Husker vs. Hokies

As I sat at work late last night accruing some overtime hours, I pulled out a pad of paper with the intentions of writing my predictions for today's big game. I ended up coming home with nothing but a blank piece of paper, short of a few scribbled out sentences. It would be easy to blame my writer's block on an inability to focus between answering phone calls and helping to solve the city's usual Friday night parties and general alcohol-related silliness. In reality, though, I suspect that blank piece of paper is due to the fact that I simply can't get a good read on how the Huskers will fare today.

All of the major elements are in place for an exciting game tonight. The Memorial Stadium lights will be on and the crowd will be jacked. The national media is in town to cover the Huskers for the first time this season. A real powerhouse football team in Virgina Tech is here to give rookie head coach Bo Pelini his first shot at making a statement as to how far his team has come towards rebuilding national prominence, and more importantly confidence within the program. The Huskers have had a couple weeks off to prepare for the Hokies after coming off their best game of this early season. Anticipation is high, and Husker-mania is at a fever pitch across the plains of Nebraska. It's a great college-football atmosphere at its very best!

Still, I just can't seem to get a strong feeling either way. In breaking the game down and looking at pure numbers, it seems the Huskers and Hokies are pretty evenly matched. Neither team is ranked in the top 25, but both are supposedly somewhere between #26 and #29. Both defenses are very good, though I'd give a slight edge to the Hokies simply based on experience. On the other side of the ball, the edge goes to Nebraska's offense as they have a fantastic rushing threat and a big-play-capable corps of receivers. The Tech offense really only offers a threat with their mobile quarterback. Contain him (which admittedly is no small feat), and they haven't much else on which to rely. As far as special teams, well, you may have heard the term "Beamerball." This refers to Tech's head coach Frank Beamer's style of special teams play. My understanding is that it is an honor to play on special teams in Blacksburg, which means there is always a huge threat of a game-changing play when Beamerball is being played.

So where does all of this analysis leave me? Stuck, for lack of a better term. Maybe it's because I was so confident last year that the S'kers would be good in their fourth year under Bill Callahan, and I was burned far too many times after thinking Nebraska would and should beat everyone that crossed their path. Yes, I'm hesitant to get overly confident in this first year of rebuilding our beloved football program.

So here's what I'm going to do:

I'm gonna throw all this analysis crap out the window, and in the spirit of true Husker fanaticism, predict a big ol' homegrown, smash-mouth, knock-'em-on-their-butts, gratifying win tonight. That's right - the Huskers will come out of their traditional tunnel-walk so jacked up and ready to knock somebodies head off, the Hokies won't ever get into a rythm. They will be scared, nervous, and flat. Forget Beamerball, people, we have Boball. The Huskers get it done tonight and Bo begins to resurrect the Nebraska football program with a big win. Final score: Huskers 30, Hokies 12.

GO BIG RED!!