In preparation for Big 12 Media Days, Husker Locker will be counting down and breaking down each of the teams in the conference. We hope you view this series as more interesting, comprehensive and definitive than what you may find elsewhere. Where we can make strong takes – we will.

We rank the teams 12 to 1 in overall strength. Then we’ll provide for you the North/South breakdown – and the preseason All Big 12 team, as well.

Enjoy!

Today: No. 10 Colorado

Coach:Dan Hawkins
2008 Record: 5-7

What’s Changed Since 2008: CU lost its offensive coordinator to Oregon, the Buffs switched back to the West Coast Offense, QB Matt Ballenger bolted, WR Josh Smith, the team’s most dynamic player, chose to bolt, too, in order to pursue a rap career (and play football). Hawkins, believing the only place a rap career can flourish, apparently, released Smith only to USC and UCLA. Top-notch running back recruit Darrell Scott lost 30 pounds. Hawkins made a “10 wins and no excuses” guarantee. He’d better have the excuses ready. An old lady left all of her money to CU upon her death. Hawkins went in the hospital for kidney stones.

2009 Non-Conference Schedule: Easier than it has been, but still no cakewalk. The toughest game on paper is a Thursday night trip to West Virginia after a bye date, but a Friday game at Toledo could be tricky, too. CU hosts Colorado State and Wyoming, the latter of which we identified as a potential upset.

2009 Conference Schedule: Tough road games at Texas and Oklahoma State practically bookend the schedule, but CU gets to host Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. That schedule advantage has led some pundits, most notably Phil Steele, to suggest the Buffaloes are headed for an upper division finish.

Offense: West Coast/Spread
Coordinator:Eric Kiseau, another young guy who takes over for the departed Mark Helfrich, who kept CU in the shotgun much of the time, using a modified spread rushing offense. Kiseau is a high-energy guy, but he prefers the control of the West Coast Offense. Kiseau has openly said his offense will resemble that of California, where he coached under Jeff Tedford.

Strength: Running backs. Colorado has three pretty good ones, and two of those three are potential stars. Sophomores Darrell Scott and Rodney Stewart – the first is built like a bowling ball, while the second is a 5-7 scatback - are an effective 1-2 punch, and senior Demetrius Sumler is good around the goal line. The offensive line, while young, has the potential, later in 2009, to be CU’s best in years. Sophomore guards Ryan Miller and Blake Behrens are both all-league candidates over the next two years.

Weakness:There just no way around it: Cody Hawkins has been the worst starting quarterback over the last two years in the Big 12. He gets sacked a lot, his adjusted yards per attempt average is under five – which is anemic, among the nation’s worst – and he throws interceptions. He may be smart. He may be Dan Hawkins’ kid. But he is not a good passer, and there is no indication that the more mobile Tyler Hansen, who is recovering from a broken thumb, is ready to replace him. Hansen looked awful in a 40-31 loss to Nebraska – like he didn’t belong on the field.

Beyond that, CU will have to adjust to a new offense. It’s going to take time, and the front of the Big 12 schedule, which includes games at Texas and vs. Kansas and Missouri, will be a tough test.

Defense: 4-3
Coordinator: Brian Cabral, the longtime CU assistant who has lasted through four different head coaches. It speaks to his personality and his talent of getting a lot out of a little. After going through some rough patches in 2003 and 2004, his defenses have been pretty solid, considering the anemic nature of the CU offense under Hawkins.

Strength: Cabral is a linebackers coach at heart, and he’s always got a pretty good crew. No exception in 2009, as the team’s two leading tacklers, Shaun Mohler and Jeff Smart, both return. Jon Major, one of the nation’s recruits in 2008, redshirted last year, and may fill a starting role now. Also look for former NU commit Doug Rippy, a redshirt, to get some playing time. The secondary could be pretty good if two new safeties can support solid corners Cha’pelle Brown and Jimmy Smith.

Weakness:The defensive line was raided by graduation. Gone is George Hypolite, Brandon Nicolas and Maurice Lucas. That’s more than 100 tackles. You don’t just replace that in a few weeks of play, no matter how talented the replacements are. And there’s some evidence that they may not be as talented. Colorado will struggle to generate a pass rush without blitzing.

Special Teams The big weapon in the kickoff and punt return game, Josh Smith, is off working on his flow. Matt DiLallo wasn’t much of a punter for the alititude he kicks in (just a 34.0 net average) and Aric Goodman was positively awful at kicker last year, missing 9 of 14 attempts.

Intangibles: Colorado seems to play Nebraska well since Hawkins arrival – even that awful 2006 team hung with NU for a half - and that may color Huskers’ fans concern for the Buffs. In recent years, however, CU seems utterly flummoxed when playing Missouri. Hawkins is an emotional leader, and his teams tend to go into the Big 12 conference with some emotion. Then it hits a brick wall. There’s just a lot of bad voodoo around this joint in general. Hawkins is probably getting fired after this year. Then…expect a full push for Turner Gill.

Best-Case Scenario: It’s not 10 wins, that’s for sure. Maybe eight. CU isn’t going to sweep KU, NU and MU and it’s got no shot on the road at Okie State and Texas.

Worst-Case Scenario: The Buffs drop two before the Big 12, lose to Texas and Kansas, and Hawkins goes on execution watch. Colorado won’t mess around waiting for the Hawk to make it work. His offenses have stunk thus far. And it’s not all Gary Barnett’s fault for leaving the cupboard bare.

Our Take: We just don’t get Phil Steele’s vision here for picking CU No. 2 in the Big 12 North. While the Buffs might have a pretty good running game, it’d better be wondrous to account for a below-average passing game. On defense, Colorado’s small defensive line figures to get shoved around. We see four, five wins, depending on whether Iowa State upsets CU in Ames.

See other Big 12 Breakdowns: No. 12 ISU, No. 11 A&M, No. 10 CU, No. 9 BU, No. 8 KU, No. 7 KSU, No. 6 Texas Tech

Agree? Disagree?Tell us about it.

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Colorado isn’t exactly synonymous for “hospitality” when it comes to Nebraska football fans, who have seen the intensity when NU and CU get together the day after Thanksgiving and lived the horror stories after venturing into Folsom Field.

Add that to the contrasting landscapes, and Colorado and Nebraska sometimes seem like polar opposites.

Until you stumble down a Rocky Mountain trail and into a store that sells practically nothing but Husker gear, that is.

Big Red of the Rockies is doing just that in Estes Park, Colo. - a quaint mountain town of 6,268 people that gets about 3 million visitors per year, thanks to its skiing resorts.

Colorado may seem like an unlikely spot for a Husker shop, but there is enough support to fuel the business, which has been open for more than ten years.

Former Nebraska punter Jesse Kosch is the proud owner of Big Red of the Rockies and three national championship rings. One of the best punters in NU history – Kosch started for the 1995, 1996 and 1997 teams - he moved to Colorado in 2002 to live in the mountains and bought the store in 2006.

“It’s been fun,” Kosch said. “You meet people from all over the place,” Kosch said.

Originally from Columbus, Kosch took family vacations to Estes Park growing up and noticed Nebraska license plates all over the town. So he knew going in a lot of Nebraskans vacation and move to Colorado.

But what surprised him was the Husker fans that visit his store from other states.

“Those are the fun ones,” he said. “The (fans) with no ties to the state.”

Husker nation definitely has a pulse in Colorado.

Tim Carrothers, the president of Coloradans for Nebraska, said no similar association for Husker football in the country – including those in Lincoln and Omaha – share the popularity of the Colorado chapter.

More than 180,000 people saw at least one game at one of the six Coloradans for Nebraska watch parties last year, Carrothers said.

The organization also raises money for the NU scholarship fund and will be sending 24 Colorado high school students to the University of Nebraska next year.

Everybody remembers the bad stories, Carrothers said, like the one from 2005 when frustrated Colorado fans started launching trash onto their own field and the student sections had to be removed. But Coloradans for Nebraska have brought some respect to the rivalry, he said.

“We’re working with Colorado (alumni) chapters to kind of calm it down,” Carrothers said. “We want to bring both fan bases together to calm this thing down so it isn’t so nasty.”

Kosch still has to deal with being a Husker fan behind enemy lines. But it's not Buffalo fans who ridicule him the most.

“The doors are always open and there are always a few knuckleheads that yell,” Kosch said. “’They say ‘Go Sooners’ or ‘Go Longhorns’ more than anything.”

It’s important to have a place to get Husker gear when your living in Colorado said Katie McLeay, an Omaha native who recently graduated from Colorado State University.

McLeay has a boyfriend from Boulder, “and on game days or when I want to make (my boyfriend) mad I always put on my Nebraska sweatshirt.”

