All day today, the coaches have been busy studying the film from last night's game and grading every player.  Well, I don't have film and I was busy all day visiting my mother-in-law, but that's not going to stop me from issuing my own grades again this season.  And of course, you're more than welcome to chime in with your thoughts as well.

Offensive Line:  C-  Good pass protection, but they never were able to open up many holes for the I-backs.

Running Backs:  C+  Tell me if you've heard this before:  Marlon Lucky looks great outside the tackles, and rather ordinary within.  Gotta find a  way to get him the ball in space.  Love the two I-back sets.  Lucky's touchdown pass was set up here, as well as Joe Ganz's 30 yard option run in the first quarter.

Quarterback:  B  Joe Ganz would have gotten an A if I had graded him towards the end of the third quarter.  (Then he threw a couple of bad interceptions.)  But you can tell he's got good command of this offense.

Wide Receivers:  A  Nate Swift isn't flashy, but he gets open and makes plays.  Menolik Holt is a tough guy to cover.

Defensive Line:  A- Hey!  Was that a pass rush I saw last night?   And was that a negative sign in front of the opponent's rushing totals most of the night.  Me likey!

Linebackers:  B  Every so often, Cody Glenn looked like a converted I-back out there.  But the rest of the night, Glenn was a playmaker.

Secondary:  C-  Yeah, Armando Murillo and Ricky Thenarse spent the evening on the bench injured, but the replacements did ok  Anthony West would probably like to have a few plays back from the first half.

Effort:  A  Guys were pursuing the ball all night, especially Cody Glenn.  (Anybody else get the impression he was working out a bit of frustration that had been building up the last couple of years?)

Coaching:  B+  Shawn Watson mixed up his playcalls pretty well, though I would have liked to have seen more rushing in the first half.  But it was hard to argue with the results.  Defensively, we saw a lot more variety in our defensive looks.  (No duh.)

Overall:  B-  A lot of good things in the first half, but mistakes in the second half made this game closer than it should have been.

Elsewhere in College Football

Texas A&M:  F  Arkansas State is about as close to 1-AA as you can get.

Pitt:  D-  Mediocrity has a new home.  Thank goodness.

ACC:  F  At least Duke spanked James Madison.

Texas Tech:  C  Offense looks good but defense continues to be an issue.

Buffalo Bulls:  A+  Even if UTEP was looking ahead to the Bovines, that's an impressive debut for Turner Gill's squad.

Athletic Directors who schedule games:  F  Crappy games up and down the dial this weekend, and the TV networks had no choice but to televise some of them.  Please, can we get strength of schedule put back into the BCS formula?

Poll

Rate the Huskers performance against Western Michigan

• A. The Big Red is back, baby!
• B. Solid performance rebounding back from 2007.
• C. Some good, some bad, some just okay.
• D. Huskers still have a whole bunch of problems.
• F. Here we go again.

  175 votes | Results

Hey folks! Long time no see. I’ve been out with what some thought was a career-ending case of humidity driven rage, but despite it all I managed to find some nicely air-conditioned confines. Nebraska football is back, heck, college football as a whole is back. All is right with the world. Let’s hit on some bullet points regarding the WMU game, shall we?

- The first half was nearly perfect. I say nearly because I expected a bit more of a running game (more on this later).

- Damon Benning selected Cody Glenn to be his player of the week on a local Omaha radio sports talk show. Turns out that the problem was that Cody didn’t want to help offensive players. He wanted to destroy them. 12 tackles, 9 unassisted, 2 TFLs, a forced fumble, three pass break ups and a partridge in a pear tree. Crimeny.

- The passing game appears solid and Ganz showed some mobility that I was certainly unaware of, but Watson went to the well far too many times on the option and the little dump pass to Castille that always seemed to land at his feet.

- I still remain impressed with James Dobson’s S&C weight loss program, but in the second half bodies were dragging and hands were on hips. Not good.

- Throughout the game safety play was atrocious. Asante and O’Hanlon best get their acts together or there are several teams on this year’s schedule that will have a field day with our pass defense. Glenn spent far too much time cleaning up messes and saving TDs for these two.

- Anthony West and Prince Amukamara a.k.a. Lake Minnetonka look good for their age and in a season-opener when they were counted on. I look forward to watching them mature as the season progresses and was excited to see West get his first pick.

- Nate Swift is a gamer. Accept it or look the fool. When he scored his first touchdown, I got into a fight with a spackled ceiling and lost.

