by STEVEN M. SIPPLE Lincoln Journal Star , Lincoln Journal Star

"Those guys are performers," the former Nebraska defensive coordinator (1982-99) said this week."(Kirk) Herbstreit and the guys (on ESPN), they do a good job. But in reality, it's all prepared. One guy picks a certain team, another picks another one. That kind of stuff."

In other words, McBride feels it's all fairly contrived. Meanwhile, McBride is as real as a pit bull's growl. The old coach is still fiery, ornery and opinionated. Trust me, he's taking his voting duties seriously.

He purchased a batch of preseason magazines. He likes Florida as the clear No. 1. No surprise there. Nebraska fits somewhere in the Nos. 15-18 range, he said, mentioning Ndamukong Suh as well as running backs Roy Helu Jr. and Quentin Castille,"who are as good as anyone around, if they can get an offensive line going."

McBride has plenty of time to adjust his rankings. The Harris Interactive poll - a component of the BCS standings formula - is re- leased in late September.

The 114-member Harris panel is made up of former players,coaches,administrators,and current and former media members.McBride said he was recommended as a potential voter by Big 12 assistant commissioner Ed Stewart,a former Husker All-America linebacker whom McBride recruited.

"I'll tell you what's really important," said McBride, listing his priorities when analyzing teams."You look first at how many snaps the offensive line has played together. You look at our old teams at Nebraska, when we were really good, those guys played together for two years."

He'll obviously check to see if a team has a returning starter at quarterback. Will the offense be able to control the clock? He'll also analyze defenses closely, focusing first on the line. Where else?

Gotta be able to stop the run, he said.

"Go back in some of the years when we were great on offense (at NU)," McBride recalled."The defense was OK in some of those years. Just average. For a period we weren't good enough on defense to win big games. Then we got good on defense and started winning the big games.

"Look at USC now. Look at Florida. Geez, Florida has everybody back on defense. Everybody. As a voter, that just jumps all over you. It's pretty hard not to pick them No. 1."

? As for Nebraska's 2009 offensive line, everything I'm hearing points to junior Jaivorio Burkes, a fourgame starter last season, sitting out this season as a result of an undisclosed medical issue.

? I liked what I heard from Husker offensive line coach Barney Cotton in his appearance Monday on "Sports Nightly.""The toughest guys win," he said, referring to his emphasis on physical line play."We work hard on technique during the week, then on Saturday we teach the kids that toughness is going to be the difference."

Nebraska returns three full-time starters on its Oline. The Huskers have decent talent up front. But the line too often has lacked a hard edge and general nastiness ever since, well, about 2001. Or maybe my expectations are just too high. ...

? It's a perfect idea to have Nebraska wear throwback uniforms for its Sept.26 home game against Louisiana-Lafayette to commemorate the 300th straight sellout.Here's another idea: Husker coaches should also wear throwback garb that night.Find a wool houndstooth hat for Bo Pelini,and perhaps a pair of those bright red coaching pants Tom Osborne used to wear.How about Pelini growing sideburns for the occasion?

OK, maybe not the sideburns.

Reach Steven M. Sipple at 473-7440 or ssipple@journalstar.com

Copyright 2009 Lincoln Journal Star All Rights Reserved
	Terms & Conditions     Privacy Copyright © 2009 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.