Looking to 2007

Linebacker Corey McKeon is one of two linebackers, along with Bo Ruud, tagged for the Bednarik Award watch list. The Bednarik Award is presented each season to the top defensive player in the nation.

June down, only July and August to go. Baseball is in full swing and keeping up with the Red Sox takes up a lot of my time. Despite that sentiment, as the calendar flips closer to September 1^st, I can’t help but feel my college football fever starting to rise.

The anticipation for a new college football season is far greater than any feeling I get for any other sport to start. This season has a few question marks with Nebraska, but there are a lot of things to look forward to. I’m hoping and dreaming that QB Sam Keller goes off for the season of his career. I hope that WR Maurice Purify gets his act together and makes it back to the team for the full season. I hope that RB Marlon Lucky stays healthy and lives up to his potential. I hope the secondary isn’t a liability like it was last year, and Kevin Cosgrove actually has a plan if DB Zack Bowman can’t make it back for the USC game on September 15^th. Hell, even the game in Winston-Salem against Wake Forest the week before.

Speaking of which, that game is the game I have circled on my calendar for September. How can I say that with the Trojans coming to Lincoln the next week? Because if the Huskers look beyond last years ACC champions, they’ll come back to Lincoln a likely 1-1.

Conference games on the road against Kansas, Texas and Missouri will be a huge test for this Huskers team as well. Did I mention that the offensive line has been shuffled around too? This season has the potential to be great or be awful. You look at the schedule and think the Huskers can realistically go 10-2, then you look again and you can see them going 6-6. All I’m looking for is another Big 12 North championship and shot at the Big 12 title. My only question is, is how long is Husker Nation going to put up with just winning the North?

The Tunnel Walk

Haven't been to Lincoln in awhile for a game? Never been? Have you heard of the pre-game ritual known as the Tunnel Walk but have never seen it? The version below is from November 24, 2006 against a Big 12 North division rival, the Colorado Buffalo's.

National Spotlight

That’s my fiancé Stephanie in front of Memorial Stadium after the Spring Game this year in April. I’m working on the conversion as we speak.

For the first time in a long time, the Huskers will be on National TV for their first three games of the year. My only conclusion is that Nebraska isn’t playing any I-AA (or is it I-A now?) teams to pad their record at the beginning of the season (I’m still looking at you, Kansas State). Athletic Director Steve Pederson, Head Coach Bill Callahan and the entire athletic department have been doing a good job of going out and getting quality non-conference opponents for the coming years. UCLA, Tennessee and Washington, to name a few, are all BCS schools and will make for an interesting measuring stick each year for the Huskers.

Back to the games this season, two of which will be televised by ABC in weeks one and three against Nevada and USC respectively. The second game on ESPN will be on the road in the second half of the home/away match-up with the reigning ACC Champion Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Nevada isn’t exactly a national power house, however they aren’t exactly Nichols State either. The Wolf Pack finished fourth in the WAC with an overall record of 8-5 (5-3 in conference) and nearly upset the University of Miami (FL) in the MPC Computers Bowl but ended up losing 21-20. However, playing in Boise, Idaho in December is a far cry from playing the home opener in Lincoln, Nebraska. I’d talk about Wake Forrest and USC, but after last year we all know about those two teams. I’ll break them down as the season approaches.

I’m excited I’ll be able to watch the Huskers three times in a row from the comfort of my living room and not have to stake out a seat in one of the few Nebraska friendly sports bars in Kansas City. Believe me, there aren’t as many as you would think since geographically Lincoln is only 70 miles more than the drive to Columbia, Missouri, home of the Missouri Tigers. Being a Husker fan in Sioux Falls, South Dakota is a cake walk. Being a fan in Kansas City is a different story being trapped in the middle of the Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri triangle. I’m marrying into a Missouri family also, so it makes family get togethers all the more interesting. Recently, I even had a future uncle-in-law say “aren’t they all kind of faggy up there?” I was not only slightly confused, but I had to remind him again which team has been dominating the old Big 8 schools for decades. That usually quiets the conversation quickly, and the fact that the Huskers beat the Tigers last year to clinch the Big XII North crown.

All in-law opposition aside, I’m optimistic about the new season and am excited to see if certain players can come back from injury (Zack Bowman) and general poor decision making (Maurice Purify), and if Arizona State transfer Sam Keller can keep his head on straight in time to make the season a good one. I’d like to see Nebraska compete for the Big XII title again, but will they have what it takes to actually beat the representative from the South?

