In front of 20,000 fans that traveled out to Seattle, the Big Red did not disappoint as they completely dominated the Washington Huskies 56-21 to improve to 3-0 on the season. The game was really never in doubt as the Huskers jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead after just five offensive plays. The Blackshirts made Jake Locker look like a sixth round draft pick rather then then number one overall pick in the upcoming draft and left the Husky fans leaving their own stadium before the game was over and shaking their heads and what just happened.

The T-Mart show once again was in full affect. The freshman quarterback opened up the second half with a 80-yard touchdown run which was the longest td run by a freshman qb at Nebraska. Martinez would also score two other times on the ground and also hit Mike McNeill in the first quarter for a touchdown. When it was all said and done, Martinez finished with 137 yards rushing and 150 yards passing. Not bad for a freshman qb on the road playing in a loud stadium!

Martinez wasn’t the only Nebraska player to rush for over 100 yards. Roy Helu Jr. and Rex Burkhead both went over the centry mark with 110 yards and 104 yards respectively.

I came away very impressed with the game plan that Carl Pelini and the coaching staff came into the game with as they hoped to slow down Locker. They made Locker look terrible as they brought multiple blitzes and also dropped back extra linebackers in coverage to confuse him all game long. Locker finished 4 of 20 for 71 yards and two interceptions. One big play of 45 yards on a broken coverage was the only big play that the Huskies had all game long. Great performance by the blackshirts!

Now it’s time for the Big Red to prepare for South Dakota State. This will hopefully be the last game on pay per view for the Huskers and kickoff is set for 6 p.m. from Memorial Stadium.


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So it’s Monday morning and I’ve had some more time to think about the Nebraska vs Idaho game. I know a lot of people are upset with the game and the coaching staff wasn’t too much pleased but there were quite a few positives to come out of the game in my opinion.

The Huskers can line up and run the ball no question about it. You have the speedster Taylor Martinez and running backs Roy Helu Jr. and Rex Burkhead who can all break a long run and score from anywhere on the field. Helu Jr. and Burkhead aren’t getting as many carries as most would think, but that is because Martinez is scoring from 50 and 60 yards out taking up a lot of yardage.  I love how the running game is shaping up and the team will need to execute it again this coming Saturday when the Big Red invades Seattle to take on the Washington Huskies.

The defense played very good. I liked the d-line was able to put pressure on Nathan Enderle and force him into 5 interceptions. The defensive backs did a wonderful job of being physical with the Idaho receivers and made Enderle look like a junior varisty qb not a quarterback that is projected to be a 4-7th round pick in the upcoming NFL draft. Anytime your defense sacks the opposing team over five times and your defense picks the ball off five times things are going to turn out good.

The negatives to come out of the game were stupid and costly penalties along with bone headed turnovers. Ben Cotton, c’mon man! Niles Paul, hold onto the ball kid! Martinez will need to learn to read coverages more and know to get rid of the ball quicker. All those mistakes that were just boneheaded mistakes that can be fixed. They will have to be fixed soon or you juts might see some other players in there at the tight end position etc.

What was everyone’s thoughts on the game? Leave a commend or let us know through Twitter @nebsports


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The Big Red kicked off the 2010 season with a 49-10 victory over Western Kentucky on Saturday night. The team was sparked by redshirt freshman Taylor Martinez at the quarterback position and the defense played good enough to keep the Hilltoppers out of the end zone for the most part.

My thoughts on the game were up and down. The offense played nice with Martinez doing most of the damage. Making his first college start, and the first time the Huskers opened up a season with a freshman quarterback, Martinez wowed the crowd with a 46 yard touchdown on his first rushing attempt. He would later add touchdown runs of 19 and 15 yards and finish the game with 127 yards rushing on seven carries.

I also thought that Rex Burkhead did well as he had over 100 all purpose yards including a 20 yard touchdown. Niles Paul and Austin Jones would also both get in the end zone for the big red.

