Husker fans may have expected this year's team to do better than last, but this much better is like Christmas, your birthday and the Fourth of July all wrapped into one. Big change from last year. Part of that can be attributed to new pitching coach Eric Newman, but most of it is the result of a team that plays together.

• The NCBWA poll has us at #7, up from #9.

Texas A&M is ranked right in front of us at #6, Oklahoma State right behind at #8, Missouri is at #16, and I don't know why the hell they continue to rank Texas, but they're right there at #26.

up from #14 the previous week. Figure that.
Texas A&M is #8, Missouri at #10, Oklahoma State at #10, and Missouri at #15.

• Baseball America moves us to 5#.

Texas A&M at #9, Oklahoma State is at #18,  and Texas at #20.

• Collegiate Baseball has the Huskers at #6 from #10 the previous week.

Texas A&M is at #7, and Oklahoma State at #10, Missouri at #14.

• Nebraska is ranked 7th in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll, same as were the previous week.  

Texas A&M is #5, Oklahoma State #8, and Missouri #17.

In the Big 12 this week:

- Not a lot of surprises this week with the exception of Kansas sweeping Oklahoma. Oh, and their win over Missouri midweek.
- Texas won a series over Baylor to move to .500 and fifth in the Big 12. No shock there.
- Missouri won a series over Kansas State. No shock there.
- Texas A&M, Nebraska and Oklahoma State both beat non-conference foes. No shock there.
- Texas Tech didn't lose because they didn't play. No shocking result there either.
- The Aggies became the first 40-win team in the nation this past weekend. Maybe that's shocking?

Nebraska Cornhuskers vs. Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns
Series History: Tied 2-2

Date: May 3rd

Park: Haymarket Park

Game time: 12:00 pm, 6:30 pm

Television: none

Radio: Husker Sports Network and on the Internet at Huskers.com

• Last night’s game was cancelled due to inclement weather. It won’t be made up, but the Huskers will be playing a double header today.  
• The cancellation of the game is an advantage for the Ragin’ Cajuns, as they won’t need to worry about pitching depth near as much as they would given a three-game series.

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Here's something to chew on over the weekend

Looking at the crop of receivers as potential starters for 2008, who’s going to step up and be the next big playmaker?

Let’s not worry much about Todd Peterson or Nate Swift. Both are proven receivers, both can move the chains. In fact, Nate Swift is moving up the charts in total receptions and if he has a decent season in 2008 he could pass Johnny Rodgers on the all-time receptions list.

But let’s face it. Neither Peterson nor Swift are going to strike fear into the hearts of a defense. Neither are going to be that ‘stretch the field’ guy, and that’s who I’m looking for. It's who the 2008 Nebraska offense will be looking for.

I’m worried about the next big playmaker.

Your candidates:

• Menelik Holt - four receptions for 97 yards, all in the last three games of 2007 even though he was he the field for all 12 games. Probably should have redshirted, but that wasn’t in the cards. Big guy at 6'4" but can he run?
• Niles Paul - had one for six, I keep hearing his name as high potential. Will it show up as a receiver or a kick/punt return man? Wasn't he a presidential candidate or something like that?
• Chris Brooks - one career reception for four yards.  He's a Junior who played in only a single game last season. Given Callahan's penchant for throwing the ball all over the place is he any good?
• Curenski Gilleylen - much can be made about a 77 yard bomb for a touchdown in the spring game, but it takes more than one play to make him the guy. Especially when it’s during a spring game.
• Will Henry - didn’t play last season.
• Matt Donahue - hasn’t seen the field yet.

Who amongst these is going to be ‘the guy’ and why?

Nebraska takes a break from Big 12 play this weekend to welcome the Louisiana Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns to Lincoln.

Here’s what I said about the Ragin’ Cajuns before the season started:

Talk about a tale of two teams not doing what they’re expected. The Ragin’ Cajuns are currently in seventh place in the Sun Belt Conference with a 12-12 record. Their record stands at 22-23 overall and they have a RPI of 114.  What appeared to be a nasty tough match up at the beginning of the season doesn’t appear so now.

I'll admit I haven't paid much attention to the Ragin' Cajuns since I wrote my preview. I checked on them once, and I knew they weren’t doing that well. In writing this preview, I thought I’d check into why.

The Ragin’ Cajuns were ranked coming into preseason, but they started their season at 6-12. Their team batting average is fairly low, only .246. They currently have only one guy batting above .300, and that’s at Scott Hawkins at .309. He has 31 RBI and 33 runs and he leads the team in eight of offensive statistic categories.  

Danny Farquhar was one of the pitchers I mentioned in the pre-season, and he is 3-7 on the season. Another, Hunter Moody, will face Johnny Dorn on Friday in a match up of the two winningest active pitchers in college baseball. Dorn has 36 career wins, Moody 29.

The Ragin’ Cajuns are 9-10 at home, 11-12 away. Nebraska is 24-2-1 at home. Doesn’t bode well for them, does it?

