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09/10/2010 -
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -After passing his trial run as Nebraska's starter, Taylor Martinez can strengthen his grip on the quarterback's job with another strong outing Saturday against Idaho.
Martinez won over his teammates, not to mention the fans, in last week's 49-10 season-opening win over Western Kentucky. Now the redshirt freshman is poised to establish himself as the sixth-ranked Cornhuskers' clear starter going into next week's test at Washington.
``I just feel like now he knows it's his huddle, and he's going to run the show,'' receiver Mike McNeill said. ``He's got a lot of confidence.''
Martinez ran for 127 yards and three touchdowns and passed for 136 yards against a Western Kentucky team that has lost 21 straight. He should get a better measure of himself against Idaho, which beat Bowling Green in the last seconds of the Humanitarian Bowl last year and opened with a 45-0 rout of North Dakota.
Nebraska's quarterback shuffle has gone as smoothly as offensive coordinator Shawn Watson could have hoped. Martinez beat out 2009 starter Zac Lee, a senior, and top backup Cody Green, a sophomore.
Watson said Lee and Green have offered their help to Martinez in film study and on the practice field.
``I'm proud of what they've done because both Cody and Zac wanted to have that opportunity,'' Watson said. ``Those guys have put the team first, which is part of our culture here.''
Watson told the quarterbacks the pecking order five days before the opener. To that point, Green said, Watson had updated the three almost daily about where they stood in the competition.
``That's all you can ask for,'' Green said. ``It would be a lot worse if everything was secretive and then, bam, here is the starter. It wasn't like that. We knew (Martinez) was starting, and we knew the reason why he was starting.''
Lee declined an interview request, as did Martinez.
Watson said Martinez, who was clearly uncomfortable speaking with reporters after last week's game, reluctantly accepts all that comes with being a Nebraska quarterback.
``I see that he knows he is getting attention,'' Watson said. ``I think he would really like it to all go away and let him do his thing.''
His thing is running the ball, not his mouth.
McNeill said he and his teammates have witnessed Martinez's explosiveness since last year, when Martinez was on the scout team. The fans got their first glimpse of Martinez in the spring game, which put him in position to make a bid for the job in preseason practice.
``A lot of time people get hyped up during camp or spring ball, and you never really know what you're going to get,'' McNeill said. ``But we all knew, that kid can flat out run. I knew he was going to run the ball well, but I was just impressed with the clock management and the play calls.''
Though his team is a four-touchdown favorite against Idaho, coach Bo Pelini said the Vandals present a bigger challenge than the Hilltoppers did.
The Vandals had the nation's second-best turnaround last year, going from 2-10 in 2008 to 8-5. NFL prospect Nathan Enderle, a North Platte, Neb., native, returns to his home state after passing for 333 yards and two TDs against North Dakota.
Idaho coach Robb Akey said his players should soak up the Memorial Stadium atmosphere and the 85,000-strong ``Sea of Red.'' But he said the Vandals won't just show up just to collect their $800,000 guarantee.
``Nobody is going to pick us to win this game,'' he said, ``so there's no way we can go in there and screw it up. I believe this: If we play as fast as we can, as hard as we can and as long as we can, and if we execute things better, we give ourselves some opportunities. We'll see what that will do when we read the scoreboard at the end of the ball game.''Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.
<< No. 11 Wisconsin on 14-game home opener win streak
MADISON, Wis. (AP) -Wisconsin wants to shoot down any comparisons with another top ranked team that could be made Saturday when the 11th-ranked Badgers take on San Jose State.The Spartans lost 48-3 to No. 1 Alabama last Saturday and San Jose State c
<< Wyoming, mourning death of player, faces Texas
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -The Wyoming football teams says they will play this weekend in honor of a fallen teammate.The Cowboys play at No. 5 Texas on Saturday night. Before the game, Ruben Narcisse's photo will grace the giant stadium scoreboard screen a
<< No. 9 Iowa understandably wary of Iowa St
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) -The rivalry between Iowa and Iowa State has become predictable.The Hawkeyes are usally expected to pound the underdog Cyclones - and it usually doesn't happen.Iowa State has made life miserable for the rival Hawkeyes, winning s
<< LSU's versatile Shepard sees himself as play maker
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -Russell Shepard's career at LSU isn't turning out quite as he had envisioned, and that might be the best thing that ever happened to him.The Tigers' quarterback-turned-wide receiver has remade his game in the mold of dynamic p
Wisconsin riding 14-game home opener win streak >>
MADISON, Wis. (AP) -Wisconsin wants to shoot down the No. 1 comparison that's sure to be made Saturday when the 11th-ranked Badgers take on San Jose State: How would Wisconsin fare against Alabama?The Spartans lost 48-3 to the top-ranked Crimson Tid
No. 7 Oregon, Tennessee meet for 1st big test >>
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -Justin Wilcox had to stop and rewind the tape on Oregon running back LaMichael James a few times to make sure it was playing at regular speed.The Tennessee defensive coordinator thought for a moment he was watching on fast-for
2010 World Basketball Championship update - September 10th >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) -
CLASSIFICATION ROUND
Spain vs. Slovenia, 11 p.m.
Russia vs. Argentina, 2 p.m.
EIU ready for Sean Payton ceremony >>
Charleston, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fresh off Thursday's season-opening win,
Super Bowl-winning coach Sean Payton of the New Orleans Saints will have his
jersey number retired by his alma mater, Eastern Illinois University, during
the Panthers' h
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My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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