CFN: Nebraska Football Preview

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CylentButDeadly

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May 1, 2009
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Scout.com: NEW ... 2009 CFN Nebraska Preview

Very interesting year for the Huskers. They lost a lot of talent on offense, but they return a good D. I don't think they're head and shoulders above anyone in the North, and I'm really not sure if they're going to beat out KU, plus, that game is in Lawrence. Other than that, they have two extremely tough games when they go to Virginia Tech and then the home game against Oklahoma. Games @ Mizzou & Colorado could be tough as they always give Nebraska a good fight when they host. The game at Baylor could also be a sneaky one too.

I see them with 8-9 wins and most likely in the B12 championship game. As far as a bowl goes, probably something like the Holiday Bowl.
 

WalkingCY

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Sep 26, 2008
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Nebby is not going to beat KU. KU will win the North outright this year IMO. Here are their losses in '09:
@ VT
@ Missouri
Texas Tech
OU
@ KU
@ CU

Yes...the CU and TT games are winnable, but I see a struggling season for Neb this year. Then the Bo firing squad will be assembled.....like it has in the past 10 years in Lincoln.

Zac Lee at QB? He is going to struggle, especially with a lot of new faces on Offense.
 
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CylentButDeadly

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Nebby is not going to beat KU. KU will win the North outright this year IMO. Here are their losses in '09:
@ VT
@ Missouri
Texas Tech
OU
@ KU
@ CU

Yes...the CU and TT games are winnable, but I see a struggling season for Neb this year. Then the Bo firing squad will be assembled.....like it has in the past 10 years in Lincoln.

Zac Lee at QB? He is going to struggle, especially with a lot of new faces on Offense.

That a boy WalkingCy. 6-6 huh? Wow, that's bold. I definitely see where you're coming from though. Zac Lee is unproven and the receiving core is average at best. I think Bo is smart enough to know that he has to ride Helu and the other backs and hope the D can keep opponents under 20 points in order to win. If they struggle to run the ball, they could be in trouble.
 

tejasclone

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Oct 20, 2006
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These threads are always very telling. If this were a Hawk thread, you'd have 50 replies by now.

My hatred for Nebraska has subsided over the last few years, probably because we have been only mildly competitive with them. I still have flashbacks to that 2005 game - we were sooooooooo close!

I don't think their new talent on offense will be much of a road block. Pelini is a good coach and I think Nebraska will likely get 8 wins or so - certainly good enough to win the North. They may well lose at KU but I think KU still winds up with a worse record - probably at 7 wins or so, just a notch below Nebraska.

I think the home game with Oklahoma could be pretty epic. They used to have such a heated rivalry. I remember in 2001 when Eric Crouch caught that reverse pass for a touchdown to beat the Sooners. Should be a good game.
 

egami

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May 19, 2009
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I'll take Nebraska to with the North. I think KU is overrated, frankly, and are largely getting handed the North by default in the pre-season. I like Nebraska's defense. The return a solid OL and frankly I expect more out of Zac Lee than what Ganz did when it's all said and done. Helu is an athlete. I'd take him at Michigan in a heartbeat. This team will be solid.
 

The_Architect

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Apr 11, 2006
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I'll take Nebraska to with the North. I think KU is overrated, frankly, and are largely getting handed the North by default in the pre-season. I like Nebraska's defense. The return a solid OL and frankly I expect more out of Zac Lee than what Ganz did when it's all said and done. Helu is an athlete. I'd take him at Michigan in a heartbeat. This team will be solid.

I think NU will win the north too but I do see them losing to KU and I think KU will be the better team. Their(KU) schedule is going to keep them barely bowl eligible though, yikes.
 

egami

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May 19, 2009
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I think NU will win the north too but I do see them losing to KU and I think KU will be the better team. Their(KU) schedule is going to keep them barely bowl eligible though, yikes.

I like Nebraska's chances at KU, honestly. I think their DL will cause them problems they haven't seen all year, and I think Nebraska may run all over them. If Nebraska can get out to a lead in that game I think they can run a lot of clock with their offense and keep KU from exploding. But it'll be interesting to see...need to see both of these teams on the field this year before I set anything in stone.

I like Nebraska's OC/QB coaching situation, so I am banking on them delivering more than what is currently expected out of that offense which remains to be seen.
 

CylentButDeadly

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May 1, 2009
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I'll take Nebraska to with the North. I think KU is overrated, frankly, and are largely getting handed the North by default in the pre-season. I like Nebraska's defense. The return a solid OL and frankly I expect more out of Zac Lee than what Ganz did when it's all said and done. Helu is an athlete. I'd take him at Michigan in a heartbeat. This team will be solid.

KU has a beast of a schedule too; OU, @ TTU, @ Texas, Southern Miss (could be tricky), @ CU, Neb, and the Arrowhead game with Mizzou. I could easily see 4-5 losses in there.
 

garn91

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Jun 1, 2006
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I think the key for Nebraska this year is going to be the offensive line. With an inexperienced QB and WR's, Watson is going to depend on the proven RB's of Helu and Castille to carry the load, espcially early on as Lee and the WR's get their feet wet.

Defensively, I don't know what to think. Yes, Nebraska improved greatly on defense (2nd in the Big 12, but 56th nationally), but in an offensive driven league, that's not saying much. Suh returning on the D-line is simply huge, in fact, a large majority of starters return on defense.

With the way the offensives are in the Big 12, I just think it's going to be hard for any Big 12 team to have a dominating defense and other than Nebraska who faced a crappy offense against Clemson, it showed during the bowl games just how poor the Big 12 is at playing defense.

