Huskerpapa

There is no way that we should be the favorite in this game. Nada!

Yeah...nice to hear, but Izzo is the master of coach-speak or coaching politics or whatever you wish to call it. If you recall, Izzo said some very kind, or similar things regarding Miles as well. In fact, I believe Coach Izzo also wrote the foreward for the Miles book. Soooo.....

Am I wrong to go into the season with zero expectation? I hope this coaching staff meshes. I hope this group of players become a team. I hope that this group of players can play quality basketball at this top level. I hope that we can score as anticipated. I hope that we can defend with our limited size. I hope that the fan base doesn't give up on the team if it stuggles. I hope that we light up the right side of the scoreboard. I hope that anticipation and hope does not turn into unfair hype. I hope that my normally rose colored glasses turn back to that color.

WTH!!!

So...I am not sure what this means. I guess the easy interpretation is that "here I am in a Husker uniform, but I do not want confusion, I am still available to recruit..."

I am not in the camp that believe that by simply hiring Frost, our program will return to prominence. But I am in the camp that believes that any coach we would have hired could not wave the magic wand and amp up the talent that we need to compete at the highest level. I do however, believe Frost has the skill set/coaching chops to get the right players and the right system in place. It simply will take time and the recruitment of talent. As mentioned above, Ohio State has an incredible two-deep. They are stocked with four and five star players and then they are coached up. We are bereft of that type of talent and have been for fifteen years (+/-). Ohio State's offensive and defensive fronts were so much more talented...it was hard to stomach.

Wow! The timing...WOW!

As I have said, over-hype sets very unfair expectations. The most level headed expectation I heard set in the preseason was by Bill Moos who said he thought six wins would be a reasonable expectation...well, I think that is pretty good expectation. But you know what, Ohio State is loaded with talent. And you know what else, if we could have somewhat held this game close, we would have lost because Ohio State were heads and tails better than us on special teams. Good grief, we were placed in a position to fair catch returnable kick-offs. We can still have a good season, we are better than last year, but we still are still in need of a lot of talent.

Here is the deal, I would love it if college sports were completely clean, but the reality is that college sports have been "dirty" for as long as I have been alive, and likely longer. And folks, we don't want to hear it, but we live in a glass house. So we need to be careful when we start casting stones.

He had a good reaction from the crowd at the football game as well.

Ummm, because this is a thread about Shamiel. The "other dude" is easily identified by anyone who attended the event or has seen video of him. Not meant to be disrespectful to him, because I think what we see now, and what we see within the next several months may be a bit, or perhaps significantly different.

Yuppers, I was excited because it is the start of something new and fresh. My expectations going in was this was going to be an interesting year. I left the scrimmage with a similar mindset. I learned very little from the event. The offense I saw was basic isolation plays. Drive and dish and mostly one-on-one action. I suppose we will see some of that during the season, but I expect a lot more polish and more discipline. Defensively...well I kept catching Doc cringing on the sideline. Hey, it was a fan day, who wants to see defense...right? Players were there to have fun and put on a show. This had nothing to do with what Coach Fred said prior to the scrimmage said we should expect during the season. So I guess my point is you cannot take too much from this event. Takeaways could be: fans are interested in this team; we lack size; the team seems to get along; Akol lost the bet and had to dance the Carlton; and finally Bobby Lutz may be called Special Assistant to the head coach, but he is definitely an active assistant coach.

I heard on 93.7 today that Ohio State has 44 four and five star players on their two-deep depth chart. Ten of those 44 are 5* players. As a comparison, the Huskers have 14 four star players on their two-deep depth chart. No 5 star players. Our highest rated player would actually be (about) number 15 on the OSU roster. The talent differential is significant. But hey, they don't play the game based on the number of stars. But still, that differential is significant.

I am not about to be overly critical as it is early and early practices can be harder on some, than others. That said, he looked a bit out of shape and/or slow. He also appeared to be somewhat un-motivated. But again it is early and the dude has a BiG10 body. I won't mention names but another player on the team needs to lay off the donuts. The dude has sort of a Dad-bod.

