White Suburban Punk

We’ve finally arrived at the much-anticipated Nebraska week, Nebraska’s first Big Ten conference game (next week they’re at home for Ohio State). A quick check of Stub Hub today found tickets available from $200 to $5,000. Big game. ESPN College Game Day will be in Madison and it’s a prime time, 8:00 Eastern start on ABC with Uncle Brent Musberger.

The Badgers are ranked #7, Huskers #8. Nebraska is currently #8 in the nation in rushing offense. QB Taylor Martinez, 6-1 200 lbs., has averaged 105.2 yards per game and I-Back Rex Burkhead, 5-11 210 lbs., is at 105.0 yards per game. Wisconsin is ranked #22 in rush defense, but they’ve stopped running quarterbacks twice so far in Northern Illinois’ Chandler Harnish and South Dakota’s Dante Warren. Wyoming and Washington both managed to slow down Martinez’s running (combined 29-120, 2 TD) but Burkhead ran wild against them.

If Wisconsin has a weakness, it’s in the secondary, but Martinez has not shown he can exploit it. The Huskers have averaged just 167 yards per game through the air against Tennessee-Chattanooga, Fresno State, Washington and Wyoming and Martinez has been just 10-21 in each of the last two games.

Offensively, Wisconsin has been stellar so far against weak competition, while Nebraska’s Blackshirt defense has been surprisingly weak, allowing 29 points to Fresno State and 38 to Washington.

Nebraska leads the nation in kickoff returns behind Ameer Abdullah and they are also solid in the rest of the special teams. Wisconsin has had few punts, but Brad Nortman has been solid when called upon. Kyle French continues to kick field goals for the injured Philip Welch and he is 2-4, with both misses from beyond 50 yards.

I’m calling a rout. It’ll be Russell Wilson’s first chance to shine in prime time for the Badgers and an opportunity for him to get into the Heisman race and get Wisconsin into the national title discussion. It’s time to show the nation if we belong with LSU, Alabama, and Oklahoma. It’ll be Badgers 52-24.

The Badgers have certainly looked impressive so far, beating UNLV 51-17 and then shutting out Oregon State 35-0 last week. The only significant injury to this point has been junior cornerback Devin Smith, who was lost for the year early in the Oregon State game. Depth in the secondary could quickly become an issue. The next backups at corner are all freshmen or redshirt freshmen. Something to watch.

Next up is Northern Illinois at Soldier Field in Chicago. Surprisingly, ticket sales have been pretty slow and officials are expecting just 40,000 at the game. Tickets are apparently very expensive — $90, $75, and $60.

Northern Illinois presents a significant challenge — a legitimate quarterback. Chandler Harnish is really good, and his stats make him sound like a Russell Wilson who just runs more. In week one’s 49-26 dismantling of Army, Harnish ran 11 times for 80 yards and a touchdown and through the air was 12-19 for 195 yards and 5 TDs. Last week was kind of a shocker, though. Northern Illinois were 6.5 point favorites on the road at Kansas and lost, 45-42. Harnish was 27-33 for 315 and 2TDs, and ran for 89 yards and 3 TDs. Kansas got the game winning touchdown pass on fourth down with 9 seconds left. So it looks like the Huskies will be able to score on virtually anyone but will struggle defensively. The Badgers will need another huge game from the two-headed rushing attack of Montee Ball and James White and continued efficient, mistake-free quarterback play from Russell Wilson. The Badgers are 16.5 point favorites, so I’ll go with 52-35 for my score.

It should be an entertaining game — it’s too bad it’s not on TV. Anywhere. Since it’s a Northern Illinois home game, and the MAC has an agreement with ESPN, the Big Ten Network is unable to carry it and the “ESPN family of networks” has other games they’re showing. It will apparently be shown on ESPN3. It’s a 3:30 Eastern start.

In other NCAA news, The Atlantic has a huge story about the NCAA titled “The Shame of College Sports.” It’s written by Taylor Branch, a Pulitzer Prize-winning civil rights historian, so when he says the NCAA gives off “whiff of the plantation,” he knows what he’s talking about. He attacks the notions of “amateurism” and “student-athletes” as basically sham concepts with no legal definition used by universities to exploit the skills of their athletes. The argument the NCAA has used is that their “student-athletes” have no right to due process because they essentially have no rights at all. Yikes. The piece doesn’t really present new information or arguments, but I’ve never seen the issue examined in such depth and by such an esteemed reporter. It really helps that he’s not a sports guy.