Nebraska article about opener vs. ASU

[Chenker]

College Football Preview
Nebraska Will Showcase 11 New Starters vs. Arizona State
Five Freshman Might Play for Huskers

By DOUG ALDEN
.c The Associated Press

LINCOLN, Neb. (Aug. 20) -- Playing Arizona State in August made perfect sense to Nebraska coach Frank Solich.

The experience the No. 10 Cornhuskers gain is expected to be even more valuable than the estimated $2 million that Saturday's game will bring Nebraska's athletic department.

With 11 new starters, including at quarterback, Solich and the Huskers welcomed the opportunity to play the Sun Devils in the Black Coaches Association Classic.

"We looked how it would affect everyone on our football team. The inexperience we have at several key positions -- we felt made it a positive for us to play in the game,'' Solich said Tuesday. "If you can come out of it with a win, if you can come out of it without a number of injuries, then you feel pretty good about the preseason game.''

The preseason "classics'' have been good to Nebraska, which is 5-0 in such games. Other than a knee injury to former quarterback Bobby Newcombe in the 1998 Eddie Robinson Classic against Louisiana Tech, the Huskers have escaped the August games healthy.

Nebraska beat Texas Christian 21-7 in the 2001 Pigskin Classic. The offense was sluggish, but when it picked up a few games later, Solich credited the early game.

With six new starters on offense, including three linemen, Solich is hoping the additional game pays off when the Huskers play back-to-back road games at No. 24 Penn State and Iowa State next month.

"When you add it all up, if you can have more practices and you don't have extensive number of injuries, you're probably going to be better off,'' Solich said.

Five freshmen could play Saturday: tight end Matt Herian, I-back David Horne, wideout Mark LeFlore, defensive back Fabian Washington and offensive lineman Jermaine Leslie.

"Some of those guys will see action,'' Solich said. "They're all available. They've all been practicing with our top units. We're going to hopefully be able to count on those guys as we get into the season to be productive guys for us.''

Quarterback Jammal Lord will make his debut as a starter after backing up Heisman Trophy winner Eric Crouch for two seasons.

"It's night and day now. I can see the light. I know when they call out the names and that first play it's going to be me out there instead of Eric,'' Lord said. "It changes a whole lot of things.''

Solich said Tuesday that sophomore quarterback Mike Stuntz moved up a spot to No. 2 on the depth chart. Freshman Curt Dukes, the top backup after spring practice, has been slowed by a groin injury and abdominal strain.

Solich said Stuntz -- 5-for-6 for 37 yards in a scrimmage Friday -- played well during fall camp and earned the promotion, at least temporarily.

"We're going to give both guys opportunities in practice to really progress,'' the coach said. "We'll see how it plays out as we get into the season.''

 

[DNOMYAR_5791]

Doubtful that Herian, Leslie or LeFlore will see the field Saturday night. Those guys are all studs, but it is not worth burning redshirts for those guys so early.

Quick not on Herian.. as a 6-4 220 lb TE he ran an ELECTRONIC 4.67 40 yard dash. Some of you may think that is slow but that is absolutely blazing for a guy his size and hand-held (which most teams report their times as is a 4.47) he is an absolute freak but needs a little meat on his bones. He iwll be Jeremy Shockey like Good.

THe only reason Stuntz passed Dukes is that he is injured. Dukes was playing very well this fall and had a good grasp on the offense.

The depth chart came out early today and all hell has broken loose. Nebraska may be the only school outside of the big 10 with an all white secondary. Dr. Freeze I may start to agree with you about Solich. He is a very intense, hard working guy, but he has no freaking balls. Nebraska has some very talented players that are buried on the depth charts, because they have chosen to reward experience rather than talent. That same practice has caused Nebraska to lose some very good players over the spring.

Nebraska has some safties that all run sub 4.6 and hit like Mack trucks that are sitting behind some walk-on from Oregon. Their longtime secondary coach George Darlington even said that one of them So Lannie Hopkins 6-2 220 4.55 will do things at rover that we have never seen before. Yet he is playing behind opie Cunningham. A bunch of starters and guys have lost their positions due to injury, something that never used to happen at IB.

NU's best RB Josh Davis who is buried at 3rd on the depth chart is no co-#3 with plump Gary Coleman lookalike Cory Ross who stands all of 5-6 210 and runs 5.0. Their superstar in the making and 2nd fastest guy on the team who was 3rd Marquess Simmons is now 6th. Unbelievable.

Nebraska has some absolute Gorillas on the Dline that will be in the 2nd and 3rd rotation. They want to start guys like Jon Clanton who got bent over by good offensive lines.

Oh well, I guess the run had to end sometime. I am going to upgrade Arizona State to my max 10 Units. Husker Offense is horrible and it has nothing to do with Jammal Lord. THe offensive line can't block yet. Neither Diedrick or Collins is a HR running back.. It is no coincidence that Diedricks longest career run is 38 yards. Hardly what we are accostomed to from the great tradition of NU runners. NU has a bunch of Tight Ends that can block but can't stretch the field. Why they keep putting my boy Judd Davies as the starting FB is a travesty. He can't carry Kriewald's jock.

