According to the Omaha World Herald, Justin Makovicka, the younger brother of former Husker snot-knockers Jeff and Joel, has accepted an offer to join the Huskers football team as a preferred walk-on. Justin reportedly turned down a scholarship offer from Iowa State to attend Nebraska.
This makes me happy, as it hints that maybe that old Nebraska lore still has some sway with kids in the Cornhusker state. Jeff and Joel both walked-on at Nebraska and walked away with National Titles, let's hope Justin can do the same. While I'm ecstatic that Justin continued the legacy of big farm boys from Brainard in the backfield, I hope he knows that his chances of busting a 37-yard touchdown up the middle on the option are long gone. A quick check of Huskerpedia.com shows that last year's starting fullback, Dane Todd, had exactly 0 carries but 8 receptions as part of the West Coast Offense.
No word yet on Bill Calahan's appeal to the NCAA for extended eligibility for Jeff and Joel under the oft-forgotten Brothers Hanson Exemption which states: Should any three (3) brothers play the same position at the same school within a 15 year period, all three (3) shall be allowed on the roster regardless of amateur status, physical shape or eligibility. In a shocking concession, Calahan has reportedly said that if the exemption is granted he will stop throwing the ball from the 1-yard line on 1st and Goal, a sure sign of offensive coordinating prowess, and opt for an all-Makovicka wishbone formation in short yardage situations.
In Hemingford, Nebraska, on the corner of Custer St and Box Butte Avenue, sits TJ Sports Bar & Grill, an extremity in the upper-panhandle, nearly as far from the heart of Husker country as you can get without leaving the state. Located 440 miles northwest of Lincoln, TJ’s still gets its dose of football lifeblood as it pumps back and forth across the I-80 artery, ferrying some fans to maybe one game a year, leaving the rest to join here on football Saturdays.
The bar has all the color variance of Jack White’s closet, from its Lago-like red lumber exterior to its smoke scarred ceiling. Even the beer is stained by the Huskers’ hue, mixed with tomato juice and served with an olive for $1.50 a glass. For the wheat harvesters, Sooners and Wildcatters, who pass through from Oklahoma and Kansas on their way to Canada, it’s a bit much. The beer-sponsor schedules, autographs, even a picture of Nebraska’s charter plane dot the walls, but after spending a few summers home from college on both sides of the bar, it always comes down to one piece of memorabilia for me: a white poster that had been autographed by a few seniors from the 2001 team and inscribed with a diagram for the play “Black 41 Flash Reverse Pass.” My favorite football moment.
***
Due to the distance, I only made it to one Husker game as a child, the 1987 game between #1 Nebraska and #2 Oklahoma. It was a 17-7 loss, but mid-season games against Kansas didn’t really interest me after that. Years later, I finally inherited the “(Expletive) Oklahoma” shirt my mother purchased from a vendor outside the stadium that day, but I wouldn’t have my first occasion to wear it until 2000.
With the inception of the Big XII came an unbalanced schedule, meaning that Nebraska and Oklahoma, perhaps the predominant college football rivalry of the 80’s, would only meet twice every four years. But in the first two seasons of Big XII play, it looked like the Sooners might appreciate a little breather, losing in ’96 and ’97 by a combined score of 142-28. 1998 brought the first break in the series since 1927, and two years later Bob Stoops would have the Sooners resurgent.
In 2000, Nebraska went into Norman ranked #1 in the country, winners of seven-straight in the series. But Oklahoma was coming off a demolition of #11 Texas and an impressive win at #2 Kansas State, leaping to #3 in the AP poll. This was it, the way things were supposed to be between NU and OU. I donned the shirt for the first time, and things looked good early as Nebraska leapt to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. They wouldn’t score again, looking helpless as Oklahoma rolled up 24 second quarter points on their way to a 31-14 victory. Luckily I was at home for this one, watching with my friend the Yun’ Ball Coach, as there’s nothing more foolish than a man with a bold shirt silenced.
But next year OU had to come to Lincoln, and we knew the minute the game was over that we were going. The now 0-2 shirt would be staying home.
***
The Friday night before the game, the Yun’ Ball Coach and I headed in to Lincoln to meet with his father, a former defensive backs coach for the Huskers and our ticket source. He pulled us to the front of the line at P.O. Pears and we settled into a booth surrounded by crimson-clad OU boosters. Over by the bar was Darin Erstadt, spitting, unshaven and looking pretty surly.
“Do you want to meet Darin?” the Slightly Older Ball Coach asked me.
After a career year in 2000 with the Angels where Erstadt batted .355, was named to the All-Star team and won both a Gold Glove and a Silver Slugger Award, the former Nebraska punter’s batting average had slipped nearly 100 points in 2001. Add that to the glare he gave a cream-#### Caddy that blared “Boomer Sooner” from its horn while circling the bar, and I wanted no part of it.
“Not right now,” I said. You have to let players work themselves out of a slump.
The Slightly Older Ball Coach chomped down on his cigar and shrugged it off.
