Friday, October 13, 2006

Huskers vs K St.

I see this game as a bellweather for the season. If the same team shows up that played ISU, we should be fine, but some consistency would be nice to see. If the team that played Kansas shows up, we are in trouble, particularly next week and later in the season. This SHOULD go onto the books as win number 800 for the program. We haven't won in Manhatten in a decade, and it's about time to start again.

If we can run the ball effectively, we will probably win the game, but it might be a tall order as the Wildcats rank ahead of the Blackshirts defensively, at least on paper. Of course, our D had to play USC, and had a huge letdown against KU as well. But we do have alot more offensive firepower than they do, and have been getting on teams early, outscoring opponents 62-7 in the first quarter. Taylor may have to mix it up and throw early to open up the ground game, but he can certainly do that.

"The Cornhuskers have the Big 12's top scoring offense at 39.7 points per game. They lead the conference and rank among the top 10 teams in the nation in rushing with 210.7 yards per game and total offense with 463.8."

Defensively, we need to stop their run game and pressure KSU's frosh QB, and we should be able to do just that, although the KU game is a stark reminder that we need to play all four quarters. Special teams could be huge this week, KU has a fine return man and starting RB in Patton. We shouldn't need to play dime defense this week, focus on stopping Patton and containing QB Freeman. KSU O-line is huge, but they are only averaging 116 yds/game, hard to figure.

I'm saying NU wins on the road, 31-14.
We have Texas next week in Lincoln, hopefully no one is looking ahead. I'm not.

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