Projected Starting Pitchers

	Nebraska	La-Lafayette
Friday	RH Johnny Dorn (5-1, 2.60 ERA)	LH Hunter Moody (7-2, 3.21 ERA)
Saturday - G1	RH Thad Weber (8-2, 3.75 ERA)	RH Michael Cook (5-3, 4.66 ERA)
Saturday - G2	RH Aaron Pribanic (3-3, 4.29 ERA)	LH Brent Solich (1-3, 7.05 ERA)

With how many wins will Johnny finish his Husker career?

Barring weather issues, one of the two head coaches will reach a milestone this weekend.

• Louisiana head coach Tony Robichaux needs two wins to become the 33rd active NCAA Division I head baseball coach to win 750 career games. Here’s to hoping he gets #750 somewhere else.
• Nebraska Coach Mike Anderson enters the weekend series needing two wins to reach 250 career wins. Here’s hoping he gets them.

If any of you folks are coming into Lincoln from Lafayette, you might stop by Buzzard Billy's in the Haymarket Area. The red beans n rice I had there was excellent. Tell Chris the bartender the loud guy from Corn Nation sent you, and have the Lincoln-brewed porter. It's very good as well.

The Columbus Telegram had posted a full 45-minute speech that Bo Pelini gave at a Chamber Banquet. Informative, funny. As of this morning it’s been taken down - I’m guessing they saw their bandwidth being consumed by gobs.
(Folks, that’s why people post things on youtube - so they can let them provide the bandwidth, not just because it's a place where kids can post videos of themselves picking their nose. If the link goes up there, we’ll attach it.)

He’s a good speaker - he said a lot of the right things about tradition and a return of playing with passion. If nothing else, he sounds good. It’s hard not to warm up to the guy. He also said something about success taking a while, but I have no idea what he means when he says that.

He takes a few veiled shots at the former coaching staff - nothing too heavy, but they’re there.  One that stood out for me is Pelini pointing out that while he was focused on discipline he also said it was important that the players understand that the coach has their best interests at heart - specifically ‘that I have their back’. In other words, the players need to know that the coach would support them.  I’m sure all y’all have heard some stories but let’s just say that the former ‘culture of fear’ extended beyond the people who worked for the athletic department.

He answered a questions pointing out that the players will be practicing in full pads on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, then on shorts on Thursday. It’s bizarre to think that’s even a hot issue, but it garnered a fair amount of applause.

Someone must have asked him if he should have been head coach in 2003 (the sound from the questioners was suspect). Pelini responded by saying that he should not have been made head coach in 2003 because Frank Solich should not have been fired - a response which drew applause. More interesting than that (I don’t want to start a Frank debate all over again), he stated that he’s gained a lot of experience since 2003 and is more prepared to be a head coach now.

I like Pelini’s laugh - it reminds me of that guy in high school you thought was too dumb to live past 30. I mean that in a good way.

Nebraska has fallen in love with the guy. That’s not a difficult accomplishment given who he’s replaced. I just hope he’s successful. I don’t want to go through all this again in four years.

[ED - Video is backonline - located here.]

[ED - Bumped from the diaries yet again....]

The city of Lincoln has been looking towards building a new convention center area and arena in the west Haymarket area (near Haymarket Park) for some time now, and now the Journal-Star reports that the mayor has selected the Lincoln Traction Partners' proposal.

The proposal, which will go before Lincoln voters next year, contains the new Haymarket Arena (to replace the aging Pershing center), a 150-room hotel attached to the arena with 70 club-suite like rooms that face into the arena, a second 250-seat hotel near the arena, and three parking garages with built-in retail space.

The arena would likely (as seen in LTP's video) be the new home for Husker Basketball.  The arena looks to be NBA-caliber (like the Qwest Center), and would immediately be one of the top facilities in the Big XII.

Once again I sit at a chair next to the Big 12 Roundtable.  Matt from The Crimson and Cream Machine challenged us to speak of spring and what hope may or may not spring eternal.  Blankman sayeth:

1. Who are some of the new faces that emerged in the spring who could be serious playmakers for your team this fall?

A good question.  I think that Nebraska’s offensive linemen as a whole stepped up large in the spring and made some great strides.  I also think that Lance Thorell stepped up, but he could be this year’s Garth Glissman (also known as the guy we don’t hear about after the Spring Game).  I loved what I saw out of WR Curenski Gilleylen.

2. What is your biggest concern following the spring?

The defensive front seven.  Injuries and departures not to mention flat out inexperience plagues this bunch.  Not to say they will be an entire liability, but they do need to step up.  If Ndamukong Suh can come back and regain his former glory, that will help immensely along with the addition of incoming linebacker Will Compton who looks to vie for immediate playing time at MIKE.

3.  Any major changes (philosophy, coaching or personnel) that you are concerned or worried about?

Yeah, Barney Cotton.  This guy’s got about as much between the ears as Mr. Potato Head except I think I’d trust Mr. Potato Head more with my offensive line.

