Well the 2014 Nebraska football season has come to an end. We seen a team and coaching staff go through a roller coaster season that quite a few of us fans thought would happen. In the end things didn’t work out for the coaches, players or us fans. Coaches were fired, new coaches have been hired, players graduated, and some players are moving onto the NFL. Right there is damn near what every division 1 football program goes through.

As I sat at home watching the Holiday Bowl vs USC the other night I was thinking to myself, wow this is the last game of the season. This is the last time we will see Ameer Abdullah and Kenny Bell wear the Nebraska helmet and jersey while playing for the university. It was also the the last game we would see 95% of the coaching staff as only Coach Warren has been retained by new appointed head coach Riley. I was proud of team and the coaching staff as well as I thought they played vs USC. I was predicting a loss of 10 points but the Huskers had a shot at the end to pull off the upset. Props to those players and coaching staff that were at the Holiday Bowl.

Moving forward into the 2015 season we will see a coaching staff come to shape. Coach Riley will have a quite a few of his buddies / ex coaches on the staff. (Please don’t let this end up like Bo and his buddies), on the staff. We will have a fierce quarterback competition going through spring ball and I would expect open competition at every position on both sides of the ball. It’s time for the younger players to step up and I just hope that Coach Riley puts the best player out on the field. I don’t care if you are 5 star recruit or a walk on from Western Nebraska, the best player needs to be on the field.

It will be an interesting time heading forward and I can’t wait for spring ball. I hope to also be blogging more on the site here than I did during the season. Family, work and other things got in the way of keeping the blog active as much as I would have liked. However, the Twitter account is going strong @NebSports.Com so please check us out on Twitter especially if you like football, beer, bourbon and horse racing!


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Wow, what a day and night it was in Lincoln this past Saturday for myself and my wife. We got started on the road Friday morning to make the seven hour drive to Lincoln and checked out the Rail Yard area for food and drinks. Came away very impressed with the area!

After the rain stopped Saturday morning we ventured out ended up grabbing a parking spot at 10th and N for $30 bucks. Looks like the prices have went up since I last parked in this lot and they said no tailgating? What the heck, it was an open area and not garage. Good thing we had plans to head over to the Lincoln Journal Star lot where we had some friends that had a spot there.

Tailgated for five or so hours with hundreds  of Husker and Hurricane fans. Everyone was getting a long great and there were zero problems. Plenty of food and drinks to go around just like tailgating should be. (Hint, not like down on the reservation lot where the cops showed up etc). Be smarter people!

On to the game. Wow, Memorial Stadium was rocking from the tunnel walk all through the game. The tunnel walk was one of the best ones I had though and the 94 team coming through the tunnel once again was a great sight. I’m sure those players and coaches really enjoyed doing that one more time.

You could tell what the game plan was for Nebraska. Run Run Run and hope to wear down the Miami line. The Hurricanes were primarily playing a 4-3 defense but had to spread the linebackers out to cover a slot receiver which really opened up the middle of the field for Ameer Abdullah. Not sure why Miami didn’t roll the safeties up closer and force Beck to call more passing plays..

With Abdullah running wild, for the tune of 229 yards on 35 carries and two total touchdowns the Nebraska offense put up 41 points vs the Hurricanes 31 points. The offensive line played good and the wide outs did an exceptional job of blocking out on the edge.

It was the defense however that was the turning point in the game. Trevor Roach forced a Duke Johnson fumble which Josh Mitchell scooped up and took back for a 57 yard touch down. From that point forward, the game got very chipping with the Hurricanes picking up five personal foul penalties and trying to start fights all over the field. Thug U at their best…

The blackshirts weren’t their best on the field but they played well enough to get the win. The linebackers were the one group that I thought had a rough night minus the Roach forced fumble. Duke Johnson was a matchup nightmare for the linebackers and it is something that the guys really need to work on. Better angles and tackling in the open field. They better get that fixed before Saturday as Illinois will be coming to town and will be trying the same thing on offense.

Overall it was a battle by both teams and Nebraska came out on top. Next years game down in Miami is going to be a scary one. Not only for the team, but also the fans in my opinion. I will not be making that trip I have already decided. I just don’t want to be there for the the mess that could happen.

We had seats in section 108 and loved it there. Great fans all around us. No shut up and sit down comments as everyone was into the game just as it should be. By the way, make sure you go up from your seats if you need to use the bathroom or grab some concessions. Much faster than going down the stairs and back down to the ground level.

Nebraska 41 - Miami 31. GBR! @NEBSPORTS


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Nebraska had no problems when they kicked off the 2014 season vs Florida Atlantic in Lincoln. Behind an explosive offensive performance, the Cornhuskers put up 55 points while limiting the Owls to only seven. Starters primarily played until the middle of the 3rd quarter or the score could have even been worse.

Ameer Abdullah led the Huskers with 232 yards rushing and one touchdown. Those stats would have been even more but Ameer had a couple of plays called back due to holding penalties in the first quarter. It was one hell of a day for the Senior tail back.

It wasn’t just the Ameer show on offense. Behind quarterback Tommy Armstrong, the big red machine tallied 784 total yards of offense. Armstrong was 15 of 29 passing for 271 yards and two touchdowns. One of those completions was to sticky fingers Jordan Westerkamp has he hauled in a tipped pass behind his back while keeping a foot down a long the sideline. The play was SportsCenter top play from the first Saturday of college football.

