Just got my copy of that bible o' footbaw Phil Steele's College Football Preview 2008. Immediately I flipped to the Nebraska portion and, in a mild surprise, saw that he had the Cornhuskers slated for second in the Big 12 North, one spot behind Missouri and one ahead of Kansas.Here's a snippet--in that abbreviation heavy, waste no words, maybe chop up a few sentences into fragments voice we've come to love--from Steele's final analysis for the 2008 Huskers:
"...Pelini steps into a good situation. Despite having just 11 returning starters and 28 letterman lost. Switching the offense to more of a run-based attack means the D should be on the field less and therefore be much improved. The Huskers play 5 teams that were in Jan bowls last year but they make my Most Improved List which means they should go from a losing season to a bowl."
As for that Most Improved list, Nebraska checks in at #12. (For the record: Notre Dame is Steele's #1 Most Improved team.)
Big 12 Unit Rankings? They are as follows: QB 8, RB 1, REC 7, OL 4, DL 3, LB 11, DB 8, ST 6, CH 11.
Overall, Nebraska checks in at #43 on the preseason rankings list, behind Missouri (#7) and Kansas (#30).
Now that my weekend is shot, I'll probably be back with more from the great bible o' footbaw once I have a chance to actually digest some of the information.
3 comments:
Gotta love the all-white uni's featured in Phil's NU writeup...(unless you're like me and know that those things are a freakin' jinx as soon as you see them being worn.) They still look sharp with the shoes that make them look like they've got red spats on.
For anyone unsatisfied with the #43 ranking, check Phil's "Power Poll" on pg. 315 (Where the Skers check in at #31) and for those unsatisfied with the #12 most improved rating, check pg. 312 (Turnovers = Turnaround) where the numbers ranking NU as #2 team listed...in the same column where Phil notes that his #2 team from last year (Illinois) went from 2-10 the year before to the Rose Bowl!
This is the word of the Lord (or, in this semi-blasphemous context: Phil Steele)...
Thanks be to God (ibid.)
Of course, Nebraska in all-white was the first think I noticed with this year's PS#2008.
I look at it like an omen. Never before has Nebraska been featured in a preseason mag sporting such whiteness.
What it means remains to be seen but it means something. I know it.
So which way do you think the hex will go? Does even the great and powerful Phil Steele have what it takes to reverse the curse of the all-white unis? Personally (as dictated by annual custom) I was standing at the magazine rack in the bookstore, where I immediately flipped it to the Nebraska page, first thing after taking it down from the shelf...and upon arriving to take my first glance, I said to myself: Oh my God, we're gonna suck...every word in this thing is rendered useless and not worth the paper it's printed on, you've already told me all I need to know (PS#'s of incoming recruits notwithstanding).
Yes, for that split second, the all-white-humiliating-disappointment-specials even made me doubt the Alpha and the Omega of college football...As I read on, PS seemed to give a reasonably strong vibe of optimism for NU's prospects (although at this point, like yourself upon posting, I've only given it a once-over) but I know I saw him down for the Huskers making a bowl (I think in his new coaches roundup toward the back). If that much came to pass (and even better, we were to win a bowl or win the game that clinched a bowl while wearing all-white) I'd propose that it took Phil Steele himself to finally lay waste to the hex of the white-on-white. And that would be a glorious day indeed, because I always think we look so sweet in them...right up until we turn around and go out and get our asses kicked.
I'd have to do my research (I'm a little shaky on the specifics and you could probably fill me in) but off the top of my head...we've gotta be, at best, 2-10 in those things during my lifetime:
2007 CU (L)
2002 Lost at least 5 games: Lost @ PSU, Lost in Ames, Lost in Stillwater, Lost in Manhattan, Lost in the Bowl game. Those I can name for sure...we must've won one somewhere, but it escapes me...I'm thinking A&M maybe? I can't remember that game, though.
(At any rate, 5 L's and a W?)
1992 Mizzou (W), ISU (L)
1991(?) Washington (?) (L)
1990 Florida Citrus Bowl vs GT (L)
1988-89 (?) CU/OU (?) (L)
So put that in your pipe and smoke it, Phil Steele...you've just tempted fate. If ever there was a man up to the task, it's him...but like you said, we'll see I guess.
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