Way To Go, Maury

I’m sad to say that one of my first posts will be a negative one concerning a player who should have had a stellar senior season, despite being about as sharp as a dull marble. Senior wide receiver Maurice Purify was suspended from the team indefinitely by Coach Bill Callahan for his second run in with the law in five weeks. This time it was for driving about 55mph in a 40mph zone and on suspicion of DUI. Great job Maury.

Last month he was charged by the Lincoln City Prosecutor’s office with two counts of assault, resisting arrest, trespassing, and failure to comply with officers. What is that in English? Basically he was caught throwing a dude over a table, hitting him repeatedly and then hitting that guy’s girlfriend. I know it’s been over 10 years since the Lawrence Phillips debacle, but I don’t think anyone has forgotten about it.

This makes a huge dent in the teams plans for competing for another Big XII title, let alone a national one, missing their tall receiving threat with experience. He would have come in handy, especially against the USC Trojans that will be coming in the third weekend in September. Last year Purify caught 34 passes for 630 yards and seven touchdowns. He was second on the team in receiving. He also caught a memorable pass late in the fourth quarter against Texas A&M (above) to win 28-27 and basically seal the deal for the Huskers in the Big XII North division. The other drawback (besides the rampant law breaking) about Purify is that he sat out half the plays in 2006 because he’s too dense to understand Callahan’s complicated spin on the West Coast Offense, which is extremely frustrating to have that much talent on the sidelines because he’s got walnuts for brains. It’s a shame, but shouldn’t be a real big surprise given his troubled past on the JUCO circuit.

This is what pisses me off about players like this. In the Midwest it's a lot of kids' dream to play for the Huskers, and on a national level a team with the same national recognition. Rather than keep that in mind, he goes out and does crap like this. We see it all the time with players with all sorts of promise and it's a shame.

The Start of Something

In addition to my Boston Red Sox blog, I am starting a blog on my first and most consistent sports love. Even the Sox take a backseat to Nebraska Football when the season starts to change from summer to fall. Come the last weekend in August or first weekend in September, the wardrobe turns from red and blue, to red and white.

I may have been born and bred in South Dakota, but my roots lie in the state of Nebraska. The football culture is a big part of it, and my aim is to cover it the best I can because I like to. Writing is something that comes easy to me, and I don’t have to work very hard at it, which is an added bonus for me. Also, most of the information I contain and spew out at my fiancé gets a little lost because of her ties to sanity. Of course she doesn’t care that Junior Running Back Marlon Lucky rushed for 4,881 yards and 81 touchdowns in high school. Or that I know the words to “Hail Varsity” and I sort of mumble the words when my phone rings during the season. Anyway, let’s talk a little more about some background as to why I like this team so much.

There are few destinations on my short list of stadiums that rank high. Memorial Stadium, despite it’s proximity (and the fact that I’ve been there numerous times), is on the top of said list. Fenway Park is a baseball Mecca for sure, however the smells and sounds of Fenway do not measure up to the game day atmosphere in Lincoln, Nebraska. At least for this fan. From it’s humble beginnings in 1923 to the NCAA record 282 consecutive sellouts, Memorial Stadium is the heart and soul of Husker Nation.

Personally, I decided to attend college elsewhere, however my love for this team has never waned. I’ve been avid in my statistical mental bookkeeping for stats and players since I was 12. I watch as many games as humanly possible and if I can’t watch the game on television, I’m sure to be near a radio to hear the broadcast. I read the profiles of the recruiting class to a sickening degree. I highlight (literally, on a piece of paper with a highlighter) awards, high school stats, and analysis on workout results. I watch the progress on the current roster in the off season. I’ve even attended a couple of spring games with t-shirts to prove it. As you can tell, I’ll have a lot of technical data to forward to you in the coming months and years. However, I don’t think I’ll lose sight of the big picture that rises above the current players and coaches, and that is the traditions that make Nebraska Football as exciting as it is. Add these ingredients together and you have a recipe for why the Huskers have an entire nation of rabid fans.

I’ll delve in to the history and pomp and circumstance of the team in the coming couple of months. As exciting and information packed as an off season can be, you can’t write much about how summer practice is going every day. So, here we go. Another sports fan writing in the sports blogosphere. Hopefully it will be worth your time and effort.