“We gotta be there early tomorrow,” he said, “We’re meeting Barry.”
The Bootlegger’s Boy? It would’ve been worth it to tempt fate and have that shirt with me.
***
Turns out Barry Switzer is as greasily appealing as I always thought he was. He came out of his trailer, made some perfunctory small-talk, posed for some pictures then blended back into his cadre of supporters. I couldn’t hate him, but I certainly couldn’t like him either. Hailstones and locusts were the only thing that could cause more Nebraskans heartache than Barry Switzer. He’s a snake and a charmer, but I made it to kick off without buying any of his oil.
***
Coming into the game on October 27, 2001, Oklahoma and Nebraska had corralled the top two slots in the recently released BCS standings, but they couldn’t have been further apart in terms of momentum. OU was coming off a National Title and had a hot young coach with a visor, while Nebraska was showing signs of losing its grip on the top of the rankings under Frank Solich.
After exchanging punts for the entire 1st quarter, the Huskers climbed out in front 10-7 late in the second, but Oklahoma had cracked Nebraska territory and was looking to take the lead going into the half. On 1st down from the NU 20, the Sooners tried some shenanigans and almost broke the game wide open. Oklahoma ran a wide receiver-reverse pass and Nate Hybl found himself all alone at the 10-yard line. All he had to do was catch it and trot home, but he tripped on the turf and Mark Clayton’s pass bounced harmlessly at the 10-yard line. Oklahoma settled for a field goal and the wind chill jumped a few degrees as Husker Nation breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Defense continued to dominate in the second half, with Nebraska managing a field goal to reclaim the lead 13-10. And then, with just under seven minutes to go in the “Game of the New Century,” Nebraska made its play. Solich, who had been hand selected by Tom Osborne precisely because he would stay the course and possessed much the same vanilla demeanor, showed he had a sense of humor. He sent in Black 41 Flash Reverse Pass, essentially the same play Oklahoma had nearly run to perfection earlier on.
Thunder Collins took a pitch and started right, freshman wide receiver and former high-school quarterback, Mike Stuntz, received the lateral from Collins and ensured he would never buy a drink in the state of Nebraska again by throwing a dart to a streaking Eric Crouch. The eventual Heisman winner ran up the sideline, straight towards our seats high in the south end zone, and into Cornhusker lore. Somewhere in the stadium, even Osborne smiled.
***
But it’s not the play that matters, that’s simply the metaphor. Rather it is what the play has come to represent: the last great punch delivered by the old Nebraska football heavyweight, a final knock-out for the power option attack whose legs were beginning to tire.
Nebraska would go on to lose their last game of the regular season that year on Black Friday, 62-36 to the hated Buffs. Then, without even appearing in their conference championship game, the Huskers embarrassingly back-doored their way into the Rose Bowl where they were routinely dispatched by the Miami Hurricanes. Rome was beginning to fall.
Since that 20-10 victory over Oklahoma, Nebraska has posted a .593 winning percentage in 54 games. In the 477 games prior, starting with Bob Devaney’s arrival on campus in 1962, they won at an 83-percent clip. Two years later Solich and most of the other holdovers from the Osborne regime would be gone, fired after a 10-3 season in 2003. Their nation-leading streak of 35-consecutive bowl games was snapped in 2004, their first year under Bill Callahan and the West Coast Offense. Suddenly, the Sooners and Wildcatters didn’t mind stopping in Hemingford as much.
The Huskers returned to a bowl game this year, finishing strong after a tumultuous mid-season swoon that had people wondering whether the air attack would ever work. But the lean years have provided me with something I never experienced as a young Nebraska fan, the capacity to hope rather than expect and, I’m shocked to tell you, it feels pretty good.
***< /p>
The option still lives on in places like TJ’s and 8-man football fields throughout the state, but as pitches continue to give way to passes, it too will fade, replaced by new faces and new names. With some momentum heading into 2006, a bright-red sun may be rising on Memorial Stadium again, and it might be brighter than the one we saw set in late October 2001. You never know, and that’s the beauty of it all. Even football is controlled by the march of time. Across the country, hope matures in early autumn, is harvested sometime after Thanksgiving, and generally reaps enough to hold us over through winter. Some years are good, others are better, but one thing is certain, hope always grows again where seasons past lie fallow.
While I still feast on that play and that game, I'm looking forward to a new crop of favorites. I have a feeling they'll taste all the sweeter.
After a marathon, five-part running blog of Nebraska's narrow defeat over Michigan in San Antonio, I was too emotionally exhausted following the Wolverines best All-Blacks impersonation to provide much more than, "Yea! I'm happy," as analysis. But, as last night's finish to the Alamo Bowl has continued to simmer on the sports page front burner, I figured it was time to weigh in.
