• Nebraska offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf
• Randy Gregory to enter draft
• What a crazy year for Nebraska Football
• Nebraska and Miami battle it out in Lincoln
• Nebraska rolls past Florida Atlantic
• Three Nebraska Football night games announced
• Statement from athletic director and my quick thoughts
• UCLA embarrasses Nebraska 41-21
• Nebraska survives 37-34 against Wyoming
• I’m ready for some football!
• Thoughts heading into the 2013 season
• It’s Nebraska vs Wisconsin in the Big 10 Championship
• Thoughts on the Huskers season so far
• Big10 releases schedules for 2015 and 2016
• Aaron Green set to transfer from Nebraska

I won’t talk much about the Minnesota game on Saturday as it was basically one half of play and then a glorified scrimmage in the second half. It was kind of hard to see how the team improved as the Gophers are one of the worse D1 teams right now. Things that I did like was getting Rex going early on in the game. Pound the rock to Burkhead and good things are going to happen. The quick bubble / jail break screens on offense were nice to see as well. Hopefully we see a couple of those attempts to Jamal Turner against Michigan State. The one play that stood out for most was the double reverse to Kenny Bell however. Bell took the ball and raced 80+ yards down the sidelines making the last two defenders miss and he scored the longest touchdown run my a Freshman in school history.

The defense played well all the way around I thought. A few missed tackles but that will happen in game. Again it was the same case of the Minnesota offense just not being very good so it was hard to see how well the guys improved on the defensive side of the ball.

The 41-14 win was nice to see and it could have easily been 60 something to 14 but you could tell things slowed way down in the 4th quarter. Good win coming off a bye week and kept the momentum going into the Michigan State game.

Now it’s time we look ahead towards Michigan State. The team leading the division and fresh off a upset of Wisconsin. The Spartans have been playing good ball this season and with a seasoned quarterback like Kirk Cousins, they are expecting a trip the Rose Bowl. Nebraska is about the only team standing in their way of that Rose Bowl trip. Nebraska is still in the hunt for a Rose Bowl birth but it all comes down to Saturday. Gotta beat Sparty and then probably win out the rest of the way in my opinion.

So what are the keys to beating Mich St? I think it will the offensive line and running backs picking up the multiple blitzes that Michigan State will be using. Sparty blitzes something like 60% of the downs so the guys on offense are going to have to be quick and Taylor is going to have to get rid of the ball quickly to avoid the sacks. Hopefully we see a lot of Rex getting the ball early on and some more of the diamond formation which puts a lot of speed for the defense to worry about. Guys are simply going to have to make plays on offense whether it is catching a wide open pass or keeping a simple block going without getting called for holding.

On defense, it is all about stopping the rushing attack which I think Nebraska will have good success doing. Coach Pelini usually does not have a problem coming up with a game plan to stop a pro style attack like the Spartans run. Cousins is not as mobile as other quarterbacks the defense has played so don’t expect much scrambling out of him. I think the defensive ends will be pretty active as Carl and Bo should not have to worry about the rushing quarterback and they should be allowed to push straight through the line rather than have to contain the edge on every play.

I expect Mich St to really try and run the ball. Look for LaVonte David to have a big game at linebacker as he racks up the tackles on the running backs. When Cousins does attempt to go deep, the db’s are going to have to be in position and not be getting caught looking in at the running backs.

Nebraska is currently a four point favorite in the game. I’m going to predict a 35-30 game with Nebraska coming out on top and keeping their Big 10 championship hopes alive.

@NebSports

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