The 'In the Bleachers 2008 Predictions' podcast is now available, featuring yours truly and a bunch of other well-known bloggers. It's long, 2.5 hours long. It's not as bad as four hours of Lou Holtz by a long-shot. I completely forget (or didn't want to remember) that he was Mark May's counterpart.I couldn't do four hours of Lou. I hope you didn't either or I'd fear for your safety/sanity/sense of style.

To combat Lou, you need Husker Haiku.

  Last night in the ITB forum I came up with a single line to describe this year's Big 12 season:

So many quarterbacks, so little defense.

We'll see how well it stands up by the end of the season. Hopefully the season will turn out more like this: 

So many quarterbacks, then they were Blackshirts.

  I don't think anyone on the ITB podcast mentioned Oklahoma State. I kept wondering why until I realized that the media thinks Mike Gundy is a clown .

  Football starts this evening - both Baylor and Iowa State are playing. Both worth watching as they are Nebraska opponents this season..... I just said that, didn't I..... damn them both to hell for playing on the first night of college football when all I want is some of that goodness in me.

  Of things that are not good is Andy Christensen. The more you hear about it, the dumber it gets.

  ABC Regional Coverage Maps are out. As is your TV Coverage for Week One.

  KFOR's Lincoln Live will feature an interview with yours truly tomorrow at 12:30 pm.

  A reminder that we will be doing game day threads here on CN on Saturday evening. What that basically means is we'll be here commenting on the game, so you're more than welcome to join us. Remember, sobriety is not an issue since it's assumed you're not driving So, it's a date, say... oh, around 5:30 PM CST Saturday night. BYOB ya louts.

Sarah Pavan proved she isn't done with the spotlight as she was chosen as the 2007-08 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America® of the Year. She was selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) for the second consecutive year, becoming the first athlete to win the award twice. Her list of athletic accomplishments is long and impressive:

Sarah Pavan won a national title for Nebraska and finished her academic career with a 4.0 in biochemistry. You can't get much closer to perfection than that. You could easily argue she's the best athlete to ever come out of the University.

Pavan's accomplishments stand in stark contrast with the two Nebraska wrestlers dismissed for having been compensated to appear nude on a porn site. That's a lot of hurting on a program that's worked hard to become one of the best in the Big 12 only to have it shot down by selfish acts of utter stupidity.

In the 'now for something completely different' category, ESPN's Tim Griffin has some nice things to say about 'A Sea of Red' and that other Maple Street Press yearbook put out by someone from Texas. (Ha!)

Well, except for that 'Johnson' reference. If I had a buck for every time I've been called 'Johnson', I'd be pretty darned rich. In fact, I wrote for a monthly publication years ago that took six months to get my name spelled right. Maybe this is why people generally call me something else besides my name?

Brandon Vogel talks about other programs that could be considered 'Friends of Nebraska' - those programs for whom you have respect. I'd have to agree with him on Wisconsin because of the Alvarez connection. Beer and cheese aren't bad reasons either.

I have not posted a lot of links to Husker football this week because... well, because they're always glowing goodness this time of year, and the idea that college football season is only a couple of weeks away hasn't truly hit me yet.

  I'm off with a group of Cub Scouts this weekend. Always interesting watching kids experience the outdoors for the first time. Hopefully there will be no surprises for Husker fans over the weekend because this time of year those surprises are always bad.

All y'all have a good last weekend of no college football. Relief is on the way soon, or so I've been told!

Ivan Maisel has a couple of good articles about today's speedy offenses. The first implies that the huddle may be disappearing, and the second has to do with what an up-tempo offense does to a defense. However, the second includes this bit:

The emphasis is mine I point it out because it's a key piece of the upcoming Cornhusker football season. You want to slow down an up-tempo offense, like those of Mizzou, Kansas, or Texas Tech? The easiest way is to keep them off the field.

Defenses are trying to figure out how to stop the spread, and it's clear the key is fast players who can make one-on-one tackles. They're not building their guys up for size, they're making them leaner and meaner. In doing so, you have to believe that they're setting themselves up for being pounded into submission by a power running game, one that consistently gains yardage (read: no losses) and chews up the clock. You want to beat a speedy offense? Keep the ball.

The OWH came out with an article last week where the headline is "Pelini says NU offense won't be conservative", but then includes an item from Pelini that affirms the above statement:

We'll have more on this later, but the Huskers will be running the ball with authority this season, or the season will be a failure.

