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Nebraska Big Ten Tour ends with Iowa at Home for the Heroes Trophy
As the Husker Football season winds down, there is one game that people are looking forward to a little bit more than most. Nebraska's first trophy game in the new Big Ten conference certainly comes to mind. Husker home games in Lincoln result in an environment and atmosphere that rival any other in the country. Without a doubt this day after Thanksgiving battle will end the regular season on a high note.
Good Life Tours is happy to bring to you a very exciting opportunity to see this game. Stay in the luxurious Embassy Suites downtown in the Old Market on Thanksgiving Evening, take part in all of the Holiday Lighting Festivities and also on Friday night. Enjoy a great game day breakfast as well!!
Good Life Tours has your ticket to the game, travel, and hotel all booked and just waiting for you. Check out the details below and reserve your spot on this historic tour around the BIG TEN CONFERENCE.
BIG RED TAKES ON THE Hawkeyes
. . . for The Heroes Trophy
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Nebraska Cornhuskers vs. Iowa Hawkeyes
November 26, 2011 Lincoln, NE
Stay and Game Deluxe Packages: November 25th Thru 27th
INCLUDES 2-night stay (Thursday and Friday) at the Embassy Suites in downtown Omaha’s Historic Old Market District;
Huskers, Nebraska, Briggzie Big Red Blog, Fooball, Sports, NCAA, Big Ten, Big Red, Husker News, Huskers Blog, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Blackshirts, husker travel, husker game travel packages, nebraska football, nebraska football games, michigan, michigan wolverines, the big house, the sea of red, nebraska vs michigan, huskers vs wolverines
Nebraska Big Ten Tour heads to Ann Arbor, Michigan
Every football season brings about new changes, new venues, and new teams. However for the last century those changes have been minimal for the Nebraska Cornhuskers, but the 2011 season is drastically different. This year the Nebraska Cornhuskers have joined the Big Ten, one of the nation’s most historic and prestigious conferences. Along with switching conferences Nebraska is faced with 11 new opponents that it must learn, and above all else travel to.
Nebraska fans love their football and travel as well as any of the other top tier programs in the county but this year it is truly something special to be a part of. No more short horribly boring drives to visit Lawrence or Manhatten Kansas ikn the middle of no where, no more dealing with the rude and crude fans of Mizzou and Colorado. The 2011 season ushers in a new era of football and a new era of football venues. Now as part of the B1G Nebraska travels to some of the best college football stadiums around like Ann Arbor, Michigan and Happy Valley. Stadiums and fan bases that are built on the same traditions just like the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
Husker fans are known not only for their ability to travel well but for the hospitality when opposing teams travel here. That is exactly what makes the Huskers and the Husker Nation so drastically different than any other team out there. Just ask Notre Dame from the early 2000s and find out what it felt like to have their stadium taken over by the Sea of Red. Granted there are very few away games left this season but none bigger than the inaugural trip up North to visit Michigan in the Big House.
Good Life Tours has your ticket to the game, travel, and hotel all booked and just waiting for you. Check out the details below and reserve your spot on this historic tour around the BIG TEN CONFERENCE.
BIG RED TAKES ON THE WOLVERINES
. . . for Legends Division Dominance
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Detroit–Ann Arbor: 11-18 to 11-20-11
Round-Trip Air Fare; 2-Nights Hotel Accommodations @ Detroit Livonia Marriott; w/ Daily Breakfast Buffet; NU-Michigan game tickets; All Ground Transportation and Pre-Game Tailgate.
