Nebraska Football Tailgate Tales: pursuing a win at Purdue

Get ready for the big Nebraska football game on Saturday.

I said it at the beginning of this crazy shortened season that a win for the Huskers could be as simple as playing all 8 games. That’s not going to happen. What is good news is that so far (knocking on wood) the Nebraska Football team hasn’t had to cancel a game or practices due to COVID. The Northwestern v Minnesota* and Michigan* v Maryland games are already canceled this weekend. The infected teams are Minnesota and Michigan, although Northwester had over 32 players on the “injury” list Wednesday.

Huskers play the Purdue Boilermakers at 11 am (shocker), and it will be televised on Fox. When I think of Purdue I always think of that big drum. And kudos to Kevin Warren for crushing the souls of band members and cheerleaders this season too, btw (Mom, that’s a sarcastic “by the way” and not a typing error).

Purdue Wide Receivers Rondale Moore and David Bell are formidable to say the very least. The Boilermakers average 304 passing yards a game. Despite the 2-3 record, all of their games were decided by 7 or fewer points, and they have won their last two games.  Nebraska’s secondary will need to be on the top of their game in order to compete on Saturday. For more in-depth keys to the game click here.

I think Adrian Martinez gives Big Red the best chance of winning. I’m not denying Nebraska freshman Quarterback, Luke McCaffrey‘s athleticism, but it takes more than being an athlete to be a quarterback. Don’t forget you AM bashers out there that he’s produced 6,498 total yards of offense for Nebraska. 1,478 of that has been on the ground and the rest (because I don’t like math) through the air. I understand the “what have you done for me lately” argument but Martinez is still the horse I’ll wager upon. Hopefully Nebraska tight end Austin Allen is good to go by Saturday. The way he landed on his head after being hit last week was rather frightful.

That being said, what the hell is up with the running backs??? Pretty sure there was a LOT of hype about the “stable” of running backs in the room for Nebraska. Injuries have spread in the running back room like jelly on peanut butter. Dedrick Mills – “dinged up,” Ronald Thompkins and Sevion Morrison have “undisclosed injuries,” leaving only Marvin Scott able to go even though Sevion is likely to suit up on Saturday. Guess you will continue to see Wan’Dale Robinson in the backfield for a while. It’s never good when your quarterbacks have the best rushing stats  for the year.

What’s the recipe for success? Trust me, if I really had it, I’d share it. What I can share are a couple of recipes inspired by Nebraska football and this week’s opponent. The boilermaker is the obvious choice and that’s a shot of bourbon dropped into a beer.  When Husker football hands you lemons, feel free to mix some of that Jim Beam bourbon with lemonade.

But if you’re old-fashioned, like me, you can make my old-fashioned jello shot! Heat a cup of hot water and mix in a package of orange jello until it is dissolved. Add 3/4 cup of Jim Beam, 4 dashes of bitters, stir, then pour into shot cups and chill!

Nebraska will need to NOT SHOOT THEMSELVES IN THE FOOT again. Play clean, defend the pass, sack the QB, score more points than Purdue. Yes, that’s probably why I don’t coach for a living but heck, I’ll have a cocktail and worry about that some other time. Hit me up on Twitter (Kelian_NE) and let me know your thoughts or recipes for next week’s game (fingers crossed there is one) In the meantime, GO BIG RED!