This is where the issues and struggling with McNeese State really matter for the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Don’t you dare call it “adversity.” Adverse circumstances are real life problems where you have to overcome serious obstacles. That’s “adversity.” What happened to NU was “sucking at football for three and a half quarters.” or to be more politically correct “nothing more than just trailing in a football game.
The reason McNeese matters is now the Huskers will know not to take a very weak opponent like Illinois lightly. It would be natural for Nebraska to look past this one to Michigan State. Because of the McNeese State debacle, Bo Pelini will make sure his Cornhuskers will not.
SPREAD: Nebraska Cornhuskers -18
TV: BTN, 8 PM CST. Kevin Kugler, Chuck Long
Nebraska Cornhuskers preview:
NU pasted the Illini badly last year, and this year’s Illini team is actually worse than the 2013 version. Run defense is their achilles heel and oh, here comes Ameer Abdullah. Is he truly a Heisman candidate, or that just Big Ten Network propaganda? Remember, the BTN is not news, it’s a television version of a press release. SO maybe the Fear Ameer hype is overblown. Or it’s legitimate.
We won’t find out this week. Abdullah will just pad his stats versus a weak run defense, and then versus the more stout MSU defense we’ll see what he’s made off. Here’s the requisite piece examining Abdullah’s Heisman prospects in fine detail.
Bo Pelini On if he believes Ameer Abdullah should be in the top five Heisman watch
“Anybody who pays attention I’m sure has him in the top five. You’ve got to not be paying attention and not watching to not recognize the type of year he’s having so far. That’s my opinion. I’m a little biased maybe.”
Pelini on if anything on the film stuck out to him regarding how senior IB Ameer Abdullah played in the big win over Miami:
“Well to me as far as Ameer’s performance, I don’t know if the first guy brought him down all night. Like I said, I’ve been around a lot of football. I don’t remember many times you can say that. He continues to show why he is who he is. He stepped up and he was possessed the other night. He ran like he always does. He ended up on top of a lot of people. Anybody out there who says he isn’t big enough, that he doesn’t run big, they need to take a good, hard look at that film. He ran pretty big the other night.”
The Nebraska Cornhuskers established an identity for themselves in a convincing win over the Canes. The Big Ten West will come down to them, and the Wisconsin Badgers. Oh and that Randy Gregory guy will be a top five pick in the NFL Draft.
Bo Pelini answering my question about Gregory at Big Ten Media Day:
So Randy Gregory is a tremendous talent.
He has great instincts. He has great get-off, a guy who can really rush the passer. I think he’s only scratched the surface of what he’s going to be down the line.
As he continues to grow, he has really good length and athleticism. Very good instincts for the game, good feel for not only in the passing game but in the running game and how kind of the game should be played.
I think the sky’s the limit for him for him down the road. I think he’s still young. Obviously this is really the first time he’s gone through an offseason with us. So I’m looking forward to big things with Randy.
Go here for more on Randy Gregory
Illinois Fighting Illini preview
A run down on the Illini, click on the linked/boldface for more.
-Wes Lunt has NFL potential, but he has a ways to go.
As I pointed out during my weekly radio spot on 1620 the Zone yesterday, Lunt has done it without much of a running game at all. Up until the second half of last Saturday’s come from behind win over Texas State, the Illini really haven’t run the ball at all. So that’s both a testament to his abilities and a reason for why his numbers are somewhat inflated. In 2014, Illinois has constantly been behind in the second half, yes even versus lowly FCS and mid-major opponents, so Lunt has to keep throwing all the time.
Still, aside from Hackenberg and Connor Cook, who really is a better Big Ten QB than Wes Lunt? Not many. There was NFL talk surrounding Wes Lunt long before he got to Champaign. At Oklahoma State he got lost in a numbers game on the depth chart, and it was in his best interests to go elsewhere.
-Tim Beckman is not so good at the “talky-talk”
I listed ten of his worst (i.e. unintentionally hilarious) verbal gaffes since taking over the program in 2012.
-Interest in Illini football has now sunk to the lowest level that it’s been in a generation. The current level of apathy for the team is the worst I’ve seen as long as I’ve been alive. The fact that I can even think of analogizing it to DePaul basketball is alarming. A Beckman contract extension would bring more losing and more apathy. A couple more years of it, and yes you would be at Oliver Purnell at DPU level irrelevance.
I’m almost worried that I need to stop tweeting about them because every time I do tweet about illini football I lose followers.
Brutally Honest prediction: Nebraska Cornhuskers 49, Illini 17
Illinois is 1-19 versus the power five conferences since Beckman took over. Make it 1-20. The Nebraska Cornhuskers will run roughshod, just like last year.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and sometimes writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partners with Fox Sports and Yahoo. Read his features stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Listen to him on 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks) His work has been featured in hundreds of media outlets including The Washington Post and ESPN