• 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

The much anticipated depth chart has been released for the game against Western Michigan this Saturday. There are a couple of suprises on there that is for sure. Also, it shows how thin the defense is at key positions when you have so many freshman/sophomore’s in the twp deep. Did we not have a junior class on the d-line?

Anyways here it is and let us know what you think and what really suprised you about it.

OFFENSE:

Quarterback: Joe Ganz, Patrick Witt, Zack Lee
Running Back: Marlon Lucky or Roy Helu or Quentin Castille
Fullback: Thomas Lawson, Justin Makovicka
Tight End: Mike McNeill, Dreu Young, Ryan Hill, Ben Cotton
Wide Receiver: Nate Swift, Menelik Holt, Will Henry, Chris Brooks
Wide Receiver: Todd Peterson, Niles Paul or Curenski Gilleylen
Left Tackle: Mike Smith, Jaivario Burkes
Right Tackle: Lydon Murtha, Marcel Jones
Left Guard: Mike Huff, Keith Williams
Right Guard: Matt Slauson, D.J. Jones
Center: Jacob Hickman, Mike Caputo

DEFENSE:

Open End: Barry Turner, Pierre Allen
Base End: Zach Potter, Clayton Sievers
Nose Tackle: Ndamukong Suh, Shukree Barfield, Terrence Moore
Tackle: Ty Steinkuhler, Jared Crick
WILL Linebacker: Cody Glenn, Blake Lawrence
MIKE Linebacker: Phillip Dillard, Will Compton, Colton Koehler
BUCK Linebacker: Tyler Wortman, Sean Fisher
Right Corner: Anthony West, Prince Amukamara
Left Corner: Armando Murillo, Eric Hagg
Strong Safety: Larry Asante, Major Culbert
Free Safety: Ricky Thenarse, Matt O’Hanlon

SPECIAL TEAMS:

Place Kicker: Alex Henery or Adi Kunalic
Punter: Dan Titchener, Jake Wesch
Long Snapper: T.J. O’Leary, Justin Baumgartner

The punt and kick returners have not been announced but word is that Nate Swift and Niles Paul will be returning punts.

So what does everyone think? I think the defense looks very thin with a lot of young players going to see action. I think the lines are going to have to play very good for the team to have success. Hopefully players can step up and make the plays they are capable of making.

We will have our writeup about the Western Michigan game later today or on Wednesday so stay tuned for that! GO HUSKERS!

Award watch lists are starting to make their way out into publications and websites for the upcoming college football season and so two Nebraska players made it on lists today.  Marlon Lucky has been named to the 2008 Maxwell Award watch list, which is given annually to the nation’s top player by the Maxwell Football Club. Joe Ganz has been named to the watch list for the Jonny Unitas Golden Arm Award, given to the nation’s top senior quarterback.

Congrats to Lucky and Ganz, but I’m sure they both know it is all just preseason talk and nothing will happen until they step on to the field and have a great season for the University of Nebraska Football team.

The Nebraska football team concluded their spring practices with the annual spring game on Saturday afternoon.  The starters were split up between teams so the competition was pretty good.  The red team led by Joe Ganz beat the White team 24-14.

Ganz threw for 131 yards and two touchdowns against the white team defense.  Ganz hooked up with Curenski Gilleylen on a 77 yard touchdown.

Patrick Witt and Zac Lee both had decent days as well for the Huskers.  Witt took most of the snaps so I assume he is the clear leader for the #2 spot over Lee at this point.  Witt completed 6-of-12 pass attempts for 61 yards. He was intercepted one time.  Lee completed 6-of-11 attempts for 87 yards and a touchdown.

At the running back position, Marlon Lucky ran for 37 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries.  Quentin Castille ran for 47 yards and also caught two balls for 55 yards.  Roy Helu finished the game with 67 yards and one touchdown while Marcus Mendoza ran for 33 yards and caught a 24-yard pass for a touchdown.

Prince Amukamara and Armando Murillo made eight tackles to each for the red team.  Amukamara forced a fumble and Murillo and an interception as well.  Colton Koehler led the Whites with six tackles.

