A pretty good look at the 2009 Nebraska Cornhuskers from fellow SB Nation blog "Rock M Nation".

• Offense
• Defense

It's a solid analysis, although they do suffer from looking at the season as a whole and the in-game trends, rather than the progress during the season.  Is there any doubt in Husker fans' mind that the team on the field in November was significantly better than the team on the field in September?

More photos » by Danny Moloshok - AP

FILE - In this Dec. 27, 2008 file photo, Southern California quarterback Aaron Corp drops back to pass during an NCAA football practice for the Rose Bowl Game in Los Angeles. Sophomore Aaron Corp has emerged as USC's No. 1 quarterback at the end of spring practice. Pete Carroll announced today that USC's fall practices will be open tot he public. (AP Photo/Danny Moloshok, File)

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On Twitter this afternoon, Pete Carroll issued an open invitation to fans, boosters, supporters, and probably even other coaches to USC's preseason practices.  (All except their pregame walkthrough the day before their season opener against San Jose State.)

As if that's not cool enough for fans, he's also holding a "mock game" at the LA Memorial Coliseum on the last Saturday of August.  Kind of a "spring game" in August.  Needless to say, Pete Carroll isn't concerned about "hiding" anything in his preseason practices.  Of course, when you've been one of the top college football programs this decade, you can usually get away with anything.

I just have to wonder what kind of crowd might show up for a "mock game" in the Coliseum.  In fact, I wonder what would happen at Nebraska if they opened up a scrimmage to the general public to attend.  If dear 'ol Nebraska U can sell out a spring game, just what would happen for a preseason practice that would give fans their first look at the incoming freshmen?

Could you even sell tickets?  Even if NCAA regulations didn't allow it, the income from concessions might prove to be quite the windfall for the athletic department.  In today's era where colleges are looking more than ever for revenue sources, selling tickets to a scrimmage might be one way to raise additional funds.

I don't know if EVERY practice should be open to the public; after all, coaches should be allowed to keep certain things under wraps.  But certainly opening up selected workouts and practices to fans and the media would increase goodwill and positive coverage of the program, as well as potentially being financially rewarding.

View full size photo uploaded July 1, 2009

As editor, I'm proud to announce this year's Husker football yearbook Cornhusker Kickoff 2009. Unlike other preseason magazines that have only a couple of pages about your favorite football team, Cornhusker Kickoff 2009 is all about the Huskers and this upcoming season. 

The format has changed somewhat this season. The yearbook is longer (128 pages compared to 112 last year), and it has a look and feel more like a preseason football magazine. There are a lot more photos, and a lot more relevant stats, particularly in the position breakdowns. One important thing stays the same - it's a full 128 pages of content with absolutely NO ads. Obviously, I'm biased, but it's one fine-looking item to have in your possession for the upcoming season. 

The yearbook is available for ordering online at Huskerpedia. It will be available in stores later in July across Nebraska wherever you can find other preseason college football magazines. 

After last year's inaugural issue, A Sea of Red, we changed the name this season. To be honest, I liked the name A Sea of Red better, but unfortunately distributors (the people who need to buy the book and get it into circulation) weren't recognizing the link between A Sea of Red and Cornhusker football, so a name change was in order. Cornhusker Kickoff is a little cheesier, but if it helps sell the book so that more people see it, the better. Ah, the realities of business. 

Click the jump for a look at the contents. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. To post a comment, you must be a member of Corn Nation. Accounts are free and shared across the entire SB Nation network of sports blogs. 

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In honor of the 300th sellout at Memorial Stadium, Nebraska will don replica uniforms designed to match the 1962 uniforms from Bob Devaney's first season and the first sellout against Missouri.  Fortunately, the stadium will not be a throwback era; a capacity crowd of approximately 85,000 will be there for the Louisiana-Lafayette game, not the 31,180 capacity from 1962.

In addition, game tickets and programs will be replicas of the 1962 versions as well.  Unfortunately, the prices on those tickets and programs will NOT be replicas.  After the game, the uniforms will be auctioned off with a minimum bid of $500 each for helmet, jersey, and pants.

First look at the jersey makes me want that jersey fulltime, but the helmet I can do without.  Aesthetically, the block N is bland, but it's been an NU tradition for so long, I see no reason to alter it.  Even for a throwback game.  The numerals on the jerseys are so cool and distinctive, I'd like to see them full-time.

The game has also been designated as homecoming, which sounds surprising at first, but after the Oklahoma State pasting in 2007 and the scare against Baylor last season, perhaps it's best to move the homecoming game up in the schedule.

Many people dismissed the idea of Tom Osborne being anything but an interim "hold-down-the-fort" athletic director when he returned to Nebraska after the failure of Steve Pederson.  Of course "just a football coach" has since turned out to be a pretty darn good athletic director in reversing Nebraska's gravitation towards Pediocrity.  The Husker football team rebounded well under Bo Pelini.  Basketball seems to be on the upswing under Doc Sadler, though in all fairness, Pederson gets credit for hiring Sadler.  But all throughout Husker athletics, you get the impression that everyone is back on the same page and a positive vibe is running throughout the athletic department. 

That's the essence of the "Nebraska Way".  Teamwork, excellence, a sense of family whatever aspects you want to add on, you name it.  There's a certain way that things were done at Nebraska, and when a bureaucrat tried to remake it in his own image, even hiring "management consultants" (ala "Office Space"), it suffered until Nebraska returned to it's roots.

It's been often said that the days of former coaches retiring to the athletic director's office is over.  With the requirements of managing multi-million budgets, facilites, fundraising, and personnel, it's not just a sport anymore, it's big business that requires an MBA, not X's and O's.

