The Huskers have invaded the NFC East

Out of the 7 University of Nebraska Huskers football players drafted into the NFL, 5 of the players are headed to play in the NFC East. Prince Amukamara (CB) was drafted by the New York Giants in the 1st round, the 19th player drafted overall. 3 players were drafted by the Washington Redskins; Roy Helu Jr (RB) was drafted in the 4th round, DeJon Gomes (DB) in the 5th round, and Niles Paul (WR) also in the 5th round. Alex Henery (K) was drafted in the 4th round by the Philadelphia Eagles.

As a Cowboys and Huskers fan I have mixed feelings. I'm glad to see Husker players make it to the next level but to rivals not so much.

Prince Amukamara in his 4 year college career recorded 155 tackles (95 solo and 60 assisted), 4 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, and 5 interceptions. Prince was a unanimous selection to the First-Team Big 12 in 2010.

Roy Helu Jr. in 4 years of college collected 3,404 rushing yards and 27 rushing touchdowns. On October 30th the University of Nebraska Huskers played the University of Missouri Tigers when Roy beat out the former school record held by Colvin Jones (294 rushing yards) for rushing yards in a game with a 307 rushing yards game.

Alex Henery also played all 4 years in college. He made 68 field goals out of 76 attempts and he made 193 extra points out of 194 attempts. He was 92% accurate on field goals with the Huskers. Alex holds the Nebraska school record for scoring (397 points), most consecutive made field goals (18), most made field goals in a season (24 in 2009), most made field goals in his collegiate career (68), and he holds the record for longest field goal at Memorial Stadium (and school record) 57 yards vs Colorado.

DeJon Gomes collegiate carrer was only 2 seasons. Gomes had 145 tackles (76 solo and 69 assisted tackles), 1 sack, forced 5 fumbles, 7 interceptions, and 1 touchdown.

Niles Paul played all 4 years, in his freshman season he only had 1 reception though. In his career he had 103 receptions for 1,532 yards and 5 touchdowns. He had 9 carries for 56 yards and 1 touchdown.

*Keith Williams (OL) was drafted in the 6th round by Pittsburgh Steelers
*Eric Hagg (DB) drafted in the 7th round by the Cleveland Browns

Some facts from the Huskers twitter feed (@Huskers):

• Prince Amukamara is the 334th Husker to be drafted 1st round in the NFL Draft
• This is the 42nd consecutive year that the Huskers have had 2 or more players picked in the same draft
• 1st time that the Huskers have had back-to-back years of 1st round picks since 1997 & 1998
• Most Huskers (7) drafted in the NFL Draft since 7 was drafted in 2001
• Last time at least 2 players were drafted by the same team in the same draft was in 2003 and the last time at least 3 players were drafted was in 1995

Photo Credits:

• Prince Amukamara- http://www.christianpost.com/
• Roy Helu Jr.- http://www.jodatoa.blogspot.com
• Alex Henery- http://www.huskers.com/
• DeJon Gomes- http://www.huskers.com
• Niles Paul- http://www.bettor.com/

 Links:

• Huskers twitter feed: http://twitter.com/Huskers 
• Helu Jr. runs past Mizzou for school record; Mizzou vs. Nebraska- Biased Sports: http://bit.ly/kJlFBQ
• Player stats: http://www.espn.com/ and http://huskers.com/



Reponse to "Hey, Coach Stoops, win one for the Big 12." by Jennifer Floyd Engel

I'd like to say even with my lack of journalist skills and the name of this blog being 'Biased Sports,' that I don't put out the same kind of shit as Ms. Engel...if I do please tell me and I'll stop because this article is total bull shit.