Ok enough bitching.

 

[hellah10]

Havent even started to cap this game yet...but I like ASU for no reason perhaps someone should inlighten me on whats going on with this game...is Diedrick even playing? I heard he wasnt

 

[DNOMYAR_5791]

Diedrick will play, even though he missed a court date. The Unity council voted that he should play. I was told earlier that he would not, but the Unity Council has a lot of pull. However Coach Solich made a bigger statement about Diedrick by not picking him as one of the offensive captains. The Nebraska offense has only scored 3 TD in 2 major scrimmages and those were against the scout team. The defense has registered 16 sacks in those 2 scrimmages.

The Husker offense is going to be very bad early. ASU runs a 4-2-5 defense. That is the exact same defense that TCU ran last year and NU had Eric Crouch. Final Score NU 21-7. ASU returns 8 defensive starters who are all more comfortable with their current scheme. While ASU has many problems on the offensive side of the ball, they still have great speed. If they can keep the improved Husker pass rush away, they could make it very interesting. I had ASU +22 as a 5 unit play. But after looking at our depth chart I am maxing this one out at 10 units. The under looks great too. The line is falling. I have seen it as low as 20.5 now.

 

[acehistr8]

At one time Dnomyar said Diedirch was not playing, although since we havent heard anything I can only assume that means that he is.

 

[hellah10]

ASU runs a 4-2-5 defense

That right there is all I needed to know....thanks brotha

 

[DNOMYAR_5791]

Ace

Ace

Diedrick will play on Saturday. Just found this out minutes ago. The Unity Council saved his ass. However he will not be that much of an impact with an offensive line that can't block. Diedrick is not a back that can take it to the house nor is Collins. ASU will swarm and outrun NU blockers all night. NU will be lucky to win by 2 TD. And the weather will be in favor of ASU as it looks to be dry with no humidity Sat nite. Good luck to all.

 

[bgold13]

Experts don't know s@# till the teams have played. ASU offense is going to be the strength of this football team. WR's RB' S are above average and the rs-fresh qb christansen is going to be somehting...keep an eye on them!!

 

[DNOMYAR_5791]

hellah & Bgold

hellah & Bgold

No problem. From time to time I put some off-centered stuff out there to antagonize fawkers. I do take my stuff serious though. There are many times I don't have time for an extensive writeup and therefore can only put out a pick and maybe provide some reasoning when time allows. There is a lot of chastisement that comes with that or people will complain why there is no reasoning behind a pick. Well I am in this business to win money like everyone else. And when I do have time I promise some thorough writeups. I also write for College Football Digest so that eats up a lot of my time. But until then I will have to shake my magic 8 ball or call Ms. Cleo :bigear:

Bgold. I agree with you that "experts" don't know crap until the pads start popping and chains start moving. I agree that the ASU offense has some talent but they are very inexperienced. I heard scrimmage reports that they were doing ok. I think they have a chance to finish higher in the Pac 10 than 9th, simply due to the fact that there is not a real dominant team in the Pac 10 this year and it is a real crap shoot. I stand by my assessment that the game between ASU and Neb will be much closer than linesmakers have put out. Largely due to the fact that the NU offense is really going to struggle, particularly against that 4-2-5 alignment they have and I do know that the footspeed of this ASU defense is better than that of the 96 squad. It is just a matter of getting those youngsters some reps and getting some baptism by fire. I am very familiar with RB Hakim Hill, as he was a former NU commit. WR Darryl Lightfoot is also very good, no coincidence that he was high on NU at one point. You guys are really catching NU at the right time. If the Huskers can unscrew some of their personnel problems and get some guys healed up, they will actually be a factor in the Big 12 by the end of the year and their offense should be much better by then.

Good luck to all this weekend

 

[Fanatic]

Re: Ace

Re: Ace

Diedrick will play on Saturday. Just found this out minutes ago. The Unity Council saved his ass. However he will not be that much of an impact with an offensive line that can't block. Diedrick is not a back that can take it to the house nor is Collins. ASU will swarm and outrun NU blockers all night. NU will be lucky to win by 2 TD. And the weather will be in favor of ASU as it looks to be dry with no humidity Sat nite. Good luck to all.

Copied from the Arizona Republic website:

Wicked weather

The Lincoln, Neb., humidity concerns coach Dirk Koetter.

Saturday's forecast is for a high in the low- to mid-80s with a chance of thunderstorms. The humidity has been close to 80 percent recently.

 

[Murph29]

Was in Lincoln Thurs, Fri, and Sat. Weather was very nice, very little humidity.(Or at least noticable humidity. The articles about the scrimmage on Friday the players were quoted as saying they think the defense is real good and that the defensive players thought the offense had made progress, even though they didn't score. Could be the defense is saying things like that to help boost morale of offense because they need them to win. Not sure u should believe everything u read, but would like to believe the defense is that good, and the O isn't that bad, but...