I happened to notice a thread about our own 'Blankman' Brandon Cavanaugh at Huskerpedia that contains some less than complementary comments. As editor of 'A Sea of Red', I chose Brandon to write that specific article because I knew that he would present a different perspective and I did not want an article that turned into some gooey worship-fest of the glory days of Nebraska football. He did not disappoint.

The thread also brought up the past, re-hashing Frank Solich's firing and blah de blah, which leads me to ask - can we all just forget about who supported who and move forward?

Two Nebraska wrestlers are being investigated for having their pictures show up on a gay porn site.

Thank goodness we clarified that they didn't appear in the photos together. Can you imagine the rumors that would be flying around if they hadn't included that line?

Yet another Big 12 coach ranking, this time from John Heisley at the Oklahoman. Pelini comes in at 11th, ahead of Art Briles at Baylor. Mike Sherman at ninth? I'd rank him 12th because while he was a decent coach at Green Bay, he sucked as a general manager and coach, the job he's basically going to have as a head college coach.

And since we can't get enough rankings, Rivals ranks the Big 12's best units, with Nebraska's backfield at #2 behind Oklahoma. It includes the comment that Marlon Lucky is the Big 12's best running back. Didn't I say something somewhere about letting things go?

Last but not least, last night's 4x100m swimming relay is one of the reasons I watch a lot of the Olympics. Michael Phelps may be the star attraction in these Olympics, but Jason Lezak's finish was absolutely gorgeous. The only thing better than beating a mouthy opponent is beating a mouthy opponent that's French. Can we at least all agree on that?

  So, the first three games of the 2008 season are on PPV at $30 apiece. Barry Trammel at the The Oklahoman ranks all the Big 12 games, and he puts our three PPV games at #75 (Western Michigan), #81 (San Jose State), and #84 (New Mexico State) out of all 96 games being played by Big 12 teams this year.

I know how to rational the cost - it's less than the price of a ticket - or in my case, much less than the cost of a ticket plus travel back and forth to Lincoln. While I'm not denying happiness at being able to see the games, I feel a certain amount of resentment at paying $30 for lousy football even if I have a near-psychotic addiction to it. The question keeps bugging me - why do we keep paying more for less of a product?

The Big 12 will not be standardizing injury reports, why should they? As the main KU man Mangino says:

Well, bloggers want to know about injuries too but we're not mentioned..... unless you realize that I'm clearly one of those undesirables he's talking about.

It's clear that Mangino has a huge list of things he finds desirable, from moldy pizza to cornerbacks that tackle well, but certainly not me, gamblers, or opponents.

Perhaps I should head back to counseling for the self-esteem problem I've always had. Or better yet, perhaps something cheaper and more effective..... something that would make me more desirable to Mangino.....

The start to Danny Woodhead's NFL career has not gone well. Woodhead apparently experienced a serious knee injury when practicing with the New York Jets, and has been placed on the waived-injured list. That sucks.

I think this year I'll be paying more attention to Kyle at our Georgia blog Dawg Sports because Georgia will garner a lot of pre-season #1 rankings. Kyle has posted a 2008 blogpoll for feedback and he has Nebraska ranked at #21 above both Texas Tech, #23, and Kansas #25. For the rest of the Big 12, he has Mizzou #4, Oklahoma #6, and Texas at #11.

I suppose I'd better start figuring out my blogpoll as well. I doubt I'll be ranking Nebraska. I think we have a lot to prove before we deserve a ranking. I echo Kyle's sentiment that Kansas is overrated, but I'm not sure about Texas Tech. Tech is the Mizzou of last season - always on the edge of success but never quite there. That changed for Missouri in 2007, can it change for Tech in 2008?

I will be basing my poll on the 'Power Poll' concept, mostly because I'm not going to look at statistics, resume ranking sounds too, well, boring, and I can come up with a suitable argument for any team I rank when using the power method. BTW, if you think ranking teams is easy, try it for a while. When you get into 20-25 it's pretty darned hard week by week.

Matt Hinton, who wrote the Opponents preview for "A Sea of Red 2008" and is the Sunday Morning Quarterback is leaving SB Nation to become the Yahoo sports college football editor. Congratulations on moving up the ladder, Matt. We'll be watching you at Yahoo, ready to pounce on every single error you make... as if.

Hinton is an excellent, entertaining writer who knows his subject extremely well.

Speaking of 'A Sea of Red' - the guys at Big Red Network - who contributed to the yearbook - are giving away four copies as part of a contest. Hurry, it ends soon!

I have a request from someone who is looking for the 1978 Nebraska-Oklahoma game. They'd like to get a copy of it on tape or on DVD, and they are willing to pay for it. If you have it and can help, please contact me via email, and I will put you in touch with the interested party.

  Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione wants to celebrate the 1971 'Game of the Century' when Nebraska visits Norman on November 1st:

This is a very cool idea. Just the thing to bring the two rivals back together on good terms, especially after Callahan's gaffs in recent years. My thing about Callahan's effing hillbillies remark was this: If Billy C thought the Okies were hillbillies, what did he think of Nebraskans? Probably the same thing, especially given some of the comments he made about us.

Ah, well. We can all get together and act like we're still rivals, talk about the greatest game in college football history, and then the Sooners will probably kick our ass.... or maybe not. With a bunch of glory-day Huskers on the sidelines the Cornhuskers will have an extra incentive to win. Yeah.

You'll need to prepare yourselves by getting Michael Corcoran's 'Game Of The Century' - best book available on the subject.

And did you hear the one about two Oklahoma players getting caught for cocaine distribution? You didn't? Well, it was fake. Imagine that, some guy doing a mock-up of The Oklahoman and having it picked up as real news by two Texas radio stations. It's this  Internet thing again:

Damn you, Internet! Damn You! There were no hoaxes before you came along!!!!

The article doesn't mention whether the radio stations will be in trouble for finding stuff on a message board and reporting it as fact. Apparently radio stations are incapable of perpetrating hoaxes unless they're about Martians invading and taking over the earth or something so fantastic that no one would believe it.

Take a look at this 5-7 prediction from Chip Brown of the Dallas News. He's got us winning three conference games, but then gives us two non-con losses. That would be Virginia Tech and who??? And he picks Kansas State as getting their only conference win against us. Maybe that's not so nuts since KSU seems to pull off a game they have no business winning every year. Here's his bit on Nebraska:

Apparently he has a very low opinion of this year's Cornhuskers, Bo Pelini. Just so you know, we're not replacing the back seven. We have Philllip Dillard as a returning starter at middle linebacker, experienced secondary players in Armando Murillo and Larry Asante. Major Culbert has seen the field enough to make a difference as has Ricky Thenarse. The cupboard isn't bare. There isn't as much depth as you'd like to see, but I could understand 6-6. But 5-7? Come on, Chip, geez!

Sunday Morning Quarterback previews the Nebraska - Virginia Tech game with his usual wit:

Sleeping giant. I like that. I think he has a point. Mizzou fans may not want to admit it, but there's a lot to be said for confidence level going into the first conference game of the season.

Todd Peterson will be blogging for the Sporting News this season! Or maybe he won't be blogging, per se, but will be writing for an online publication. There's a big difference, isn't there? Either way, it'll be interesting to see what he has to say. I'm sure it won't be sanitized any more than your typical World War II letter home. Other Big 12 participants will include Chase Daniel, Colt McCoy and George Hypolite of Colorado.

It's all part of a new thang from SN that will be called Sporting News Today:

 

Digital daily sports section? Holy cow! Sports every day? How can they do that? That's more amazing than instant coffee! Next thing you know someone will come up with an easy way for us to put our own videos online. Now, that would be interesting. Probably wouldn't fly, though. Sports news every day? Videos from rank amateurs? It's just too much.

Not really Nebraska-related.... but it is about big-time college football.  The fact that Rich Rod and the University of Michigan have to pay $4M back to West Virginia is good for college football, at least in the short term. What you hope is that athletic directors across the nation insist on huge buy-out clauses in their coaches contracts and that will slow down this damned arms race that's going on in Div IA sports. Left unabated sooner or later big-time college football will either collapse under it's own weight with catastrophic implications (ala mortgage crisis) or come under the scrutiny of the federal government. Trust me, you want neither of these to happen.

It's summer time, and time for vacations.  (Unless yours gets cancelled when Mother Nature takes a bite out of your house... but I digress...)  In the meantime, thought I'd check in, water the plants, and the like.

If you've got kids  in elementary school or junior high, you might want to sign them up for the new Nebraska "JV Football Team".  For $25, kids get a t-shirt, a season highlight DVD, a poster, and free admission to the spring game.  They'll also get monthly electronic newsletters and a birthday e-mail from Bo Pelini.  Doesn't sound like a bad investment for $25.

Marlon Lucky was named to the Maxwell Award Watch List for outstanding college football player in 2008, and Joe Ganz was named one of 26 candidates for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award.  Yeah, it's ridiculously early to start mentioning names for these awards... heck, Buffalo quarterback Drew Willy also got named.  So the list probably entails every senior returning starter.  But hey, it's also the start of July....whaddya expect at this point in the year.

