April 27, 2013 is the Nebraska ALumni Golf Tourney. More news to follow soon so check back to our site.
Jerry Holbrook
No Football But Lots Of Other Action
First it’s a trip to Omaha for the Husker women to take on the Creighton Lady Bluejays. This is a team that won the Missouri Valley Championship last year and also played in the NCAA tournament.
Nebraska’s Hailie Sample had been averaging just under 5 ponit’s a game this season. But in this game she hit a career-high 20 points on 9-14 shots from the field and two free throws. She also added five rebounds and a pair of assists and one steal. But this wasn’t enough as the home town team came off the floor with a 66-57 win.
Senior point guard Lindsey Moore added 15 points including 2-3 three-pointers. Nebraska’s other All American candidate, Jordon Hooper had a busy defensive night against Creighton’s Sarah Nelson. For the first time in her career, Jordan was held scoreless, but she held Nelson down to only four points.
Back home, the 25th ranked Huskers played host to another ACC team, the 24th ranked Seminoles of Florida State. FSU came into Lincoln with a 7-0 record, but left for home with a 7-1 record while the Huskers improved to 7-3 for the season.
Jordan Hooper, who was held scoreless against Creighton, erupted at home with 36 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Huskers in the most exciting game of the season. This game was back and forth with the lead changing 12 times. This tight game kept the fans on their feet all night long and the Devaney Center shooked with the noise of the crowd.
But nothing was like the final 22 seconds of the game, which actually toke like 6 minutes to play it out.
Leading 78-77 the Huskers dug in with great defense before FSU could get a shot off with only 5 seconds to play. The shot missed as well as the Florida rebound. It was then when Nebraska’s Emily Cady was called for a fowl, and the delay of game started.
For what seemed liked days, the officials reviewed the play from all angles to make sure of the shooter, the foul and the time on the clock What was interesting was the comments of the broadcasters concerning the called foul. Officials included one very experienced umpire and one fairly new and she was the one making the call.
Now this was not a hard to see fowl, but the matter of remaining time was the key point in reviewing the play. The comment by broadcasters was that in a game of this nature, tight and hard fought, most refs would let the game be played and keep the whistles silent in these last few seconds unless it was such an obvious error. This was not to say, they were challenging the fowl as that could be seen on replay.
Finally it was determined the fowl held and there were 4 seconds left on the clock. To the line went Florida. Two shots, make two and win, make one and it’s a tie game. The first shot hung around the rum and finally spun out. One shot left. Coach Yori called time out, the old make ‘em think about the shot.
The crowd noise increased, their pitch to greater heights as the Seminoles went to the line, it was, and I was listening on the Husker Radio, I mean my computer was vibrating. The shot is in the air and only travels about 12 feet. AIR BALL. The Huskers grab the ball and FSU called their final time out. With the inbound, and just touching the ball the time runs out and the Nebraska Cornhuskers rack up their 78-77 win against a rated team.
Interesting that Nebraska now has a 12 game win streak against Florida teams and this Sunday they will take on the unbeaten South Florida team. Free live audio is on Huskers.com. So tune in.
The men also took on Creighton but at the Devaney center before a sellout crowd. But while the fan support was hot and loud, the Husker shooting was down as they hit a season low 32.1 percent loosing to the 16th ranked Bluejays 64-42.
Seniors Dylan Talley and Brandon Ubel led the Huskers (6-2) with 14 and 10 points respectively, while Ubel grabbed eight boards in a losing effort. Nebraska held Creighton to a season-low 64 points, nearly 20 points below its season average, but UNL missed 13 of its first 18 shots and never got going offensively.
Following the disappointing game, Coach Miles had this to say. “I thought Creighton did a really good job. I thought that they didn’t give us angles to attack the basket. We couldn’t get fouled and we couldn’t get a rhythm. They did a nice job taking Ray (Gallegos) out of action, and I regret-later in the second half, I regretted not running one more thing. I thought we had some rhythm early in the second half, but I don’t like to just isolate guys and go to them and then everyone else gets to standing around. You just kind of walk that fine line for, ‘Can I get him an open shot and still get everybody going?’ We couldn’t. I thought the only time we had any offensive rhythm was early in the second half when we were just trading baskets.”
The Husker wrestlers are hitting the deck, I mean hitting the mat and grunting. This past week they notched one win and one tough loss.
First up was Arizona State and it was a back and forth match. The Huskers won the first match but the ASU ripped of three straight wins to take a 9-3 lead. Then UNL won the next three to take a 12 -9 lead but the Sun Devils tied it a 12 all on the next match. The Huskers final two won their matches to close out an 18 – 12 win.
Next up for the 9th rated Huskers was Big Ten foe, Wisconsin. Five straight wins by the Badgers gave them a 19-9 lead. The Huskers came back to win the final two matches, but not enough point as the Badgers notched their 2nd Big Ten win and the Huskers went 0-2 in Conference play. The Big Ten is a tough wrestling bunch.
The Huskers return to action this weekend when the journey to new York for the Grapple in the Garden. Two future conference foes will be the target with taking on both Rutgers and Maryland in this meet.
On Friday, up at Omaha it was the NCAA Regional Semifinal Volleyball Tournament. On hand for the 4th seed Huskers were paired against the 13th seed Washington Huskies. The outcome, a sweep for the Huskers and the first loosing sweep of the year for the Huskies.
Nebraska started off fast for the 8,954 fans at the Century Link Center opening the first set 25-14. Then the Huskies fell into action but still lost the next two sets 25-21 and 25-23 to the Super charged Huskers.
Facing the physical Washington team, setter LaureC Cook led a balanced Husker attack that featured four players with at least seven kills. Nebraska, which hit .233 in the sweep, was led by Omaha native Gina Mancuso’s match-high 14 kills. Morgan Broekhuis and Hannah Werth added nine kills apiece and each hit at least .300, while Meghan Haggerty produced seven kills on 18 swings. Defensively, Werth produced 21 digs with a strong effort, while libero Lara Dykstra added 14 digs.
The win put the Huskers up against another Pac 12 team, Oregon and the first return to the Regional final since 2009 for Nebraska.
In the first set, the Huskers roared off with a 25-15 win over the 5th ranked Ducks. But for the rest of the match, it just wasn’t what the graduating five seniors had in mind as Oregon took the next three sets 25-22, 25-18 and 25-17.
Oregon, which leads the nation in kills, hit above .300 in three of the four sets, finishing with a .289 mark. Pac-12 Player of the Year and NCAA Regional Most Outstanding Player Alaina Bergsma led the way with an impressive performance. Bergsma produced a match-high 23 kills and hit .429, committing only two errors in 49 swings. Ariana Williams (13) and Katherine Fischer (12) also finished with double-figure kills for the Ducks. Defensively, Oregon totaled 71 digs, led by 21 from libero Haley Jacob, and 7.5 blocks.
Nebraska also had three players finish with double-figure kills, including 16 each from Morgan Broekhuis and Gina Mancuso. Broekhuis hit .406, while Mancuso added 15 digs to finish with a double-double in her final match. Fellow senior Hannah Werth ended her career with a double-double of her own, finishing with 10 kills and 13 digs. Lauren Cook dished out 46 assists in her final match, helping the Huskers hit .265, including a blistering .621 in the first set.
Roger
The Red Clad Coot in the Desert
It’s Kick off time for the B1G Championship
Nebraska will kickoff with Wisconsin Receiving
Last year in the ACC /B1G basketball challenge, the Huskers entertained the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Unfortunately we were the gracious hosts and let the visitors go home with a 55-53 game. This year the Huskers were the visitors and against the plan of the Demon Deacons, the Huskers went home with a 79-63 win.
