October likely defines Husker 2007 Season
4 comments so far
May 9, 2007 by
It's the off season. What is there to do? For football junkies, one of the best mental exercises is to evaluate the fall schedule...four months in advance. While early high-profile tests will surely get fans' attention, and football seasons tends to boil down to how well a team performs in November, a four-week stretch in October appears to be when the 2007 Huskers will find out what they are made of.
Nebraska will face three bowl teams and two conference champions from last season during their first four games of the year. That is tough early sledding, no doubt. And, games against big-name teams like USC get people's dander up. But, I don't think of these as the most important, because they don't contribute directly to the chance to win a conference title. That title is the goal every year.
Of course, as the temperatures drop and the trees get more barren, the serious football gets played. Title teams know how to finish in November and December (conference title game is 12/1). Surely that is the most crucial stretch in the Husker season. Nope, not quite. Those universal truths aside, NU's opponents in November aren't exactly the greatest. Kansas, Kansas State, and Colorado are not believed to be in the top half of the conference in 2007.
Yes, the KU game is on the road, and KSU and CU are "rivals" to NU for North supremecy. It is four months too early for this post. And all three teams could be improved next year. Right, right, right. But, the November slate still pales in comparison to what NU should face in October. That month brings a game with the other major North contender and NU's daunting "South swing".
The October Road
NU opens the month of October with a road test at Missouri. All signs point to the Tigers being the other contender for the North title this year. And, the Huskers have not found the most success in recent trips to Columbia. This is a pivital game for NU.
NU follows up the MU game with home tilts against Oklahoma State and Texas A&M. Husker fans should be thankful these games are in the friendly confines of Memorial stadium. OSU beat the Huskers last year in Stillwater, and brings many players back. And, NU's last-second heroics against A&M make us too easily forget how tough the Aggies will be. Fans traveling to Lincoln those weeks are advised to pack an extra set of lungs.
Oh, and just for good measure, October 27th brings a road game at Texas. Remember those guys? This is clearly the toughest game on NU's conference schedule, both in terms of opponent and setting. Honestly, many fans I've talked to are chaulking up a loss in the back of their minds for this one. To go in to Austin and win requires either a great team or the ability to pull a stunning upset. We don't know which of those NU has in it has quite yet.
I know all wins and losses count the same. I'll be as fired up for the trip to Wake and hosting USC as anybody. Championships are won late in the year. That's all true. But, right now in May, I strongly believe that fans will find out exactly what kind of team NU has during that October gauntlent run.
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doombob May 09 07
Fans traveling to Lincoln those weeks are advised to pack an extra set of lungs
This is a disturbing image. I pictured someone trying to stuff lungs in their suitcase.
darren May 10 07
Yeah, Doombob, sometimes I get too colorful for my own good. My other favorite spare organ reference is when I tell my friends to "bring their drinking livers" because it could be a long night. :-)
And of course, I do have a side gig harvesting kidneys from unsuspecting tourists in Vegas. Hey...whatever pays the mortgage. Right?
Okay, I've had way too much coffee or something. That's just wrong.
'sa blang thang May 13 07
I see us being favored in all games except TX and USC. You're correct--the guy who wrote this article--that Oct will be the toughest month and we will probably drop 2 of those games(TX and one of the others; not OSU, please). There's a chance we might knock off TX, I suspect, though it will be tough.
So, I predict a 9-3 season(pre CCG and bowl): Loss to USC, TX, and, well, I really don't think we'll lose any of the other OCT games. Wake Forest might be the other loss--I hate to say--since it will be a tough game early in the season. But, if we beat TX, we still come out 10-2. Not too shabby.
The fact that ESPN has MO being the frontrunner in the North is somewhat of a joke. Yes, they have Daniels and some excellent receivers, but their D and OL are not great. The fact that the game will be played on their home turf is the main obstacle, but I would sure hate for us to lose to THEM--or any N team FTM.
Didn't many in the sports media have ISU as the 'class' of the N last year? How crazy was that?
doombob May 15 07
I live in the Kansas City Metro area, and we have a great Sports Talk Radio station here. I remember last year before the season, that they said ISU would be the main competition to Nebraska and that Missouri would have a down year. They were falling all over themselves backpeddling when Missouri had that great start trying to claim that Mizzou had been the real deal all along. Then of course, the inevitable - "no wait, we were right the first time" came around with their mediocre finish. Now they're calling for Mizzou to be on top by a wide margin this year! They say that Nebraska has a SLIGHT chance of being competition. All I can say is that MU v. NU is going to be the big one. It's a game I'm even trying to get tickets for. October is important, yes, but Nov 4 will be for the big 12 North - that's my prediction right now.