Sports Illustrated: "Out of line"

Mark Beech of Sports Illustrated writes this week that Nebraska's struggles start at the position that Nebraska used to become a national power in the first place: the offensive line. It's a fairly balanced piece; it skewers everyone including:

• The fans who called for a coaching change 2 years ago after that "not very impressive" 9-3 season.
• Bill Callahan for his "condescending" demeanor and his gaffes when playing Oklahoma.

One thing it does call for is patience, quoting Arizona coach Mike Stoops as saying that Nebraska's change is going to take time and patience if it is ever going to succeed.

And I agree to a degree. I'm willing to give Bill Callahan at least one more year to see if we start seeing some progress. It's not a endorsement of Callahan by any means; outside of recruiting, he's made far more mistakes than he's made good changes too date. But Nebraska can't get into a coaching carousel. Look around at how difficult it is to replace a legend: it took Alabama 3 tries to replace Bear Bryant. It took Oklahoma 3 tries to replace Barry Switzer. How many tries did it take for USC to replace John Robinson??? I still don't think Bill Callahan is the answer at Nebraska; he's just the 2nd guy to try and replace Tom Osborne.

Sporting News: Callahan can't point fingers

Matt Hayes of The Sporting News joins the parade of national correspondents taking shots at Bill Callahan, this time for pointing the fingers at his players for the loss to Kansas. And while I'm not sure he directly blamed the players for Kansas, he sure implied it with some of his comments. It's not even the most recent example of this; last Saturday, he blamed Zac Taylor for "telegraphing" that boneheaded swing pass that resulted in an easy safety against Kansas State.

Some people will be quick to attribute this to a national media "hatred" of Nebraska, but let's be honest here, that's just blaming the messenger. But let's be honest, outside of recruiting, Callahan has not accomplished much since arriving at Nebraska. Perhaps after Callahan gets all his recruits in place, Callahan may look like a smarter coach and a better hire.

Burned Shirts & Sparty Sweep

Predictably, there's a lot of commotion about Harrison Beck's redshirt getting burned. Personally, I find it hard to criticize Callahan in this situation. I think he rolled the dice that he could get away with redshirting his top backup, and lost. Saturday, I don't think Callahan had much of a choice.

I do criticize Callahan for not putting Joe Ganz in at the tail end of the Missouri and Kansas games. Taylor took 3 or 4 unnecessary hits in those games after those games got to blowout status. But Saturday, if Callahan thinks Harrison Beck is his top backup, he has to play him in a 2 point game when Zac Taylor gets knocked out of the game. If it was a 3 touchdown game, that might be a different situation.

And it's a situation that critics like me have to expect. The heat is on Bill Callahan, and he really can't worry about whether Harrison Beck has any eligibility for the 2009 season. If Nebraska loses to K-State, and misses a bowl game, they lose 4 more weeks of practice. And if they continue to struggle in 2006 and 2007, there will be another head coach to worry about who will start in 2009.

And if we're talking what-if's, if you believe the recruitniks and Beck is as good as they say, he might declare for the NFL early anyway. Of course, those same people said that Zac Bowman would be declaring for the NFL after this season. More overhype from the recruiting crowd; I wonder what the NFL thought of Bowman's game on Saturday? He got sucked in badly on several plays, including chasing a Kansas State receiver down the length of the field on a draw play. The KSU receiver kept turning around to throw a block, but when Bowman kept following him, he just kept running.

And I neglected to throw some props towards the Mavericks. After starting the conference season 0-4, they rebound quite nicely to sweep #6 Michigan State at their barn. Driving back from Lincoln, I got to hear Greg Harrington and Terry Leahy describe the OT game winner by Bill Thomas on Saturday night. You could hear the folks in the MavPuck.com Road Banned going nuts as the shocked Sparty fans quietly exited Munn.

Huskers win the Bungle Bowl

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Some of the best playcalling of the season (misdirection, toss sweep plays), some of the worst playcalling (screen pass in the end zone?). The Husker offense looked great at times, and anemic at times.

Let's look at the positives on the day:

• Zac Taylor, until he got smashed in the 4th quarter, had his best game of the day. 21 for 31 passing on a day where the wind was howling.
• Nate Swift is turning into a clutch playmaker.
• Corey McKeon is proving that rivals.com doesn't rate players for heart.
• After struggles earlier this season, Jordon Congdon is now living up to the recruitnik hype with that clutch field goal.
  

I think Husker fans are split on whether burning Harrison Beck's redshirt was appropriate or not. My preference would have been to put Joe Ganz in the game; however, Callahan has clearly said previously that Beck is the backup and would go in if something happened to Taylor. And that's exactly what happened.

I think all Husker fans are hoping that this was Beck's worst performance of his career. His one completion was huge, and the roughing penalty he took put the Big Red into position for the winning field goal. However, Beck's interception cost the Huskers the lead and nearly the game.

Like I said, I would have preferred Ganz in the game, but I won't criticize Callahan for this decision. I knew that it was only a matter of time before Taylor got knocked out of the game, and I had hoped that Callahan would put Ganz in at some point to get him some reps and spare Taylor the shots he took at the end of the games against Kansas and Missouri. But what's done is done.

Apparantly, the coaching staff took notice of the media reports of Beck's lack of attention to the game the last 2 weeks; my wife noticed that staff personnel were watching him closely on the sidelines.

Thank goodness this game was not televised; it was a sloppy mess on both sides of the ball. Daniel Bullocks strip against Wake Forest was a great play, but twice he's been burned by trying to strip the ball instead of tackling. Whoever taught Bullocks to start doing that better hope that the NFL doesn't penalize him for this on draft day next spring.

Scott Frost speaks

I just got done reading Scott Frost's latest entry to his blog, and all I can say is:

Wow.

Thanks to the Seniors

Before their final home game, just thought I'd salute the seniors on this year's Husker team.

Those that redshirted in 2001 saw them come close to the big prize, playing in the BCS National Championship game. They endured 2 coaching staff changes and even a losing season last year. They've endured insults from some "fans" who insist that they weren't any good, who can't wait for them to leave.

While they won't leave Lincoln with any rings, they do leave with my respect and admiration for how they fought through their Husker careers and finished it out.

Talent is NOT the issue

The frequent excuse from the kool-aid crowd is that we don't have the talent that we had 10 years ago.

Guess what. We probably never will. 1995 was something special, something that will probably never be repeated.

The 1995 Huskers should be considered the pinnacle of achievement; they are considered by some to be the greatest football team ever. If you expect that to be repeated, you will go through the rest of your life sorely disappointed.

Kool-aid drinkers like to recite rivals.com rankings for the past several years as proof that "talent is our problem." Problem is, they never look at the rivals.com rankings of our opponents. Sure, Oklahoma always has great recruiting rankings, but their top-5 2003 signing class is in shambles. But has Texas Tech had better recruiting classes? Nope. And Kansas? Please.

Success in football is not just based on talent. Talent is only part of the equation. Coaching and preparation plays as big, if not bigger role. Look at Notre Dame; last year, people used the talent card to explain their struggles. Add in a great coach in Charlie Weis, and suddenly the talent level has mysteriously been upgraded.

Fire Steve Pederson

(Update October 7, 2007: It's Time to Pull The Plug on Steve Pederson...)

Bill Callahan should NOT be fired.

He is in year 2 of a monumental transition. It is not going well, and I'm doubtful that he is the answer as Nebraska's head coach. But, we're only in year 2 of his run. Some of the holes in this year's team may start filling themselves next season, especially on the offensive line. But however cathartic the firing might be, the next question is, who would replace him?

Several names have already been brought up. Joe Glenn at Wyoming. Monte Kiffin of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Barney Cotton at Iowa State. I'll throw out Marvin Sanders at North Carolina as well. As much as I like Frank Solich, he'd be a poor choice; there is still a large contingent of Husker fans who despise him. Many of them actually blamed him for yesterday's debacle.

But the decision as to who would replace Bill Callahan doesn't belong to the fans. It's the responsibility of the athletic director.

The person currently filling that position has experience in coaching searches. His process was roundly criticized and lampooned 2 years ago. Fox's Jimmy Johnson quipped that a dozen NFL guys received raises thanks to Steve. At least 3 of Pederson's candidates are already in hot water and in danger of losing their current job: Dave Wannstedt (who might get fired for the 2nd time), Houston Nutt, and Chuck Amato.