Remember I told you to watch for two guys, Gallegos and Almeida. Well they did it again with each scoring 20 points. Gallegos had a fantastic second half scoring 17 of his points after the half and one streak of 7 straight pints to boost their half time lead of 28-24. When the score was 42-37 Nebraska, Gallegos and Dylan Talley led the Huskers on a 20-3 surge to cap the win.
Al total the Huskers had a great night hitting 53 % from the field with Talley and Brandon Ubel witting double figures or 14 points for Talley and 11 for Ubel. Talley also added 8 rebounds. Now these are the two others guys you should watch for.
Our little man, 6’11” 320 pound Andre Almeida got his 20 points hitting 9-10 from the field while grabbing 11 rebounds and blocking three shots.
First Quarter Score
Wisconsin 21 – Nebraska 10
The Lady Huskers played host to the new entry into the Big Ten, the Maryland Terps. Now if your familiar with women’s NCAA basketball you will recognized that this new bunch play a very fast and hard type of basketball and will not be an easy game for anyone in the Big Ten when they arrive.
Lindsey Moore and Jordon Hooper lead the Huskers with 17 and 15 points respectively. But that wasn’t going to match three Terps who scored 25. 21 and16 points as Maryland downed the Huskers 90-71 on 50.7 % shooting from the field with a good number of those shots were well inside the paint.
Saturday night the Ladies did better than another Husker bunch as Jordan Hooper scored a season-high 29 points and added 10 rebounds to power No. 21 Nebraska to a 60-51 women’s basketball win over defending Big Sky champion Idaho State
The Huskers wrap up their stretch of three straight games against conference champions and NCAA Tournament teams when they travel to Omaha to take on Creighton on Wednesday.
Half Time Score
Wisconsin 42 – Huskers 10
Thursday night the Volleyballers opened their 2012 NCAA challenge by taking on the Maryland Eastern shore team at the Coliseum in front of another sold out crowd. 25-14, 25-10, 25-18.
The Huskers attacked efficiently throughout the match, especially in sets one and two when Nebraska put down 23 kills on only 41 swings with just two errors. With a .512 hitting percentage through two sets, the Huskers were on pace to set a school record for highest hitting percentage in an NCAA Tournament match (.486) before settling for a .455 mark.
Individually, Gina Mancuso had a match-high 12 kills, while Hannah Werth added 11. Together, Nebraska’s two primary outside hitters combined for 23 kills on only 38 swings, attacking at a .526 clip. Lauren Cook dished out 34 assists while leading the Huskers to their second-best hitting percentage of the season. Nebraska’s two primary outside hitters combined for 23 kills on only 38 swings, attacking at a .526 clip.
With the win, Nebraska advanced to face Northern Iowa (25-9) in second-round action in the final match at the NU Coliseum. The Panthers advanced to the second round by sweeping 25th-ranked Kansas State (25-18, 25-13, 25-21) in Thursday’s other first-round match.
Third Quarter Score
Wisconsin 63 – Nebraska 17
Another packed house cheered the Huskers on as they closed out the Northern Iowa Panthers in a 3-0 sweep (25-21, 25-16, 25-21) sweep on Friday night to punch its ticket to the Omaha Regional next weekend. Nebraska has now advanced to the Sweet 16 in 29 of their 31 all-time trips to the postseason.
Morgan Broekhuis led the with 10 kills on 16 swings for a .625 hitting percentage. Gina Mancuso and Hannah Werth each had nine kills, while Hayley Thramer recorded eight. Meghan Haggerty notched a career-high four aces on the night, while Lara Dykstra led Nebraska defensively with 13 digs.
Next up is the round of 16 at Omaha and don’t forget the Husker matches will be aired on Husker Radio here on Huskers.com.
In other B1G teams, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Perdue, Ohio State and Penn State all advanced to the round of 16. However, the two Michigan teams will play each other in the next round along with Minnesota who will play Perdue. Nebraska will take on Washington of the Pac 12 which has four teams in this round.
Final Score
Wisconsin 70 – Nebraska 31
Nebraska dropped from 14th to finish 23rd in the AP poll behind Michigan (19) and Northwestern (21). The Huskers will play in the Capitol One bowl on January 1 against a team from the SEC. Last year Nebraska played South Carolina, another SEC team and lost 30-13.
Roger
The Speechless Red Clad Coot in the Desert
Every man, woman and child of SOAZ4NE is saying, “Thank you Huskers and Thank you Coaches.” When Coach Pelini said after the Ohio State drenching that we were just going to win the last six games, did you believe that it was possible? OK, now I know the Big Ten wasn’t in its prime shape it has had in other years, but yet the schedule was still a tough one. We drew every top team in the conference, and finished with Iowa, 4-8 for the year. That was a real tough one and the playing conditions really cut down on our offense just eliminating any passing game.
Now who would you offer the game ball to?
How about Rex Burkhead playing only two quarters and really driving the team with 69 yards on 16 carriers? Or did you count the number of Iowans riding his back but he still gained another 5 yards on the carry.
Or it could be Brett Maher with his two big field goals from 26 and 52 yards,, or his six punts averaging 43.2 yards and especially that new style into the wind, the rugby kicks and getting them down to where it really hurt Iowa?
On defense you might select Alanzo Whaley, involved in 8 tackles and that great interception late in the ball game to seal up the win.
But then you might have to go with Eric Martin 3 tackles for losses, a forced fumble and one interception and in the Iowa backfield as much as their quarterback was.
But don’t over look Daimion Stafford and his interception and 7 tackles and well you cant forget the whole defense holding Iowa down to 200 yards and not letting them score the last 45 minutes.
And also consider the Blackshirts in total. Twice after our offence gave up the ball they came in and stopped the Hawkeyes cold..
But then you might want to consider three guys, who all year long after Burkhead was out, pushed this team into the conference championship. How about Abdullah, Heard and Cross. Two sophomores and a true freshman. They took the Huskers ground game in hand and really delivered all the time.
With Ohio winning their big game with Michigan, The Nebraska Cornhuskers are the winners of the Legends and on December 1 we will take on the Badgers of Wisconsin for the Conference championship indoors at Indianapolis.. Gee, just think I was 13 years younger when the Huskers won their last conference championship and just started to collect Social Security.
Don’t expect a repeat of the game earlier this year. Wisconsin is a different team now. Remember they took OSU into overtime a couple of weeks ago. This will be a very tough game in spite of their loss today to Penn State. Yes they have lost their QB but that will put more use of their key back, Mr Bell. This year he was topped the old Wisconsin records for the most career touchdowns.
Read this from a Wisconsin Columnist:
Bruce Thorson-US PRESSWIRE
It is really very simple, the winner of the Big Ten championship game goes to the Rose Bowl.
Wisconsin will beat the Huskers.
The Badgers fell to Nebraska earlier in the season, but the game was insanely close. Unlike the regular-season matchup, this game will be on a neutral field. Considering the Badgers played the Huskers within three points in Lincoln, the lack of home-field advantage for Nebraska may be enough for Wisconsin to squeak out the win.
Basketball:
Three ladies in double figures piloted the Huskers to a 85-72 win over the Sam Houston State Bearkats. Jordon Hooper lead with 19 points and 10 rebounds while her roommate Lindsey Moore added 13 oints, six rebounds, five assists and two steels. Sophomore Emily Cady chipped in 18 points and cleaned the boards with six times.