But more important than that, McLeay said she enjoyed running into people with Husker clothes on as she tried to get accustomed to living away from home. She said she remembered her roots, and always tried to say hello.

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Baylor at Wake Forest, Sept 5: Here’s an upset in favor of Baylor that, by the end of the year, won’t be an upset. The Demon Deacons are ripe for a fall in 2009, having to replace six of the back seven with a ton of unproven talent while an offense that’s never been all that good continues to sputter along. Baylor will have the better quarterback, the better defense and the better special teams.

Kansas at UTEP, Sept. 12: KU’s non-conference slate of Northern Colorado, Duke, UTEP and Southern Mississippi doesn’t seem tougher – but it is. Specifically, the game in El Paso against Mike Price’s best team should be a tough win to get. The Sun Bowl is at a higher elevation, UTEP has potent offense and 15 total returning starters. Good thing the Jayhawks will have one of the Big 12’s best secondaries.

Kansas State at UCLA, Sept. 19: Here’s one that goes in the Big 12’s favor. Most expect KSU to limp out to Pasadena, take its two-touchdown beating, and limp back home. Eh – don’t plan on it. For as much as Bill Snyder liked avoiding tough teams, his teams performed OK in the actual games against them. Beyond that, there’s no evidence that proves UCLA has resolved its quarterbacking issues. The Bruins have more flash, but we won’t be shocked if KSU comes away with a win.

Wyoming at Colorado, Sept. 19: At first glance, this seems like the easiest of CU’s four non-conference games. Maybe it will be. But Wyoming recently hired Missouri offensive coordinator Dave Christensen, who thoroughly humiliated the Buffaloes each of the last three seasons. And Wyoming should have a pretty good run defense with five of the front seven returning that gave up just 3.7 yards per carry last year. Just a hunch here, but we think the Cowboys put a big scare into the Buffaloes in Boulder.

Missouri at Nevada, Sept. 25: This game sets up nicely for the Wolf Pack; it’s on a Friday night, national TV, and the crowd in Reno should be jacked up. UNR has one of the nation’s better quarterbacks in dual threat Colin Kaepernick and, when it’s working, one of the nation’s toughest offenses to stop in the Pistol. But Missouri’s stronger and bigger, and should post at least 35 points on an awful Nevada defense, and probably more. If Mizzou’s offensive line comes to play, the Tigers should win.

Texas Tech at Houston, Sept. 26: Get ready for a track meet. Houston averaged 563 yards per game last year, and have all pertinent offensive pieces back, including quarterback Case Keenum, who threw for – wait for it – 5,020 yards and 44 touchdowns last year. The Cougars will have two weeks to prepare and Tech will still be breaking in two new safeties. Plus, the Red Raiders will be reeling from what we expect to be a pounding on Sept. 19 at the hands of Texas.

Southern Miss at Kansas, Sept. 26: The Jayhawks make a second entrance on this list in facing a Golden Eagle team that has 19 returning starters, a rising star of a head coach in Larry Fedora, and one of the nation’s better running backs in Damion Fletcher. USM is no stranger to giant killing, either. Expect this one to go down to the last minute.

Oklahoma at Miami (Fla), Oct. 3: On paper, OU is the better squad by two touchdowns. But the game is in Miami, where the Hurricanes are 8-1 vs. major non-conference foes in recent years. And this is the best Cane crop since 2005. In front of a full, hostile house at LandShark Stadium, this will be one of Sam Bradford’s toughest tests.


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Periodically throughout the summer, we'll be offering some insights on the national college football scene, both through our burning questions, and through top and bottom five lists.

See the entire archive here.

Today: Five Known Coaches on the Hot Seat

Steve Spurrier, South Carolina: We’ve already chronicled the Ol Ball Coach’s team as one of those ready to take a tumble, and we think Spurrier’s ripe for a year-round stint on the golf course, too.

Speaking of golf, imagine the SEC as the lounge of a semi-swank country club. These are football coaches, after all. Their tastes aren’t that refined.

See that guy in the Tiger Woods gear, with the shades perched on his gelled tips, gritting his teeth over the two bogeys he made during his scratch round? That’s Urban Meyer. The guy in the corner, bleating loudly into his cell phone? Lane Kiffin. The guy hitting on the cart girl as she reloads beer? Houston Nutt. The guy at the snack counter debating whether he should splurge for the frozen Snickers? Mark Richt. The guy getting the biggest laughs in the room, half in the bag and ready to play nine more? Les Miles. The small, Napoleonic club pro who’s straightening the sleeves of Titlelists in the next room? Nick Saban.

Steve Spurrier is the guy over by the TV, dressed in a four-year-old Antigua polo with the three-quarter sleeves and pleated slacks, hair stuck to his forehead by sweat, thumbing through year-old Golf Digests trying to “Reclaim Your Putting Stroke!”

His humor isn’t funny anymore. His offense is no longer on the cutting edge. And, most importantly, he doesn’t coach Florida anymore. The SEC is now either a younger man’s game, that of a borderline pigskin sociopath like Saban or whatever they do at Kentucky and Vandy. Spurrier is none of those things. Either he heads for the Pac 10, or he flings that visor into the sunset.

Dennis Erickson, Arizona State: Boy, the Sun Devils sure were smart to run Bruce Snyder out of town, huh? Erickson’s not an awful coach, per se; we just wonder if he’s been so many places and coached so many teams that he can really be invested in the long-term success of ASU. His teams, talented enough, don’t play like it.

Bobby Bowden, Florida State: It’s a little sad what’s happened to this kind, funny coach. He could have walked away so many times. Why’d he stay in the game, fielding mediocre teams full of miscreants and cheaters? Bowden hasn’t had a decent quarterback in nearly a decade – FSU QBs haven’t completed 60 percent of their passes in a season for the last eight years – his offensive lines have been abysmal, his receivers lightning rods for the wasted talent bug.

Dan Hawkins, Colorado: The “Hawk” hasn’t turned a buck in Boulder, and he’s been saddled with the decision of recruiting his own son, Cody Hawkins, to play the team’s quarterback. Now, let’s be clear: Cody Hawkins isn’t a bad quarterback. He’s not a charity case. This isn’t nepotism. But he can only take this team so far, and it should not be a coincidence that CU has struggled to land a top-flight QB in Daddy Hawkins’ tenure at CU.

As long as Cody Hawkins is the QB, Colorado doesn’t win 10 games. The Buffs may not win six this year. And, if Dan Hawkins really means “no excuses,” it’ll be time for the CU administration to flush.

Mike Sherman, Texas A&M: Absolutely not kidding with this one. While we expect the Aggies to get off to a 3-0 start, we don’t expect them to win more than two games from that point forward. And if A&M loses to Iowa State and finishes on a 7/8-game losing streak, you’ll see Bill Byrne, who is typically reluctant, pulling the trigger. It’s not like he’s Mr. Popular down in College Station at this very moment. And if A&M were to lose to, say UAB? Immediate execution watch. The Aggie faithful won’t put up with it. And there are plenty of good candidates right in the Big 12 (ahem, Shawn Watson?) from which to choose.

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If we had to pick one word to summarize Nebraska’s 40-31 win over Colorado it’d be this: Whew!

NU kept a lot of irons in the fire when Alex Henery made that 57-yard field goal and Ndamukong Suh returned an interception for a touchdowns. A New Year’s Day Bowl? Still alive? Nine wins are still a possibility. Crucial momentum for next spring is still intact. And the bitter taste pill stayed on the shelf.

Was a win like this over CU better than a blowout? For sheer entertainment value, sure, yes, of course. In time, coaches and players will probably savor it more, too. In the short term, it gives NU a lot to fix during bowl practice and lot to chew on for 2009.

We’ll get to the season review and all the superlatives later this week. For now, the Colorado review.

Five Players We Loved

Sophomore kicker Alex Henery: Henery could be vying for a national championship on Creighton’s soccer team right now. Instead, he’s saving Nebraska’s hide against Colorado and setting himself up for a potential NFL career. The kid can kick. Parents: This is a prime example of why you let your kids play more than one sport.

Sophomore running back Roy Helu, Jr: Helu’s a keeper, especially out of the shotgun, where he has just the amount of patience and aggression to run the zone read effectively. Roy’s a tricky one to tackle.

Junior defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh: Just a beast of a football player and a gifted athlete for a guy his size. He could be special in the NFL. He has all the tools, and he’s added the attitude and effort in 2008.

Senior defensive end Zach Potter: His hands are like tennis rackets this season. Two more deflections turn into interceptions. Potter now carries himself like a player who knows he can dominate his opposition.

