Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Great Day To Be A Nebraska Fan.
Nebraska got a very nice win over Tulsa in the Las Vegas Classic Basketball Tournament and Ndamukong Suh beacme the first defensive player ever to win A.P. College Football Player of the year.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Saturday, December 5, 2009
I Was Right On My Prediction
Remember My Prediction for the Nebraska-Texas game after scores like 38-3 were being predicted over at GII? It would be much closer but the bitching at GII would continue? looks like I nailed it. It would be funny if the kids didn't bust dick and these comments were coming from a bunch of 50+ year olds on their 4th case of MGD.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Hey Ron Franklin Posts ON GI Independent. Now I Can Tell Him Personally It's Time For Him To Retire.
[quote="howsoon99"]As I was watching the game, and watched Asante, I am thinking one thing: Get him off the field now! The guy is a cheap shot artist. This is now 3 games in a row that I can recall Asante taking cheap shots and laying into people when he does not need to. I know of 2 times he has been called with a Personal Foul. If he wants to play like a thug, then he can go elsewhere. We do not need that type of play on the D. Especially when they are holding CU in check. Just plain stupid to be playing like that. Plain stupid. And I am starting to question the Pelini brothers for leaving him out there after the thug like play he has been doing. He should have been ejected from 2 games now.[/quote]
Yeah Nebraska doesn't need an all conference level player on the field...sure right.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Personal Grades For The Colorado Game.
Before I begin my thoughts on the Colorado game let again state the spread for the Texas game is Texas by 15 1/2. So if you are one those people who always predict a 5 touchdown Nebraska defeat and then bitch and moan nonstop after a Nebraska victory by all means bet your paycheck on Texas if you are so sure the score is going to be 47-3 Texas.
On to this past Friday. If you didn't think this was going to be a tight ball game or were surprised it was you obviously do not know about Colorado-Nebraska history. Since this game has been moved to the day after Thanksgiving with the birth of the Big XII in 1996 Nebraska has been 9-4 against Colorado. But that doesn't begin to tell the story. Often Nebraska is the better team and a substantial favorite only to see Colorado play the game of it's life. Twice in 2000, and 2008 Nebraska was the huge favorite playing in Lincoln only to need "miracles" to pull out the game in the last minute.
Twice in 1997 and 1999 in Boulder Nebraska had huge leads and saw Colorado come back to pull with in a whisker of winning the game. in 2001 in Boulder Nebraska was on it's way to a Big XII championship and possible National title game when they fell behind Colorado 42-3 in the first half. Nebraska would battle back to 42-30 but eventually lose 62-36. From 1996-2000 Nebraska won this game by 5, 3, 2, 3 and 2 points. After the 2001 Colorado massacre Both teams won on the others field for 4 straight years including a 30-3 Nebraska win in Boulder in 2005 when Colorado was a 18 point favorite. The high point of the Bill Callahan era.
The last trip to Boulder in 2007 saw Nebraska score 51 points and lose by two touchdowns and a coach fired the next day. In fact the last 3 games in this series that were played in Boulder ended with a coach getting fired. It seemed almost a certainty that this would be the 4th with most everybody predicting that Dan Hawkins and his promise of 10 wins and no excuses would be sent packing just 7 wins short of the mark. But a day before the game Hawkins was granted a reprieve much to the joy of the rest of the Big XII North. Whether it was the fact that he's cleaned up the academic side of things or as most people suspect Colorado just didn't have the $ to buy him out we don't know. We do know he'll be back next year to tell us again this isn't Intramurals Brother.
There were other reasons to believe this would be a closer game than the records of the two teams would suggest other than the folderol with Dan Hawkins and the recent history of the series. Nebraska's offense isn't good enough to blow out any team in the BCS, Colorado had 8 days to prepare for Nebraska. Nebraska had 6 to prepare for Colorado and had to spend one of those days traveling. This was a "trap" game for Nebraska located in between the Big XII North sealing victory over Kansas State and the Big XII Championship game against Texas. This was destined to be a tight hard fought football game and it was.
Offense: B- This was an F in the third quarter a D- midway through the 4th and then Nebraska got the ball with 12 minutes left and a 21-14 lead. 80 yards, 6 minutes and a score later this grade jumped to a B-. Nebraska rode Freshman Rex Burkhead for their best offensive series of the year it was the kind of drive you just wished you saw more of out of this bunch. Nebraska had one other offensive score and that was set up off a short field. Since getting into Conference play this offense has rarely been...well...good and for most of this game they were worse than they had been the last 3 weeks. In the Third Quarter there was the scare when Nebraska busted an option play and Zac Lee got hurt on the naked bootleg. Thank goodness he was not hurt seriously. Other than the "drive" the only other offensive score was the touchdown pass to Ben Cotton in the second quarter. Ben Cotton? but man that game winning drive really was a thing of beauty.
