Random Husker Stuff

I've received this picture in my email several times in the past week. Pretty clever. I'd love to give somebody credit, so if you're responsible step up and claim your deserved adoration.

And while you're wasting time, might as well go here and ask "Why do the Huskers suck?"

The answer is more than humorous.

There are some other classics to ask, like "Why does Nebraska suck?," so go ahead and waste an hour or two.

Volleyball Team Back on CSTV.com

The 19-1 and #2 ranked women's volleyball team is once again in action live on Pay-Per-View for $6.95 on CSTV.com Halloween night at 7:00 PM. You can follow all the action by following this link.

And hey, who knows maybe in honor of Halloween the girls will wear even shorter shorts.

KU Week Random Musings

· Does anybody have a friend who didn’t see Bo Pelini in Lincoln last week? And on a related note, how many employees does Duncan Aviation actually have?

· The Sam Keller era is officially over. Memorable for the wrong reasons, but memorable nonetheless.

· Lance Brandenburgh’s season is also over, which might actually hurt more than the loss of Keller.

· I’m really interested to see how Joe Ganz fares. This is a great chance to for Callahan and Watson to show what kind of coaches they are. Can they design a scheme that will allow him to be successful or will they force him into the same old system a la Joe Dailey?

· Jaivorio Burkes looks like a star in the making. Did anyone besides the line judge miss Lydon Murtha’s presence on Saturday?

· If I’m KU fan this is the game I’ve been looking forward to for decades. Mark Mangino, I am giving you my permission to put 70 on the Huskers. In 1991, I got to watch Jamar Johnson hit a buzzer beater to upset the #3 ranked KU basketball team – KU fan deserves their shot on Saturday.

· Did anyone out there predict Zach Potter would lead the team in sacks and in tackles for loss? Me neither.

· Five reasons to be excited about the future:
1. Jaivorio Burkes
2. Anthony Blue
3. Roy Helu
4. Anthony West
5. Quentin Castille

· Where did Terrence Nunn go?

· Will Joe Ganz under center have a positive impact on the team’s chemistry? Don’t be surprised if the answer is yes.

· Saturday will likely be Callahan’s last chance against a Top 10 team. I fully expect us to pull this one out even after trailing at the half. Might as well knock two monkeys off his back at once as he prepares to exit stage left.

· This has officially been the strangest football season ever. And not just in Nebraska. UConn? Kansas? Stupid basketball schools stealing our thunder.

BlogPoll Ballot - Week Something or Other

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Ohio State	--
2	Boston College	--
3	LSU	--
4	Oregon	1
5	Oklahoma	1
6	Arizona State	1
7	West Virginia	1
8	Missouri	3
9	Kansas	3
10	Georgia	8
11	Connecticut	15
12	Southern Cal	4
13	Virginia Tech	4
14	Michigan	5
15	Alabama	6
16	Texas	1
17	Auburn	5
18	Florida	8
19	Hawaii	4
20	Boise State	6
21	South Florida	8
22	Wake Forest	4
23	Tennessee	3
24	Clemson	2
25	California	10

Dropped Out: Kentucky (#14), South Carolina (#16), Virginia (#20), Penn State (#24), Rutgers (#25).

Freudian Slip by Osborne?

Follow this link and click on the video entitled "Osborne Assesses Job, Program."

When talking about the future of the walk-on program, Tom seems to say, "That will depend somewhat on the new coaching staff."

Nail meet coffin.

We Did It!!

Nebraska is officially ranked 119th out of 119 teams in rushing defense.

Dead. Fricken'. Last.

Excellence in all areas. Our goals remain intact. Yada Yada Yada.

Take the Double Extra Points

Last Week: 2-4 ATS
Season: 44-40-1 ATS (52%)

“I’ve done an excellent job in every area.” Bill Callahan and Sammy Vegas, Oct. 23, commenting on their performances this season so far.

Alright, at least I’m not going to lie. I sucked last week. And while my right hand man Timmy Rose was in Europe wasting his days away in brothels and bubbles, I had to go solo which went up in flames faster than, well you know.