Senior defensive tackle Ty Steinkuhler: A total scrapper who played one of his best games on Senior Day. His sack of Cody Hawkins in the fourth quarter was as important as any play in the game aside from Henery’s kick.

Three Concerns We Still Have:

Hello, McFly? First quarter? Nebraska seems uniquely ill-equipped on defense on the first couple drives, as week after week teams have burned the Huskers for big plays. What is that about? Shall in continue in the bowl game?

Special teams roulette wheel: Spin and see what you win! Or lose! NU needs to tighten up its kickoff coverage schemes in the offseason. And no more fancy fakes. Please.

No raw jets: The Huskers have a lot of athletic, slippery skill guys. But, other than a developing Helu, they lack a true home run hitter – a guy you absolutely have to account for on every passing or running play. Without Joe Ganz next season, NU better find a way to get more speed on the field. Pat Witt and Zac Lee aren’t going to have Ganz’s command of the offense or sixth sense on the scramble.

Reviewing The Five Keys

Play Not to Lose: You know, Colorado did just that after coming out the gate with three big plays on two drives and a wide receiver pass. In the second half, CU retreated into a shell of running the same counter sweeps, quarterback draws and combo routes it had run in the first half. The Buffaloes had 104 yards in the second half. That won’t beat many teams.

Fire In the Hull: CU did a fair job of protecting its two quarterbacks until, again, the second half, when NU’s front four simply overwhelmed Colorado’s line and caused all kinds of trouble for Hawkins, who played most of the game.

Tricky: Nebraska was indeed fooled by CU on the first couple drives, then the Huskers settled in and did a solid job of shutting down the Buffs.

Blood Boiling: Nebraska offensive lineman Matt Slauson was presented with the game ball after the win by head coach Bo Pelini, and you have to think that’s in part because beating CU meant so much to him. Still, Colorado’s players gave Nebraska everything they had – maybe the CU coaches could have given a little more – and showed that the Buffaloes are hardly irrelevant in the Big 12. Down, maybe. Not irrelevant.

Senior Day: A sophomore delivered the Huskers’ seniors an unforgettable win, but those seniors – Ganz, Steinkuhler, Potter, Slauson – were a big reason why NU won eight games this year instead of five or six. NU had to battle adversity in a number of its wins this year – Baylor, Kansas, CU – and without those seniors to keep things steady, who knows how things might have been different.

Three Questions We Have

Whither Bowl? The smart money is on the Gator Bowl, which would select Nebraska over a presumed four-loss Missouri in a hot minute. It would get a little more interesting if Mizzou upset Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship, though. Presuming the Holiday selects Oklahoma (it would), would the Gator roll the dice with OSU, or call Nebraska’s number?

And if Oklahoma wins – would the Holiday even think to ask Nebraska over Oklahoma State? Well, the 1998 Holiday Bowl was one of the most successful in the game’s history…

Still – smart money is on the Gator Bowl against Florida State or Georgia Tech. Tech would be a particularly cool opponent, given its option offense.

Which QB – if any – emerges during bowl practice? Pat Witt or Zac Lee? Lee, by all reports, has closed the gap. He has the speed and athleticism to run the zone read more effectively than Witt, but Witt is reported to be the more accurate passer and more natural in-the-huddle leader. Now that Lee has a clear shot at the job, will he turn up the heat?

Can Bo Pelini and staff score some recruiting coups over the next month? It’s time for Bo’s bunch to capitalize on a successful season and the possible firing of Notre Dame’s Charlie Weis, which could many of ND’s top recruits back in play (and, well, Florida’s, because ND would try to hand Urban Meyer as much money as possible to coach in South Bend). Can the Huskers get two wide receivers, another safety, another running back and maybe another defensive end? Can the star recruiters Tim Beck and Mike Ekeler land a big fish? Can Pelini walk into some kid’s home, look him in the eye, and close him on the Nebraska Way?

Check out the best NU offensive plays of 2008!

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Player of the game: Kicker Alex Henery. Has to be right?



Best offensive play: Joe Ganz's 53-yard touchdown pass to Mike McNeill in the first quarter. Good fake, good route, good throw, good catch.



Worst offensive play: Since a field goal is officially attempted or faked by the offense, the ugliest fake field goal in the history of fake field goals. By the way - terrific commenatary about this play on the ABC broadcast, where Ron Franklin and Ed Cunningham made the argument that Henery moved too quickly, and rendered holder Jake Wesch "down" because he was kneeling as Henery began to move. Henery tipped off CU cornerback Jimmy Smith to the play and Smith stepped in and intercepted the ball. But should the booth have overturned and reversed the play?



Best defensive play: Ndamukong Suh's interception return for a touchdown was dramatic, but we're going to go with a play just before that, when Lance Thorell tipped away a Cody Hawkins pass that would have put the Buffs in field goal range.



Worst defensive play: Take your pick between CU's first two touchdowns. Both were breakdown of a colossal nature.



GRADES:


Quarterback: C Ganz was not at his best, clearly frustrated by Colorado's deep Cover 2 zone. Ganz took a couple awful snaps, lost a fumble, and generally seemed out of sync. Credit CU for a smart gameplan that mixed up blitzes with three-man rushes.


Running back: B+ Roy Helu, Jr. was terrific: Tough, elusive, patient, exciting. He's become quite a player over the last month. Quentin Castille was OK. He still needs work, and he runs with a forward lean too often.



Offensive Line/Tight Ends: B+ Colorado dared Nebraska to run, and the blocking corps were up to the challenge. Two of the four Colorado sacks weren't the line's fault, and tight end Mike McNeill continues to be a pass-catching threat. He could have squeezed that ball right before Henery's long kick, though.



Receivers: C CU took the these guys out of the game to some extent, relegating them to short and intermediate routes. Menelik Holt's false penalty cost NU a touchdown.



Defensive Line: A Awesome, again, especially in the second half. Zach Potter, Ndamukong Suh, Ty Steinkuhler and Pierre Allen all made plays. Steinkuhler fought like a soldier all day. Potter's hands act as tennis rackets on the field.



Linebackers: C Not great, but Tyler Wortman, Blake Lawrence and Colton Koehler generally filled lanes and stopped long runs. CU rarely tested NU's coverage abilities after the first quarter.



Secondary: C- The hits just keep on coming, don't they? To NU's credit, Colorado never hit a deep ball after its first two passes of the game. But those two passes helped CU build a 14-0 lead. On a positive note...Rickey Thenarse seemed to have his best game in run support.



Kickers/Special Teams C Outside of Henery's kicks, Nebraska's special teams play wasn't very good, frankly. Bad kickoff coverage, the botched fake field goal. NU's special teams is pretty much like a box of chocolates. Good thing the last chocolate was the caramel, huh?



Coaching/Game Management: C- Arguably as shaky as it's been since the Missouri game. Why was Nebraska in a dime defense to start the game, only to have a tight end go 68 yards down the field uncovered? On offense, Shawn Watson's playcalling was a little spotty in the red zone, if solid overall. And if Marlon Lucky is out, isn't there some way to get Marcus Mendoza on the field in certain situations instead of Quentin Castille? Mendoza is the team's fastest player. There has to be some kind of package for the guy, right? Do we really want to know how that throwback pass Castille intended to throw to Ganz was going to turn out?

We won't mention the fake field goal again. After this.


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In the honor of Friday's classic, we bring you, in our estimation, the five best NU-CU games in the history of the rivalry.


1. 1999: Nebraska 33 Colorado 30 OT A doozy that featured one of the ten best NU teams in history - and the only Big 12 Champion - against a Colorado team fighting for bowl position. The Huskers staked a huge 27-3 in the third quarter until, by their own admission, they hit the wall, and Colorado stormed back to the tie the game late in the fourth quarter. Then NU fumbled inside CU's 10, CU missed a field goal as regulation expired and Nebraska won with a touchdown in the extra frame. Some still believe that Colorado's comeback cost Nebraska a shot at the national title instead of undefeated Virginia Tech.



2. 1989: Colorado 27 Nebraska 21 No. 2 vs. No. 3 in a game played on the highest of levels by everybody but the referees, who handed CU a touchdown on a phantom pass interference call. The Huskers scored the game's first play, the Buffs answered with one of the coolest option plays ever and the teams tangled until the final gun, when Nebraska's hail mary fell incomplete in the end zone (yes, we remember Gerry Gdowski was over the line of the scrimmage on the play).




3. 2000: Nebraska 34 Colorado 32. Eric Crouch, Bobby Newcombe and Josh Brown save the day against a CU team one year away from being great. Trailing 32-31 with less than a minute to go, Crouch hit Newcombe twice on the sidelines and Brown nailed a field goal as time expired.