Defense C. Worst game of the season. Yeah Colorado's 403 yards are skewed by a 58 yard pass that lead to a missed field goal and a 56 yard touchdown pass on the last play of the game that meant nothing. Still this wasn't the Nebraska defense we saw all year. 2 Receivers over a hundred yards, a running back over hundred yards and only one sack from an offense that was one of the worst Nebraska has faced this season. Much of the third quarter the only thing keeping Colorado from making this a game was Colorado. An intentional grounding call gave Colorado a 52 yard field goal which they missed. There was also a missed 37 yard field goal and a drive killed by penalties that ended with an Interception in the end-zone. As they have done all year Colorado found away to lose. Still there was 3 interceptions one of which was returned for a touchdown by Matt O'Hanlon and the defense gave Nebraska a 14-0 lead by keeping Colorado backed up in the first half and keeping the game on Colorado's half of the field.
Special Teams. A. The most consistent aspect of Nebraska's football team all year was once again a huge factor in the game. Alex Henery again had huge punts pinning Colorado at the 2 and the 6. Although the punt that was pinned at the 6 was a bonehead move by Colorado. Niles Paul returned a punt for a touchdown for Nebraska's first score of of the game. Nebraska's kick off and punt coverage was again great and Adi Kunalic's kickoffs were again outstanding. The only downer was a missed field goal by Alex Henery yeah it was from 50 yards but still it would have been a huge to have a 17-0 lead. I kept thinking that missed kick would come back to bite us in the ass.
Overall B-. After the game was over I commented that this was the rare Nebraska Colorado game that went about like I thought it would. The 28-20 score certainly was no surprise but giving the game more thought it was once again a strange Nebraska-Colorado football game. Colorado out yarded Nebraska 403-217 and yet it never seemed Nebraska wasn't in control of the game. Nebraska had an Interception and Punt Return for a touchdown (which is the best thing to do for an offense that has as much trouble as Nebraska's) Colorado scored on a 56 yard heave on the last play of the game and then declined to kick the extra point. If you're going to quit why heave the ball deep in the first place? Because you are Colorado that's why. BTW how much money was won and lost on that last play?
So Nebraska got a hard fought 28-20 win over Colorado. It was less nerve racking game than last years last minute victory and Nebraska didn't personally score 17 points for Colorado like they did last year still this years game had me holding my face in my hands and wondering why this game was a such a bitch every year? Somehow this game was a perfect microcosm of the season. The case can be made that we played better and had an easier game with Colorado than we did last year and yet somehow it seems less satisfying until you give it it's proper thought. This game was not pretty, this season has not been pretty. This game had moments in the middle when you wondered if Nebraska would get the job done, there were moments in the middle of the season where you wondered if Nebraska would get the job done. Nebraska was ultimately successful this game, Nebraska was ultimately successful this season.
9-3, a win in every conference road game, and a date against Texas next week in the Big XII Championship game. No matter how it looked there's no way you call this season anything but a success. I do think Nebraska will need some breaks to win next week I do not think they will get blown out or embarrassed like other Nebraska fans believe. This defense will not allow it. And who knows? Maybe once again Nebraska can ugly itself to another unexpected victory.
Around The Big XII
Texas 49 Texas A&M 39. Simply put A&M played harder but Texas was better. I have said several times if I thought Mike Sherman will not be a successful at A&M I was asked if I changed my mind because of this effort my answer was this game reinforced my belief that Sherman won't cut it. How does this team with this talent lose to Kansas State 62-28? How do they lose to Colorado?
Oklahoma 27 Oklahoma State 0. Once more Oklahoma State was one win from being relevant and did what it has always done in it's history...Shit all over itself. I have never seen a team play so much better at home than it does on the road like Oklahoma has this year. I am not convinced any team coached by Mike Gundy will ever be great.
Missouri 41 Kansas 39. The Mark Mangino era most likely ended in the manner perfectly fitting this Kansas Season. A total brainfart and meltdown. Ahead 39-36 and Backed up to his own goal-line Kansas threw 3 passes. Reising was sacked for a safety that made the score 39-38. Missouri easily got into field goal range after the free kick and won the game. Whether or not the off the field stories are true I do not know but what hasn't been a question is that Mark Mangino is a good football coach. His play calling at the end of this game was a sad way to go out. I hope he takes some time off, takes some anger management classes, loses some weight and comes back.