The Huskers built up a 31 point lead at half time and he second half every one was in the game for lots of playing time. Freshman Adrianna Maurer and Sophomore Tear’a Laudermill each added seven points off the bench for the Huskers, who had 10 players score, 12 players grab a rebound and seven players dish out an assist on the night.
Out in Los Angeles, it was a totally different type of game against USC. It also wasn’t one of those games where your up by one, down by two, up by two, etc. it was a game of streaks. The Huskers used one big run of 17-2 to go from a 7 point deficit in the second quarter to take a 50-42 lead but the USC came right back ripping of 15 in a row to take the lead again. And that was indicative of the whole first half and into the second half.
From that point on it was tight. with USC leading 54-52, 58-54, 61-57 and then the Huskers took the lead at 66-63 and then thanks to fouls, pushed the score to 74-65 out scoring the Trojans 11-2 over the last two minutes with Lindsey Moore raking up 8 of those 11 points on fouls.
For the night, the Huskers hit 28-32 free throws. Lindsey also lead the Big Red scorers with 23 total points and Hooper adding19 with Emily Cady zipping the net for another 14.
Wednesday night, the Huskers welcome visitors from College Park, Maryland the new Big Ten member, the University of Maryland. The game with this 10th ranked team will be aired on the Big Ten Network, B1G2Go and also aired on the Husker Radio station which you can listen to on your PC. Game time will be at 6:00 PM our time.
There are three names you should get to know for men’s basketball just like the three in women’s. they are senior Andre Almeida, junior Ray Gallegos and seniors Dylan Talley and Brandon Ubel.
It just seems these three provide the current spark at this time.
“We talked to our guys and told them it was going to be a tough game,” Nebraska Coach Tim Miles said. “It was a gritty win. I thought we did enough on defense. They (Tulane) were in control the first 10-12 minutes of the second half, but I thought we buckled down at the end and played gritty defense and made enough hustle plays to hang in there.”
Trailing 55-52, the Huskers held Tulane (3-2) scoreless for nearly five minutes, as seniors Dylan Talley and Andre Almeida supplied the offense. Talley’s runner in the lane with 5:43 left pulled NU within one before Almeida, who did not attempt a field goal for the first 35 minutes, gave the Huskers 56-55 lead on a mid-range jumper that kissed off the glass.
Almeida and Talley then combined on NU’s biggest offensive play down the stretch, as Talley found Almeida wide open for a dunk to put Nebraska up 59-57 with 1:45 left.
On Tulane’s next possession, the Green Wave got an offensive rebound and regained possession with 1:07 left. On the inbounds play, Jordan Callahan was fouled attempting a 3-pointer. Callahan, a career 73 percent shooter from the line, missed all three attempts and NU got possession, but could not capitalize.
Ray Gallegos then stepped to the line and hit both free throws with three seconds remaining to provide the margin of victory.
Gallegos and Talley led four Huskers in double figures with 14 points each, while Almeida scored nine of his 10 points in the second half and added six rebounds and four blocked shots. Brandon Ubel was the fourth Husker in double figures as he finished with 12 points.
There was some hot shutting going on but unfortunately it wasn’t the Huskers as their 4 game win streak came to an end at the hands of the Kent State Golden Flashes. (Don’t ask me where that name came from. I went to Wikipedia and couldn’t find any thing.)
Hitting a game high 57.1 for the night the Flashers (don’t laugh, that’s their nickname) the visitors went home with a 74-60 win. “Well I credit Kent State,” Nebraska Coach Tim Miles said. “I thought they did a great job with their offensive execution. I can question our effort all I want, but at the end of the day they made some great plays. I thought they executed really well.”
Nebraska had one good gunner going for them, Dylan Talley with 27 points including 2 three pointers and team mate Brandon Ubel added 17 points. But that wasn’t enough to over come scores of 19, 16 and 15 by three Kent St players.
Nebraska will hit the road for the first time this season, as they travel to Wake Forest Tuesday night for the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Tipoff is set for 8:15 p.m. (central) and the game will be televised on ESPNU and carried across Nebraska on the Husker Sports Network. Last year the Huskers dropped a tough home game to the Demons, loosing 53-55
Roger
The Red Clad Coot in the Desert
It’s a go, Rutgers and Maryland are part of the Big Ten.
Whenever some one asks me where I am from, I usually respond, “From the Mecca of College Football, Nebraska.”
You ask a grad of Rutgers they will usually respond, “The Birthplace of Intercollegiate Football.”
Rutgers University and its neighbor, Princeton, played the first game of intercollegiate football on Nov. 6, 1869, on a plot of ground where the present-day Rutgers gymnasium now stands in New Brunswick, N.J. Rutgers won that first game, 6-4.
The game was played with two teams of 25 men each under rugby-like rules, but like modern football, it was “replete with surprise, strategy, prodigies of determination, and physical prowess,” to use the words of one of the Rutgers players.
William J. Leggett, captain of the Rutgers team who later became a distinguished clergyman of the Dutch Reformed Church, suggested that rules for the contest be adopted from those of the London Football Association. Leggett’s proposal was accepted by Captain William Gunmere of Princeton, who later became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey.
At 3 p.m. on that memorable afternoon, the 50 combatants and about 100 spectators gathered on the field. Most of the assemblage sat on a low wooden fence and watched the athletes doff hats, coats and vests and use suspenders as belts. To distinguish themselves from the bareheaded visitors, 50 Rutgers students, including players, donned scarlet-colored scarves which they converted into turbans.
The teams lined up with two members of each team remaining more or less stationary near the opponent’s goal in the hopes of being able to slip over and score from unguarded positions. Thus, the present day “sleeper” was conceived. The remaining 23 players were divided into groups of 11 and 12. While the 11 “fielders” lined up in their own territory as defenders, the 12 “bulldogs” carried the battle.
Each score counted as a “game” and 10 games completed the contest. Following each score, the teams changed direction. The ball could be advanced only by kicking or batting it with the feet, hands, heads or sides.
Well that’s a little different from our current football, but it was the beginning of what we have today but lets take a look back at more history of Rutgers University.
The eighth of nine colleges established during the American colonial period. Rutgers was chartered as Queen’s College on 10 November 1766. It was renamed Rutgers College in 1825 after Colonel Henry Rutgers (1745–1830), an American Revolutionanry War hero, philantropist and an early benefactor of the school. With the development of graduated education, Rutgers College was renamed Rutgers University in 1924. Originally established as a private institution affiliated with the Duch Reformed Church, it is now a secular institution and became New Jersey’s leading state university of New Jersey under legislation passed in 1945 and 1956. At present, Rutgers is unique as the only university in the United States that is a colonial charted college (1766), a land grant institution (1864), and a state university (1945/1956).
Despite being the “Birthplace of College Football” and sharing the 1869 national championship with Princeton University in the first year of intercollegiate play, Rutgers has not had an overly successful heritage in the sport through the years.
In 2006, Rutgers boasted its best season in three decades, beginning its first nine games undefeated. Sports commentators and writers began referring to the 2006 season as Rutgers’ “Cinderella season” as each week passed in victory, and Rutgers gained nationwide attention and raised discussion of a possible national championship appearance.
Today the Rutgers Silver Knights rank 18th in the BCS standings. They have made a commitment to improving their stadium as well as the level of football and other sports. The starting date for athletically joining the B1G is still to be determined, but more likely it will be the 2014-15 season along with University of Maryland.
The men’s sports includes 9 sports and the women’s 13. All the usual big sports but also including lacrosse for both and for the women field hockey and rowing .
On March 6, 1856, the forerunner of today’s University of Maryland was chartered as the Maryland Agricultural College (1856–1916). Two years later, Charles Benedict Calvert, a strong believer in agricultural education acquired 420 acres in College Park and the school settled there and is still there, right next door to Washington D.C.