I thought defense as a whole played well. It was against a very average offensive team from the Owls so it is hard to tell how well the unit really played. There were some mental break downs and wr’s that were left wide open. Those things will have to get fixed as the guys get more game time under themselves.

One thing to pay attention to going forward is the knee injury that happened to end Randy Gregory. Gregory went out early in the game and actually had his knee scooped early this week to clear up the damage that was an older injury that flared up. Gregory will be out this Saturday against McNeese State but hopes to be back the following week.

Overall I was happy, and that included watching the game a second time. There is definitely things to work on, but for the first game this season, the guys showed up and beat a team like they should be them. There wasn’t no playing down to your opponent. They went out there and dominated BIG RED STYLE!


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So after beating Southern Miss in the season opener 49-20 the team had a big let down on the road when they faced off against UCLA. The 36-30 loss to the Bruins has Husker fans once again thinking about the coaching staff as well as what players should be out there on the field. As a Nebraska fan, you know this happens after a loss, and it’s not really the loss that is making fans mad, but the way the loss are happened.

So where do I stand after two games?

The offense is clicking pretty good once they get a good rhythm and that means in a fast pace tempo. Taylor is making some nice plays and throws if he is given time by the offensive line. The line was a low point in the UCLA game which was surprising because against Southern Miss they played great. Were the guys not prepared for the outside blitzes that the Bruins were bringing? The say they knew  they blitzing would happen but were still unable to stop it. Hmm sounds like the coaches should have made some adjustments or changes to get the line playing better but it never happened.

Even without Rex at RB, the backs are running the ball pretty good. I’m impressed with Ameer Abdullah has he has started the season off strong. Then you have Heard and Cross behind him who can help carry the load. It will be fun to watch how the coaching staff uses all four of the backs. I think Ameer and the two other young players get the ball quite a bit in the next few weeks as Rex continues to rest his knee.

The receiving core is strong even though they have lost a couple to injuries. The guys are catching most of the balls that Taylor gets to them and are making defenders miss. For once, I can say Nebraska has a strong and quick receiving group that are also great blockers down field. Great job by every one of them.

So now to the bad. The defense can’t stop opposing teams from moving the ball and getting into the end zone. I thought that the d-line would be able to get some pressure and the secondary would be able to make some plays in the open field but so far neither of those is really happening. If a team spreads their offense out, and Nebraska is forced to spread their linebackers out or move a safety up closer, it doesn’t bode well for the Blackshirts. Lack of speed, poor angles and terrible tackling accounted for many big plays against UCLA. The speed issue can’t be fixed unless other players see the field but the poor tackling and angles can definitely be fixed.

The defense needs to improve there isn’t much more to say about that…

So where does this team go? Do they respond well as they face Arkansas State and Idaho State in Lincoln the next two weeks? They better get some things figured out because Wisconsin will be visiting town on Sep 29th to kick off B1G play and that’s when the real season starts for this team and for us fans. It’s time to get behind these guys and show them support because the main goal of winning the B1G Championship is still out there and winnable.

@NebSports is where you can follow me on Twitter for Husker talk and sports gambling information.


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Well the season opener as come and gone and Nebraska has a 1-0 record after beating Tennessee Chattanooga 40-7 on Saturday afternoon in Lincoln. It’s always good to get a win the first week of the season no matter who the opponent is but I thought that the offense left a lot to be desired and after reading comments from Coach Beck I was left thinking if he is ready to be a big time offensive coordinator?

The offense struggled for pretty much the whole game I had though. Terrible option plays, terrible line play and terrible blocking on the outside led to three and outs and fans wondering where the heck the new offense was that had been greatly talked about all off season. Coach Beck said he would get in a position where he wanted a play to succeed so badly that he just kept calling it even though there were probably better play calls that could have been made in those decisions. Yeah, like not running the option when your line is getting blown off the ball and the spacing between quarterback and running back is not where it needs to be.

Can we please get Jamal Turner the ball more than 2-3 times a game? The talented Freshman wowed the crowd with his one reception and he could be a big time play maker if given the ball more. The same could be said for Ameer Abdullah who flashed around on punt returns. I love his Turner’s and Abdullah’s running styles and they can really spark the offense if given the chance I think.

I’m hoping for a much improved offense and hopefully a more relaxed offense when Fresno State comes to Lincoln on Saturday night. If not, the Bulldogs just might make a game out of it.

The bright spots I thought were was the defense and special teams. The blackshirt defense held Mocs to just seven points and pretty much controlled the game from the get go. I thought that Cameron Merideth really stood out on defense and made some big plays including two sacks and an interception. Lavonte David had a team high nine tackles while fellow Senior Jared Crick finished with five tackles (two being for losses).

Special teams was led by Brett Maher who converted four out of four field goals. Maher connected from 50, 48, 34 and 21 yards out. Maher looked great out there and answered the question of who would fill in for Alex Henery who is now with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Overall the defense is there and will play even better once Alfonzo Dennard is back. The offense has a lot of work to do both from the players and coaches perspectives. Coach Beck needs to move away from plays that are not working and also work with Taylor Martinez to read through his progressions as well as spacing throughout the option plays. Hopefully the two can figure it out!


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