(That's Nebraska's linebacking unit by the way, at least most of the white guys.)
- Overall, not a great collection Saturday of games, top to bottom. It is very top heavy, with Rutgers-South Florida, Texas Tech-Missouri, Kentucky-Florida, and Auburn-LSU being the marquee games. Other than that, pretty weak schedule. Regardless, lock yourself in your TV room and don't talk to your family.
Not a good week last week as I went 8-13-1, bringing my record to 77-64-3.
Thursday
South Florida (-2) at Rutgers - ESPN - 6:30 pm
South Florida, possibly the most surprising #2 team in the nation since Miami's improbably rise to dominance in the 1980's. This team has been in college football for only 11 years. This Cinderella story can't go on can it? Maybe not, but for this week, they'll handle an average Rutgers team that's suffering from New Orleans Saints syndrome this year. South Florida has a fast defense and a much better QB.
Pick - South Florida -2
Utah at TCU (-3.5) - Versus - 7:00 pm
Utah is a tough team to figure. Beat UCLA by 38, got shutout against UNLV, and beat Louisville on the road. I know what TCU is. They have a shatty offense, a good defense, and try to win games ugly. I'm taking points in this one.
Pick - Utah +3.5
Friday
Louisville (-3) at Connecticut - ESPN - 7:00 pm
Louisville proved a little to me last week in beating Cincinnati, who I thought was pretty good. How can I pick UConn in any sport but basketball? Give me a good QB on the road, no matter how bad Louisville's defense is.
Pick - Louisville -3
Saturday
Penn State (-7.5) at Indiana - ESPN - 11:00 am
Indiana is a surprise team in the Big 10, won't make much noise in the title hunt, but will probably win 7-8 games, which is a huge leap for them. I can't stand Penn State, so give me points.
Pick - Indiana +7.5
Iowa at Purdue (-7) - ESPN2 - 11:00 am
Purdue finally gets to play a bad team, so expect its offense to get back on track. Iowa sucks nuts.
Pick - Purdue -7
Oklahoma (-29) at Iowa State - FSNSW - 11:30 am
After getting absolutely beaten to holy hell last week at home, Iowa State runs the gauntlet again. There's no way they keep it close after last week's beat down.
Pick - Oklahoma -29
Texas (-25) at Baylor - Versus - 11:30 am
Texas heads an hour north on I-35 and basically plays a home game. So given that the after-Oklahoma theory is off to a good start (56-3 vs. Iowa State), I'm going with Texas to continue to keep rolling.
Pick - Texas -25
Wake Forest (-3) at Navy - CSTV - 12:00 pm
Wake looked decent against Florida State a week ago, but then again I think FSU sucks. Navy really showed me something against Pitt. This could be the potential Nebraska coach bowl, with both of these coaches rumored to be high on Osborne's list. Give me Navy to ram it down Wake's throat.
Pick - Navy +3
USC (-17.5) at Notre Dame - NBC - 2:30 pm
USC has shown me nothing the past few weeks. They should have gotten beat by Arizona, lost to Stanford, barely beat Washington, and blew out a horrible Nebraska team. Notre Dame sucks as well, but they're at home, USC's Mark "Dirty" Sanchez is still the QB, and ND's defense isn't half bad. Give me the under and the Irish.
Pick - Notre Dame +17.5
Texas Tech at Missouri (-3.5) - ABC - 2:30 pm
Could be the game of the day, and could have 70 points scored in this one. I can't wait for this game. Tons of points, 2 local boys at QB, and Big 12 South and North title implications for each team. After watching Mizzou go to Norman and almost beat OU, I have to go with the home team.
Pick - Missouri -3.5
Florida (-6.5) at Kentucky - CBS - 2:30 pm
What a game last weekend against LSU. I love watching Andre Woodson. Very underrated atmosphere in Lexington, tough place to play. Florida will win, I can't see them losing their 3rd game so early in the season, but it will be tough, and likely go down to the final minutes.