The Maryland Agricultural College proved to be an important site in the Civil War. In April 1864, General Ambrose E Burnside and 6,000 soldiers of the Union’s Ninth Army Corps camped on the MAC campus. The troops were en route to reinforce General Ulysses S. Grant’s forces in Virginia.
Later that summer, around 400 Confederate soldiers led by General Bradly T. Johnson stayed on the grounds while preparing to take part in a raid against Washington. A local legend claims that soldiers were warmly welcomed by university President Henry Onderdonk, a Confederate sympathizer, and that the cavalrymen were thrown a party on the campus nicknamed “The Old South Ball.” The next morning the soldiers rode off to cut the lines of communication between Washington and Baltimore.
Financial problems forced the increasingly desperate administrators to sell off 200 acres of land, and the continuing decline in student enrollment sent the Maryland Agricultural College into bankruptcy. For the next two years the campus was used as a boys preparatory school.
Following the Civil War, the Maryland legislature pulled the college out of bankruptcy, and in February 1866 assumed half ownership of the school. The college thus became in part a state institution. George Washington Custis Lee, son of Confederate General Robert E. Lee was appointed president, but due to a public outcry, he declined the position.
In 1888, the college began its first official intercollegiate baseball games against rivals St John’s College and the United States Naval Academy. Baseball, however, had been played at the college decades before the first “official” games were recorded.
Today the University of Maryland Terrapins, commonly called the Terps has 20 athletic teams for men and women. Most noticeable of which is the Men’s Basketball. Maryland became a founding member of the Atlantic Coast Conference in 1952, and today is well remembered for its many basketball duels with North Carolina. Living in Baltimore at the time, I can remember getting together with neighbors to watch those big games.
Burton Shipley was Maryland’s first and longest serving basketball coach, but his lengthy tenure from 1923 to 1947 was described as “remarkably quiet”. At that time, the sport was not widely popular in the mid-Atlantic region and football and boxing were much better drawing spectator sports on the Maryland campus. To capitalize on the popularity, basketball games at Ritche Coliseum were held as doubleheaders with boxing matches for 26 years.
In 1955, the small Ritchie Coliseum was replaced by Cole Field House centrally located on campus, and with Maryland now a member of
the Atlantic Coast Conference, the fan base rapidly expanded. Millikan’s tenure culminated in 1958 when Maryland won its first Atlantic Coast Conference tournament championship and advanced to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament. Now all the games are played in the Comcast Center.
In the March Madness and the NIT, the Terps record is mighty. Starting with coach Lefty Driesell and through the other couches from t the 93-94 season through 09-10 under coach Gary Williams the Terps were playing in mostly the NCAA but if not in the NIT tournaments.
Now just don’t stop with men’ basketball, look at the women’s team. Since 1999-00 through 2011-12 they have been in the NCAA and one time in the NIT and also an NCAA championship in 2008-09. Currently the Lady Terps are rated # 10 and the Huskers will take them on this Wednesday. This is the conference playoff between the Big Ten and the Atlantic Coast Conference and it will be carried on the BTN, the BTN2go and also on Husker.com Radio.
Now looking at both schools, will the Big Ten aid or devour these two new schools. It does appear that both teams will flourish more in the monetary manner. Both are bringing in a good sized market audience. Although Rutgers is blocked into a market that has all kinds of double pro ventures, never the less the estimated Rutgers fan base is close to 600,000 and the Maryland base is equal. Both teams can obtain better dollar cuts than what they had in the Big East and the ACC. Also the match against higher level competition should help in recruiting matters.
In 2010-11, Maryland reported just $86,113 in contributions to the football program. Rutgers reported $1.1 million. Public Big Ten schools each averaged $5.5 million, not including Wisconsin, which did not attribute any money directly to football. Nationally, contributions at public FBS schools attributed to football averaged $4.4 million.
Sports Illustrated reports that Big Ten schools could see up to $43 million annually starting in 2017 from a new TV deal –- that’s nearly twice what Big Ten schools now receive. Maryland and Rutgers, if the past is an indicator, will need the funds more than their new conference partners, because they lack revenue in some key areas other Big Ten teams don’t.
The Big Ten broke the chain by expanding to 14 teams. Is 16 and then 18 teams the next levels? At 16 team you could have 7 division matches and then 5 other division matches and then a playoff allowing for a true conference championship game. With 18 teams you could have 8 division and 4 other division matches and then a play off.
This would mean cutting off those weak teams just to schedule a true practice game. Wouldn’t it be more accurate in having a true conference champion that had to play just about every one in the conference?
If four conferences would go to 16 or 18 teams, wouldn’t that just about demand a two game play off for the MNC. But wouldn’t it also play havoc with the importance of other bowl games and dilute them in value? Would fans still support these non meaning bowls? Yes I would imagine fans would still attend just for the joy of attending, but from a marketing standpoint, how much will this cost the networks? Maybe nothing.
You know I still like the old fashion way. Remember the ‘96 game against Tennessee and the speech by QB Scott Frost afterwards. That game will always rank high in my library of Husker Wonderful Moments.
Roger
The Red Clad Coot in the Desert
Is One Football Game All That Remains?
I think if you asked the players, they would say “No way, Jose.”
First up is the Hawkeyes from Iowa, followed by the Conference Championship probably against the Wisconsin Badgers, and then a Bowl Game. And you can bet that the Bowl Game on every one’s mind is the Rose Bowl.
You can bet that the Pelini philosophy hasn’t changed: “We only look forward to the next game.”
Saturday, for the first time, the Husker Nation saw the type of Nebraska team that they have been looking for the last five years. The Black Shirts front four, hands on hips daring the other guys to try and run through them. The Black Shirt line backers licking their lips as they prepare to create another 3 and out. The Black Shirt Backs set to knock another pass down or gobble it up for an interception. The Black Shirts never allowing a third down conversion until the second and third team players took over in the fourth quarter.
The stat sheets show what it was like for the Gophers. They totaled 87 yards rushing and 90 yards passing. And half of the passing yardage came on two plays totaling almost half of the total, 43 yards. The Gophers completed 5-8 in the first quarter but only 3-12 in the second and third quarters.
The offense didn’t stand by and let the Blackshirts do all the work. On the third play of the game, Martinez completed a 16 yards pass to Jamal Turner for a first down and set a new school career passing record. Now this guy, who has been so talked down about even this year, he still has maybe three more games to go this year and all of next season. This was his third 300+ game of the year. Just what is he going to boost that record to when he plays his last game next year?
Jamal had a career high six receptions for 83 yards and Kenny Bell pulled in a career high nine catches and also a career high 137 yards and two touchdowns.
Then that little guy from Louisiana. The one all the other coaches thought was to small to be a back and wanted him to be a receiver, until he met Bo Pelini. Not to bad a day as Ameer Abdullah ran for 79 yards playing only the first three quarters but also topped the 1000 yard mark for the year with 1021 yards in his sophomore year.
Friday, while all of you will be lazy after eating all that good Thanksgiving goodies, well the Huskers will be in Iowa City taking on the Iowa Hawkeyes in our cross border Heroes Game.
Now the Hawks are 4-7 for the year and 2-5 in conference play but are looking at a five game loosing streak in their last five games after opening conference play with two wins.
On offense Mark Weisman and Damon Bullock, each averaging 85.0 + per game while James Vandenberg is throwing an average of 197.6 yards per game and completing at a 57.8 clip.
