• Nebraska vs Western Michigan preview
• No blackshirts says Bo Pelini
• Nebraska Football Week 1 Depth Chart Released
• Brent Qvale the newest commit for the Huskers
• New coaching staff doesn’t want to play “cupcakes”
• First day of practice has come and gone for the Huskers
• Nebraska’s first three games will be on Pay Per View
• Huskers get another verbal committment from Texas - This time Nick Ash
• Huskers get another committment from the state of Texas
• Ronnell Grixby won’t be playing in 2008
• Jesse Coffey says yes to Nebraska Football scholarship
• Husker talk at Big 12 Media Day
• Internet hoax about two Oklahoma players backfires on Husker fan
• Cody Green chooses Nebraska over Texas A&M
• Marlon Lucky and Joe Ganz appear on award watch lists

Lincoln, NE - Aaron Pribanic made a solid case to move up to the Sunday starter spot on Nebraska’s pitching rotation today with his 2nd straight complete game 7-0 win over visiting Northern Colorado (5-8).  The shutout was the first of the season for a Nebraska pitcher as the Huskers (10-2) completed the 4-game sweep of the Bears.

On the day, Pribanic allowed just 5 hits, struck out 7 and didn’t walk a single batter while throwing just 103 pitches.   The complete game lowered his ERA to 0.99 for the lowest ERA of the 4 starters (Dorn 1.35, Jennings 2.87, Weber 7.16).

The Husker bats were steady throughout scoring runs in all but the 1st and 5th innings.  DJ Belfonte led the way with a 3 for 5 day which included his homerun of the year.

Up next for the Huskers is South Dakota State in Lincoln tomorrow at 1:35 pm before they travel to Kansas State to take on the Wildcats for the first Big XII series of the season.

Lincoln, NE - The Huskers (9-2) took both ends of a doubleheader Sunday over the Northern Colorado Bears (5-7) 3-2 and 8-5.  The wins were the 7th and 8th consecutive victories, all of which started at the beginning of this 12 game home stand.

In the opener, the Huskers used a strong start from Junior right-hander Dan Jennings to fight off an equally strong start from former Husker Jon Klausing.  The Huskers managed just 3 hits against their former teammate, scoring just two runs, both in the 3rd inning.  DJ Belfonte coaxed a one-out walk and Jake Mort singled on a hit and run to put runners on the corners.  Senior Jake Opitz grounded out to first, but brought Belfonte home and moved up Jake Mort who was then brought home by a Bryce Nimmo RBI.

Northern Colorado got a run back in the 5th off a double and single (the only two hits allowed by Jennings).  Northern Colorado threatened again in the 7th when Jennings walked the first two batters and was relieved by Mike Nesseth.  Nesseth made a play on a sacrifice, but tried to get the lead runner and third and everyone was safe.

Nesseth managed to get the next hitter into a double play, but the damage was done and the tying run came across.  The game remained locked at 2 until the eigth when Craig Corriston singled home Mitch Abeita for the go ahead run.  Erik Anderson set the Bears down in order in the ninth for his first career save.

In game 2, the Huskers came out aggresive scoring four runs in the first inning and adding another in the 2nd off of David Stewart’s first career homer. 

Thad Weber was sharp early keeping a shutout through the 5 innings.  In the 6th however, he ran into trouble allowing 4 runs (2 earned) including a 2 run bomb by Kevin Sandberg.  He allowed 1 more in the 7th on an RBI double to bring the Bears within 3.

With the tying run at the plate, Zach Herr closed the door getting an inning ending groudout to end the threat.  Northern Colorado would not threaten again as Zach Heer struckout the next 5 batters before inducing a popout to end the game.  Zach ended with a career best 6 strikeouts over 2.2 innings of work to earn his first save of the year.

Despite Thad Weber’s rocky inning, the Husker pitching continues to be the suprise story for the Huskers.  The Bears have managed just 14 hits through 27 innings this weekend.  Plus, the Husker bullpen hasn’t allowed a run over the last 22 innings dating back to February 24th.

The Huskers play the series finale on Monday at 1:35 pm.  The Huskers send Junior JC transfer Aaron Pribanic (1-0, 1.86 ERA) to the hill against Senior Dan Kazell (0-0, 9.35 ERA) for Northern Colorado.

Lincoln, NE - The young season is barely over 2 weeks old and already there doesn’t seem to be enough to say about Senior right-handed pitcher Johnny Dorn.   Dorn led the Huskers (7-2) to a clear 12-2 victory over Northern Colorado (5-5) with an impressive career-high 13 strikeouts in 7 innings including striking out the first 7 batters.  Even though the Bears managed to scratch two runs off of him (1 unearned), Dorn was really in control all day.  The Bears managed just 3 hits off the Senior, none before the 5th inning.

For the offense, the Huskers used 2 big innings to put the game away early.   In the five-run 2nd inning, Bryce Nimmo, Cody Neer, Nick Sullivan, Ben Kline, DJ Belfonte and Jake Mort rattled off 6 consecutive base hits to give Johnny more than enough runs to put the game at 4-0.  Opitz added a sacrifice fly to cap the scoring at 5. 

