Saturday, October 13, 2007

Odor Restored: Nebraska's Worst Home Loss since 1958

Halftime score from Lincoln, Nebraska: Oklahoma State 38, Nebraska 0.

Let me repeat. Halftime score from Lincoln, Nebraska: Oklahoma State 38, Nebraska 0.

Let's be honest here. There really isn't much more you can add here. I've already called for Steve Pederson to be terminated, and if you still support Pederson after today's 45-14 home throttling, there's nothing more I can say.

Although I've questioned Bill Callahan extensively, I've held back on the calls to terminate him. Tom Osborne used to say that you needed to give coaches at least five or six years to let them get their systems into place. So while I've criticized frequently questioned Callahan's decisions and certainly have questioned whether Bill Callahan is the right man to lead Nebraska football, I've held short of calling for his firing. Today's home loss, the worst since Missouri beat Bill Jenning's 1958 team 31-0, really raises the alarm level. Look at Bill Callahan's postgame quotes and you'll see a coach who is not only emotionally unattached to this program but also is unaware as to what the problems with his football team are:
"This is ultimately disappointing for our football team today. I really felt coming into this contest that we were going to play more competitively, but that wasn’t the case."
On losing his team (much like he did with the 2003 Raiders and 2004 Huskers):
"I don’t think so. I thought the way (we) came back in the second half was pretty indicative of their efforts. I thought (we) came back and competed."
On his response to trailing 38-0 at home:
"We just wanted to be patient in the respect that I sensed the kids were a little tense, a little nervous."
On where the team goes from here:
"There’s always hope. It starts again tomorrow, and it goes through the week in our preparation for A&M. "

There you have it... a man with no idea what the problems with this team are. And with no ideas as to what the problems are, no idea what the solutions are.

Other than hope.

Is that your final answer, Bill?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The donors started complaining and quit donating a few years ago. Former players started saying cautious 'there might be something wrong here' statements last year. ALL this season it has been increasingly obvious to everyone that Nebraska wasn't very good.

Pederson still has a job. And no one at the university is publicly hinting that that job is even slightly threatened. I have no idea what is going on out of the public eye in this regard. But some type of 'We expect Steve and his chosen coaches to perform a little better than they have so far' type of mild criticism would certainly have been appropriate before Saturday, and a much more pointed hint at minimum should be forth-coming now.

But I don't think there will be one. Maybe Steve has incriminating material on Perlman and the regents. I say that in jest but if not even a mild rebuke takes place I'll wonder if it's true.

I would like to nominate myself as a Steve Pederson replacement. I know nothing of running an Athletic Department, just like Steve, and I would be MUCH cheaper.

ET

Anonymous said...

i thought the clownahan was brought in here because frank couldnt recruit. let it be noted that the team on the field is for the first year all the clowns recruits.