Well this past Saturday, September 22, 2007 the Huskers, especially the renowned "Blackshirts" showed exactly what they were made of in their final non-conference game against Mighty Ball State. They gave up more than 600 yards to this "Powerhouse offense" once again showing that if you don't tackle, over-pursue, can't rush the quarterback that you are going to struggle on defense. This reminded me of the last couple years under Frank Solich, where he was unable to recruit any defensive players with speed and was constantly under a disadvantage. According to our AD, Steve Pederson, this was corrected with the hiring of Bill Callahan. Well, from where I sit, the problem seems to be greater than ever, and this is pretty much all of Bill's team now, as he is in year 4.

If it had not been for Sam Keller finally stepping up and having the type of game that everyone has been saying he was capable of, this game would have been the BIGGEST disaster in the last 50 years of Husker football, loosing to Ball State in Lincoln. Keller finished the game by completing 29-of-37 passes for three touchdowns and a school-record 438 yards. His final pass of the game was to Maurice Purify, and not only proved to be the game-winning score, but gave him the highest single-game passing total in Nebraska history, eclipsing the previous mark of 433 yards set by Zac Taylor in 2005. In the second half alone, Keller was 18-of-23 for 322 yards and three touchdowns.

Nebraska racked up 552 yards of total offense only to be out gained by Ball State, which produced 610 yards of offense, the third-highest total ever by an opponent at Memorial Stadium. Ball State quarterback Nate Davis proved tough to contain, as he threw for 422 yards and three touchdowns while rushing six times for 57 yards and another score. Wide out Dante Love was his favorite target; making 10 catches for 214 yards and a touchdown.

Another great concern has to be our running game, or lack thereof. After running for more than 200 yards in the opener, then getting stymied the next 2 games against obviously better competition, the running attack with Marlon Lucky leading the way bounced back with a 100 yard effort against Ball State. But I think that at this point the best we can hope for is for the running game to be inconsistent at best.

Now we go into our first conference game facing bottom dweller Iowa State here at home. Since we have not showed the ability to stop anyone lately and Iowa State has not either this should be one of those "Arena Football" type games, with both teams probably approaching 40 plus points and the team who has the ball last will probably be the one who wins the game. Iowa State at home should be a win, but it is not going to be they type that Husker faithful have grown accustomed to over the past 40 years, no, this will be a 42-37 type game, with the game lasting closer to 4 hours as opposed to 3 hours due to all the passing that will take place. It would be nice to see Lucky, Castille and company pound the ball for 300 plus yards, but I don't think that will be happening again this year. We, as Husker faithful can only hope that as the season goes on, the players can get better at staying in position, and not pursuing like a bunch of "chickens with their heads cut off", and start staying in position and stopping people.

Like I said, I still don't think Iowa State has enough to beat us in Lincoln, and we definitely won't be looking ahead to the next week's game in Columbia against the undefeated Missouri Tigers. Huskers win in, what will become the norm 45-37. GO BLACKSHIRTS, GBR!

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JEH45 said:

	Bugeater: i have been waiting to read your impression of the Ball state game. Tell me how you felt as you saw the ball going to an open receiver-drop. Been there myself.
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September 26, 2007
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Bugeatersteve said:

	I was "SCARED" Josie, Plum "SCARED".
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September 26, 2007
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Lloyds Apple said:

	Ball State is a good team, even if in the MAC. QB Nate Davis was good in high school and he's good in college too. It was a bit of a letdown to almost lose like that but they'll face offenses in the Big 12 worse that Ball State's, starting with Iowa State next week. Of course, Iowa State beat Iowa, so they can't be that bad.
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September 26, 2007
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