On the defensive side of the ball the Huskers were good in the first half but did let down in the second half. Bo Pelini called the defense “embarrassing” even though they allowed just 10 points. The d-line did not get any sort of push and sometimes were getting pushed back off the line of scrimmage two or three yards. It’s time to toughen up guys and dominate that line of scrimmage!

The one player on defense that It thought really stood out was juco transfer Lavonte David. David would finish with a game high 13 tackles. David needs to do a little bit better job of stopping the run from his linebacker position but overall for his first game at the D1 level, he played outstanding.

Overall it was a good way to start the season but there are things that do have to be worked on and improved on. Defense needs to man up especially on the line and the offense needs to continue to move the ball. Roy Helu Jr. and Burkhead didn’t run the ball to often as Martinez was running around with the ball. Both backs will be counted on more as the season goes on and they will need to step up and take some pressure off Martinez.

What did everyone else think of the game? Your highlights? Things to improve on?


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The rosters for Saturday’s Red-White Spring Game have been announced, and like Coach Bo Pelini’s first two seasons, the teams appear to be fairly evenly divided.

The White team will be quarterbacked by sophomore Cody Green and senior Latravis Washington. The offense will have plenty of firepower with I-backs Roy Helu Jr. and Dontrayevous Robinson, along with receiving targets Niles Paul, Mike McNeill and Dreu Young. Up front, center Mike Caputo and tackle D.J. Jones are the leaders of the White offensive line.

Defensively, the White squad boasts a number of players with significant starting experience, led by junior defensive tackle Jared Crick and senior end Pierre Allen. Sean Fisher heads the linebacking corps, while the secondary features Alfonzo Dennard, DeJon Gomes and Rickey Thenarse.

Offensive coordinator Shawn Watson leads the White coaching staff, along with Barney Cotton, John Papuchis, Marvin Sanders and offfensive graduate assistant Curt Baldus.

Redshirt freshman Taylor Martinez and sophomore Kody Spano will quarterback the Red unit, while redshirt freshman Ron Kellogg III is expected to see action on both teams. Keith Williams and Marcel Jones lead the Red offensive line, with I-back Rex Burkhead and receivers Brandon Kinnie and Curenski Gilleylen among the top offensive weapons.

Defensively, sophomores Baker Steinkuhler and Cameron Meredith lead the Red front four, with Will Compton the most experienced linebacker on the Red squad. Veterans Eric Hagg, Prince Amukamara and Anthony West will patrol the Red secondary, while all-conference place-kicker/punter Alex Henery heads up the Red special teams.

Defensive coordinator Carl Pelini heads up the Red coaching staff, along with Tim Beck, Ron Brown, Mike Ekeler, Ted Gilmore and defensive graduate assistant Ross Watson.

Kickoff for Saturday’s spring game is set for 1 p.m. at Memorial Stadium. ? Tickets are still available at huskers.com

(Info courtesy of Huskers.Com)


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Hey Husker Fans! It’s been quite a while since we have blogged about the team but now that Spring practices have begun this week we will have few more articles on the blog leading up to the Spring game on April 17th. There really hasn’t been too much news out of Spring practices so far and Coach Pelini is not releasing any information regarding the depth chart. Pelini has basically said that every position is opened and all players will be competing for a starting job.

Here are some notes that we have heard out of practice so far:

  • Mike McNeil moved to slot receiver
  • QB Battle between Cody Green, Kody Spano, Taylor Martinez and LaTravis Washingon is going on. Expect Green to to be the guy in Spring ball followed by Spano. The coaches do want to get Martinez on the field especially in the wildcat formations.
  • Ricky Henry and Zac Lee will both set out Spring practices as they recover from off season surgeries.
  • Mike Smith moving from tackle to center. (Says coaches thought he was to light to be playing tackle and could be better used at center)
  • Rex Burkhead is now up to 210 lbs and Dontrayevous Robinson is at 235 lbs. Expect both players to see quite a bit of action at the running back position along with Roy Helu.
  • Marcus Mendoza asked to be moved to corner back so the coaches have moved him over to the defensive side of the ball.

That’s pretty much it so far as the team is just a few practices into the 15 practices that are allowed. Let’s all hope for a injury free spring and we see some new players really setup on both sides of the ball.

