Nov

16

Roy Helu is just ridiculously talented.

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Lost in the disaster is this play by Roy “The Future” Helu, Jr.

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Sep

21

Status Update on Cornhuskers previous 2008 opponents

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Here’s how the Cornhuskers earlier 2008 opponents fared yesterday:

  • Western Michigan improved to 3-1 after a 41 to 7 thrashing of Division I-AA Tennessee Tech.
  • is 2-1 after easily defeating 35-10. That’s the same that gave Notre Dame such a tough time in South Bend a couple weeks back. QB Kyle Reed had three rushing TD’s and 178 yards passing.
  • New Mexico State is 1-1 after winning a thriller against UTEP yesterday, 34-33. QB Chase Holbrook had five passing TD’s and 329 yards.
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Sep

9

Nebraska Highlights - San Diego State

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Sep

8

Huskers need to cut down the penalties, ramp up the running game

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After the first two games, the Sporting News has some stats and commentary on Nebraska’s (lack of a) running attack thus far in 2008.

One of the key things holding the Huskers back?

The Cornhuskers are amongst the nation’s leading teams in number of PENALTIES !!!?!?

Penalties also have held back the Huskers. Nebraska was called for 12, seven by the offense. There were five false starts, including three in a row by two receivers and a tight end in the second quarter.

Through two games, the Huskers have 18 penalties for 163 yards, ranking among the most in the nation.

Nebraska currently ranks 82nd in the country in rushing yards per game.

The Huskers are 82nd nationally in rushing at 118.5 yards a game. San Jose held them to 53 yards on the ground through three quarters, and they finished with 99.

After Nebraska generated 138 rushing yards against Western Michigan in the opener, offensive coordinator Shawn Watson said he went away from the run because the Broncos were crowding the line of scrimmage.

Pelini said there were no excuses for the low output against San Jose.

“We’re not all on the same page,” he said. “To be able to run the football, it has to be 11 guys doing their job. You have a breakdown here or a breakdown there, you have issues. We’re just not executing very well right now.”

Roy Helu Jr., the third I-back in the game for Nebraska, was the strongest runner, picking up 59 yards and a touchdown on nine carries.

Marlon Lucky, the starter, had 23 yards and a touchdown on seven carries. Quentin Castille had 7 yards on six attempts and fumbled at midfield after taking a pitch from Joe Ganz on an option play. The turnover occurred just as it looked like the offense was gaining traction in the second half.

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Sep

6

Post game thoughts

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We stopped live blogging the action in the second half, because we were afraid our initial foray into live blogging the action was Jinxing the mighty Huskers.

Maybe the whole “live blogging idea” wasn’t such a great idea after all, because look what happened when we stopped. The second half delivered exactly what we called for at halftime. Namely, big special teams plays and turnovers.

The momentum shifting play of the second half was the 85-yard TD kickoff return by Niles Paul that put Nebraska up 21-12. However, the true turning point came on the very next play, when the Cornhuskers and Philip Dillard took down QB Kyle Reed and knocked him out of the game with a concussion.

Potter was a monster all game, with an interception, a tipped pass that led to an interception return for a touchdown, and then the joint sack that knocked the Spartans starting quarterback Reed out of the contest.

The penalties are turning into an absolute nightmare for Nebraska, with the Huskers racking up a whopping 12 penalties for 103 yards. The focus and discipline must improve dramatically before Big Red enters the Big XII conference schedule. Heck, it better clear up dramatically before New Mexico State gets here next weeks. These are penalty numbers you’d expect from the 1980’s Oakland Raiders or Miami Hurricanes, not the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

The Nebraska offense sputtered all afternoon. Joe Ganz failed to throw a TD pass for the first time in five career starts, and managed just 216 yards through the air.

The post-game notes from Huskers.com show that the 49 yard interception return for a touchdown by Ndamukong in the 1st half was the first TD by a Nebraska defensive player since Bo Rudd picked one off against Iowa State and took it to the house back on September 27, 2007.

Encouraging effort by the defense today, especially in the second half. Very concerned with the way Nebraska played in the first half. The offense needs some serious work. Racking up three penalties in a row on offense is inexcusable, especially when the third penalty is a delay of game penalty!

PLAYERS OF THE GAME:

Defense:

Special Teams: Niles Paul

Offense: Roy Helu, Jr.

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Sep

5

Random game facts from the Sporting News

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Some interesting facts on tomorrow’s game, courtesy of the Sporting News:

  • The Huskers beat 49-13 in 2000 in the teams’ only previous meeting.
  • Nebraska’s Joe Ganz has thrown 19 TD passes in four starts, with no fewer than four in any game.
  • has lost 11 straight nonconference road games dating to 2002, when the Spartans beat Illinois.
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Sep

3

Hey Huskers Gameday, talk to me about San Jose State

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When I hear the words “San Jose”, the first words that come to mind are Technology, Silicon Valley and No Way Jose.