Now don’t get to excited about passing this game and heading to the Conference game against Wisconsin.
I would suppose that Iowa will also be celebrating Seniors Day, so those guys will be fired up. Also they have nothing to loose and everything to gain by knocking off the Huskers.
There is no doubt about it, the Big Ten and the Pac 12 dominate women’s volleyball. Between the two conferences they hold 10 of the top 25 spots. Big Ten teams are Penn State (1), Nebraska (10), Minnesota (11), Ohio State (14) and Purdue (22).
This past week the Ladies in Red went 1-1 first with a 3-0 sweep of Wisconsin and then lost a full five set match to Minnesota, 3-2.
Our team made short work of the Badgers with a return to their deadly hitting of .351 for the match compared to the hosts .145. Hannah (the Hammer) Werth led the team with 15 kills and Morgan Broekhous added 12 more with a .440 hitting percentage. Lauren Cook recorded 44 assets. This lead to a 25-17, 25-20 and 25 18 sweep.
The win marked the first sweep since taking down Illinois in three sets on October 17. That month saw the Huskers winning 4 and loosing 4. It was a tough 30 days. Five of those eight games were 5 setters.
When the match against Minnesota started it was #9 Nebraska against #14 Minnesota. When it was over, after five hard fought sets, it was #10 Nebraska and # 11 Minnesota. This also marked the seventh five set match of the season. Back in the old days of the Big 12,, the Huskers hardly went to more than three sets, except against Texas and Iowa State.
In the first set the Gophers flattened the Huskers 12-25 while just hitting .080 as a team while the Gophers hit a blistering .520. But then in the second set, the home team went down 25-15 when the Huskers hit a hot .400 and limited their hosts to hit just .138 With that the crowd of 5,368 fans knew they were in for a long night.
The third set saw the lead going back and forth. But continued hitting errors by Minnesota continued to plague them and Nebraska took a 17-11 lead and then stretched it to a 25-22 win to lead 2-1.
In the forth set, the Huskers took a quick 6-2 lead but then the hitting errors for the Gophers turned to wins as they ran of an 8-0 spree to lead 10-7. Dykstra’s killer tied the set at 16-16 but Minnesota went back in front 19–18 and then closed it out at 25-19.
Three hitting errors by the Gophers helped Nebraska to a 4-1 lead in the fifth set. A solo block by Werth put NU up 6-2, but Minnesota came inching back on a 5-0 run to tie the set at 7-7. Minnesota led 11-8, but Nebraska came back to tie the set at 12 after back-to-back kills by Mancuso. Both teams would not quit, but seven match points later, Minnesota came out on top in overtime 21-19 and took the match 3-2.
The No. 9 Husker wrestling team built up a 16-0 lead over 19th ranked Wyoming but the Cowboys turned it around by winning the next four matches to pull within one point. The Huksers had to win the last two matches to hold on for a 22-15 win.
With the win, the Huskers improved to 2-0 after defeating the Northern Colorado Bears 28-9. The Wyoming Cowboys fall to 1-1 with the loss.
Returning home, the Huskers greeted No. 1 Minnesota in the first home match of the year.
Starting quickly, the Gophers built up a 15-0 lead before Husker Jake Sueflohn picked up a 14-5 win. Then No. 5 James Greed added another win to cut the score to 15-7. But that was all for the home team as Minnesota won the remaining matches and the meet at 27-7.
In a rare double header the Huskers picked up two wins on last Sunday, first downing North Carolina 25-12 and later pinning a 32-7 loss to South Dakota State.
Against North Carolina, the Huskers feel behind 12-0 loosing the first three matches, but turned things around by winning the final seven matches.
Against the Dakota Jackrabbits, the Huskers started slowly again, falling behind but then rallied by winning the last six matches to win the matched and go 4-1 for the season.
UNO and UNL had at it in a family affair on the court. For the first half and into the second half it was a battle with the advantage switching from one team to the other.
With just over 15 minutes left, the Huskers trailed 46-44 and then Senior Andre Almeida cut in with his 6-11, 314 pounds and took control of the game along with Dylan Talley as they created a 14-4 run to put the Huskers in control as they won going away 75-62.
Talley finished with 22 points and Almeida hit 9-ll for 19 points along with seven boards, five of which came on the offensive end. In addition to Almeida and Talley, Ubel and Gallegos both added 11 points apiece, as the Huskers scored a season high in points and committed only nine turnovers.
For coach Connie Yori, the trip to South Dakota didn’t end up as she wanted. Lindsey Moore scored 21 points and Jordon Hooper added another 15 points along with seven rebounds but the rest of the team could only add another 19 points as the 15th ranked Huskers fell 60-55 to a stingy and disciplined South Dakota State team.
“The biggest stat of the day was obviously the rebounding,” Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said. “I thought they were the most physical team and they wanted it more than we did today. You have to give a lot of credit to South Dakota State, I thought they were the better team today and they earned the win.”
For the game, Nebraska shot 40.4 percent (19-47) from the field, including 5-of-18 from three-point range. The Huskers also hit just 12-of-19 free throws (63.2 percent). SDSU answered with 43.8 percent (21-48) shooting from the floor, but just 3-of-14 from long range. SDSU did connect on 15-of-21 free throws.
You can listen to the 3-1 Huskers tonight on the Husker.com Radio at 6:05 as they take on Sam Houston State Bearkats.
I know a number of your remember Ray Depa who was a member of our group before he and wife moved to Lexington Kentucky. Well good old Ray is working with NAA to organize an official chapter serving the Lexington area. Knowing Ray, this will be a great group, so Go Big Ray and Go Big Red.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and oh yea, what are you going to be doing Friday???
Roger
The Red Clad Coot in the Desert.
Hold on Gang: Is the Big Ten Expanding Again?
The Newark Star Ledger reports that Rutgers expects to accept an invitation to join the B1G today, with a formal announcement tomorrow.
It is also expected that the Big Ten will send an invitation to the University of Maryland with an announcement on Thursday.
This would put the Conference up to 14 teams and divisions of 7 teams. And probably leading to a 9 game conference schedule in the near future. The Maryland president said the plan is to have the new teams join the leaders division and have Illinois move to the legends.
Rutgers is currently rated 16th in the football polls and Maryland is growing in football but it will take time. Membership in the B1G would certainly help. In the past Maryland is well known in the basketball arena and would certainly benefit moving to the B1G.
Conference alignment for football could be an interesting debate unless the Maryland president is correct. When Nebraska joined, it seemed every effort was made to preserve the long standing traditional games. This would seem to be the most logical one but the Illini would be on the loosing end for their battle with Ohio State. More currently is the max up with SEC opponent Missouri. How many times has the Illini beaten the Buckeyes?
Academically, Rutgers and Maryland are good fits for the Big Ten, but there’s no doubt this is not as big a win as getting Nebraska was in terms of brand recognition. In terms of market footprints, it might be a better deal but with more risk. Maryland is a big market area but Rutgers, in the New York area, is not that well liked. The ranking of major pro teams in that area does detract from the college crowd.
For a long time it has been thought that Notre Damn would be a good entry into the Big Ten. However on their own the Irish do not need the strength of a football conference, they have their own market and their own network.
In sports other than football and basketball, this would make the Big Ten the dominant conference in women’s lacrosse as both Northwestern and Maryland have ruled the ranks in this sport over the last decade.
Since both schools also have wrestling teams, the Big Ten would still be the only conference where every school has a wrestling team.
The idea of major conferences was echoed before when Nebraska joined the Big Ten and other chances were made in the SEC, the Big 12 and the Pac 10. While it seemed there was a tendency to go to 12 teams the question was raised as to 14 teams and then the ultimate 16 team conferences with no non conference play. Could it be we are nearing that?
