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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So I’ve been pretty quite on the blog this season as it’s been such an up and down season for the Cornhuskers and their coaching staff. Blow out losses, hat swipes at line judges and the same mistakes over and over have been frustrating. The one thing I have liked all season long however is the fight that the coaches and players have showed. The players have not given up at all and played decent despite all of the injuries as of late.

The fans are split on what should happen with the coaching staff especially head coach Bo Pelini. Should he be fired? Should he stay and man up and make changes to his assistants? Is the A.D. even man enough to make a big boy move and fire a head coach that will be owed close to 8 million dollars and then also pay out his assistants and then go out and spend big boy dollars on a head coach and new assistants?

After the audio was released last night about Bo not wanting to tape his tv show I figured he was all but gone. And he may still be but this statement from A.D. Shawn Eichorst says Bo is good for now and sounds like he will be through the bowl game.

“My approach has always been to not comment publicly about our coaches until their full seasons are complete, as I strongly believe it is unfair and counter to best practices. However, given the volume of unfounded speculation and conjecture about our head football coach, I want to reaffirm what I have said many times since I have arrived at the University of Nebraska — that I positively respect, appreciate and support our football student-athletes, coaches and staff, as we do everyone in the Husker family. We very much look forward to our upcoming bowl game and Coach Pelini continuing to lead our program in the future.”

Hmm so if he is ok to stay through the bowl game, why not come out and say Bo Pelini will be the coach of the Nebraska football team next season and everyone can move on. Including the recruits who are always waiting to be told what is going on. The bowl game shouldn’t be a game that is a fire him or not type of game in my opinion.

So I’m here now saying I have no idea what will be going on. No clue if Bo will still be the head coach following the bowl game or not. If not, make the change now and lets move on. If not, come out and say yes Bo will be here next season. If thats the case, Bo needs to step up and make some big boy decisions and get rid of some “friends” that are assistants…

@Nebsports on Twitter


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Another year, same story. A year after coming out strong against UCLA and then getting dominated, the exact same thing happened Saturday in Lincoln as the Bruins rolled through Lincoln and beat Nebraska 41-21. It’s another game where the fans are asking what in the hell is going on in the second half of games?

I’ll tell you what isn’t happening and that is making adjustments. After the missed sack right before half, the Bruins scored a touchdown to take the momentum heading into the locker room. They came back out from halftime and stopped TIm Beck’s offense and quickly scored another touchdown on their way to scoring 38 unanswered points.

The play calling in the second half was terrible on the offensive side of the ball. Three and out, three and out over and over. An offensive coordinator that was pressing trying to get it all back in one play (going deep) twice was not the answer at that time in the game. I feel that Beck needed to get the run game established like they did in the first half but instead he had Martinez out there trying to sling it side line to side line and picking up 3 yards at a time. Hmm, you don’t think one of the three running backs couldn’t do that the way they ran the ball earlier in the game?

Also, can we please stop calling for the option play to be ran? It is not working…

The only good and postive from the offense was in the first half when they ran the ball which setup the touchdown passes from Taylor Martinez to Enunwa and Bell. Once again, RUN THE BALL, to set up the pass.

Defensively, missed open field tackles once again led to big gains for the Bruins. Just like last year, nothing changed. Man to man on the outside, and a d-line that did not get pressure in the second half. Why wasn’t an adjustment made to bring more pressure or play some zone? ADJUSTMENTS is something this team and coaches have been unable to do.

Nebraska wasn’t the only B1G team to look like crap yesterday. Michigan also did not play good. But it was the Huskers who actually got embarrassed and it was the same exact things that have killed them the past two years. It’s time to make adjustments, or it’s time for this staff to move along…


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So things sure didn’t turn out how Coach Pelini, the players or the fans wanted at the end of the season. An embarrassing loss to Wisconsin in the Big 10 Championship and then a tough battle against Georgia in the Capital One bowl left the Huskers with a 10-4 overall record for the 2012 season. Definitely not where the program needs to be.

It will be interesting to see where the sports betting sites list the Huskers as far as odds go. Are they still a top 3-4 team in the B1G 10? Will the odds be in their favor with the schedule pointing to good opportunities? It will be fun to see where they come out but I would think towards the top but behind Ohio State.

I do like where the offense should be. Plenty of starters are are returning and it will be another year for Tim Beck to grow as an offensive coordinator. Taylor Martinez will be back for his Senior year but will be without Rex Burckhead and the two tight ends Ben Cotton and Tyler Reed.