If there is one thing everyone seems to agree on, it is that the Sun Belt crew who officiated the game was woefully overmatched in a game between two major-conference teams. I can't recall a major sporting event where such ineptitude from the officiating crew was so apparent. In any game there are going to be blown calls, and often both sides will fell like they got "jobbed" a fair majority of the time. But last night's game looked like a South Dakota 9-man football crew had been asked to referee the Texas 5A Championship game. What happened to parity in college football? Aren't we supposed to take Fresno State, TCU, Utah, and Boise State as evidence that the smaller conferences are closing the gap? I guess that doesn't apply to the boys in black-and-white, but I have documentation from the start of the 4th quarter, when Nebraska still trailed by 11, that shows I wasn't happy with the officials either, so let's move on.
Aside from the unanimous crappiness of the stripes, the roar out of Ann Arbor centers around the game's final play, when a stream of Huskers rushed the field after what I assume they assumed was an incomplete pass. (For future reference, Nebraska, laterals are always live. Write it on a sign. Touch it before every game.) Should there have been a flag? Yes, by rule there should have been, but as all the AP stories have been careful to point out, there were members of both teams on the field before the play had ended. In that case, off-setting penalties should've been called and Michigan would've had one untimed down for a Hail Mary shot at the end zone.
Michigan fans can be upset about the fumble call that set-up Nebraska's go-ahead score. It looked too close to call, the inverse "Tuck Rule" if you will. Wolverine faithful have a legitimate beef with the non-pass interference call that ended a UM drive late in the fourth, but that sort of judgment call happens three or four times a game in every football game. That call actually made the crew seem like regular officials rather than the cursed "Sun Belt officials" they have come to be known as in the aftermath. If not for the fact that it seemed like the crew was being introduced to instant replay for the first time ever (Wait, we can watch what just happend?), the non-PI call would've been an iffy call, grumbled about in Ann Arbor and giggled about in Lincoln for a few weeks, but ultimately forgotten. These things happen, sport is not perfect and that's why we watch. (See: Penn St.-Neb 82, CU-Mizzou 90)
But I'm not buying the vitriol over the no-call that ended the game. It was an embarrassment for the crew, but it wasn't as if Nebraska was blatantly flaunting the rules. It was chaos, nobody knew what was going on, and it helped Michigan more than anything. As their TE continued to chew up yard-lines, I watched three Huskers stop dead in their tracks, not knowing whether the game was over or not. If he scores on that play, we never hear another word about the Bugeaters rushing the field. And I imagine that the Big Red faithful would be too shell-shocked and embarrassed to make a peep about the UM coaching clinic that congregated just inside their sidelines.
Granted, I'm not an unbiased source., I've gagged my way through the last three years of Nebraska football waiting for them to show some signs of life, and with this win they are finally breathing again. But let's face it, Michigan did not get "robbed." They lost an 11-point lead in the 4th quarter, they didn't stop the Nebraska rushing attack that at one point this season couldn't crack the 100 yard barrier in three games combined. It's unfortunate that the Sun Belt provided us with a built-in excuse for the biggest NU win since 2001.
But as someone who's been there for the past couple of years, let me tell the Michigan fans among us, don't get all upset over a 7-5 season. Every one of those losses could've gone either way. Sure no Big Blue team has lost that many games in 20-years, but try having every streak you held dear snapped in the past four years. You still have a ton of talent and Chad Henne, and you're not even the most disappointing team to start the season in the Top 5. Just imagine, you could be a Vols fan right now.
The lesson? Don't break the conference omerta or you'll end up like Sonny Corleone. So unless you want to go 5-6, keep your nose out of Columbus, OH, no matter how bad it gets.
This officiating crew is horrible and it's been on both sides of the ball. There's a reason you guys are doing North Texas games. Paging Bernie Kukar...Bernie Kukar please report to mid-field.
4th Quarter - 14:47
After a phantom kick-catch interference call, Nebraska really needs a three and out here with only 60 yards of field to work with.
But no, Henne tosses it up and lets his receiver bail him out. Not impressed with Chad.
4th Quarter - 12:39
The Huskers have gotten to Henne, but when they don't there are acres of open-field in front of him. Be nice to have Ocativen and Ruud right now.
And because everything I write ends up hurting the Huskers, Henne pulls it down and runs for a touchdown. With 11:40 left, it's looking dire for Nebraska.
4th Quarter - 11:30
You can't keep throwing six-yard outs when you're down 11. I thought we went to the WCO to avoid this. Taylor can't even get rid of the ball now. Punt.
4th Quarter - 10:02
Shanle again crushes the punt returner miliseconds after he catches the ball...this time, no call. Hmmm.
Tickets to the Master Card Alamo Bowl: $120
Gas to get to San Antonio: $90
Wearing Texas Longhorns gear to a game between UM & NU: senseless.
4th Quarter - 8:50
Good return by Grixby! If the Rattlesnake Boys can score here, they got a chance.
4th Quarter - 8:08
Two runs by Ross, touchdown! Even Herbstreit is dumbfounded as to why the Huskers stopped running the ball after moving it at will on the ground to open the half. Good. I have a lot of respect for Kirk and I'm happy to know I'm no the only one flabbergasted by Billy C.
The two-point conversion is good, three point game. This Nebraska team has made some great comebacks this season (TTech, Okla.) only to come up just short. Please, let them finally get all the way back this time.