4. 2008: Nebraska 40 Colorado 31 You just saw it, and it was pretty darn sweet.



5. 1996: Nebraska 17 Colorado 12 One of the nastiest, hardest-hitting games Memorial Stadium has ever witnessed on a cold, wet day for the Big 12 North title. Each team had only one loss, and NU's defense, against a potent, versatile Buff offense led by Koy Detmer, made one big play after another to seal the win.


Check out our game photos - use them for your computer wallpaper!

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It was, frankly, a perfect day to watch college football. Cold clear, and suited for the sweatshirt instead of the parka.

Here's our photos - enjoy!

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Here's video of Alex Henery's 57-yard field goal against Colorado, the longest field goal in NU history.



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So we were 58 minutes into Nebraska v. Colorado, and the Buffs were one longshot field goal try away from sucking the air right out of Memorial Stadium and the wind right from the sails of NU’s winning streak. At that moment, the Cornhuskers had played one of their sloppiest games of the year on a true national stage, with very few football teams vying for the viewer’s attention.

Any casual college football lover who tuned in to see if Nebraska was “back with Bo” saw the ghosts of Bill Callahan: Bizarre, inexplicable defensive busts. The perfectly ill-timed trick play on special teams. The bewildering habit of taking the hot running back out of the game right when he’s needed most. The inexcusable sack.

Yep, the sirens were ready to whoop whoop whoop from Omaha to Scottsbluff.

But you already know the best antidote for criticism: A miracle.

Hello, Alex Henery, the kid who laced a 57-yard field goal and saved NU from a weekend-long riot act. Call it the Kick Heard Round Nebraska. There’s never been one bigger – and there may never be one longer – than that one.

“I don’t think it’s set in,” Henery said.

Based on Henery’s reaction in the post-game press conference – he quaintly equated the greatest kick in Nebraska football history with a goal he’d scored in high school club soccer – yeah, it’s safe to say he didn’t exactly grasp the magnitude of it.

Here’s how big that boot was:

*Henery’s kick might have just landed him on the All Big 12 team. Maybe not the first team – that will probably go to Missouri’s Jeff Wolfert. But you tell us who else in the league won a game this year with their foot. We’ll wait awhile.

*It saved Senior Day for a bunch of guys who deserved to be sent out the right way, especially quarterback Joe Ganz and defensive end Zach Potter, who sustained a terrific effort all year, but especially turned it on after the Missouri game.

“I wish it was a little easier,” Ganz said, “but it kind of sums up my career and the careers of these seniors, getting a win like that. I'm just so glad we could go out winners, instead of going out the other way. Especially the way things ended last year, this year, I didn't want to leave that bitter taste in my mouth."

Ganz set the single-season passing yardage record Friday, and it wouldn’t have felt quite the same if NU hadn’t closed the deal against CU.

*Bo Pelini narrowly escaped a trip through wringer on the call-in shows for that fake field goal play. He admitted it was a “boneheaded” call, and honesty is one of the great virtues of this coach, but it was the kind of decision that would have followed him, and this team, throughout the offseason.

And, no it doesn’t matter that it was a fake field goal pass. The flip from Jake Wesch to Alex Henery was the same flip from three weeks ago. Of course Colorado knew it was coming.

*It preserved Roy Helu, Jr’s terrific performance, the best of his young career. Colorado played a deep cover two, guarding against the pass – one of the first teams to employ that strategy against NU this year – and it fell to Helu to make the runs in the zone read game. And he came through, getting stronger as the game progressed despite taking some big shots from CU defenders.

So why was he removed nearly every single time the Huskers moved inside the 20-yard line for Quentin Castille, who’s not nearly the runner, short yardage or otherwise, that Helu is? It’s not that Castille is a bad player – he brings some strengths to the table. It’s that, in the running game, Helu does the extra little things so right. To stick Castille back there in the red zone where Colorado is supposedly so stingy just didn’t wash. Thankfully, Helu’s great effort wasn’t wasted.

*It bailed out Nebraska’s linebackers and secondary, which continue to struggle in the first quarter. Colorado is not an explosive offense; in fact, it’s exceedingly conservative, as proven by a second half performance in which the Buffs practically crawled into a shell. But CU sure looked like an offensive juggernaut in the first five minutes. Can it be explained? Why do the Huskers routinely need a couple drives to adjust to what an offense is doing? Are mental busts as astonishing as the ones Nebraska committed on the first two drives common in the 12th game of the year?

*It put NU in the Gator Bowl driver’s seat. What a terrific roll of the dice for the Big Red, to get a shot at New Year’s Day, potentially against a name team like Florida State. New Year’s has been so watered down because of the BCS that a spot on that day is even more exclusive than it once was. It’s a recruiting opportunity, for certain, a chance to catch the eye of some big-name prospect looking to shake things up late in the process.

*It gave the Memorial Stadium crowd a much-needed jolt of electricity. Dunno about you, but the old joint didn’t always seem too alive in 2008. Maybe it was left over from 2007. Maybe it was the students getting shoved to the top of South Stadium. Whatever it was, the empty seats – all over the place – during an exciting, important Kansas game were a little unfortunate.

No such thing happened Friday. The seats were packed. The crowd made a visible difference in the second half. And when Henery’s kicker cleared the uprights, the stadium sounded like, well, the old days. And it felt good.

Funny, what a soccer player from Burke can do.




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Enjoy our football photos from the Nebraska-Colorado game.

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On the press release leading up to every Nebraska football game this season, there has been a headline stating “Say Helu to Roy.” After NU’s come-from-behind victory against Colorado Friday afternoon, No. 10 might need to be saying “Helu” to the national spotlight.

The sophomore from Danville, Calif. put on yet another show, this time against the Buffaloes, racking up 166 rushing yards – and 215 total yards on his way to a career day. Helu did this all in the absence of regular starter Marlon Lucky.

“I knew I was going to be a big factor carry wise and moving the ball,” Helu said. “Offensively, I think we are rolling with confidence. We just need to focus on what we can do individually and handle our own assignments.”

“Marlon didn’t practice all week,” Nebraska Coach Bo Pelini said. “He was nicked up enough, and bottom line is when you don’t practice around here, it’s hard to play.”

Helu became one of the few constants in a game that went back and forth throughout. In fact, Helu’s spotlight may have come in the drive that eventually led to Alex Henery’s game winner.

With just 4:35 left in the game, the Huskers trailed CU 31-30 and stood on their own 26-yard-line. With NU being inconsistent offensively throughout most of the game, very few knew which Nebraska offense was about to take the field. Luckily for the Huskers, however, Helu, Jr. had something to do with it.

After completing an eight-yard pass to receiver Todd Peterson, all Nebraska quarterback Joe Ganz had to do was hand the ball off to Helu who ran the ball 41 yards down the field in the next two plays. Before anybody knew it, NU was standing on Colorado’s 25-yard-line with 2:40 left.

Henery went on to make a career-long and history-breaking 57-yard field goal to put NU up for good, but it was Helu who was the one that knew he had to put the team in that position.

Most would assume Helu would pass with flying colors against the Buffs, but it didn’t come without a little hardship. Near the end of the third quarter, Helu found himself on the sideline more as fellow sophomore Quentin Castille began picking up some of the workload.

At one point, Nebraska offensive coordinator Shawn Watson called three straight plays for Castille. Helu said sitting on the sideline was due to a couple of things, mainly being a little dinged up and Castille having the hot hand in that situation.

“It was a little bit of both,” Helu, Jr. said. “Some of the things were that, but other times it was personnel with (Ndamukong) Suh going in. It was a little bit of both.”



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Dan Hawkins had no opening statement following Colorado’s 40-31 loss at Nebraska.

The Buffaloes ended their season just as quietly, missing out on postseason play for the second time in three years.

The CU coach hopes the unpleasant experience will be enough to spark the program to bigger and better days in the future. After all, he noted, Kansas went to a BCS bowl in 2007 after missing out altogether a season earlier. Past Colorado teams have had similar experiences.

“It’s not fatal by any means,” Hawkins said. “I think to some degree you can use it as a little fuel in the offseason.”

Early on, it didn’t look like the Buffaloes would have to worry about how to spend December. They rolled up 148 yards on their first four plays from scrimmage – with the first being for no gain – and turned the production into a 14-0 advantage.

Colorado would earn 143 offensive yards the rest of the game.


On the second play of the game’s opening drive, CU quarterback Cody Hawkins roped a pass down the middle of the field to wideout Riar Greer for a 68-yard touchdown. Following a Nebraska punt, Hawkins completed a 44-yard bomb to wideout Josh Smith. Running back Demetrius Sumler then found the end zone from 36 yards out on the next play – a career long run – sprinting down the left sideline.