GROUP 1: Limited to 11 Reservations
Depart Omaha on Friday, Delta #6484 at 6:00AM arriving in Detroit at 9:14AM
Depart Detroit on Sunday, Delta #6403 at 7:30PM arriving Omaha at 8:39PM
GROUP 2: Limited to 15 Reservations
Depart Omaha on Friday, Delta #1620 at 7:10AM, arriving in Minneapolis at 8:22AM Departing Minneapolis on flight #0881 at 10:00AM, arriving in Detroit at 12:46PM
Depart Detroit on Sunday, Delta #2393 at 12:15PM arriving in Minneapolis at 1:14PM Departing Minneapolis on flight #0929 at 3:10PM, arriving in Omaha at 4:20PM
Huskers, Nebraska, Briggzie Big Red Blog, Fooball, Sports, NCAA, Big Ten, Matt Briggs, Big Red, Husker News, Huskers Blog, Nebraska Cornhuskers, Blackshirts
Howdy folks it has been a long productive offseason for your Nebraska Cornhuskers. So where do we start in terms of leading up to the first game of the season. By now all of you know that the Huskers have finally moved on from Big XII to join the now 12 team B1G Ten. This move could not have come at a better time for the Huskers with the Big XII looking like it will be losing a few more members, most notably Texas A&M and Oklahoma. This situation has given rise to a new nickname for the Longhorns, “Conference Killers,” first the SouthWest Conference and now the Big XII. I will highlight more on the move to the B1G as conference play gets closer but let us take a look at the upcoming game this Saturday.
This Saturday’s game against UT-Chattanooga is going to be a little bit lopsided but will give Husker Nation a good taste of what to expect this year. UTC is a FCS opponent that does boast a lot of talent and should not be taken lightly, especially with what happened last year against South Dakota State. Although I want to say SDST was a little bit of a fluke and a trap game last season, but unfortunately that game gave other teams the base to stop the T-Magic Show.
Chattanooga is a formidable opponent with good skill positions, they have 7 pre-season all conference candidates. However, I highly doubt that they will be able to match up very well with the Huskers speed and strength.
Nebraska’s offenses, has been kept under wraps all season, even with what we saw in the Spring Game, (which was a very vanilla version)all we know is it will be up-temp, fast, attacking, and simple. It will most likely resemble a form of Oregon, Oklahoma, and Kansas circa 2007 style. Outside the Husker football program no one truly knows what to expect and I doubt this weekend will show us any more than a little bit of variance from the Spring Game. I would expect a little bit faster pace than the spring game with a little bit more formations but other than that it is anyone’s guess. I would expect to see our base shotgun set, I and Power I formations, as well as wildcat, and pistol formation. What the offense will look like and how it will be executed are two different things, no matter what it looks like Saturday it will be executed with SPEED. The Huskers have just about as much speed as they ever have at the skill positions on offense. Jamal Turner, Aaron Green, Braylon Heard, Ameer Abudallah, Kenny Bell, and Tim Marlowe not to mention Taylor Martinez all have explosive speed and game breaking ability. Couple that with reliability of Rex Burkhead, Brandon Kinnie, and Kyler Reed this Husker offense has big play threats at every offensive skill position. How that speed translates quality of plays is another story, but too much speed means a lot of quick scoring drives for the Huskers on Saturday.
I will say it right now, the Blackshirts will be absolutely destructive this year. The Husker Defense is the furthest along it has been at this point of the season since the Pelini Bros took over. What does that say about how they will play on Saturday, “Watch out Mocs, it won’t a good day in Lincoln for you.” The Blackshirts have three All-American Candidates at each level of the defense, Jared Crick, Lavonte David, and Alfonzo Dennard. Crick will most likely see double teams all day but that leaves t he door open for Meredith, Steinkuhler, and either Martin or Ankrah to have a huge day. With the return of a three man linebacker core expect the defense to be extremely stout against the run. Although Dennard is out with a leg muscle injury, Evans and Andrew Green will step up and have big days. With the amount of pressure that will be put on the UTC’s quarterback the secondary will have an easy day with at least 2 picks and several pass break ups.
Replacing the NCAA’s most accurate place kicker in history won’t be easy but I am not seeing the need for several 40+ yard field goals in this game. The biggest threat of special teams this week will be on the kick return side. Odds are Jamal Turner and Tim Marlowe will be back deep on kickoff return, I wouldn’t be surprised to see one taken back to at least the Moc’s side of the field. Punt returns are where this game is going to get out of hand quickly, Jamal Turner should handle that responsibility with ease in this game. We may even see a glimpse of the past with him to bring us back to the days of Johnny Rodgers and Bobby Newcombe.