Tickets are still available for the game but they are going fast. As of Monday, the athletic office has sold 60,000 tickets to the game. So act fast and head on over to huskers.com and order yours today.


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Good morning Husker fans! Wow what a game last night down in San Diego for the Nebraska Cornhuskers as they dominated the Pac 10 Arizona Wildcats 33-0. The Blackshirts set the tone early and after that Arizona had no idea what to do on either side of the ball. The Huskers offense broke out the wildcat formation and Zac Lee and Niles Paul hooked up on their longest play of the year as the Huskers picked up theit 10th win of the season in the blowout victory.

I’ll start off talking about the offense. Wow, where the heck did this offense come from? Besides having to settle for a couple of short field goals and a couple boneheaded penalties on the offensive line the offenese played one of the best games on the year.

Rex Burkhead running the Wildcat? Lee hitting Paul for a 74-yard touchdown? Paul picking up big yards on a wide receiver reverse? It sure left many Husker fans wondering if Shawn Watson was actually calling plays!  Lee finished the game 13 of 23 for 173 yards and one touchdown. Paul was the main receiver with four catches that he hauled in for 123 yards. On the ground it was all about true freshman Burkhead. Rex was a man Wednesday night as he carried the ball 17 times for 89 yards. We can’t forget about Lee who carried the ball 18 times for 65 yards as well.

On the defensive side of the ball it was all about the “Blackshirt Swagger”. The blackshirts set the tone from the beginning of the game as they put pressure on the Wildcats the first two plays of the game and then caused a interception on third and long. Matt O’hanlon picked off the Wildcat pass and soon after that it was Lee running it in for the touchdown.

All night long the Blackshirts were all over the wildcats. They completely dominated the game. Arizona set Holiday Bowl records with six first downs, 109 yards of offense, 51 offensive plays and nine punts. The Wildcats didn’t get into Nebraska territory until the first drive of the third quarter. That is what I call DOMINATION!

Alex Henery was his usual self as he kicked four field goals and also pinned the Wildcats deep on a couple of punts. Way to represent your own Blackshirt Alex!

Things are looking up and up for the Nebraska football program. Look ahead to the schedule next year and what the team has coming back and you can see why the ESPN announcers last night were talking about the Huskers being a preseason top 10 team.

It’s a great time to be a Husker fan!


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It sure wasn’t pretty on Friday afternoon in Boulder, Colorado but the Nebraska Cornhuskers were able to get out of town with a 28-20 victory over their Big 12 North rivals. The score was a lot closer then it should have been as the Buffs tacked on a touchdown with a long touchdown pass as time expired in the game. All in all it’s another win and the Huskers have now won five in a row since losing to Iowa State back on Oct. 24th.

The play of the game in my opinion was Niles Paul’s 59-yard punt return. The touchdown put the Huskers on the board when their offense was not moving the ball and gave the team a little boost of confidence in my mind. Another key play in the game was the pick six interception that was returned by Matt O’Hanlon in the second quarter.

I’m not sure where this offense is heading but it sure isn’t pretty. Once again Zac Lee struggled as did the offensive line. Just two touchdowns against the Colorado defense is terrible. The one bright spot I though on offense was freshman Rex Burkhead who carried the ball 18 times for 100 yards and one touchdown. Burkhead ran the ball better than Roy Helu Jr!

The defense was not their usual self as they allowed over 400 yards of offense but most of that game on big plays that can be fixed. It will be interesting to see if the defense can step things up in the Big 12 championship in a week against Texas. Time will tell.

On to Dallas boys! It’s time to start looking ahead to the Big 12 Championship!


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Sup Husker fans? After the nice win on Thursday night over Missouri I tried to get a little bit of sleep before heading out to Las Vegas for a weekend full of football and fun. Well I managed to get a little sleep and off I was to Vegas for 12 hours of college football watching at the Bellagio. What a great time that way even though I lost most of my bets lol.

