Prediction Time :: Nebraska Cornhuskers Edition

Offensive MVP: H. Jeffers and Matt Williams

Defensive MVP: DE Rajon Henely

Final Score: Texas Tech 42, Nebraska 31

Well, I think this is one of those games that brings us all back to earth a little. I think Sheffield will struggle a little early in this one – and that will probably be the difference. I believe Nebraska’s offense will have a fairly easy time moving the ball on us on the ground in this game. Nebraska is a team playing with a lot of confidence and their defense is incredibly talented. This won’t be a blowout by any means, but by the time Tech starts to click, it will be too late. Nebraska will have chewed up too much time to complete the rally.

Tech 27
Neb 36

Tech 35
NU 24

I think Sheffield is going to continue to be a gamer and have fun. 380 yards at the least. Jeffers and Batch are going to have huge days. I believe that Suh is going to be a pain in the ass all day but we shall overcome. One good up the middle blood run by Batch to make Suh realize what’s going on.

Receivers – Leong, Swindall, Lewis, and ZOO should all have great days and at least one TD a piece. Britton will have a fair day but no TD’s. ( I hope like hell I’m wrong about Easy Ed).

O-Line – Terry McDaniel is going to become a man saturday. Brandon Carter and Suh are going to hug eachother after this is over out of resepect.

D-Line – Whitlock, Sharpe, Henley, and Howard are going to hold their own and force much needed pressure. I’m dying to see Pearlie Graves get some time on the field.

LB’s – Duncan and company cause much confusion for Lee and cause multiple drops and bad reads.

Secondary – Lot’s of pressure and 2 picks. Multiple pass breakups. Wall and Ford have epic games and bring the wood in the first half. After that, nobody wants to go out for a pass for NU.

Special Teams – Williams and Ex…….not even going to try.

I think Nebraska’s game plan to drain the clock as much as possible every time they touch the ball makes it very tough for them to cover the 10.5 point spread. Our defense has just enough depth to not be exhausted in the fourth quarter after defending 35 minutes of Husker O. Gloves brings the same energy with him to the game, but it is too loud in the NE stadium for it to rub off. The first quarter passes with us only managing to get our hands on the ball once and during that drive the offense seems deflated and un-Tech-like.

OMVP – noone shines until the second half in key positions… Carter does just enough to keep Suh off our newly found mobile QB so Carter gets the nod due primarily to consideration for who he is matched up with.
DMVP – the inability to get the Huskers off the field for the second year in a row leads to this one going to Davis who has been itching to get back and hit somebody and finally gets his chances.

NE – 24
TTU – 21
Second half offense clicking isn’t enough to make up for lack of time on the field to capitalize on.

*note – this is obviously not how I WANT this to go down, just giving an objective prediction… regardless of who the QB is our team tends to struggle a bit on the road.

Two reasons why they won’t dominate the clock like last year: (1) Lee isn’t Ganz. He’s a good kid but still inexperienced and runs hot and cold. A mix of good and bad decisions won’t keep 15 play drives going. (2) Helu is nicked up and can’t handle 30-35 carries. His backup is out. The replacement RBs have promise but no experience at all. Ball security will become an issue. (2.5) They sprung a brand new offense on us last year. Ruffin will be ready this time.

Their D line is really good but that level of talent is not very deep. Running between the tackles will be tough early, but screens and tosses to Jeffers and WRs on the outside will keep them running. The Captain actually has some special schemes to offset their strengths like a real coach does. When their O fails to control the clock, their D will tire after chasing Sticks and crew all day and then Batch will start to punish. Stephens and Erxleben will hurt them on special teams.

Tech 41-24

because we have to. Leach needs the road win and we can’t afford to drop another game. The team is refreshed and looking like they found their mojo. I think now that SS is at the helm we have a kid that wants this victory badly. The running game will open up and our defense will perform better than last years game. I think Tech can win this by 14 if they execute and minimize penalties. Limit the turnovers as this game could go either way and the team with the most turnovers will lose. I see a close first half and Tech pulling away in the second half for a surprise victory on the road.

MVP – Sheffield
Tech 38
NU 24

Tech: 42
Nebraska: 14

MVP: Sticks

Nebraska – 27
Texas Tech – 45

OMVP – Sheffield (going for the hot hand!)
DMVP – Howard (picked him every time, it’s bout time he gets it!

Offensive MVP: Jeffers/Swindall+Zoo

Jeffers will continue to burn defenses with the Fly Sweep that The Elf ran so well last year. The Red Raiders will continue to run other plays off of this motion/formation. Swindall and Zouzalik (and the rest of our “posession” receivers—prolly Torres) will move the chains with quick slants for 5-10 yds.

Defensive MVP: The Secondary (Wall, Ford, Johnson)

Our Front Four will stalemate their OLine allowing Bront Bird and the rest of our LBs to make plays in the running game. This will force Lee to the air and allow opportunities for our secondary to make BIG PLAYS. When they arent picking off passes they will force Lee to hold on the ball far too long allowing our DE’s to get sacks.

Final Score:
Pirates of the Plains – 34
Children of the Corn – 21

Red Raider nation begins to realize what a gamer we have in Steven Sheffield after Tech puts up 34 points to Nebraska’s 17 points. And Leach takes the points on two field goals by Williams!

OMVP – Sheffield who runs the offense with precision
DMVP – Marlon Williams who stuffs the run

Just thought I would let you know

This is our chance to prove that, like many thought after the Texas game, Texas Tech is closer to #2 than it is to #28. That we can win against a ranked team on the road. Sheffield can help us prove that this Saturday.

It’s interesting that I would almost feel better if Potts was starting just because he has some road experience. I’d be less nervous to go with a guy who has proven he is a warrior on the road and can keep his head in the game in a hostile environment. But Sticks is Sticks, he’s been nothing short of epic for 5 quarters and I hope he keeps it up for the rest of the year.

TTU: 42
NU: 38

I think this team has a good chance to turn in a strong performance on the road that validates the growing pains they experienced at UT and UH. On offense, we officially have game-breaking players at all our skill positions, with Jeffers complementing the ever-consistent Batch at tailback, and either Swindall, Leong, or Lewis poised to have a career game any week. Sheffield would have the chance to win this game just by virtue of being a Division I-caliber QB with Mike Leach pulling his strings, but in the AirRaid ‘09 edition he really seems to feel like the missing piece to the puzzle that has been frustrating everyone all year long. Nebraska’s D-Line has a good chance of victimizing our O-Line during stretches of the game tomorrw: with Potts at QB, that’s a sure recipe for some really ugly series, but with Sheffield creating time and space and receivers running their scramble drills, that’s a recipe for some possibly huge plays down the field. I don’t know that our defense is quite where it needs to be to shut Nebraska’s offense down, but if Pelini decides to go with last year’s strategy of turning the game into a grappling match, they can concentrate on shutting down the short plays and forcing 3rd and long, which is where this defense needs to excel.

Tech: 38
Nebraska: 31

Side note: Nebraska is starting to rugby punt a lot more, which has traditionally been bad news for Tech’s return game. I am not optimistic that we’ll be able to win the special teams phase, so it’s going to fall on the offense with the defense coming up with a key stop here and there (sounds unconventional I know right)