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September 25 Sheet
Nebraska (-10.5) at
Southern Miss - 4:30pm Pacific
It is usually the smaller name team
that has the emotional edge in a matchup like this but there is
every reason to believe that Nebraska will be just as fired up for
this game as Southern Miss will be. The Cornhuskers are coming
off an embarrassing 7-7 season last year and are eager to show the
nation they are still a force to be reckoned with in this rare
Thursday night appearance in front of a national audience. Head
coach Frank Solich fired six assistant coaches after last season.
He brought in a new offensive coordinator and no longer will be
calling the plays himself. On defense he brought in Green Bay
linebackers coach Bo Pellini and so far they lead the nation in
total defense and are second to Florida State in scoring defense.
Offensively, Nebraska is not going to
wow anyone. The new offensive coordinator is from NMSU where they
have been running the same style offense. Nebraska still runs the
ball over 80% of the time. QB Jammal Lord is a gifted runner but
is still inconsistent throwing the ball down field. He has shown
signs of improvement but running is clearly still their bread and
butter. Nebraska has reached the red zone in 19 of their 35
drives this year but have only scored five touchdowns and eight
field goals. Red zone efficiency will be a priority this week.
While this offense may look bad at times, given enough
opportunities they will put up the necessary points to win and
cover this spread.
Defensively, Nebraska has dominated
the opposition thus far. New DC Pellini is doing a fine job
here. They returned 7 starters from last year, the highest number
on defense since the 1999 season when they went 11-1 and allowed
just 13.2 points per game. In the season opener, this defense
dominated a very good Oklahoma State offense, shutting them out
completely in the second half for a come from behind 17-7 win. In
their last game they dominated Penn State holding them to 10
points, a 47 yard FG, and a TD set up by a Nebraska fumble, all in
the second quarter. No opponent this season has scored a point on
Nebraska in the second half.
Southern Miss comes in to this game
with some major offensive question marks. They brought in a new
offensive coordinator, Rip Scherer, in the offseason and the team
has struggled in the new two back formation. Last years top wide
receiver Chris Johnson was dismissed from the team prior to the
season due to a violation of team rules. Star RB Derrick Nix and
three all-conference offensive line starters were lost to
graduation. This offense only scored 21.7ppg last year to begin
with. They started this season by scoring just two points on a
safety at Cal. They then managed 17 points at UAB (only 3 in 2nd
half). One of the touchdowns was aided by a Blazer turnover. In
last game vs Memphis they forced 6 turnovers but still only had 9
points in the fourth quarter before a long punt return broke the
game open. Making matters worse, starting QB Micky D'Angelo
suffered his 4th concussion and will be out of action for at least
a month. This means sophomore backup Dustin Almond will get the
start. Almond has completed just 7-of-23 passes in mop up duty
this season. He lacks both confidence and experience and will
have his hands full against a superb Nebraska defense. Starting
Right guard Travis Cooley will miss his second straight game with
a knee injury.
The USM defense has been nothing to
write home about either. They gave up 34 points to Cal in their
season opener and then were aided by 4 UAB turnovers and 6 Memphis
turnovers in their two good showings versus mediocre teams.
Senior defensive end starter Terrell Paul (2nd team C-USA last
year, sack in first game vs Cal, arguably best defensive lineman)
will likely miss his third straight game with a knee injury.
Nebraska is said to be very focused
for this game. Team is said to have much improved team unity and
discipline this year. They are treating this game strictly as a
business trip. Look for the Southern Miss defense to keep the
game interesting for a while, but I do not see the Golden Eagle
offense scoring more than 10 points tonight, if that. It is just
a matter of time before the Cornhusker offense puts up the needed
points to cover this spread. Lay the points.
Nebraska 1 UNIT
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