My 2 Cents
9/16/08
New Mexico State Game

Commentary by David Max

Week three of the Bo Pelini era has all the appearances of turning the corner toward the return to the college football elite. I know people will say the level of competition may be the reason we looked so good last Saturday and the meat of the schedule is yet to come. It is true that there are games left to be played against better opponents but you can feel the attitude and the confidence of the coaching staff being transferred to the players. They expect to play well and they expect to win. In college football that can be the difference when all the teams seem to have their "Jimmys and Joes" and coaches that know the "X's and O's". I'm just glad we have our Joe and his supporting cast of players and this coaching staff.

I watched the Nebraska post-game show on Sunday night and picked out a few quotes from Coach Pelini which summarize where we are at right now.
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"We're not the finished product yet. Nowhere near it but I saw improvement.

I thought we tackled well in the football game.

There was a good mix in the offense with the run/pass.

I've said all along that Joe is a better football player than people give him credit for.

We're not nearly where we want to be yet but we're getting there."
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Another reason I know that we are "getting there" is the fact that the fans were screaming their heads off after the outcome of the game was not in doubt but the possibly of a shutout was still in play. New Mexico State did manage to get their first score ever against Nebraska but it was not the result of a sustained drive, it was the result of a 3 yard play after a turnover. I will be suprised if some Blackshirts don't show up in some lockers before the VA Tech game. There was great individual and team effort on both sides of the ball and I expect it will continue as we get into the meat of the schedule.

A sad note this past week was the passing of Joe Hudson's father at the age of 91. His funeral was yesterday in Omaha. Joe is responsible for the vast majority of the more than 60,000 pages and links of information on HuskerPedia™ that makes it the largest single source of Nebraska sports information on the planet. Please keep Joe and his family in your prayers. He and his son will make it the VA Tech game and the 70-71 team reunion the night before and we will get to sit together for the first time at a game in Memorial Stadium behind my good friend Arleen Heibel who has been a part of our little section of the south end zone since 1964.

Speaking of Arleen she asked me about the tunnel walk bricks that line that the team walked over when they used to come out of the south end zone. She purchased one in memory of her husband and sent me the following email:
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Hi David,
Great game Saturday and a great win and we will continue to get better each game. I know it is going to be fun.

David, I have a question I would like to ask you to see if you could give me some information as to whom I might contact about this matter.

When Mel, my husband passed away we had recived information about The Big Red Boulevard to be built with memorial money. Mel was a big Husker fan so we gave a memorial to purchase a brick in his memory. It was completed and we had information as to where it was located and as a family we all saw it and it was very nice. Now we are wondering what is happening to that with the North Stadium Complex. Were those bricks moved or are they still on the south side? We were under the impression that the team would walk across them as they entered the field. That would not be possible unless they were moved. We would appreciate any information you can give us.

Thank you
Arleen Heibel
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I forwarded it on to Randy York at the Athletic Department who forwarded it to Paul Meyers and this is the response to Randy from Paul:
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Randy, we did state that the team would walk across the bricks to enter Memorial Stadium but could not guarantee that it would be the case forever. The bricks are still over in the South Stadium. PM
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A possible solution is to raise the funds needed to physically move those bricks to the north end zone so the people that made those donations will know that once again the players will be walking on their bricks during the tunnel walk before every home game again. Another possibility is to create a new brick tunnel walk in the north end zone and allow those same people first right of refusal to buy the same brick to be placed in the north end zone tunnel walk before offering it to the general public. I will keep you posted in future columns if we are able to "Git-R-Done."

There are two Husker related events coming up in the next two weeks. The first is the Husker Hog Ride on Saturday, September 20th which is a fund raising event organized by former Husker Jared Tomich with the help of his friends Grant Wistrom, Jason Peter and others. If you are in the area during the off week this is a great opportunity for you to rub elbows with some Husker legends and have a great time. I had the opportunity to meet Jared and Grant prior to the game on Saturday and took this picture with Jared.

The second event is our 70-71 National Championship team reunion at the Cornhusker Marriott on Friday, September 26th. Currently we have 16 former players from that team that have indicated they will attend. The event is co-hosted by Jerry Murtaugh of Legends Radio Show fame and a portion of the proceeds will go toward his non-profit organization to fight childhood obesity. Right now we have around 70 people signed up and if you would like to join our small gathering and spend some quality time with these Husker legends you can sign up for either or both events at the links below.

Husker Hog Ride

70-71 Team Reunion

It is nice is to be able to observe these former players giving back to their communities. It makes you feel good about being a Nebraska fan.

Just my 2 cents. What about yours?

GO BIG RED!!!