Thursday, September 23, 2010

Thursday Night Beer: Nighthawks More Intriguing Than Huskers This Weekend

Nothing against the Big Red, but the last of the Steve Pederson body-bag games might be the worst of the bunch. South Dakota State is a 1-AA team that's 0-2 so far this season.  They don't really run the ball all that well, and they've thrown five interceptions against only one touchdown pass.  Oh, and they can't really stop the run either. So unless the Huskers decide to turn the ball over eight or more times, this one should be over early.

The biggest news of the day is that Bo Pelini awarded the Blackshirts to the starters on defense. From a pure accomplishment perspective, the defense earned them last week.  But deep down, I still think there's something to be said about giving it to the first teamers before the first game.  I'm conflicted on this one, but after what happened in 2004-07, it's hard to argue against the point that the Blackshirts really are something that needs to be earned on the field.

I'm really interested in seeing how the Nighthawks game turns out on multiple levels.  The photos of a striped Rosenblatt Stadium look better than I thought it would; the left field bleachers might be some of the best cheap seats anywhere in football.  The only issue I see is that the new sod probably needed a bit more fertilizer to green it up a little better.

I'm fully expecting parking to be a Royal pain in the rear; it's been a while since I've navigated the College World Series, and I'm not looking forward to finding a spot down there tomorrow.  And no, I'm not burning vacation time to attend a minor league football game.  It'll be much better next season when TD Ameritrade Park opens with two to three times as many parking spots surrounding the stadium.

With all the talk about the Nighthawks, there haven't been much to discuss about the team to this point. Jeff Garcia and Ahman Green would have made a nice core of a fantasy football team five years ago, but what about 2010?  Robert Ferguson was a decent receiver with the Packers earlier this decade, but what about now?  And what kind of offense is head coach Jeff Jagodzinski going to put together at this level with this personnel?  I just found the depth chart buried in the game notes; looks like former Husker defensive in Jay Moore will be starting along with former Oklahoma defensive tackle Dusty Dvoracek.  Of course, I don't have anything else to compare this team to, so it'll be interesting to see just what we see tomorrow night.

7 comments:

Big Dog said...

Are you kidding me. The Nighthawks are bigger than the Huskers. Maybe the idiot who wrote the article can go to the game on Saturday and see the 80,000fans at the stadium compared to the 24,000 in Rosenblatt. The Huskers play hard and are representing the state compared to the Nighthawks who are playing to get into the NFL and are a bunch of washed up or wannabe be football players. This is why everyone makes fun of the World Herald. You guys always write about Iowa, Creighton, and other worthless crappy teams and forget what state you're in. Whoever wrote this article is an idiot, which fits well at the World Herald.

Husker Mike said...

No...I didn't say that. I said that I think the Nighthawks game against Hartford itself is going to be more interesting than Nebraska's game against South Dakota State. I know what's going to happen tomorrow...Nebraska is pretty good, while SDSU is simply outmanned. It's going to be a bad game. Do the wave, watch the Tunnel Walk...but the NU game had better be over by the end of the first quarter...

I definitely wouldn't have said that last week. And I won't be saying that in October.

Anonymous said...

Last time I checked, Big Dog, Creighton is located in Omaha, the largest city in the state of Nebraska. Whose the idiot?

Julie said...

While it wasn't the Husker's best performance, rule number one is never underestimate your opponent. The Jacks aren't in the same league, but the Huskers acted more like they lost the game and the Jacks like they won.

Big Dog said...

Yeah Creighton is in Omaha but the capitol is Lincoln, Anonymous. Creighton is not a real sports school when you have soccer and not football. Minor league football such as the Nighthawks does not compare to college football. And the last time I checked Creighton doesn't have a football team, so they aren't a real team or a real sports school.

Big Dog said...

Hey anonymous, since you know so much about geography, lets remember the capital of Nebraska is not Omaha, but Lincoln. My point was is no one really cares about minor league football compared to Div 1 college football. Husker Mike, the game for the Nighthawks is never going to be more interesting than a Husker football game, no matter who the opponent is. And Omaha, for how huge a city it is, does not have a Div 1 football team. No one in the rest of the state cares about the Nighthawks, Iowa sports, or other schools that don't have real mens sports teams (sorry Creighton, you don't have a football team, so therefore your not a real sports school). Nice try anonymous.

Husker Mike said...

My original assumption that Nebraska would simply annihilate SDSU turned out to be false. That being said, I still believe that there was more intrique over the Nighthawks game in Omaha late last week. Nobody expected SDSU to put up any sort of fight.

Nothing against the Huskers, mind you. I've been a season ticketholder for 18 years, but this game left me feeling flat...a sense of "why am I going to this" and "do I really have to spend $54 to watch this?" Oh, and several "f you"s to Steve Pederson.

Just my opinion...