Nebraska football fans don’t have to deal with the dreaded 11 AM kickoffs too often. For those of us who cover Illinois and Northwestern regularly, starting your autumn Saturdays early is pretty much routine.
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Nebraska football game preview:
Both NUs whipped Minnesota badly, and by almost the exact same score. The score disparity in both games, 48-25 for Nebraska and 27-0 for Northwestern, tells you everything you need to know about the style and tempo of these two teams. You wouldn’t think that midway through the season, QB Tommy Armstrong and the passing attack would be one of the team’s biggest strengths (Wisconsin and Illinois game aside); to the same extent that pass defense is one of the biggest weaknesses of this Nebraska football team.
Last week Armstrong passed up Joe Ganz for third on the Nebraska football record list in TD passes and passing yardage. Ganz was actually fourth in yards, David Humm was third. (Ganz is from the same hometown, high school football program as me- true story)
Getting De’Mornay Pierson-El back and healthy again is absolutely huge for this Nebraska football team.
Regarding injuries, here’s what Nebraska football coach Mike Riley had to say.
“We’ve got some possibilities here. You’ll see it during the week as it goes, but Michael Rose-Ivey we’re going to see where he is. Today, for us, it’s kind of a jog through, so we won’t get a final answer today, but as these guys come back from groin (injuries), it’s a matter of entering in and us being careful with their reps and them seeing, really, what they can do. It’s like what Josh Banderas had to do last week. We’ll look at Michael Rose-Ivey like that. We’ll look at Daniel Davie like that, today. Kevin Williams, we’ll look at that and see where he is. Yesterday when he came in he wasn’t a lot better, so we’re kind of doubtful for him, but we will see. Kevin Maurice is not going to be ready, but is getting better.
Terrell Newby, I think, he’s going to be fine. Freedom (Akinmoladun) is going to practice so we’ll see how he goes. Nick Gates is still questionable. Chris Weber is questionable, but better. He’s lifting weights. If we could get a couple of those linebackers back that would be good. Luke Gifford is still questionable. He’s got that hip problem that is still bothering him.”
So there’s your update on that front, obviously Newby was the name everyone was focused on.
Also, just for the heck of it, here’s Warren Buffett, with the help of the Nebraska cheerleaders and band, leads the crowd in singing the University of Nebraska fight song at the 2012 Berkshire Hathaway Shareholders’ Meeting in Omaha. Yes, it’s good to be one of the four richest people in the world:
Northwestern football game preview:
I appeared on WGN’s CLTV to talk some college football this week. Here is the segment from the program “Sports Feed,” hosted by Jarrett Payton. (Yes, Walter Payton’s son) We covered a whole host of teams, including Northwestern, Illinois and the Big Ten)
“As you move up the mountain, the air gets thinner and thinner, that’s Big Ten football,” said Northwestern football Coach Pat Fitzgerald after his team was utterly obliterated by the #17 Iowa Hawkeyes 40-10 this past week.
“We’ve played as competitive a schedule as anybody in the country…a lot of work to do, but a lot of ball ahead of us.”
Fitzgerald is completely right about how good his schedule has been. The 16-6 opening week win over now #15 Stanford has aged like a fine Sonoma Valley Chardonnay. The Bay Area college football powerhouse has hung 40+ on four of the five teams they have faced since NU. The Cardinal have scored at least 31.
Northwestern’s win over Duke is holding up too. In their five games not against the Wildcats, Duke has a +142 point differential.
So Northwestern football was a very legitimate 5-0 entering week six of this season. The Wildcats had outscored their opponents 108-25 at home entering today’s brutally ugly debacle.
NU must make sure 2015 doesn’t become a flow blown 2013. Or another 2010, that season went really downhill quite quickly as well. For a refresher on that, click here. Northwestern rose to #13 in the polls this season, and with a very watered down Big Ten West Division creating a wide open race, visions of a Big Ten Title game appearance were quite lucid and realistic.
Then the third quarter of the Iowa game happened, and watching the rest of that game had us all like this:
That’s kind of how we’ve felt all along this season while viewing the Northwestern passing game, but it’s only recently where it’s become such a severe issue. Like I said in the television segment, if you go up 14, 17, 20 points on the Wildcats- game over. They’re not Baylor, or even Michigan State, where they have a passing attack which enables them to catch up from a deep deficit.
It’s not just because the QB’s inexperienced. Drops, and wide receiver play in general, has been a serious issue. No more so than last weekend.
“Pretty good for the receivers and the quarterback when the receivers catch the ball.” Northwestern Coach Pat Fitzgerald said in a snarky fashion on Saturday. The meltdown on offense, although unexpected, is not shocking. The meltdown on defense, however, came out of nowhere.
The Cats D was not only legit, but elite the first five weeks of the season. Lord only knows what Michigan and Iowa did to them that the other opponents could not.
Below you’ll find the audio of my weekly segment from KOZN 1620 The Zone. We talk some Wisconsin Badgers versus the Illini and the Nebraska football contest versus Northwestern:
Prediction:
I’ll be making my first ever trip to the state of Nebraska. (That’s right, I’m coming to Omaha, and then Lincoln, to cover the game!) Perhaps I can win friends and influence people by telling them I’m from the same hometown and high school football program as Joe Ganz. That, and I can pick the Huskers to win. (Which I should anyway, they are heavy favorites)
Nebraska 27, Northwestern 21
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and sometimes writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. The website is also featured on News Now.
Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes to the Chicago Tribune RedEye. He also appears regularly on numerous television and radio talk shows all across the country. Catch him Tuesdays on KOZN 1620 The Zone.