With the spread currently hovering around 27 points in favor of Nebraska, it might be easy to dismiss this game as a ‘No Way Jose’ game for the Huskers, as in there’s no way in hell can come in and beat the Cornhuskers at Memorial Stadium.

But if you take a closer look at the Spartans, there are definitely some things that grab your attention and let you know this game isn’t going to be a total cakewalk. First off, let’s start with their head coach, Dick Tomey. I bet you didn’t know about these two eye-popping diddy bam stats:

Total D-1 Football Wins Among All Active Coaches

1) Bobby Bowden - Florida State, West Virginia - 373
1) Joe Paterno - Penn State - 373
3) Mack Brown - Texas, North Carolina, Tulane - 184
4) Dick Tomey - , Arizona, Hawaii - 176
5) Frank Beamer - Virginia Tech - 167
6) Steve Spurrier - South Carolina, Florida, Duke - 164

Coaching longevity among FBS head coaches

1) Joe Paterno - Penn State - 500 games
2) Bobby Bowden - Florida State - 496 games
3) Frank Beamer - Virginia Tech - 321 games
4) Dick Tomey - - 311 games

Wow! How about that drop-off from Joe Pa and Bowden to the rest of the pack in Total Wins? No wonder these guys refuse to stop coaching until the lid is slammed on their caskets. Whoever outlasts the other guy owns that freaking record forever. Mack Brown would have to coach until he was 99 years old before he could even sniff that record.

Back to . You want to know more about this Dick Tomey character? Check out this chestnut, son.

Remember back in 1999 when Sports Illustrated picked the Arizona Wildcats (!) as their Preseason #1 team in the country? And in the 1999 nationally televised Kickoff Classic game, that Arizona team played AT Penn State, and got absolutely annihilated by LaVar Arrington, Courtney Brown and company something like 222 to 0?

Dick Tomey was the coach of those Arizona Wildcats. His team never recovered from that Kickoff Classic drubbing, and they ended up finishing the season with a 5-6 record. Tomey got fired at the end of that season, as did several people at Sports Illustrated. He spent the next few years as an assistant coach and now this is his 4th season as head coach of the Spartans.

Alright, enough about their coach. The X-Factor in this game is their quarterback Kyle Reed, who transferred from the California Golden Bears to San Jose last year. Kyle Reed was the number two QB at Cal as recently as 2007. He missed all of spring practice with a broken foot, and came into the 2008 season listed as the third string quarterback.

Coach Tomey planned on playing him in the 3rd quarter last week, regardless of the score. was down by ten points to lowly UC-Davis at halftime. Reed came in and completed 14 of 18 passes for 132 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed seven times for 28 yards. After rallying the team to victory, he now gets his first collegiate start against Nebraska. Coming out of high school, he was considered one of the nation’s top-ranked “double threat” quarterbacks, ranked #5 overall by Rivals.com.

Our prediction for Saturday game?

Well, Kyle Reed hasn’t started a game at quarterback since 2004, back when he was senior in high school. It’s safe to say he’s never experienced an environment like Memorial Stadium before. Reed is definitely the wildcard in this game, without question. But let’s be honest, he’s seen a grand total of 30 minutes of “live game action” over the past 1,300 days.

And although Dick Tomey might have a boatload of wins over his 31 year career, I’ve been passionately following college football for damn near 31 years now, and I hardly knew dick about Dick Tomey until I started researching this post.

The one stat that really grabbed my attention? He’s only won five bowl games in 31 years. Five? That’s right, five. The exact number of touchdowns the Cornhuskers will win by this Saturday.

Nebraska 56 21

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Sep

3

Latest news on the Huskers

Filed Under 2008 Opponents, Bo Pelini, San Jose State, Western Michigan | Leave a Comment

The latest news and links on Nebraska football…

- College Football News has Nebraska ranked #29 in their latest D1 power rankings

- Kevin Armstrong of SI has the Huskers ranked #39 overall

- Offensive coordinator Shawn Watson says he called fewer running plays last Saturday because Western Michigan loaded up the area around the line of scrimmage with defenders. He says that opened up passing opportunities. Nebraska threw 36 passes and ran the ball 31 times.

- Bo says no blackshirts yet. On Monday, Pelini said he won’t hand them out until they’re earned, and as the head coach points out,  “We haven’t been together long enough for that to happen.

- Next Saturday will mark the second all-time meeting between Nebraska and . The Huskers defeated the Spartans 49-13 in the season opener in 2000. Nebraska had 505 rushing yards in that game. Ah, the good old days.

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