Or does it?  Certainly there's no doubt that athletic directors need to be business-savvy, but not at the expense of truly understanding how athletics operates.  Athletics IS the business, and an MBA needs to understand that degree is just a skillset they bring to the business.

When Trev Alberts was introduced as Nebraska-Omaha's athletic director two months ago, many people shook their heads and ridiculed the selection as a desperate move by a division 2 school who was completely lost.

Nobody's laughing at Alberts and UNO anymore.

In fact, much like the return of Osborne resulted in a huge wave of positivity within the Husker program, Alberts has presided over an incredible two months for the UNO Maverick program.  And I don't think he's even had a chance to move his family to town yet.

At his introduction, Alberts made it clear he understood that UNO's hockey program needed to be the flagship of the Maverick program, much like football is the flagship in Lincoln.  And he moved quickly to start solidifying the hockey program, bringing back 80 year old former athletic director Don Leahy as a consultant (there's that family aspect again) and promoting head coach Mike Kemp to be his top assistant athletic director.  Then Trev opened up the search for Kemp's replacement and shocked all of college hockey.  He targeted and convinced Dean Blais, who had won two national championships at North Dakota before trying his luck in the NHL, to take over as UNO head coach.  Then to finish off that, he negotiated with the WCHA (with members such as Minnesota and Wisconsin) to move UNO from the CCHA (which includes the likes of Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, and Notre Dame), with WCHA commisioner Bruce McLeod commenting about how touch Alberts was in negotiating a deal.

Oh, and in between all those developments has been a renegotiation of UNO's lease with the Qwest Center and talk about eventually building a campus arena for the hockey program.

Just your average two months at 60th & Dodge Street in Omaha.  Not.

I don't know whether all of these changes are going to work out well for UNO, but optimism and excitement over UNO athletics has never been higher.  It all goes back to the hiring of Trev Alberts, who is bringing a "Nebraska Way" to Omaha.  Last season, fans worried that the program had plateaued.  Now UNO fans dream of eventually being national champions, just like Husker fans.  Many fans have felt that Dave Rimington or Paul Meyers are the leading candidates to replace Osborne when he's finally ready to step down.  But don't cross off Trev Alberts, who's quickly building quite the resume up the road in Omaha.

A couple of recent articles by other Husker writers have me thinking about expectation management this week. It's something I'm struggling with lately as I prepare to do an email migration for one of my clients. I've done a lot of project management over my years as a network and communication consultant. What I've learned is that setting the wrong expectations leads to project failure as often as whatever it is you're actually trying to accomplish.

In other words, if you go around telling people the next big thing is the next big thing, and it's good, but not great, you're probably screwed. Conversely, if you go around underselling what you're doing, and it becomes the next big thing, your client is going to end up a lot happier and more likely to bring you back for another project. This is the difference between being in sales and doing project management. The unfortunate reality is that a lot of consultants confuse the two and keep on selling when they really should be managing the project. 

So, what's all this have to do with Husker football?

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In Nebraska's bid to win the Sun Belt Conference championship in 2009, Arkansas State stands to be the biggest challenge of them all.  Florida Atlantic seems to be the team that Husker fans look most warily at, with a top 25 offense and a four year starter at quarterback. But frankly, I think Arkansas State is the best of Nebraska's three Sun Belt foes.

The Red Wolves, who changed their mascot from the Indians last season, are lead by seniors Corey Leonard and Reggie Arnold on offense.  Leonard will also be a four-year starter, and is a dual-threat quarterback who can hurt you with his legs and his arm.  Ask Texas A&M about Leonard; he gashed the Aggies for 86 yards on the ground in wrecking Mike Sherman's debut in College Station.  For last season, he rushed for 516 yards and threw for 2347, totalling 16 touchdowns through the air and four more on the ground.

Three-time all-conference running back Reggie Arnold rushed for 1074 yards and seven touchdowns last season. He'll be backed up by sophomore Derek Lawson, who added 695 yards and an impressive 7.2 yards per carry average in his freshman season.

Defensively, the Red Wolves will be led by returning Sun Belt defensive player of the year, defensive end Alex Carrington.  All told, Arkansas State returns eight starters from the second best defense in the Sun Belt Conference.  Phil Steele named junior defensive tackle Bryan Hall to his first-team all conference list, and added five more defenders on his second and third all-conference teams.  Arkansas State finished 2008 as the #2 defense in the Sun Belt behind Troy.

Arkansas State finished 2008 at 6-6, though they added a nice pelt with a road victory over Texas A&M in the season opener.  Their other BCS conference opponent, Alabama, blanking the Red Wolves 35-0.

With a mobile quarterback, solid running backs, and a stout defense, the Red Wolves are the best of the Sun Belt foes the Huskers will face in 2009.  It's almost a no-win situation for the Huskers in this game:  you are expected to win, and if you lose, you face uproar and embarassment.  But if fans were planning to spend the money on any of the pay-per-view broadcasts of the Sun Belt schedule, the Arkansas State matchup is likely your best bet.  If the Huskers are on their game, the Huskers should win this game going away, but if they're not, Arkansas State could claim another upset over a Big XII foe.

Last week I looked at the weaknesses of Big 12 North teams. I also stated that the Big 12 North will come down to a finish between three teams - Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado. This article focuses on the strengths of the Big 12 North teams.  I did not pick the strengths nor weaknesses based solely on units (offensive line, linebacker, etc) nor on great players, but on what I felt were the most positive characteristics that would help each team to win games, and therefore win the conference division.

The teams are in no particular order of predicted finish - that will come later this summer.

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