Nebraska Football Tailgate Talk: Saturday Boilermakers on tap

Saturday at 2:30, the Nebraska football team plays to another sold-out crowd in Memorial Stadium. The weather should be perfect with sunny conditions and a low in the ’60s. The game will be televised on ESPN 2.

Everyone, including me, benefitted from a week off. Husker QB, Adrian Martinez certainly did. He’s been “nicked” up apparently. After running from defensive linemen all year, it’s not a shock. The good news coming off a bye week is that a healthy Martinez is usually very effective against Purdue.

I’d toss you the stats but I don’t have them handy and I’m under a deadline. Unfortunately for Adrian, Purdue has a better defense than the past years so the Huskers’ offense will need to earn it all.  He’s going to be running away from Defensive End George Karlaftis for most of the game. That’s a “rinse and repeat” also. George’s finally a senior and will be gone early in the draft.

The Boilermakers on offense are a BIG switch up from the barrage of running teams we’ve encountered so far. Purdue likes to air it out. It’s not a good week to have Huskers Safety Deontae Williams out with that lingering knee injury from the Minnesota game. Hopefully, like farmers who are harvesting o’plenty right now, Huskers redshirt freshman Myles Farmer will be just as productive in the backfield.

Huskers need this win badly to have any kind of hope of making a bowl game. Yes, one typically needs 6 wins, but as we’ve learned in the past, with 5 wins and a great GPA, they can qualify for an invite. And since Nebraska travels WELL, we would most likely garner a ticket to a bowl game. It might be the Ring around the Toilet Bowl game but we’d take it!

On a side note, Huskers AD Trev Alberts won’t be at the game. Instead, he’s going to see his son Chase get married. Don’t hate on the bride. The date was picked back in Trev’s UNO days. In true Cornhusker form, however, Trev did say that his wife “told him” he was going to the wedding. I appreciate the humor from the top guy!

Tailgating really opens up with cooler temps. Bring on the peanuts and candy corn mix! Bring out the meat and cheese snack trays! The only thing sweating on gameday will be Purdue’s Head coach. Huskers are looking to dominate and erase that horrible gopher game.

In honor of the Boilermaker drink (drop a shot of whiskey into a beer), I’m making jello shots with whisky in them. It’s not for the weak. But neither is running against a Purdue defense. I had some leftover Jack Daniel’s Apple from my brother’s visit. I mixed 1 box of green apple jello with 1 cup of boiling ginger ale and stirred to dissolve the jello. Then I added 3/4 cup of the Jack Daniels apple flavor whiskey. Pour into shots and chill! It will take the CHILL off of you for sure!

I also have a whiskey-inspired sauce for lil smokies in a crockpot. Mix 1 12 oz. bottle of chili sauce (or 1 c water and 3 TBS of cajun seasoning) with 1/2 cup whiskey (or bourbon), 1/4 cup brown sugar and 2 tablespoons grated onion. I cut the smoked sausage on the bias (that’s fancy for diagonally sliced) and drop into the crockpot and let it simmer for a couple of hours. Safety tip: if you travel with the crockpot and get pulled over for speeding, there will be an intense air of whiskey that is released when you roll down the window and greet the nice deputy. Plan accordingly.

Huskers need this game in the elusive W column. I’ll be back to tailgating and wearing a bad witch costume. Note the “W” in that sentence. After all, it’s almost Halloween! Look for Big Red to connect with lots of different receivers and for a few running backs to keep things interesting. Cheer loudly, be kind and as always, GO BIG RED!