Runzaway Victory

The Nebraska Cornhuskers, reeling from getting nothing short of embarrassed in the Big Ten Championship game by Wisconsin, were selected to make a return trip to beautiful downtown Orlando to face the highly ranked Georgia Bulldogs in the Capital One Bowl.

Would Nebraska limp down and absorb another beating at the hands of Georgia, who was four yards away from facing Notre Dame in the BCS Championship?

In watching the practices, the Big Red seemed to embrace the challenge.  Kenny Bell and Taylor Martinez, although enjoying the trip, were very focused come practice time.

All the fanfare associated with the game was well attended by the fans, including a pep rally.



After a shaky start, which included a blocked punt for a safety and a touchdown pass leading Nebraska to fall behind 9-0, the Big Red seemed to be ready to win the game.  The 'Huskers led 24-23 at the half as Taylor Martinez and Rex Burkhead kept the Junkyard Dawgs off balance.



Taylor Martinez on the scramble

Nebraska stormed out of the half to build upon the lead 31-23 and were poised for more when Ameer Abdullah fumbled the ball away after securing a short yardage first down at the Georgia 39.  From the vantage point of the stands and the Husker sideline, it appeared Abdullah was down, and if he was not, Nebraska recovered the ball. The play was not reviewed, and Georgia got the ball.

From that point on, Georgia and quarterback Aaron Murray, from nearby Tampa Plant, made plays when it counted coming from behind to beat Nebraska 45-31.

There was some kind of officiating going on out there by the crew from the Big XII (really?), absent consistency and collectively perhaps the worst I have seen.  From seeing highlights of other games on the day, the Capital One Bowl was not alone in poor officiating.

 

Unlike last year, with Nebraska ahead as quarter four began, the Big Red could have won the game.  Georgia is every bit as good as advertised, and in the end, took control with their superior talent stepping up and making plays.

 

Nebraska, as usual, had plenty of offense to win the game.  The Big Red is hard to defend with a strong running attack, a fleet footed quarterback who is much better than most everyone give him credit for and a group of receivers who are quite good.  Even the much maligned offensive line performed well.

 

It is on the stop side where the problems for Nebraska begin and end.  This is the strong suit of NU Head Coach Bo Pelini; therefore, the lack of execution by this unit cannot be further tolerated.  In the 2012 losses, the highly touted Blackshirts gave up zip codes of yardage and pinball machine points.  In fact, in each of the losses, Nebraska put up over 30 points, and when you do that, you fully expect to win.

 

I happen to like the defensive staff, and maybe it is a lack of talent that is the main issue.  The secondary has been strong most of the year, but they looked awful against Aaron Murray, no RGII to be sure.  With players playing out of position, the defensive line played better than I anticipated.

 

As the Omaha World Herald points out, there is some sunshine peeking out of the clouds, and 4 loss seasons getting punked in bowl games against I don't care who are dark clouds.  The 2013 offense could be special behind Martinez and the schedule is very forgiving.  If Pelini can get a handle on the defense, and his history says he can, Nebraska may have a Rosey season.

 

If not, with Tom Osborne having retired, some real hard questions will demand answers, not time.  I am hopeful those questions will not need to be asked.

Adults Only

Tonight is the third and final debate between Gov. Mitt Romney and President Obama. Although momentum is expanding for Romney, the mainstream media calls the election an essential toss up, so the debate will be very important. The topic of the debate tonight is foreign policy.

Certainly, Americans are thrilled that Osama Bin Laden was killed and that many drone attacks have taken out many al-Qaeda leaders. However, employing any sound assessment, foreign policy under Obama is a mess. Right out of the gate, the policies went south due to the ideology of President Obama, which seems to be at odds with many of the long held positions of Uncle Sam. Check out the following:

*Immediately, clearly a front man on the blame America first team, Obama embarked on an apology tour, which was was nothing short of despicable.

*In picking who to and who not to help overthrow, Obama welcomed in the Arab Spring, which has failed miserably and has "surprisingly" ushered the Muslim Brotherhood into increasing power.

*The treatment of Israel by our anti-colonialist President has been appalling, and very dangerous having emboldened our enemies.

*The events surrounding the death of Ambassador Stevens and three other patriots in Bengahzi has been astounding. The administration is either extremely incompetent or has engaged in a cover up and has been lying to the American public. I will take gun running for $1000 please. Although the media has not fully engaged the story, these events are beyond troubling will continue to unfold.

Blogposts galore could be written on each of those topics, but a national security issue which should come up this evening places America in a very dangerous positions, and that is our economic position.

When Ronald Reagan talked about peace through strength, he was not only talking about military strength, but economic strength as well. A strong foreign policy must be based on a strong economy.

With President Obama expanding entitlements in effort to crash the system and redistribute wealth, liabilities have been placed on our economy that when coupled with declining tax receipts and increasing energy costs, has placed America in peril.

With all these issues bearing down upon us, Obama seems more concerned with his celebrity status rather than focusing on governing and fixing the problems. In the campaign, Obama has not given us detail about his plan for the next four years, rather has fallen back to the Alinsky methods demonizing your opponent.

As Obama has said, "And that's to be expected, because if you don't have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare voters. If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from. You make a big election about small things".

Obama doesn't and he has. The war on women, throwing Grandma over the cliff and Big Bird are certainly very small things against tens of extremely significant and perilous problems.

In consideration of the mounting issues crippling our country, I hope and pray that America sees these men for who they are.  One man is a principled, God fearing individual who seeks freedom based on free market principles and respects the history and founding principles of America.  The other man seeks class warfare, is an elitist who finds government solutions superior to free enterprise, is a citizen of the world who finds the exceptionalism of America offensive and is enacting policies designed to contract our economic power through the redistribution of wealth.

With America on the brink, it is far time to put an adult back in the Oval Office, who is committed to making life better for all Americans rather than hanging out with celebrities, circling the talk show circuit and improving the golf handicap.

Thompson Unconquered

Chris Thompson (photo Mike Ehrmann)

The news out of Tallahassee is what many of us had feared; that the season, and career at FSU, is over for senior running back Chris Thompson.  FSU coach Jimbo Fisher announced the news this morning, citing an ACL tear in the knee.  As Tomahawk Nation reported, Thomson "had carried the ball 91 times for 687 yards for an impressive 7.5 yards per rush" this season.  Thompson was the heart of this team, a team leader who had the respect of all those who know him.  After breaking his back at Wake Forest in game three a year ago, the perseverance Thompson exhibited coming back was infectious.  Thompson will be missed, but although he has an injured knee at the moment, he will always remain one of the beloved Unconquered!

'Huskers Retire #93 of Big Suh

Appropriately, the University of Nebraska on Friday retired the #93 of defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, perhaps the most decorated defensive player in NCAA football history.

Suh, the #2 pick in the 2010 NFL draft by the Detroit Lions, was simply dominating at the collegiate level and is in line to be the NFL defensive Rookie of the Year.

Joining the ceremony at halftime of the 'Huskers romp over Colorado were former Coach, Dr. Tom Osborne, "Touchdown" Tommie Frazier, Aaron Taylor, Dean Steinkuhler, NFL Hall of Fame bound Will Shields, Dominic Raiola, Eric Weigert, Larry Jacobson and Heisman Trophy winner Johnny "The Jet" Rodgers.



Congratulations to Big Suh. Certainly, in mentioning a handful of the greatest players ever to play for the Big Red, there is the name of a former Blackshirt that would come to the forefront. You know who! Ndamukong Suh! Go Big Red!