Pick - Kentucky +6.5
Michigan State at Ohio State (-17) - ESPN2 - 2:30 pm
Ohio State is a very overrated #1 team, a product of a crazy season so far. MSU won't beat them, but they won't get blown out either. That offense can score on anyone.
Pick - Michigan State +17
Kansas (-3.5 at Colorado - ESPN - 4:45 pm
Kansas just keeps winning, but have only beat one team of substance, Kansas State. And Kansas State is proving to be just an average team. Colorado can play with anyone as long as its in Boulder, and Kansas is due to lose.
Pick - Colorado +3.5
Michigan (-2.5) at Illinois - ABC - 7:00 pm
Everything's setting up perfectly for Michigan. After losing 2 non-conference games at home, they're doing like they always do, beat weak Big 10 teams. They're headed for a title showdown with Ohio State. They may be over-athleted out of conference, but in conference, them and Ohio State are head and shoulders above the rest of the league. They're 1995 Nebraska compared to a lot of these teams. Illinois' luck seems to have run out and they're headed for their 3rd loss in a row.
Pick - Michigan -2.5
Crown Game
Auburn at LSU (-11.5) - ESPN - 8:00
This is a little early for the Crown Game, but since there's nothing past 8 pm worth a damn, this will have to do. If I'm going to bend the rules for the Crown Game, this is a worthy candidate. At night, in the bayou, a top 25 matchup, Ron Franklin with the call for ESPN. This should be a great one. Auburn has come on of late after stinking up the place early in the season. LSU has played 2 physical, tough games in a row and seems to be hurting at some key positions. They look like a beat up team that is showing the effects of a brutal conference schedule. Give me points. Auburn can keep it close on the road, as they proved against Arkansas and Florida.
Pick - Auburn +11.5
Sunday
Arizona at Washington (-8.5) - FOX - 12:00 pm
Not sure how good Washington is, but they win. They'll get exposed as an average team at some point, but not this week. Tim Rattay is starting and I'll go against him any day of the week.
Pick - Washington -8.5
Tennessee (-1.5) at Houston - CBS - 12:00 pm
I'm going with the presumption that VY plays. As long as Ahman isn't 100% and Andre Johnson is out, I have to bet against Houston.
Pick - Tennessee -1.5
Minnesota at Dallas (-9.5) - FOX - 3:00 pm
Dallas has done pretty good stopping the run this year, but has struggled against the pass. Minnesota couldn't pass on Skyline HS, but can run the ball on anyone. They also can't defend the pass. I can see Romo having 350 yards, and Dallas doing just enough to make Minn's run game not completely hurt them. 31-13 Dallas.
Pick - Dallas -9.5
Pittsburgh (-3.5) at Denver - NBC - 7:15 pm
Denver is horrible, Jay Cutler is horrible, and Pittsburgh is good. Denver absolutely sucks against the run, and whoever has Willie Parker on their fantasy team, get ready for a monster day.
Pick - Pittsburgh -3.5
- Tom Osborne's first day on the job. This story just re-iterates just how much of a prick former AD Steve Pederson was.
• In turmoil, NU takes T.O.: A legend returns
• Osborne will stick around awhile
LINCOLN — Tom Osborne was 10 minutes late for his first day of work as Nebraska interim athletic director.
Interim Athletic Director Tom Osborne works two phones in his new office during his first day Wednesday in Lincoln. Osborne was on hold waiting to go on the air for a local talk show and the other was one of several calls Osborne took from well wishers.Caught in traffic, he said.
He parked his car, carried his little briefcase past a statue of himself and walked into a building that bears his name. Then, another problem.
"When I walked in the front door, I had to ask them what floor the athletic director's office was," Osborne said. "And when I got to the (third) floor, I had to ask where the office was."
Osborne had been through the Tom and Nancy Osborne Athletic Complex only once. He had never seen former Athletic Director Steve Pederson's office.
By Wednesday afternoon, Osborne had found the bathroom. He sat at Pederson's old desk and made phone calls, still a little uneasy about his new domicile.
"I got more room than I know what to do with," he said. "I feel like I'm lost."
The day started when he learned of a senior staff meeting about stress relief. Nobody told him about any meeting. He walked in late. A little embarrassing, Osborne said.