- The defensive line looked far better than I anticipated. This is not to say that they played out of this world, but they did their job. Come the second half, however, adjustments on the WMU sideline nullified them and they seemed gassed.

- By the end of the night Joe’s arm looked like cooked spaghetti. Nebraska’s offensive line needs to establish itself so that a proper running game can be formed or this season can and will end badly.

- Why was Pat Witt not in with at least five minutes to go? What’s the worst that could happen? Nebraska wins by another three to seven points? He might throw a pick? Heck Joe threw one directly into the chest of a defender. Pat could do that if he wanted to. I understand that Bo probably wanted the biggest margin of victory possible, but that mentality did more bad than good last night.

Summary: If Nebraska can find its four quarter conditioning program, a running game and a pass defense, this season exceed all expectation. If not? The predictions of 7-5 look more accurate. I still think it’ll be a little of both and a nine win season is the end result. I seem to remember a well-regarded individual stating that the most improvement was made between the first and second games.

That seems like a good unit of measurement, so we’ll call this game what it was: An opening game where weaknesses were defined and can be addressed. We’ll see how well they are addressed as it will tell us a lot about this team and this staff.

Up Next: San Jose State (W over UC-Davis 13-10)

Poll

How satisfied were you with Nebraska's win over Western Michigan?

• Very impressed. A new era has arrived!
• Pretty good overall. A few tweaks needed, but a good first game.
• Somewhat worried. Will wait a few games to press any red buttons.
• Very worried. Finger is already on red buttons.
• Comedy Option: Come back Corey McKeon!

  139 votes | Results

Western Michigan!!!!

The Start of the Bo Pelini Era!

Radio:

Husker Radio Network Afilliates
Huskers.com Online Radio
KRNU - Student Announcers - Hey! Give 'Em A Chance!

TV - Pay Per View:

Cable Information
DirecTV - Channel 786
Dish Network - Huskers.com reports 464, I'm showing 462.Update - it's now switched to 464.

Live Stats from Huskers.com

Game Threads:

This is a game day thread, where we gather to discuss the Western Michigan - Nebraska game, or whatever else college football-related goo is on your mind. You're welcome to join us - you must have a SB Nation account to post.

I've had some questions from people outside the US looking for feeds. I've looked, I ain't finding anything. You have online, streaming audio above. If not, we'll be following the action, and the score should be updated on this game thread by quarter (if I've done this right, this platform is new this year).

Hey! Come on in!

Story Lines Thus Far Today: 

- Eastern Carolina upset Virginia Tech 27-22.

- Turner Gill's Buffalo team smashes UTEP 42-17 Thursday night

- MAC Bowling Green upsets Steve Pederson's Pitt Panthers 27-17.

- Ohio State running back/Heisman candidate Chris "Beanie" Wells injured.

- Utah beating Michigan 22-10 Third Quarter

GO BIG RED!!!!

The first Bo Pelini depth chart was released today not too many surprises, but worth a discussion.

Offense:

Quarterback: 1 - Joe Ganz, 2 - Patrick Witt, 3- Zac Lee.

No surprises here, although you have to ask yourself what happens if Joe Ganz goes down with an injury. What does that do to the season?

I-Back: 1 - Marlon Lucky -or- Roy Helu -or- Quentin Castille

So there are three backs listed as co #1's. There seems to be a lot of buzz about this, and I'll be honest, I don't get it (the fuss, that is). Running backs get the holy crap beat out of them much worse than they used to, so you are not going to make it through a full season without your main guy getting banged up.

What is sad here is the name that's missing - Kenny Wilson. It's doubtful he'll play again due to his leg injury. It's easy to forget the potential that was there, but don't.

Fullback: 1 - Thomas Lawson, 2 - Justin Makovicka

No surprises, remember that while Callahan didn't use fullbacks on the run, Lawson caught three TD's last season which was as many as Nate Swift and Marlon Lucky, and more than the entire receiving corp besides Swift and Peterson.

Wide Receiver X: 1 - Nate Swift, 2 - Menelik Holt, 3 - Will Henry, 4- Chris Brooks

No surprise, although I guess I'm a little surprised that Chris Brooks is all the way down at #4.

Wide Receiver Z: 1 - Todd Peterson, 2 - Niles Paul or Curenski Gilleylen

Again, no surprise here.