And lets say we had four major conferences, would that solve the problem of the MNC by having a play off with the four leaders and then a giant MNC game?
Go Big Red and the Big … well whatever it will be
Roger
The Red Clad Coot in the Desert
PS: I will get a Husker Huddle # 41 out tomorrow about all the Husker games over the weekend.
What is the Big Ten saying.
Last week there was a controversial call against the Huskers. And there was a controversial call against Michigan State. Guess what, there was no controversy about the MSU player pushing Stafford, out of bounds, into the MSU QB.
The ABC broadcasters, this week, had made up their mind that Penn State had scored a touchdown, and you know the one I am referring to. Just remember that for a play to be reversed, there must be undeniable evidence that the call was wrong. If that doesn’t exist, then the ruling on the field remains.
Now here is an article from , the Patriot news in central Pennsylvania:
By ZACHARY FEGELY, 50-Yard Lion blogger The Patriot-News
on November 10, 2012 at 10:00 PM, updated November 10, 2012 at 10:12 PM
Should Penn State Leave the Big Ten?
If Penn State leaves, maybe the Big Ten can go back to it’s old logo?
Should Penn State leave the Big Ten? That seems like a ridiculous question but after seeing the Nebraska game, something has to change. Penn State, for lack of a better word, was screwed out a win tonight by the officials who called on the field that Penn State TE Matt Lehman fumbled before getting into the end zone with the resulting fumble being recovered by Nebraska for a touch back. The play happened so quick that at first, even I thought it was a fumble, but the Big Ten officials decided to review it and so did the TV audience as it was showed multiple times during the review. Just about every angle showed that Matt Lehman did indeed break the plane of the end zone and scored what would have then been the go-ahead touchdown. Even the ABC (which owns ESPN) announcers said it was a touchdown and we all know how Penn State fans feel about ESPN. However, after the review, the Big Ten officials came out and said that Lehman lost the ball before crossing the goal line. I wish I had some photos to post on here and show you how obvious it was that Lehman was in, but I am sure you have seen a ton by now.
Penn State could also go the conference route and get picked up by the ACC. ACC has recently expanded to include former Penn State rival Pitt as a full member and Notre Dame in everything but football. The ACC has comparable academic standards that would appeal to Penn State with schools like Va Tech, Ga Tech, Miami, Maryland, and others. Playing in the ACC would allow Penn State to play and start new rivalries with teams that are close to them and renew old ones like Miami. If Penn State did indeed want to leave the Big Ten, I would think that joining the ACC would be the place that they would want to go. With that said, however, I doubt Penn State would leave unless they were forced out or something really bad happened that would force their hands. With that so though, just because they will not leave, certainly does not mean that they should stay. This is just something to think about in the ever changing world of college sports. Have an opinion on this? Leave it in the comments!
Last week it was the MSU players who were flooding Facebook with their opinions how the refs cost them the game against UNL and also three other games.. Notice that the Spartans are 5-5 for their season. Just maybe MSU was lucking to be that close but still loosing. Their offense is really not to existent.
Now if you go back to the Penn State game back in the early 80’s, remember that play which cost Nebraska a possible National Championship. Remember that one where the PSU receiver was out of bounds. I mean later replays showed he had steped out of bounds and then come back on the field, Illegal!Of course there was no instant reply and a challenge on the play. Well all I can ask is the Big Ten a cry baby league? I certainly hope not.
Now go to this new web site. There is a great picture of this fumble, but I couldnt reprint it. This is really worth your view.
This is from
http://hailvarsity.com/
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“In the back of my mind, I was hoping that we could get even by the fourth quarter,” Pelini said. “To pull even basically within the first six minutes was big for us psychologically.”
Comeback complete? Not quite. The teams traded scores — a field goal for Penn State midway through the third to retake the lead, and a 5-yard touchdown pass from Taylor Martinez (275 total yards) to Jamal Turner to give Nebraska its first lead of the game – setting up the play that was already burning up message boards moments after the final whistle.
On second-and-goal from Nebraska’s 3-yard line, McGloin found tight end Matt Lehman in the flat. He bowled towards the end zone and leapt over a Huskers defender but linebacker David Santos was there to meet him at the goal line.
The ball came loose. Nebraska recovered in the end zone. The officials ruled it a fumble and then everything stopped for the official review.
The Penn State partisans saw a certain touchdown – the ball breaking the plane seconds before Santos forced the fumble. Nebraska fans, and the officials ultimately, still saw a fumble.
“One thing that helps you in that situation is how they called it on the field,” Pelini said. “You have to have indisputable evidence to overrule it and something that is that bang-bang usually ends up going how they ruled it on the field.”
Penn State’s quarterback saw it differently.
“We’re not going to get that call here,” McGloin said. “We’re not going to get that call ever, against any team. It doesn’t matter who the referees are, we’ll never get that call.”
The Nittany Lions survived the controversial call, forcing a quick three-and-out, but this time it was Brett Maher’s turn to step up and cement the comeback. With a strong wind at his back, Maher drilled a 69-yard punt, tied for his career long, that went out of bounds at the Penn State 2-yard line. Two plays later, defensive end Cameron Meredith rushed McGloin into an intentional grounding call in the end zone resulting in a safety.
Penn State again held, forcing the Huskers to punt. With 3:44 remaining, the Nittany Lions were still only down a score but Penn State failed to pick up a first down, leading the Huskers to a final Maher field goal, his third of the day, that finally gave Nebraska a two-score lead.
Just another by-the-numbers comeback in a season that’s been full of them, right? Some might even call it fun, actually.
“I wouldn’t call it fun because some people get scared,” cornerback Ciante Evans said. “It’s almost a habit since we do it week in and week out. We all believe in each other so we go out and do it again.”
Like Tom Osborne said – never in doubt.
That’s enough Big Ten Football for this week, there are other sports that need our attention.
Volleyball:
It wasn’t an easy week end for Coach Cook and the Husker Vollyballers. First up it was the Hoosiers which we took in four sets
and then it was the Boilermakers. Another tough one but it went five sets with the Huskers winning and going to 12-4 in conference and 20-6 for the season.
Friday night at home, the Huskers put down Indiana 25-11, 18-25, 25-12, 25-22 with
Morgan Broekhuis led the Huskers on the night with 10 kills on 21 attacks with a .429 hitting percentage.
Gina Mancuso and Hannah Werth both recorded nine kills, while Lara Dykstra led the team defensively with 16 digs and Lauren Cook tabbed 36 assists. Meghan Haggerty led the Husker block with eight block assists, while Hayley Thramer had two solo blocks and five block assists.
Saturday night, again it was Mancuso leading the Huskers to their 21-25, 25-16, 23-25, 25-19, 15-10 win. Gina had 20 kills and 12 digs. And joining her in the double-double column were Laura Cook with 53 assists and a career ghigh 25 digs and Hanna Werth with 18 kills and 13 digs.
Nebraska still maintains a second place fit in conference standings, trailing Penn State by three games and ahead of Minnesota by one. But that will change come Friday night as the Huskers take on Minnesota there and then Wisconsin on Saturday. They will close out conference play at home against Iowa and Northwestern before the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament with the Championship match scheduled for Louisville, Ky. on December 15.
Following this last weeks play the Big Ten named two Nebraska players with awards. Freshman Megan Haggert received her fourth Freshman of the Week award and junior Hayley Thramer received her first Defensive Player of the Week award.
