I'm a few days late on this but I was waiting for the fine people at Red Lasso to hook me up with an account.
What follows is the Nebraska portion of ESPN's College Game Day Final from last Saturday. If, like me, you weren't able to make it Lincoln of were out of the country (DT, Jeff), here's what they were saying right after it happened...
I felt like their post-spring assessment of Nebraska was pretty spot on. Ed Cunningham foresees "7-5ish" which seems about right and he cuts right through the feel good aspects of the Cody Glenn story to point out that a converted running back would probably start at linebacker if the season started today. While intriguing, that's typically not a good sign. (No pressure, Will Compton.)
Tom Luginbill, on the other hand, seems a bit more enamored with the Cornhuskers, specifically Joe Ganz. The irony here, of course, is that Luginbill is one of those professional star givers and Joe Ganz, out of high school, was not much of a star getter.
If you had to rank the signal-callers in the suddenly QBgasmic Big 12 heading into 2008 where does Ganz fit in? I'm thinking the 7, 8, 9 range is fair depending upon your opinions of Freeman, McGee and Hawkins.
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4 comments:
Ganz is 5th or 6th at the end of the season. He's got the potential to be better, but I'm not sticking my neck out too far. The name of the game, however, it pressure the quarterback. As you said, Big12 is QB crazy this year so our Dline is going to have to been tough.
Excellent find BLV. And to be honest that's the most ESPN coverage I've watched since bowl season (NHL, NBA and early MLB just don't do it for me).
Ganz probably rounds out somewhere around 8-10 right now. Not only are the Big 12 QBs talented, but they're also experienced.
Doombob's right about our DLine needing to step up. However, I'm still a little worried about our secondary. Murillo is rock solid and West is talented and will continue to improve. Our safeties once again make me nervous. Asante and Thenarse might wind up being the best against the run we've ever had in a duo. With the ball in the air, however, I'm going to worry. The Cover-2 should put them in the right area, but doesn't leave a lot of room for error at the safety spot.
Doombob/Jeff,
Maybe that's Callahan's lasting legacy at Nebraska: mystery.
Really, we don't know anything heading into 08. Everything this season is going to be a surprise. Is the d-line actually bad or just mismanaged? What will the LB corps look like? We assume that the offense will be at least competent but who will be the star of that unit?
If somebody asked me right now "what do you know Nebraska will do well next season?" I don't think I could provide a meaningful answer.
Here's the thing...I can't quite objectively judge all of the other QB's, because Cosgrove's D made most all of them look like Brett Favre. Off hand, I know Ganz can be no worse than 10th, because I can't even name the QB's at Baylor or ISU...but I'll take a crack:
1. Bradford-3,100+ yds, 36 TD/8 INT, Big 12 champ as a frosh...not bad--even after discounting the added benefit of studs all around him
2. Daniel-And I say this begrudgingly, because I hate him...so that probably explains why I rank him behind Bradford (when in all actuality it should be more of a 1a/1b classification. Daniel had just under 1,200+ yards more than Bradford, but his 33 TD/11 INT ratio falls short...but fuck Daniel. I hope he falls on his face. Heisman? Yeah right...win the conference and I'll be impressed, but I don't see that happening either.
3. Here's where it gets tough...Harrell, I guess? NCAA leader in all significant passing categories...guess I've got to give it up for that, system QB be damned.
4. Reesing, I guess-Tough for me to pick him this high, he had the good fortune to play against a Coz-coached defense and look like a freakin' pro bowler, but I just can't buy in too much as he looked pretty average to me whenever I saw him play against basically any halfway decent team. But sort of like the case with Bradford, winning 11 straight and leading your team to win a BCS bowl (in your first year as a starter) has to count for something. Almost 3,500 yds & 33/7 TD:INT doesn't hurt either, I suppose.
5. McGee-Not all that exciting of a pick for coming in at #5...and ranking him here comes as sort of a surprise to me. But I'm judging this more on career achievements to this point and not necessarily in a prognostication attempt of how they'll do this year. But McGee's yet another guy who gets the benefit of the doubt from me, as last year's Blackshirts made him look like Eric Crouch. I don't know how...by the third quarter, even I knew that read option keeper was coming every other play...and I was sitting about 60 rows up. He also benefits from two straight wins over arch-rival Texas, and therefore gets the nod over...
6. McCoy-Not all that sold myself, as he's one of two QB's in the league with the distinction of looking like shit against a Coz-coached D, not just once...but twice! But hey, at least he pulled them out in the end (unlike the other B12 QB with this scarlet letter) I guess I'll still put him here because he's a media darling and I suppose I'm just getting sucked into the hype. But he'll have to watch his back this season, I think. It's not like Chiles/Harris are exactly breathing down his neck or anything...yet I think they offer a different dimension that McCoy doesn't and Horns fans will be calling for this, should McCoy again stagger through a season with his typical four or five so-so performances.
7. Robinson-really had a pretty pedestrian year as a first-year starter...even his stats against NU were respectable, but not eye-popping. Ganz would've shredded his numbers had he started in just a few more games last year. But Robinson was able to lead his team to a bowl and win it, so he's got that much under his belt.
8. Ganz-Possible homer pick, but I don't see anything to indicate that he doesn't deserve to be ranked here...if not a spot higher. Like I said, stat-wise, he'd outrank a bunch of folks...had he only had a couple more starts under his belt last year.
9. Freeman-The other guy with a big, bold asterisk by his name, indicating that he's looked like crap against a Cosgrove defense in two consecutive years. (I know his stats from last year's NU game didn't indicate so, but anyone who saw the game can attest.) Career 9-12 record as a starting QB. Led his team to a four game skid to finish last season...two of which were double-digit losses to two pretty shitty teams (NU, ISU). He's about as mobile as a freakin' battleship and at times looks about as big. But as long as he still pulls one out of his ass against a team I hate every year, I'll still rank him ahead of...
10. Hawkins-I hate Hawkins, so this might be based solely on my own personal bias. But I really do think he sucks. Fucking daddy's boy is what he is. At one point last season (through 8 games) he sat with a 13 TD/14 INT ratio...then he settled down and finished 22/17. Lost 7 games. Yet another to look like Joe Montana against a demoralized and otherwise uncaring NU D (mind you, not Joe Montana in his prime, but rather Joe Montana on the Chiefs, maybe). But all the same, another who looked and played like shit against any other halfway decent team he faced. Even looked like crap in the miraculous wins they were able to pull out. Fuck the buffs, fuck ralphie, fuck Hawkins and fuck all of his daddy's zen feel-goodery.
11. An ISU QB that's not Bret Meyer. Or is he still gonna be there?
12. Baylor QB to be named later...do they still got that Miami guy?
There you go...oh, and thanks for posting that video. Like Jeffie, I've been tuned out of ESPN for the last 4 months or so (with the exception of selection Sunday for the brackets) and I hadn't seen it. But I had heard about it somewhere and was curious, so thanks for putting it up here!
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