The article was an open letter to Bob Stoops and the Sooner team. She congratulated them on winning Big XII South by saying that they barely got it from Texas and Texas A&M. She says she's not whining repeatively but in my opinion she definitely is. The letter it's self is full of ignorant statements about Nebraska and how the Sooners need to beat them. I think she totally forgets that it's a game and it's college students. She claims that Nebraska had no impact on the Big XII. We'll see about that once Nebraska leaves. Also claims that Nebraska will get their ass handed to them by Wisconsin and Ohio State. She's even so ignorant that she added in about people complaining about officiating during Texas and Texas A&M games, which were obviously in favor of Texas and Texas A&M shouldn't be any coincedence that both games had the same officiating crew. She definitely wrote this to piss off Husker fans, which she did, because she calls out Tom Osborne as not being classy...really? One of the best college coaches...she's definitely not getting respect by anyone for this article that knows anything about anything. She's also blind of the matter that Nebraska is known for having a great fan base by claiming they only have 14 fans in Lincoln. She admits she likes being bombarded with hate mail. Some how she brings the Cotton bowl into the mix and wishing them 'nothing but fail'. What a nice lady, right? She's right college athletics and colleges need money. That's why it's great to go to the Big Ten, athletics and academics gets money so even more scholarships. Why do you think small schools play top teams? Money...does she want Texas, Missouri, and who ever wagon she jumps on to only play top teams all season and let small schools stay small and never get a shot at being this seasons George Mason? She admits being scared of Bo Pelini, she better be if he read her shit, and doesn't even explain what the issue with Carl Pelini was and tries totally change what happened by making it seem like he was attacking Texas A&M players. "The last thing anybody outside Lincoln wants this weekend is to see Pelini dressed like a high school gym coach, chewing his gum, carrying his laminated play sheet, strutting around JerryWorld believing he showed us as he walks off to the numerically incorrect Big Ten." First off I'm in Florida and I love seeing Bo Pelini smacking his gum in anger, I like coaches that care about the game like I do, and we will win the Big XII for the last time just like we did in the last year of the Big 8. She also neglects to say Texas was the one that started the let's leave the Big XII but didn't because the Pac 10 couldn't give them their own tv network or the money.

So I'm not going to talk any shit about Oklahoma, but I want Nebraska to beat them for the sake of the rivalry and of course a Championship! Oklahoma started off shakey and finished strong, that's normally not good specially since Nebraska started off strong and started to wilter a little with the injury to star quarterback Taylor Martinez. Both sides have plenty of motovation this game will be great. I'd say a shoot out but Nebraska's defense won't allow that. There will be many big hits, maybe a few injuries due to it. It'll be either a great way or a bitter way to leave the Big XII but Nebraska has many fond memories of being in it and as you can tell the Big XII doesn't want them to leave by all the crap they've done out of jealousy. They were too scared to bring a Big XII representive to the game to award Nebraska the Big XII North trophy. Nebraska had an impact on the Big XII as did Colorado. Colorado just hasn't been very good as of lately so they're not getting any publicity about it and that's how you know it's not about the Big XII falling apart it's just about people getting too emotional about rivalries.

Link to "Hey, Coach Stoops, win one for the Big 12." by Jennifer Floyd Engel for Star-Telegram.com: http://bit.ly/gIpMhw

Bad decision by the Cyclones gives the Huskers the OT win; Nebraska vs. Iowa State

In over time after Rex Burkhead, #22 back up running back for the Nebraska Huskers, scored a 2 yard touchdown to lead by 7. The Iowa State Cyclones came back with touchdown pass from Austen Arnaud to Jake Williams to pull the Husker lead to 1 but instead of kicking field goal to send it to second overtime, the call was to fake it and try for a 2 point conversion but that failed. I'd think they'd want to kick the field goal to send it to another overtime and try to stop the Huskers run offense.

Both teams needed to win this to keep a Big XII North title alive. Iowa State needed this win to have 6 wins to be bowl eligible. In Ames, Iowa the wind in the beginning of the game was 19 mph and at the end it only died down to 12 mph, which made the wind a huge factor.

Taylor Martinez did not start for the Huskers, he is still recovering from an ankle injury he suffered during the game versus Missouri last week. The normal back up for Taylor is Zac Lee and he was also 'injured' his throwing arm was sore. So the starter was the sophomore quarterback Cody Green. This was Cody Green's 3rd start, his only starts prior to this game were in his Freshman season against Baylor and Oklahoma won both. Cody Green's stats as a starter (prior to this game); 2-0, 14-for-26 completions for 132 yards, 0 touchdowns, and 1 interceptions passing, and 14 carries for 51 yards and 0 touchdowns.

1st quarter
Nebraska won the coin toss and defered to the 2nd half, last week a Nebraska player said kick instead of defer so they ended up starting on defense in the start of both halves. Iowa State couldn't capitalize on having the football first and Nebraska forced them to punt. Since Taylor Martinez was out of the game for Nebraska, the Iowa State defense didn't need to defend the quarterback draw so instead of having 2 defenders on the quarterback they could go back to the usual 1. For Nebraska fans Cody Green was the last quarterback we'd want to see starting the game since he seems to love to turnover the ball. While this one wasn't truely his fault, it was just a good defensive play, he reminded us of that when his arm was hit in throwing motion and he dropped the ball which made it a fumble but at least he was able to acknowledge that before the defense did he was able to recover it. Cody Green was a bit shaken up after a helmet to helmet contact with a defender. Taylor Martinez then came into the game but he did not take the snap, instead Burkhead to the snap while Taylor was lined up as a wide receiver. Burkhead took that snap and ran it for 29 yards, a season long. After that 1 play, Green came back in and that was the only play Martinez was in. End of 1st quarter 0-0 in Ames, Iowa.

