Nebraska Tailgate Talk: Spending a night frying up the Fighting Hawks

The Nebraska Cornhuskers take on the North Dakota Fighting Hawks Saturday night in Memorial Stadium, with kickoff set for 6:15. It will be televised on B1G Network. The weather is expected to be a wonderful tailgate temperature of 70 degrees with partly cloudy skies, according to Rusty Lord with WOWT. Rain chances are creeping in by the end of the game, though. Nebraska is a -24.5 favorite.

How bout dem Huskers? Yes, I know Bowling Green isn’t a serious threat, but Big Red did what they were supposed to do: win by a large margin. It’s a bonus that there are no injuries, too. Things are looking up in Lincoln for now. Specifically, one thing in the “movin on up” category is the performance by Husker QB Anthony Colandrea, who was named B1G Ten Offensive Player of the Week. A well-deserved honor for completing 20-of-24 passes and posting an 84% completion percentage. I like his decision-making so far.

The Huskers' defense is also on the rise. Defensive Back Andrew Marshall is everywhere (7 tackles and 1 TFL), and it all looks good. Linebacker Dexter Foster and D-lineman Williams Nwaneri looked much improved from the week before. How about some unknowns also getting into the action as well! Props to junior Yutan native Linebacker Derek Wacker, who benefited from D-lineman Malcolm Simpson’s tip for the scoop-and-score for Big Red. That’s what non-conference games are all about, in my book.

Where there are ups, there are downs. In my book, Jacory Barney should not punt return because he looks as decisive as a teenager picking out her outfit for the first day of sophomore school. Yes, he can do good things, but so far, he’s in my doghouse for bad decisions. Hopefully this week he won’t erase another touchdown off the board. Also, the penalties keep adding up, and it was interesting to see Coach Rhule take the blame this week. He said they have been teaching an aggressive approach on Special Teams, as the refs called it last year. There has now been a shift in the referee room, so he said that’s on him. Thanks for clearing that up, Coach.

On to Missouri Valley contender North Dakota Fighting Hawks. Head Coach Eric Schmidt is friends with DC Rob Aurich from their time at San Diego State. Aurich had a lot of good things to say about him at Tuesday's press conference. ND can pass, run, spread, and drop back. They were the #6 team in the FCS. They have a smart 6’ 2” QB in Senior Jerry Kaminski. For the most part, they focus on the run, but he can sling it too. With the past 3 weeks of Hawks scoring at least 42 points (and up to 62), it’s safe to say they know how to put the ball in the end zone. In two of the games, they had twice as many passing yards as rushing. Believe it or not, the time of possession in those 3 games was about even with their opponent. Blackshirts better show up and show out.

Coach Holgersen isn’t looking past North Dakota either. He pointed out that they reached the 2nd round of the FCS playoffs last year. He’s even challenged his players to be better in this game (looking at you, Nyziah Hunter). He’s pleased with the run game and the yards-per-play average of 8.4, but he knows it’s not the B1G yet. He said he believes fans are seeing what he’s seen all year in practices: Anthony Colandrea making good decisions and hitting check-downs. Coach Rhule knows the FCS has good players too. Just look at Dwayne McDougle, Owen Chambliss, and Anthony Colandrea if you didn’t know that. They were there last year.

With Mother Nature even getting on board the Husker bandwagon this week, it’s time to break out the celebration shots. Since I’m working with a luau theme, complete with fruit skewers and pulled pork sandwiches, I’m also serving up a strawberry banana coconut rum jello shot. 1 cup of boiling water with 1 box of jello, then ¾ cup of Coconut Rum. Mix it up and chill.

I want to see about the same kind of thing as I did last week from Nebraska, except maybe the 3rd Quarter. I want fewer penalties, no touchdowns called back, and a lot of Red jerseys getting in the action. The best thing is the weather will be great, and that should make for some epic tailgating. As always, keep an eye on the forecast, yell loudly at the game, and as always, GO BIG RED!

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