Mission brief: Southern Miss

Keeping true to my Army themes, we're doing a military style mission brief for opening day on Saturday.  Don't be intimidated,it's pretty easy to understand.  As we say in the Army: it's infantry proof.

Task: 
 Beat Southern Miss in a football game, nothing else really matters.

Subtasks:

• This being a non-BCS team, Nebraska should win handily, we're talking at least 17 points.  The risk here is that Southern Miss is traditionally among the best non-BCS schools, and they were very, very successful last year, spoiling Houston's BCS run, and winning a C-USA championship.  Having said that, coach Larry Fedora has been replaced by former South Carolina defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson, 4 year starter Austin Davis is gone at QB along with his top 2 receivers, and the defense loses 6 starters.  That's too much turnover, especially in game 1.  For Nebraska to win handily like they should, the Huskers need to come out, run up and down the field for 2 or 3 quick TDs and put the young Eagles on the ropes in the first quarter.  Then Nebraska can take to the ground and pound out the rest of the game, and send Johnson back to Hattiesburg with a long weekend to chew on his unsuccessful head coaching debut. 

• The defense needs to be dominant.   The 2011 Blackshirts were not up to anyone's standards.  By now, everyone has dissected the reasons for the decline so thoroughly that there's only tiny bits of gooey flesh left on the table.  Suffice it to say that if there's not marked improvement all over the field this season, it's going to be a long three months for Bo Pelini's gum.  I feel like Southern Miss is a good test for the not-yet-Blackshirts; there are good athletes there, but losing a 4 year starting QB and inserting a redshirt junior who has never thrown a pass is an instant advantage for the Huskers.  That being said, 4 returning starters on the offensive line provides a stiff test against the run and requires A+ effort from Baker Steinkuhler and the d-line.  All things considered, if we see a 300 yard, 10-17 point output from the Golden Eagle offense, we can consider it a win for the Blackshirts.

• The offense needs score early and often.  Judging by last year's results, we should see Tim Beck's boys carrying the team this year.  As long as the offensive line can "gel" (whatever that means to you), Beck's unit has too many weapons to be anything less than outstanding this year.  Southern Miss was good on defense last year, Ellis Johnson already beat Tim Beck in the Capitol One bowl, and the 4-2-5 can be tricky, but I think overall the Huskers should hold a huge advantage here.  The first 2 drives are critical.  2 quick TDs and the Huskers will roll all night.  2 FGs (which we've settled for too often in the past) and it might be a sign of a rough night.  Anything less, and I think the Huskers are in for a dogfight, which is not what you want to see in game 1 of such an important season.  There's no reason we can't put up 24-31 points at halftime en route to a blow out victory.

•  Get the youngin's some time.  If Nebraska wants to get back to dominating everyone every year, the backups need to play more.  So far under Pelini's watch, it's been hard for the guys lower on the depth chart to get game time.  I'd like to see Rex Burkhead, Taylor Martinez and the #1 offensive line collecting splinters in their butts by the middle of the third quarter.  With the suddenly thin depth on the offensive line, it would be great to see Zach Sterup, Givens Price, and the rest of the redshirt freshmen and sophomores get some game time in case we need them later in the year.  It's much easier to see your first action in a blowout on a warm evening in Lincoln, than a close game in the cold in Columbus.   

• Cut out the mistakes.  Penalties, turnovers, blown assignments.  I understand that it's game 1, but with all of the talk about improved leadership and accountability in Fall Camp, we need to see it on the field.  There's always enough to fix after the first live bullets fly, why add dumb penalties and turnovers to the list?  It's been a recurring theme in the Pelini era, and we need to stop it this year.      

Overall Mission Assessment:
There's lots of talk and lots of different scores being thrown out there for this game.  Most people think Nebraska pulls it out, but the margin of victory ranges from 3-30 points.  This guy is picking Southern Miss to pull off the upset.  Fat chance.  I think that Southern Miss comes across as a high-risk opponent to a lot of people based on what they did last season, but I don't see them sustaining that success with the sweeping changes from the offseason.  I'm sticking to my 42-10 pick.  Huskers in a blowout.

Extra Duty:
There's been a lot of talk about freshman QB Tommy Armstrong passing Brion Carnes and Ron Kellogg III for the #2 QB job.  Unless he's a far better option than two guys who've been in the program for 3 years, I would rather see him redshirt.  I don't like the chances of Martinez getting drafted, so that means he still has another year as the presumptive starter in 2013, so if Armstrong uses his redshirt, Nebraska has a redshirt sophomore starting in 2014 instead of a junior (assuming all things remain equal throughout the next 2 years).  That's my opinion.