“We were definitely moving the ball,” Sumler said. “Coaches had them dialed in and we were executing.”

Hawkins the coach said one of the team’s goals was to start quickly, particularly being on the road.

Mission accomplished. Unfortunately for CU, it couldn’t keep up the early momentum.

Despite struggling to move the ball for the rest of the half, the Buffs went into halftime tied 24-24 after cornerback Jimmy Smith grabbed a fake field goal pitch from Nebraska holder Jake Wesch and scrambled 58 yards for the score.

Smith said the play – which coaches prepared him for in practice – would have been the turning point had Colorado won. Instead, he said, that honor had to go to Alex Henery and his school-record 57-yard field goal that put NU ahead in the final minutes.

“It’s sad we didn’t really play well,” Smith said. “The seniors were crying – obviously it was their last game. For most of them it was their last snap of football.”

A lot of the emotion was a spillover from the last two weeks, Hawkins the quarterback said. Though the Buffaloes didn’t make much noise publicly about playing Nebraska, he said the team was plenty excited about the rivalry matchup and getting to the postseason.

Instead, all Hawkins saw after the game was “a lot of upset dudes.”

One silver lining for the Buffs was they put up the most points since laying 31 on Eastern Washington in early September. Their 24 points at halftime were the most since collecting the same total against Nebraska in a win last season.


If nothing else, it was enough for Hawkins the coach to say he’s never been prouder of any of his teams in three years at Colorado.

“It’s going to be hard to sit there and watch (the bowl season),” Sumler said. “But it’s going to give us some motivation just to come out here and work harder and make sure that don’t ever happen again.”



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With less than two minutes to go, Nebraska’s football team trailed Colorado 31-30, and had fourth-and-25 at CU’s 40-yard line. It might as well have been fourth-and-a-prayer.

Good thing sophomore kicker Alex Henery was there to answer it.

In the one of the wildest finishes in the NU-CU rivalry, sophomore Henery, who proudly wore an Omaha Burke shirt in the post-game press conference, nailed a school-record 57-yard goal – arguably the greatest, most clutch kick in Nebraska football history - to take a 33-31 lead over the Buffaloes. Then junior defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, capping off a brilliant season, returned an interception for a touchdown in a wild 40-31 victory Friday.

Nebraska won its eighth game and likely secured a berth in the Gator Bowl. Colorado went home with a losing season blank, stunned faces after playing its best game of the year.

“All I remember is hitting the ball,” an almost sheepish Henery said. “And I don’t remember much after that. I don’t remember watching it go through. I was pretty sure I made it. I felt like I hit the ball real well and it was on target.”

Head coach Bo Pelini had called a timeout before the kick to discuss his options. Going for it wasn’t much of one. And kickoff specialist Adi Kunalic, who has a booming leg, wasn’t much either, considering he hadn’t kicked many field goals in 2008. So it came down to Henery, who had made 10 of 13 field goals coming into the game and had easily made his first three attempts, all inside 40 yards.

Pelini approached the kicker and asked Henery if he could make it. Henery wasn’t sure initially.

“I’ll admit I was a little iffy on the yardage,” Henery said. “I knew it was long.”

Then Henery walked around for a minute. Pelini returned.

“I just wanted him to look me in the face and tell me he felt he had it in him,” Pelini said.

Henery told Pelini “I’ve been hitting pretty good today, Coach. I got it.” And so he did, clearing the uprights by at least three yards. Henery took off toward the end zone, and was mobbed around the 30-yard line.

“It doesn’t surprise me,” Pelini said. “That guy’s a stud.”

If Henery’s kick wasn’t a shock, most of what transpired in front of 85,319 fans at Memorial Stadium was. CU staked a 14-0 lead less than five minutes into the contest, hung tough through the first, got the gift to end all gifts on a botched fake field goal by NU, and nearly stole the game in the fourth quarter. Nebraska outgained the Buffaloes 407-291, had 10 more first downs, 29 more plays and nearly doubled Colorado in time of possession.

But CU had the edge in big plays, scoring on a 68-yard pass from quarterback Cody Hawkins to tight end Riar Greer on the game’s second play, and putting together a two-play, 80-yard touchdown drive – capped off by Demetrious Sumler’s 36-yard sweep around left end – shortly thereafter.

“I was like ‘Are you kidding me?” Suh said.

Nope. Nebraska answered with two touchdowns of its own – a two-yard Joe Ganz pass to Nate Swift and a 53-yard Ganz connection with tight end Mike McNeill, working against single coverage – and settled in for the long fight. The Huskers then handed CU a touchdown right before halftime, as Pelini called a fake field goal pass in which holder Jake Wesch was supposed to flip the ball backwards to Henery, who would then throw downfield.


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Josh Wolfe/Statepaper

Ndamukong Suh on his interception return.
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Cornerback Jimmy Smith intercepted the flip, though, and raced 58 yards for a touchdown to send the game into half at a 24-all tie.

“I felt the game changed when I made that call,” Pelini said. “I’m a grown man, and I made a mistake. I got greedy at that point…it would have been hard for me to live with that.”

In the second half, NU repeatedly shot itself in the foot once it reached the red zone, settling for two field goals and fumbling away more points when Ganz and sophomore running back Quentin Castille collided. CU’s single, 64-yard touchdown drive – the only drive longer than six plays for the Buffs – looked like it was going to hold up, thanks to bend-but-don’t break defense and Hawkins’ crafty play.

“Our guys battled, scrapped, they gave it everything they had, not an inch left,” Colorado Coach Dan Hawkins said.

NU’s final offensive drive started with promise, as sophomore running Roy Helu, Jr. – who rushed for a career-high 166 yards on 25 carries, had consecutive runs of 16 and 25 yards to reach CU’s 25 yard line. After a run for no gain on first down offensive coordinator Shawn Watson called a playaction pass intended to score a touchdown. Ganz faked to Helu, rolled to his right, and was promptly stuffed for a 15-yard loss.

“They called the perfect blitz,” Ganz said.

Said Watson: “I can help Joe more on that play. I could make a better call. It’s my mistake. I fix it.”

It left NU with third-and-25. McNeill dropped a perfectly thrown pass from Ganz through his legs, which forced Pelini to call on Henery.

“I kinda got a seat behind him to tell and gauge,” Ganz said. “As soon as he kicked it, I thought it was in.”

“I was praying – a lot,” senior offensive guard Matt Slauson said. “It was do-or-die time…and it was perfect.”

Pelini’s thought after the make: Stop CU, which still had more than 90 seconds to drive the field and make a kick of its own.

Not a problem. Senior defensive end Zach deflected his second Hawkins pass of the day, and Suh caught the ball at the 30, sprinted down the left sideline, and encountered Hawkins inside the 10. Go down? No way. Suh stiff-armed Hawkins and tumbled into the end zone, touching off a celebration inside Memorial Stadium that was even louder than the one after Henery’s field goal.

“I was going to carry him into that end zone if I had to,” Suh said.

Said Pelini: “He thinks he’s Walter Payton.”

So ended a game that Pelini figured Nebraska was due to win, considering NU lost games vs. Virginia Tech and Texas Tech in similar, dramatic fashion.

“I told the team after the game it was fitting that we won that way,” Pelini said. “They’ve showed resolve all year. They showed character. They look adversity in the eye and they keep coming back.”





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We'll provide updates each quarter of the game...

Pre-game update: Senior Day intros go quite, with players being introduced in numerical order, running across the north side of the field, and greeting their parents.

Joe Ganz, unsurprisingly, got the biggest cheers of all seniors. Marlon Lucky and Nate Swift were close, though. NU Coach Bo Pelini seemed to enjoy the introductions of Zach Potter and Ty Steinkuhler the most, however.

Colorad seemingly has 10 different uniforms. Today, it's all white for the Buffs.


3:16: Hellooooo fireworks! Colorado lands a Rocky-like haymaker to start the game against Nebraska. The Huskers answer back.


It’s another wild NU-CU game.


On the second play of the game, Cody Hawkins faked to running back Demetrius Sumler, then hit wide open tight end Riar Greer for a 68-yard touchdown just one minute in the game. Greer slipped behind walk-on defensive back Lance Thorell, caught the ball around midfield and outraced safety Rickey Thenarse to the end zone.


After Nebraska punted, Colorado took two plays to go 80 yards and score its second touchdown. Hawkins hit receiver Josh Smith on a go route for 44 yards. On the next play, CU faked a wide receiver sweep and Hawkins handed off to Sumler on a counter. There wasn’t a Husker to be found, as Sumler swept around the left end untouched, 36 yards to the end zone. Before the game was five minutes old, CU led 14-0.
NU answered with a textbook nine-play, 64-yard drive that featured a healthy dose of Roy Helu, Jr. Helu touched the ball on 7 of 9 plays and accounted for 51 yards. NU quarterback Joe Ganz finished off the drive with a two-yard touchdown to Nate Swift.


