4/11/15 | Tad Stryker
Tommy Armstrong led the Nebraska offense last fall for Bo Pelini. Barring injury, he’ll do the same for Mike Riley this fall. It’s difficult to draw many solid conclusions from a spring football game, but here’s one. After weeks of hearing about A.J. Bush closing the gap on Armstrong in their race for the starting quarterback spot, Armstrong still has…
Judging by the response at Memorial Stadium Saturday, Bo Pelini seems to have made some progress repairing his relationship with Nebraska's fan base. That seemed easy enough. It'll likely take a lot more work to go to get his defense fixed, though, and in the final analysis, Pelini's success or failure in Lincoln will be decided by his team's results…
For those of us who say we long for old-time Cornhusker football, at least this game had some familiar themes. You had an academically high-achieving Nebraska team giving a good effort against a Southern team with more speed and athletic ability, but talent carried the day in Georgia's 45-31 victory Tuesday in the Capital One Bowl. It reminded me of…
The story of Nebraska's 70-31 loss to Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game will possibly never be fully understood, nor will the catastrophic way the Blackshirts fell apart Saturday night in Indianapolis. How could a battle-tested, senior-dominated defense – one that had been improving each game throughout the second half of the season – make so many fundamental breakdowns…
A national television audience may have thought Nebraska’s 13-7 win over Iowa on Black Friday was sluggish, even dull. But Husker fans around the nation recognized the beauty of Rex Burkhead’s return to action. After sitting out roughly the equivalent of five full games, Superman reappeared in the second half on a cold, windy day in Iowa City, and none…
There was a time not so long ago when Nebraska was a football program that could pretty much disregard what other teams were doing. If Nebraska was right, it really didn't matter how poorly or well the other guy was playing. It was only a matter of time before he'd fall to the Big Red. That was the process; if…
In Lincoln, it's not just the players who have learned to be resilient in the homestretch of the 2012 season. On Saturday in windblown Memorial Stadium, Bo Pelini and his coaching staff stepped up as well. It took a while for them to figure it out. They were thoroughly outcoached in a first half that went exactly the way Penn…
Someday, we’ll look back with the benefit of years of hindsight -- and we’ll still wonder exactly how Taylor Martinez and the Cornhuskers pulled this season off. In the 1980s and 1990s, Nebraska football teams methodically steamrolled their opponents using superior depth, talent and execution. Back in those days, Husker supporters sometimes complained about the games being boring. But this…
Bo Pelini had reason to celebrate as he walked off the field at Memorial Stadium Saturday night. Just a couple weeks after being on the brink of completely losing control of a season that was headed downhill fast, Pelini has his team in good position to win the Legends Division. This was a game he absolutely had to have, and…
That sinking feeling in your gut late Saturday afternoon was Nebraska’s proud football program teetering on the brink of irrelevancy in college football. Then again, that surge of pride – and relief – was Nebraska getting up off the deck and throwing punches, staging two gutsy fourth-quarter drives that showed resilience and character in a game where everything seemed to…
This football team is in no condition to travel. A challenging road trip requires a dependable vehicle, but dependability is in short supply on the Nebraska football team. Ohio State's offense, which had struggled throughout the unbeaten Buckeyes' first five games, suddenly got quite healthy indeed against the Cornhuskers in a 63-38 rampage, It seems hard to believe that this…
Nebraska's second-biggest come-from-behind victory was a lot like its first, and Taylor Martinez was right in the middle of both. Last year, when NU roared back from 21 points down to beat Ohio State, Martinez had a forgettable first half and a memorable second. It was the same story Saturday night in Memorial Stadium, where Nebraska scrambled from 17 down…
Nebraska is rebuilding its identity as a power running team. The Cornhuskers are back in the top 10 for rushing yardage and have had four different players crack the 100-yard barrier so far this season. Much has been made of Taylor Martinez's new footwork and his prediction that he'll complete 70 percent of his passes this season. Those are important,…
Now is a chance to start building goodwill in the Husker Nation. Nearly endless negativity was flowing throughout the kingdom last week in the wake of a disappointing loss to UCLA in Pasadena. Then we heard that Bo Pelini had been taken by ambulance from Memorial Stadium at halftime of the Arkansas State game. We saw the Nebraska defensive unit…
So, that West Coast trip idea didn't turn out real well for Nebraska. Looking back, here's a list of what the Cornhuskers accomplished Saturday night as they fell 36-30 to UCLA, dropping to 1-1 on the season: • Getting beat up on both sides of the line of scrimmage in the second half by a pastel-tinted football program that has…
The much-anticipated 2012 Nebraska football season started with a flash of the old Rex Burkhead, but when the All-Big Ten running back went down early with strained knee ligaments, it opened up the game for what looked like a new Taylor Martinez. Round two of Tim Beck's reign as offensive coordinator began well as Nebraska recorded a 49-20 win over…
