I've had several people request my thoughts on the upcoming season, so I thought, I'd go ahead and post.
for warning this will be pretty lengthy....lots of material to cover....
I'm going to start with Northwestern because I really think they may be the most important game of the season.Even though its in Ireland this year, for the main reason because its the first game and sets the tone for the rest of the season.
The main issue with Northwestern is talent they have the coaching staff and the discipline to win lots of games but there problem is with jimmies and joes
starting with qb. there quarterback ryan helinski ok but not that good, offensive line is possibly the strength of the team but actually I still think we won't have much issue with generating a rush and qb is not particularly mobile. his accuracy also goes way down when under pressure we should be able to provide pressure with the enhancements we made at defensive line
the other thing about northwestern is that they are very weak up front on defense, secondary is marginal but dl and lb weak stuff. now, i think we take a big step forward offensive line speaking so im not worried about moving the ball on them
but unfortunately think our defense will need some time to adjust, i think northwestern wins a close one but it will be a dog fight!!
ok next game up is north dakota. but for this one im not gonna go into it too deep because I just see this one as an easy win....nebraska 42-10.
same thing for georgia southern....not gonna waste much time here..........nebraska 45-10.
ok so hers where things get interesting, OKLAHOMA. the thing about oklahoma is TURNOVER (not turnovers like turning the ball over but just general turn over with the staff and players and whatnot. obviously they have a new coaching staff and we will be there first big test and they will be on the road they really havent played in an environment like lincoln nebraska yet under this staff. they will be breaking in a new coaching staff so advantage neb. also home feild advantage neb. the other thing is advantage nebraska is size. ou has a very good offensive line but just an ok defensive line so it will be strength on strength and weakness on weakness in my opinion matching up for the big ugly's. there also breaking in a new offensive coordinator there new head coach is more defensive minded historically so could be dangerous if they manage to hold on to the explosive offense under riley this year while taking a step forward on defense, however, there defense actually has been improving for the last couple years). offensively they will still be fast paced "basketball" kind of a style for what i expect from the sooners. but another question for them is on special teams they are nothing great there. granted we arent either but I think with the roster changes we made we actually set up well against them and win the special teams battle. this will be a noon kick off which is to oklahomas advantag. this one is going to come down to heart and whoever wants it more. whoever wants it more, thats the team that will probably come out on top here. do we have the heart to control the line of scrimmage? unfortunately im just not sure we "have what it takes" for this one and I think ou will win some what handily maybe something like 42 to 21
indiana...dont mean to disrespect them with this but i dont expect Indiana to amount to much at all this year so im not gonna go into much detail here accept to say tom allen should have taken the florida state job when he had the chance, huskers win this one big 38-21. look for tom allens seat to start feeling the heat....
rutgers so for this one i have to say im a little nervous for this one because this one is on the road in the big apple on a friday night. nebraska doesnt play home games on friday nights because of high school sports thats when high schoolers play but rutgers cant seem to reach the same agreement with the league officers for whatever reason.. but the thing about rutgers is they actually have a very good quality coach in schiano. I expect this to be a hard fought game.....my thought is actually that if nebraska LOSES to oklahoma....we will win this game.....but if we BEAT oklahoma.....we might get caught sleeping here....thats what makes me nervous because I picked us to beat oklahoma. a couple things about rutgers, i already mentioned coaching but there also very good on SPECIAL TEAMS. so they may have an advantage there. offensively they are basically iowa but without the size or flash. they wont be able to put up many points in my opinion except for field goals, but i think with our new punter well be able to play field position while also moving the ball against them so dont think theyll be in field position too much for this one. whoever wants this one more is going to win it. im going with nebraska in this one as long as we get off the bus and our head is in the game NEBRASKA 17 to rutgers 14
moving right along....
