The opening game for Nebraska football might be four months and change away but listening to some so-called experts and reading message boards, the Huskers inexperience at quarterback is supposed to be the biggest obstacle that could prevent the team from winning the Big 12 North title.
Not to sound like a Kool-Aid sipper because there’s only so much you can read into spring practices but I'm pretty optimistic because the impression you get from Bo Pelini and staff is that no matter who plays, the coaching staff will get the most out of them. That includes the quarterback position.
Just a few weeks ago, I blogged in this space that getting to the Big 12 title game will be the easy part. Winning it will be the hard part.
NU has a great shot at winning the Big 12 North in 2009. In the interest of “process of elimination,” forget Iowa State and Kansas State. Both have new coaches and a truckload of question marks.
Missouri, which has won the division the past two seasons, is likely to come crashing back to Earth after losing Chase Coffman, Jeremy Maclin, and Chase Daniel. The Tiger defense is about as soggy as a wet noodle. Keep in mind, with the great talent Mizzu had, it flat lined in the second half of the season. The Tigers looked unstoppable in starting 5-0 but looked pretty ordinary in going 5-4 the rest of the way. Missouri's schedule is favorable enough that they will be able to stay in the hunt. Nebraska has the more difficult schedule, but has talent, depth, and experience at several critical areas. Kansas and Nebraska will be the front-runners for the North title and the game in Lawrence will be huge. Nebraska's defense should be improved over last season and the return of defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh was a bigger development than any recruit we signed last season.
The lazy analyst will point to their returning quarterback and wide receivers and think that will be enough. However, Todd Reesing, Dezmon Briscoe, and Derek Meier all had monster numbers in 2008 yet only managed to go 4-4 in Big 12. Why will 2009 be any different - especially considering the losses they suffered at other positions?
Colorado might be the wild card of the much. Because the Buffaloes had so many injuries in a 5-7 season, it’s hard to truly evaluate them objectively. Those injuries allowed several youngsters to get playing time but CU goes 9-3 at best in 2009 but 7-5 is more likely.
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