Husker Nation Blog

It’s hard to be upset over an undefeated record nearly a month into the college football season but a little perspective on the Cornhusker’s start is probably in order.

To say that Nebraska’s first three opponents were easy competition would be a pretty big understatement. There’s also some serious concern over the Husker’s running game, or lack thereof, as it would be. The offensive line needs to turn things around if Nebraska plans to get back to it’s traditional ground-and-pound offensive strategy.

Hopefully, with this past weekend off, the Cornhuskers had some time to work on things and get ready for this weekend’s big showdown against Virginia Tech on Saturday night.

As if Kansas getting beat wasn’t good enough, Nebraska ripped New Mexico State wide open on Saturday 38 - 7. Our boy Joe Ganz scored three different ways: a TD pass, a TD run and a TD reception. Genius. He’s only the third player in Nebraska history to complete such a feat in a game.

Marion Lucky contributed to the winning causes with 103 rushing yards and two touchdowns of his own. He was also the passer on Ganz’s touchdown reception.

Again, Nebraska whupped on a team they are supposed to beat. This was New Mexico State’s first game of the season thanks to Hurricane Gustav (hence their 0-1 record). The Aggies are now 1-19 all-time against BCS teams.

It was a close game against San Jose State over the weekend, but a fourth quarter kickoff return by Niles Paul pretty much broke the game open for Nebraska. The final was 35 - 12 after a twenty-one point outburst late in the game by the Cornhuskers.

Joe Ganz couldn’t quite match his performance from last week. He threw for 216 yards with no TDs and one interception. He’s going to need to do much better in the future when Nebraska begins playing their Big 12 rivals or it’s going to be a long, long season.

It’s early in the season so there’s probably no real reason to raise any flags of concern quite yet. But if Nebraska plays this poorly next week there’s going to be a lot of nervous fans in Lincoln.

As I’m pretty sure everyone in Husker Nation predicted, Nebraska steamrolled the Broncos of Western Michigan this weekend. The final was 47 - 24 thanks to four touchdown passes by Joe Ganz.

Fun fact: This was Nebraska’s 23rd consecutive win in a season opener. That streak is the longest in the country and it’s nice to see Bo Pelini getting started in Nebraska off on the right foot. It would’ve been a terrible tragedy to break that record in his first big game.

Western Michigan, a MAC school, is better known for their hockey program than their football team so I’m not going to get too worked up over this win. It’s in the weeks and months to come that we’ll see what kind of a football team Bo has put together.

Kirk Herbstreit, one of the more popular and well-known college football analysts for ESPN, picked Nebraska as his sleeper team for the upcoming season. I was watching one of the many pre-season football shows ESPN has been running over the weekend when I heard Kirk make this prediction for the Cornhuskers.

Predictions should normally be taking with a grain of salt, but with Nebraska coming off only its second losing season since 1961 there are a lot of fans who will take any good news they can get. Prediction or otherwise.