Although Chattanooga will be severely out matched in this game, the Huskers cannot take them lightly. I doubt that they will do that, but it just needs to be reiterated. The second and third string offenses and defenses will see a lot of playing time in this game.
Final score prediction 63-3 Nebraska gets its first victory of the season.
Check out this video to a get a little bit pumped up for the season!!
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The End of a Rivalry: Oklahomaha Sooners VS Nebraska Cornhuskers
This is finally the week, the week when the Big XII title is decided. This game marks the end of so many things within the Husker program and the Big XII/Big 8 conference. Simply this is the last game for the Huskers in the Big 8/12 conference, which the Huskers have been a member of since inception. This is the last time the Huskers have to deal with bitter Big 12 officials and referees, specifically Beebe. These reasons alone do not cause a whole lot of sadness within the Husker Nation, but one certainly does. This weekend’s game against Oklahoma Sooners is the perfect way to leave the Big 12. The NU-OU rivalry has given the football fans across the country several games to remember for decades, especially “The Game of the Century.” Most Sooner and Husker fans remember the rivalry games of old, where not only the conference title was at stake but where the national championship was on the table too. Those high pressure situations made this rivalry one of the best, if not the best in the country. When the Big XII conference was formed the nation mourned the loss of the yearly contest between these two teams. Now the nation will have one final chance to enjoy this rivalry the way it once was, a high pressure situation where there is so much at stake. On the Husker side, the persona and mentality of “us against the world (the Big 12)” manifests itself for one more time. The team goal of leaving the Big 12 with the title is there, having the opportunity to “stick it” to the conference that destroyed the OU-NU rivalry and to the conference that has caused so much pain and heartache to Husker Nation. Making Dan Beebe hand Pelini the Big XII Championship Trophy will, for at least a moment, make all the pain and anguish over the last decade fade away. There is without a doubt a lot of pressure on the Huskers to take the parting shot on the Big 12, but there is at least an equal amount of pressure on the Sooners. The Sooners are stuck with the task of trying to prevent the Huskers from reaching their goals, especially since no other teams in the Big 12 prevented them from reaching this game. Not to mention several Big 12 South journalists pleading with the Sooners to stop Nebraska. Of course there is also the aspect of Bo and Carl Pelini's relationship with Bob Stoops and the rest the Stoops family. Both the Pelini's and the Stoops' are very competitve and would love nothing more to send a long time family friend home with a loss. Although both Bob and Bo have downplayed the relationship as a motivational factor in this game, it will most certainly play some role.
The Husker Offense will have their work cut out for them. Whether or not Taylor Martinez plays, the offense will more likely be similar to what they have been in previous weeks. They will have to methodically move the ball down the field relying on the running game, and heavily on Rex Burkhead. Nothing against Cody Green or a less than 100% Taylor Martinez, but the offense just doesn’t have that explosive edge it did earlier in the season. Maybe we will be surprised and the Huskers find what they lost after the Mizzou game but I highly doubt it. Too many injuries to key playmakers have caused this slowdown. Even with those injuries I would have to say that the Huskers will have the ability to move the ball and score. This is especially true on the ground against this mediocre rush defense of Oklahoma. Without the respect of the explosive running game, the Sooners will have the ability to match up and play a little bit more physical in the secondary. If Taylor doesn’t play, the offensive responsibility and game management rests on Green’s shoulders. Cody Green is not necessarily the best passer the Huskers have so this game could very well become a test to see whether or not he can pass. I would expect the Sooners to step up and attempt to stop the run and make Cody or Taylor beat them with their arms. That could be a very hard task but this receiving corps, even without Niles Paul, can make plays if given the opportunity.