Tight End: 1 - Mike McNeill, 2 - Dreu Young, 3 - Ryan Hill, 4 - Ben Cotton

Obviously Tyson Hetzer hasn't recovered enough from his spring knee injury to be listed on the roster at this point. Perhaps he'll join in later in the season. This position is more critical to offensive success than people are giving it, here's hoping they can perform well this season.

Offensive Line:

They're a unit, and we treat them like a unit.

LT: 1 - Mike Smith, 2 - Jaivorio Burkes
LG: 1 - Mike Huff, 2 - Keith Williams
C: 1 - Jacob Hickman, 2 - Mike Caputo
RG: 1 - Matt Slauson, 2 - DJ Jones
RT: 1 - Lydon Murtha, 2 - Marcel Jones

Lydon Murtha moves back to right tackle. Murtha is an enigma - the guy has the body size for a prototypical NFL left tackle, but gives that spot up to Mike Smith. Go figure. Burkes at #2 behind Mike Smith is a little surprise, but we'll see how the rotation comes out.

The key to this line is that some of these guys can move around to different positions. Slauson has played both guard and tackle, while Hickman has played guard and center. An incredibly solid group, with plenty of depth and experience.

Defense:

Nose Tackle: 1 - Ndamukong Suh, 2 - Shukree Barfield, 3 - Terrence Moore

Defensive Tackle: 1 - Ty Steinkuhler, 2 - Jared Crick

Base End: 1 - Zach Potter, 2 - Clayton Sievers

Open End: 1 - Barry Turner, 2 - Pierre Allen

No surprises here. Obviously losing Kevin Dixon hurt, but I don't see this group as thin as a lot of other people. Note that Baker Steinkuhler isn't listed  - hopefully a redshirt season is in the works for him.

Linebackers:

Will Linebacker: 1 - Cody Glenn, 2 - Blake Lawrence

Mike Linebacker: 1 - Phillip Dillard, 2 - Will Compton, 3 - Colton Koehler

Buck Linebacker: 1 - Tyler Wortman, 2 - Sean Fisher

Obviously the linebacker position is of huge concern. Will Compton and Sean Fisher are both true freshmen. Dillard is a solid middle linebacker with experience, so the hope would be that Compton and Fisher aren't needed this season which will give them time to get stronger and learn. LaTravis Washington is not listed here due to injury. Nor is Nick Covey.

Is there a Husker fan who isn't cheering for Cody Glenn's position switch to work out well? Even beyond the sake of the team, you have to admire the guy for moving there. Lot of guts, love that guy.

Defensive Backfield:

Right Cornerback: 1 - Anthony West, 2 - Prince Amukamara

Left Cornerback: 1 - Armando Murillo, 2 - Eric Hagg

Strong Safety: 1 - Larry Asante, 2 - Major Culbert

Free Safety: 1 - Rickey Thenarse, 2 - Matt O'Hanlon

The starting four are a pretty decent group. What you have to ask is what happens when we move to using five or six defensive backs, ala defending Texas Tech. Amukamara has never played corner before, so the first three games may be key to getting him valuable experience. Eric Hagg and Major Culbert should be able to step into the extra roles if needed, so keep an eye on them should they get into the game against Western Michigan.

I realize I tagged everyone on the depth chart with this post, but hey it was my chance to check out our rosters, and make sure everything is okay. Corrections will be made!

 

Location: Kalamazoo, Michigan
Mascot: Broncos  
2007 Record (MAC): 5-7 (3-4; Tied for third in MAC West)
Coach: Bill Cubit (20-16 in 3 years at Western Michigan)
All-Time Series vs. Nebraska: First Ever Meeting
1-3 All-Time against Big 12 teams, the only win coming in 1994 against Iowa State.

2007 Stats
Offense
  - Points/Game: 26.9 (65th)
  - Total Offense: 398.0 (57th)
  - Rush Yards/Game: 130.4 (86th)
  - Pass Efficiency: 130.9 (46th)

Defense
  - Points Allowed/Game: 28.9 (73rd)
  - Total Defense: 399.3 (68th)
  - Rush Yds. Allowed/Game: 179.1 (83rd)
  - Pass Efficiency Defense: 120.9 (46th)

Players to Watch:

Offense:
 - Junior Quarterback Tim Hiller, 3,021 yards last season with 20 TD's and 15 interceptions. Last year became the only sophomore in Western Michigan history to throw for over 3,000 yards. Started all 12 games last season.
- Junior Running Back Brandon West is the top returning rusher with 848 yards, 4 TD's. Finished second in receptions with 45 for 365. Also had 35 kick returns for 906 yards, a 25.9 average, including a 98 yarder for a TD against   Finished 2007 with 2,119 all-purpose yards for a 176.6/game average.  Named 2nd team All-Mac in 2007.
- Senior Wide Receive Jamarko Simmons was an  All-MAC selection last year, finishing the season with 980 yards and 6 TD's.
- Senior tight end Branden Ledbetter, named third team All-MAC in 2007. Finished 2007 with 38 receptions and 550 yards, 6 TD's.
   