He probably didn't have to attend, but "I just kind of wandered in there and thought that'd be a good time to introduce myself."
He spent the morning putting faces to names. His employees showed him around. Lots of rooms and hallways in the Osborne Complex.
"Sometimes even the legends like that don't know which way to turn," said Randy York, Nebraska associate athletic director for communications.
Osborne had a phone at his ear most of the day, taking interview requests from the likes of radio personality Jim Rome. He ate lunch at the training table.
He tried to make sense of rumors swirling around the state that claimed that he was firing the football coaches on Wednesday.
Not true, Osborne said. In fact, he met with Bill Callahan's staff at 12:30 p.m.
"I just tried to let them know that I was here to support them any way I could," Osborne said, "and they don't have to blame themselves for what happened with the change in athletic directors.
"That it was more an administrative thing and it wasn't based on football scores or wins and losses. (I told them) I'd do whatever I could to help them, and then we'll sit down and talk at the end of the year and see where we are."
It's important, Osborne said, the coaches know he's "not out to get them."
Three hours later, he watched a Husker practice for the first time in years.
He even gave the OK to take the pictures of the football All-Americans out of storage and hang them.
"Looks like there's a lot of walls around here," Osborne said. "We ought to be able to find some place for them."
Osborne hopes to find some place in the complex for former athletes, too. Access and security were tight under Pederson.
"I went to see Harvey Perlman the other day and just walked right in," Osborne said.
Former players received an e-mail on Wednesday in which Osborne offered a limited supply of sideline passes to games. Osborne let them know that they're welcome into the A.D.'s office.
"If some people don't want to be bothered, that's fine," Osborne said. "But I'm here to be bothered. So we'll try to relax some of that stuff."
Directing an athletic department requires small talk and hand-shaking, but it's as much about paperwork and number-crunching.
"There's plenty of people around here . . . to do the day-to-day detail work," he said. "A lot of what I'm going to be doing will be people-related. That'll be my focus for the next few weeks."
That seems OK to people in the athletic department. A few senior staffers said they felt rejuvenated Wednesday morning.
Today, his old job complicates his new schedule. He's got to find a way — or find somebody — to administer his business mid-term to two afternoon classes. Osborne will teach when he can this semester, but he'll be calling on some guest speakers to help.
For now, he keeps his office in the College of Business Administration: a quaint abode at the end of a quiet second-floor hallway.
The view from that office, well, there isn't one unless you count the outer wall of Love Library.
At the Osborne Complex, he looks out to the north skyline, over a state-of-the-art practice facility and green practice fields. He has a balcony. He has red chairs and a glass desk and posters of the Nebraska national championship teams he coached.
None of it, by the way, came with him in that briefcase.
"I don't have a lot of baggage," he said.
- A pretty good description of the Nebraska state/fan base. Reading this makes you realize how hard it is to please these people.
A new world for the Huskers
By JOE POSNANSKI
LINCOLN, Neb. | Dark clouds hang low over Nebraska. The weather service calls for thunderstorms throughout the week. Northeast Nebraska is getting hammered with record amounts of rain. It all figures.
At the Nebraska Bookstore on Q Street on Tuesday afternoon, a woman hops from one rack of University of Nebraska clothes to another. She hangs “25% Off!” signs on each. Exclamation points and everything.
At Husker Headquarters on P Street, no one even looks at the 93 varieties of Nebraska hats for sale, one of which features the Nebraska “N” in Japanese and another of which looks like a husk of corn.
Through the window of the newspaper rack on N Street, you can see the enormous single-word headline in the Lincoln Journal Star, a word that is supposed to sum up all the wild emotions people in the state feel after the whirlwind last few days. Saturday, the Nebraska football team lost to Oklahoma State 45-14 at home, in Lincoln, at Memorial Stadium — on Homecoming, no less — and it was the worst home loss for Nebraska since everybody liked Ike. Monday, the Nebraska chancellor fired athletic director Steve Pederson even though the buyout will cost Nebraska a staggering $2.2 million.