We usually don’t pick up strangers who give up on us after a few bad weeks, but I’m going to go with my instincts on this one. Saddle up partner!!!



SAMMY VEGAS

KANSAS STATE (-24.5) over Baylor: The fightin’ Bears have lost their last 5 Big 12 away games by 55-19. Last week at OSU, K State had over 500 yards of offense, blew a 4th quarter 14 pt lead, and lost on a last second field goal. Baylor brings in a pathetic spread offense that has to match up against the #8 pass D in the country. Besides, Coach Ron Prince needs to start eating up these cupcakes just for the weigh in against Mangino’s Jayhawks.

AUBURN (-17.5) over Mississippi: Ole Miss remains the only winless team in the SEC and was destroyed last week by an Arkansas team that Auburn held to 67 yards rushing (yeah, the same team with Darren McFadden and Felix Jones). As DXP reader Andrew has posted here, maybe Tommy Tuberville wouldn’t be such a bad candidate. After all he both praised and criticized his team after they beat Florida on the road, destroyed Arkansas on the road, and then lost on a questionable last second 25 yard ‘Hail Mary’ that cost them at LSU. With similar or maybe more talent imagine Nebraska’s results in those games? Imagine Bill Callahan’s comments. There would have a lot of ****-sucking amongst the coaching staff on that plane ride home.

TEXAS (-21) over Nebraska: I’ll give you one comparison. Iowa State outgained Nebraska by 46 yards in Lincoln and Texas outgained ISU by 286 in Ames. Texas’ players are physically healthy and Nebraska’s players are mentally unhealthy. Nebraska is 0-7 ATS the last 7 and is giving up 496 yards/game. One of the absurd comments to come out of Billy C.’s mouth at the press conference, when asked why RBs Marcus Mendoza and Cody Glenn didn’t play (as he said they would), ‘we’re just in a rhythm with those other players right now.’ Rhythm? Huh?

MISSOURI (-28) over Iowa State: Okay, I was wrong. Missouri is for real. Iowa State has the #106 rated pass defense in the country and has lost their Big 12 games by an average of 27 a game. If you are smart, expect a let down by both teams as ISU hung tough with Oklahoma and Missouri destroyed the potent T. Tech Raiders. However, ISU will be playing youth, as recommended by Dr. D at IU, as Coach Chizek starts to look ahead.


Weekly I Shouldn’t Be Looking This Game Up Pick

Troy (-4) over ARKANSAS STATE: Arkansas State was destroyed last week by MTSU, 7-24 at home, and out-gained by 246 yards. Troy worked out in this great spot last week as they destroyed N. Texas by 38, out-gained them by 300 yards, had 7 TO’s against them (yeah 7), and oh yeah, are on a 10-2 ATS streak. I got more, but this girl to my left just invited me over for picking Troy two weeks in a row. Sorry, gotta go.


TIMMY ROSE

WASHINGTON (-3.5) over Arizona: Speaking of coaches about to get fired, let’s look at a game in Seattle where both head coaches will be more pre-occupied with updating their resumes than calling plays. While Washington has lost 5 straight, they’ve played much tougher competition than Arizona and have Stanford on deck. The Wildcat spread offense has struggled on the road this year, averaging just 16 points per game.

EAST CAROLINA (-14) over UAB: UAB returned just 8 starters back this year and have been taking a pounding on both sides of the ball. This is a team with 20 fewer scholarship players than almost every other program and they have just 1 victory over I-A competition. This is a revenge game and Homecoming for East Carolina and they find themselves tied atop of the C-USA East standings with Southern Miss. UAB will be calling A Rose for tips on cougar hunting by the half.

LOUISVILLE (-11) over Pitt: Louisville’s defense has been almost as bad at home as another team that wears red and white and recruited Quentin Castille in the off-season. However, as bad as they’ve been, there’s no way in hell we’re betting on a team coached by Steve Pederson’s #2 choice. Just think how appropriately ugly and foretelling that 7-6 slopfest in Lincoln was in 2005.


