Survival

- It wasn't pretty, the offense was hit and miss running the ball, and Sam Keller made some mistakes that could have cost them the game. But they came away with a victory on the road against a 2006 conference champion. I'll take it. Play that way against USC this Saturday, and it'll be 45-0.

Observations:

- I couldn't understand how Nebraska's O-line could look so ordinary after playing such a complete game the week before. This is a Wake defense that gave up some major points and yards to Boston College the week before.

- The complacency and lack of focus was alarming. Looking ahead? Maybe. But that's a bad trait for a team, especially when they're on the road, where your focus and intensity level should be at its highest.

- WR's, like last week, were painfully ordinary. Callahan must upgrade this position immediately. Too many drops for the 2nd game in a row.

- Why Wake didn't run the shotgun, WR end around every stinkin' play is beyond me. Nebraska couldn't stop it and showed no improvement in stopping it all game, and Wake ran it a ton. I'd have run it every damn play. The lack of speed on Nebraska's defense should have been exploited.

- Roll outs by the QB and crossing routes across the secondary was another thing that killed Nebraska. They got burned once, Wake dropped another sure-TD, and it could have been much worse if Wake had kept running it, but strangely, they didn't.

- I'm a Callahan fan, he's improved the talent level, the offense, and the overall state of the program. But he still kills me with key play calls late in games and an NFL-like mentality in managing a game.

The timeout on 3rd and 2 from the Wake 35 with roughly 2:30 left was just dumb. Keep the clock running, you've been running the ball pretty well on the drive, have them on their heels a tad, have a little bit of momentum, and you force them to use their timeouts. Just keep lining up and pounding the ball. Don't let them rest and get the right personnel in.

That's just overthinking the situation. If you're dead set on going for it on 4th and not kicking the FG (which he apparently was), why not say to yourself, we're just going to line it up and have 2 plays to make 2 yards and we're not going to overthink it by calling a timeout and killing our own momentum. And if we don't make it? They have to burn their own timeouts and will have a much tougher time going down the field.

Instead, Wake was able to regroup, save their timeouts, and stuff Nebraska 2 consecutive times.

I'm not agreeing with the line of thinking of going for it on 4th. I'm just saying if you're going that route, Callahan could have done it a lot better and smarter.

Me personally, I'd have pooched it and pinned them inside the 10. You have an all conference punter, use him.

- If they run some of those slow developing plays like they did against Wake next week, they may have only 50 yards rushing. So, since they likely will run these plays and the running game will be effectively shut down, guess who must come to the rescue? Sam Keller.

- I know some are down on Keller, but I'm not one of them. Yes, he looks uncomfortable at times with the offense, he locked into receivers a bit too much, but his WR's suck bad, he has no TE, and he puts the ball on the money with great accuracy. The WR's just can't catch the damn thing. I don't remember them being this bad last year, and the same group returned from last year.

- If Nebraska loses next Saturday, it won't be because Keller wasn't accurate and didn't put them in a position to win. Yes, he has the Brett Favre syndrome of trying to do too much and never thinking a play is dead, but so far, his turnovers haven't been debilitating. He's been saved a few times by the defense, but ultimately, they're 2-0 and he's continuing to learn and make mistakes without sacrificing wins. Some of those mistakes will get eliminated as he gets more comfortable with the offense.

- He took them down the field, he made throws, put the ball on the money, and got no help from an ineffective run game. He's going to be all right.

- The running game wasn't good, but Lucky played well. He ran hard and did what he could. The line just didn't play well. He's proving he can be a 25 carry horse.

- Suh is a beast. I always knew he was strong, but Saturday he showed it big time. He blew up some plays and saved Nebraska's ass when Wake got in the red zone. Big time.

- Luck, luck, luck. I can't lie and say Nebraska didn't get lucky. But I don't care, it was a road win and it kept them 2-0 going into the biggest game of the Callahan Era. The only hope I have is Keller's experience in big games or against top opponents and Nebraska's ability to play 10 times better at home than on the road.


- National Observations



- Texas A&M should be worried. How do you shut a team out for most of the game only to implode late, get taken to OT, and be put in a position to where anything can happen. To where your ability to control the game is no longer in your hands. They got lucky.

- Texas still doesn't impress me. TCU's offense licks a fat one. Texas did what they should have done to a team like that at home. That said, TCU's defense is very good and they'll win 10 games or so, so Texas should be given some credit.

- Oklahoma validated a lot of what I thought about them. They're good, very good. Could be the fastest defense in the land. And Bradford doesn't look like a freshman.

- I knew Va. Tech would get rolled. LSU's stout.

- Never bet on Auburn or Georgia. Ever. Neither can score, are inconsistent and will always disappoint. Auburn just flat pisses me off. Give me a team that actually wants to score points. Just pitiful.

- I don't want to hear crap about Louisville or West Virginia. To play defense like that and expect respect from around the country is just ridiculous. I'll never take these teams seriously when talking BCS if they continue to play defense like they do.

- Michigan, thank you for finally exposing yourself to the rest of America. I've been on your case for a few years now, but now you've finally dropped your pants in front of the nation. I love it when my predictions are correct, I love it even more when it's Michigan or the Big 10.