The Blackshirts will have to be equally if not more stout than they were in last year’s title game to give the Huskers a chance for the win. A still semi-injured Demarco Murray will most likely not give the Sooners the explosive edge in the running game that they are used to. However, with the new addition of the Diamond formation they still have a very effective running game. This causes the defense to respect all four potential runners out of the backfield, and this opens up the passing game as well. In some clever play action plays out of the Diamond last week the Sooners were able to get the ball deep and took advantage of man to man coverage. That will happen as easily as it did last with against the Huskers. The Blackshirts boast quite possibly the best secondary in the country, and will no doubt be extra stingy this week. Several pass oriented teams have been all but stopped this year against this secondary and I don’t think this game will be any different. Also it would be hard to believe that Landry Jones will be able to shake the memory of his five interceptions against the Huskers last year. Without a healthy Murray in the running game the Sooners will have to pass the ball to win; that most likely will not happen. The offensive line has been called a little soft by many of the experts, and in this case they will be in for another very long day. With blanket coverage and the very aggressive front four of the Huskers there should be several coverage sacks in this game. That coupled with the fact that Jones will be hesitant on the trigger in this game because of last years game, it will be a low offensive day for the Sooners.
This final Big 12 Championship Game will feature two of the most evenly matched teams. There is no better way to close this chapter in Husker history than by playing our most historic rivalry. Without a doubt this will rank right up there with the other great games played in this rivalry. With so much at stake both teams will no doubt be fired up and ready to play. Its time for the Huskers to channel all of the pain from last year’s disappointing championship game and inflict the same pain on the Sooners. It is also the game when the Huskers finally remember the “:01” that was added last year and that causes them to step up and “Finish.”
Share some of your memories of this rivalry? What are your thoughts and what do you think will happen?
First off I would like to say that this rant would have been done yesterday but I needed that time to take a step back and look at the game Saturday night a little bit more objectively and to gain some more information. Things never really got started for the Huskers offensively and that turned out to cause their demeanor to be a bit offensive. The first drive started off very well and made it look like the Husker O was back on track, but from their the game never was in the Big Red’s favor.
The team was flagged for a record setting 16 times for 145 yards, and that is where this game really began to get out of hand. In games and situations where emotions run high and things are spiraling out of control some one needs to grab the water bucket and put the fire out. However in this case the water bucket was filled with gas and just made the fire bigger. Leadership needs to take over and calm everyone down, upper classmen need to step up, make plays and lead by example. That never happened in the game on Saturday; things went from bad to worse and continued that way the entire game. Majority of the penalties were bogus, and seemed to add even more fuel to the fire. The biggest example of this would most likely be the on field penetration of Cotton’s backside during a scrum for a lost football. This transpired literally right under a refs nose; Cotton retaliated by pushing and kicking to get the A&M player in to a less painful position. The out come of that play was Cotton getting penalized once for the kick and again for the way he was explaining himself to the ref. Did he get the short end of the stick while getting rear ended? Absolutely! Is the second person in a situation the one who usually gets caught? Sadly, yes. The Cotton situation is basically the perfect metaphor for this game and how it all transpired. Nebraska does nothing wrong, gets taken advantage of, and gets penalized for doing something about it. There was so much talk about the Huskers having to battle the 12th Man in this game, but it was the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th man that really laid it to the Huskers. Several times the huskers were flagged for illegal formation, usually when that happens the crew broadcasting the game will show where the penalty occurred. This didn’t happen in the game, but thanks to DVR I was able to do it myself. There was no illegal formation; there was no moving before the snap other than the motioning of the receivers. Thusly there was no penalty. Martin, the same player who was suspended after a hit against OK St, was flagged at least twice for personal fouls on kick offs. Once again usually ABC or ESPN would replay the kick off to see where the penalty was, but in this case that didn’t happen either. At least six of A&M’s points came on drives where they were stopped outside of field goal range on 3rd down, but a penalty gave them the first and kept the drive alive. The only one that I saw as a borderline penalty was a pass interference call that could have gone either way. However Osbourne’s roughing the passer penalty that gave the Aggies a first down late in the fourth quarter was a bogus call. Tannehill hadn’t even come close to finishing his follow through before he was leveled, no penalty should have been called but the refs thought otherwise.