AT PURDUE. alright im gonna spoil this one right off the bat i think we drop this one to purdue unfortunately. look for purdue to be solid on offense again and being on the road dont like our odds for this one. the thing about purdue is they have a GREAT qb in aiden o donnell strong and accurate arm and makes good decisions with the football plus they also have a good coaching staff. they play with a lot of heart and want to and they will be ready for this tilt. we will be trying to avenge last seasons loss but wont be enough, receivers for purdue someone always seems to step up and thats not good when you have as good a qb as purdue does, these games are usually a shootout PURDUE wins this one unfortunately in my opinion they will beat neb 42-41
ILLINOIS. this one could be interesting....look for nebraska to come out strong to try to avenge last seasons loss. will we be able to do so, I believe YES we will and for the following reasons. first its at home. when we lost we were on the road. the other thing is illinois started off strong last year but finished mediocre so for that reason, since we get them in the second half of the season they just dont have the depth YET might be an advantage if they are worn thin by this point in the season. the thing about illinois is that they are very good RUNNING THE FOOTBALL. not sure yet how we will be against the run but we will need to be ready to face the Illinois rushing attack either way. if we are ready play smart football and limit mistakes we will win. the other thing here is that we are going to have to want it more. last year you could tell Illinois was HUNGRY for a win in brett beleima's first game for the Illini. we werent hungry we looked half asleep in that dreadful stadium of theirs. we will have to want it more and i think we will by this time I except our offense to be humming with the kinks worked out and I expect special teams to be working well together as well going with NEBRASKA comfortably enough 35-24
for minnesota we will be looking to avenge our loss to the gophers from last season. similar to illinois one thing that the gophers are very good at is physical football and especially running the ball and limiting mistakes. really minnesota doesnt have any huge glaring weaknesses, they arent elite anywhere but hey are average to good basically every where. im a huge fan of their head coach p. j. fleck. also like there qb tanner morgan. they always play with a lot of heart. for special teams not much to write home about, they are ok but not great. also this one is at home which is good, it got pretty cold up there last year and we werent ready. but since we are at home looking to avenge the loss from last year I think we come out hungry to win this one, nebraska 31 minn 21
ok lets talk michigan....michigan michigan michigan. nebraska would love to avenge the loss to the wolverines from last year. if you remember that game it was at home and the atmosphere was great. nebraska had them on the ropes tie ball game two minutes left nebraska driving the ball until an untimely turnover by nebraska gave the ball back to michigan who kicked a field goal and ended up winning by those three points from that field goal. i have to say last year i thought we wanted it more than michigan but yet michigan won, RARELY does that happen. the thing about this game is its on the road. yes we played them close last year but the thing is that game was at home and a night game and if you were at the stadium that place was rocking. so yes i think they were intimidated to play in lincoln. but the thing about the big house is that its not really a very intimidating place to play. so advantage michigan for it being at home but not as big of an advantage that if we would have if it had been a home game for us in lincoln. the thing about michigan is they dont really have any weak points. there weakest place is probably on offense, they are quite good offensively just not electric. but however they are very very strong on defense and their special teams might be the best in the conference. the other thing about michigan is that there offensive line is a beast this year, i just dont think we will be able to stop the run against them on the road unfortunately. i think this is a better team than osu, so it makes sense that we play michigan this year instead of osu. we have the weapons to keep it close, final score will be close but it wont feel as close as the scoreboard indicates based on the score. for this one i think its gonna be michigan 35-nebraska 34.
