I saw in a national publication a couple weeks ago that Oklahoma State is the Big 12's rising star and Nebraska is fading.

Even Outsports has Okie St. in its Top 25.
I'm assuming that's changed.

Final score from Aug 30 in case you missed it: Huskers 17 'Pokes 7

Yes, as much as it bothers so many people, we Cornheads just may be back!

Look for a blowout over Utah St. Saturday on Fox Sports Net at 12:30 eastern and a thriller over Penn St. on Sept. 13 at 9 eastern on ABC.

The way Husker fans were treated at Happy Valley last season, the revenge factor is going to be worth a touchdown at least.

PSU fans will be treated much better in Lincoln than the drunken Lions fans treated NU's fans at Happy Valley last season. Our sweet revenge will will come on the field.

GO BIG RED!

Just out of curiosity, have any of you Die Hard Huskers Fans ever heard of a guy named Tom Dawson? I think he played for the Huskers for a short time, like 1 game for the Huskers, after playing at Chadron State for awhile.

Your Huskers may have a 3-0 record, EC, but they may very well be one of the most unimpressive 3-0 teams in college football history....I happened to see both the Okie State and Penn State wins and the Huskers can thank two turnovers DEEP in OSU territory (that accounted for 14 of their 17 points) for the "victory" in their opener and, as for Saturday night's game, my question is how much was Nebraska paying off those Big XII officials for making some of those assinine, hometown calls? eek! ....I know Penn State QB Zach Mills hardly had the best game of his career but that overruled incomplete pass call during the last two minutes when the Nittany Lions were driving for the potential tying score was inexcusable -- as Bob Griese pointed out during the telecast, the receiver not only had control and one foot clearly in bounds but the official who was TWO FEET from the play properly called it a reception only to be overruled by a fellow official (who was NOT the head referee, btw) who was stationed HALFWAY ACROSS THE FIELD.

Before all the Husker fans begin their tirade in defense of their team of "innocent choir-boy, do-gooders" I know that 2-3 bad calls against the opposing team rarely determines the outcome but when Nebraska finally has to face a tough opponent on the road (which doesn't happen until NOVEMBER when they visit Texas, I might add) it will be proven how overrated this "elite" team really is.

Thanks for that, 'cock. South Carolina is quite the impressive team as well; it's not just anyone that can defeat Lousiana-Lafayette at home by 14-7! :-)

Before you go painting all Husker fans with the same brush, please realize that most Husker fans are just thankful to be 3-0 with a Blackshirt defense that will keep them in most games while the offense tries to find its feet. Many want Lord benched in favor of freshman QB Joe Dailey and many more would be more than satisfied with an 8-4 or 9-3 record.

That said, trying to paint Nebraska as fortunate to even come away with a "victory" against OSU and PSU (why the quotation marks?) is a bit disingenuous. Nebraska's woes in the redzones kept both games from getting out of hand -- they nearly doubled the yards and time of possession against both teams, but couldn't convert in the red zone. Neither win was pretty, but Nebraska dominated both games everywhere but the scoreboard.

As for the officiating, it was karma. ) Nebraska's only loss in '82 was to (eventual national champion) Penn State in Happy Valley. On the game winning drive, Penn State's TE converted a first down by catching a pass AT LEAST 2-3 feet out bounds.

Your time of possession and control of the game points may be valid for the PSU game but not the Okie State game IMHO -- and the former was solely attributable to the inability of the Penn State defense to stop the Huskers ground game, particularly Davis, even when they KNEW what was coming....how else do you explain a team rushing the ball on over 25 consecutive plays (using almost the same back exclusively) only to see the opponent's inept defense fail to stop it? eek! ....my aggravation with Saturday's game was largely due to the horrendous officiating -- and that was not the only game this weekend in which that took place either, as David (exftblplayer) detailed in depth on another thread.

Not to harp on the past but I disagree with you about your assessment of the Okie State game -- in my view the Pokes defense was actually in control of the game only to see Tatum Bell's fumble and Josh Field's INT change the outcome, but they clearly have no one to blame but themselves for those miscues (which were NOT a direct result of superb plays by the "blackshirts", I might add)....oh well, I guess we'll see how strong the Nebraska team really is as they come down the stretch in November and early December.......with So. Miss, Troy State and Missouri (who is admittedly improved) coming up these next three week's I don't see how the Huskers will NOT be 6-0 heading into the heart of their Big XII schedule.

As far as the Gamecocks are concerned, our main culprit is apparently quite similar to yours -- that is our starting QB, who Lou and Skip Holtz for some reason insist on staying with despite his horrendous passing skills and mediocre play overall (and, trust me, that's being kind)....our defense is superb, as usual, but hopefully the Holtz' (Lou has turned over all play calling duties to his offensive coordinator son for the first time this year) will come to their senses and replace Jenkins with either Rathe (a highly coveted J.C. transfer from California) or Sweigert (who broke just about every high school record in the state and looked impressive in late, albeit "mop up", duty on Saturday) before our defense gets exhausted from being out on the field the entire game.

Btw, NorCalHusker, it was NOT my intention to paint ALL Husker fans with the "same brush" and if it came across that way I apologize -- it's just that IMHO some of em are a bit blind to the irregularities of ANYONE even remotely associated with the "holy" Husker program, as they demonstrated repeatedly during the latter years of the Tom Osborne era.

[ September 15, 2003, 08:53 PM: Message edited by: gamecock ]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't non-conference games officiated by a crew from the visiting team's conference?

Jim

Yes, Bike, those were Big Ten officials in Lincoln last Saturday.

As for 'cock's points, I find it interesting that OSU's offensive troubles against Nebraska apparently had nothing to do with the Blackshirts and PSU's inability to stop the run even when they knew what was coming apparently had nothing to do with Nebraska's offensive line play and execution. I'm not saying this is a national championship caliber team, but to "blame" the wins on opponent's poor play isn't giving the Huskers enough credit. As for OSU specifically, Nebraska had 19 first downs to OSU's 11, ~350 total yards to OSU's ~190 total yards, and had the ball 37 minutes to OSU's 23 minutes. Nebraska had red zone problems (as they have all season), but they were definitely moving the ball against OSU's defense. How exactly did OSU's D have control?

Mizzou and Southern Miss on the road should both be interesting. At this rate, ESPN's going to have a Thursday night 3-2 snoozefest for the Nebraska-Southern Miss game.

Was back in Lincoln for the PSU game so haven't been able to check in lately.

Yes gamecock, the Husker offense is one-dimensional at best right now. Lord continues to struggle with passing and thinking on his feet.

But the Husker defense is #1 in the country in lowest yardage allowed. The Blackshirts are back in a big way!

Overrated a bit, I'll give you that. I realize the Huskers will face major tests in October and November. Certain teams like Mizzou, KSU and Texas concern me greatly with the NU offense playing the way it is right now.

But after going 7-7 last season, the Husker Nation has reason for hope...something we didn't have much of at the beginning of the season.

I'm just saying "Don't Count Us Out".

After a 3-0 start and tons of national TV exposure, I don't think that's a problem any more.

Talked to a bunch of PSU fans that were having a great time in Lincoln. Husker fans always know how to roll out the Big Red Carpet.

Bring on Southern Miss!