- Had the displeasure of watching the worst home loss in over 50 years Saturday.
- It's becoming clear that Callahan has not adjusted the college game. The gameplan, the atmosphere, the attitude is way too business like and rigid. It seems as if everyone is playing for a check and looking at playing ball like it's a job.
- The sideline was just dead. No energy, no life, no encouragement. Just pitiful.
- It had all the feel of a Miami-St. Louis NFL game.
- How does an 8-4 team that returned everyone outside of their defensive line play this bad? Last year's team was close to losing only 2 games and getting to 10 wins. And now, with everyone back 1 year later, they may not get to 6 games. Someone has to be held accountable for this collapse.
- That's all I care to say about this situation. I believe the wheels are in motion in Lincoln to get everyone but Callahan out of there, athletic director included. This week should be interesting.
- How sad is it that Texas A&M-Nebraska will not be televised this Saturday? 2 teams before the season that were supposed to challenge for titles, and now they're struggling to keep games close against marginal teams.
- Chip Brown checks out the situation.....
Callahan has Nebraska in wrong direction
Winning tradition in Nebraska is taking a beating under Callahan
03:34 AM CDT on Monday, October 15, 2007
Before the season started, Texas A&M's trip to Nebraska this week figured to affect the Big 12 title race. Now, just call it the Contract Buyout Bowl.
Dennis Franchione appeared to have the market cornered on negative headlines after hare-brained coaching in a loss at Miami and then making money off a secret e-mail newsletter without his boss's approval, possibly violating NCAA rules and federal laws.
His players tried to rally around Fran but were demolished in Lubbock by old friend Texas Tech. The Red Raiders won, 35-7, on Saturday as defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeil joined Tech quarterback Graham Harrell and receiver Michael Crabtree of Carter in rock-star status.
But if we were in New York City, it would be safe to say Nebraska's Bill Callahan could knock Franchione off the back page of the tabloids.
Callahan has turned the most respectful fans in college football into disinterested boo-birds, making it easy to forget the program was once set on autopilot for winning.
On Saturday, one week after getting drilled, 41-6, at Missouri, Nebraska allowed a school-record 38 first-half points at home. The Cornhuskers fell behind, 38-0, before losing, 45-14, to Oklahoma State.
"I'm not worried about my job," Callahan said after his Big 12 record fell to 14-13 in four seasons. "I'm just going to do the best I can, and whatever happens happens. I don't think you can coach in fear or coach like you're scared of something."
Nebraska athletic director Steve Pederson fired Frank Solich in 2003 at the end of a 10-3 season. Solich had a six-year record of 58-19 (.753) and played for a national title in 2001. When Pederson announced Solich's firing, he said Nebraska wasn't content with mediocrity and would no longer concede Big 12 titles to Oklahoma and Texas.
Now, Pederson and Callahan are probably serving their final days in Lincoln. Their contract extensions before this season mean Nebraska chancellor Harvey Perlman may also be in trouble if the university's board of regents decides new blood is needed.
Here's what Pederson and Nebraska fans have gotten in four seasons with Callahan:
•In 2004, his first year in Nebraska, the team nearly led the nation in turnovers and set a school record for points allowed in a 70-10 loss at Texas Tech.
•The 2004 team went 5-6 and ended two of the school's most prized accomplishments: 42 years without a losing season and 35 straight bowl appearances.
•In 2005, Nebraska lost to Kansas, 40-15, ending the Big Red's 36-year winning streak against the Jayhawks.
•Along the way, Callahan was quoted calling OU fans "(expletive) hillbillies" and was reprimanded by the Big 12 for making a throat-slash gesture. He even called Kansas State quarterback Josh Freeman a primadonna when Freeman dropped his oral commitment to Nebraska. Can you imagine Tom Osborne calling a high school kid names in the press?
But Callahan appeared to turn the corner with Nebraska fans by beating Michigan in the 2005 Alamo Bowl. Then the Cornhuskers won the Big 12 North last season.
But in the Cotton Bowl against Auburn, Callahan brought back all the previous nightmares. Early in the first half, he called a fake punt that was botched inside his own 30-yard-line , leading to an easy Auburn touchdown. Then, on fourth-and-11 with two minutes left to play, he called for a pass instead of going for a 47-yard field goal that would have tied the score. The pass fell incomplete, and Nebraska lost, 17-14.
This year, Nebraska was humiliated at home by USC; barely defeated 23-point underdog Ball State, 41-40; and then was routed by Missouri and Oklahoma State.
Texas A&M athletic director Bill Byrne left the same job at Nebraska in December 2002, avoiding the firing-and-hiring mess that engulfs the Cornhuskers this season. But Byrne probably has his own mess to deal with in College Station.
The most heated competition between Texas A&M and Nebraska may not be on the field Saturday in Lincoln but in the back hallways, where the schools will decide who will lead these teams next year.
Texas A&M (5-2, 2-1) at Nebraska (4-3, 1-2), 1 p.m. Saturday (KFXR-AM 1190)
- The boosters have some demands and hopefully they get met.
