Husker Dan: Bowling for Lincoln

By losing to Colorado Saturday and having the Akron game canceled the week before, the Huskers find themselves right behind the eight ball especially when it comes to being bowl eligible this year.

And losing Husker freshman QB Adrian Martinez late in Saturday’s game with Colorado and potentially for parts of the season, could put a further damper on Nebraska’s bowl hopes.

And as of today, we don’t know the status of AM.  If he’s close to 100% (and all of Huskerland hopes he is), then NU’s chances to get to the six win total seem fairly bright.

And if the Huskers can find a make up game for either October 27th or December 1st, Nebraska’s chances of getting to a bowl game look even brighter.

But if either of those things – AM’s knee doesn’t get better and a make up game – doesn’t happen, where will Nebraska find enough wins to go bowling?

With 10 regular season games on the Huskers’ schedule, Nebraska needs to win at least 6 of them to become bowl eligible – that’s 60%.

There are winnable games coming up beginning this Saturday with Troy.  But Troy isn’t going to be any pushover.  They went 11-2 last year and will be coming to Lincoln with upset hopes.  Yes, Troy has two games under their belt (a blow out win and a blow out loss to a good Boise State team earlier this season), but Nebraska being winless so far, may have a bit more incentive to win Saturday.

With away games remaining at Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio State and Iowa, this young Husker football team is going to have to play well down the stretch.

So where are the wins?  I think Troy will be Scott Frost’s first win of his NU career.  There are also winnable games with Minnesota, Purdue and Illinois.  That would give NU a whopping four wins.  Where will the other two wins come from?

Can NU get a win in the Big House?  What about at Northwestern?  Iowa?  How about at home vs Michigan State?

If AM and the rest of the team can stay healthy and if a suitable make up game can be found, I see Nebraska winning more than six games.  The point is that by losing to CU, losing your backup QB and having another winnable game canceled, the Huskers are going to have to battle each week.

WHAT FORMER HUSKERS THINK SCOTT FROST MUST DO TO RETURN THE HUSKERS TO NATIONAL PROMINENCE

This is the second part of a series that began last week. Over the past few months I talked with several former Husker football players (and one former coach) to get their opinions.

Today’s comments come from Aaron Taylor.

AARON TAYLOR 
Offensive lineman ’94-’97 (Won 3 National Championships)
Outland Trophy 1997
(Note: Aaron is the Husker to earn All-America honors at two different positions.)

First of all, it’s going to be a process!  The walk-on program needs to be restored.  When I played, most of the high schools ran Nebraska’s system, so that when a player graduated from high school, he could fit right into our system.  They (the high schools) were like feeder systems for the Huskers.  It was awesome to see!

Interaction with the high schools dropped off under Callahan, Pelini and Riley.  But Scott is doing clinics and laying the foundation for future success.  He’s getting communities fired up and excited once again about Husker football.

When the Nebraska kids get into the Husker system, they bring with them “Nebraska Pride.”

When I was going to school at Nebraska, we used to get phone calls from players like Will Shields, Dave Rimmington etc.  They would also visit practices.  They were always made to feel welcome!

Frost understands the synergy between the community, former players, fans and coaches.  And yes, it does seem weird that a former teammate of mine is the Husker head coach!  I knew he was going to be a great coach.  My wife and I visited him at Oregon when he was an assistant there.

Scott Frost has taken the foundation that was set by Devaney and tweaked it to make it current.  Everything he’s done so far has been fantastic!

I was surprised why at the 11th hour that (back up QB) Tristan Gebbia decided to leave the team.  Just a few weeks earlier, he was escorting the BTN crew around the football area.  And the kid was going to get to play a lot at Nebraska.  I think he (TG) got some really bad advice.

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