Steve Pederson is a divisive figure in this state. Named last year as Nebraska's Enemy of the State by Sports Illustrated, fundraising for the Osborne Complex has stalled since his last coaching change. I don't doubt that Pederson loves the University and the athletic program, but it's obvious a change is necessary.

Hopefully, Steve will do the right think and resign. But if he doesn't, fire Steve Pederson.

Welcome to Pediocrity.

2 years ago, Nebraska's athletic director made the statement that he refused to allow Nebraska to "gravitate to mediocrity". Whether we are "gravitating" or "accelerating", there is no denying it.

We have descended below mediocrity.

138 total yards of offense.

428 total yards and 40 points given up on defense. To a team that had was 1-4 in Big XII play and had scored 49 points in those 5 games.

For those of you who had the misfortune of listening to Jim Rose today, at least you could turn it off. I watched the whole thing in person.

Here are some of the more disturbing observations from section 31:

• Playcalling was even more abysmal than usual. Bill Callahan decided that we needed to establish a ground game against one of the top rushing defenses in the country. And there was almost no variety in the running play; if I had a video tape, I would say of the first 10 runs, there were only 3 or 4 different plays run.
• Kansas defended us with 9 or 10 players "in the box" most of the game. However, we only attempted to stretch the defense a handful of times by sending receivers deeper than 10 yards downfield.
• Harrison Beck and Joe Ganz know that they aren't getting into the game unless Zac Taylor is knocked out. They spent much of the first half watching the Kansas dance squad.
• Callahan might be trying to get Zac Taylor killed by leaving him in the game to get assaulted when the game is out of reach.
• The defense tried to keep Nebraska in the game today. Corey McKeon had a key interception to end a Kansas threat as well as the safety. But, they wore down, and sadly in the 4th quarter, threw in the towel. All season long many fans have raved about their "never give up" will, but today, they went to the well one too many times.

They need to find a way to beat either Kansas State or Colorado. Kansas State may be the only opportunity as they may be struggling more than the Huskers at this point.

This Husker program is staring 5-6 in the face for the second consecutive year.

I must say, however, that you couldn't help but be happy for the Kansas fans. Everyone I ran into was cordial. Heading back up the hill, I had a heck of a view of the KU students swimming with the goal posts for the second straight week. And I was touched by a conversation with a Kansas fan who talked about being 5 years old the last time Kansas beat our Huskers. As the final seconds, you could see the tears in his eyes as he watched his team accomplish something he thought he might never see.

It brought back my own memories of watching Tom Osborne defeat Miami on their home field for the 1994 National Championship. My, how times have changed.

During a dinner stop on the Plaza in Kansas City this evening, we ran into several Husker fans trying to recover from the game. From the persepective of the fans I talked to this evening, I think HuskerNation is growing restless.

Update: Revisiting Pediocrity

Which way will they go?

I must say that after last week's game, I was extremely pessimistic about this week's game against Kansas. However, after I thought about it a bit more, I remembered that I still think Oklahoma is a pretty darn good team. With Adrian Peterson back in the lineup, I think they've got a legitimate case to be the 2nd best team in the Big XII. Yes, that means I think they'll run the table and beat A&M (boy, Franchione sure hit a bump in year 3), Texas Tech (overrated), and Oklahoma State.

But, Kansas' defense is legit. Problem for them is, their offense isn't. Nebraska might not be as good as the Jayhawks on defense, but they're better than them on offense. Either way, this is shaping up to be a low scoring affair. First team to 10 wins? The over/under on this one is 38. Yuck!

Since this game is not on TV, you'll either have to drive to Lawrence or listen on the radio. Fortunately, you don't have to listen to the Husker Information Minister; UNL's students will be broadcasting the game as well. You can get their webcast at http://krnu.unl.edu.

Meanwhile, the UNO Maverick hockey team tries to bounce back after a bye week against Bowling Green. The 0-4-1 Falcons miss their inspirational leader, Jordan Sigalet, who is now on the roster of roster of the NHL's Boston Bruins despite battling Multiple Sclerosis. Hope the game still goes on; their last home game was postponed after someone drilled into a cooling pipe while setting up the nets.

The Slash

Well, I must say I was disappointed, but not surprised by Callahan's comments at today's press conference. He seemed surprised that the question came up, then admitted that he had discussed the matter with both the Big XII's Supervisor of Officials as well as with the Athletic Director. He also said that he hadn't seen the video in question despite apparantly spending quite a bit of time over the previous 24 hours discussing it.

It's obvious that Callahan at this point doesn't care what the effects of this story is. And I kind of doubt Steve Pederson does either. So, the media will take some more pot shots with his comments in today's press conference, and then put the video from Saturday's game in their clip drawer, ready to pull out the every time they want to take a shot at him or Nebraska.

As Bill Callahan said today, "the damage is done". He had several opportunities to defuse the situation, and didn't, so that's where this stands. Everybody has an opinion at this point: some people say this is yet more proof that Callahan isn't suited to be a head coach. Others see this as proof that Callahan will do whatever he feels is right. Nobody's opinions are going to be swayed at this point.

Billy C's Favorite Team

Well, once again, Bill Callahan seems to have gotten himself into hot water against Oklahoma. After the Sooners final touchdown, ABC's camera showed Callahan making an apparant throat slash towards the officiating crew. However, that might not have been Callahan's intent there; theoretically he might have been demonstrating how his player was being held by his jersey. Which is it? Who's to say at this point. The replay I saw last night sure looked like a throat slash, but the animated GIF I found on a Sooner web site isn't so clear. (It's also rather small...)

Callahan did not directly comment on the officiating, as he knew that any comment would violate Big XII rules. However, the manner that he answered the question made it clear he was extremely displeased with the officiating. Jay Norvell may have inadvertantly violated that rule on Pinnacle's "Coaches Wrapup" postgame show. During a commercial break, Pinnacle accidentally left the microphone on, and Norvell was heard to say "f*****g refs" and "d*** Texas refs".

But let's face it, the refs were pretty balanced on their calls. The World-Herald caught Nebraska center Kurt Mann facemasking OU's Zach Latimer. Let's face it, Nebraska only got flagged 5 times against Oklahoma. That's one of their lowest totals of the year, matching the count from the Baylor game - which was officiated by the same crew.

Stoops schools Hillbilly C and the Puppetmasters

Tell me if you've heard this one before: the Huskers opponent drives the field on their opening possession to jump out to a 7-0 lead while the offense sputters in the early going.

It's getting old. It's great that the Huskers can rebound, but you can't dig yourself into a hole every week and expect to climb out of it.

One thing is painfully clear: Zac Taylor is clearly showing signs of the painful pounding he has taken this year. In the 2nd quarter, Callahan decided to open up the passing game once the wind was to their back. Taylor twice rolled out to throw but failed to see uncovered receivers running wild downfield. The second time, once Taylor finally decided to throw the ball, threw it off-target and so late that the Oklahoma defensive back nearly picked it off.

Today's offensive bright spot again was Nate Swift, with 9 receptions for 100+ yards. I liked this kid in the Spring game, and every game, this freshman gets better and better.

Looking at the remaining schedule, I'm getting extremely concerned about the Huskers prospects. Kansas might have the best defense in the Big XII. Kansas State is getting better week-by-week, with former Husker commitment Allan Evridge now playing well as their starting quarterback. And Colorado is still the best of the Big XII North.

Can Nebraska get some positive karma going their way in these last 3 games? I predicted 8-3, but that prediction is now looking like a dream at this point in the season.

Nattering Nabob of Negativity

As this week has unfolded, I've grown more and more uneasy at the prospects of this week's game. On one hand, Oklahoma looks the most mortal that they have been since Bob Stoops arrived in Norman. But on the other hand, I have this nagging thought in the back of my mind that the 2005 Huskers are no better, and might even be worse than the 2004 model.

On offense, we thought the dismal performances from the first 3 games were just a bad memory. But last week, the offense returned to it's sputtering self. So now that's 4 sputtering performances and 3 ok performances. The pendulum has now swung back. And on defense, in conference play they have become a sieve, especially early.

Oklahoma may be 4-3, but 2 of those losses were to undefeated UCLA and a Texas squad that has played the best of any team in the country this year. And Adrian Peterson is expected to be back in the lineup.

I hope I'm wrong, but I don't like the looks of Saturday's game. The one intangible in Nebraska's favor is that the game is in Lincoln and the 1995 Huskers are having a 10 year reunion. Last year, a shaky Husker team took inspiration from the 1994 Huskers to beat Missouri; could this year's squad get a boost of confidence and inspiration from the greatest college football team ever?