4th Quarter - 7:51
Yessssss!!!! Adam Ickes, another of those corn-pone walk-on guys, forces a fumble and Nebraska recovers. Have to capitalize.
4th Quarter - 7:05
3rd and 13. Another frustrating aspect of this Husker team, they don't take advantage of big momentum swings. Now we have to punt and it's like that fumble never happened.
4th Quarter - 5:56
Maybe a fumble recovered by Nebraska, maybe an imcomplete pass, with this crew it should be an adventure. The Wolverines just used thier final time out in hopes that the play will get reviewed. This is an embarrassment. How can a play be reviewed just because a timeout is called? I'm not blaming Llllloyd, it shouldn't come to that.
It's a fumble!!!! First and 10 at the 17. Gotta get seven here...and a false start. Seriously, momentum ain't that ugly. Love it!
4th Quarter - 4:29
Touchdown!! Taylor to Nunn. Finally, we give Uncle Mo a dance.
Follow that up with a shot of my first Husker fan in overalls and I am happy!
4th Quarter - 3:48
The Wolverines are in moose-kill mode, moving down the field at will. I am NOT happy.
4th Quarter - 2:39
4th and 8. Stop here could mean the game.
Knocked away!!!!!!!! One first down away...
4th Quarter - 2:15
Nothing on first down.
Little on second down.
More on third, but no first down. Michigan will have a chance. Big thanks to the Sun Belt officials for not spotting the ball and forcing Michigan to use all their timeouts in hopes you will review a play.
4th Quarter - :07
Seven seconds, 64 yards. It can't happen can it?
What the hell was that? Michigan just threw 37 laterals, the Nebraska players came onto the field, the Michigan coaches came onto the field, and finally someone tackled the guy with ball. Perfectly fitting that mayhem ensued while this Sun Belt crew bumbled around like they'd never seen a football before.
What a huge win for Nebraska. Now they're leading off SportsCenter, it's been so long. Michigan was ranked 20th, and Nebraska was close to cracking the Top 25, but this is a huge upset. I'm not sure there was a bigger spread for a bowl game than the 13.5 this one started at. I didn't think we had a chance in this game, Michigan started the season ranked #4, and now the Wolverines streaks are snapping. This is a big step in the Callahan era. Preseason Top 25 next year? Could be.
I'd like to give a more thorough post-mortem, but after 4+ hours of typing, I'm worn out.
Nebraska has nearly doubled UM in penalty yards and is losing the turnover battle 2-nil. Forget happy, I'm damn excited to be tied at this point.
3rd Quarter - 13:28
Three and out for the Wolverines. Time to take control of this game.
3rd Quarter - 13:14
The Bugeaters have run three plays and Taylor has been hit while throwing each time. Dammit, it's three-banana Michigan!
3rd Quarter - 11:56
I'll be sad to see Corey Ross go. He's got tree trunks for legs and shovels for calves, and despite the fact that he's 5'6", that's mythic proportions. He's popped a few on this drive.
And now the lone Great Lakes State native gets his second penalty in the red zone. I'm telling you, this game is crooked.
3rd Quarter - 8:58
Taylor to Nunn again on a fade-stop route. Zac loves to throw those outs and he's got the arm to do it.
But wait...the play is under review. It looked good in fast-time, but slow-time raises some doubts. The interesting thing here is, if Lllllllloyd didn't call timeout, this play may never have been reviewed. How did Sun Belt officials end up with this game? And who's name starts with two "l's"? Do I pronounce the first one or the second?
It was overturned. Best timeout Llllllllloyd will ever call. 17-14 Nebraska.
On that drive, the Huskers ran the ball 80% of the time. In my mid-season assessment of Nebraska, I said that the best thing about the WCO was its unpredictability. When it works it's a beautiful thing.
3rd Quarter - 8:32
Two plays, two first downs for Michigan. They look pissed. Did you know that wolverines kill moose? They're like the devil in fur.
Nebraska holds on the next two plays, but the last resulted in roughing the passer. Michigan in the red zone.
3rd Quarter - 6:47
Eight-yard run by Hart to the four, called back by holding. Was that penalty on a guy from Nebraska? No, thank God, nothing worse than the double fix. 3rd and 18...and Nebraska gives up the weakest touchdown pass of the season.
Lot of time left, but I'm alarmed at how easily Michigan moved down the field.
The Yun' Ball Coach just called, and his ringtone is the Nebraska fight song. He knows better, you can't play that after the opponent scores.
3rd Quarter - 6:31
Henne just tied an Alamo Bowl record with 3 TD passes. Seems kind of weak if you ask me. Taylor almost set that record two-and-a-half minutes ago.
3rd Quarter - 5:04
Michigan's defense seems to be cracking a bit as Nebraska starts to mix the run and the pass.
Then they sack Taylor and force Nebraska to punt. This is why they write these things after the game.
3rd Quarter - 3:23
4th and 1, nobody is scared of Nebraska anymore. They're going.
Henne sneak and Llllllloyd is laughing on the sidelines. Wipe that smile off your face!
3rd Quarter - 2:42
It's starting to look like the Huskers are going to need a turnover at some point in the last 18 minutes of the game. Nebraska is wearing down.
3rd Quarter - 1:06
Bowman intercepts a pass at the back of the endzone, but it's ruled incomplete. Will they review this without Bill Callahan having to throw out a red jersey, call a timeout and challenge?
Call reversed! Now let's not do anything stupid out of the gate. We've been spurning momentum's offers to dance all night. I'm not saying we have to go now...wait for a slow song.
3rd Quarter - :49
Taylor nearly tosses a third INT, then gets crushed for the 600th time this quarter. Follow that with a 3rd and long draw and now we punt. We were looking for "Jukebox Hero" but all we got was "Talk Dirty to Me."
Did You Know: Michigan's helmet is actually a yellow helmet with the blue painted on? No matter, their white unis makes them look like vanilla ice cream cones.
2nd Quarter - 12:42
Nebraska holds UM to a field goal after the TO and Rivas misses a chip-shot. Thus far, the Michigan offense has been only modestly successful.
2nd Quarter - 12:33
But then Taylor gives the ball right back with another interception. It might be time to make a call to the refrigerator...give me Samuel Smith!
2nd Quarter - 11:42
No luck this time, TD Michigan. This is the story of Nebraska's year, the defense has been put in so many impossible situations, that they can't possibly stop them all, which makes means that I can't possibly appreciate all the times they've saved the fat from the fire. I only remember the scores.
Need to do something here with good field position following consecutive interceptions.
2nd Quarter - 11:37
Taylor overthrows a wide-open Nunn on the hitch and go. I've never quite come to terms with the fact that our quarterback hails from Norman, OK. Sort of like Ally Hilfiger yearning for some Calvin Klein...daddy is not happy.
Taylor's best pass of the night hits Nunn perfectly in stride...six yards out of bounds.
2nd Quarter - 9:38
Blake Tiedtke just saved a touchdown. God I love small-town kids who played 8-man football, walked on for the only team they ever loved, earned a scholarship and end up making an impact. I don't know if any of the above is true, but I just automatically assume that is the story for every white kid from Nebraska who plays for the Huskers.
Third and long again for Michigan. Nebraska gets the sack. I just can't get a feel for this game.
2nd Quarter - 8:49
First mention of the '97 split National Championship. Frankly, I'm shocked. You could've gotten better odds on Ruben Patterson winning a Nobel Peace Prize than the '97 title not coming up until midway through the second quarter.
2nd Quarter - 7:28
Nebraska has stopped running the ball entirely. That #### might work against Baylor, albeit in reverse, but Michigan is going to feast on this one-dimensional attack. Nice salad bar.
2nd Quarter - 7:18
I was in San Antonio for the Final Four two years ago, and I liked it but the Riverwalk felt so constructed to me that I had a hard time enjoying myself. It's like Disneyland for Texans, or a business model for urban renewal. It is great when it's full of college sports fans, however.
2nd Quarter - 5:29
The Bugeaters have missed a couple good chances at interceptions this half. You simply can't waste opportunities like that. It's not bad enough to change shirt and hat yet, but we're getting close.
2nd Quarter - 4:26
I don't think Nebraska has called a first-half timeout this year that hasn't been to avoid a delay of game. I mean, we know you're an offensive genius Bill, but pick a play already.
Finally, a first down!
2nd Quarter 4:05
I'm not a D1 coach, but I just don't understand why Nebraska goes through stages where they refuse to run the ball. Their running back corps is arguably the most talented facet of the offense, why not use it? Ever since Callahan arrived, it has seemed like he's more concerned with proving a point than anything.
2nd Quarter - 3:09
And as I say that, Corey Ross busts a 20-yard run on 3rd down. Way to lull them to sleep Bill, I was with you all the way.
2nd Quarter - 2:43
TD nullified by holding, and it's called on the only Husker from Michigan. The fix is on! What's the second half spread?
2nd Quarter - 2:37
Pry about 11 as the Rattlesnake Boys just tied it. By the way, does anyone else use the word "pry?" Is that a Nebraska thing? I assume it's an abbreviated form of probably, but I welcome any explanations from the etymologists among us.
2nd Quarter - 1:23
83 seconds, 47 yards to go for Michigan. I would like to go into the half tied, but I'll take 17-14.
The Blackshirts, leading the nation in sacks, have been all over Henne. Not bad for a team I thought to be outclassed athletically. Side change!
2nd Quarter - :47
You have to question Mike Tirico's choice to go with the lime shirt under a navy blazer and a predominately pink tie. Leave the #### Eye stuff to Stuart Scott.
Nebraska is trying, and failing, to run out the clock. Normally this wouldn't bother me, but now we're going to have to punt to Mr. Ebony and Ivory. The Huskers, out of a Michigan time out, called one of their own. Why does this keep happening?