Texas Tech 20 Baylor 13. I have to admit this being the first non Nebraska game Saturday in a while I made some promises and did not see any of this game after the kickoff. I gather Baylor had a shot to win the game and I have to admit the score really is quite a surprise. Baylor was 4-8 this year and it seems like even when they are getting better something happens to keep them shitty, but they really are getting better. This may have been Goober Leach's best coaching job at Tech.
One final opinion. This is the 3rd game this year we have gotten the Ron Franklin ABC crew. Once upon a time Franklin was the best announcer in college football now he is a bitter old fool. Seriously this man needs to be told how awful he is up in the broadcast booth and that if he'd rather be home asleep then they can make it happen. This isn't Brent Musberger somebody who never was worth a shit who gets shittier the older and drunker he gets. This guy used to be so good. Now he's complaining about being kept awake, crying for people to be thrown out of the game and calling for teams to kneel down on the ball with 3 minutes left. Ron Franklin has to go and he should have gone 5 years ago.
On to this past Friday. If you didn't think this was going to be a tight ball game or were surprised it was you obviously do not know about Colorado-Nebraska history. Since this game has been moved to the day after Thanksgiving with the birth of the Big XII in 1996 Nebraska has been 9-4 against Colorado. But that doesn't begin to tell the story. Often Nebraska is the better team and a substantial favorite only to see Colorado play the game of it's life. Twice in 2000, and 2008 Nebraska was the huge favorite playing in Lincoln only to need "miracles" to pull out the game in the last minute.
Twice in 1997 and 1999 in Boulder Nebraska had huge leads and saw Colorado come back to pull with in a whisker of winning the game. in 2001 in Boulder Nebraska was on it's way to a Big XII championship and possible National title game when they fell behind Colorado 42-3 in the first half. Nebraska would battle back to 42-30 but eventually lose 62-36. From 1996-2000 Nebraska won this game by 5, 3, 2, 3 and 2 points. After the 2001 Colorado massacre Both teams won on the others field for 4 straight years including a 30-3 Nebraska win in Boulder in 2005 when Colorado was a 18 point favorite. The high point of the Bill Callahan era.
The last trip to Boulder in 2007 saw Nebraska score 51 points and lose by two touchdowns and a coach fired the next day. In fact the last 3 games in this series that were played in Boulder ended with a coach getting fired. It seemed almost a certainty that this would be the 4th with most everybody predicting that Dan Hawkins and his promise of 10 wins and no excuses would be sent packing just 7 wins short of the mark. But a day before the game Hawkins was granted a reprieve much to the joy of the rest of the Big XII North. Whether it was the fact that he's cleaned up the academic side of things or as most people suspect Colorado just didn't have the $ to buy him out we don't know. We do know he'll be back next year to tell us again this isn't Intramurals Brother.
There were other reasons to believe this would be a closer game than the records of the two teams would suggest other than the folderol with Dan Hawkins and the recent history of the series. Nebraska's offense isn't good enough to blow out any team in the BCS, Colorado had 8 days to prepare for Nebraska. Nebraska had 6 to prepare for Colorado and had to spend one of those days traveling. This was a "trap" game for Nebraska located in between the Big XII North sealing victory over Kansas State and the Big XII Championship game against Texas. This was destined to be a tight hard fought football game and it was.
Offense: B- This was an F in the third quarter a D- midway through the 4th and then Nebraska got the ball with 12 minutes left and a 21-14 lead. 80 yards, 6 minutes and a score later this grade jumped to a B-. Nebraska rode Freshman Rex Burkhead for their best offensive series of the year it was the kind of drive you just wished you saw more of out of this bunch. Nebraska had one other offensive score and that was set up off a short field. Since getting into Conference play this offense has rarely been...well...good and for most of this game they were worse than they had been the last 3 weeks. In the Third Quarter there was the scare when Nebraska busted an option play and Zac Lee got hurt on the naked bootleg. Thank goodness he was not hurt seriously. Other than the "drive" the only other offensive score was the touchdown pass to Ben Cotton in the second quarter. Ben Cotton? but man that game winning drive really was a thing of beauty.
Defense C. Worst game of the season. Yeah Colorado's 403 yards are skewed by a 58 yard pass that lead to a missed field goal and a 56 yard touchdown pass on the last play of the game that meant nothing. Still this wasn't the Nebraska defense we saw all year. 2 Receivers over a hundred yards, a running back over hundred yards and only one sack from an offense that was one of the worst Nebraska has faced this season. Much of the third quarter the only thing keeping Colorado from making this a game was Colorado. An intentional grounding call gave Colorado a 52 yard field goal which they missed. There was also a missed 37 yard field goal and a drive killed by penalties that ended with an Interception in the end-zone. As they have done all year Colorado found away to lose. Still there was 3 interceptions one of which was returned for a touchdown by Matt O'Hanlon and the defense gave Nebraska a 14-0 lead by keeping Colorado backed up in the first half and keeping the game on Colorado's half of the field.