Basketball:
It was Saturday night opening for men’s basketball and Brandon Ubel paced the Big Red with his second career double-double, totaling 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting and 12 rebounds. The 6-foot-10 senior forward set career bests in both points and caroms, as Nebraska shot 51.9 percent from the floor as they topped Southern Jaguars of the SWAC 66-55.
Junior Guards Ray Gallegos dropped in 16 points and Dylan Talley added 17 points and seven rebounds as the Huskers shot 51.9 percent for the night.
The Huskers return to action Thursday evening, when they take on Valparaiso (my alma mater) in the opening game of the Joe Cipriano Nebraska Classic at the Devaney Center. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. our time and the game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.
The women’s team opened their season with a 68-50 win over the North Carolina A&T on Friday. Lindsey Moore, a 5-9 senior point guard hit 4-of-9 shots from the field, including 2-of-5 threes while adding 5-of-7 free throws. She also dished out three assists and grabbed three rebounds while adding two steals.
Sophomore forward Hailie Sample added one of the best games of her career with 10 points, six rebounds and three assists. Fellow sophomore BrandJeffery added double figures of her own with 10 points, two rebounds and an assist in the first start of her career.
In the post game press conference, Coach Connie Yori said this was the first time in her career that the starting line up had not played together at all. In their last practice the group was ready to play together but then Emily Cady got hit in the nose with the ball and had to sit out. But surprisingly the girls did seem to fit together and with a couple of adjustments played a good game.
Just like last year, this is a very young team. Lindsey Moore and Meghin Williams are the only to seniors while Jordan Hooper and Arianna Maurer are the lone juniors. There are four sophs, but each of them had lots of experience in Big Ten play their first year. Three frosh finish out the team.
Sunday night the 18th ranked Huskers welcomed the Temple Owls to Devaney Center. Lead by Jordon Hooper’s 12 points and 14 rebounds, win number two was on the record with the 64 to 39 win.Last years starting freshman, Emily Cady, added another 10 rebounds so the Big Red Ladies controlled the boards 53-40.
Nebraska’s swarming defense held the Owls to just 16-of-49 shooting (32.7 percent), including an 0-for-8 effort from long range. Temple also hit just 7-of-16 free throws (43.8 percent).
“We really did some good things on the boards today, especially 23 offensive rebounds against the kind of size and length that Temple has,” Nebraska Coach Connie Yori said. “I thought we gave a really good effort today. We need to improve on a lot of things, but our effort was definitely there today. That’s a good win against a good basketball team.”
Two freshmen added greatly to the Husker win. Guard Sadie Murren added eight points of her own to go along with two boards and Rachel Theriot dished out five assists.
Bowling:
Another sophomore, my gosh the Huskers are loaded with great underclassmen in every sport, led the bowlers to a third place finish at the Crusader Ten Team Classic.
Leading NU to its third-place finish was sophomore Liz Kuhlkin. Kuhlkin finished with the overall high average of the tournament, producing a 230.6.She had a high of 266, which came during first game of the tournament.
Freshman Beth Hedley started off her Husker career on a high note, as she posted the second-highest average on the team at 202.2. Hedley’s high score of the tournament was 235.
Rifle:
The No. 6 Nebraska rifle team completed a weekend of competition in Ohio on Sunday, finishing with an overall record of 5-1. Nebraska logged a score of 4,642 on Saturday, good for second behind No. 3 TCU (4,708) and ahead of No. 11 Nevada (4,626) and No. 12 Ohio State (4,594). UNL then returned for a first-place victory on Sunday, scoring a 4,639 to top Nevada (4,629), Ohio State (4,609) and UTEP (4,503).
“Overall, the weekend went well,” Head Coach Stacy Underwood said. “I am still looking for the team to have a break-through performance, but like with most things, it takes a little while for the small changes that we have implemented to show in a big way.”
Cross Country:
The Nebraska cross country team competed in its last meet of the season at the NCAA Midwest Regional Friday in Springfield, Mo. The men’s team finished 27th out of 30 teams, while the women’s team finished 23rd out of 31 teams total. Neither team qualified for the NCAA tournament.
Head Coach David Harris was impressed with the performance the women’s team provided today. “Our women got out in the beginning of the race better than they have all year. They tested themselves and it paid off with our best race of the year.”
Junior co-captain Isabel Andrade led the team with a 74th place finish, running a time of 22:25.72. Sophomore Sarah Larson continued to add to her stellar season by finishing second on the team, 98th overall (22:44.44).
On the men’s side Harris believes the young group have a long way to go, but have been showing promise all year long. It hurt our that Jarren Heng did not run due to injury, but we cannot use that as an excuse.” He continued, “We did run four freshmen so the future is very bright, but we need to compete better in the future.”
Freshman Matt Bloch led the way for the men’s team, finishing 107th overall, running a time of 32:59.98 in the 10k race. Junior Anthony Pittman finished second on the team, with a 114th place finish (33:06.70).
Roger
The Red Clad Coot in the Desert
The Hungry Lion Roars
Right now they are in second place in the Leaders division. And right now they are a very solid team with no place to go. NCAA issued penalties. Does this have an affect on the Nittney Lions? I bet it does, and they have an axe to grind. That’s the mind set of the players, feeling they have been severely punished, but they had no control over the event. And I know we can debate that all year long and probably never agree, but one thing is for certain: They are a team that very day in practice and every Saturday work to show the nation that they are The Penn State Nittney Lions, 6-3 and 4-1 in conference play. A team to be reckonded with.
Ask Jeremiah Sirles, offensive tackle for the Huskers. “Right now they are playing with a chip on their shoulder. They are very sound. Experienced with their defensive front row of juniors and seniors. Right now they are playing very good football.”
Yes, they lost some players who transferred to other schools where they can play in post season matches. And while their season is cut down to only 12 games, they are out to show that they are good and tough in spite of everything that has happened. And they are looking forward to taking the Huskers apart in Memorial Stadium as Husker fans gather for another continuous record of sold out games.
Meet Matt McGloin, quarter back for PSU. Last year as a junior there were problems. He was a walk on, mediocre in play, threw lots of interceptions, over confident but also resilient. Last year he ranked 10th in the conference in both passing yards and passing efficiency.
This year he is completing 62.1 of his passes (211-340). Has thrown for 18 TDs and has had only 3 interceptions. It is very possible for him to be named All-Big Ten honor
How did all of this happen? Well look to Head Coach Bill O’Brien who took last years worse quarterback in the conference and tuned Matt McGloin to where he is today. You have heard of the old slogan, “Keep it simple stupid” Well they aren’t simple at Penn State, but the offense is simple and it is working very well for the team.
Another place to look to for help for this season is the fans. You could even credit the Penn State community, which is still as feverishly crazed as any fan base in the nation, but now has the ability to put the football in perspective.
Junior Zach Zwink, is the leading rusher for PSU. He is averaging only 60.6 yards a game, but a tough runner having only lost 3 yards in 117 caries. Receivers are led by sophomore Allen Robinson, 6-3 sophomore averaging 12.1 yards on receptions of 689 total for the year.
On the defensive three line backers, light but tough, lead the defensive ranks. Michael Mauti, Sr. and 232, Gerald Hodges Sr. and 237, Glen Carson, Sr. 237. These three lead the Dteam in tackles, sacks, tackles for losses and everything else. They are smart and very knowledgeable about playing their positions.
Penn State started the season with back to back losses to Ohio (Frank Soliche’s team) and Virginia. Then they ran off wins against Navy, Temple, Illinois, Northwestern and Iowa before loosing to OSU and then returned to the win column against Purdue. OK. You might say these are not the caliber of teams UNL has met. True, but beside OSU this is the second major game of their year and you can believe the Nittney Lion is coming here to roar.