Turns out, no punt. At the half,, we're knotted at 14. Pretty ugly half, but Nebraska is in it despite two big turnovers. Mark May just used the word "snotbubbles" 30 seconds in to the break. Be back after that...
Already off to a bad start. The BSU-BC game is running long and getting close, meaning that I'll miss the first few moments of the game. Bad omen? Maybe, but it's fun to watch the Eagles deconstruct.
Sometime after kick-off
No idea where we're at in the Nebraska game, but have to wonder why Zabransky gave up a down in the red zone with 44 seconds on the clock.
Then he threw an interception in the end zone. Nice career in Idaho Coach Hawkins, I hope we kick the #### out of you for years to come.
Is anybody goin' to San Antone??
1st Quarter - 9:19
First play I see, Corey Ross fumbles, but recovers it without a review. A good omen? Maybe.
1st Quarter - 8:04
52-yard touchdown pass to Terrence Nunn!! So far it looks like the good Nebraska from the Colorado game, not the team with the no-yards and a cloud of dust offense with four guys in motion every play.
1st Quarter - 7:53
"Stevie Wonder" almost took the ensuing kick-off all the way. I only hope that when he returned to the bench and Coach Carr asked why he didn't score he said, "I can't see out there!"
Can the Blackshirts hang tough with their third-string linebackers patrolling the middle?
Nope, Henne just scrambled for a first down on 3rd and 12.
Why does ESPN keep taunting me with Michigan's longest consecutive bowl streak? I know we lost it last year, no need to rub it in. I don't send you emails reminding you about 3.
1st Quarter - 5:48
Nebraska just fell for the TE screen, TD Michigan. The good news, 3 is playing tomorrow night on ESPN2.
1st Quarter - 3:52
Sam Koch was Nebraska's defensive star as a punter this year, but he might need to stop punting to this guy.
1st Quarter - 1:40
Aaron Crier just ate Henne on 3rd and 15, then skipped to the sidelines. Never would've happened during the Osborne era. Act like you've been there before. (Although he really hasn't, his one career sack came against Colorado, so I guess it's still new to him.)
1st Quarter - :52
I take that back, Nebraska ain't firing on all cylinders. The timing is off, Ross is dallying in the backfield. How long before we see the fab frosh Lucky and Glenn?
1st Quarter - :34
INT Taylor. Horribly thrown ball. I thought Nebraska might have some momentum after the long TD, but it seems to side with the Wolverines right now.
Still, anytime you're a 14 point underdog, you're happy to be tied after 15 minutes. Besides the elation after the Huskers got on the board, a pretty ####-hum first stanza.
My hands are shaking and stomach tumbling, must be time for a Nebraska game. It never used to be like this. Things were boring, conference dominance almost expected, by 1997 there was almost only potential for disappointment. If Nebraska won, well good that's what they were supposed to do. My how things have changed.
The Bugeaters are back in a bowl one year after Billy C. and the boys severed a 37 year streak of bowl appearances. ESPN just went to a live look-in, and it looks like the Sea of Red has flooded south en masse for the game, which is good. But then there was Michigan, looking entirely amused at the number of Husker fans in attendance. I'm already nervous.
I've settled on tonight's wardrobe for the game, after an afternoon of intense deliberation. I've got the Huskers flag hanging in my window 30-feet above one of Boston's busiest streets. I'm sporting some Nike NU shorts and the grungy hat that has gotten me through the lean years. I went with the vintage, 1984 Orange Bowl shirt to start. Nevermind that Nebraska famously lost that game, they lost in a good way with Dr. Tom going for two when all he needed was a tie to secure the National Title.
But that was a secondary concern, the real reason I went with the '84 Orange Bowl togs was that it featured the old Herbie Husker. Herbie was decommissioned as an official Husker logo in the mid-90's against fears that he might seem a little hokey. With his pleasantly plump Scandinavian-immigrant looks, bib overalls with an ear of corn in the pocket, and toothy grin, it's understandable that the Department of Athletics went another direction. But those are all the reasons I love that logo, so I went on an Internet search and rescue for any Herbie merch I could find. After all that, it's gotta be lucky.
Fun Alamo Bowl Fact: This was the only bowl to offer the Xbox 360 as a gift for players. My friend, the Yun' Ball Coach, who is intimately connected with the program, informed me that perhaps the only reason the Rattlesnake Boys were able to overcome K-State and become bowl eligible was the promise of next-generation gaming.
Also hot off the Yun' Ball Coach wire, rumor has it that Texas A&M and TCU may be violating the NCAA omerta and ratting on the Huskers for recruiting violations. I don't know the validity of this claim, but if it turns out to be true, it could end the Callahan era early. I don't understand, the Horned Frogs are currently better than the Huskers, they should be happy they're losing guys to the corn belt.
Right now I'm watching Boise State trying to overcome BC on the smurf turf. I'm quite pleased that the Eagles opted for the all-maroon uniforms and the Broncos all-white, eliminating the camoflauge effect that capsizes road teams in NCAA 2006. Maybe it's just me, but whenever I watch a game in Boise, I have an irresistible urge to lick the playing surface. I don't know if I think it possesses magical powers, or if it just looks like it would taste good. Perhaps I'm going crazy with the weary blues from waitin'...
