Nebraska football '08.  What should people expect?  Well after last year's ugly debacle of 5-7 and being embarrassed by even the most average of teams one could reasonably conclude that the outlook for '08 really isn't much brighter.  Some of our own fans are even thinking that another 5-7 or 6-6 season is very likely.  Most Nebraska fans who consider themselves to be "realists" think 7-5 or 8-4 and a trip to the Independence Bowl, Texas Bowl or the Dirty Water Toilet Bowl is about the all we can expect.  The reasoning goes last year sucked, there is a new coaching staff in Lincoln, bad memories from last year still haunting the players, no real talent-comparative to the likes of USC, Oklahoma, Texas, etc.  I said hogwash to that noise starting the moment I heard confirmation that Bo Pelini was hired to be our new head coach.  Bo Pelini, the guy who came to Nebraska in 2003 and turned a 55th rated defense in 2002 into the 11th rated defense in 2003.  Bottom line Bo worked his magic once before and he can do it again.  Coincidentally, 2003 was the year Nebraska's secondary led the nation in interceptions.  But that was 2003, this is 2008 and there's the nightmare from '07 still fresh in our minds.  To this point Nebraska has played three games, all on pay-per-view, and I forked over the 29.95 all three times-naturally they were all three wins. 

This brings me to the current situation in Lincoln.  The Huskers are sitting fairly pretty at 3-0 but really, how good is this team?  How many wins can we expect?  Is that 3-0 mark an illusion?  Can the Huskers expect to compete in the Big 12? What are their strengths?  Weaknesses?  And what area(s) need the most improvement?  Well that's a load of questions no doubt so let's get the the answers. 

This Nebraska team can be as good as they want to be the sky is literally the limit.  In college football: attitude, determination and belief are every bit as important as coaching, scheme and talent.  Walk-on redshirt freshman CB Lance Thorell, who has played quite a bit this season, is from Loomis, Nebraska, and he summed up Bo Pelini's defense when he said, in effect, "All you have to do is read your keys, execute your assignment and you'll be in a position to make a play."  Nebraska's defense last year versus this year has literally been a complete 180.  Guys are flying to the football, gang-tackling and playing with the kind of energy, passion and intensity that used to be the hallmarks of Cornhusker football which was sadly lost under the former coaching regime.

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