Special Teams. A. The most consistent aspect of Nebraska's football team all year was once again a huge factor in the game. Alex Henery again had huge punts pinning Colorado at the 2 and the 6. Although the punt that was pinned at the 6 was a bonehead move by Colorado. Niles Paul returned a punt for a touchdown for Nebraska's first score of of the game. Nebraska's kick off and punt coverage was again great and Adi Kunalic's kickoffs were again outstanding. The only downer was a missed field goal by Alex Henery yeah it was from 50 yards but still it would have been a huge to have a 17-0 lead. I kept thinking that missed kick would come back to bite us in the ass.
Overall B-. After the game was over I commented that this was the rare Nebraska Colorado game that went about like I thought it would. The 28-20 score certainly was no surprise but giving the game more thought it was once again a strange Nebraska-Colorado football game. Colorado out yarded Nebraska 403-217 and yet it never seemed Nebraska wasn't in control of the game. Nebraska had an Interception and Punt Return for a touchdown (which is the best thing to do for an offense that has as much trouble as Nebraska's) Colorado scored on a 56 yard heave on the last play of the game and then declined to kick the extra point. If you're going to quit why heave the ball deep in the first place? Because you are Colorado that's why. BTW how much money was won and lost on that last play?
So Nebraska got a hard fought 28-20 win over Colorado. It was less nerve racking game than last years last minute victory and Nebraska didn't personally score 17 points for Colorado like they did last year still this years game had me holding my face in my hands and wondering why this game was a such a bitch every year? Somehow this game was a perfect microcosm of the season. The case can be made that we played better and had an easier game with Colorado than we did last year and yet somehow it seems less satisfying until you give it it's proper thought. This game was not pretty, this season has not been pretty. This game had moments in the middle when you wondered if Nebraska would get the job done, there were moments in the middle of the season where you wondered if Nebraska would get the job done. Nebraska was ultimately successful this game, Nebraska was ultimately successful this season.
9-3, a win in every conference road game, and a date against Texas next week in the Big XII Championship game. No matter how it looked there's no way you call this season anything but a success. I do think Nebraska will need some breaks to win next week I do not think they will get blown out or embarrassed like other Nebraska fans believe. This defense will not allow it. And who knows? Maybe once again Nebraska can ugly itself to another unexpected victory.
Around The Big XII
Texas 49 Texas A&M 39. Simply put A&M played harder but Texas was better. I have said several times if I thought Mike Sherman will not be a successful at A&M I was asked if I changed my mind because of this effort my answer was this game reinforced my belief that Sherman won't cut it. How does this team with this talent lose to Kansas State 62-28? How do they lose to Colorado?
Oklahoma 27 Oklahoma State 0. Once more Oklahoma State was one win from being relevant and did what it has always done in it's history...Shit all over itself. I have never seen a team play so much better at home than it does on the road like Oklahoma has this year. I am not convinced any team coached by Mike Gundy will ever be great.
Missouri 41 Kansas 39. The Mark Mangino era most likely ended in the manner perfectly fitting this Kansas Season. A total brainfart and meltdown. Ahead 39-36 and Backed up to his own goal-line Kansas threw 3 passes. Reising was sacked for a safety that made the score 39-38. Missouri easily got into field goal range after the free kick and won the game. Whether or not the off the field stories are true I do not know but what hasn't been a question is that Mark Mangino is a good football coach. His play calling at the end of this game was a sad way to go out. I hope he takes some time off, takes some anger management classes, loses some weight and comes back.
Texas Tech 20 Baylor 13. I have to admit this being the first non Nebraska game Saturday in a while I made some promises and did not see any of this game after the kickoff. I gather Baylor had a shot to win the game and I have to admit the score really is quite a surprise. Baylor was 4-8 this year and it seems like even when they are getting better something happens to keep them shitty, but they really are getting better. This may have been Goober Leach's best coaching job at Tech.
One final opinion. This is the 3rd game this year we have gotten the Ron Franklin ABC crew. Once upon a time Franklin was the best announcer in college football now he is a bitter old fool. Seriously this man needs to be told how awful he is up in the broadcast booth and that if he'd rather be home asleep then they can make it happen. This isn't Brent Musberger somebody who never was worth a shit who gets shittier the older and drunker he gets. This guy used to be so good. Now he's complaining about being kept awake, crying for people to be thrown out of the game and calling for teams to kneel down on the ball with 3 minutes left. Ron Franklin has to go and he should have gone 5 years ago.
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