2nd quarter
Rex Burkhead took the first 4 snaps of the 2nd quarter, 7 snaps for the drive and about 10 snaps total for the game. After Burkhead kept the ball for 4 plays and set up a 2nd & goal, he handed off the ball to the starting running back Roy Helu Jr., after a record setting game, ran in for a 6 yard touchdown. Huskers had the led 7-0. The next Husker drive Cody Green was back taking snaps. It took Iowa State two drives to answer back; Austen Arnaud to Jake Williams for a 13 yard touchdown to make the game tied a 7. Nebraska was 3 and done for the 2nd time in a row after the Iowa State touchdown. Iowa State was able to get to Nebraska's 31 yard line and sent out their field goal kicking team. This was officially a 49 yard attempt for Grant Mahoney, Iowa State kicker, which he missed wide right, score remained 7-7. Roy Helu fumbled on the Nebraska 41 yard line, at first no call until Paul Rhoads, Iowa State head coach, talked a ref into calling it as a fumble. This would be the Huskers 10th turnover off a fumble for the season. (I don't think a head coach should be able to convince a ref to change a call, that makes the ref seem easily influenced.) Mahoney entered the game again this time to attempt a 57 yard field goal which he made to give Iowa State a 10-7 lead at half time.

3rd quarter
Cody Green was still starting for Nebraska after half time after a interview with Bo Pelini, Nebraska head coach, right after the end of the half that shown him as upset with Nebraska teams performance. Nebraska got the ball first in the 3rd quarter and came away with a 25 yard field goal by Alex Henery to tie the game at 10. After 2 plays from Iowa State's offense Austen Arnaud turned the ball over on an interception to Austin Cassidy which he turned into a Nebraska touchdown. Nebraska regains the lead at 17-10. This pick 6 was the 4th for Nebraska on the season, and the school record for pick 6s in a season is 5. Arnaud on the next drive for Iowa State was picked off again but this time by Eric Hagg at the Nebraska 44 yard line and for no gain. A 29 yard pass by Cody Green to Tyler Reed put Nebraska on the Iowa State 2 yard line. Burkhead took the snap after that pass and ran the football 2 yards into the end zone, 24-10 Nebraska. Cody Green was 3-for-3, all on 3rd downs, for 43 yards on that touchdown drive. 24-10 end of 3rd quarter.

4th quarter
1st Iowa State drive of the 4th quarter ended in a quarterback sneak by Arnaud for a 1 yard touchdown. At first the refs said he didn't get it, when I watched it I knew he had gotten it but hoped they couldn't overturn, so of course they reviewed it and overturned it. (They were able to overturn because they saw the arms of the quarterback breaking the plane but not the ball..I think they should only be able to overturn it from seeing the ball not by just assuming he had the ball in his hands.) Iowa State cuts into the Nebraska lead, score is now 24-17. Niles Paul fumbled the kick off on the Nebraska 13 yard line by Deon Broomfield, Iowa State. This isn't new to Nebraska fans either, Niles seems to always find a way to fumble. 3 plays into the new possession Arnaud throws 14 yards to Alexandar Robinson, A-Rob, for a touchdown to tie the game at 24. Next kick off Niles Paul let the ball go into the end zone. Iowa State attempted a 55 yard field goal for the win and Mahoney missed it wide right, again. Nebraska wasn't able to get a touchdown or get into field goal position so they punted back to Iowa State. Iowa State then just took a knee to send it into over time. 24-24 end of the 4th quarter.

OT
Nebraska started with the ball on the Iowa State 25 yard line, OT rules make each team start on the other teams 25 yard line. 1st play Burkhead took the snap for 6 yards. The next play Burkhead took the snap again and took it 19 yards for a touchdown and the extra point was good, Nebraska leads in overtime 31-24 making Iowa State need a touchdown and either a extra point or 2 point conversioin to continue the game or win the game. Arnaud with a quarterback draw on the first play on the Nebraska 25 yard line for 2 yards and then again for the 2nd play for 14 yards. Arnaud and Williams connected for a 9 yard touchdown. Iowa State lined up for a game tieing extra point. The punter then tried to throw the football for a 2 point conversion but threw too short so it was no good. Nebraska won 31-30 in overtime!