WISCONSIN i dont have to much to say about this one. looking at my notes wisconsin has one of the best running backs in the country i forgot his name but if you remember our game against the badgers he was the one running all over us last year and breaking tackles hes a very strong rb. there receivers are not that good. their qb........some people write him off as the worst in the conference but i dont think thats true. last year he made a lot of mistakes and wasnt too accurate with the ball but if you recall after his first game with illinois and coming in as a 5 star lighting up the ilini people were righting about him as a heisman candidate. now that aged poorly but if he starts this year with a couple games like the one he played against the illinois fighting illini then ppl will have a short memory regarding what took place last year and will be high on gram mertz again. on to the defense defensively they are very very good especially up front (dl and lb. in the secondary they are not great, im hoping that our receivers and qb are healthy by this point in the season because we will need them here in this game to put up points against the badgers. not saying we cant run the ball against them but to put up a lot of points, which we might need to do if gram mertz turns it around we will need to throw). mark whipples offense is built around the pass so expect that coming in. the other thing about there defense is they were # 1 in the country last yr total defense but they only return three starters from number one ranked defense. now, i know what your thinking three starters thats nothing! but remember wisconsin is able historically to basically plug and play into that defense. so i still expect them to be top 3 in the conference defensively, michigan possibly ahead, possibly iowa, but thats about it. the thing about there schedule is they draw both osu and msu out of the east and they also have to play us and iowa on the road. yes you heard that right this is a home game, advantage neb. in my opinon of those four games mentioned above if wisconsin does 3-1 or better int hose i think they might lock up the west. but dont think they will beat osu thats 0-1. against msu yes i think they will beat msu for that one. against nebraska i will give my prediction in a minute. against iowa this one will be neck and neck and I think it will go to whichever team wants it more. i actually think even though its at home for iowa for this one I think the badgers will walk away with victory. so...that puts them at 2-1 and remember I said if they go 3-1 or better they win the west. so do they beat neb to lock up the west? im going to say....................................no they do not. based not the fact that this game is at home i think will be a big advantage for the big red. since at this point neb is having a fairly successful season the crowd is going to be very into the game because the division might very well be on the line here. by now you already know im very big on the fact that whichever of the two teams in college football wants to win the game more, most times thats the team that usually wins the game. so we are gonna have to want to win this one more than the badgers. we have a few things going for us one that the division is on the line, two that its at home, and three that we will be looking to avenge our loss to the badgers from last season esp that terrible no call pass interference as time expired to zavier betts. we will need heart and want to for this game and i think we will have it in spades, nebraska 38 wisconsin 31 and nebraska in the drivers seat for the big ten west locks it up with a win over iowa for the following week
EDIT sorry I took so long for my iowa write up got busy with life and what not but here it is added to the bottom below this part
ok lets talk iowa i really like the big red in the match up even though its on the road in iowa city, iowa just doesnt have the offense to go up against the black shirts and though they dont make many mistakes i dont think we will either, remember there last several times theyve won have been directly on our speciel teams units and i think we get that shored up this year so that we stop giving them breaks. iowa is a six win team this year........AND NEBRASKA WONT BE ONE OF THEM. GOING WITH DEAR OLD NEBRASKA U FOR A SCORE OF 27 IOWA 20
planning to keep this updated during the season to see how my predictions go. GBR
for warning this will be pretty lengthy....lots of material to cover....
I'm going to start with Northwestern because I really think they may be the most important game of the season.Even though its in Ireland this year, for the main reason because its the first game and sets the tone for the rest of the season.
The main issue with Northwestern is talent they have the coaching staff and the discipline to win lots of games but there problem is with jimmies and joes
starting with qb. there quarterback ryan helinski ok but not that good, offensive line is possibly the strength of the team but actually I still think we won't have much issue with generating a rush and qb is not particularly mobile. his accuracy also goes way down when under pressure we should be able to provide pressure with the enhancements we made at defensive line
the other thing about northwestern is that they are very weak up front on defense, secondary is marginal but dl and lb weak stuff. now, i think we take a big step forward offensive line speaking so im not worried about moving the ball on them
but unfortunately think our defense will need some time to adjust, i think northwestern wins a close one but it will be a dog fight!!
ok next game up is north dakota. but for this one im not gonna go into it too deep because I just see this one as an easy win....nebraska 42-10.
same thing for georgia southern....not gonna waste much time here..........nebraska 45-10.
ok so hers where things get interesting, OKLAHOMA. the thing about oklahoma is TURNOVER (not turnovers like turning the ball over but just general turn over with the staff and players and whatnot. obviously they have a new coaching staff and we will be there first big test and they will be on the road they really havent played in an environment like lincoln nebraska yet under this staff. they will be breaking in a new coaching staff so advantage neb. also home feild advantage neb. the other thing is advantage nebraska is size. ou has a very good offensive line but just an ok defensive line so it will be strength on strength and weakness on weakness in my opinion matching up for the big ugly's. there also breaking in a new offensive coordinator there new head coach is more defensive minded historically so could be dangerous if they manage to hold on to the explosive offense under riley this year while taking a step forward on defense, however, there defense actually has been improving for the last couple years). offensively they will still be fast paced "basketball" kind of a style for what i expect from the sooners. but another question for them is on special teams they are nothing great there. granted we arent either but I think with the roster changes we made we actually set up well against them and win the special teams battle. this will be a noon kick off which is to oklahomas advantag. this one is going to come down to heart and whoever wants it more. whoever wants it more, thats the team that will probably come out on top here. do we have the heart to control the line of scrimmage? unfortunately im just not sure we "have what it takes" for this one and I think ou will win some what handily maybe something like 42 to 21
indiana...dont mean to disrespect them with this but i dont expect Indiana to amount to much at all this year so im not gonna go into much detail here accept to say tom allen should have taken the florida state job when he had the chance, huskers win this one big 38-21. look for tom allens seat to start feeling the heat....
