Coach: Bill Callahan (22-15) Fourth Year
Last Year: 9-5, 6-2 Big 12, First in the North, lost to OU in championship 21-7 
Returning Starters : Offense 7, Line 4 | Defense 5, Line 0

Three Things You Should Know
1) The offense looks good with four offensive linemen returning, including standout guard Matt Slauson (JR, 6-5, 335, # 70) and tackle Lydon Murtha (JR, 6-7, 305, #76). The Huskers have two big-time receivers with seniors Maurice Purify (6-4, 220, #16) and Terrence Nunn (6-0, 190, #83) and a solid running back in Marlon Lucky (JR, 6-0, 210, #20). The assumed improvement at quarterback with transfer Sam Keller (SR, 6-4, 230, #5) seems a little bold, but it could happen. Let's look at some game action this weekend and re-evaluate.
2) Nebraska's defense returns just five starters and none on the d-line. They finished ranked eighth last year in conference defense with 391 yards allowed per game. They did start to slow teams down late in the season, but none of those teams really had what you would call an explosive offense. There's a lot of talk about senior Bo Ruud (6-3, 235, #51) at linebacker, but he didn't rank among the league's top tacklers last year with 65 total tackles (of course, nine of the top 10 Big 12 tacklers played on mid-level to weak teams). Performance is expected to improve, but that expectation is not based on the numbers.
3) In case you are only four years old, Nebraska has dominated the series with KU 88-22-3, but recently the scores have tightened -- '03 NU 24, @KU 3 | '04 @NU 14, KU 8 | 2005 @KU 40, NU 15 | @NU 39, KU 32 OT. If the 'Hawks could get another win this year, a nice rivalry could develop.

Trends
Bill Callahan is 0-5 against top 10 teams ... the Huskers are 6-3 in non-conference road games since the start of the Big 12 ... NU is 8-13 in their last last 21 Big 12 road games.

How KU Wins
Despite what the experts say, NU's defense looks a little suspect and if one of KU's quarterback's is playing to a level of say, "late '05 Jason Swanson," the Hawks will have a field day at home. Everyone remembers Adam Barrman's great performance last year, but somewhat forgotten is that he put us in a deep hole with some silly early game interceptions. An error-minimized game at QB should result in a win for the 'Hawks. Add to that the fact that it's in Lawrence for homecoming and the last home loss to a north team for KU was in 2004 (to CU) and this one looks pretty promising for the Hawks. NOTE -- KU has only lost two home games to north teams since Mangino got the team on it's feet in 2003 (CU in '04 and NU in '03).

2007 Nebraska Schedule
Sat, Sep 1 Nevada
Sat, Sep 8 at Wake Forest
Sat, Sep 15 (1) USC
Sat, Sep 22 Ball State
Sat, Sep 29 Iowa State
Sat, Oct 6 at Missouri
Sat, Oct 13 Oklahoma State
Sat, Oct 20 (25) Texas A&M
Sat, Oct 27 at (4) Texas
Sat, Nov 3 at Kansas
Sat, Nov 10 Kansas State
Fri, Nov 23 at Colorado