Future of NU brass up in air
By BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star
Sunday, Oct 14, 2007 - 11:58:25 pm CDT
Sure, Dale Jensen had a few minutes to talk Nebraska football. Got a half hour?
Never mind that it was hours before his Arizona Diamondbacks were to play Game 3 of the National League Championship Series on Sunday. Jensen had his Huskers on the mind.
He painfully listened to Saturday’s game, a 45-14 Husker home loss to Oklahoma State, a day Jensen considers the program’s lowest in modern history.
“At halftime, I thought, ‘Oh, my God, just don’t let this thing get into the 60s,’” Jensen said.
A Lincoln native and one-time University of Nebraska-Lincoln student, Jensen made himself worth hundreds of millions of dollars as a bank computer software mogul, big enough that he’s now part of a four-man partnership that owns the Diamondbacks.
Big enough that he’s given millions to UNL. Big enough that when he says he’s had it with that university’s athletic director and football coach, you pay attention.
“The general consensus from everybody I’ve talked to is that (Bill) Callahan and (Steve) Pederson both have to go,” Jensen said.
And if they don’t go, would he keep sending money to the athletic department?
“Right now, today, if someone came to me (asking for money) and I knew the current leadership was going to be there, probably not,” he said. “Not even probably. I get to vote with my pocketbook and that’s the only vote I have.”
Jensen said he doesn’t know of any coordinated effort afoot by big donors to try to inflict changes on the athletic department.
But he does hear plenty of unpleasant talk after an embarrassing seven-game start to this Husker football season. Losses by 18, 35 and 31 points have left many red-faced and asking for dismissals.
Much of the disgruntled voices don’t want to just get rid of coach Bill Callahan, but also of the man who hired him, athletic director Steve Pederson.
“I don’t have a bone to pick with anybody. I just know what’s happening, and it’s not good,” Jensen said. “I’m a Nebraskan and Nebraska football became the largest single point of pride for many Nebraskans that never even had anything to do with the university. Well, that pride isn’t there now.”
Insert another opinion, this one from Dan Cook, another guy with a lot of money, a 72-year-old and prominent Husker booster.
“Don’t panic in a decision like this. This has profound changes if you make some quick move,” Cook said Sunday. “And what message does it send to other people that you may want to hire? If you fire a coach or something like that, what’s the next coach think: ‘Every time they lose a game, they’re going to want to hang me.’”
Though he called Saturday “a sad, sad day for Nebraska,” he thinks he’d give Callahan and Pederson at least one more year.
“Steve Pederson is a friend of mine. I will say that straight out,” Cook said. “But I will say … if you don’t deliver, there is a time when you pull a plug. I don’t think this is the time to pull the plug on either of those guys.”
But if the plug were to get pulled on Pederson, who’s doing the pulling?
According to University of Nebraska Board of Regents members Randy Ferlic, Kent Schroeder and Chuck Wilson, such a decision is reserved for Chancellor Harvey Perlman.
“In this case, Perlman has the management decision in his hands,” Ferlic said. “The regents could interfere, but I think it’s highly doubtful.”
Perlman could not be reached Sunday and did not return a message left on his home phone.
Ferlic said no regents meetings have been held to discuss the state of the football program, nor were any scheduled.
“I just get the same e-mails everyone gets (from fans), 100 a day,” he said. “They’re all saying roughly the same thing.”
Wilson, the regents chairman, said he had received a couple hundred e-mails over the weekend “lamenting the sad state of things.”
Such is the gloom that has overcome Husker football.
By the final minutes of Saturday’s loss to Oklahoma State, half the stadium was empty. Callahan heard angry shouts from fans as he left the field, and even worse things were being written by the anonymous on message boards in the day that followed.
Cook thinks the negativity has almost reached the point of absurd.
“I think there are people in this state who really want to see this thing fail, and if enough people want to see things fail, it’ll fail,” Cook said. “And the consequences of it are enormous to Nebraska.”
Jay Noddle, a booster out of Omaha, said the results on the field have been troubling, but hoped decisions of potential changes would not be made rashly.
“To rush to a decision and make major changes and so on and so forth may seem like the right thing to do at this moment, but could do more harm than good,” Noddle said.
He had a hard time watching Saturday’s game, not just what happened on the field but also the environment that surrounded it.
“It’s sort of shocking. It’s sad,” he said. “I don’t think it’s indicative at all of the spirit of Nebraska. We got to go get that back.”
Noddle does not think big boosters will influence any change so much as Nebraskans at large.
Cook also downplayed the role of the boosters, saying the people who shoot off their mouths the most often give the least to the program.
“You’d be stunned at the number of people who are the loudest talkers who do nothing for that program except sit back and bitch and carp,” Cook said.
He said he would not pull back on the donations he gives despite the recent struggles.
Some former Husker players have been less accepting.
There was one invitation sent to former Husker letterwinners Saturday night inviting them to a Wednesday meeting where they could have an “open and candid discussion on the direction of the Nebraska football program.”