Tonight's kick-off of the 2005 bowl season brings more than just the last chance for college football junkies to gorge on the smorgasboard of games, it also represents the 10th Anniversary of perhaps the greatest college football team of all time, the 1995 Nebraska Cornhuskers.
This year's Fiesta Bowl will also mark a decade since Tommy Frazier's other-worldly performance in the game, 3 TD's and "The Run," possibly the crowning achievement to one of the best college careers of any player in history. Nebraska destroyed Florida in that 1996 Fiesta Bowl 62-24, but sadly that's when the music stopped for Frazier.
It's tough to say whether or not Frazier would've gotten a longer look from NFL teams had it not been for the blood clot problems he had in 1994. As Byron Leftwich, Donovan McNabb and Michael Vick have achieved success in the league lately, you also have to ask if Frazier was just a few years ahead of his time.
Tommy just completed his first season as Head Football Coach at Doane College, an NAIA school in Crete, Neb. I'd like to say that Frazier was as deft under the headset as he was on the field, but the Tigers struggled to a 2-8 mark in his first season. (That's more than double the amount of games he lost during his entire career at Nebraska, where he was 33-3 as a starter.
Admittedly, it's a bit strange to think that the best player not to win a Heisman is currently coaching small-college football and living in a town of 6,000 people. (That's a mid-major city by Nebraska standards. If Lincoln and Omaha are the Big 10, Crete is probably the Sun Belt.) But have no doubt, Frazier's still the fortunate son within the borders of "The Good Life."
I was best man in a wedding a little over a year ago in Grand Island, Neb. where Tommy Frazier was in attendance. I'll never forget after the ceremony was over, we went straight to the men's clubhouse (the reception was at a country club) to watch the 2004 Preakness with Frazier. Frazier liked Rock Hard Ten, who ran to place, so maybe he's not a punter either. But second's not bad, not as good as his Nebraska performance, but loads better than his first season helming the Tigers.
After most of us had gone about 16 rounds with the open bar, a buddy of mine came up to me and slurred the immortal words, "I just peed next to Tommie Frazier!" It was the most intimate athlete encounter I had witnessed until Broadway Joe put the moves on Suzy Kolber on Monday Night Football.
Although you're coaching my alma mater's most bitter rival, I still love you Tommie.
GOAT?: Over on the dark side, they're running a poll that pits the 2005 USC Trojans against the best college football teams of the past 50 years. Ten teams were ranked by the pollsters, then a schedule was devised with the Trojans "playing" each in descending order. I must say I'm delighted to see that the '95 Cornhuskers are the last team USC will face. The voting public got it right, but problem lies with the 10 teams fans were given to rank.
Of course, '01 Miami was there, as well as '99 FSU and '79 Alabama, but '94 Penn State and '97 Michigan? The Nittanies went undefeated in 1994 and didn't even get a share of the National Title. Nebraska took it all, despite losing the aforementioned Tommie Frazier for most of the season. Penn State was certainly talented that year with 3 of the top 9 picks in the NFL Draft, but how can you rank them as one of the best ever when there was another team that beat them out for the National Title? Best ever, they weren't even Best of '94.
And then there's the famously split National Title of '97. Again, I'm not arguing the Wolverines talent. With Charles Woodson and Brian Griese they had legitimate superstars on both sides of the ball, but I will always maintain that Nebraska proved their worth by crushing #3 Tennessee, helmed by Peyton Manning, 42-17 in the Orange Bowl. Michigan, on the other hand, faced Ryan Leaf and #8 Wazzu, eeking out a 21-16 Rose Bowl victory with the game-winning drive for the Cougars ending with some questionable time keeping.
So I guess Nebraska could have legitimately had three teams on the list, and that doesn't even include the '71 Huskers, who Jeff Sagarin ranked as the 2nd best team of all time, behind '95 Nebraska. Just like the real college football season, it seems like the best rarely play the best even in fantasy match-ups.
I'm interested to see how this plays out. USC has been playing against history all year long, and it will be fun to see what the analysts come up with. As you can probably tell, I'm still making hay with the Huskers.
If not for a questionable spot in the 1994 Orange Bowl which resulted in a missed field goal, Nebraska could've beaten Florida State and Charlie Ward, starting a string of three straight Sears Trophies. That was their lone loss in 41 games, remove that and you have a streak that's a full half season ahead of the current 34 game streak currently brewing in LA.
Since moving to Boston in 2002, I have noticed a rift between sports fans, and, frankly, rifts make me nervous. This particular division of the wide world of sports revolves around team loyalty.
On one side you have the regional loyalists, people who grew up in or around major cities and have been following the same set of two, three or four teams by birthright.
