A Jersey Guy: Nebraska will be this year's Michigan?!
True confession time.
I am an unabashed fan and friend of newly named Nebraska offensive coordinator Mark Whipple, who I have known for more than 30 years and consider one of the brightest offensive minds in college football.
Having said that does not diminish accomplishments of what units and quarterbacks under Whipple's control have accomplished, including last season when he guided the Pittsburgh offense to an an Atlantic Coast Conference championship and turned a journeymen QB such as Kenny Pickett into an NFL first round draft pick.
And spare me the talk that the credit belongs to Pittsburgh head coach Pat Narduzzi, who had nothing to do with the Panther offense.
Whipple left Pitt, signed a two-year contract to help embattled Nebraska coach Scott Frost save his job and turn the Huskers into something other than Big Ten door mats.
Yes, Nebraska was 3-9 last season, but changes have been made, including the departure of turnover machine QB Adrian Martinez, who is in exile in the Big 12 at Kansas State.
And Whipple is running the offense--without much interference from Frost, a former QB, which is a huge edge for Nebraska.
Nebraska has a new starting QB in Casey Thompson, who transferred from Texas.
In talking to Whipple over, the summer, he had nothing but praise for the 6-1, 200 pound junior who threw for 2,113 yards and 24 TDs at Texas last season which was produced with a thumb injury,
""The kid couldn't grip the ball,'' said Whipple.
But there's more, much more if you poke around at the rubble of last year's 3-9 implosion.
Of the 9 losses, 7 were 7 points or less.
The defense will be solid and the offense will be a Whipple grab bag of unexpected items.
Then there is the schedule, which includes a game in Dublin, Ireland against Northwestern on August 27th
If the Huskers win that, the next month of games include: North Dakota, Georgia Southern, Oklahoma, and Indiana at home and road games at Rutgers and Purdue.
It doesn't stretch the imagination to see Nebraska with a 6-1 record, which means all bets about what happens in the future, including a flirtation with the Big Ten West title.
That doesn't make them Michigan, especially with season-ending games against Ohio State, Wisconsin and Iowa.
It could all fall apart in Dublin, but we have faith in Whipple, so much so in fact that we made a bet to see him for dinner at the Rose Bowl in January.