Nebraska is now 8-1 on the season and Iowa State is 5-6.
Nebraska, of all time, is 6-1 in OT play, only lose is against Texas Tech in 2008 when Joe Ganz, Nebraska quarterback, threw an interception that ended the game.
Roy Helu Jr. had 22 carries for 99 yards this put his career yardage at 3,065 which made him the 6th Nebraska player to rush for 3,000 yards.
Rex Burkhead had 20 carries for 129 yards an 2 touchdowns. 52 yards from the 'quarterback' position. 20 carries in this game was a career high for the backup running back.

Link to boxscore: http://es.pn/cC2N0z
Links
Ames, Iowa weather for Saturday, November 6- AccuWeather.com: http://bit.ly/9tCGys
Some stats from: http://www.twitter/huskers
Taylor Martinez sits out for Huskers- ESPN: http://es.pn/c8qnnu
Huskers Survive Cyclone Scare in OT- Huskers.com: http://bit.ly/cTSfVu

Helu Jr. runs past Mizzou for school record; Mizzou vs. Nebraska

En route to a Nebraska Husker 31-17 victory over Big XII North rival Missouri Tigers, Roy Helu Jr. posted a school record of rushing yards in a single game. Roy Helu Jr. had 307 rushing yards with 3 touchdowns within 4 quarters. All 3 of the touchdowns were from 50+ yards out. The first run was for a 66 yard touchdown which was the first offensive play from scrimmage from the Huskers, the second run was 73 yard touchdown also in the 1st quarter, and then a 53 yard touchdown in the 3rd quarter. Helu Jr. moved Calvin Jones to second for that school record of most single game rushing yards, he rushed for 294 yards in 1991. Helu also holds the record for single game rushing yards for this season in FBS, in second is Ray Graham of Pittsburgh rushing for 277 yards while playing Florida International University.

Nebraska Huskers star freshman quarterback Taylor Martinez was pulled out during the 2nd quarter due to a deep right leg bruise. Martinez during that less than a half of play posted 6-for-9 completions for 115 yards passing, 1 touchdown passing; and 12 carries for 16 yards rushing, and 0 touchdowns rushing. Martinez average per game this season is 9-for-12 completions, 145 yards passing, and 1 touchdown passing; and 14 carries for 111 yards rushing, and 2 touchdowns rushing (all numbers are rounded up). Zac Lee, starting quarter back in the 2009 season, came in the game for Martinez. He went 1-for-3 for 11 yards passing, and 0 touchdowns. Top Nebraska receiver, Kyler Reed had 2 receptions for 51 yards and 1 touchdown. Alex Henery, place kicker and punter, streak ended at 18 for made field goals (hadn't missed or had a field goal blocked all season) when Missouri blocked a 51 yard field goal attempt in the 4th quarter.

Mizzou's quarterback Blaine Gabbert, who was commited to Nebraska until Osborne was fired as head coach (thankfully), was the top passer, but he didn't have much competition for that since the Huskers had 2 quarterbacks play, each for half the game. Gabbert 18-for-22 with 199 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception. That interception was the only turnover of the game by either team. T.J. Moe, top receiver, had 5 receptions for 71 yards and 1 touchdown.

The 1st quarter was all Nebraska with 24 points, two by 60+ yards rushing by, game hero, Roy Helu Jr., a 41 yard field goal by Alex Henery, and a touchdown pass by Taylor Martinez to Kyler Reed. The 2nd quarter only had one score, De'Vion Moore ran for a 33 yard touchdown for Mizzou. The 3rd quarter had Helu Jr.'s 3rd touchdown run of the game, a touchdown pass for Mizzou, Gabber to Moe, and a field goal by Mizzou's Grant Ressel. The final score, as stated earlier, 31-17 Nebraska Huskers.

After this win the Huskers moved up 7 spots in the BCS poll from 14th to 7th! In the AP poll they are now ranked 9th and in the USA Today poll they are 10th.

Link to box score: http://es.pn/ayNNuM
Links
Helu Jr. Earns National Honor- Huskers.com: http://bit.ly/b5YDBs
Hail Helu: Senior Smashes NU Record, No. 7 Tigers- Huskers.com: http://bit.ly/cjf3TF

Penalties, Dropped Passes, Missed Calls, and Blown Calls; Texas vs. Nebraska

This game was suppose to be full of emotions from the Big XII title game last season, where the Texas quarterback (Colt McCoy) threw away the football deep into the sidelines and the clock ran out. Oh but the refs had to review this and put .01 seconds back onto the clock which allowed the Texas kicker to make a game winning field goal. This game (todays game) was to be the main game of the Red Out Around the World, that University of Nebraska started for this season. Memorial Stadium was a sea of red. This was a game of redemption, it seemed like the fans had more emotions than the players. Texas won the 'last' regular season, conference, game against the Huskers 20-13.