Then the Huskers tied the game on a 53-yard touchdown pass from Ganz to tight end Mike McNeill, which gave Ganz the single season passing yardage record. NU caught CU in a blitz, and McNeill was isolated one-on-one with weakside linebacker Shaun Mohler, who couldn’t keep up.


Nebraska ended the quarter with a Tyler Wortman interception of Hawkins, whose pass was batted in the air by Zach Potter.
General impressions: CU’s playing with nothing to lose and one hell of a gameplan: Attack NU’s secondary early and often and try to confuse the Huskers’ inexperienced back seven. It’s really working. The Buffaloes aren’t have to expose their young offensive line much, and asking NU’s secondary to make a truly big play is a bit like asking a fat kid to swear off cake.

CU isn't going to stop taking chances, either. A wide receiver very nearly failed to work for a big gain inside NU's 20-yard line.

Nebraska, meanwhile, can run and pass the ball as it pleases.


3:59: NU and CU traded field goals in the second quarter before Nebraska embarked on an old-school, 12-play, 64-yard drive that featured nine running plays. Helu got the bulk of the work, but Quentin Castille finished off the drive with a one-yard plunge.


Then it got even crazier.


Nebraska recovered a fumbled kickoff at CU’s 36-yard line, but was unable to move the ball. NU lined up for a field goal attempt, but it was a fake, as Jake Wesch attempted to flip the ball over the shoulder to kicker Alex Henery. Wesch’s pass was intercepted by Colorado cornerback Jimmy Smith, who raced 58 yards for a touchdown.


It was a huge error on NU’s part, which gave up a certain 24-17 halftime lead because of it.


General impressions: Nebraska’s getting much too cute with Colorado; NU has an obvious advantage in the trenches, but has tried to many fancy and/or trick plays in the first half.
Colorado has five first downs and 24 points. That’s how you know Nebraska’s playing sloppy football.



4:51: We go to the fourth, and Colorado leads Nebraska 31-27. NU only managed a field goal on its first drive of the third quarter, while Colorado converted a long third down at midfield and scored on a fourth down play at NU’s 4 to surge ahead.



Nebraska starts the fourth at CU’s 19-yard line, where it’s
second and 12. Colorado has been good at limiting Ganz’s scrambling by employing a 3 and 4 man rush and dropping plenty of Buffs into coverage. Helu’s been terrific, but he’s been taken out when NU gets inside the 20-yard-line for Quentin Castille, who just isn’t as effective.

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We know you're ready to head out for Black Friday before Nebraska makes it a Red Friday, so we'll make it short and sweet.


CU simply doesn't have the weapons or the home crowd to ruin NU's day. The Buffs stay home for the holidays, and the Huskers cement that Gator Bowl birth.


Nebraska 27 Colorado 10

Let's hear your guesses.

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(Above: Ndamuking Suh)




Now that you’ve enjoyed your turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and green bean casserole, here’s five keys to Colorado for dessert.



Play Not to Lose: If CU has a game plan against any team with more talent and experience – and that’s just about any team in the Big 12 at this point – it’s to lie on the ropes, absorb the big blows, make stops in the red zone and chew clock. If nothing else, it shows that CU coach Dan Hawkins is actually a responsible guy, and not so caught up in dropping 28 garbage points on the board so as to sell his football team up the river. That’s why Hawkins will have his job next year, and Ron Prince will not.



Colorado takes care of the ball, keeps it smart on offense and hopes for a break or two. Then it asks its defense – decent, actually, for all the pressure put on it – to get turnovers and hold teams to field goals.



“They’re real stingy,” NU quarterback Joe Ganz said. “I think the one thing that sticks out to you is how stingy they are in the red zone and how they are able to limit teams to field goals. That’s one of our big keys this week is once we get into the red zone we have to score touchdowns. We can’t let them hold us to field goals.”



Fire in the Hull: Expect CU’s inexperienced, injury-riddled line to yell that often to the Buffaloes’ two quarterbacks, Cody Hawkins and Tyler Hansen. Nebraska’s generated a terrific pass rush in its last two games with just its solid front four, and there’s no reason for that to change on Friday. If CU can protect reasonably, the Buffs can execute some of their more complicated combo routes. They can also get the zone read game going.



But if NU’s defensive front four dominates as expected, Colorado has to devise a maximum protection scheme simply to move the ball. And that’s never a good recipe for success.



Tricky: Or so says Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini – and his defensive coordinator brother Carl Pelini – about CU’s offense, which features the aforementioned two quarterbacks, one of whom, Hansen, is a pretty skilled runner and will have his name called for draws, counters and the like. Pay close attention, because this is the direction Hawkins would prefer to head in down the line: Texas A&M’s offense for a stretch under Dennis Franchione.



“They do a lot offensively,” Pelini said. “When you go back over the course of the season, they kind of have a flavor of the day, a little bit different personnel groupings they feature week-to-week. You have to be ready for a lot, prepare for a lot and see what they choose to feature on a particular day. They show a lot of ingenuity on the offensive side of the ball.”



Blood Boiling: A little trash talk earlier this week between Nebraska and Colorado – and it was started by NU players – isn’t a new thing in this rivalry, and it’s not all that surprising. These teams don’t like each other, and haven’t had any cause to in the last 25 years. Other than last year’s bizarre anomaly of a game, NU-CU is generally a hard-hitting, hard-charging affair, regardless of the records. In fact, Colorado’s played some of its better games in Lincoln and Boulder when it had little to lose.



Pay close attention Friday to the personal foul flags. Let’s see how much the Big 12 refs allow this game to get chippy. Since Big 12 Zeebs are the most overbearing in college football – six teams don’t end up in the bottom 40 nationally in penalties by total accident –expect yellow to be a fashionable color. Interesting to see if Nebraska pulls it in a little on Friday or tees off on a Buffalo team NU players seem to dislike more than we thought.



Senior Day: Ganz already admitted it be tough for him to reign in the emotions. He also said that NU had a few special plays cooked up just for Colorado. Like any team, Nebraska would like senior day to end with a victory and some fun.



But Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini is not to let anything get in the way of a win. Just on Thursday, he said “family is great, but when it’s time to work it’s to work.” If NU struggles at all in the first half, watch the cute stuff go back on the shelf. This is not – I repeat, not – a game Nebraska even wants to think about losing.

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Here's photos from the Nebraska's football team's trip to Madonna Rehabilitation Center the day before Thanksgiving.


Check out our accompanying Husker Heroes story!

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Nebraska suffered a little football fever at the beginning of Thursday’s practice, NU head coach Bo Pelini said. In preparation for Friday’s game vs. Colorado, the Cornhuskers were “a little bit looser than I would have liked to have been.”



“Sometimes as a coach that freaks you out a little bit,” Pelini said to reporters in an empty, darkened Memorial Stadium. “I felt as the practice went on, we got focused, and locked in. I felt good about what I saw the last three quarters of practice. Good tempo, good execution. I think we’ll be ready to go.”



Pelini made sure NU tightened up its practice.



“I’ve been known to do that every now and then, in my own little way,” Pelini joked. “The kids felt it. You get a little late in the year, and I just felt like they were excited but maybe a little too distracted. Sometimes you gotta put them a little back on course.”



That done, Pelini said he’d like to see 7-4 Nebraska play its most complete game against 5-6 Colorado.



“We haven’t put four quarters together yet up to our potential,” Pelini said. “…I wanna see four together. I don’t want to see any lapses. I want to see our best football. I want us to play to a higher standard.”



That would certainly look good for the nine recruits heading to Lincoln for the game. The Huskers picked up a verbal commitment Tuesday from California defensive back Dijon Washington, but is still looking for two more receivers, a small, quick running back and a few more defensive players, including at least one safety.



“I want every best player in the country,” Pelini said. “But I like the group coming it. It’s a good group.”



The Huskers will celebrate Thanksgiving with team dinner Wednesday night, then have a normal walkthrough on Thanksgiving Day. Pelini said his own family will “do the turkey thing” at some point during the weekend.



His favorite dish?



“Spaghetti,” he joked.

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A Boulder Daily Camera columnist writes that Nebraska is no longer a program to emulate.




The patchwork offensive line at CU is getting better, the Buffs say.





The Rocky Mountain News has a take on the Bo Pelini era, and the renewed sense of optimism.



Finally a terrific story about NU offensive lineman Matt Slauson, who stutters just like Omaha World-Herald columnist Tom Shatel.

