[Husker] Summer Speculation

[Nick Chevance]

On Sat, Jun 14, 2008 at 10:16 AM, Bob Beach <baseballguy at neb.rr.com> wrote:
>
>    Sipple feels the Huskers will be probably 8-4.  I believe that is
> certainly a possibility but I would expect 7-5 with 6-6 not being out of the
> question.
>
>    We should win the first three especially being at home.  However, there
> could be surprises.  None of those teams had great records last year but
> neither did NU.  The next three of Virginia Tech, Missouri, and Texas Tech
> probably are losses.  Oklahoma likely is a loss and I believe between
> K-State, Kansas, and Colorado one of those will be a loss and maybe two.
>
 Normally I wouldn't respond to something like this, but thanks to
Bob, somebody wants to keep the football talk alive.  I like that.  So
I'll take the bait, but I'd like to hear from others out there.  I
mean, this is minimally informed speculation at its best.  Great
stuff.

Bob, you are a "glass half empty" type guy.  You 'expect' 7-5 with 6-6
not out of the question; this in response to Sipple who believes 8-4
is very doable.  And like you, Sip would agree that Bo is untested and
hasn't had a chance to live up to the hype.  But as I've listened to
Sip and several others over the last several months through the Spring
game, there is more than hype to this belief.  A lot of our troubles
last year left with the former coaching staff and the schemes that
were used on the field.  More than once the confusion on defense,
especially at linebacker, has been mentioned as being at the heart of
the trouble.  I expect that to be a thing of the past and I expect
that we will see more gang tackling and more white hats around the
ball.  But the defense will be lacking depth at a few key positions,
most notably at linebacker, and that may be a main reason for our
troubles this year.  I don't expect a whole lot to change on the
offense.  That was a pretty productive offense, but it was
overshadowed by the defense's inability to do much of anything most
games, and the offense was playing from behind most of the year.

With that said, the way the schedule breaks down I think in Sip's mind
is this.  The first three should be wins.  VTech should be a loss.
Missouri has to play here, and while we would expect them to have more
difficulty scoring this year (they have lost some key players on
offense and nobody thinks we could be that bad on defense ever again),
they are probably still too good to expect a win against them. Texas
Tech however will be interesting because 1) its our first road game,
and 2) they have the best wide receiver in college football.  But they
still have trouble stopping their opponents, and the question becomes
who has the most trouble stopping the other.  That leads many to think
that NU should win in a shoot-out.  So, rather than a for sure loss,
this game is more of a toss up, with many giving the edge to NU.  I
would expect wins against Iowa State and Baylor.  Oklahoma and Kansas
are likely to be losses, but we would expect to be more competitive.
Tough winning in Norman, but Kansas has to come here, and like
Missouri, they have some holes to fill, too.  That leaves Kansas State
and Colorado.  Both are projected to be worse than last year, and
Kansas State much worse.  KState's coach is pretty much a nut case,
and CU's coach's son at QB will be a big problem for them.

And you are right, Bob, that all sorts of things can happen between
now and November.  And I get the impression that you think a lot of
the optimism comes from the hype surrounding Bo.  But there is more to
this speculation on the team's performance this year than just a big
desire to see Bo do well.  I think a lot of folks have looked at this
team and its strengths and weaknesses, and looked at our opponents and
their strengths and weaknesses and have figured a 8-4 season is
doable.  Will we be crushed if we go 7-5?  Depends on who we lose to
and how we play.  Depends on injuries and other intangibles.  Will we
be crushed if we go 6-6?  Yeah, probably, but oy also dependd on the
factors behind the losses.  Will Bo have failed at 7-5 or 6-6?  At
this point, tough to say, but a lot of the blame will head his way if
its 6-6 and we play like we did last year.  I didn't want to bring up
the talent factor, but I think, and I think most other think, we have
the talent to be competitive this year.  Yeah, we have holes, but we
have the talent to overcome most of those.  So, coaching will be a
factor in the team performance, as it is every year, and we would
expect the coaching to be better than what we just experienced.  What
we just experienced was a near collapse of a team and its coaching
staff.  We can't expect the coaches to work miracles, but we can
expect them to motivate, and teach, and coach.  I think coaching gets
us at least a couple of wins, or makes certain wins more certain.  And
with all that, I think most would expect a 8-4 record at the end of
the season, given who we play, where and when.

Can't wait for fall practice.

Nick
-- 
"If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an
infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even
considering if there is a man on base."
Dave Barry