Coulda been worse.We coulda been selling tickets on a daily deals website. Right, BC?The newest member of the Big Integer, and one of my picks to be among the next 5 programs to embrace the Age of Independence, Nebraska had a bit of an identity crisis recently until finding its way back to “Nebraska Football.” Now the Huskers come into the 2011 season fresh from building a Top-10 ranked rushing game coupled with a Top-10ish (depending on the stat) Defense.
Sure, it’s not quite the same old style Husker Triple-Option football we (I) grew up watching, but it was awfully effective most of last year until mumble-mumble-mumble-something-something-wheels-fell-off-o-rsomething-and-hey-look-a-loss-to-washington-to-end-the-season. But so long as their dynamic QB can keep his head on straight (daddy issues, what?) and his ankles from spraining, we expect Nebraska to walk right into the Big Ten and instantly remind the rest of the conference of why so many jokes get written about them. …Right after probably losing to what I suspect might be a really strong Wisconsin team to open their new conference schedule.
All this, of course, is predicated on the idea that Nebraska’s brand-new offensive coordinator, Tim Beck isn’t stupid. See, you are probably aware that Martinez and the Huskers put on quite a show on the ground, but that was largely despite the mostly west-coastish offensive philosophy of the former OC, Shawn Watson (now QB coach at Louisville). The passing attack of that 2010 offense would have made Willingham-era air games at ND look brilliant. Almost. They ranked 113th in total passing. We assume that Beck, the former RB coach of the 2010 Huskers, has the smarts (or at least the orders in hand) to keep the ball on the ground and let Martinez do his thing (when he’s not playing the Cure on his iPod, dreaming of a day when his father just leaves him alone).
11. Nebraska (DMQ)
12. LSU (Biscuit)
13. Virginia Tech (PootND)
14. Stanford (DMQ)
15. Florida (Biscuit)
16. Notre Dame (PootND)
17. TCU (DMQ)
18. Georgia (Biscuit)
19. Michigan State (PootND)
20. Texas (DMQ)
21. Ole Miss (Biscuit)
22. Mississippi State (PootND)
23. South Carolina (DMQ)
24. Ohio State (Biscuit)
25. Arizona State (PootND)
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I’m not sure why Nebraska would want to run away from the Integer Network money and academic prestige that they so recent ran to.
I’m not sure about this pick. Nebraska’s D will be sick this year as always. But as you point out, they have major offensive issues to deal with. I was at the Holiday Bowl and their offense was putrid–against UW, not exactly a defensive powerhouse. Maybe they will do better this year with another year under Martinez’s belt.
Nebraska’s D will be better than avg. I don’t think that Nebraska will be an independant for at least 10 years. Nebraskans are happy to be joining a conference that at least “shares” (see Longhorn Network).