The Huskers finished the game with 16 penalties, the Aggies finished with two. A little bit unbalanced, eerily similar to the balance of power within the Big 12. Interestingly enough the power of the Big 12 resides in the state of Texas, especially when it comes to the Huskers. The Huskers cannot seem to win a game against any team from Texas, except Baylor. In most cases it has been a result of poor play on behalf of the Huskers. This case is different. This time the Big 12 Powers saw that the Huskers would win the North with a win, and possibly walk away from the Big 12 with a championship. So rather than let things move on the Big 12 finds another way to stick it to the Huskers for leaving. This game was even more evident than last year’s Big 12 championship against the Longhorns. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Beebe had his hand in the game against the Aggies. Giving one more parting shot at the Huskers, and that makes us even happier about the move to the Big Ten. At least the next game against Colorado pits two teams leaving the conference against each other, so more likely than not Beebe will leave this game alone. That is of course unless he wants to ensure that the Huskers do not make the Big 12 Championship game, which is a strong possibility. This next game could be even more lopsided in terms of the refs than the A&M game.
First off I would like to say that I think on the field Taylor Martinez is a warrior. Especially for coming back after an injury that barely allowed him to walk off the field. With that being said, he is a little momma’s boy. I thought after the Texas game, and the fact that he blew off the media because his family was in town. That is understandable when you are that far away from your family. The issue, however, seemingly doesn’t end there. The reason why he was berated by Bo Pelini on the sidelines after he returned from the locker room was because he was texting his family. When you are playing college football, especially at the FBS level it is time to become a man and leave mommy and daddy on the sidelines. I understand the parents concern for the well being of their son but its time to let him be a man. I have played college football myself and have had my fair share of injuries, but never did my parents come down on the sideline to see if I was ok. The only time its even remotely allowable is if you are on the field motionless for an extended period of time. The training staff is usually allowed to carry phones for the specific reason to inform parents and or get permission for treatment if needed. If it was that important for Taylor to get word to his parents that he was ok, he should have used the proper channels rather than texting them. I understand Bo’s frustration; he thought he was coaching a young man not a toddler who cries for mommy and daddy with every bump and bruise. Did Bo go a little bit overboard in attempting to get his point across? Maybe a bit. Should he have been in the situation to have to do that? Absolutely not. As for the rumors that Taylor has quit the team, it saddens me to think that it is a possibility. As I said it is time to man up off the field. If you get in trouble by the coach, that is no reason to quit and run back home to California. Eric Crouch did the same thing several years ago, but I was hoping the comparison between the two would end at talent, not quitting. It all turned out to be pretty good for Eric Crouch, hopefully Taylor learns from that and continues to mature as a man. If there has been anyone who has been shortchanged by the Husker program over the years and never thought about quitting that would be Bobby Newcombe. I think Taylor should have a long hard talk with him and learn that quitting is not the answer.
Chancellor Harvey Pearlman and Athletic Director Tom Osborne have clearly stated their disapproval with Bo Pelini’s demeanor on the sideline at the game. Saying that they will have a long talk with Bo and possibly had out some consequences if need be. I understand that they need to protect the integrity of the program, but honestly that game was horrible especially because of the refs. Why is it that in most sports, especially baseball, the coach can get in the face of the refs about a bad call but can’t do it in football? Bo wanted explanations as to why the penalty was called, and other times why a penalty wasn’t call against the Aggies when it clearly should have been. That’s how the game transpired. Bo wanting explanations and getting nothing but a big no from the refs and that would probably upset most coaches at any level in any sport. Bo is a passionate person, he fights for his team as well as his team fights for him. Not everyone can be as tempered as the great Coach Tom Osborne, but Pelini is not Osborne nor will he ever be. Both can coach, scheme, and plan with the best of them, but that is where the similarities end. The personalities are drastically different and the NU athletic staff needs to understand that. Bo is a great coach and can get a little bit over passionate at times but who doesn’t. The issue isn’t with Bo it’s with Beebe’s minions, the Big 12 refs. So rather than giving Bo a stern talking to, why not call Beebe up and give him an earful, especially for the horrible job the refs did.
Let me know what your thoughts are on this game. The actions of the players, the refs, and the coaching staff.