ASU (-3) over Cal: ASU has less experience in big games this year than Dr. D has in the condom aisle at the 7-Eleven in Bloomington. However, unlike a Bill Callahan coached team, Dennis Erickson knows how to get his players up for a big game and make adjustments at the half. Seriously, Callahan, if you are reading this, you the worst halftime coach in the history of college football (not a typo). You’ve outscored conference opponents in the 3rd quarter all of 3 times in your career. Fucking pathetic. Conversely, ASU is outscoring opponents 89-17 in the 3rd quarter this year. Take a lesson Cosgrove. It’s called making a god damned adjustment. ASU will turn a close game into a big-time win in front a sold-out crowd at Sun Devil Stadium.

OREGON STATE (-13)over Stanford: Oregon State is one of the most underrated teams in the Pac-10. If not for terrible QB play in the 2nd half, they could be on a 4-game winning streak. They have the #23 ranked defense in the NCAA and are giving up the fewest yards per rush in college football at just 1.8. Stanford won on the road in Tucson last week, but are in for a blowout loss in Corvallis this week facing an Oregon State squad that is off a bye, cutting down on mistakes, and playing lights out defense.

Advanced Scouting...By Accident

After five years of living in Texas I finally made it to my first high school football game last Friday night. As luck would have it the game allowed an early glimpse of a future Husker (perhaps, maybe, we'll see how things shake-out). Anyway, as I was saying I attended the Baytown Robert E. Lee homecoming battle against Port Arthur Memorial H.S. Port Arthur's star player just happens to be one David Whitmore who is currently committed to the Huskers.

So how did I find myself at said contest? Well, my lovely fiance is a proud Baytown Lee Gander (seriously their nickname is the Ganders), as is pretty much her entire family. Kind of like my family full of Rockets from Lincoln Northeast. But I digress...

Now onto the scouting:

From what I could see Whitmore has a lot of developing to do before he contributes in any meaningful manner. He is SKINNY and that means a lot coming from me. That's sort of like Mark Mangino calling someone fat, if you catch my meaning. Whitmore's legs look like they should be holding up popsicles rather than a future DI football player. He does, however, have plenty of height which will certainly come in handy amongst the 6-4 receivers that now dot the Big 12 landscape.

Whitmore wasn't thrown at much on Friday. It was difficult to tell if this was by design becuase Baytown's QB play was spotty at best. Two plays do standout though.

On the first, Whitmore was beaten on a hitch move. This obviously caused an automatic cringe from Jeffie Husker, given Nebraska's recent struggles with this route. What I liked, however, was Whitmore's ability to close on the reciever while the ball was in the air. In fact after making up a large cushion, Whitmore actually put himself in position to intercept the pass on a perfectly timed turn to look back at the ball. Unfortunately, the refs called pass interference on Whitmore for using his hands to gain the advantage while in the air. I thought it was a terrible call based on what the official thought was going to happen, rather than the way Whitmore pulled it off.

On the second play Whitmore had to defend a bubble screen type pass thrown to his side. Despite showing initial hesitancy, Whitmore fended off a block from another receiver and made a pretty nice open field tackle. In fact, Whitmore made in my mind a prototypical CB tackle by simply getting low enough to take out the reciever's legs (or pins - for you Jim Rose fans). That play occurred right in front of me, and I couldn't help but give him a one-man standing ovation. Had it occurred at Memorial Stadium I would have been joined by 85,000 fans as it was clearly a better tackle than any of us have seen this season.

One thing that surprised me, however, was I didn't see Whitmore take even one snap on offense. I know Texas football is different than Nebraska high school football, but the fact that he doesn't crack the offensive starting lineup seems a bit worrisome to me. Overall, I'd say Whitmore has a lot of athleticism and good potential. He showed me plenty of speed and good hips (not the Eva Mendes type), meaning he is already less stiff than Andre Jones. In addition, I came away extremely expressed with his ability to close on receivers and make a play on the ball in the air. You just can't teach those skills.