So anyways, I’m back home and the Huskers have moved up to #15 in the polls as the continue to have a nice season. They will face a big test this Saturday in Lincoln however as the Texas Tech Red Raiders will bring their spread offense to town and look to pass the ball all over the Huskers. This will be a stiff test for the defense and a must is getting pressure on whichever quarterback that Mike Leach chooses to start.

The offense will be without running back Rex Burkhead however has he has broken a bone is his foot. All coach Pelini said was that Red would be out for an extended period of time but he was unsure for how long. I’ve heard reports that it is basically a toe injury so lets hope that is the case and not the actual foot.

There was some good news over the weekend as well as the Huskers picked up a verbal committment from Florida offensive linemen Tyler Moore for the 2011 class. Moore is expected to be a top offensive linemen in the 2011 class and he chose the Huskers over the Florida Gators. Tyler will be a great get for the Huskers and he has ties to the team as his cousin Jay Moore and father also played for the Huskers.

Let’s all hope for a great week of practice as the team gears up for Texas Tech. Win this one and we will inch closer to a top 10 rating and pick up a huge conference victory.


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Hope everyone’s Labor Day weekend is going good! I had hoped to get this up after the game on Saturday evening but had a few things come up and then I was busy all day on Sunday. Anyways, the Huskers started off the 2009 season with a 49-3 victory over Florida Atlantic and rather than go through with a big recap of the game, I’ll just hit on some positives and a couple negatives that I took from the game.

The Positives:
Quarterback play with Zac Lee. Lee was 15 of 22 for 213 yards and two touchedowns. Lee found wide receivers Menelik Holt and Curenski Gilleylen for his touchdown passes. Lee did throw one interception which was a badly underthrown ball. Not bad for the first outing for Lee.

Roy Helu Jr. picked up where he left off in the 2008 season. Helu, Jr. ran for 152 yards on just 16 carries. He picked up most of his yards in the third quarter when he scored his second and third touchdowns of the game. Great game for Roy!

The play of true freshman Cody Green and Rex Burkhead. I thought Green and Burkhead played about as good as they could in their first college action. Green stood out more because of his long 49 yard run but he also threw for 18 yards on two of three passes. Burkhead showed glimpses of what he can do as he rushed for 39 yards on nine carries.

They play by the young linebackers. The linebackers had a combined 17 tackles on the night as Blake Lawrence and Sean Fisher led the way with six tackles each. If this group stays healthy and continues to get better, the Huskers will have one very stingy defense!

Some negatives from the game:

The play of defensive ends Pierre Allen and Barry Turner. The two simply did not get pressure on the Florida Atlantic quarterbacks like I expected. The Huskers were able to get some pressue up the middle with Jared Crick and Ndamukong Suh which was nice but I just wanted to see more out of Allen and Turner.

The owls were able to get 358 yards which is way to many yards against a Sun Belt conference team. I do give the defense credit however because they allowed just three points on the scoreboard.

Overall it was a good first game and it gives the Huskers something to build on for this weekends game against Arkansas State. The game will once again be on Pay-Per-View but this time it will be a 1 P.M. central timezone kickoff.

What were your thoughts on the game? Leave us a comment and let us know!


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Nebraska Recruiting ClassIt’s a big day for high school seniors today as they sign their letter of intent to the university of their choice. Things have been busy in Lincoln this morning as the fax machine has stayed hot with 17 LOI’s faxed in so far. Keep checking back as we will be updating the list as we hear of new ones coming in.

One player who verbally committed to the Huskers will not be joining the team as he was not able to get his grades up to bar. Deandre Byrd will be looking to go the JUCO route.

Confirmed LOI’s faxed in:

Brent Qvale
Cole Pensick
Cody Green
Dejon Gomes
Jason Ankrah
Jesse Coffey
Nick Ash
Rex Burkhead
Jeremiah Sirles
Thaddeus Randle
Andrew Green
Chris Williams
Brandon Kinnie
Dontrayevous Robinson
C.J. Zimmerer
J.T. Kerr
Eric Martin
Lazarri Middleton
Dijon Washington
Taylor Martinez

Keep checking back as we have a few more spots to add as the day goes on!


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