- This conference sucks. Ohio State struggles with Akron, Michigan St. with Bowling Green, Michigan gets exposed on defense for the 2nd week in a row, Minnesota barely beats Miami (OH), and Wisconsin barely beats UNLV. I love it.

- Gameday's in Lincoln on Saturday.


- Big 12 Rankings



1) Oklahoma 2-0 - No doubt.
2) Texas 2-0 - As much as I'm down on them, they still beat a ranked team and a pretty stout defense.
3) Nebraska 2-0 - They need to show me something this Saturday.
4) Missouri 2-0 - No matter how bad Ole Miss is, they still beat an SEC team on the road.
5) Texas A&M 2-0 - That Fresno debacle dropped them.
6) Oklahoma St. 1-1 - Good bounceback.
7) Kansas St. 1-1 - Actually did better than I thought against San Jose St.
8) Texas Tech 2-0 - Not paying attention to them until they play someone.
9) Kansas 2-0 - Same as Tech.
10) Colorado 1-1 - Good crown game Saturday night.
11) Baylor 1-1
12) Iowa St. 0-2 - The most pitiful team in D-1.


- National Top 10

1) LSU - It's going to take an SEC dog fight one Saturday or a stroke of luck to beat them.
2) Oklahoma - They're f'ing good.
3) USC - Being idle and looking lackluster against Idaho will drop you.
4) Florida - Not a bad start to defending the title. They'll lose a few, but for right now, not looking bad.
5) West Virginia - Ended up beating Marshall by 25, but it was too hard for a top team. There's just not anyone else to put at #5.
6) Texas - Ok, you're back in the top 10. Beating TCU has to count for something.
7) Cal - A very close game, gave up too many points, but it was a road game against a decent team.
8) UCLA - Really like this team, really do.
9) Wisconsin - Not sure why they're here, but they are.
10) Louisville - Just looking for any excuse to blast them out of the top 10 after giving up 42 points to Middle Tenn St.


Dropped out and probably won't be seen again
Va. Tech
Georgia





- Rangers continue to fly under the radar but just keep winning. Do you think anyone in the metroplex even thinks about them anymore? Have won 5 games in a row and 12 of 14. And actually may not finish last, as they pull into a tie with Oakland for 3rd.
Win again last night, 12-9.

Rangers' leaky pen makes mark in win


12:15 AM CDT on Monday, September 10, 2007
By EVAN GRANT / The Dallas Morning News
egrant@dallasnews.com

ARLINGTON – In case you had to tune into the Cowboys opening kickoff Sunday and missed the end of the Rangers game, which had been scheduled to start a mere five hours earlier, well, you missed another record-breaking win.

In this case, that wasn't such a good thing.

In outlasting the weather and an even sloppier Oakland club, 12-9, seven Rangers combined to heave the ball 230 times to home plate. Since pitch counts were first tracked in 1988, no team has thrown more pitches in a nine-inning win. Colorado had thrown 229 in a win over St. Louis in 2000. Being lumped with Colorado when it comes to pitching records isn't a very good place to be.

The good news for the Rangers, however, was that their fifth consecutive win moved them into a virtual tie with Oakland for third in the AL West. It's the first time they haven't been alone in last in the division since April 24.

"It wasn't nice to watch," manager Ron Washington acknowledged. "But as well as we've been playing lately, for these guys to grind things out and answer Oakland when they came back, I'm very proud of them."

Or as Ian Kinsler put it when asked if this was the worst game in the history of baseball: "No. ... Wait, yeah, it probably was. I'm glad we won this, because it would have been a really bad loss."

The question the Rangers must answer is whether this will be a pyrrhic victory in their pursuit of .500. They are six games under (68-74) with 20 to play.

But they have an exhausted bullpen and a doubleheader Tuesday at Detroit to start a stretch of 17 games in 16 days.

Vicente Padilla, who has a 9.06 ERA on the road this season, starts Tuesday's first game.

Washington will be without: Frank Francisco (who threw 56 pitches in 1 1/3 innings, an outing so bad that the official scorer declined to give him the win even though he had the first shot at it); Scott Feldman (who tweaked his knee and was also bypassed for the win after allowing three walks in 1 1/3 innings); Bill White (who threw 38 pitches in two innings to earn his first major league win) and John Rheinecker (32 pitches).

The Rangers may be able to bring Sunday's starter, Kevin Millwood, back on short rest after he threw only 30 pitches. But it's more likely he'd be available for Wednesday's game rather than Tuesday's doubleheader.

"Hopefully, Padilla can give us seven or eight innings," Washington said. "If we have to go to the bullpen in the fifth, we are in deep trouble."

The Rangers seemed to have control Sunday after the rain delay. They scored eight runs in the bottom of the second to take an 8-1 lead. The inning included a three-run homer by Sammy Sosa that traveled 442 feet into the club level in left field.

"I think the thing I'll remember most about my first win was finally getting to see Sammy hop," White said.

The A's, however, whittled it to 9-8 by scoring three runs in the top of the seventh. The Rangers answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning. Jerry Hairston Jr., in an 8-for-71 slump, singled through the left side to score two runs.

"Hey, it was a long day, but we won the game and there is nothing ugly about that," Michael Young said. "It may have been long, but it was worth it."



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