4.  Looking over the 2008 which home and away game will be the most difficult?

Home: Missouri
Away: Oklahoma with Texas Tech a close second

5.  Time for your way too early predictions (Yes, you can change them in August). Rank how you see your division finishing up next season.

1. Missouri

2. Nebraska

3. Colorado

4. Kansas

5. Kansas State

6. Iowa State

The walk-on program has returned under Tom Osborne.. er, Bo Pelini. Not that it ever really left under Bill Callahan, but you got the idea that it was around only as an amusement. Certainly it was de-emphasized - which means it was comparable to when you’re a civil servant and they assign you off to some meaningless corner department somewhere. You’re still getting paid and they didn’t fire you, but to everyone else you’re a dead man.

The "walk-on makes good" story is a great story. It’s a feel-good story, an American ‘rags to riches’ story. It makes a dream accessible for the everyday kid growing up in Nebraska - who when they were little didn’t dream of one day playing for the Cornhuskers?

Much is made of the walk-on program at Nebraska - I wonder if far more success is attributed to it than it deserves. I’m not saying that out of some blasphemous intent or hidden agenda, but I am wondering what others are thinking.

Given that, who’s your favorite walk-on, or better yet - when you hear the phrase ‘walk-on’ and ‘Husker’ together, what pops into your head? It can be a person, but it can also be a concept. I’d like to know what you’re thinking.

[editor's note, by corn blight] - Bumped from the diaries... we need a basketball update...

It's a week and a half into the late signing period now, and although it has certainly been an eventful week and a half for Doc Sadler and the Huskers, it has not necessarily been good news.

First off, the Huskers have had only a single official visit, when 6-10 huge man Melvin Oliver visited Lincoln during last weekend's Spring football game.  However, the visit was apparently unproductive, as Oliver promptly verbally committed to Seton Hall, pending an official visit there next weekend.

The week continued to get interesting when assistant coach and key recruiter Tony Benford left for Marquette.  Then on Thursday , Doc told the Journal-Star that he would leave the scholarship open if he did not sign a transfer.

A few years ago one of my regular clients hired a new IS Manager. Knowing his background and that he’d come from Carlson Companies, when I first met him I jokingly asked him if Curt Carlson ever liked him enough to give him a statue of himself.

My question was a joke. The guy’s response wasn’t.

“Oh, yeah, I won one of those once. They’re called ‘Curties’, about six inches tall, he used to give them out if he thought you were doing a good job”.

Egad. You have to wonder about the ego of a guy that would give out statues of himself. Not that surprising given Carlon’s success, though, as he built Carlson Companies from the ground up. He also got the University of Minnesota to name their business school after him just because he gave them a boatload of money.

There’s a life size statue of him as you enter Carlson Companies, or at least there used to be, I haven’t been out there in quite a few years. There’s a bust of him at the Carlson School of Management. The key here is that when you’re successful you can just about anything you want and get away with it - even give out little statues of yourself.

Unfortunately, when you’re not successful the same ideas can make you look really stupid. Take our old buddy Steve Pederson for example. He wanted to have statues of himself made, too.

Maybe if old Stevey P got really successful he could make miniatures - little tiny ones you could carry around so you could keep him with you and remember him all the time. Reading through his bio at Pitt, you’d have to wonder why we got rid of him:

Pederson was at Nebraska for five years and we have 23 teams, meaning there were 345 chances for teams get to get NCAA invitations. 15 out of 345 chances is... not very good is it?  I’m thinking there’s a different definition for the word ‘exceptional’ out there in Pittsburgh.

What this means is that Pitt’s standards for athletic success are a helluva low lower than they are at Nebraska, so there’s still a chance for Pedey to get his statues made and then we’ll be sorry.

Especially you because you won’t get one. Maybe you’d like to have had a ‘Pedey’?

---

One more item of interest about Pederson from that Omaha World Herald article:

Being a consultant now for about 20 years and having worked in organizations of all sizes, shapes and industries, all I have to say is

Holy crap.

The only companies I’m aware of where they do quarterly performance reviews are those that have been bought or sold or are about to be. Oh, that and those run by control freaks and megalomaniacs.

In the Big 12 this week:

- Texas A&M sweeps Missouri, including a 15-0 rout on Saturday

- Nebraska wins their first series ever in Waco

- Oklahoma State sweeps Kansas    

- Texas wins the rubber match today to win their series against KSU

You remember the beginning of the Big 12 season, where I said that the Big 12 was evenly matched and that it would be a tough conference, every game would count, blah blah blah, insert your cliche here.

Well. Here we are and the top three teams in the conference- Texas A&M, Nebraska and Oklahoma State have combined for a 47-15. There's a couple things that happened no one expected... well, except for Nebraska coach Mike Anderson.

Nebraska is really good. Texas is, well, not good. That's a huge difference in the wins and losses in conference. On to the week!