Premium ContentClick on Premium Content on the Featured navigation bar for information.
I’m feeling lucky this year. Let’s go with one bold prediction.
Nebraska wins the Big 12 title when a Texas punter hits the Jerry Vision TV screen above the Cowboys Stadium field? No, not quite.
Zac Lee makes first-team All-Big 12 quarterback? Sorry, not going there.
Rex Burkhead wins the Heisman Trophy over Colt McCoy, Sam Bradford and that guy at Florida (his name escapes me)? Tempting, but I’m going to have to say no again.
I would love to tell you, dear reader, that the Blackshirts will have 40 takeaways, Ndamukong Suh will devour Jayhawks for Thanksgiving, Larry Asante is the next Mike Brown, the “pipeline’’ is back, Roy Helu will rush for more than 1,000 yards and hurdle 35 defenders, and the Huskers will win nine games and take me to my favorite beach bungalow next door to the Holiday Bowl.
But I would be making all of that up. I have no idea.
However, if my wife let me gamble, I would bet the house on this one sure thing: Nebraska will be better in November than September.
And that would be no small achievement in this building-block year.
Look, I’m not here to rain on anybody’s Rose Bowl parade. Optimism reigns in August. When folks have asked for an opinion, and I’ve said, “I really think next year is the year,’’ I can see the disappointment in their eyes.
What I see is a Bo Pelini work still in progress. I see several new players, starting with Lee, who are going to make some big plays and some bad ones, too. I see five tough road games (Baylor included) and a home date with Oklahoma. I don’t see a lot of reliable depth. And now true freshmen are one turned ankle from starting at quarterback and running back.
This is a season with great potential — for celebration and heartache. I see 2010, with a friendlier schedule and a roster deeper in experience (including Cody Green and Burkhead) as a payoff year.
That doesn’t mean that we write off 2009. If anything, what we learned last season should offer up hope.
Pelini’s first Nebraska team showed two unmistakable characteristics. One, it was tough, resilient. It bounced back not once, but twice, from woodshed games. It had a short memory. Folks like to say Nebraska was lucky to beat Colorado, but the fact is, the Huskers clawed back and found a way to win.
That toughness led to the second trait: Pelini’s Huskers got better as the year went on. The chemistry, the fundamentals, the confidence. This team grew until the final tick in Jacksonville, Fla.
“That’s one of the things we stress, not only physically but mentally,’’ Pelini said. “I thought we were a mentally weak team last year and I think it showed up at the beginning of the year and it got better as the year went on.
“There was no panic in our football team. And we got the wood laid to us a couple of times, but our guys didn’t quit, hung in there and stayed with it. And I think part of it is the approach we take. If you make a bad play, live up to what you have to do the next play. The sun is going to rise tomorrow.’’
Being tough. Playing your best football in November and December. These are the two founding pillars of Pelini’s program. If the Huskers do nothing else this season, it’s imperative that they continue to build on these two pillars.
They should serve them well in the Big 12 North.
You could turn this division into an octagon this season. NU, Kansas, Missouri and Colorado. Who’s going to be tougher? Who’s going to make plays? Who’s going to win on the road? Drop the cage. Let’s get it on.
Nebraska is dangerously thin at quarterback and running back. But so are Kansas and Missouri; if they lose their quarterback, it’s sayonara. Colorado has some depth at quarterback and running back, but how good is it? CU seems to be mentioned here because the other three have to traipse out to Boulder.
This ride will be bumpy. Will Nebraska’s young guns be resilient again? If there are losses at Virginia Tech and Missouri, will they panic or go back to work?
I’m predicting the latter. Here are three games that should decide the division: Nebraska at Kansas, Kansas vs. Missouri and Nebraska at Colorado. All in November.
Will that be Pelini time again? If it is, then 2010 may arrive a year early.
Contact the writer:
444-1025, tom.shatel@owh.com
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