Excuses Excuses Excuses

The common explanation for Nebraska's poor play selection against Missouri was a combination of getting down early and then "down and distance". Hey, I'll buy the getting down early part.

So let's look at the "down and distance" argument. Starting after Nebraska pulled to within 7 points at 24-17, here was the play calling in situations where we weren't 2nd and long or 3rd and long:

1st & 10: Pass (Sacked for 8 yard loss)
1st & 8: Pass (incomplete)
2nd & 8: Pass (Touchdown - game tied at 24-24!)
1st & 10: Pass (complete for 10 yards)
1st & 15: Pass (incomplete)
1st & 10: Run (gain of 1)
2nd & 9: Run (loss of 3)
1st & 10: Pass (incomplete)
1st & 10: Pass (incomplete)
1st & 10: run (gain of 2)
1st & 10: run (loss of 2)
3rd & 2: Pass (incomplete)
4th & 2: Pass (complete for 30 yards but fumbled)
Missouri goes on 97 yard drive, up 31-24.
1st & 15: Pass (incomplete)
Missouri goes on 39 yard FG drive, up 34-24.
1st & 10: Pass (gain of 2)
I'll stop there, because at this point, Missouri is up 41-24 and the score argument now applies.

That's 4 rushes and 11 passes. On first down and 10 or less, we threw the ball 6 times and ran the ball 3 times. Did "down and distance" keep us from running the ball? I don't think so.

Beck #2???

Today, Bill Callahan said that Harrison Beck is the #2 quarterback, despite the fact that the official depth chart says Joe Ganz is #2. While that might explain why Zac Taylor was left in to be abused by Missouri, this is a real head-scratcher at this point in the season. I know Callahan apparantly doesn't care about redshirts, but barring a serious injury to Taylor, it makes no sense to play Beck this late in the season.

If Beck ends up playing in a game in a mop-up situation this season, it won't be the first redshirt mistake this staff has made. Last year, Cornealius Fuamatu-Thomas got thrown into the Western Illinois game late, then never played. The staff somehow thought he could still claim a redshirt year, but found out after the fact that wasn't possible.

Of course, after watching Thomas this season, I'm not sure that saving a year of eligibility for him is a big deal. Thomas was especially bad on Saturday. Several times Thomas whiffed badly on blocks; he was constantly slower than the defensive end to react to the snap count. Lydon Murtha didn't fare much better, but if we're going to have a problem at tackle, I'd rather take a chance on playing the talented freshman over the confused, inexperienced senior.

Saturday's game plan is still a puzzle in my mind, and to many others. Starting the game, it looked like Nebraska planned to run the ball on Missouri, based on their previous poor rushing performances. However, that game plan was abandoned when the Huskers went down 21-3. Which kind of made sense - until a couple of Mizzou fumbles allowed Nebraska to tie the game at 24-24.

Nebraska set a modern record for fewest rushes in a game: 19. 4 of those were sacks of Zac Taylor, so really it was 15.

15 rushes by Nebraska.

Read that again: 15 rushes by the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

I'll say it again: 15 rushes by Nebraska against the now #67 rushing defense in college football. (My guess is they probably were somewhere in the 80's before the game.)

Crappy Weekend

What a crappy weekend this is turning out to be. The UNO Mavericks get swept at home by the Miami Redhawks in hockey. And the Huskers get trounced by Mizzou in Columbia.

Just got back from Columbia, and it was a sad day when the Huskers rush for -2 yards for the game. Nebraska got beaten badly both offensively and defensively. For the third straight week, Kevin Cosgrove starts with an ineffective game plan, then is slow to make adjustments. A three-man front might make sense against teams that spread the field like Missouri and Texas Tech, but dropping 8 men into coverage with an inexperienced secondary like we have is insane. Eventually, someone is going to break down in coverage, and with absolutely no pass rush, the quarterback can simply bide his time until it happens.

You simply must get pressure on the quarterback.

Must.

I can hear the Cosgrove defenders saying "but if we blitz, someone will be uncovered". Guess what - it's happening anyway. The prevent defense doesn't work against Tech, and it didn't work today against Missouri.

Props to Brad Smith for a huge game. I haven't seen defensive breakdowns like that since the 2001 Colorado game, and before that, in a high school game.

On offense, it would be easy enough to criticize Zac Taylor, but I won't tonight. The man took an incredible amount of abuse in this game. When Nebraska got the ball back with a minute left in the game, I really hoped that Joe Ganz would finally get a chance to take a couple of snaps in a game. But no dice, and Missouri got another chance to use Taylor as a tackling dummy.

I was extremely disappointed with some of my fellow Husker fans today. I understand leaving early when the game is out of reach - especially on the road, where you don't know how the locals will react. (Every Missouri fan I came across today was classy...) That's not my criticism.

Some fans like to stand and cheer their team on. That's great! But look around when you decide to stand; if you're the only fans standing, sit down. And when your team is on offense on the road, and the home team is screaming for their defense, cheering "Go Big Red!" at your offense is counterproductive and just shows your ignorance. Or should I say stupidity.

When the opposing quarterback is laying motionless on the field, it's in extremely poor taste (and poor sportsmanship) to complain about the roughing penalty and yell "hit him again". Especially when your defensive player is lucky that he didn't get ejected for that helmet-to-helmet hit.

And please don't insist that, if it wasn't for the LeKevin Smith fumble against Tech and Terrence Nunn's fumble today, we'd be 7-0. We were lucky to be in today's game; 2 of our 3 touchdown drives were under 10 yards. Today's game could have easily been 41-10 or worse. And when you consider the endings against Pitt (blocked FG) and Iowa State (dropped interception by Nick Leaders), we're probably closer to 3-4 than 7-0.

It's time for some sleep; it's been a long ugly day.

What does Vegas know that Husker Nation doesn't?

Or is it vice versa? Vegas has installed Mizzou as a 3 point favorite, but the expectation around here seems to be a big Husker win. I can kind of see both points; Nebraska has played 1 great game (Texas Tech), 2 decent games (Iowa State and Baylor), and 3 rather poor games. On the other hand, Missouri lost at home to New Mexico, gave up 31 to Oklahoma State, and got blasted by Texas (of course, who hasn't???)

Our local Tiger fanatic AJ is surprisingly confident as well.

2 years ago, I was guilty of overconfidence for the Missouri game. I remember sitting on top of a parking garage in Columbia before the game discussing plans to follow Nebraska to the Big XII Championship Game in Kansas City. The Bo-shirts were blitzing everything into submission, and the offense was playing decent. But then Nebraska turned the ball over 4 times deep inside their own territory - including 3 times inside their own 10. Those turnovers turned a game that Nebraska otherwise dominated into a 17 point loss. We barely got back to the safety of the parking garage before being overrun by a mob of Tiger fans carrying the goalposts.

Which Brad Smith will play? Which Zac Taylor will play? Will Bill Callahan outthink himself? Will Gary Pinkel sign his own pink slip, or contract extension? If Brad Smith falters, will fab freshman Chase Daniel come on in relief?

Heck if I know. I'd like to think this is a big Nebraska win shaping up on Saturday, but there are too many questions.

Mid-season report card

Well, 6 games into the season means it's probably time to give the Huskers a mid-season report card. I went back and looked at my preseason thoughts, and I think they turned out pretty well. On offense, Zac Taylor started off the season about as shaky as I thought he would. However, Bill Callahan made a nice adjustment after the Pitt game to put Taylor back into the shotgun, which seems to give Taylor a better feel for making his reads and Taylor made Iowa State pay. Taylor has been playing much better the last 3 games, and is a very servicable quarterback.

RB: I said it in July: Cory Ross. Enough said. Update from Saturday night's postgame comment: it looks like Ross's injury is not serious.

WR: Frantz Hardy made a big splash against Maine, but hasn't repeated that performance since. The passing game was DOA until Nate Swift started to get some playing time. And Terrence Nunn has been solid all season.

OL: Definitely playing better the last 3 games, though they had a very shaky start to the season.

DL: The one place where recruiting has made an impact this season: Ola Dagunduro, Barry Cryer, and freshman Barry Turner have given the d-line depth. And freshman Ndamukong (A Boy Named) Suh made a splash as well before getting hurt.

LB: Steve Octavien was looking to prove me dead wrong about the newcomers until his leg broke in the first game. Corey McKeon is showing the heart that Barrett Ruud showed us last season.

Secondary: Zack Bowman hasn't lived up to the hype, but hasn't been a flop by any means. This group has played ok, though the defensive line has lifted the pressure from these guys.

