have a full day of tailgating and football activities going on! I can’t wait to get into town on Friday afternoon!

The Hokies are coming into Lincoln with a 3-1 overall record with their only loss coming to East Carolina the first week of the season. The Hokies aren’t the team that they used to be as they are down this year but are still very competitive and come to play every game.

The key for the Huskers on Saturday night in my opinion will be stopping Hokie quarterback Tyrod Taylor.  Taylor is a dual threat qb who would rather run it himself then pass. I expect the Huskers defense to key in on Taylor and shut down his running abilities so he has to pass the ball. If Taylor is forced to pass the ball, the defense will end up with an interception or two I think. Taylor has yet to pass for a td this year and has thrown two picks.

We can’t just forget about the other Hokie quarterback however as Sean Glennon will probably see a little bit of action as well. He has thrown for 197 yards, 1 touchdown, and three picks.

As far as the Huskers offense going up against the Hokies defense, I think the Huskers are going to have a pretty good day. The Hokies give up on average just 17 points but the Huskers are averaging 40 points. I really think the offense gets going and the Huskers score 27-35 points on their way to a 7-10 point victory.

One huge key to the game is if Virginia Tech can score on special teams like they always seem to do. They have been known for blocking punts and extra points in past years and they still play great on special teams. If they want to beat the Huskers, they are going to have to score atleast one special teams touchdown and cause a couple of Huskers tournovers. I just don’t see that happening.

My prediction: Huskers over the Hokies 27-17

Leave us a comment and give us your prediction!

If you have been reading Husker message boards in the last 24 hours you have probably read that there was a former husker football player that was possibly killed in a murder. However, that rumor is not true but now it is being said that Thunder Collins a former husker football player from 2000-2001 seasons could have been involved in the fatal shooting in North Omaha on Tuesday morning.

An arrest warrant issued Wednesday morning for Collins accused him of first-degree murder, and attempted second-degree murder. Collins also faces felony weapons charges. KETV has a video online of Collins being arrested if you would like to see. We will have to see how this all plays out but things sure don’t look good for Thunder.