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Seven moments in the Nebraska-Colorado series that played a role in the continuing “bad blood” between the teams.


Red Letter Game: CU Coach Bill McCartney started it all by identifying Nebraska as the program he wanted to emulate - then beat. He did both, taking NU’s option-based offense, infusing it with a dose of California speed, and staying ahead of the game with a 4-3 defense. Nebraska fans tended to resent McCartney calling his shot. They resented even more that he made it.



“Sal Is Dead, Go Big Red” The phrase appeared on an Interstate 70 sign in Colorado. It appeared on bumper stickers. Whatever – it was awful, Nebraska fans poking fun at the death of CU quarterback Sal Aunese. NU received its due punishment, losing games in 1989 and 1990 and tying the Buffs in 1991.




The Snowballs: At the end of that 1991 game, Nebraska kicker Byron Bennett lined up for a field goal to beat CU. Meanwhile, Colorado fans threw snowballs at the kicker, some landing at his feet just before the kick. How a penalty wasn’t called, we’ll never really know.




Halloween Nightmare: Not that Nebraska’s fans were particularly lewd, but they were unruly, loud and vicious the Halloween night NU thrashed CU 52-7 in 1992. Both teams were ranked No. 9 at the time, and Tom Osborne released the hounds on that night, even pulling out a fumblerooski for Will Shields. It remains one of the great victories in recent Nebraska history, and a rainy night of mayhem in that stadium.



The Tirade: Senior Colorado linebacker Matt Russell launched into a speech just before the 1996 NU-CU game that simply can’t be reprinted here. It was a classic, though – something Alec Baldwin or Joe Pesci might relish saying.




The Day After Thanksgiving Massacre: Colorado got its revenge in full for the 1992 Halloween game, exorcising all kinds of demons in a 62-36 pummeling of No. 1 Nebraska. It was the first CU win since 1990 for the Buffs, and they celebrated like Buff fans only can, by rushing the field and getting in the face of every NU player they could find.




Restore The Order: Nebraska heads out to Colorado in 2005 hoping to “restore the order” against the Buffs, who are headed for the Big 12 Championship. Mission accomplished, as NU wins 30-3 and then-athletic director Steve Pederson practically re-enacts the scene from “An Officer and a Gentleman” as he strides on the field to celebrate. Meanwhile, CU is forced to clear its own student section and Gary Barnett finds his team embarrassed by Nebraska’s no-huddle offense.


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(Above: Nebraska offensive lineman Matt Slauson)


Defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh distinctly remembers it as one of the low points of his career, sitting in a locker room in the middle of the Flatirons, realizing he and his Nebraska teammates wouldn’t be heading to a bowl game after the 2007 regular season.



“And it was dealt to us at the hands of Colorado,” the junior said. “That’s probably the worst.”



Oh, yes, some of these NU players are recalling the CU rivalry this week. No, Nebraska coach Bo Pelini isn’t busting out a buffalo head and parading it around. There will not be any screenings of “Dances With Wolves.” And Colorado has toned its approach to the game, too. No more “red letter” game on the schedule.



But hard Husker feelings over last year’s 65-51 Buffalo victory that sent Colorado to the Independence Bowl and Nebraska to its collective dorm room? You bet. Just hard feelings in general. It’s another year of NU-CU.



“There’s a little bad blood between us,” Suh said. “There always has been and probably always will be. It’s always a team we want to beat.”



Especially for senior offensive guard Matt Slauson, who has an “extreme distaste” for the Buffaloes that goes back to when Slauson, a Colorado native, was recruited by then-coach Gary Barnett, who told Slauson’s high school coach CU would only offer a scholarship if every other lineman prospect decommitted.



When Colorado learned Slauson was considering Nebraska, he said CU “disrespected” the Huskers.



“Being recruited there a little bit, they recruit guys for one reason only,” Slauson said, “and that's to beat Nebraska. So if you take that away from them, they have nothing.”



Slauson went further, calling CU “irrelevant” in the Big 12 when compared to Texas, Oklahoma and Nebraska.



He then admitted it was “bulletin board material.”



Since 2001, Colorado has played in four Big 12 Championship games. Nebraska has played in one.



A CU team seeking its sixth win and a bowl berth provides a little extra motivation for quarterback Joe Ganz, who called Friday’s contest “a redemption game.” At 7-4, Nebraska has already qualified and is looking toward a spot in the Jan. 1 Gator Bowl.



“The one thing in our mind is ‘see how they’ll like it,’ sitting at home watching everybody else play like we did last year,” Ganz said. “We have to come out and play our best football because we want to do everything we can to keep them out of a bowl like they did to us last year.”



Said Suh: “It’s a tremendous opportunity. We’d love to do it.”



Told of Ganz’s comments, Pelini said “I wish Joe would just worry about Joe.”



“Everybody’s going to be motivated by during things,” Pelini said. “Different things make people tick…I don’t worry about all that. You can want something as much as you want. Your deeds and how you go about things better equate to accomplishing that goal. Ultimately, that game’s going to be decided between the lines.”



One notable dissenter among Husker players seemed to be senior defensive end Zach Potter.



“No, I don’t think so,” Potter said when asked if Friday was a “redemption” game. “We’re a completely different team and they’re a completely different team, too. I don’t think it’s redemption at all. Obviously a lot of people say it’s a rivalry. It is rivalry – because we play them every year.



“ We’re Nebraska – we get everybody’s best shot. Especially Colorado.”

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(Above: Nebraska defensive end Clayton Sievers. Photo Courtesy of Huskers.com)



There was Clayton Sievers, on the couch with his family, looking at a picture of then-Nebraska coach Frank Solich on the TV – as if he were a lost child – and the word “fired” on the screen. Sievers had already verbally committed to Solich and NU, and his firing, though expected by many for a week, was still a little surprising in the moment.


How so? His brother, Chad, was a linebacker on that 2003 Husker squad. And even he didn’t know until the television said so.



“We started getting calls, we started calling other people,” Sievers said. “Obviously you guys know the rest.”



Do we ever. Frank to Bill to Bo. Byrne to Pederson to Osborne. Indignation to a brief flash of success to disaster to a new hope. Sievers is a part of a senior class that’s seen it all. He’s been through five assistants, three position changes and two losing seasons. He was a cog in Kevin Cosgrove’s bizarre “50” package and one of the 11 to get a Blackshirt a few weeks ago.



If a senior class could be measured in dog years, it’d be this one at Nebraska. And thanks to a winning season in 2008, the return of head coach Bo Pelini and the prospect of a New Year’s Day bowl game, these seniors now say they wouldn’t change a thing.



“I couldn’t ask for a better senior year, or the guys I’m with,” Sievers said. “It’s been sweet.”



It hasn’t always been that way, and not every senior class is built the same. The 2007 bunch, aside from a few, wasn’t nothing to write home about; their leadership waned as the Huskers’ season slid into a ditch, to the point where one linebacker was calling another “pancakes” on national television – as if anybody knew what that meant.



This particular bunch of 21, quarterback Joe Ganz said, has been different. “Hardened” was the word Ganz used to describe them. Many of them were not only familiar with the end of the Solich era, but lived through the full measure of Bill Callahan’s reign. And now, they’ve received an infusion of energy from Bo Pelini’s young, energetic staff of assistants.



“We’ve been through a lot here,” Ganz said. “It takes more than one loss to knock us out. We know how to bounce back. We know how to just forget about it and move on, and we can’t allow one loss to dictate any more losses down the road… we have certain leaders on this team who have lived through it. Obviously to have Bo Pelini there to reinforce you, to back you up, really doesn’t hurt.”



More NU-CU coverage!

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He has a build meant for intramurals. He seems like the best XBox player in the house. He looks like he’d be pretty darn tough in a pickup basketball game. Ten years down the road, he’d be the one with the backwards hat and the drop-dead gorgeous girlfriend waiting for him after the mushball championships in Chicago.


You’d like him. You’d have a beer with him. Maybe you’d envy his offhand confidence and quick humor.



But would you remember him as one of the ten best quarterbacks in Nebraska history, the one who rewrites all the single-season passing marks? Nah. Joe Ganz ain’t that guy. Can’t be, right? Half the time, he looks like he just got out of bed. That kid, a game manager? That kid, the one who hangs out with offensive coordinator Shawn Watson, drawing up plays? That kid, the smartest Watson said he’s ever coached? That kid?



Yeah, this one. Ganz, who honored Turner Gill’s hallowed No. 12 better than anybody could have imagined two years ago, when you couldn’t have picked him out of a team photo. Today, three days before his last senior game, he’s one of the founding fathers of the Bo Pelini era.