Coaching: Over all, the last three games have been very positive. Callahan has a quarterback that better matches his system in Zac Taylor, and the receiver depth is improved with Nate Swift and Frantz Hardy contributing. Cosgrove has also made some big adjustments by using much more zone defense this season. I especially liked the blitzes and the defenses Cosgrove used against Texas Tech for the middle half of the game - though I didn't like his waiting for Nebraska to go down 21-0 to start using them...

As we move on, the Huskers are showing the heart that last year's team lacked. Especially on defense, it looks like last year's defense had a hard time developing the passion they enjoyed with Marvin Sanders and Bo Pelini in 2003. But it looks like this team is much more unified this season.

8-3 is still looking like a good bet, and there is still a good shot at doing better. Oklahoma is struggling this season as I suggested in July, though Colorado is better than I thought. 10-1 is still possible at this point.

A good night for the Mavs and Huskers

Props to both the Huskers and Mavs for victories tonight. The Huskers found clear skies for once in Waco, and came away with a nice road victory with a generally solid performance on both sides of the ball. A couple of nit-picky observations:

• If you are going use Jake Wesch as your kickoff specialist at home, take him on the road. David Dyches is a fine kicker, but looked unprepared to play.
• The defense on the opening drive looked way too vanilla, and Baylor took advantage with a 7 minute touchdown drive to put us down 7-0. Giving an underdog an early lead at home is a dangerous proposition.
• Baylor's 2nd touchdown was one of the weirdest calls I can remember. Instant replay opened a can of worms when nobody made a call as to who might have recovered the fumble on the field. Nebraska really can't complain about the results though; the ball on the 1 foot line was probably going to lead to a touchdown anyway.
  

One sight that makes Husker fans cringe was the sight of Cory Ross being helped off the field late in the game. If there is one person the Huskers simply cannot afford to lose, it's Ross. Bill Callahan and Jay Norvell are hesitant to throw the ball with Cody Glenn or Marlon Lucky at I-back, but they may have no choice if Ross is out. Those young I-backs will need to learn to pick up blitzes under fire, otherwise Zac Taylor will find himself a marked man in the pocket.

Meanwhile, back in Omaha, the Mavs upset #8 New Hampshire 5-3 to win the Maverick Stampede. Alex Nikiforuk continues his hot streak with a goal 15 seconds into the game, while freshman Tomas Klempa adds 2 goals. Freshman Greg Barrett may have staked a claim to the #1 goalie position with 35 saves. Will UNO crack the rankings this week? Up next is Miami. No, not the Hurricanes from Florida; the Redhawks from Ohio...

It's not confusing at all.

The Nebraska athletic department partnered with "Big Red Report" to produce a special edition on the facilities upgrade at Nebraska, and mailed it across to fans all over. I'm not sure if they sent it to ticketholders, donors, or just a general mailing list. But it looks like the start of a renewed marketing campaign to raise funds again. At last week's Texas Tech game, a commercial was shown featuring players from all Husker sports pleading for donations.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I really haven't heard anybody say that the facilities improvements aren't necessary. Personally, when the program was first announced, I was concerned that they didn't go far enough, especially when other programs continue to add onto their training facilities.

The fund-raising campaign got off to a fast start, raising $15 million in the first month, but then came crashing to a halt the night of November 29th, 2003. Since then, the program has only received a donation of $1 million from Anaheim Angels' outfielder Darin Erstad and $5 million from the Myers family of Omaha. And that's basically it after 22 months of discontent.

In today's "Voices from the Grandstand" in the Omaha paper, a fan expresses disappointment and disbelief that the campaign hasn't been more successful. In the "Big Red Report" article, Boyd Epley expresses surprise as well.

Nobody should be surprised at all with what has happened to the fund raising campaign. Deep down, everybody knows the root problem with the fund raising campaign. The kool-aid drinkers can express their outrage about the situation, but that won't change it. The wounds continue to fester and linger on.

Undoing the changes isn't feasible or practical. It isn't fair to the players or the coaches. But something needs to be done at the top levels at the University to address this situation. This problem isn't going to fix itself. Bill Callahan could win a national championship next year, and the athletic director will still be reviled.

What does the athletic director need to do? It's simple: swallow his pride. Acknowledge his detractors. Admit his mistakes. Apologize to those he has offended. Accept responsibility to "make it right". He can't undo what's been done; we're beyond that point now. But he can hold out the olive branch.

This has gone on long enough. Something has to be done.

Darling Niki

Junior Alex Nikiforuk is off to an absolutely SMOKIN' start for the Nebraska-Omaha Maverick hockey team. In Monday night's exhibition game against Manitoba, Nikiforuk scored on a 1 on 3 breakaway that was just plain SICK.

So what does he do for an encore in the season opener against Army? He gets the hat trick in a 3-2 victory against the Black Knights of the Hudson.

Tonight, the Mavs take on #8 New Hampshire at 8 pm for the Stampede Championship game. It will be interesting to see what kind of a crowd shows up tonight, with the Husker game going on at the same time, not to mention the other 2 hockey teams in town having home games as well. (Talk about bonehead scheduling...)

A few thoughts about the changes at UNO hockey games.

• The curtains are an attempt to deal with the problem of playing hockey in a large arena in a town with an oversupply of hockey games to attend. They may not look the greatest, but it looks better than empty seats, and it does help with the noise level. The crowd was louder last night than the crowd at a Creighton basketball game I attended last March.
• The nets suck. I understand why they are there. I may get used to them. But it makes it hard to follow the action at the other end of the ice.
• The UNO athletic department needs to partner with the Department of Fine Arts on designing some custom graphics for the scoreboards. There is a lot of untapped potential in the ribbon boards that is being wasted.
  

Callahan's recruiting: #29!

Just noticed that Rival's has Callahan's 2004 class ranked #29...

http://nebraska.rivals.com/commitlist.asp?Year=2006&School=50

Recruits with unrealistic expectations

Today's Omaha paper has an interview with Leon Jackson, who is showing signs of frustration with a lack of playing time. I'm not surprised here at all. The 2005 recruiting class was simply overhyped.

First of all, let me say this: It's way too early to judge the 2005 recruiting class.

It's too early now, it was too early this summer, and it was too early last winter when some people handed these guys starting jobs.

Let me also say this: The 2005 recruiting class was ranked more on numbers (31 recruits) than on quality. There will, no doubt, be some fine football players in this group. And in a year or two, we should be enjoying their success on the field.

But somewhere along the way, the hype meter went off the scale. Harrison Beck, Craig Roark, and Rodney Picou were going to be starting. Marlon Lucky was this year's Adrian Peterson. Zac Bowman was going to declare after this season for the NFL draft.

What's reality? Beck, Roark, and Picou are redshirting. Bowman is second string. Lucky is playing a handful of snaps in spot duty.

Will we see Bowman and Lucky more as the season moves on? I think so. Will they be good football players? Probably, but the jury is still out. Will we see those other guys? I sure hope not. It makes no sense to burn any of their redshirts at this point in the season.

I'm more concerned about the mental aspects of these freshmen. I'm sure many of them had dreams of making a big impact as freshmen. Hopefully, they are committing themselves to working harder so that next year, they can be in a position to claim playing time. Sometimes the better football player isn't the more talented one.

Look at #4, Cory Ross. Most schools and recruiting services didn't even consider him a running back. But Ross shows the heart and determination of a great football player. Where would Nebraska be without Ross? I don't know. But I do know that Rivals.com has no way to measure what makes Cory Ross a great football player.

I'll take a class full of players like Cory Ross than a class of Rivals "4 star" players anyday.

X's and O's do make a difference

Tom Shatel has repeatedly claimed in the Weird Harold that talent and motivation is more important than the X's and O's. And if you look at today's game, his claim was shown to be extremely shaky.

I don't know if it was machismo, ego, or stubbornness, but defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove opened today's game by making the same mistake he made last year against Texas Tech - and with even worse results than last year. If you don't pressure the quarterback in Mike Leach's system, you will lose. And Leach's unorthodox line play, with those wide splits, makes it imperitive that you manufacture a pass rush. Kansas recognized this last week, and harassed Cody Hodges all night with a blitzing scheme. Cosgrove, however, somehow thought that our 4 man front could provide that pass rush.

He was wrong.

With 9 minutes left in the 2nd quarter, the Huskers were already down 21-0, and this game was threatening to get out of control even faster than last year's 70-10 meltdown. But to Cosgrove's credit, he made the adjustments and began to blitz. And the Tech offense ground to a halt. For the next 30 minutes of the game, Tech only gained 65 yards and only scored 6 points.

