Nebraska Football Tickets

You Should Be Watching Joe Ganz

The Omaha World Herald is reporting that Nebraska football quarterback Joe Ganz has accepted an invitation to the Touchdown Club of Columbus (Ohio) Sports Banquet as a "player to watch" in the 2008 college football season.

To Nebraska football fans this is a fairly acceptable task.  Most in the Husker nation have been eagerly awaiting Joe Ganz's return in 2008 after the Junior out-performed the injured Sam Keller in the last three games of Nebraska's season.

The hype around Joe Ganz annoys me some.  No one ever said that Ganz should have replaced Sam Keller as the starting Husker QB in the middle of the season.  But whenever he came in, fans cried about what a terrible coach Callahan was and that he should have put in Ganz earlier.

I still think Joe Ganz is a good quarterback.  It will be interesting to see what changes are made with Ganz next season under the helm of new Nebraska football coach Bo Pelini.

More Osbornes Join the Huskers

There is good news on the Nebraska football recruiting front.  According to the Omaha World Herald, newly hired Nebraska football running backs coach Tim Beck has flexed his well-known recruiting muscle and landed three new Husker recruits.

I am really excited about wide receiver Antonio Bell from Florida coming to Nebraska.  Bell could have been a Florida or Florida State recruit but was committed to Tennessee while the big Florida schools filled up their recruiting classes.  I have seen some tapes of Bell and am very impressed with the speed and jumping ability of the young receiver.

The other two recruits that Tim Beck recruited will have a very easy time meeting new friends in Lincoln.  Brothers Steven and Courtney Osborne of Texas have a last name that in Nebraska will get you attention no matter where you go, not to mention they will also play Nebraska football.  The brothers were strictly a packaged deal, which is no problem for Nebraska recruiters that still need to fill the freshman class before national signing day on February 8.

Bo Pelini Shows Recruiting Skills with Walk Ons

Getting someone to commit to a football program (even Nebraska's) without a scholarship is not an easy thing to do these days.  Coach Tom Osborne did it, but coach Osborne was also one of the greatest college football coaches to ever coach.  Who wouldn't give up a scholarship to win a National Championship with Osborne?

So can new Nebraska football coach Bo Pelini revive the walk on program that sat dormant during the Callahan era with no experience as a head coach?

The answer is yes!  Sort of.

Recently, division two schools have acted like a sponge sucking up a lot of the talent pool that could have been walk ons at Nebraska.  But coach Bo Pelini has made it his goal to increase the in-state involvement in the Husker football program.  In fact, according to the Omaha World Herald, four seniors just committed to Pelini and the coaching staff to walk on in 2008.  All four are in-state recruits are from Omaha.

I think the walk on program is great.  Not only does it bring in more talent to the field, but it creates competition within the team to compete for the starting job.  And who knows who will be the next great Nebraska football player.  The past has told us that it is not the five-star recruits who are the best on the field in four years.

Joe Ganz and Sam Keller ended up to be roughly just as good as each other this past season, but Keller got all of the attention.  Do I even need to mention who got more recruiting stars?

Shawn Watson to Stay Coaching Nebraska Football

The Lincoln Journal Star reported that offensive coordinator Shawn Watson will stay with the Nebraska football program.  Watson was contacted by University of Alabama head coach Nick Saban about possibly replacing Major Applewhite as the 'Bama offensive coordinator.  Saban requested a interview with Watson and offered the job but Watson denied.  He would have had a pay raise of $75,000 if he would have transfered schools.

So why did Shawn Watson stay on to coach the Husker offense again?  He told Husker Extra that "we have a great group of kids in our program and I look forward to coaching the offense we have coming back for next season.”  I can understand where he is coming from.  When a coach builds up a class of players that they have been hand selected and coached by them, they must feel a bond with the players that goes beyond the playing field. 

Marlon Lucky may have been a factor in Shawn Watson's return to coach.  Lucky leads a offense that could be one of the top in the nation this upcoming Nebraska football season.  It would be hard to leave that.

Pelini Has Tough Road Ahead in Big 12

The Omaha World Herald ran a great article about new Nebraska football coach Bo Pelini and the rising power of the Big 12.  The Big 12 had one of it's most successful football seasons in 2007 and looks to keep that dominance into the 2008 college football season.  The Big 12 will be the new SEC this season in 2008.

But let's break down why the Big 12 is seen as a dominate force next year.  One word: offense.  The Big 12's traditional powers (Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Colorado) have been shook up and they are all victims of great offensive teams.  The new powers in the Big 12 are Missouri, Kansas and Texas Tech.  All three had top 10 passing offenses last year, and all three teams will return their quarterback along with each of their best receivers.

So how can Nebraska make its mark on the ever-impressing line up of Big 12 schools.  One word: defense.  With Bo Pelini on board with Nebraska now, the defense will be the most worked on thing.  Other teams will not know what to expect this upcoming Husker season with a whole new Nebraska defense.  I expect Bo Pelini to rush the passer as much as possible next season.

With a defense to stop the potent offensive teams of the Big 12, the 2008 season might surprise some Husker fans.  It can't get any worse can it.