Coach Pelini said after the game that there is still plenty of work that needs to get done to get ready for next season.  Hopefully all the kids take it serious this summer during off season conditioning and they come out ready to play in August!

GO BIG RED

Junior running back Marlon Lucky came out and officially said that he will be back for his Senior season next year.  This is a great decision for Lucky in our opinion.  There were so many good running backs that entered the upcoming draft, that there was no way he would be a first or second round draft pick.  Spending one more year in the program, getting stronger and faster will only help to be drafted higher in a littler over a year.

Lucky said he is excited to play for Coach Pelini and thinks they will do great under the new coaching staff.  I would expect to see Lucky have a monster year in 2008!

Marlon Lucky and Carl Nicks have been named to 2nd team All-Big 12.  Ten other Husker players were added to honorable mention as well.  Not too bad overall for a team that finished below .500 and not going to a bowl game.  Hopefully Lucky decides to come back and play his senior year for the Big Red, and will be first team next year.

The players that received honorable mention are:

Brett Byford
Lydon Murtha
Jacob Hickman
Maurice Purify
Zach Potter
Bo Rudd
Steve Octavien
Larry Asante
Cortney Grixby
Dan Titchener

Well Well Well what is everyong going to be talking about this week? A HUSKER WIN!  The Nebraska Cornhuskers came out to play on Senior Day against the Kansas State Wildcats and they dominated them.  The final score was 72-31.

Junior Quarterback Joe Ganz led the Huskers by throwing seven touchdowns and throwing for 510 yards.  Yes, you read that right!  Seven touchdowns and 510 yards!  That is a great performance by the Husker offense today.  All the way from the quarterback to the linemen, and onto the running backs and receivers.  Everyone did a great job!

Maurice Purify led the Husker receivers with six catches for 108 yards.  Todd Peterson grabbed four balls and two touchdowns while Frantz Hardy caught three balls for 83 yards and three touchdowns.  Marlon Lucky and Terrance Nunn both caught a touchdown pass from Ganz as well.

Lucky led the Husker rushing attack with 103 yards and freshman Quentin Castille finished with 50 yards on 11 carries.  Not as many rushing yards as I thought they would get but that is what happens when Ganz passes for over 500 yards.

Onto the defensive side of the ball.  Sure K-state scored 31 points, but in a closer game, I don’t think that would have happened.  Steve Octavien playing in his last game at Memorial Stadium led the team with nine tackles and one sack.  Armando Murillo finished with six tackles and one sack.  Larry Asante also had six tackles, while Corey McKeon had five tackles.

I think Courtney Grixby’s kickoff return in the first quarter ignited the Huskers. It gave them the spark to go out there and whoop some butt.  After that play, it was all downhill for the Wildcats.

Now we move onto Colorado after a bye week.  The Colorado game is always a big one for the players and fans. Lets get another win in Boulder!

Oh yeah, lets see if those K-State fans come back and leave some comments now after they all the doggin they have been doing on the Huskers.  Maybe you guys need to ask yourself if Prince should really be your coach!

GO BIG RED!

In a game where most Huskers fans were left asking, “Where has this team been all year?”, the Nebraska Cornhuskers played their best overall game of the season as they lost to Texas 28-25.  The Huskers had a lead heading into the 4th quarter, but that is when Jamaal Charles took over the game.

Charles ran for a career high 290 yards in the game.  216 of the 290 yards came in the 4th quarter on long runs of 25, 40, and 86 yards.  With the Nebraska defense blitzing almost every play, all it took was Charles getting past the line and he was gone.

I liked how the defense went out and played balls out the entire game.  Sure they were getting tired at the end, but it was nice to see pressure on the quarterback, and players flying around all over the field.  They coaching staff told the players, go out there and play for yourself and make some plays and that is exactly what they did.

Marlon Lucky rushed for 111 yards on 24 carries to lead the rushing attack for the Huskers.  Sam Keller finished the day 23 for 35 and 298 yards along with two touchdowns to Nate Swift.  Keller was injured late in the 4th quarter however with a possibly broken collarbone.  Joe Ganz came in and passed for a touchdown and 2 point conversion to bring the Huskers within three points, but the onside kick was recovered by the Lonhorns to secure the victory.