On the day, Senior Bryce Nimmo led the way with a 3 for 4, 2 RBI, 2 Run day.  Freshman Ben Kline also added a 2 for 3 day with an RBI and 2 runs scored to increase his average to .310 for the season. 

But the real story of the day was on the mound.  Dorn has always been a solid pitcher for Nebraska and is 2nd on the career win (33) list behind Shane Komine (41) so it should be no suprise that Johnny’s pitching well, but never in his career has he been this dominant.  

Consider these numbers:

• 13.05 Ks/9 this year vs 6.87 a year ago  (71 all last year in 16 starts vs 29 in 3 this year)
• 5.23 ERA vs a miniscule 1.35 this year
• .149 Opponents Batting Average this year vs .270 Last Year

It’s way to early to draw any real conclusions, but what we’ve seen so far has made it tough to contain the excitement.  It should be exciting to watch as the young Huskers have showed a lot of promise early on.

On Sunday the two teams match up again at 12:05 pm for a double header.  The first game features Junior Dan Jennings (1-0, 2.79 ERA) vs former Nebraska pitcher Jon Klausing.  Klausing has impressed thus far for the Bears with a 1-0 record and a 1.50 ERA.

The two teams wrap up the series with a Monday afternoon game at 1:35 pm.  The series was pushed back 1 day in hopes to catch warmer temperatures for the game.

In a rare ACC-Big 12 match-up, Florida State (1-1) travels 1,650 miles west to take on Colorado (1-1) in a night game set for ESPN. Both programs are at a pivotal point. Colorado is looking for their first big win in the Dan Hawkins era. Florida State is trying to re-establish their name in the college football world after finishing 7-6 last season and opening this season with a loss to Clemson.

Why CU will win?

This is a game CU players and fans have had circled for some time. Coach Hawkins understands that this is a statement game for the CU program. CU will win this game if Florida State continues to make the mental mistakes that have plagued this program for the past two years. I expect Hawkins to pull out the bells and whistles for this game and if he is able to pull a surprise or two by Coach Bowden the Buffs could win this game. Also, this game is in Boulder which is 5,156 feet higher than what the Seminoles are use to. For those who have not gone from sea level to a mile high to play an athletic event, it is quite the challenge.

What does CU need to do to win?

• Run the ball effectively

Last week versus Arizona State, CU rushed for only 32 yards. Starting running back Hugh Charles returns for CU after missing last weeks game with a hamstring injury. Quarterback Cody Hawkins looks to be a promising signal caller but right now he does not have the arm strength or wide receivers to win this game without the support of a good ground attack. Florida State’s defense has been solid versus the run so far this season. FSU allowed just 132 yards versus Clemson’s running back duo of James Davies and C.J. Spiller. Last week versus UAB they allowed only 119 rushing yards but the Blazers were able to average 4.3 yards per carry.

• Win the intangibles

One of the biggest obstacles for Florida State this season has been penalties and turnovers. Against UAB they had 12 penalties for 131 yards along with three turnovers. FSU was minus eight in turnovers last season. To defeat a program like FSU, CU has to win the turnover battle. CU is minus one in turnovers through two games.

Why FSU will win?

Speed. Colorado has not faced a team with the type of speed Florida State possesses. Coach Hawkins admitted earlier this week that the Seminoles are much faster than the Arizona State team that beat the Buffs by 19 points. From linebacker Geno Hayes to cornerback Myron Rolle, the Seminoles have plenty of speed on the defensive side of the ball. This speed will make it very difficult for Cody Hawkins to throw the ball consistently on Saturday. Last week versus Arizona State Hawkins was just 15-for-42 with 155 yards passing. Granted he had a number of passes dropped including two would-be touchdown passes. CU’s passing game was among the worse in the country last year. Early indications show that the passing game will be better this year but you may not see it on Saturday.

What does FSU need to do to win?

• Get ahead early

If FSU can get ahead early it could be a long evening in Boulder for CU. CU doesn’t have the athletes quite yet to score quickly and often which was evident in the Arizona State game. CU did show the ability to come back in week one versus CSU (down 28-17 in the 3^rd quarter) but FSU’s overall speed and talent is on a different level than CSU.

• Consistent play from Weatherford

Most FSU fans were calling for backup Xavier Lee after Weatherford’s poor performance versus Clemson. Weatherford responded by throwing for 332 yards and 3 touchdowns versus UAB last week. Weatherford has been extremely inconsistent throughout his career. Matter of fact, the last time Weatherford had back-to-back 300 yard games is October of 2005. Weatherford isn’t the only person to blame. His wide receivers, DeCody Fagg and Greg Carr in particular, have been very inconsistent so far this season.

Prediction

FSU is not the same team we saw in the 90’s but they still have a lot of speed and talent. Both teams have issues right now but FSU has more overall talent to make up for all the problems. FSU has Alabama next on the schedule so they know they need to start playing better now. I like FSU 24 to 13 as I think they have too much speed for CU.

By PJMHusker