• 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 NFL Draft happened over the weekend and only three Husker players were drafted.  Sure shows you what NFL staffs thought of the players that Nebraska has had lately… Not very much talent they thought.

Zack Bowman was the first Husker picked as he went in the 5th round to the Chicago Bears.  They Bears said they drafted Bowman hoping that he would be 100% over his knee injuries and back to the he had during his junior season.

Carl Nicks was drafted in the 5th round as well as he went to the New Orleans Saints.  Nicks was once thought to be a 2nd or 3rd round pick but slipped to the 5th round.  You have to think that his off the field incident and not being able to work out at the Nebraska Pro Day really hurt his stock.

Bo Rudd was picked up by the New England Patriots in the 6th round.  Rudd will have to really impress the Patriots during mini camps if he wants to make the team.

So far three other Huskers have signed free agent contracts.  Steve Octavien with the Kansas City Chiefs, Courtney Grixby with the Carolina Panthers, and Lance Brandenburgh with the San Francisco 49ers.  Brett Byford has signed on with the New York Jets.

Maurice Purify will take part of the Cincinnati Bengals mini camp but has not signed a contract.  The same deal with Corey McKeon who will take part in Tampa Bay Bucs minicamp and Tierre Green who will take part in Green Bay Packers mini camp.  We have also learned that Frantz Hardy has signed with the Philedelphia Eagles.

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!

The Nebraska Cornhuskers and the Missouri Tigers are set to battle it out for the lead in the Big 12 North Saturday night in Columbus, Missouri.  What Nebraska team will show up for this prime time game that will be televised on ESPN is the big question.

Will we see the defense stand up and play like they are capable of and shut down Chase Daniel, Martin Rucker, and Chase Coffman?  I have heard that Phillip Dilliard will start over McKeon so that will help get some more speed in the linebacker corps to keep up with Rucker and Coffman.  I have also heard we could see some Steve Octavien down on the defense line trying to get pressure on Daniel.  If we can get pressure I like our chances alot.

Also, look for Major Culbert to get time at linebacker where he will spy Daniel.  This worked well last year with Culbert since he has the speed and quickness to keep up with Daniel if he decides to take off running.

On the offensive side of the ball, will the Nebraska rushing attack of Marlon Lucky, Cody Glenn, Quentin Castille, and Roy Helu be able to run the ball?  The offensive line is going to have to play better and protect Sam Keller for that to happen.  I look for Keller to have a big game and put some some good numbers and lead the Huskers to at 4 point victory on the road.

What do you all think?  Will the Huskers pull this one out and move closer towards a Big 12 North Title?

Nebraska didn’t start off on the right foot today against Iowa State but they finally got it going late in the first half and continued on in the second half.  After spotting Iowa State a 10-0 lead, the Huskers came back to win 35-17.

Running back Marlon Lucky passed and ran for touchdowns and Bo Ruud scored on an interception return for the second straight week for the big plays of the game.  We all figured we would see a trick play today and that we did when Lucky connected with Sean Hill for a 20 yard touchdown.  Ruud’s touchdown was a on pass breakup by Courtney Grixby, and that Ruud returned 93 yards for a pick six.

Nebraska quarterback Sam Keller was 18-for-28 for 219 yards, with one interception on the day.  Keller connected with Thomas Lawson twice for touchdowns.

Bo Ruud and Steve Octavien had big days for the Husker defense along with Grixby.  It was nice to see double digit tackles and tournovers for the defense.  That is something they haven’t been getting until today against Iowa State.

Nebraska is now 4-1 on the season and travel to a hostile stadium in one week for a night game against the Missouri Tigers.  This game could ultimately decide who wins the Big 12 North.  Well, we can now throw Colorado into that mix as they upset #3 rated Oklahoma today.

GO BIG RED!

***We now know why Andre Jones did not get his name called on Saturady.  Jones was suspended for the game for internal disciplinary reasons.  Coach Callahan said that Jones would be back for the Missouri game this coming Saturday.***

Was this the old Nebraska offense or the new Nebraska West Coast offense?  I’m sure that is what most Husker fans were asking after seeing Nebraska run wild over the smaller Nevada Wolfpack team.

Marlon Lucky ran wild in the opener for the 2007 season.  Lucky finished with a career high 233 yards rushing, 33 yards receiving and four touchdowns. Lucky’s backup, freshman Quentin Castille, pounded out 78 yards on 18 touches. Junior Cody Glenn and sophomore Major Culbert also turned in strong performances, combining for 71 yards on 11 carries. 

When you turn out 413 team rushing yards, you know that the offensive line was doing a great job all day.  They opened up huge holes for the runningbacks, and also did very good in their pass blocking.

The Nebraska quartersbacks had an alright day even though most of the plays were going to the runningbacks.  Sam Keller and Joe Ganz finished with a combined 15-26 passes for 212 yards and one touchdown.  That wideouts could have helped out the quarterbacks as they did drop the ball when they should have made the catch but it is the first game so hopefully they will start to haul in those passes.

What a performance by the Nebraska “Blackshirt” defense in the opener as well.  Coach Cozgrove was blitzing quite a bit against the younger and smaller Nevada team and it worked very well.  It was awesome to see Steve Octavien running around the field and making plays.  Stay healthy Steve and you are going to have a huge year!

