Five Huskers get invited to All-Star Games. Marlon Lucky and Matt Slauson get a spot in the East-West Shrine game that will be played this Saturday on ESPN2 at 3:00 pm Central.

Lydon Murtha and Zach Potter will be joined by suspended running back converted to linebacker Cody Glenn in the Texas vs the Nation game on January 31st. I find the All-Star games a bit bizarre, since NFL gurus have plenty of game film on which to evaluate players, but if they give these guys a shot at some NFL money, I’m all for them.

The one guy we haven’t heard much about is Nate Swift, who constantly came up with big plays when we needed them.

Thoughts on these guys?

  Because they can’t help themselves... some sites put out early pre-season 2009 rankings. Rivals.com doesn’t rank Nebraska - apparently they don’t think we’ll contend for the Big 12 North, that’ll go to Kansas instead.

Bleacher Report has us ranked at #14, the highest team in the North.

Then there’s this dude who has us behind both Missouri and Kansas, thinking that a 7-5 record is a distinct possibility in 2009.

I really haven’t thought too much about 2009 as I’ve fallen into the funk of post-season college football depression that I go through every season - even the good ones. More on that later.