The Big Ten office announced the conference schedule for the 2015 football season, which will consist of eight games for each of the Big Ten’s 14 teams before the conference moves to nine-game schedules in 2016. The 2015 schedule starts on Sept. 19 and will wrap up with the fifth annual Big Ten Football Championship Game.

2015 Nebraska Schedule

Sept. 5 BYU

Sept. 12 South Alabama

Sept. 19 at Miami, Fla.

Sept. 26 Southern Miss

Oct. 3 at Illinois

Oct. 10 Wisconsin

Oct. 17 at Minnesota

Oct. 24 Northwestern

Oct. 31 at Purdue

Nov. 7 Michigan State

Nov. 14 at Rutgers

Nov. 21 BYE

Nov. 27 (Fri.) Iowa

Dec. 6 Big Ten Championship Game

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Nebraska offensive coordinator Tim Beck spoke with the media about how the offense has performed so far after two workouts to start spring practice as the team was inside and outdoors on Monday. Beck likes the veterans, but knows this team lost some solid leadership.

“It has been good. I like the veteran group right now, our older guys have good retention.” Beck said, “We went back to our building blocks, really just going back to the basics. We are not trying to out scheme anybody right now. We are just trying to line up and run stuff.”

After losing both starting tight ends from last year’s team, (Ben Cotton, Kyler Reed) the Huskers hope to find a replacement to fill the big shoes Cotton and Reed left behind.

“We lost some senior leadership and it shows right now.” Beck said, “Those guys are swimming right now, Sam (Cotton) and Trey Foster are two guys that have some talent and have shown some really good things. I like what Jake Long is doing. He’s the veteran of the group and we have high expectations for them all, and we are going to coach them high. We have high expectations, they’ll catch up– I’m not worried about them.”

Beck was impressed with wide receivers, Kenny Bell, Quincy Enunwa and Jamal Turner and how they looked sharp.  He is really pleased with how they have been practicing.  The Huskers will be back on the practice field on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday this week for their first full week of spring ball.

Place-kicker Brett Maher was the first of three former Nebraska players to go through the drills at the NFL Combine. Maher made 14 of 15 field goals during his kicking work. The two-time All-Big Ten kicker met with more than a dozen teams, with Tennessee, New Orleans and Cleveland showing the most interest. Maher will future showcase his skills at NU’s pro day on March 7. Maher went into the NFL Combine ranked as the No. 4 kicker by ESPN.

Former Husker I-back Rex Burkhead arrived in Indianapolis on Thursday and went through physical testing Sunday and performed well in all areas with the exception of the 40 yard dash and bench press. Burkhead’s top rankings

-2nd in vertical jump
-2nd in broad jump
-4th in in 3 cone drill
-2nd in 20 yard shuttle
-5th in 60 yard shuttle
-21 bench press reps, needed 26 to get in the top five

Former NU safety Daimion Stafford arrived Saturday and works out with the defensive backs on Tuesday.

Sharing my final thoughts after Nebraska’s 45-31 loss to Georgia in the Capital One Bowl. Defensively, a lot of work ahead for 2013. After giving up a massive amount of yards on the ground against Wisconsin, the secondary was burned against quarterback Aaron Murray. Touchdown passes of 29, 75, 49, 24 and 87. A couple of those were just great passes laid right in there, but the 29 yarder to the tight end Arthur Lynch for Georgia’s first score and the 87 yarder to Chris Conley to put the Bulldogs up by 14, were down the middle of the field that was wide open. The secondary showed poor tackling techniques against Wisconsin, and poor coverage against Georgia. With a fresh wave of linebackers starting next season, there is plenty of room for growth.

Offensively, again it was one of those situations where the Huskers beat themselves. After NU used a 13 play drive to go up 31-23, Georgia responded with a quick touchdown and two point conversion that tied the game. However, the Huskers were driving down the field again, and punishing Georgia’s defense, but Ameer Abdullah had the ball stripped on a 3rd and 1 at the Georgia 38 that should have been a Husker first down. Taylor Martinez and Abdullah admitted that killed their momentum on offense.

The offense will be very solid next year, but Taylor Martinez, now 0-3 in bowl games, will have to continue to improve his passing. He improved his footwork, but his throwing mechanics and how he drops his elbow so far down has to change or he won’t improve on his 12 interceptions this season, way too many for a team that is run heavy.