Unfortunately, that left 5 minutes on the clock, and Cosgrove called off the blitz. And Tech promptly marched back down the field into scoring range. Cosgrove called a few blitzes, and LeKevin Smith came through with a huge interception - which was negated when Smith fumbled the ball back to the Raiders.

Some fans will want to blame Smith for the loss, but that's not fair. Cosgrove's bonehead defensive game plan put Nebraska in a 21-0 hole that they didn't need to be in. Zac Taylor's 3 turnovers giftwrapped 6 points for Tech. This is a team game, and Nebraska fans shouldn't blame any one player.

Was this a disappointing finish? You bet. But Nebraska flirted with disaster in the last 2 games, with the blocked field goal against Pitt and Iowa State's Nick Leaders dropping a game-winning interception in overtime last week. This week, the ball bounced the other way.

Let's look at the positives. After making the adjustments, the Tech offense was locked down. The offense was effective both rushing and passing. There were a lot more positives today than there were 3 weeks ago against Pitt.

As far as I'm concerned, this was by far Nebraska's best game of the year.

My take on the Texas Tech game...

This one comes down on the defense to put us in a position to win it. The offense will need to play even better than they played last week, but even in that case, the defense has to keep Tech off the scoreboard. 18, 10, 7, or 13 points from the offense is just not going to win this game.

Tech was not 60 points better than Nebraska last year; last year's score got out of hand only after Joe Dailey was benched for a true freshman quarterback who had 5 turnovers deep in our own territory. Those 5 turnovers became the final 35 of 70 points, turning a bad loss into a disaster.

Last year's 3 man pass rush against Tech was a disaster, and defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove is not going to make that same mistake again. With the depth we now have up front and our less experienced secondary, the game plan should be to put pressure on Tech QB Cody Hodges early and often. That was the recipe that the Kansas Fighting Manginos used last week to keep Tech from rolling up and down the field. It should be a good template for the Huskers this week.

Hockey time is nearing in Omaha!

After cleaning and disinfecting the Qwest Center from hick week and the Knights of Aksarben Rodeo, the ice is finally going in for the first games of the season. Returning as captain for the 3rd straight year is senior Mike Lefley. Assistant captains are Mike Eichman, Alex Nikiforuk, and leading scorer Scott Parse.

UNO is picked by the league coaches and media to finish 5th, which didn't sit well with returning defensemen Phil Angell. After missing most of last year due to a knee injury, Angell is looking to make an impact on the ice, not to mention the opponents.

Omaha hockey fans looking for a sneak peek at this year's squad should head to the Qwest Center on Sunday afternoon at 2 for the Red-White preseason scrimmage. Free admission!

Let's not overreact...

Listening to some Husker "fans" over the last couple of days, you could have sworn that Nebraska had just won the national championship. Yes, the West Coast Offense is improved. Yes, it was an exciting game. But it was just that: one game. Let's keep it in perspective.

If someone had told you that Zac Taylor was going to go 36 for 55 and 431 yards last week, what would your response be? I'd bet that most fans would respond in one of the following fashion:
(a) What drug are you on? (alternative: can I have some of that?)
(b) Woo hoo! We killed Iowa State! The Big Red is BACK!
(c) All of the above.

But, remember this game went to double overtime. We didn't kill them. Heck, if Nick Leaders holds onto that Taylor pass in the first OT, they are still partying in Ames.

Nebraska needs to find a way to punch the ball into the end zone from the red zone. That was the good news from the overtimes; we were 2 for 2 with the ball on the 25. Good sign for the future.

This week's game against Texas Tech is another gut check for the program. Nebraska will need to show as much improvement between games 4 and 5 as they showed between games 3 and 4. This time, the improvement needs to be shown on defense. Saturday, Nebraska failed to get much pressure against Iowa State's offensive line unless they were blitzing. Last year, we saw just how efficient Mike Leach's offense could be when you give their quarterback time to survey the field. And that was with 2 guys in our secondary who got drafted early in the NFL draft.

Last Saturday night in Lubbock, Kansas was able to give the Red Raiders a tougher game than most expected by putting pressure on QB Cody Hodges. This game plan reminded me of last year's throttling down last year. In the second half, I could announce the results of the play within 2 seconds of the snap by simply counting the number of players rushing. 3 or 4 men rushing, it usually meant a 10+ yard gain. 6 rushing on a blitz, and the pass usually was incomplete. Unfortunately, we spend most of the game rushing 3 rather than 6, and so our defense spent most of the evening chasing down receivers after the catch rather than hitting their quarterback.

Contrast that to the 2000 game in Lubbock, when the Blackshirts blitzed Kliff Kingsbury into submission in a 56-3 thrashing.

When you're hot, you're hot... When you're wrong, you're wrong...

Needless to say, I was completely wrong on the run/pass ratio. Oh, it was 70%. 70/30 pass/run ratio. Perhaps Jay Norvell and Bill Callahan saw the same things they saw last year from Iowa State when they went pass-happy in the first half in Ames. The difference this season is that the Huskers were able to execute.

The first three games it was tough to see much of an improvement on offense, but today was a different story. Callahan and Norvell put Taylor into the shotgun, and let him fire away on slants, crossing patterns, and screen passes to receivers in motion. Taylor seemed to be much more comfortable operating out of the shotgun, though the same can't be said for center Kurt Mann. Most of his shotgun snaps had a noticable slice to them that Taylor occasionally bobbled.

Although Cory Ross will get the lions share of the credit, my game balls for receivers go to Grant Mulkey and Nate Swift. Mulkey got the game going with several nice catches over the middle to open up the offense. And Nate Swift finally got a chance to contribute with some nice catches in the 2nd half. I was very impressed by Swift in the spring game, and with the concern over small receivers, couldn't figure out why he wasn't playing more.

Not everything was rosy red; the defense was leaky and didn't get consistent pressure. The rushing game was non-existant. The freshman all-Rivals kicker continues to struggle. But that's another discussion for another day.

Tonight, let's give Zac Taylor, Nate Swift, Grant Mulkey, Cory Ross, and Isiah Fluellen the credit they deserve for a big game.

On a personal note, I was saddened to learn of the death the of "the big guy" who had sat behind us in South Stadium for the past 11 years. Though we never shared names, we shared our insights and joys of watching national championship teams, Heisman Trophy winners - and shared our misery during a 5-6 season. I was wondering where he was, and finally asked today and found out the sad news. Hope he enjoyed today's game from that big skybox in heaven.

So what will we get today vs. the Clones?

Nebraska's "strength of schedule" took yet another hit last night as Rutgers held off a 2nd half comeback by Pitt and won 37-29. Yes, Nebraska is 3-0. But most division 1-A schools would be 3-0 after playing the 144th toughest schedule out of 240 division 1-A and 1-AA schools.

Some of the "excuse makers" ignore those facts and point to the relative newness of the coaches and some of the players. However, it's tough to ignore that Nebraska's offense is 107th out of 117 division 1-A teams. Heck, Frank Solich's Ohio squad is 102nd, and they've at least played the 44th toughest schedule. The schedule only gets tougher from here.

So what will we see from the offense today? My guess is that the gameplan will be similar to the 2nd half last year against Iowa State, and close to the game plan used by Callahan against Baylor and Oklahoma. Perhaps a 70-30 run/pass ratio. Establish the ground game, and then use play-action to try and get the passing game untracked.

Nobody is expecting a monumental improvement, but we do need to see some improvement today. Cory Ross is a warrior and has the heart of a champion, but cannot bear the whole load himself. Limit Ross to about 25 carries, and try to get Cody Glenn and Marlon Lucky about 15 carries combined.

UNO picked 5th in Preseason Poll

Last year, the UNO Mavericks were picked by the media and the other coaches to finish dead-last, and instead finished 4th in the CCHA. Obviously, they don't want to make the same mistake again, so this year, they're picked to finish 5th in the CCHA by both the media and the coaches.

Forward Scott Parse was named to the preseason all-conference team, and forward Bill Thomas was named to the 2nd team. Ohio State leads the CCHA pre-season team with 2 first team and 2 second team selections. UNO is tied with Michigoon for 2nd with 1 each. Hockey season starts in less than 2 weeks! After they disinfect the Qwest Center from hick week, they'll be putting down the ice, and game on!

Piling onto Bill Callahan

The fallout from the lackluster start to the Husker season is leading to somewhat of a feeding frenzy of negativity. Certainly, the only thing to be excited so far about is the defense and the 3-0 record, both of which are offset by the fact that it came against an incredibly weak schedule. But today, the negativity went overboard. Media types, such as Jim Rome, latched onto Bill Callahan's quote yesterday about coaching in the NFL and in college being equivalent.

“People make a bigger deal out of that than I would expect. As a ball coach, I’m being honest with you. You have to be able to adapt. It’s not that hard. If you asked Steve Spurrier, he’d tell you the same thing….it’s just coaching football.”

Certainly, I've raised concerns about whether Callahan understands the college game, and I stand by them and these examples. But much of the criticism today was shallow and just piling onto Callahan. Rome's take was extremely lame: "Uh, no it isn’t. If it were just ‘coaching football’ then your defense wouldn’t have more touchdowns than your offense. And they do, 4-3. That’s not ok. If the defense is getting the ball into the end zone more than the offense, your ‘coaching is coaching’ philosophy sucks." That's not criticism of Callahan's statement, that's just saying "you suck". If that's all you have to say, just shut up. Rome, you deserve your buzzer on this one.

Now, if you want to criticize Callahan, let's deal with specifics. Today's Omaha paper talked about the height advantage the Iowa State receivers will have on Saturday. Todd Blythe is 6'5", and Jon Davis is 6'4". That reminds me of a previous story about how Nebraska's receivers lack the size for the West Coast Offense. Certainly, since Matt Herian's injury, the passing game has been rather anemic. And Callahan did inherit the receivers from the old Nebraska offense, which didn't put a premium on size.

But Callahan now has 2 classes under his name. He hasn't recruited ANYBODY over 6'3" as a wide receiver, and the single 6'3" player (Nate Swift) he got to Lincoln originally committed to Frank Solich.

If "big receivers" are such a requirement for running the West Coast Offense, then failure to recruit these guys is a huge recruiting failure. If Iowa State can get them, certainly Nebraska can.

World-Herald takes a look at the state of the Huskers

Today's Omaha World-Herald dedicates most of the front page of today's football section to disecting the enigma that is the Nebraska Cornhusker football program. Not there aren't any positives to note, namely the improvement on the defensive line. The emphasis on recruiting is clear here, with Ola Dagunduro, Barry Cryer, and Barry Turner making an immediate impact. And more importantly, this also allows LeKevin Smith and Titus Adams to stay fresher.

But there are some areas where either we haven't improved or regressed, namely at wide receiver, tight end, offensive line, and the secondary. The secondary is to be expected, with the loss of Fabian Washington and Josh Bullocks to the NFL. Zac Bowman has not lived up to the recruitnik hype, in part due to injuries.

The offensive line is in desperate need of playmakers, and unfortunately, it doesn't appear that there are a large number of them coming. Until last week, Lydon Murtha was making more of an impact in the training room than on the field. Andy Christensen is out for the season. Craig Roark and Rodney Picou are redshirting. Dennis Wagner has his work cut out for him here; fortunately for Husker fans, he's a top offensive line coach.

Wide receiver has to be considered a recruiting failure at this point, with only Frantz Hardy making any impact, though Chris Brooks is still recovering from knee surgery. But the West Coast Offense requires big receivers - and Bill Callahan still hasn't recrutied any. Yes, Callahan may have signed Tyrell Spain, Wallace Franklin, and Broderick Hunter, but none of them are enrolled. And only Spain is 6' 3", and even he was under 200 lbs. It's obvious that Callahan's offense misses Matt Herian, so one has to wonder why with this being Herian's senior year and his injury, where were the replacements? If a player like Herian is a requirement for Callahan's offense, then this has to be viewed as a recruiting failure on Callahan's part.

The hypesters were counting on Harrison Beck and Marlon Lucky to be on the field and contributing this season. However, the hypesters fail to account for the complexity of the Callahan offense, and the core issue as to whether or not it is too complex to run in college. That becomes a catch-22 for Callahan and his recruiters: recruits want to come to a program where they are going to have an opportunity to contribute, but the complexity may start to scare people away.

Finally, Missouri alum Tom Shatel once again sounds the warning siren of starting a coaching revolving door. Fans are obviously split; the fans who supported the former coaching staff are now howling as Nebraska gravitates below mediocrity and approaches futility. Some of the fans who called for change now realize that sometimes change makes a situation worse, and are calling for another change. And ironically, fans who howled for a change in South Stadium are now pleading for patience.

My own $0.02: I've steadily grown dissatisfied with Bill Callahan as head coach, and am very unsure that he was the correct man for the job. However, barring any major blunders (NCAA violations or another "f'n Hillbilly" outburst), firing him probably creates more problems than it solves. Give him more time to recruit and get some more of his recruits on the field.

However, without any improvement on the field, his boss probably doesn't get the same pass. Demand for tickets is at a low, and with 6000 new seats scheduled to open next season, the sellout streak is in serious jeopardy. Steve Pederson may have done some nice things (stadium improvement project, pre-game pavillion), but his bungled coaching search and Callahan's struggles have made him the focal point of fans angst. A new athletic director would be the first step towards reuniting the Husker fan base, and will buy Callahan more time to implement his system.

The myth that this is "Just like 2003"

There is a popular myth out there with some folks that 2005 is mirroring 2003, and since that season turned out ok, this season will turn out ok. To be fair to these people, yes, the 2003 "Bo-shirts" were dominant on defense and certainly ahead of the offense.

But, you also have to look at the competition and what actually happened in those games.

2005
NU 25, Maine 7: 1 offensive TD, 4 FGs, 1 defensive TD. 121 yards rushing, 192 passing for a total of 313 yards.
NU 31, Wake Forest 3: 1 offensive TD, 1 FG, 3 defensive TD's. 120 yards rushing, 114 passing for a total of 224 yards.
NU 7, Pitt 6: 1 offensive TD. 174 yards rushing, 93 passing for a total of 267.

2003:
NU 17, Oklahoma State 7: 1 offensive TD, 1 FG, 1 defensive TD. 268 yards rushing, 78 yards passing for a total of 346 yards.
NU 31, Utah State 7: 3 offensive TD's, 4 FGs. 273 yards rushing, 132 yards passing for a total of 405 yards.
NU 18, Penn State 10: 1 offensive TD, 4 FGs. 337 yards rushing, 60 passing for a total of 397 yards.

Utah State and Wake Forest are probably comparable teams, and Pitt and Penn State are probably comparable. But Oklahoma State in 2003 was significantly better than Maine, especially when you consider the OSU backfield now has Tatum Bell and Rashaun Woods in the NFL and QB Josh Fields might be too if he hadn't chosen to play baseball.

And let's compare the results: the 2003 "anemic" Huskers averaged nearly 362 yards a game. The 2005 Huskers are only averaging 266 yards. If Nebraska is to make it to bowl eligibility, those numbers will have to significantly improve.

Some people are snickering at Iowa State's struggle with Army last night. Funny, how many of those same fans snickered at Ohio's upset of Pitt, and assumed that if Pitt wasn't good enough to beat Ohio, we should roll Pitt. Iowa State appears to be a schizophrenic team, playing very well one week (beating Iowa) or playing very poorly. If they are on next week (and no reason why they won't be, with the number of Nebraskans on their roster), they still could roll the Big Red.

Mav Hockey Preview

In contrast to the Husker football program, UNO Mav hockey seems to be on the rise after an upper-division finish in the CCHA last season. MavRick's blog is firing up with lots of good information as the season nears. UNO's biggest loss from last season was goalie Chris Holt who was a late signee with the New York Rangers. But UNO returns a solid core of underclassmen who led the surprise rise of the Mavericks last season.

If UNO can find an answer at goalie, UNO is looking at their first NCAA tournament appearance this season.

Sports Illustrated: Nebraska "looks lost"

Mark Beech of Sports Illustrated joins the crowd of writers who are questioning Bill Callahan's program at Nebraska. While certainly not in depth and gets a few details wrong, it does reflect the growing perception that the Callahan era is not going well, and in fact, may end up being short-lived.

Barf on Callahan

Lee Barfknecht of the Omaha daily paper takes some shots at Bill Callahan and his staff. While the "true believers" in the "New NU" will look to shoot the messenger, they must remember that the 2005 Huskers are not even meeting the standard of the 2004 team. Offensive production is down from last year, despite having more players available that were recruited for this system. Yes, the offense has fewer interceptions. But they also have played much more mediocre competition this season, and have only scored 3 offensive touchdowns. Heck, Joe Dailey did that in 1 quarter. And "mediocre" is being generous; Jeff Sagarin of USA Today says the Huskers have played the 153rd toughest schedule in college football.

The next 2 games will quiet either the critics or defenders of Callahan and his staff. The talent argument no longer applies; Jay Norvell was asked tonight on NET's "Big Red Wrapup" whether Nebraska had the talent to compete in the Big XII conference, and without hesitation, he answered "YES!" That doesn't mean an undefeated season; that should mean that Nebraska has the talent to win a majority of their conference games this year.

And with the relative weakness of the Big XII, every conference game is winnable. But not if the offense only averages 1 touchdown a week.

What we see is what we've got

Steve Sipple, the dean of writers on the Husker beat, writes an ominous column in today's Lincoln Journal-Star. One week after saying "don't panic", he now disavows that warning. There really aren't any magic incantations that will solve the Huskers' offensive problems.

The fact is that the problem is a combination of coaching and talent. Talent, in terms of two disjointed recruiting classes after coaching changes after the 2002 and 2003 seasons. And coaching, in that we appear to have a coaching staff coaching a system, not a football team. And that football team is a mismash of two types of players: players recruited to run the old multi-formation Husker attack, and a bunch of young players struggling to learn an 8 pound playbook.

A lot of recruitniks expected to see guys like Harrison Beck, Marlon Lucky, Terrel Spain, Chris Brooks, Leon Jackson, Zac Bowman, and Craig Roark on the field already making an impact. Whether that was wishful thinking or just pure insanity remains to be seen. These guys may make an impact down the line. Who knows if it's the impact fans want; just look at the slow progress of redshirt freshman Rhett Bomar at Oklahoma, and that's after sitting on the bench last year to learn the system.

After watching Brandon Jackson last year, Lucky and Cody Glenn will have minimal opportunities to contribute to the team as freshmen. In passing situations, Callahan is not going to put the life of the quarterback in the hands of a freshman who isn't ready to pick up a blitz.

Harrison Beck is another concern. Dennis Wagner confirmed on Friday that while Beck has all the physical tools to play quarterback from the neck down, he's not ready to play. Last year, there were rumors that Beck wasn't mature enough, between some of his blog comments, media comments, and overheard comments around other recruits. One rumor already has Beck threatening to transfer to Florida State. And even if he is ready to play, is it a good idea to put him in behind a shaky offensive line?

There are three ways to look at the Huskers' future:

• We'll all awaken and find out the first 3 games were just a bad nightmare, and all is well in Huskerland.
• This is a long-term rebuilding effort, and we may not bottom out for another year or more.
• Steve Pederson is a complete moron. Start any repair projects here.

Which one is it? I have my opinion, but so does every other Husker fan.

Brent Musburger Drinking Game

Corn Blight last week provided a link to the Brent Musburger Drinking Game. And now, it looks like Brent decided to play along on the ride home!

According to KETV-Channel 7 in Omaha, Brent was ticketed last night in downtown Lincoln for having an open container of beer in the ABC rental car. Unfortunately (for Brent), one of Lincoln's finest noticed, and Brent received a $144 ticket.

Folks, sometimes the truth is BETTER than fiction....

3-0!!!

Optimists will point to Nebraska's 3-0 record and cheer loudly. But, as this season progresses, it's becoming painfully apparant that year 2 of the West Coast Offense is even worse than year 1. While a 7-6 victory over Pitt is nice, it sure makes you start scratching your head when you realize that one week ago, the Ohio Bobcats beat Pitt 16-10.

There were some positive signs in the first half:

• Cody Glenn is a battering ram. Had some problems with a handoff once, but overall looked good. In an effort to get Glenn the ball, they once lined up both Marlon Lucky at IB and Glenn at FB and gave the ball to Glenn as a fullback. (One criticism of Callahan's offense is that they don't take advantage of the fullback, unlike other versions of the "West Coast". See Tom Rathman as an example of what a fullback can do in the West Coast offense.)
• Creativity on playcalling. Tierre Green and Mike Stuntz switched back to offense for a play to utilize their talents. Green runs the sweep toss like no other back at Nebraska has since his cousin, Ahman. And Stuntz lined up at I-back to attempt a IB pass, though he ended up scrambling and gaining 4 yards.
• The offensive line did look better.
  

But the headscratchers continue:

• When the game is on the line, Bill Callahan does not have faith in Zac Taylor. In the 2nd half, the offense was reduced to Cory Ross.
• Nebraska was penalized 11 times. 5 of these penalties were for shifting into an illegal formation. In the post-game interview with the Information Minister, Callahan disagreed that the formations were illegal. Perhaps they were legal, and the officials were wrong. But allowing your team to get flagged for this for the 3rd, 4th, and 5th time is just plain stubborn and stupid.
• The defense is responsible for our 3-0 record, but this defense isn't going to win many more for this team. Remember how happy we were with our defense until the Texas Tech game last year???
  

The fans leaving the stadium were extremely subdued and quiet, except for criticism of the coaching staff. Many are ready to throw in the towel. 14 games may be a little quick to pull the hook, though, on the head coach. The athletic director, however, is probably starting to feel the heat.

A couple of quick pre-game notes

• If you see anybody wearing green today, they aren't being anti-Husker, or even anti-Callahan. They are Anti-Pederson.
• When fans observe that the offensive line is having problems, they are criticized as overreacting and being bad fans. So what does that make offensive line coach Dennis Wagner?
• Speaking of Wagner, it looks like we'll see some new wrinkles on offense today. Hopefully, it's not just talk, and we'll see some offensive momentum build up.
  

The Husker Information Minister

Listening to KFAB the last couple of mornings, I couldn't help but make this comparison. Yesterday, Jim Rose talked about the weekly press conference as "Meet the Depressed", while this morning, Rose couldn't believe that anyone could draw any sort of comparison between an Ohio victory over Pitt to a potential Pitt victory over Nebraska.

He even apparantly planted a call from a booster in Atlanta to prove that all is well in Husker nation, ignore a couple of boo-birds. Nebraska is undefeated, and the program has never been better. And he finished up by proclaiming that Nebraska is well on their way to a National Championship.

Sure sounds like Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf to me.

Sports Illustrated: Callahan a "Potentially Colossal Mistake" for Nebraska

SI's Stuart Mandel, in today's column, thinks that "(Bill) Callahan's hiring was a potentially colossal mistake". Mandel agrees that Nebraska's program needed some modernization. However, he also says that Frank Solich is showing just that at Ohio, and that Callahan's NFL credentials and NFL experience may be irrelevant in the college game.

Oh, and Steve Pederson's other 2 candidates (Dave Wannstedt and Houston Nutt) also get some negative attention in the 'ol mailbag.

Steve Pederson's Favorite Candidates

A couple of updates on a couple of Steve Pederson's top choices to lead the Huskers:

Houston Nutt lost Saturday to Vanderbilt. Yes, Vandy. Nutt is now 6-7 since getting the Pederson Promotion.

Dave Wannstedt is now 0-2 after losing to the coach Pederson wanted him to replace. Combining last season with Miami with Pitt, Wannstedt is now 1-9 for the last 2 seasons.

Offensive Line Problems

Just something to think about while we ponder our offensive line problems. What do the names Richie Incognito, Gary Pike, Jermaine Leslie, Jemayel Phillips, Cory Timm, Brett Byford, Ryan Schuler, Andy Christensen, Lydon Murtha, and Danny Muy mean to you?

If you were a recruitnik, you'd recognize the names of some highly regarded offensive line recruits from the past few years that were signed to be eligible this season.

None of the above are playing this year; many aren't even in Lincoln anymore.

And, just to be fair, we probably could include Seth Olsen, who essentially decomitted after Steve Pedersen decided to make his change.

Sure, there are some talented guys on this year's recruiting class. But there were talented guys in the past classes who aren't contributing. The bad news is that it usually takes a year or two for offensive linemen to adjust to the program before being able to contribute. That may mean that we may have this problem for a while longer, unless Bill Callahan and Dennis Wagner can accelerate the development of some of these players. Or pull some people out of their redshirt years and learn on the job.

