NU finalizes '06, '07 schedules
digg it!
Facebook
del.icio.us
Seed Newsvine
Fark It
Reddit
BY STEVEN M. SIPPLE / Lincoln Journal Star
Whoever dreamed up the idea of a 12-game regular season in NCAA Division I-A football apparently paid no mind to the headaches athletic directors might incur in formulating schedules.
“You get everybody in the country trying to schedule all of their nonconference games during the same four weekends,” Nebraska athletic director Steve Pederson said.
After burning up the phone lines for months, Pederson on Wednesday announced Nebraska football schedules for 2006 and 2007, with the Huskers playing three nonconference home games — and seven home games total — in each of the next two seasons.
Nebraska’s 2006 schedule will possess a distinctly Louisiana flavor. The Huskers will open next season Sept. 2 against Louisiana Tech, then play Nicholls State, a Division I-AA team from Thibodaux, La., the following Saturday. Both games will be in Lincoln.
Louisiana Tech this past season had a record of 7-4 overall and 6-2 in the Western Athletic Conference.
As previously reported, Nebraska’s 2006 schedule also includes nonconference games Sept. 16 at Southern California and Sept. 23 against Troy in Lincoln.
Nebraska also announced Wednesday that Ball State of the Mid-American Conference will be part of the 2007 schedule, along with previously announced games against Nevada on Sept. 1 in Lincoln, Wake Forest on Sept. 8 in Winston-Salem, N.C., and Southern Cal on Sept. 15 in Lincoln.
Ball State, 4-7 overall and 4-4 in the MAC in 2005, will visit Memorial Stadium on Sept. 22.
The Huskers have never played Nicholls State, Ball State or Nevada.
“I think it makes for an interesting schedule all the way around,” Pederson said.
Beginning with the 2006 season, the NCAA will allow all Division I-A football teams to play 12 regular-season games (the Huskers played 11 contests each of the last two seasons). The difficulty in finalizing the 2006 and 2007 schedules was finding dates that fit for both parties, Pederson said.
“We weren’t panicking,” he said, noting that several teams haven’t finished their schedules. “But at some juncture we had to move forward.”
Pederson has been emphatic about playing seven home games. According to university officials, a seventh home game in 2006 would equate to an economic impact of more than $6 million in the Lincoln area.
Nebraska’s game next season against Louisiana Tech reverses a two-year trend of the Huskers opening against Division I-AA competition. NU defeated Maine 25-7 in 2005 after dismantling Western Illinois 56-17 in 2004.
Nebraska has played Louisiana Tech only once, prevailing 56-27 in the 1998 Eddie Robinson Classic despite Troy Edwards’ NCAA-record 405 yards receiving (on 21 receptions) and quarterback Tim Rattay’s 590 passing yards. Bulldogs athletic director Jim Oakes on Wednesday said the loss remains “one of the most memorable games in Bulldog football history.”
Louisiana Tech, located in Ruston, La., next season will feature nine returning starters (seven offense, two defense). Among the players who completed their eligibility in 2005 was quarterback Matt Kubik, a two-year starter who this past season threw for 2,202 yards and 18 touchdowns, with only seven interceptions.
Coached by Jack Bicknell III, the Bulldogs have a balanced attack (428 rushes/356 passes in 2005). They return their top three running backs and three offensive linemen.
Bicknell was Louisiana Tech’s offensive line coach in 1998, succeeding Gary Crowton as head coach before the 1999 season.
Nebraska will follow the Louisiana Tech game with a showdown against Nicholls State, which this past season had a record of 6-4 overall while capturing the Southland Conference with a 5-1 mark. The Colonels finished No. 17 in the final Division I-AA rankings.
Reach Steven M. Sipple at 473-7440 or ssipple@journalstar.com.
Most Commented news