rutgers so for this one i have to say im a little nervous for this one because this one is on the road in the big apple on a friday night. nebraska doesnt play home games on friday nights because of high school sports thats when high schoolers play but rutgers cant seem to reach the same agreement with the league officers for whatever reason.. but the thing about rutgers is they actually have a very good quality coach in schiano. I expect this to be a hard fought game.....my thought is actually that if nebraska LOSES to oklahoma....we will win this game.....but if we BEAT oklahoma.....we might get caught sleeping here....thats what makes me nervous because I picked us to beat oklahoma. a couple things about rutgers, i already mentioned coaching but there also very good on SPECIAL TEAMS. so they may have an advantage there. offensively they are basically iowa but without the size or flash. they wont be able to put up many points in my opinion except for field goals, but i think with our new punter well be able to play field position while also moving the ball against them so dont think theyll be in field position too much for this one. whoever wants this one more is going to win it. im going with nebraska in this one as long as we get off the bus and our head is in the game NEBRASKA 17 to rutgers 14
moving right along....
AT PURDUE. alright im gonna spoil this one right off the bat i think we drop this one to purdue unfortunately. look for purdue to be solid on offense again and being on the road dont like our odds for this one. the thing about purdue is they have a GREAT qb in aiden o donnell strong and accurate arm and makes good decisions with the football plus they also have a good coaching staff. they play with a lot of heart and want to and they will be ready for this tilt. we will be trying to avenge last seasons loss but wont be enough, receivers for purdue someone always seems to step up and thats not good when you have as good a qb as purdue does, these games are usually a shootout PURDUE wins this one unfortunately in my opinion they will beat neb 42-41
ILLINOIS. this one could be interesting....look for nebraska to come out strong to try to avenge last seasons loss. will we be able to do so, I believe YES we will and for the following reasons. first its at home. when we lost we were on the road. the other thing is illinois started off strong last year but finished mediocre so for that reason, since we get them in the second half of the season they just dont have the depth YET might be an advantage if they are worn thin by this point in the season. the thing about illinois is that they are very good RUNNING THE FOOTBALL. not sure yet how we will be against the run but we will need to be ready to face the Illinois rushing attack either way. if we are ready play smart football and limit mistakes we will win. the other thing here is that we are going to have to want it more. last year you could tell Illinois was HUNGRY for a win in brett beleima's first game for the Illini. we werent hungry we looked half asleep in that dreadful stadium of theirs. we will have to want it more and i think we will by this time I except our offense to be humming with the kinks worked out and I expect special teams to be working well together as well going with NEBRASKA comfortably enough 35-24
for minnesota we will be looking to avenge our loss to the gophers from last season. similar to illinois one thing that the gophers are very good at is physical football and especially running the ball and limiting mistakes. really minnesota doesnt have any huge glaring weaknesses, they arent elite anywhere but hey are average to good basically every where. im a huge fan of their head coach p. j. fleck. also like there qb tanner morgan. they always play with a lot of heart. for special teams not much to write home about, they are ok but not great. also this one is at home which is good, it got pretty cold up there last year and we werent ready. but since we are at home looking to avenge the loss from last year I think we come out hungry to win this one, nebraska 31 minn 21
ok lets talk michigan....michigan michigan michigan. nebraska would love to avenge the loss to the wolverines from last year. if you remember that game it was at home and the atmosphere was great. nebraska had them on the ropes tie ball game two minutes left nebraska driving the ball until an untimely turnover by nebraska gave the ball back to michigan who kicked a field goal and ended up winning by those three points from that field goal. i have to say last year i thought we wanted it more than michigan but yet michigan won, RARELY does that happen. the thing about this game is its on the road. yes we played them close last year but the thing is that game was at home and a night game and if you were at the stadium that place was rocking. so yes i think they were intimidated to play in lincoln. but the thing about the big house is that its not really a very intimidating place to play. so advantage michigan for it being at home but not as big of an advantage that if we would have if it had been a home game for us in lincoln. the thing about michigan is they dont really have any weak points. there weakest place is probably on offense, they are quite good offensively just not electric. but however they are very very strong on defense and their special teams might be the best in the conference. the other thing about michigan is that there offensive line is a beast this year, i just dont think we will be able to stop the run against them on the road unfortunately. i think this is a better team than osu, so it makes sense that we play michigan this year instead of osu. we have the weapons to keep it close, final score will be close but it wont feel as close as the scoreboard indicates based on the score. for this one i think its gonna be michigan 35-nebraska 34.