All 12 of my tickets were put to great use tonight. Fun night and well done by the person/people in charge.

He should help this year, perhaps even play a pretty important role, but he is not a savior, nor should he be. But he certainly looks like a player. I would take him over Jordy in a heartbeat.

I will say...it should be a fun team. I am not going to comment much about individual play. The players had a hard practice earlier today, and I am sure at this time of the season, legs were tired. But there are good things seen from nearly all the players. Some are more ready to play then others...again, not surprising at all. A lot of three's were hoisted, most missed, some badly, but what the hey. Good to see Isiah, and a number of other alumni players. The stars sort of showed up which is kind of cool. My innards are still reverberating from the hip-hop beat.

For some reason, this does not make me feel better about our overall size...

Defense is good...not great, but good. We have lost a couple of Safeties that leaves me concerned. But I will tell you what, Lamar Jackson is playing excellent football. From where he was when this staff came in, to where he is today, is somewhat amazing. Offense is a work in progress. They remind me of Oklahoma during the Barry years. Their offense would take time to jell, but when they did, everything ran like a well oiled machine. I thought Mills looked a lot better yesterday. He wasn't sprinting to the line, he saw the holes (when they were there). As long as the line keeps improving, the offense will improve along with them. Special teams...kicker for hire.

Okay, the official colors of our fine University are Scarlet and Cream. Really, I kid you not. I believe the official site AND three UNL song all tell me this. But the reality is that we do not wear or really display those colors. We really have three unofficial colors...red, white and black. The teams and the fans all seem to embrace those colors, except them and literally cheer for them (Go Big Red!!!) So why not make the unofficial, official? University of Nebraska-Lincoln Colors Scarlet Cream

The preseason hype was ridiculous. This team is better than last year, but we still have a long way to go. We lack consistency, which is necessary for a team to make it to the great category. We can and should be good, but goodness, Colorado recognized and jumped on our weaknesses. If you listened to the broadcast, he told the reporter that they identified areas of opportunity and would make the adjustments to improve in the second half; and they did. We adjusted, but not in a good way. I was disappointed, but I was not surprised. We will have some good wins this year, but the first half versus the second half differences may reappear several times this year. Auroran is right, this will be a roller-coaster ride this season. By the way...worth remembering the overbearing football preseason hype when addressing the basketball team this season. Be prepared for a roller-coaster ride there as well.

Hype...hard to live up to the expectations that have been set.

I have a simple hope...that is, we live up to the hype. Over the last twenty years I have heard and read a lot of hype that didn't pan out. Tanner Lee was supposed to be an All-Pro type of QB, right? But this year seems a bit different. We should have a much improved team. But we are in a major conference with a lot of great players and teams. So, others have improved as well, and others are going to be better this year as well. We need to play our collective a**es off, and we have to hope for no key injuries, we have to significantly cut stupid penalties/mistakes and we have to win the turnover margin for the first time (in what seems like) two decades. But all that said, I think we go 8-4 or better.

We need a great number of players and positions to take a giant step forward in order to meet the grandiose expectations of the fans. I think we are going to be better, but how much better will depend on the improvement. Norm, you mention the receivers. Our receiving corp was pretty good last year, but Stanley is gone. Big hole and we need three or four players to step up. Our offensive line was average at best last year. Two new starters need to step up and the three returning starters need to improve. Can Mills make up for the loss of Ozigbo? Will Mo be available? We may be very good at RB, or we could be in a world of hurt. What about our defense? We seem to have good leadership, but just because we have a lot of returners, are they going to be better? I hope so. The one thing I am pretty sure about is that AD is a heck of a QB and Frost is a heck of a coach. I think we are going to be better, in fact we could be pretty good but there is a lot of proving that has to occur this year.

I am not exactly a rap fan, but all things considered...I am not a rap fan. But hey, it isn't about me, it is about the team.