Tuesday, the headline read: “SACKED.”
It’s a good word. That’s about how a whole state feels right about now. Sacked.
•••
You have to understand what Nebraska football means up here. It isn’t exactly religion the way Kentucky and North Carolina basketball is, and it isn’t exactly a birth-right like Alabama or Ohio State football, and it isn’t exactly a passion like Red Sox baseball in New England. No, here, Nebraska football defines precisely how people see themselves. Nebraska football, plainly, is who these people are.
There’s a children’s book they have in stores here called: Husker Football for Kids! Yes, they do love exclamation points in Nebraska. According to the Journal Star, the sign placed on the door announcing the Pederson Firing Press Conference read: “Welcome to the Visitors Center! Press Conference at 4:00 p.m. Today. Please join us …”
Anyway, while I’m certain that other college football programs have children’s books like Husker Football for Kids! (or Counting With the Huskers! or Hello, Herbie Husker!), I also suspect no other book has quite the same lesson.
In Husker Football for Kids!, Nebraska’s football team faces the Idaho PotatoPeelers (funny, I thought they were on Kansas’ schedule), and it’s a tough game. Idaho puts up a good fight. In the end, though, Nebraska pulls off the victory, which leads to the final page, and the big lesson.
“As the teams walk off the field,
Husker fans cheer
For the Cornhuskers and the PotatoPeelers
Because they BOTH played a good game.”
There it is, in a nutshell, the image Nebraska fans have built through the years as America’s Classiest Fans. Even more, though, this is the image Nebraska fans have of themselves. You have to understand it has been this way going on almost 50 years. Grandfathers in Nebraska can barely remember before Bob Devaney took over the program in 1962, and from that year until three seasons ago, when the coach who dare not be named (Bill Callahan) took over, the Cornhuskers never had a single losing season. They never missed a bowl appearance. They were almost always in the national championship fight.
All that winning, after a while, becomes a part of you. It isn’t that Nebraska fans got spoiled — that’s not the right word. They built a lifestyle around all the winning football, much the way people in Seattle built their lifestyles around rain and coffee or people in Los Angeles build their lifestyle around highway traffic.
Every game at Memorial Stadium has sold out since, not surprisingly, 1962. Nebraska fans all wear red — no group of fans anywhere is as obsessive about the color they wear to games — and they show up early, they are generally the friendliest fans to be found anywhere, they wander around Lincoln and buy more Husker stuff at the Nebraska Bookstore and munch on Husker Burgers (cut into the shape of the state of Nebraska). Then the game happens, and they cheer everybody, including the unlucky souls who had the misfortune of getting battered by their Cornhuskers on that particular day.
So what happens when it all goes bad? What if it stopped raining in Seattle? In 2004, for the first time in two generations at least, Nebraska lost more than it won. Panic. Mayhem. Last year, Nebraska did win the Big 12 North title (it lost to Oklahoma in the championship game), it went to the Cotton Bowl (lost to Auburn) and while it wasn’t just like old times, it was certainly looking up.
Then, this year happened. Nebraska won its first two games (including a squeaker against Wake Forest) and then got obliterated by Southern Cal. The Huskers almost lost to Ball State at home. They beat Iowa State and then got obliterated again, this time by Missouri. And that led to Saturday’s fiasco against Oklahoma State — the Huskers were losing that game 38-0 at the half.
Now what?
Television stations all over the country showed America’s Classiest Fans leaving the stadium at the half. According to a couple of sources, some fans actually returned to the Nebraska Bookstore and returned the merchandise they had bought that morning.
“I know other colleges go through this,” said one person looking through the on-sale merchandise Tuesday. “But it isn’t supposed to happen at Nebraska.”
•••
When Steve Pederson was hired as athletic director in 2002, there was much joy throughout the state. Pederson is a Nebraska native — North Platte, to be exact — and he had worked at Nebraska for some time, and he knew Nebraska. At least that’s what everybody thought. He once said: “We’ve got 1.7 million walk-ons!” Yes! That’s it! Nebraska football isn’t something that people in the state just watch. They live it. At some schools, the athletes are seen as role models for the fans. But in Nebraska, the fans are role models for the athletes, see? You have to act right to be a Nebraska fan. You have to have faith in the people in charge. You have to have love for the players. It’s a lifestyle. More than one booing Nebraska fan was shushed at Memorial Stadium through the years.