“Hopefully they remember me as one of the better quarterbacks to come through here,” Ganz said. “That’s always a great honor. Remember me how I was, as a kid who went and worked hard, didn’t complain, didn’t open his mouth when he didn’t have to, and just went worked hard and did his job.”



Call Ty Pennington. Call Ty Detmer. Ganz is the extreme Husker makeover, the unquestioned MVP of this NU team, its on-field leader and off-the-field joker. And he’s not just a quaint tale for Husker dads to tell their sons. He is that, of course, but more: A really good college quarterback. He’s lost in the shuffle of other really good Big 12 quarterbacks – “it’s a good conference to be underrated in,” Ganz said – but he shouldn’t be lost in the shuffle in Nebraska history.



The single-game and single-season passing records will be his. He’ll have the record for total offense. He should have the record for completion percentage. Among all Bowl Subdivision quarterbacks, he trails only Sam Bradford and Tim Tebow – who will finish 1-2 in the Heisman Trophy balloting – in career passing efficiency. He runs an exceedingly complex offense – slimmed down as it may be from the Bill Callahan era – that combines elements of the West Coast, the spread and the option. He clearly made an average receiving corps one of the best in the Big 12 because of their chemistry with him.



If he so chooses, he can follow similar college cult heroes, like Major Applewhite and Josh Heupel, into the college coaching ranks without much trouble. You shouldn’t be surprised that he’s talked at length with Pelini and Watson about a coaching job. The kid’s got the manner and the mind for it; he’d fit nicely in the mold of a popular player’s coach who demands maximum effort.



“It’d be tough to leave the game completely and do some normal job and not be around football,” Ganz said. “…I told Coach Pelini he’d have to hire me as a full-time coach instead of a GA. I don’t know if I could do the GA hours. It’d be tough. I talk to Wats about it a lot and he’d be the first to hire me if he ever got a head coaching job. And I talked to Coach Pelini about it, and he said I want to coach he’ll find a spot for me.”



You know, Joe Ganz has played one Big 12 game in his career where he could truly count on his defense consistently stopping the opponent. Among league foes, Nebraska’s only held Iowa State to less than 20 points since Ganz took over. In ten conference games, he’s basically been charged with winning nine of them.



Did he always succeed? No. Ganz threw some backbreaking interceptions and, let’s face it, made one heartbreaker of an error at Texas Tech after playing the game of his life. His career isn’t fairytale. He never had The Drive like Zac Taylor did at Texas A&M. He never had an Eric Crouch run. Unlike the unflappable Turner Gill and almost-immortal Tommie Frazier, Ganz could and did occasionally let his competitive juices get the better of him, bleeding over into jitters. Ganz admitted he’d maybe struggle to control his emotions Friday as he runs on to the turf for the last time against Colorado.



But consider the total package. A natural leader. A sharp mind. A fearless, competitive gamer. A guy who waited three and half years for his turn. A guy who watched a bunch of names – Harrison Beck, Josh Freeman, Sam Keller, Blaine Gabbert, Brian Hildebrand, Jordan Adams – get more play in the newspapers while he quietly learned the intricacies of the West Coast Offense. Then he got his shot under the worst of circumstances, filling in for the injured Keller, with a lame duck Bill Callahan happily throwing Ganz under the “it’s the system” bus after a spectacular game against Kansas State.



Just look at the hand Joe Ganz got dealt. And just look at how he played it.



“I would do it again in a heartbeat,” Ganz said. “My time here has made me the man that I am today. It’s done a lot more than just shape me as a football player. It’s shaped me as a man, as a person, as somebody who just understands life a lot better. I wouldn’t trade the experience I’ve had for anything in the world.”



For the first year of Nebraska football’s reformation, you wouldn’t trade No. 12, either.



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Newsbytes from the west on this Nebraska-Colorado week:


Cornerback Jimmy Smith was the hero in last year's NU game; he also thinks this version of the Cornhuskers looks like the San Antonio Spurs.


The Buffaloes have been destroyed by injuries this year. Yeah, Nebraska knows that feeling.


More CU moaning about injuries with a dash of offensive line news mixed in.


Click here for more coverage!

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(Above: Pelini)


Nebraska Coach Bo Pelini gave the nod to Oklahoma over Texas in his latest coaches’ voting ballot, the coach disclosed during Monday’s Big 12 Teleconference.


The Sooners are still No. 3 behind the No. 2 Longhorns in the overall BCS Standings thanks to computer rankings. Should OU beat Oklahoma State on Saturday, that could possibly change.

“I’ve played Oklahoma,” Pelini said. “I haven’t played Texas…you have vote to based on what you’ve seen.”

Oklahoma beat Nebraska 62-28 on Nov. 1 and defeated Texas Tech 65-21 Saturday night. Pelini said he “caught most of that game,” which played a part in his vote.

Pelini touched on other topics during his Big 12 chat:

*Joe Ganz practiced Sunday, is 100% and has “no issues.”

*Nebraska linebacker Cody Glenn remains indefinitely suspended. Could he return for a bowl game “You never know,” Pelini said. “That’s why it’s indefinite.”

*Wyoming has not yet sought permission from Pelini to interview recruiting coordinator Ted Gilmore for its head coaching job. Pelini said he’d “hate to lose Ted” but “if it betters his career, I’m all for it.”

*A New Year’s Day bowl game would be important to NU, but the focus is Colorado. “The better bowl game you go to, obviously it’s better for us, it’s better for the kids, but it’s out of our control,” Pelini said.


Is Colorado Buffaloed?

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News from the west:




Colorado's new coaching staff is trying to tamp down the rivalry between Nebraska in order to emphasize a "business as usual" approach to the game.




Eh, that's their prerogative. But it's no fun. Nor do I think it'll do CU any good to pretend NU is just another opponent.


But that's how it works in the new college universe.


Another Miracle in Manhattan? Nah.

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(Above: Joe Ganz. File Photo.)



If you're heard a little birdie talking about an injury Nebraska quarterback Joe Ganz might have suffered near the end of Tuesday's practice, don't faint: He's gonna be OK.




So said NU offensive coordinator Shawn Watson after Wednesday's practice on the grass fields. Ganz himself jogged by the media saying, "I gotta go see the doc" when he was asked for an interview.




Watson's official word was that Ganz was being held out so he could get a better look at backups Patrick Witt and Zac Lee. The dish late Tuesday was that Ganz's throwing arm had been dinged during a drill in practice. That was confirmed by at least one NU player on Wednesday.



The injury, to the extent there is one, is also not believed to be serious, and Ganz should be fully ready for the Colorado game.

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Yes, it’s a rivalry. But no, it doesn’t change much.

Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini said “emotions will be running high” as NU prepares for rival Colorado over the next two weeks and Husker seniors get ready for the last home game of their career. CU, at 5-6, will be trying to crash that graduation party so it can qualify for a bowl game.

“There is a rivalry there, obviously, over a long period of time,” Pelini said during Monday’s Big 12 Teleconference. “The emotions will be running high. Then you talk about it being the last game for a lot of seniors. And it’s the end of that three-game season that we talked about. We have a lot to play for, as does Colorado. It’ll be a nice test.”

Not that NU, 7-4 and still vying for a New Year’s Day bowl, will approach the contest any differently than it has its previous 11.

“Once you take the emotion out of it, all the extracurricular things, the outside influences, it’s about playing with technique and executing our game plan and that will never change,” Pelini said.

The Huskers enter their bye week having swept the Sunflower state, beating Kansas 45-35 and Kansas State 56-28 for two of their bigger and better wins of the season. In both games, Nebraska’s offense was only stopped by its own turnovers and penalties, gobbling up yards and points – especially in the fourth quarter.

Pelini credited NU offensive coordinator Shawn Watson for a lot of that success. NU’s attack really seemed to hit its stride after a 52-17 loss to Missouri, when Watson chose to simplify some plays and retool the offense toward a zone read running game, instead of a power offense.

The win over KSU might have been his best statement yet, as NU compiled 609 total yards.

“He’s done a great job,” Pelini said. “The offense has evolved and continues to evolve. He’s done a good job of keeping defenses off balance and we have a good mix of run and pass. We’ve created a lot of problems for defenses...you have to keep moving along and I knew that Wats was the guy to do that.”

The effort has been helped by a healthy – and effective – Roy Helu, Jr. The sophomore from Danville, Calif., has become Nebraska’s top runner in the last three weeks.

“His legs are fresh,” Pelini said. “He hits the hole hard. He just brings a lot to the offensive side of the ball. He can catch it out of the backfield. He really is very decisive. He gets North/South in a hurry. He makes quick decision and runs pretty physical for a guy his size.”

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