The time has come. Ushering in a new era for the Huskers is Mike Riley, the chipper, seemingly-nice guy from Oregon State. Now while his record with the Beavers wasn't very great, he has a great track record of developing players to be NFL ready, which is something Nebraska needs if they want to be successful. They have the talent, but someone needs to whip them into shape of not being total goofballs about their game *cough Armstrong cough* and I think this is where Riley comes in. If he can turn Armstrong into a Sean Mannion, that'd be great. Or maybe turn the slew of RB's into Steven Jackson or Jaquizz Rodgers...you know turn the chumps into talent.
But tomorrow the chumps are taking on BYU; and I've been privileged to get a sneak peek at their playbook:
BYU is no pushover however. Their starting QB is someone who I would much rather have starting than Armstrong, been named to several pre-season watch lists, but is also coming off of a season ending leg injury from last year, so we'll be seeing if he remains as sharp as he was prior to his injury (so defense, aim for the legs!). The problem for BYU arises with the talent that surrounds the QB...or lack of.
But now we look at Nebraska where they suffer the complete opposite problem, loads of talent surrounding an incompetent QB. Armstrong is someone I really want to buy into, when he filled in for Martinez he looked really promising, but now we're seeing shades of Martinez in him and that's never good. I'm hoping Riley can whip him into shape, but one game at a time I guess.
The matchups: Nebraska O vs BYU D: Nebraska should have the edge as long as Armstrong doesn't do anything too stupid, an established run game in the first game without Abdullah is a must if the offense is going to thrive this year.
BYU O vs Nebraska D: Again, edge to Nebraska, having some defensive starters being suspended is never a good thing, but as long as they can contain the QB there should be minimal problems in that department. Creating turnovers to keep the Cougars uneasy would be nice too
Special Teams: RIP Demornay.
Result: Nebraska 31, BYU 20 (which kinda stinks if it does become a close game, I have a wedding to go to immediately after the game)
Around the League - Last night:
South Carolina 17, North Carolina 13 - Man was this an atrocious game to watch. Defenses looked good but man, South Carolina should start the backup QB instead, Connor Mitch looked worse than the average overrated Gamecock QB
Georgia Tech A lot, Some FCS School little (69-6) - Georgia Tech's quest for the upset bid in the ACC began without a hitch as they - literally - ran over Alcorn State (476 rushing yards)
Utah 24, Michigan 17 - A bit closer than I thought, but eh, any time Harbaugh loses is a win for society
TCU 23, Minnesota 17 - Meanwhile, the quest for revenge got off to a rocky start on the road for the Horned Frogs, but still got the job done. It wasn't quite as clean and murderous as I would've liked to see, but we'll give them a few more games to get into mid-season form. They were without a couple key defensive starters after all.
Arizona 42, UTSA 32 - Scooby-dooby-do Wright left the game with a knee injury (reports say its NOT an ACL, but will miss a good chunk of the season) which made this game closer than it needed to have been, and maybe shed some light on how good Arizona truly is (Maybe I gave them too much love in my preview, oops)
Because games are being played on Fridays now:
Michigan State, Baylor, and Boise State each begin their own upset quests tonight, each playing fairly irrelevant games that they should win soundly.
While I'm rooting for the Big Red/Chugging through a wedding (Saturday Slate):
Stanford @ Northwestern - Northwestern 24, Stanford 17 (Overrated *clap clap clap*)
Louisville @ Auburn - Louisville 27, Auburn 21 (Overrated *clap clap clap*)
Arizona State @ Texas A&M - Arizona State 38, A&M 27 (Defense? What is this defense you speak of?)
Texas @ Notre Dame - Notre Dame 35, Texas 21 (Lol Texas)
Wisconsin @ Alabama - Alabama 31, Wisconsin 17 (Highlight of the night...apparently)
Also shoutout to Tennessee for also being on upset alert
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