Five Questions for the Upcoming Season

Hey Husker Fans! Welcome to the inaugural post of The Cornhusker Blog.

If you're like me, you are starting to get a little impatient for the start of the 2008 Nebraska football season. It has already been a loooooonnnnng, strange off-season, and we've still got about a month-and-a-half until Fall Camp starts. Passing the time isn't easy. I've begun pulling out old VHS tapes from the glory years, reading all the national publications and scanning the Web for any serviceable Husker scoop.

It's just not enough.

Therefore, I figured I'd post five intriguing questions for the upcoming season and what I consider to be the answers. Here it goes...

1) How will the Huskers be different under Bo Pelini and the (mostly) new coaching staff?
Changing mindsets isn't a piece of cake, but from what I've seen out of Bo Pelini during his previous stint as the Husker DC as well as his stops at Oklahoma and LSU, he is a coach who inspires his minions to play with uncommon intensity. That intensity was sorely lacking during the debacle of 2007 -- especially on defense where the Blackshirts typically looked slow, confused and uninterested. Bo's pedigree encourages me that even if we don't yet have the overall talent to be a top-flight defense, we should expect to see far more turnovers, improved quickness and a nastier attitude. As for the other coaching hires, I love the return of Marvin Sanders as the DB coach, and am jazzed to see if the linebacking corps can possibly play with as much energy as is displayed by new backer coach Mike Ekeler.

2) Other than the obvious (Lucky, Ganz, Swift), who on offense will stand out?
I'll start with a few of the big dudes from what I think can be a stellar offensive line. During the spring we heard and saw reasons to believe Lydon Murtha might start realizing his incredible potential as a prototype NFL left tackle. I was also very impressed and expect a bright future from Murtha's young counterpart on the right side, Jaivorio Burkes. At the tight end spot, I'd really like to see Mike McNeill step up and give the Big Red a Matt Herian-like receiving threat. Look for Quentin Castille and Roy Helu to step up as nice change-of-pace options at the running back spot as well. I'll go on the record as saying Quentin Castille can be the best big back NU has ever had, if he can just hang on to the ball.

3) Same question for the defensive side of the ball.
While the overall talent level isn't where it needs to be to turn this group into a vintage Blackshirt D, there are some bright spots that I think will get even brighter under Bo's watch. Rickey Thenarse and Ndamukong Suh immediately come to mind as guys who have All-America upside and will benefit from a fresh start under the new regime. Of the many positives that came from spring practice, I was most pleased to hear the news that Phillip Dillard had slimmed down considerably. With a new emphasis on speed at linebacker, I expect Dillard to have a big year. Throwing out one unexpected name, I'll say a similarly trimmed-down Pierre Allen will emerge as a player who can come off the bench and pressure opposing QBs.

4) Other than the most obvious (Oklahoma), which game frightens you the most this year?
Well, the last time the Huskers played in Lubbock it was uglier than the Beano Cook/Pamela Anderson honeymoon video, so I'll go with the Red Raiders. (As a side note, right around when Beau Davis threw his 12th interception during that game, I broke one of the ceiling fans in my house...seriously pissing off my wife. Please share if you have any embarrassing "breaking stuff during a game" stories. Although if they have anything to do with harming people or animals, you should probably keep them to yourself.) The Missouri game will also be tough, as the Tigers return most of their starting squad and will begin the season solidly in the top ten.

6) What happened to the fifth question?!?
Oops. Sorry.

5) What qualifies you to voice your opinions on college football?
While this is the age of anarchic social media and people don't actually have to know anything in order to post their thoughts on a topic, I at least have some basic qualifications to be a Big Red Blogger. In addition to being a UNL grad (Class of '93), and a genuine Cornhusker football fanatic since I watched Ric Berns rumble through Barry Switzer's Oklahoma defense in 1978 (Dr. Tom's first victory over the Sooners), I have also previously written regular columns for collegefootballnews.com and Huskerpedia.com. I also played on some awesome intramural flag football teams during my college days. Remember the Swinging Beef defense of 1991? Anyone?

That's it for now. Please share your thoughts and tell other Big Red lovers to visit thecorhnuskerblog.blogspot.com.
--Bill