I'm picking KU to win the North simply because of an experienced offense, of course I hope i'm proven wrong ;)

I see another 8-9 year win for Nebraska, which given the disaster that was the Callahan era, I can live with that.
 

trajanJ

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Sep 11, 2008
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It's going to be interesting to see what happens. I think NU could be pretty good but I thought they looked below average in their final two games last year and that's not always a very good sign. I still think KU's schedule is too tough for them to overcome and the North title will probably go to NU but it could really be up for grabs. Everybody is counting out Mizzou but they have a lot of talent that has been waiting to get on the field and CU played almost the entire year without a single starter on the O-line, they could be dramatically better. K-State has their "Coaching God" back and ISU returns a ton of starters and may actually have a coach that won't wet his pants on game day. Should be an interesting year.
 

Cyclone_Grav

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Jul 13, 2007
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Nebraska is the Iowa of the west. They are obnoxious and pretentious and at times I almost prefer the hawks blunt, straight forward dislike of us than Nebby's condescending, gods gift to the universe, patronizing attitude. I really do dislike them, however, Nebby looks solid all the way around this year (the D-line in particular). The only place for concern is at QB and not having solid QB play will cost you dearly in the big 12. If Lee can come in and run the offense effectively (that's to say hand the ball off, and keep defenses honest with the pass) Nebby will have a very good year. There are a lot of games where they'll be favored but could lose (@mizzou, @ baylor, @colorado) and there are games where they'll be the dogs but could win (oklahoma, @Kansas). I think @ v-tech is the only sure loss as v tech is good and blacksburg is tough to come away from with a W. A fresh QB will be the difference this year and will keep the national title hopes out of reach. I see losses from Oklahoma and v-tech and one from either Mizzou, KU, or CU. I'll call a 9-3 season and big 12 north champions.
 
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CylentButDeadly

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It's going to be interesting to see what happens. I think NU could be pretty good but I thought they looked below average in their final two games last year and that's not always a very good sign. I still think KU's schedule is too tough for them to overcome and the North title will probably go to NU but it could really be up for grabs. Everybody is counting out Mizzou but they have a lot of talent that has been waiting to get on the field and CU played almost the entire year without a single starter on the O-line, they could be dramatically better. K-State has their "Coaching God" back and ISU returns a ton of starters and may actually have a coach that won't wet his pants on game day. Should be an interesting year.

I assume you're talking about the B12 not the bowl game, because I thought they looked pretty damn good against Clemson.

Mizzou is a huge question mark. Nobody really knows what to think about them. They could win 8-9 games or they could win 5-6 games. They do have a lot of underclassmen that have been waiting their turn. CU has the best RBs in the conference and they have a couple playmakers on D. I can't really figure them out. Are they closer to the squad that beat WVU last year, or are they closer to the team that needed a goaline stop to beat ISU? KSU is not going bowling.
 

jdoggivjc

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Sep 27, 2006
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I'll take Nebraska to with the North. I think KU is overrated, frankly, and are largely getting handed the North by default in the pre-season. I like Nebraska's defense. The return a solid OL and frankly I expect more out of Zac Lee than what Ganz did when it's all said and done. Helu is an athlete. I'd take him at Michigan in a heartbeat. This team will be solid.

I don't think Kansas is overrated - I think Kansas is expected to win the North BECAUSE the division is that bad - but I don't think that anyone would confuse Kansas for being a national power if they played in the South - in fact, having to go thru Texas, Oklahoma, and Tech should prove that. That being said, compare the two conference schedules and how I think they'll pan out:
Kansas
Iowa St - W
@ Colorado - W
Oklahoma - L
@ Texas Tech - L
@ Kansas St - W
Nebraska
@ Texas - L
Missouri - W

Nebraska
@ Missouri - W
Texas Tech - L
Iowa St - W
@ Baylor - W
Oklahoma - L
@ Kansas
Kansas St - W
@ Colorado - W

Excluding the Kansas-Nebraska game, Kansas is 4-3 in conference, Nebraska 5-2. I believe that Kansas-Nebraska game is going to determine who gets the honor of being throttled in the Big XII Championship game, and because Kansas is at home I give them the advantage, despite the fact they have the murderous row of a schedule this year.
 
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garn91

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Jun 1, 2006
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I see Nebraska picking up one more conference win than last year. They'll beat Missouri and lose to Texas Tech or it could be the other way around.

Texas Tech is in Lincoln this year and last year, Nebraska was a Joe Ganz INT away from upsetting Tech. I think Tech will simply reload on offense like they always do, question is will they be as good as they were last year? The drubbing they took from Ole Miss in the Cotton Bowl may have set that program back.

And as been said, no one really knows what to expect from Missouri. If Nebraska could sweep both Missouri and Texas Tech, IMO, they'll win the North because by the time they play Kansas, NU will have some serious momentum going. But for now, i'll stick with KU winning the North.

Edit: The Missouri game is on a Thursday night.
 
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egami

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May 19, 2009
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I don't think Kansas is overrated

You don't think Kansas is overrated because you have reasonable perspective of Kansas from what you established we pretty much agree. The point I make in Kansas being overrated is I see a lot of people handing them the North really not expecting Nebraska to be a threat.
 

egami

Well-Known Member
May 19, 2009
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I see Nebraska picking up one more conference win than last year. They'll beat Missouri and lose to Texas Tech or it could be the other way around.

If they lose to Mizzou they'll lose to Tech most likely.
 

Cyrocks

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Mar 12, 2009
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These threads are always very telling. If this were a Hawk thread, you'd have 50 replies by now.

To be fair, 30 of those 50 posts would be from "The poster formerly known as SouthernHawk", DJK, TarHeelHawk, etc.:biggrin: