There is no place like Nebraska

Since Syracuse doesn't play this weekend, I decided that I needed to get my fill of college football and I will be returning to the land of my roots to watch Nebraska take on Missouri on Saturday in Lincoln. Growing up in Nebraska in the 90's spoiled me as to what good college football is. After watching Tommie Frazier run all over Florida in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl, I have had an expectation of what great college football teams are supposed to be.

I will say that I was pleasantly surprised when I first visited Syracuse University and took in my first football game. We had tickets on the 20 yard line and we witenessed Syracuse beat Miami in Donovan McNabb's last game in the Dome, 66-13. From that moment on, I knew I wanted to go to Syracuse. Little did I know, I would be treated to seeing Troy Nunes and his brilliance the following year.

Regardless, I return to Lincoln with two of my good friends from high school, Matt and Justin. While there we will see friends and family (both my brother and sister live in Lincoln) and will be treated to the finest college football experience you could ever find.

From the moment you see Memorial Stadium off the interstate as you arrive in downtown Lincoln, you get a sense that this is more than just a football game and that these are more than just typical football fans. Bobby Bowden once said, after the home fans applauded his visiting Florida State team which beat Nebraska, "I have never seen people with more class than I saw at Nebraska, the Nebraska fans, players, cheerleaders, band, officials, coaches, etc., gave me living testimony of what college football should be all about."

The sentiments regarding Nebraska football fans can be summed up perfectly by the line that is etched over the gates at Memorial stadium that read, "Through these gates pass the greatest fans in college football".

Anyhow, with this reunion weekend of sorts at Nebraska's homecoming game (Yeah, Syracuse schedules I-AA Northeastern and Nebraska plays #3/#4 Missouri for theirs. Ouch.) I will be away from the blog scene until Monday unless there is major movement by Daryl Gross on any of the fronts that we have been keeping a close watch on.

DGTII - Week 4

There was a lot of excitement over the weekend. It was homecoming, and Orange:44 gave you the guide to Syracuse Homecoming 2008. While I disagree with his choice of Pita restaurants (I can't help being old school) and I am saddened by the lack of a mention of Syracuse and Armory Square's best bar, The Limerick Pub, it still is a pretty damn good description of what to expect and where to go.

As mentioned before, I was at a wedding over the weekend and didn't attend the game but from what I saw on television there is a lot that can be said about the game. There was absolutely no one there. The Idiot's gave us a few good pictures of the stands and the thing that I kept saying to everyone at our rental was just how few people there were at the game.

As for the team, there were some things to be pleased with. I know that we were playing I-AA Northeastern, but the defense only gave up 383 yards of total offense. That compares to 484 to Northwestern, 478 to Akron and 560 to Penn State. Baby steps people. Bruce Williams recorded an interception. I am so pleased to see him making such a difference on the defensive side of the ball. He also registered a team high 7 solo tackles. Nice work Bruce. Bad work linebackers.

All in all, a win is a win and even though it wasn't pretty and we didn't blow out Northeastern, we didn't post an O-fer.

DGTII for Week 4: