NEBRASKA CORNHUSKERS O:8 D:7

I still find myself yelling at the TV every time I see the final play in last year’s Alamo Bowl when Nebraska came back to knock off the Michigan Wolverines. Why the Michigan player didn’t pitch it one last time still has many perplexed. That being said, the Huskers won the bowl and handed HC Bill Callahan his first ever bowl victory. Big Red heads into 2006 now in the third year under the new regime, and looks to have its best squad since the 2003 season when they went 9-3 in Frank Solich’s last stint as head coach. Nebraska returns 15 players from last year’s squad, and looks to be a major player in the Big 12. Opponents will once again fear traveling to Lincoln to play in Memorial Stadium as the 73,000+ rally behind their best team in years. QB Zac Taylor is back for his senior campaign, and should have his biggest season yet with the weapons at his disposal. Protecting him and opening up holes is an O-Line that gained valuable experience to close out the ’05 season, but must remain healthy for this offense to succeed. This looks to be the season the Lincoln faithful will see why their patented option attack was scrapped for the more popular West Coast offense. Nebraska will scorch the passing record books at NU, and put up a ton more points than the 24 PPG they averaged a year ago. The defense returns seven from last year’s unit that only surrendered 21 PPG. Most of this unit has been around since the inception of the Callahan/Cosgrove era, and it’s improved its PPG average with every passing year. Look for more of the same this year as Big Red fields its best defense under the new regime. The special teams unit looks fantastic as well, but a capable replacement must be found to take over the punting duties.