Fans can blame the refs and say they were paid. Yes they did favor the Longhorns by a lot, but the Huskers had many many mistakes that took them out of the game. The refs did not call many holds by Texas, they called a completed pass that would of been a Husker first down incomplete when two refs were right in front of the play, and didn't call a passer interference call on a pass that could of given caught to give the Huskers a touchdown.

The Huskers wide receivers are who blew the game, mainly Niles Paul. (I have to remember these are just kids, they aren't getting paid to play, so I need to be more understandable still frustrating). Niles Paul, if I remember correctly, had 3 sure touchdowns that all he had to do is catch the football and run it in. How hard could that be? Only 1 was a not perfect thrown ball and 1 went straight through his hands. Brandon Kinnie dropped a pass that he was bobbling and had no reason to bobble or drop, that would of also been a catch and run for a touchdown.

Taylor Martinez was pulled during the 3rd quarter for last seasons starting quarter back Zac Lee. Lee did decent for what he was given. In the 4th quarter to give some life to the Husker fans and players, Eric Hagg ran a pooch punt 95 yards to the end zone, which made the score 20-13. The Huskers than did a stupid, stupid decision which was a onsides kick with 3:02 left in the game. The Huskers defense had the Longhorns on a 3rd down & 4 (I do believe and very close to the endzone) until a penalty for having 12 men on the field which then gave the Longhorns a 1st down. Which tallowed them to do victory formation til the clock ran out to end the 4th quarter, the game.

The touchdown by Hagg was the only touchdown of the game for the Huskers, Alex Henery made 2 field goals for 6 points. The Texas Longhorn quarterback, Garrett Gilbert, was trying to show that he, a Sophomore, was just as good of a runner as Taylor Martinez, a Freshman. Gilbert ran for 71 yards and 2 touchdowns, the only touchdowns by the Longhorns.

Link to box score: http://es.pn/cAXMzL
This maybe the worst blog I've done, I do apologize.

Huskers making their last season playing Big XII rivals a good one: Nebraska vs. Kansas State

With a freshman quarterback, Taylor Martinez, the Nebraska Huskers offense has improved by 10000000% (of course not an actual fact) from last season when Zac Lee running the offense. Martinez set many records in this one game against Kansas State and is setting the foundation for many other records; such as most running yards by a Freshman. The Nebraska Huskers man handled the Kansas State Wild Cats by winning 48-13. Kansas State didn't even have a touchdown until the 4th quarter on a 4th & goal play.

If you looked at the box score Martinez looks like a ball hog, he recorded 128 yards passing with 1 passing touchdown and 241 rushing yards with 4 rushing touchdowns, but if you watched the game you'd see he didn't purposely keep the ball. The offensive lines protection of Martinez gave him no choice he had to take it himself, this is awful I know. Martinez did share some of the wealth; second top rusher of the game (both Huskers and Wild Cats) was Roy Helu Jr. who rushed for 110 yards and 1 rushing touchdown, and Kyler Reed caught a ball from Martinez for a receiving touchdown (which added on to his school record of most career receiving touchdowns by a tight end).  Huskers's scoring plays were: a 14 yard run by Martinez in the 1st quarter (7-0); 35 yard run by Martinez and a 39 yard field goal by Alex Henery in the 2nd quarter (17-3); 80 yard run by Martinez, 68 yard run by Roy Helu Jr., and a 79 yard pass by Martinez to Kyler Reed in the 3rd quarter (38-6); and 41 yard run by Martinez, and a 40 yard field goal by Henery (48-13).

Heisman candidate, or was, Daniel Thomas was the leading rusher for Kansas State but with only 63 yards rushing and no touchdowns rushing or receiving. Carson Coffman, Kansas State quarterback, threw 91 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception. Coffman recorded second top rusher for Kansas State with 45 yards. The Wild Cat defense did sack Martinez a few times.

The Huskers were playing it safe with Taylor Martinez, and the offense, after a unconvincing win against South Dakota State, their last game, where the Huskers only won by 13-3. Martinez threw for only 140 yards with 1 touchdown, and threw 2 interceptions, and ran for 75 yards with 0 touchdowns, and he was the leading rusher in this game as well.

Martinez for Heisman!

Link to box score: http://es.pn/bJBULY
"Purple Pounding: Martinez, Huskers Roar Past 'Cats, Huskers.com: http://bit.ly/bwRRyC
Photos, Huskers.com: http://bit.ly/aWJReJ