Husker FB Season in Review

No link, just commentary from yours truly.

When I look back on the football season, I see alot of different viewpoints on the season. First, I'm still not entirely sold on Callahan; that being said, I think the program does have better athletes than when he arrived, and I think that if the Husker faithful are patient, he'll eventually mature as a head coach and we'll again be competitive at a high level. Will we completely dominate the sport for a long stretch? Possible, but not probable, the glory years of the mid-90s may never come again, but I think some Big 12 titles and BCS games are certainly within reach, as they should be for a traditional power like Nebraska.

Looking back, it's obvious that I underestimated USC, Okie St, KU and (slightly) A & M; overestimated UT, ISU, Mizzou and Colorado. A 9-5 season is more or less the same as the 8-4 of 2005, with a little extra luster from at least winning the Big 12 North. I thought a 9-3 regular season was probable, and it happened, but I did not expect to win the Big 12, and I thought the bowl matchup with Auburn was a tough one, as it proved to be.

The Huskers had a number of chances for more victories this year, and simply left too many of them slip by, often shooting themselves in the foot with disasterous turnovers (UT, OU, Auburn in particular), ill-concieved gameplans (USC), bad playcalling, bad special teams work, etc. More consistency is needed, and badly, particularly to close games out, and halftime ajustments must be made. It is embarassing how many times the team came out totally flat in the second half of games this year, completely unable to move the ball.

Looking ahead, next year's schedule looks pretty brutal. We open the season with Nevada (WAC bowl team), go to Wake (BCS team, ACC champ) and then host USC (BCS team, Pac-10 champ), with Ball St from the MAC to follow. Big 12 season then starts with ISU, at Mizzou, Okie St, A&M, then at UT, at KU, K-St and at CU to finish the season. Only bye week: Nov 17. Sam Keller had better be really, really good, and right out of the gate. On the plus side, we have 7 or 8 guys on the line returning, all four backs and all but one receiver for Keller to work with. If he lives up to expectations, we should be pretty solid offensively.

Defensively, we lose LB Stu Bradley, S Andrew Shanle and the entire D-line, although the returning tackles played extensively. Heir apparents at end, Zach Potter and Barry Turner, had better be good, and quickly. Linebackers should obviously be a strength, but the secondary will again a question mark. Will CB Zach Bowman come back from injury as effective as 2005? Will any of the recruits make an impact? I guess we'll have to see spring ball and take a look then. On paper, I'm guessing we go 9-3 and win the North again, but I am certainly an optimist.