I think we are all suprised with how well the Huskers played on Saturday.  Will the same type of team show up when the Huskers take on the Kansas Jayhawks on Saturday.  Can the Huskers give the Jayhawks their first loss on the season?  Lets hope so!

GO BIG RED

Nebraska fans were hoping for a turn around in the 2007 season when they took on the Texas A&M Aggiest on Saturday in Lincoln but a terrible second half stopped all that hoping.  The Aggies outscored the Huskers 20-0 in the second half as the Huskers could not get anything going on offense.

Marlon Lucky had a career high 13 receptions for 125 yars, but only had 23 yards on eight attempts rushing the ball.  Quentin Castille led the team with 60 yards on nine carries.  Roy Helu chipped in with 39 yards on five carries.

Sam Keller had another bad day at the quarterback position.  He finished 26 of 44 for 275 yards and one TD (To Purify), but had several poorly thrown balls, and still isn’t getting rid of the ball when he needs too.  Keller is holding onto the ball way to long, and taking too many sacks.  He needs to get a feel for the pocket and make his reads down the field faster.

Onto the defense, there were times where they played really good, but then they would let up a big play on a third down or, on first down Texas A&M would roll off 8 yard gains which set them up perfectly for a first down on the next play.

The defense wasn’t sure who had the ball multiple times and you could tell that with all the rushing yards that Aggies had during the game.  Stephen McGee set career highs with 35 carries for 167 yards and Jorvorskie Lane rushed for 130 yards and four touchdowns for the Aggies.

Another big play that took a ton of momentum away from the Huskers was in the first half when Nate Swift called for a fair catch and fumbled the ball.  Shortly after the fumble, Lane ran off a big TD run and A&M had all the momentum once again.

It doesn’t get any easier for the Huskers next week either.  They will travel to Austin to face off against the Texas Longhorns.  Prepare for another butt whoopin Husker fans.

Things are not getting any better for the Nebraska Football team right now.  Coming off a blowout loss to the Missouri Tigers, the Huskers fell behind early and never was in todays game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys.  The 45-14 loss was the worst loss in Lincoln since 1958.

It was the fourth time this year that the defense gave up 40 points as well.  Oklahoma State racked up 551 total yards today on the Nebraska defense.  The Huskers were not able to stop the run or the pass so the Cowboys pretty much did whatever they wanted to do today.

The offense wasn’t much better today either.  It was the second straight game that they have struggled and I don’t know if it will be any better the rest of the year to be honest.  Sam Keller did throw for two td’s in the second half, but he also had two interceptions.

One bright spot on the offense was Quentin Castille who carried the rock 20 times for 102 yards.  Marlon Lucky and Roy Helu chipped in to help with the running game as well.  Lucky ran for 66 yards, and Helu finished with 55.

I don’t know where this team goes from here to be honest.  Can they drop any more?  Will they pick things up and go out and beat Texas A&M in a week?  Lets hope they get some motivation, and play their best game of the year and beat the Aggies.

Nebraska and Oklahoma State will kickoff on Saturday at 11:30 central time from Memorial Stadium in Lincoln.  Will this be a game where we see the Huskers season turn around, headed in the right direction?  Or will it be another step backwards for Coach Callahan, his staff, and his players?

I think this matchup comes right back onto the Nebraska defense.  If Cozgrove elects to rush some players and cause some havoc rather then sitting back and letting the offense come to the defense I like our chances.  One key not though is that Suh, might be suspended for part of this game if not all of it for an altercation at practice the other day.  That could really hurt our already thin defensive line.

One matchup that I’m really looking forward to watching is Zack Bowman going against Adarius Bowman of the Cowboys.  Will Nebraka use Bowman as a lockdown corner the entire game against Bowman?  I would think they would, which would free up a saftey to help put the rest of the defense.  Bowman locked down on Todd Blythe and that worked pretty weel, so I like our chances doing the same with Adarius Bowman.

I think our offense will put up some points on this Cowboys defense.  Sam Keller will get the offense going, and Marlon Lucky will contribute with over 100 all purpose yards.

I like the Huskers to win this game 35-24