24. NEBRASKA

OPPOSING COACH'S TAKE

Running back Ameer Abdullah is obviously the guy offensively. He's as good as it gets, a real freak show. They say they have a new quarterback in Tommy Armstrong, but he's not that new because he got a lot of experience last season when former starter Taylor Martinez missed some games with injuries. Armstrong is a talented kid.

They're working on rebuilding the offensive line, but it's Nebraska and they've got big Midwestern kids they're going use to fill in. I'm eager to see how well that line jells. The strength of their defense is their physical, run-stopping line, especially defensive end Randy Gregory. He's a phenom and plays like it. Their secondary has talent, but sometimes it looks as if they're not all necessarily on the same page. If they get organized, they can make drastic improvement.

SI POWER RANKINGS

By Rotowire.com

[The following text appears within a chart. Please see hardcopy or PDF for actual chart.]

OFFENSE 83%

DEFENSE 88%

SPECIAL TEAMS 82%

PHOTO

TONY DING/AP (ARMSTRONG)

TOMMY ARMSTRONG

CHART