So we'll see now if Whitmore winds up in Lincoln and if so, how well my attempt at a scouting report pans out.

Victory Chain Madness!!

Why we had to fire Pederson:

Ohio U. beat
Louisiana-Lafayette who beat
North Texas who beat
Louisiana-Monroe who beat
Arkansas St who beat
Memphis who beat
Rice who beat
Southern Miss who beat
East Carolina who beat
North Carolina who beat
Miami FL who beat
Texas A&M who beat
Nebraska

Why Turner should be considered?

Buffalo beat
Temple who beat
Miami OH who beat
Ball St who beat
Navy who beat
Air Force who beat
TCU who beat
Stanford who beat
Southern Cal who beat
Nebraska

Un-Bohl-ievable!!

North Dakota St beat
Central Michigan who beat
Ball St who beat
Navy who beat
Air Force who beat
TCU who beat
Stanford who beat
Southern Cal who beat
Nebraska

A new rival?

Nebraska-Omaha beat
North Dakota who beat
Central Washington who beat
South Dakota who beat
Winona St who beat
Michigan Tech who beat
Indianapolis who beat
Findlay who beat
Charleston WV who beat
Tusculum who beat
Catawba who beat
Carson-Newman who beat
Chattanooga who beat
Georgia Southern who beat
Appalachian St who beat
Michigan who beat
Notre Dame who beat
UCLA who beat
Stanford who beat
Southern Cal who beat
Nebraska

The third best team in the state?

Nebraska-Kearney beat
Wayne St NE who beat
Northern St SD who beat
Concordia-St Paul who beat
Augustana SD who beat
St Cloud St who beat
UW-Whitewater who beat
UW-La Crosse who beat
Azusa Pacific who beat
Malone who beat
Walsh who beat
Seton Hill who beat
Glenville St who beat
Shepherd who beat
Charleston WV who beat
Tusculum who beat
Catawba who beat
Carson-Newman who beat
Chattanooga who beat
Georgia Southern who beat
Appalachian St who beat
Michigan who beat
Notre Dame who beat
UCLA who beat
Stanford who beat
Southern Cal who beat
Nebraska

A real shot to our manhood?

Wellesley beat Tufts
Tufts beat Sarah Lawrence
Sarah Lawrence beat … Man, You’re Gullible

(via Victory Chain Linker)

We Are Not Alone...

See things are bad all over.

Our Defense is Bad, but....

...not as bad as this:

"SMU is the only program in Division I-A history to allow a 300-yard rushing game, 300-yard receiving game and a 600-yard passing game. And the Ponies pulled it off in a span of six weeks!

North Texas' Casey Fitzgerald had 327 receiving yards (fourth in I-A history) in SMU's lone win. Since-benched Mean Green QB Daniel Meager's 601 passing yards in that game rank 13th in I-A history. Tulane's Matt Forte rushed for 342 yards (tied for 21st in I-A history) in the Ponies' OT loss Sunday.

To put that amazing accomplishment in perspective, there are only three other programs that have allowed a 300-yard rusher and 300-yard receiver. Kansas, Southern Illinois and Toledo are the others, but none of them gave up the three-bill performances in the same season."

HAHAHAHA!!!

See, laughing at the misfortune of others is all we have left.

BlogPoll Ballot Draft

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Ohio State	--
2	Boston College	1
3	LSU	1
4	Oklahoma	1
5	Oregon	1
6	West Virginia	5
7	Arizona State	2
8	Southern Cal	4
9	Virginia Tech	6
10	Florida	3
11	Missouri	3
12	Kansas	4
13	South Florida	11
14	Kentucky	6
15	California	5
16	South Carolina	9
17	Texas	3
18	Georgia	1
19	Michigan	5
20	Virginia	5
21	Alabama	5
22	Auburn	5
23	Hawaii	2
24	Penn State	2
25	Rutgers	1

Dropped Out: Tennessee (#18), Texas Tech (#22), Cincinnati (#23).