Go Big Red

 

[djv]

Looks like Neb Of's may not need to be real good going against that A.ST D. On the other side of the ball A.ST Of's might be going against best part of Neb team there D. I don't like this game. Neb gets more press so the line may be about 3 to high. But I don't like taking a dog unless I think they can win the game. At least in most cases. And I don't think A. ST can win.

 

[bgold13]

Huskers expect tough ASU test

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Last modified at 12:26 a.m. on Wednesday, August 21, 2002
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By Terry Douglass
douglass@theindependent.com
LINCOLN -- Nebraska will play the earliest season opener in school history Saturday in the Black Coaches Association Football Classic against Arizona State, but most in Cornhuskers' camp expect anything but a late-summer breeze.

Although No. 8- and 10-ranked Nebraska is listed as a 22-point favorite, coach Frank Solich said he thinks the preseason game matches up two good young teams with many similarities. Both squads feature inexperienced offensive lines and quarterbacks as well as good team speed on defense, Solich said Tuesday during the Huskers' first weekly news conference.

"They've got a very good package of speed in their special teams, offensive and defensive areas," Solich said. "It will make for a very interesting matchup."

With Nebraska bidding to win its 17th consecutive season opener, Huskers' I-back Dahrran Diedrick said he's looking forward to the challenge.

"Arizona State is a good football team and I'm glad to be starting the season off with them," Diedrick said. "We've been working real hard and getting a lot better. Monday started off with a really good practice, so I think we'll just keep having good practices throughout the week and have a good game on Saturday."

Nebraska will host the 6:47 p.m. game at Memorial Stadium. ESPN's television coverage is scheduled to being at 6:30 p.m.

The Sun Devils, who ended last season with a 5-game losing streak, are most experienced on the defensive side of the ball.

Eight full-time defensive starters return from a 4-7 team that was 1-7 in Pac-10 play. Sporting News preseason All-America defensive end Terrell Suggs, who recorded 18 tackles for loss with 10 sacks and four forced fumbles, leads the unit.

"They have an excellent group of athletes on defense," Solich said. "You've got to get prepared to have an awful lot of things thrown at you. They've got a good combination of blitzes out of their look, so it's as difficult of scheme as we've faced in a while."

Solich said Arizona State will give multiple looks out of its 4-4 base defense. That could be a challenge for a Husker offense that features a new starting quarterback in Jammal Lord and three new starters on the offensive line.

"Their defense is their strong point," said Nebraska's John Garrison, a returning starter at center. "Any time you return that amount of guys, you're looking at a strong defense -- a team that's already had some unity in the past.

"They are quick. The defensive line is very quick and they do a lot of stunting that causes problems for offenses."

The Sun Devils struggled defensively at times last season. ASU ranked 78th nationally in total defense (399.4 yards allowed per game) and 94th in scoring defense (32.8 points per game). Arizona State did fare better against the run, holding opponents to 138.5 yards per contest -- good for 45th in the country.

Nebraska can also expect to be challenged defensively. Although just four offensive starters return, ASU coach Dirk Koetter's team averaged 34 points (19th nationally) and 426.4 total yards (25th) per game last season.

"I really like their attack," Solich said. "They've got a great package as far as the passing attack goes, but yet they're a team that has been able to build the running attack into that, which makes them such a threat."

Arizona State's top offensive returnee is wide receiver Shaun McDonald, who had 47 receptions for 1,104 yards and 10 touchdowns last year. The

5-foot-9, 172-pound junior earned All-Pac 10 honors and has been listed as an All-America candidate by several preseason publications.

Nebraska senior cornerback DeJuan Groce said McDonald, who averaged 23.5 yards per catch in 2001, is tough to stop.

"I watched a lot of film on him and he's a real quick guy, a fast guy and he runs his routes pretty crisp," Groce said. "He's just an all-around athlete. They thrive on the deep ball for him."

Last season, the long pass was a major strength for Arizona State.

"They're probably as good a team at throwing the ball downfield as we've seen in a long time," Nebraska defensive coordinator Craig Bohl said. "They throw the deep ball extremely well, which is always a concern for you on defense."

In a bit of a surprise, Chad Christensen won ASU's starting quarterback job and will open the season against the Huskers. The 6-2, 199-pound redshirt freshman beat out a pair of more experienced players in sophomore Andrew Walter and junior Andy Goodenough for the spot.

"He must be a pretty good player because he's beaten out a guy who started their last two games," Bohl said of Christensen. "We're anticipating an excellent player at quarterback."

Bohl said the Sun Devils are difficult to prepare for because they're fairly balanced, attack with some power running game, but can still spread the formation and throw downfield. Koetter, a former offensive coordinator at Missouri, also features some misdirection and even some option in his playbook.

"Any time you have an offense like that, it's tough to prepare for," Nebraska senior rush end Chris Kelsay said. "We've seen teams like this in the past and we've prepared well for them. We, as players, know what our jobs are. We'll just take what comes this Saturday."

Solich and Bohl said the Sun Devils appear to have talented special teams units as well. Place-kicker Mike Barth gives ASU another weapon, hitting 26-of-39 field goal attempts in his career.

"We do have a great challenge ahead of us," Bohl said. "Our players are embracing that challenge and, as coaches, we are also."