Its always tough at this time of the year to find meaningful basketball games. We are between the football and basketball seasons. So lets take a look at Coach Connie Yori women’s team in their second exhibition game of the year.
This time it was sister campus the UN of Kearney. Again it provided a game to watch new players mold into the Husker line up. Junior Jordan Hooper, and Senior Lindsey Moore. Jordan finished the night with 32 points, nine rebounds three steals, two blocks and an assist. Senior Lndsey Moore add 19 points, six assists, four rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
Play for real starts Friday as the Huskers take on North Carolina A&T. Game coverage as always will be on the Husker Network available free on Huskers Com.
North Carolina A&T brings a talented and experienced team to the Devaney Center for Friday night’s opener. The Aggies return five regular starters from last year’s team that went 15-16 overall and 9-7 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. In addition to those five starters from a team that finished fifth in the MEAC in 2011-12, the Aggies return six other players who started at least one game last season.
Senior swing player JaQuayla Berry headlines a group of three players who averaged in double figures for A&T last season. The 5-11 guard from Douglas, Ga., is a two-time All-MEAC selection and owns more than 1,000 career points. As a junior, she averaged team highs with 14.3 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. She also led the Aggies with 65 steals and ranked second on the team in both assists (66) and blocked shots (15). The athletic guard shot 38.6 percent from the field, but just 22.8 percent (13-57) from three-point range. She hit just 65.3 percent of her free throws, but got to the line 173 times in 29 games.
The men got off their first exhibition game against Midland University on Wednesday night. After a shaky first 15 minutes the Huskers rolled of a 16-2 run to lead at half time 30-18 and finish up with a 68-40 win. Every player had lots of time on the court as new Head Coach, Tim Miles, gave every player a chance to perform.
Senior Dylan Talley was the only Husker to finish in double figures, totaling 10 points and seven rebounds in 23 minutes of action, but six players had at least eight points and 11 of the 12 Huskers who saw action broke into the scoring column.
Wednesday’s game saw the return to action of senior Andre Almeida, who missed all of last season with a knee injury, as he finished with nine points, eight rebounds and a pair of blocks, while David Rivers came off the bench to add nine points and five rebounds in 19 minutes off the bench. Brandon Ubel, Sergej Vucetic and Ray Gallegos, who redshirted last season, all added eight points apiece for Nebraska
Volleyball:
After an not to good last week the Husker Volleyball ladies return home for matches between Indiana and Purdue.
Because of the double lost last week, the Husker dropped to 9th in the ratings. The lowest they have been for quite a while.
So there you are good buddies, have a good weekend cheering on our Husker players. In all time matches, the Huskers lead these two matches 4-1 against Indiana and 12-5 against Purdue. Both of the Huskers’ matches this weekend will be available on BTN.com for fans who have purchased a subscription or are available for broadcast on the free Husker Network at Huskers. com
Roger
The Red Clad Coot in the Desert
Did you realize that Nebraska only led for 6 seconds in their game against MSU?
Did you realize that Indiana could be the champs of the Leaders if they beat Wisconsin this next weekend.
Did you realize that it is possible the Big Ten Conference may not be able to fill its Bowl games.
Did you realize that Big Ten sports writers are still calling Ohio State and Penn State the best teams?
Well, I guess we will just have to wait and see what they say after PSU comes to UNL this next weekend.
Did you realize that the Spartan players have flooded Tweeter with posts telling how the refs cost them the Nebraska game, plus three other games.. Never mention that Nebraska had an equal number of questionable calls against them.
Maybe the Spartans forgot that while they have held all other teams to an average of 91.2 yards rushing, but the Huskers had two players who rushed for over 100 yards. Abdullah had 110 and Martinez had 205 yards.
Maybe the Spartans forgot that while they have held teams to a total of 267 yards offense, the Huskers rolled up a total of 473 yards of total offense.
Maybe they forgot that while they have held teams to an average of 15 points the Huskers pushed across 14 in the last quarter in just under 8 minutes and a total of 28 for the game.
Did those things do more damage than the refs?
Oh well we will give the Michigan State Spartans another chance next year but in Lincoln and a house filled to the brim with red and not an empty seat in the stadium. Oh by the way there were about 5000 empty sets in the MSU House at the beginning of the game. I do believe that now the history record is UNL 7-0 and MSU 0-7.
One last little ‘did you know’: Coming into the 2012 campaign, a storied Nebraska program that now has more than 850 all-time victories, had produced just four double-digit, fourth-quarter comebacks in school history. The Huskers have now done it twice in back-to-back road games.
Six Big Ten teams are receiving votes in the latest Associated Press (AP) and USA Today coaches polls, including three teams among the top 25. Ohio State became the nation’s first 10-0 team with a win over Illinois and moved up one slot to stand tied for fifth in the AP poll. Nebraska edged Michigan State to climb to No. 16 in the coaches vote and No. 18 in the media poll. Northwestern had a bye last weekend but re-entered the poll after a four-week absence at No. 21 in the USA Today ratings, the Wildcats’ highest ranking this season. Michigan, Penn State and Wisconsin received votes in at least one poll.
Not every thing was good in Michigan this past weekend. At least not for the Husker Volleyball players and Coach John Cook.
It all started in Ann Arbor on Friday night. Gina Mancuso recorded a double-double on the night with a season-high 20 kills and 13 digs. Morgan Broekhuis had 15 kills, while Lauren Cook paced the offense with 51 assists and 16 digs. Lara Dykstra recorded a team-high 24 digs.
But that wasn’t good enough as the Wolverines out hit the Huskers .325 to2.556 and out blocked Nebraska 10-6 and out dug our ladies 72-70.
Nebraska started off in good style winning the first set 25-21 and the second set 25-19. The Husker offense was really rolling as they out hit Michigan .381 to .368 in the first set and .333 to .126 in the second set.
In the third set the Husker’s Gina Mancuso notched six kills, while Broekhuis had four. Cook tallied 11 assists. While UNL recorded a .330 hitting percentage and Michigan had a .300 hitting percentage it wasn’t enough as the home team walked off with a 25-21.
The Husker offense was limited in the fourth set as Mancuso had two kills and Cook tabbed just seven assists. Nebraska hit .260 as a team, while Michigan hit .310 and won the fourth set 25-13.
Nebraska took a 4-2 lead in the fifth set on a double-stuff block by Thramer and Broekhuis, but the Wolverines came back to take a 9-6 lead over UNL. Michigan then went up 11-7, and didn’t look back as the Wolverines took the fifth set 15-9 and the match 3-2.
Moving up to East Lansing on Saturday, the Huskers couldn’t patten a come from behind, like the footballers, and fell to the Spartans
13-25, 25-23, 18-25, 25-013 and dropped the tie breaker shrt fifth set 15-17 in a real heart break ending.
Gina Mancuso led the Huskers for the second-straight night, recording 20 kills and six digs for UNL. Meghan Haggerty notched nine kills, while Morgan Broekhuis had seven and Hayley Thramer notched six. Lauren Cook tabbed 49 assists,and Lara Dykstra led Nebraska defensively with 16 digs.
The Huskers hit .188 in the match, while Michigan State tallied a .283 hitting percentage. UNL was out-dug 55-49 and was out-blocked 14-9. With these losses, the Huskers dropped back-to-back conference matches for the first time since 2009. In Conference standings, the 10-4 Huskers drop to third behind first place Penn State 12-1 and Minnesota 10-3.
Roger
The Red Clad Coot in the Desert