A Present from Wake Forest

Some quick notes from tonight's Wake-Husker game:

• Tonight's game was gift-wrapped by the Demon Deacons. Twice in the first half, Wake's Chris Barclay muffed the kickoff and for whatever reason, decided to try and advance the ball out of the endzone instead of taking a knee. The result? 1st and 10 from their own 2, and 1st and 10 from their own 1. Add in a couple of interceptions on some ill-advised passes returned for touchdowns, and you have a gift-wrapped victory for the Big Red.
• It's nice to see the Blackshirts playing with fire and emotion once again. It's obvious the depth on the defensive line has not only added playmakers, but also gives everybody a chance to stay fresh.
• Last week's offensive line play was not simply a "bad game"; they still can't get a push going on a consistent basis. Zac Taylor at times was running for his life, and took some hard hits tonight. Until we see better line play, look for Harrison Beck to stay on the sidelines. Taylor got clocked several times tonight; I don't think that Bill Callahan wants to put the prized recruit into the crosshairs.
• Zac Taylor continues to struggle, with another sub-50% game. Sure, some balls are dropped. But he also forces the ball into coverage. Taylor is looking more and more like a caretaker quarterback, ala Trent Dilfer. For all the criticism of Joe Dailey last season, Dailey simply was more productive last year than Taylor is this year.
  
• What was Jim Grobe thinking when he scuttled their rushing attack in the 3rd quarter for a shotgun passing game? It was like waiving a white flag. Wake was having success rushing the ball on the Blackshirts in the 1st half. The Wake passing game will not scare anybody.
  

Got Frank? We don't.

Frank Solich's Ohio Bobcats upset the defending Big East champion Pitt Panthers tonight 16-10 in overtime. Pitt scored on the opening kickoff, and then kicked a game tying field-goal with 7 seconds left in the game.

The game was won when Pitt's Tyler Palko was interecepted by Ohio's Dion Byrum and Byrum sprinted 80 yards for the winning touchdown. Byrum earlier scored the other touchdown of the game on an interception return.

Pitt is now 0-2 and travels next week to face the Huskers.

This sets up all sorts of storylines for next weekend's game. Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt was Steve Pederson's first choice to replace Solich, and Wannstedt recommended that Pederson hire Houston Nutt. Next weekend's Husker-Panther game is very likely a must-win for both coaches. Of course, Bill Callahan still needs to get past Wake Forest tomorrow night.

Reaction from former players

If you are tired of the "party-line" drivel that comes out of the Pinnacle Sports Network and KFAB, but don't want to deal with the smart-a** Jim Rome wannabe's on "Peewee Sports 590" either, here's something to listen to. Former Huskers Aaron Taylor and Matt Hoskinson have a 1 hour show on 1620 the Zone called "Big Red Spotlight" on Thursday evenings from 6 to 7 pm.

Tonight's guest was Damon Benning, who brought some good insight into what is going on. I think one thing that is necessary to remember is that we're still early in the transition, and we have to expect some mistakes. I think we have a right to expect fewer mistakes, and expect the people in charge to admit that there are mistakes, but we really shouldn't expect to be competing at the USC level either.

Benning mentioned tonight that the blocking schemes played a large role in the ineffectiveness of the running game last Saturday night; basically, the blocking was not going to open up the right holes for the running backs. So, it will be interesting to see whether the coaches will get their game plans in sync this weekend. Benning said that if we don't see more of a dominating running game this Saturday, we're in trouble. Wake Forest has an undersized defensive line compared to anybody else we play, so if we're going to do anything on the ground, this week would be the opportunity.

Also, for those of you looking for more insight from former Huskers, Scott Frost now has a blog at the Journal-Star web site.

After further review...

Sunday, I thought I was in the minority with my feelings of dread after the 25-7 result against Maine. However, after seeing and hearing potshots over national and local radio, plus reading criticism from Sports Illustrated (Stuart Mandel: "Nebraska still doesn't know what it's doing on offense"), perhaps I've been fairly balanced.

True, some of Zac Taylor's problems can be attributed to drops by receivers. But even if those drops had been completions, Taylor would have only ended up with numbers similar or worse than Joe Dailey had against similar competition last year (Western Illinois: 15 for 30, 4 ints, 4 TD passes, 218 yards; Baylor: 13 for 20, 0 ints, 5 TDs, 342 yards). Yes, it was Zac's first start. But last year was Joe's first start as well.

I still don't like Bill Callahan's comments that "hey, it's a win" and "openers are tough". Contrast that to Dan McCarney, who is honest enough to admit that Iowa State didn't play well against a 1-AA team: "All of us were reaching for motion sickness bags. We were about to puke. It made you want to vomit." Personally, Callahan is starting to sound like he has embraced the "spirit of mediocrity".

Another head scratcher is Jay Norvell's comments about throwing 3 passes on 1st and goal from the 2 yard line: Time was a concern, offensive coordinator Jay Norvell said Saturday. You don't want to run the ball, then have to spike it to kill the clock. Uh Jay, there was about 80 seconds left when you had the ball on the 2 yard line. With a 25 second play clock, you should have easily been able to run 3 running plays with that much time. In fact, nobody said you had to run the ball 3 times either. With everybody that close to the line of scrimmage, just get off the pile and line up again.

Bottom line is my confidence level in this coaching staff continues to fall. They are great recruiters, but when it comes to the game of football, there seems to be something missing here.

Here we go again with Bill Callahan

That "thud" sound you heard last nights was another group of fans jumping off the Steve Pederson and Bill Callahan bandwagon. Last night, it took a Bo Ruud interception return for a touchdown to give the Huskers a 2 score lead in the 4th quarter against the division 1-AA Maine Black Bears. Obviously, it's a good idea that Nebraska backed out of negotiations with Houston, or it might have been even more embarrassing.

Not that there weren't signs of improvement:

1. Defensive front 7. The new players have significantly improved the depth of this bunch, and thus allowed more people to make more plays. Steve Octavian showed a knack for recognizing where the playwas going in his limited time.
2. New punt return blocking scheme. Last year, Santino Panico took way more abuse from both punt coverage teams as well as fans than was necessary. On his post-game radio show, Bill Callahan even admitted that they really didn't put much heart into the punt return game. The player that stood out on punt returns for me was Blake Tiedtke. Tiedtke would line up over the ball, and then would break back just before the ball
   was snapped to the punter to help block for the returner. The result? There were no tacklers within at least 10 yards of the return guy, allowing our return guys time to catch the ball and find their holes.
3. Penalties. None!

But the negatives:

1. Offensive Line. I admit that I didn't follow the offensive line play as close as I should have, though.
2. Zac Taylor. My concerns about Taylor from the spring game were apparantly shared by Callahan and Jay Norvell. Taylor opened the spring game with trouble taking the snap and with wobbly passes, but gradually calmed down once the game wore on. Last night, Callahan took the ball out of Taylor's hands for most of the first quarter. However, unlike our backup defenders, Maine was able to put pressure on Taylor, and Taylor alternated between some nice throws to Frantz Hardy, some wobblers, and some ill-advised throws that were picked off. A lot of Husker fans owe Joe Dailey a huge apology.
   
3. Play calling. The opening ball-control series made sense in hindsight. Calling 3 straight passes once you've got 1st and goal at the 2 yard line still is bothersome. And apparantly the play communication system still is buggy, as Zac Taylor occasionally needed to run to the sideline to get the play.

I originally stated 8-3 was my expectations for this year. As I said in July, Oklahoma has QB problems and is in a similar spot as Nebraska was in 2002. I still think the schedule sets up VERY favorably for a successful season even with only modest improvement.

However, what happened in Lincoln yesterday was not improvement. It can only be described as gravitating below mediocrity. If things don't turn around (and quickly), the boo-birds will be out in force.

Things I don't want to see tomorrow

Like before last season's season opener, I have no idea what I'll see in tomorrow's game. We don't know who will play, and what the game plan is. So, with that in mind, here is what I DON'T want to see tomorrow:

• The head coach in the tunnel walk until the locker room doors are opened. And then, quickly pan to the players.
• Juggled or fumbled snaps.
• The quarterback wearing out a path to the sidelines to get the play call.
• The play clock reading zero while waiting for the play to get called.
• An 18 yard FG attempt.
• Seeing a blitz by the Blackshirts before the ball is snapped.
• The "prevent" defense with more than 30 seconds left on the scoreboard clock.
• The athletic director.
  

Has Steve P killed the Sellout Streak?

Reports on the Husker Mailing list indicate that the Maine game is not sold out yet. My expectation is that they are now selling the Maine tickets from the seats not renewed by season ticketholders. Maine may have returned a few tickets as well.

I don't think the sellout streak is in danger this weekend. They probably already have an agreement with a "booster of substance" to purchase any leftover tickets.

But, with over 6000 new seats available next year, the lack of interest in Husker tickets is a potentially disturbing proposition.