WISCONSIN i dont have to much to say about this one. looking at my notes wisconsin has one of the best running backs in the country i forgot his name but if you remember our game against the badgers he was the one running all over us last year and breaking tackles hes a very strong rb. there receivers are not that good. their qb........some people write him off as the worst in the conference but i dont think thats true. last year he made a lot of mistakes and wasnt too accurate with the ball but if you recall after his first game with illinois and coming in as a 5 star lighting up the ilini people were righting about him as a heisman candidate. now that aged poorly but if he starts this year with a couple games like the one he played against the illinois fighting illini then ppl will have a short memory regarding what took place last year and will be high on gram mertz again. on to the defense defensively they are very very good especially up front (dl and lb. in the secondary they are not great, im hoping that our receivers and qb are healthy by this point in the season because we will need them here in this game to put up points against the badgers. not saying we cant run the ball against them but to put up a lot of points, which we might need to do if gram mertz turns it around we will need to throw). mark whipples offense is built around the pass so expect that coming in. the other thing about there defense is they were # 1 in the country last yr total defense but they only return three starters from number one ranked defense. now, i know what your thinking three starters thats nothing! but remember wisconsin is able historically to basically plug and play into that defense. so i still expect them to be top 3 in the conference defensively, michigan possibly ahead, possibly iowa, but thats about it. the thing about there schedule is they draw both osu and msu out of the east and they also have to play us and iowa on the road. yes you heard that right this is a home game, advantage neb. in my opinon of those four games mentioned above if wisconsin does 3-1 or better int hose i think they might lock up the west. but dont think they will beat osu thats 0-1. against msu yes i think they will beat msu for that one. against nebraska i will give my prediction in a minute. against iowa this one will be neck and neck and I think it will go to whichever team wants it more. i actually think even though its at home for iowa for this one I think the badgers will walk away with victory. so...that puts them at 2-1 and remember I said if they go 3-1 or better they win the west. so do they beat neb to lock up the west? im going to say....................................no they do not. based not the fact that this game is at home i think will be a big advantage for the big red. since at this point neb is having a fairly successful season the crowd is going to be very into the game because the division might very well be on the line here. by now you already know im very big on the fact that whichever of the two teams in college football wants to win the game more, most times thats the team that usually wins the game. so we are gonna have to want to win this one more than the badgers. we have a few things going for us one that the division is on the line, two that its at home, and three that we will be looking to avenge our loss to the badgers from last season esp that terrible no call pass interference as time expired to zavier betts. we will need heart and want to for this game and i think we will have it in spades, nebraska 38 wisconsin 31 and nebraska in the drivers seat for the big ten west locks it up with a win over iowa for the following week
EDIT sorry I took so long for my iowa write up got busy with life and what not but here it is added to the bottom below this part
ok lets talk iowa i really like the big red in the match up even though its on the road in iowa city, iowa just doesnt have the offense to go up against the black shirts and though they dont make many mistakes i dont think we will either, remember there last several times theyve won have been directly on our speciel teams units and i think we get that shored up this year so that we stop giving them breaks. iowa is a six win team this year........AND NEBRASKA WONT BE ONE OF THEM. GOING WITH DEAR OLD NEBRASKA U FOR A SCORE OF 27 IOWA 20
planning to keep this updated during the season to see how my predictions go. GBR
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