Good old fashioned football has arrived, as in an actual
matchup on the field. Nebraska enters what it hopes will be a much more
consistent 2012 campaign than last year’s 9-4 season that culminated with a
30-13 Capital One Bowl loss. That game in a nutshell encompassed the Huskers
season between 1/3 good moments, 1/3 bad moments and 1/3 that made you scratch
your head.
In the Bo Pelini era, Nebraska has gone from bad to good
but fans are getting relentless and wanting that moment to go from good to
great. The Huskers open Saturday at home against what can be a pesky Southern
Mississippi club. In fact, Associated Press writer Ralph Russo picks the Golden
Eagles to come into Lincoln to upset No. 17 Nebraska. Both programs met three
times from 1999-2004. In 1999, the Huskers (who finished 12-1 that season)
needed two defensive touchdowns and six takeaways to overcome five turnovers on
offense to beat Southern Miss 20-13 in Lincoln.
In 2003, the teams met in Hattieburg, Miss., for a
Thursday night ESPN game. Nebraska took a 17-0 lead in the first quarter to win
38-14. In 2004, however, it proved to be a harbinger of things to come under
Bill Callahan in just his second game as Husker head coach. Nebraska’s offense
turned the ball over six times on the way to a 21-17 loss.
So how will things transpire in the 2012 game? The
obvious common denominator is that if the Huskers don’t beat themselves, they
should win but that would be too obvious. To that end, let’s take a closer look
at the game itself.
Nebraska ranked No. 66 in total offense last season but
fluctuated more often than the stock market. With offensive coordinator Tim
Beck entering his second season, the Huskers should be much better offensively.
The team has two lynchpins in quarterback Taylor Martinez
and running back Rex Burkhead. The Huskers have more depth at wide receiver
than it has had in the past, but also has an offensive line that is patched
together.
Southern Mississippi will use a 4-2-5 defensive
alignment. The weakness of Southern Mississippi’s defense is their front six,
where the Golden Eagles only return one starter (linebacker Jamie Collins). The
strength of the Southern Mississippi defense is their secondary. The Golden
Eagles return three starters from a pass defense that was good last season.
It will take time for Nebraska’s offensive line to gel,
but Southern Mississippi could be the perfect opponent for the Cornhuskers
offensive line to begin the season against.
Defensively, Nebraska lost their top three players from
last year (DT Jared Crick, LB LaVonte David and CB Alfonzo Dennard) but since
they were never on the field collectively at the same time, it is not
unreasonable to think Nebraska’s defense will be better.
The Husker defense might not have proven impact players
but the cupboard is certainly not bare led by defensive tackle
Baker Steinkuhler, linebacker Will Compton and safety Damion Stafford. Nebraska
will rotate many players into the lineup to keep players fresh and utilize each
player’s strength.
Southern Mississippi lost their star quarterback Austin Davis to graduation. There was a three-way battle for the starting quarterback position but junior Chris Campbell gets the call against Nebraska.
The player to watch on the Southern Mississippi offense is wide receiver Tracy Lampley. Last season, Lampley was the backup running back and still had 47 receptions and four touchdowns. This season, Lampley moves to his natural wide receiver position.
The Golden Eagles will use a variety of running backs to try and move the ball on the ground while their new quarterback gets his feet under him with senior Desmond Johnson.
Last season, Southern Mississippi had the No. 17-ranked offense in the country but lost far too many players to expect to be that good again this season.
While Nebraska’s defense is trending up, Southern Mississippi’s offense is going the other direction. Last season, Nebraska played a bend-but-don’t-break defense that did the latter as much as the former. This year, the Huskers will return to the swarming defense that Cornhuskers fans are used to under head coach Bo Pelini.
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