November 24, 2009

As promised I have returned back for another nice day of blogging much to talk about today...

THE HOT LIST:

1. North vs. South
2. Kansas Troubles
3. Husker Tid-bits

1. We begin with a very pressing issue in the Big 12 conference the overwhelming domination from the South. This season the South held 13-5 edge over teams from the North, and only one team in the North held a winning record over the South this season...that team was Nebraska. I don't know how long the Big 12 will continue to let this happen, but I think they are keeping their fingers crossed that Texas wins and makes the BCS title game. If Nebraska pulls off the upset, it sets a whirlwind of problems in motion for the conference. First, the coaches who have been against the title game will rise up again with outrage that another quality team from the Big 12 missed out in playing for the national championship because of the league's title game. The list is endless on teams this has happened to. However the conference wouldn't be terribly upset if Nebraska won, showing that the North is catching up with the South....or just Nebraska. Either way any outcome in this title game...doesn't make things better for the vastly unbalanced divisions in this conference.

2. I haven't said much about this subject...but now it's fastly becoming a major issue in the conference. Allegations have begun to surface about Mangino verbally and physically abusing some of his players over the past two seasons. Now an internal investigation has begun by the athletic director to look into these allegations. It's becoming a bad bad bad situation at KU. There's no question that Mangino is the best coach that they have had in a long long time, but its very likely the school will fire Mangino at the end of this season. This team is in the mist of a 6 game losing streak, and must beat Missouri to keep it's season alive and make a bowl game. When you have players coming out publicly, it shows that this coaching staff is losing the respect of its players and when you have that happen to you...you ultimately lose your job. It's a shame because the school rallied around him when he was called into hot water a few times after close tough losses he faced, but now the slack given to him seems to have run out. He'll depart KU and likely will land at another program given his success...leaving KU to find a strong replacement to keep any hopes that the work Mangino did in 8 seasons wasn't all for nothing.

3. Husker Tid-Bits:
Bo Pelini has made it very clear that the focus of this team is to go to Colorado and get a W, they want to get as much momentum as they can before heading to Dallas next week....I agree with this idea...how awful would it look if you lost to 3-8 Colorado on the road...yea you better win on Friday.

Jacob Hickman commented that he loves seeing teams blitz more to stop the re-surging Nebraska running game. He said that Kansas State blitzed far more than they did on film allowing Nebraska to set up a few big plays in the running and passing games. It's good that these guys are picking up when a team is getting out of their element...you need everything in the bag for next week.

When you catch a TD pass against Kansas State, you get the time to get humorous with reporters. Mike McNeill commented about how he "inadvertently" dropped a third down pass for 10 yards that set up Alex Henery's record setting kick. "I was setting up history in the making, I didn't want Alex to hit like a 40 yard field goal. I wanted it to be a little longer, so I dropped the third-down pass." It's nice to see the team joking around a bit...thats what winning games will do.

The freshness of Rex Burkehead back into the lineup poses huge problems for defenses remaining on Nebraska's schedule. Shawn Watson commented that Rex has the freshest legs in the group and that we will work to get him on the field more. Just when Nebraska is getting back on track you get back your best backup tailback...this is huge if Rex can continue to run downhill with power like he did against Missouri....that'll give Roy a chance to stay fresh and give some well needed depth in that backfield with Burkehead, Robinson, and Helu.

One more day of blogging tomorrow...then I retire to enjoy Thanksgiving....and watch football...Till Then...