Defense:
- Senior defensive end Zach Davidson, tied for sack lead with 6.5. Named second-team All-MAC in 2007.
- Senior defensive end Greg Marshall, tied for sack lead with 6.5. Started all 12 games in 2007.
- Senior linebacker Boston McCornell, lead the team in tackles with 99 in 2007. Named second-team All-MAC last season. Started all 12 games last season.
- Senior cornerback Londen Fryar, named first-team All-MAC in 2007 for second straight season. Lead team with 16 pass break-ups.
- Senior free safety Louis Delmas, named second-team All-MAC in 2007 despite missing games due to injury. Potential NFL draft choice, second leading kick returner behind Brandon West.

Overview

Western Michigan has a gob of players returning (all 11 on defense) from a team that ended their 2007 season with the same record as Nebraska. Three of the Broncos losses came in horrifying fashion - giving up a kick return for touchdown after intentionally taking a safety with 15 seconds left against Akron, giving up a one yard TD with 1:07 left against Ball State, and giving up a TD to rival Central Michigan with :12 left.

The entire two deep returns on the Bronco defensive line, with a combined 108 starts between them, so the Husker offensive line will get an immediate test as to whether or not they can establish a running game against an experienced team. This will be the key to the game - can a talented and deep Nebraska line punish a talented and deep defensive line of Western Michigan, wearing them down by the end of the game and then pummeling them into submission?

Quarterback Hiller isn't particularly mobile and the Broncos lost four of their top offensive lineman from last season. Simmons is 6'2", 234 lbs, while tight end Ledbetter is 6'5", 230 lbs, so both make nice big targets for Hiller. Plenty of experience among this group will be a challenge to the Husker defense.

Husker fans keep talking about the Virginia Tech and Missouri games, but overlooking Western Michigan would be dangerous and could be disastrous. A loss to the Broncos would send the fan base reeling and would be a nasty start to the Bo Pelini era. Western Michigan is a decent opening opponent, one of the better we've seen in a few years.

Western Michigan's game plan will be straightforward. If Western Michigan can score early, possibly either on a kick return or turnover, the Broncos will try to stymy the Husker offense as much as possible in an effort to keep the game close going into the fourth quarter and see what happens.

We'll have more predictions coming later in the week.

 

ABC and ESPN announced their preliminary schedule of televised Big XII football games...and noteworthy by absence is Virginia Tech/Nebraska.  Not sure if ABC/ESPN is merely holding on their plans for September 27th, or if this one might fall to FSN.  I know one thing...it'll be televised.

I originally thought this would be an ABC prime time affair...but I also would have expected it to have been announced now.

Here is the ABC/ESPN schedule as announced today:

Aug. 30 (Sat.): Illinois vs. Missouri in St. Louis, ESPN, 6:45 p.m.

Sept. 6 (Sat.): Cincinnati at Oklahoma, ABC, 2:30 p.m.; Texas at UTEP, ESPN2, 9:15 p.m.

Sept. 12 (Fri.): Kansas at South Florida, ESPN2, 7 p.m.

Sept. 13 (Sat.): Arkansas at Texas, ABC, 2:30 p.m.; Oklahoma at Washington, ESPN, 6:45 p.m.

Sept. 17 (Wed.): Kansas State at Louisville, ESPN2, 7 p.m.

Sept. 18 (Thur.): West Virginia at Colorado, ESPN, 7:30 p.m.

Sept. 19 (Fri.) Baylor at Connecticut, ESPN2, 7 p.m.

Oct. 11 (Sat.): Texas vs. Oklahoma in Dallas, ABC, 11 a.m.

Nov. 27 (Thur.): Texas A&M at Texas, ESPN, 7 p.m.

Nov. 28 (Fri.): Colorado at Nebraska, ABC, 2:30 p.m.

Dec. 6 (Sat.): Big 12 championship game, Kansas City, Mo., 7 p.m.

In another note, the season opener between Nebraska and Western Michigan is expected to be televised by FSN ...time still to be determined.