The defensive line played well at times.  I would have liked to see more pressure up the middle, but the Huskers had outside blitzes coming most of the time.  I really thought Suh would bust through the line more then he did.  Zach Potter and Barry Turner turned in very good games from the defensive end positions.  Big Kevin Dixon picked off a pass that be batted down which was awesome to see. Great hands for a big guy!

The secondary was very good.  Nevada only completed 8 of 24 passes on the game.  When they did catch the ball, there was usually someone there to tackle them right after they caught the ball.  I figured the secondary would have picked off a pass, and Larry Asante had his chance but wasn’t able to hold onto it.  Zack Bowman played around 25-30 plays and looked ok.  He needs more gametime to get back into things and expects to play 30-35 plays against Wake Forest next week.

Now onto the kicking game, WOW!  Adi Kunalic received standing ovations after his touchbacks and could be seen on the sideline with smilies after each one.  He was probably wondering, “Wow a standing ovation for a kickoff?”  Kunalic also booted a 46 yard field goal that would have been good from 50 yards +.

That’s how you want to start a season with a victory, and it was dominating.  The Huskers will face Wake Forest next Saturday with a kickoff set for 11 A.M. central time.  Wake up early and get your Bloody Mary’s and beer flowing!

Nebraska 52 Nevada 10!

Rushing Stats
Lucky, Marlon      30 rushes for 235 yards, 2 touchdowns
Castille, Quentin  18 rushes for 78 yards, 2 touchdowns
Culbert, Major     5 rushes for 35 yards
Glenn, Cody        8 rushes for 36 yards
Helu, Roy          6 rushes for 26 yards
Ganz, Joe          2 rushes for 15 yards
TEAM TOTALS        70 rushes for 425 yards, 6 touchdowns

Passing Stats
Keller, Sam        14 for 25, 193 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 INT
Ganz, Joe          1 for 1, 19 yards
TEAM TOTALS        15 for 26, 212 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 INT

Receiving Stats
Lucky, Marlon      3 catches, 33 yards, 1 touchdown
Nunn, Terrence     2 catches, 26 yards
Swift, Nate        2 catches, 28 yards
McNeill, Mike      1 catch, 25 yards
Hardy, Frantz      1 catch, 24 yards
Erickson, Dan      1 catch, 19 yards
Sand, Andy         1 catch, 15 yards
Young, Dreu        1 catch, 14 yards
Peterson, Todd     1 catch, 8 yards
Paul, Niles        1 catch, 6 yards
Brooks, Chris      1 catch, 4 yards
TEAM TOTALS        15 catches, 212 yards, 1 touchdown

Punting Stats
Titchener, Dan     2 punts, 44.5 average

Field goal attempts
Kunalic, Adi       1 for 1 46 yards

Kickoff Stats
Kunalic, Adi       9 kickoffs, 6 touchbacks

Defensive Stats
Octavien, Steve     3 solo, 2 assist, 5 total tackles .5 sack
McKeon, Corey       3 solo, 1 assist, 4 total tackles
Murillo, Armando    1 solo, 3 assist, 4 total tackles
Asante, Larry       4 assist, 4 total tackles
Grixby, Cortney     2 solo, 1 assist, 3 total tackles
Wilson, Bryan       2 solo, 2 total tackles
Suh, Ndamukong      2 solo, 2 total tackles
Potter, Zach        2 solo, 2 total tackles
Dillard, Phillip    2 solo, 2 total tackles
Turner, Barry       1 solo, 1 assist, 2 total tackles, .5 sack
Brandenburgh, Lance 1 solo, 1 assist, 2 total tackles
Dixon, Kevin        1 solo, 1 total tackle
Bowman, Zackary     1 solo, 1 total tackle
Eisenhart, Ben      1 solo, 1 total tackle
Ruud, Bo            1 solo, 1 total tackle
Barfield, Shukree   1 solo, 1 total tackle
O’Hanlon, Matt      1 solo, 1 total tackle
Paul, Niles         1 assist, 1 total tackle
Wortman, Tyler      1 assist, 1 total tackle
Green, Tierre       1 assist, 1 total tackle
Sullivan, Tony      1 assist, 1 total tackle
Sievers, Clayton    1 assist, 1 total tackle
Allen, Pierre       1 assist, 1 total tackle
Blue, Anthony       1 assist, 1 total tackle

Fifteen defensive players for the Nebraska Football team have been awarded their blackshirts.  Six of the fifteen players are earning their blackshirt for the first time.  They are cornerback Armando Murillo, safety Larry Asante, defensive tackles Ty Steinkuhler and Ndamukong Suh, defensive end Zach Potter, and linebacker Phillip Dillard.

Other players receiving their blackshirts that have been awarded them in the past were, defensive end Barry Turner, linebackers Lance Brandenburgh, Corey McKeon, Steve Octavien and Bo Ruud and defensive backs Zack Bowman, Tierre Green, Cortney Grixby and Andre Jones.

Congrats guys, now make sure you don’t lose them and you play some hard nosed defense!