Lucky Won't Try His Luck in the NFL

The Husker nation all sighed in relief at once as we heard that star Nebraska running back Marlon Lucky will return next year to play football.  Yesterday was the last day for college seniors to declare for the NFL draft, and Lucky was not one of them.

A number of factors went into Marlon Lucky's decision to stay with the Husker football program according to the Lincoln Journal Star.

The first factor was the education aspect.  His guardians put a high importance on education and likely pushed Marlon to stay; he is only one year away!

The second factor was the coaching staff.  Lucky most likely liked that Nebraska football coaches in the offense were kept on board after Callahan was fired.  Husker offensive coordinator Shawn Watson ran a great offense that was underrated last year, and Marlon Lucky will be a key contributor in 2008.

Look for Marlon Lucky to lead the offense to a strong 2008 Husker season!

Nebraska Confirms Two High Profile Recruits

Two Nebraska football recruits, running back Collins Okafor and defensive end Josh Williams, have confirmed their commitments to the Cornhusker football program for 2008 according to Husker Extra. 

Okafor had gained a lot of attention in Omaha regarding his status as a Husker.  Many speculated that the Omaha Westside standout would jump ship to Stanford or Iowa earlier in the week.  Okafor, along with 10 other Nebraska recruits visited the Nebraska campus and football facilities this weekend.  Okafor must have been impressed with new Nebraska football coach Bo Pelini's approach to coaching.

The other interesting high profile Husker recruit to re-confirm was defensive end Josh Williams from Texas.  Williams de-committed during the season, leaving for Colorado.  He took a trip to Nebraska this weekend on his own time and money.  He must have been very interested in meeting with Pelini!

This is good for Nebraska recruiting, Pelini is showing the Husker faithful that he has the ability to pick up high profile recruits from all around the country.  I originally thought that he could only pull recruits for defense, but Okafor proved me wrong there.

Cornhuskers Lose Recruits to Mizzou

A year ago, if I would have told you that Nebraska would be losing its top football recruits to the Missouri Tigers you would have laughed in my face.  But a lot has changed in a year.  The Tigers made an impressive run during the season beating Nebraska at home and ended their season at No. 4 in the country.  Meanwhile, the Huskers suffered a five game losing streak during the season and suffered a coaching loss.

Nebraska first lost prized recruit quarterback Blaine Gabbert shortly after former Husker coach Bill Callahan looked like he would be fired at the end of the season.  This created a domino effect that saw other recruits defect to other schools.  Nebraska lost 14 recruits in total.

The last recruit to de-commit from the Huskers was Dan Hoch of Harlen Iowa.  Along with long time offensive line commit Baker Steinkuler of Lincoln, they were supposed to replenish the O-line's lack of size.  Hoch went to Mizzou, which leads me to think that others might leave for the Tiger's squad soon.

Will Compton, a linebacker from St. Louis, has taken trips to Mizzou during the 2007 season with Blaine Gabbert.  Compton will visit Nebraska this weekend along with 11 other recruits.  Lets hope that Bo Pelini impresses the linebacker enough for him to stay.  After seeing Pelini's defense in the BCS Championship, it would be hard if I was a defender to say no to playing for Bo.

Missouri plays Nebraska at Memorial Stadium this year on October 4.  The Missouri offense, led by Heisman trophy finalist Chase Daniel, should be met with a Nebraska defense that deserves the Blackshirts name.

Bo Pelini Shined in LSU National Championship Win

With the exception of a few early game trip ups, newly hired Nebraska football Bo Pelini's defense shined on the national stage against the Ohio State's offense in last night's BCS Championship game.  The LSU Tigers dominated the Buckeyes 38-24.  Bo Pelini left LSU with a championship, praise and a large task ahead of him at Nebraska.

LSU players doused Bo Pelini's signature gray sweatshirt with a cooler of ice water shortly before the game ended.  This gave the TV announcers time to talk about what a great hire Nebraska made with Bo Pelini.  And after seeing Pelini's LSU defense dominate, it made me, and I'm sure a lot of Husker fans, feel a lot more comfortable about the hire.

Now Pelini will have to trade in his gold and purple for scarlett and red for the 2008 Nebraska football season.  Pelini heads back to Nebraska today to get started again with Husker work.  His biggest task ahead: a recruiting mess that sees the Huskers getting as many good players committing as there are players de-committing.

Pelini Dealing With Double Duties

Georgia head coach Mark Richt warned new Nebraska football coach Bo Pelini that he "wouldn't recommend it, " regarding pulling double duties for two schools.  Richt did it in 2000 after he was hired at Georgia from Florida State.  Florida State played in the National Championship that year against Oklahoma and Richt stayed on to coach in the game.

What does Bo have to say about what Richt said?  USA Today reports that Pelini said that "people are making more of the situation than it really is."

I have mixed feelings on the situation.  On one hand I think that Pelini could better the program here at Nebraska and get better organized for the coming season and recruiting.  But on the other hand I think the exposure on national television for our program will be beneficial for recruiting purposes.  Everybody will watching the game and will see Bo Pelini and hear about his defensive coaching skills.  It will shine a good light on Nebraska and put a new name to the Blackshirt defense that has been absent in the last couple years.