The "High Plains Drifter" has teamed up with the Big Red Network, and he's uncovered some new Husker underwear over at Victoria's Secret.  Only some (overpriced) sweats are available online, but more apparently is available in the stores.  Guess that means you can wear nothing but Husker stuff on game days this fall, should you so choose.

The TV networks are skipping the Huskers first three games against Western Michigan, San Jose State, and New Mexico State.  This really shouldn't surprise anybody; that schedule was horrific when it was announced, and it's only going to get worse next season when Nebraska tries to win the Sun Belt championship in 2009.  At least it's likely Virginia Tech will be televised in the next two years.  2010 could be even worse unless Washington finds a way to return to respectability.  Thanks for the great non-conference schedules, Steve.  It looks likely that the Western Michigan game will end up as a pay-per-view ($29.95) game, but the San Jose State and New Mexico State games might not.

Poll

What will you be spending your money on?

• "JV Team" memberships for my kids
• $29.95 to watch the San Jose State game on Pay-Per-View
• A New Husker Thong from Victoria's Secret
• All of the above!

  46 votes | Results

Can Alex Gordon and Joba Chamberlain save baseball? It's probably a stretch since baseball seems to be doing fine, but as hometown heroes they can give hope to some fans.

The Green Bay Packers are paying a lot of attention to Maurice Purify:

I wouldn't mind seeing Purify in the Green and Gold. I've been a Packers fan for years, and with former Husker Brandon Jackson there, he might be a good fit. There's plenty of beer in Wisconsin, but they could use a big wide receiver.
The SB Nation NFL guys are running a mock draft that's being hosted over at Mocking the Draft. Carl Nicks was the first Husker drafted, taken by the Kansas City Chiefs early in the second round. You might find the scouting report on Nicks worth while reading as it's pretty extensive.

Mark my words. After the spring game, Roy Helu will become one of the most popular players on the team. He's quick, explosive, should be fun to watch over the next couple years. Husker fans have always had a thing for the 'next I-back' in line.

So Bo Pelini has the program checking on whether or not the players are going to class.

I understand Pelini's point of checking on the players, it doesn't do much good to assign rules without some follow up, but isn't it the players responsibility to get their asses to class and make sure their grades are in order? Maybe I'm making too much of it, but there seems to be so much monitoring going on nowadays that I wonder if it does more harm than good. University professors and housing departments refer to this generation of parents as the "hover" generation because they continually hover over their kids.
I have three kids to raise and this is a constant issue at home. My position is that if they don't have enough self-motivation to get their own butts in gear and do well, then they can fail.
The other side of that is we monitor every aspect of their behavior and then wonder why when they grow up to become young adults that they're incapable of making their own decisions.
Yea, I know, I sound old. Now get off my lawn.

Spring is here. That may seem obvious to most of you, but it's not so here in Minnesota, especially after this winter. It's been brutal. It's been damned cold and it just won't warm up and stop snowing. Another winter storm is expected in the next couple days.

I am so looking forward to getting back to Lincoln for the spring game. I am hoping for good weather. It'd be a nice break.

Nebraska should focus on recruiting centers. I was confused when I saw the headline whether they were talking about the center position or locations, i.e., hotbeds of talent. They're talking about centers. We have to replace a gob of linemen next year, you know.

Colorado is changing it's offense. They're going to be doing a lot of he same things, but out of a shotgun. And they're going to be doing a lot of no-huddle. Apparently it worked well enough at Kansas and Missouri that the Buffs are going to do it.

Copy cats.

Here's a shocker. Iowa State might use two quarterbacks.

Well, duh. Replacing Brett Meyer won't be an easy task for the Cyclones. The guy was there for eight or nine years, wasn't he?

Apparently you can repeatedly test positive for marijuana and still play for Kansas, especially if your name is Aqib Talib.  

If you tell the coach ahead of time, maybe it doesn't count.

I've tried that.  "Hey, dear, I'm going to get really drunk, turn into a complete ass, stumble home at 3:00 am tonight, just so you know." Doesn't work. She's still pissed when it happens. Maybe it's the delivery?

The guys at the Columbia Tribune blog Behind the Stripes stay up really late thinking of cute phrases to describe their players. Here they go all out about Jeremy Maclin:

Good thing they explain that whole DEEP thing in detail. You ever told anyone from Missouri a joke? You're always having to explain it later. Takes all the fun out of it.

News flash - OU's Malcom Kelly isn't as fast as he's supposed to be. At OU's Pro Day, Kelly ran a 4.68 40, and then blamed it on the surface on which he ran:

In a nutshell, this sums up everything that's stupid about the NFL draft. Kelly is right in that teams will look at a slow 40 time and drop him down a little, costing him money and prestige. Apparently a few years of playing football isn't enough to evaluate a player, the geniuses in the NFL know better than to trust what they see on the field.