I am not worried at the running back position. Tight end, it would be nice to see a younger guy show up and take over the spot. The job will be open and a couple of those young guys are going to have to step up. It’s really too bad the coaching staff wasn’t able to reel in a juco tight end commitment.

Where things do get scary is when you look on the defensive side of the ball. I see open competitions at almost every position. Once again, it will be young guys that will have to be plugged in and thrown into the battle early. It’s time to get speed on the field and play the guys that can take good angles and make an open field tackle.

Can the defensive line establish some depth? I sure hope the few juco d-line guys come in in good shape and ready from the get go. We need to see a much improved d-line play and have depth behind them to really control teams in the second half.

So looking back at the 2012 season, there were definitely up and downs. The loss at UCLA hurt, come back wins were nice, but it just wasn’t that dominating season that us Husker fans wanted to see. The 14 points loss to Georgia in the bowl game wasn’t as bad as the score shows so I really hope the guys come into 2013 thinking they can play with anyone. It’s the attitude that they need to win a B1G Championship and win a BCS bowl game.

Let’s hope this is a good offseason with good conditioning and the coaching staff remain in recruiting mode. I can’t wait until Spring ball and then the start of the 2013 season. GO BIG RED!

 


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Head coach Bo Pelini told reporters and his players that they would need to win out to make the Big 10 Championship after they suffered a disappointing loss to Ohio State back on October 6th. That is exactly what the Cornhuskers did as they are headed to the Big 10 Championship to face off against Wisconsin with a berth to the Rose Bowl on the line.

The six game win streak sure didn’t come easy as the guys had to come from behind in the 2nd half and barely escape with wins over Michigan State, Penn State and also Northwestern. This team goes into half time behind on the scoreboard but has had the confidence that things will play out for them in the second half and you have to look at the coaching staff for giving the players that confidence. Bo has so much trust in Taylor Martinez at quarterback and that it trickles down through the rest of the team. The offense knows that that the defense is going to get a stop just like the defense knows that the offense is going to score to win the game. It’s a team working together from the coaching staff down through the players.

So how do I see things playing out Saturday night in Indianapolis? With a healthy Rex Burkhead back I see the running game going for around 150 total yards and Taylor Martinez throwing for over 200 yards on the Badger defense. The one concern I have on offense is the starting center position where Justin Jackson will be out.

On defense I’m hoping that Chase Rome can fill in for Baker Steinkuler who will also be out due to injury. Everyone expects to see Monte Ball carry the ball over thirty times so it’s time to load up that box and stop ball from making big plays. I trust the corners to play one-on-one coverage on the outside and win that battle against the Wisconsin quarterback/receivers.

At the end of the game I see Nebraska winning their first Big 10 Championship by the score of 35-21 and Husker fans booking their second trip of the season to Pasadena.


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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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Finally! Coach Pelini has finally spoken about the coaching staff changes that many have been talking about for a couple of weeks. Bo, while out in California finally told a reporter from the AP the changes and many people are thinking what the heck took so long. I’m pretty sure it had something to do with Shawn Watson finally landing a job at Louisville. Bo always said he wanted to take care of his assistants and this is one way of doing it.

But was it the right away of going about? Bo already has loose ends with the local media and even some fans due to his media relations. We all know he isn’t the best guy for talking to the media and heck can you blame him in some cases? However, the two weeks were way to long and when everyone knows about it, the University might as well give Bo the go ahead and release a statement. It would make all parties look and sound much better. This isn’t the 80’s and even the 90’s when things were kept hush hush before the Internet…

So finally the coaching changes… Ted Gilmore, Shawn Watson, Marvin Sanders (resigned due to personal issues) are out. Corey Raymond, Ross Els and Rich Fisher all step in along with a promotion for grad assistant and former player John Garrison. Raymond will coach the secondary, Els the linebacking corp while Fisher will coach the wide receivers. Garrison will be co-offensive line coach with Coach Cotton and also help out with the tight ends.

Other moves will be Tim Beck taking over play calling as offensive coordinator and Ron Brown moving over to coach the running backs. (Something Brown has never done.)

Sure will be an interesting time during spring practice and the spring game. You know to know one thing, these assistant coaches were hand picked by Coach Pelini and they are guys that coach though would be best for the players. Stick behind them, and lets see what happens for the upcoming season. I have a feeling it will be an interesting ride into Big10 country.


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