Wednesday Night Beer: Prelude to the Season

The 2009 football season is almost here...can you feel it? UNO kicked off last week with a 48-0 thrashing of East Central of Oklahoma. The most notable feature of East Central is that the Roark brothers on the roster. You remember the Roark brothers don't you? Chad was an offensive lineman in that legendary 2005 recruiting class that was going to lead Bill Callahan to a national championship. Craig followed him to Lincoln after things didn't work out at Oklahoma. And like much of that class, things didn't work out the way the recruitniks predicted.

One player from that class that might still live up to the hype is Zach Bowman. We never really got a good look at Bowman at Nebraska due to his repeated injuries, but Lovie Smith has seen enough to suggest that Bowman would be starting the season opener for the Chicago Bears if he's recovered from his hamstring injury.

Saturday things finally kick off, and preparations are already underway. I'll be joining some of the other contributors to Cornhusker Kickoff at the Nebraska Union bookstore on Saturday afternoon. If you're on campus prior to the game, stop by and say hi! Right now, I'm planning to be there between 3:30 and 5.

Kirk Herbstreit handed out his preseason Herbie Awards earlier this week, and named NU quarterback Zac Lee his #4 first-year starting quarterback in the nation. I'm intrigued by Lee, and want to see him in actual action. It sounds like he's got all of the tools, but we haven't seen him in action yet. Herbstreit also picks the Huskers to win the North, and named Missouri as his #1 team "headed down".

Helicopter Howie pulled yet another pregame stunt this week, burning a Big Red "N" at a pep rally.

Larry Asante was not amused.

"It has to be, and it is," Asante said. "Coach came in and he gave us a little speech that I can't really go into. But what they're doing down there, I don't think it's football. It's not football. You should just show up and let all the other stuff take care of itself."