As for Kelly.... how 'bout you whine about it some more? It's not as if you won't get a chance, and it's not as if field conditions are going to be perfect when you're playing in the NFL.

Sam Keller and Corey McKeon in a compromising position? And with another guy? (HT: Bring On the Cats.)

What the hell is Gary Barnett doing at Nebraska practices, looking for a job?

According to more than 100 college presidents, the NCAA allowed too much beer advertising during the Big Dance.

I'm sure the NCAA's response will be something along the lines of an apology and feigned outrage at how this could be allowed to happen, it's a mistake, they'll correct it, blah blah blah. Basically the same bullshit that that most organizations use for a response these days - do something and apologize for it later.

Maybe the college presidents are as sick of the Bud Light Dude man as I am. Still, two to three times too much? Sounds like the NCAA has an alcohol problem.  

Jay Moore got married during the off-season (congrats, Jay), and lost weight down to 259 to be a more effective outside linebacker for the 49ers. Moore's rookie season ended early last year when he suffered a high-ankle sprain. He talks about his injury, and what's ahead.

He managed to get in a plug in for Carl Nicks, too:

Josh Brown went to the Rams, remember. The reaction from Seattle Fans is typical of the "he sucked anyway variety".

Just a guess, but I'm betting Thomas Lawson gets his rushing touchdown this season.

Blah Blah Blah, Iowa State won't offer single-game tickets. Man, that's got to irritate Iowa Hawkeyes fans and anything that irritates them can't be all bad, can it? I'll be in Ames for the Iowa State game come this fall. You going?

Just so all y'all are understanding things - the weekend series are important in college baseball. The midweek series - notsomuch. That's when you put your young guys out there and let 'er rip and see what they can do.

But when UTSA beats Baylor midweek, ending a 23-game win streak by the Bears, you have to wonder what the hell is going on in Waco. Baylor was picked to finish near the top of the Big 12. If they've already taken themselves out of the running, that's one less team we have to worry about for postseason play.

From Lubbock Online comes another "Nebraska is playing great as a team" article in which coach Mike Anderson states:

There was plenty of grumbling going on in Lincoln last season. The Huskers were getting into trouble and losing games. That left a lot of people wondering if Anderson was the right guy for the job. The season's far from over, obviously, but Anderson has these guys playing extremely well.

20 of 35 players had not seen the field in a Husker uniform before this season started. With so many newcomers, there is a higher than average possibility that they all wouldn't get along. Yet here they are, leading the Big 12. One key thing to notice about this season - how many games they've come from behind to win. Last year they didn't do that. They folded. This season, they're consistently battling back to win games.

What a difference a year makes.

Husker Mike continues to provide the best coverage around regarding the Omaha Ball Park issue. Looks like everything is level, man, full steam ahead!

Cody Glenn is considering a switch to linebacker.  A couple of things about this:

• Cody Glenn is smart and ambitious. That's a good thing. We need guys like him.
• Does this speak volumes as to how badly the defense was neglected over the past few years?????

Husker Guy chimes in with his two bits about Glenn, making some points worth listening to.

CU is considering building a hotel right near Folsom Field for an on-campus conference center. Are you thinking what I'm thinking, that this is really an excuse to help out with the recruiting????

KSU swaps Fresno State out to play Montana State this September, not off in some future, distant place and time. I haven't seen this mentioned much, but it should be. The Wizard of Odds covers this for what it should be seen as  - pure gutlessness on behalf of Ron Prince.

I suppose it's nothing different than what they were already accustomed to in Manhattan from the Snyder era.

Tom Dienhart at the Sporting News ranks the Big 12 coaches. He ranks Bo Pelini ninth, behind Mike Sherman. Here's what he says about both:

I don't have a problem with ranking Pelini ninth because he hasn't established a track record. And spouting this stuff about 2003 is just Dienhart's way of sucking up to the Cornhusker faithful. Ranking him behind Mike Sherman, though? He's obviously missed the part where Sherman destroyed Green Bay by his horrendous judge of talent.

Volleyball coach John Cook will be the featured speaker at a May 1st benefit to help fund the Boystown athletic department. There will be oral and silent auctions available of sports memorabilia. Tickets are $80 or $800 for a table of 10, and there will be a cash bar.

You don't get much more Nebraska than this, folks.

If you have a Husker-related event, send us the info and we'll give it a plug. It's the least we can do.