Well, then the great Tom Osborne retired and Frank Solich became head coach, and things started changing. Oh sure, Nebraska was still winning — but not as much, not as big. The program seemed to be teetering a little bit. Nebraska got destroyed and embarrassed in the 2001 national championship game. The next year, the Huskers went 7-7, which was scary. In 2003, they went 9-3, but Pederson had seen enough.
“I refuse to let this program gravitate toward mediocrity,” he said.
He fired Solich. What’s worse, he fired Solich — a longtime Osborne assistant and loyal Nebraska soldier — without even calling Osborne to let him know. Like I say, Nebraska fans seemed split about it. Most did not like the way it was done. But, I would also say, most fans thought something had to happen. Solich was no Osborne. Pederson talked about returning Nebraska to where it belonged.
Then things really got bad.
The coaching search was a clown act. Pederson may or may not have offered Houston Nutt an enormous sum (Pederson later said he did not, though many other people say he did). Nutt definitely did not take the job. Several sources said that Chiefs offensive coordinator Al Saunders was offered the job (Pederson denied this, too) but he turned it down. Lots of people reportedly turned it down. For weeks, Pederson refused to comment — his management style generally seemed to be not commenting — and he seemed to be making no progress at all. Finally, and rather suddenly, Pederson announced that he had hired an NFL coach, Bill Callahan, who had the distinction of being one of the few coaches in history to reach a Super Bowl one year and be fired the next.
Callahan had limited college experience — he had never even been a coordinator in college — but he had been an excellent recruiter, and he still had the Super Bowl shine, and again it seemed the Nebraska fans mostly thought, “OK, we’ll wait and see.”
Well, everybody has seen now. Callahan had the losing record his first year, a so-so year followed, and then the Big 12 North title. For that (and a big win against Nevada this year) Pederson signed him to a new five-year deal. But that fit: Pederson himself had just signed a new five-year deal less than two months earlier (reportedly for more than $2 million per year). It was raining money in the Nebraska athletic department.
And suddenly, nobody was feeling too good about Nebraska football. Pederson’s secrecy, his penchant for cutting good deals for himself, his seeming disrespect for Nebraska’s great tradition (he often talked about reshaping Nebraska football) was turning people off. Callahan does not seem to have the passion for the job, nor the ability to connect with people in Nebraska. Then Paul Meyers, a former Nebraska baseball star and major fundraiser, resigned for “personal reasons.” That made some news.
Then the football team began losing big. That made lots of news.
Then Pederson was fired.
And now, there’s an identity crisis in the great state of Nebraska.
•••
Most people believe there is one man who can help Nebraska get its groove back, and that’s Tom Osborne himself. He may be 70, and he may not have had much to do with Nebraska football the last 10 years, but heroes don’t stop being heroes. Osborne was hired Tuesday to be the “interim athletic director,” but that’s just a title. What people want is for Osborne to make things like they were.
Of course, that’s no easy trick. Nebraska, like all the great old powers, faces new challenges in today’s sports world. There’s parity across the land. It becomes harder and harder to recruit in another school’s backyard. You can see the problems they are having at Miami, Florida State, Alabama, Penn State and so on.
Still, the news of Pederson’s firing did seem to lift the spirits of a lot of people. The radio is filled with talk-show voices who believe that a new athletic director and new coach will make things right again. In a Nebraska City truck stop, two men talk about how it will take time but things are looking up (“That Osborne didn’t know squat about politics, but he knows about football,” one says). In Lincoln, even under those dark clouds, there’s some new hope.
“People will keep buying Nebraska,” says a woman at the counter in the Nebraska Bookstore. “It’s just what people do around here.”
- Some more pictures that are running wild around the internet. This season has been a photoshop nerd's dream year in making fun of Nebraska's struggles.
