CFN 2009 Nebraska Preview

College Football News has released their 2009 Nebraska preview. To read the preview, click here.

Some interesting observations made by author Pete Fiutak:

• "Best Offensive Player: Junior TE Mike McNeill"
• "Key Player to a successful season: Junior WR Niles Paul"
• "Key Game: Nov. 14 @ Kansas"
• "The season will be a success if.....the Huskers win the North."
• "...with the great defense, decent promise on offense, and one of the nation's best kickers in Alex Henery, there's no reason this can't be the year Nebraska gets back to the Big 12 title game and is more than just a speed bump against the South champion."

Also interesting were some of Nebraska's 2008 'Fun Stats:'

• - Fourth quarter scoring: Nebraska 155 - Opponents 52
• - Fumbles over the last two years: Nebraska 40 (lost 28) – Opponents 32 (lost 8)
• - Time of possession: Nebraska 34:01 - Opponents 25:59
• - Penalties: Nebraska 94 for 800 yards - Opponents 64 for 477 yards

Two things here. No doubt turnovers and penalties were our Achilles heel. As the great Phil Steele always proclaims, look for teams with most turnovers one year to have the biggest turnaround in record the following year. Well, with two consecutive years of turnover happy football and a new quarterback this year, it should be interesting to see how that unfolds. And surely, there is no way Pelini's 2009 team can commit almost 62 penalty yards/game while their opponent only commits 36 penalty yards/game. Can they?

Fix those two things and this season will be a success - as Pete says.