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The Cougars are coming to town for one of the toughest season openers Nebraska has scheduled in a while. We have a shiny new coach and 92,000 of his biggest supporters (at least until something goes wrong) to greet them. What are we especially going to watch for in this game?
Will we see some progress in the passing game?
[Ranchbabe] Specifically, I am curious about accuracy, decision-making and protection. Last season, BYU fielded a good rush defense, but was not good against the pass. They have most of those starters back this year. With Nebraska's run game being an unknown commodity, we might need to sling it around to win it. I am hoping this is a good confidence builder for Tommy. I will also be looking to see if the work of new S&C coach Mark Phillips pays dividends on the o-line (the first workout he led this summer led to a morning of very entertaining tweets from players about how tired and sore they were).
[Husker Mike] I think we will. Tommy Armstrong didn't do a good job going through his progressions last season, and Danny Langsdorf can only help. But Nebraska is going to need more receivers to step up, and injuries have this group limited. I will be watching Stanley Morgan to see if he can jump into the mix and be the next Kenny Bell.
Will the coaching staff make adjustments in-game and at the half?
[Ranchbabe] Please.
Will we like what we see from this new defense?
[Ranchbabe] OK, I cheated with a yes/no question, but really, this is probably my biggest unknown. BYU fans are pretty confident their team can score lots of points (against anyone not just Nebraska). Taysom Hill is the type of quarterback that could give a Pelini defense (or any defense really) fits. Containing him will be a big challenge for Banker. The newly-minted Blackshirts are one of the biggest question marks on this team and I think they know it. Shoulder, meet chip.
[Husker Mike] I think we'll like what we'll see in terms of stopping the run. [/WisconsinScoredAgain] But I'm concerned about how this new scheme will do in stopping the pass, especially with the size of BYU's receivers. So I think we'll like the run defense and wonder what in the heck happened to our pass defense.
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We will revisit these questions after the game and see if we got answers. So Corn Nation - what are your questions?