Jensen said he knows of many people in Nebraska’s N Club, made up of former Husker letterwinners, who “feel alienated” from the current program. This started soon after Pederson arrived as AD, he said.
“I’m not going to name names, but trust me, these are people with household names and they are incredibly upset,” Jensen said.
“It’s one thing when the program is going through a down time, but when you feel betrayed, you were loyal all these years, and these guys are N Club members feeling that. There’s too many of them for somebody to just dismiss it.”
Jensen wanted to stress that he’s not blaming the current players. He thinks Nebraska’s athletes are as good as anyone’s out there.
“I don’t blame the kids at all,” he said. “The problem comes from leadership. That’s where it all starts. It starts with leadership, and that leadership is as far up the flagpole as you want to go.”
- Big 12 Rankings
1) Oklahoma - Not sure about the defense.
2) Missouri - Played Oklahoma tough, expect a rematch in December.
3) Texas - As always, played lights out a week after the Oklahoma game.
4) Texas Tech - Secretly rooting for them.
5) Kansas - Not getting much respect, and the schedule doesn't help either, only Missouri presents a challenge the rest of the year.
6) Kansas State - Tough team.
7) Oklahoma State - Capable of beating anyone with that offense.
8) Colorado - A mid level team that isn't there yet, but can play with most teams.
9) Texas A&M - Not sure what to say about them.
10) Nebraska
11) Baylor
12) Iowa State
- Top 10
- Another weekend of upsets. More reason why there needs to be a playoff. With everyone losing, picking 2 teams for the championship game is even more subjective this year.
1) South Florida - Yes, South Florida. Beaten ranked teams West Virginia and Auburn. That's more than what Ohio State can say.
2) Boston College - Quietest top team in the nation.
3) LSU - Have to keep them up here, they win out, they jump either of those teams, even if they're undefeated.
4) Arizona State - Will have a chance to prove they belong. Games with Cal, USC, and Oregon coming up.
5) Oklahoma - Must dominate to get over a weak Big 12 schedule.
6) Ohio State - Play someone.
7) Oregon - Could quietly end up with 1 loss.
8) USC - Tough road ahead and I doubt they make it through, probably add 2 more losses to their record.
9) West Virginia - Winning, but schedule is weak as hell.
10) Kentucky - Not a bad team at all.
- Dirk refreshed and ready to go.
Mavs' Nowitzki ready for hectic schedule
Long postseason, lengthy run for German team among goals
08:58 AM CDT on Monday, October 15, 2007
By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News
esefko@dallasnews.com
Dirk Nowitzki was sick and tired of basketball in May. The Mavericks had just lost to Golden State in a monumental first-round upset and, though he had to stick around Dallas for another week to collect the MVP trophy, the superstar forward was spent.
Emotionally, he had one foot out the door, and it wasn't long before both feet were physically planted firmly in Australia for the start of a vacation and two months completely away from his $16 million-a-year job.
As good as that time away was, Nowitzki wants no such repeat. He stresses that he wants to play about 12 consecutive months of basketball.
"It was a long summer," he said, "longer than we all expected or wanted."
But now?
"I hope to go all the way with everything," he said.
By that, Nowitzki means he wants to go all-in, to borrow a poker expression. The Mavericks have learned from the last two seasons, Nowitzki said, and he hopes to be playing in June again during the NBA Finals.
After that, he would have almost no time to prepare for the German national team's appearance in a pre-Olympic qualifying tournament, probably in Greece in July. If the Germans grab one of three spots available, it would be off to Beijing in August for the Olympics.
Considering Nowitzki's September was eaten up by the European championships and the Mavericks opened camp Oct. 2, that would be a full year of basketball with no down time.
It would be well worth it.
"It's going to be a long season, hopefully," Nowitzki said. "I understand it could be an unbelievable schedule going into next year."
And if all of that busy time comes to pass, Nowitzki may think back to the first two months of this summer when he spent time in Australia and relaxing in Germany.
It was therapeutic, to say the least.
"For me, it was great," he said. "For two months, I didn't touch a ball. Obviously, I was a little fed up with basketball, and I wanted to get away from it."
The Olympics has been a dream of Nowitzki's since he began playing the game. The German team finished second in the European championships three years ago, but it has never qualified for the Olympics in Nowitzki's time.
He has committed to play through the Beijing Olympics. At that point, if the Germans have not qualified, he said he will probably will step away from international competition.
"I'll be 30 and it would be four more years before the next Olympics," he said.
In the meantime, he will go about the business of getting the Mavericks into a deep playoff run. If they had their druthers, they would fast-forward to the playoffs.
But Nowitzki knows that's not the way it works.
"Every great season starts with a great preseason," he said. "We're all ready. We were so close two years ago and last year we lost to a hot team. It's always fresh in your mind. But you also try to push it away and focus on the future. You don't want to harp on things too long. You find a way to move on. But the frustration, I won't forget."
It's what pushes him forward toward what he hopes is a long, exhausting season.
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