On the other, you have the nomads, people from states such as South Dakota, Montana, New Mexico, Arkansas, Delaware and the ilk where no professional teams exist, leaving people to pick and choose their favorites at will. Also included in this group are the exiles from the first category, people who, for example, grew up in Cleveland but for whatever reason chose to root for the Bengals. (Whatever being the key word in that description, as, no matter how good your reason for eschewing the home team, the loyalists will not care and brand you a bandwagon jumper. Never mind the fact that until this year the Bengals were as equally hapless as the Browns for the past decade. It doesn’t matter; the loyalists are a vicious bunch. But don’t worry, we yokels are mighty kind and accommodating.)
I hail from a tiny town just north of the “Largest Non-Desert Sand Formation” in the Western Hemisphere (aside: that would be the Nebraska Sandhills and I’m not exactly sure who they beat out for that distinction, but I imagine the competition wasn’t stiff. Anyway, I digress). Growing up in the Cornhusker state there was only one team, the University of Nebraska football team. We had no representation in any of the professional leagues, leaving wayward youngsters to essentially pick who they wanted to follow at will.
If you count yourself among the loyalist group, this brazen disregard for regional ties probably sounds sacrilegious and lawless. But take a second to imagine a world where fans could taunt each other endlessly. Every Sunday brought a new opportunity to tell your best friend how Dan Marino would never win a Super Bowl or needle your teacher about Leon Lett. If we hadn’t been too young to curse mercilessly, drink whiskey and tote guns, I imagine it would’ve looked a lot like a scene from Deadwood. Every man for himself.
In my immediate circle of friends, I can remember fans of the Giants, Cowboys, Packers, Dolphins, Raiders, Bengals, Broncos, Oilers, Vikings and Bears, as evidenced by the logos on the back of their Starter jackets and the names they shaved into their hair when that was all the rage. (Where have you gone Anthony “Mase” Mason?!) That’s over one-third of the NFL alone in my little burg, and I’m sure it was much the same in the Dakotas and Carolinas of the world.
Sure we missed out on the bonding nature of sports, we didn’t bleed for the Red Sox like New England did, but we made up for it with the freedom to get behind whoever we wanted.
By my count, I am attached to no fewer than seven teams at present. I bleed for three: the Cubs, the Creighton basketball team and the Cornhusker football team. These are the teams who I follow in the off-season, keep the schedules in my wallet and throw embarrassing tantrums when they lose. Beyond that, I also count myself as a supporter of the Bears in the NFL, the Bulls and Celtics in the NBA and the Red Sox in the Majors. These teams I passively follow, I check scores nightly, read an article occasionally if it’s got a real snazzy headline, but if they ever came up against one of the bleeders there’s no question where my allegiances lie. (The best example of this would be the yearly series between the basketball teams of Creighton and Nebraska, which I’ll get to in a minute.)
Bill Simmons, hailing from Boston, perhaps the loyalist capital of the United States, has written at length about his disdain for bandwagon jumpers and folks who fail to fall in line and root, root, root for the home team, so let me take some time, for him and the rest of you loyalists, to explain how I got to where I am today. Keep in mind, we’re talking no regional ties here outside of the Cornhuskers. Now, there are pockets of Nebraskans in the southern corners of the states that gravitate towards the Denver and Kansas City teams. But where I lived, until the Rockies came to Denver, we still received Kansas City Royals broadcasts! We were over 600 miles from KC, a lot of space to dissolve any feelings of the home town team.
I, like the loyalists, was born a Cornhusker fan. My blood is red. They were the only game in town. However, I’m ashamed to admit that at the height of the Huskers power, I became somewhat bored with winning all the time. Bill Callahan has given me all the reason I need to feel entirely guilty about that episode, but I’d be lying if I said some of my Nebraska fervency hasn’t been revived due to the fact that we now have something to prove. (Also, moving to Boston and wanting a little of that loyalist Kool-Aid for myself helped as well.)
After high school, I attended Creighton University, the other school in Nebraska that plays D1 sports, and developed an affinity for Bluejay basketball. Because Creighton is constantly playing the respect card, it was easy to abandon Husker basketball and baseball, and nothing has delighted me more than the Bluejays’ dominance of the basketball series in the Dana Altman era. Luckily, Creighton doesn’t have a football team, so there’s no conflict of interest. I can still have the Huskers, but for those of you in Kansas who pulled for the Wildcat football team and the Jayhawk basketball team in recent years, that is unacceptable by anyone’s standards.
Finally, on to the pros. I don’t remember the day very well, and I wish I did due to the pain it has caused me, but one afternoon my father and I were watching the Cubs on WGN. My father’s not a Cubs fan, he’s more a fan of the game than a team which also explains some of my more nomadic qualities, but I remember watching Andre Dawson, with his scowl and the severely closed stance, thump a home run and for whatever reason I was hooked. I declared there and then that the Cubs were my favorite team. Few decisions in my life have been more debilitating.
That one choice, a common one in the Midwest and across the US due to the infectious reach of WGN and basic cable, lead me to adopt the Second City as my homebase for rooting interests and brings me to the second tier of teams I follow:
Bears: Once I decided that I was going to act like a transplanted Chicagoan, there was only once choice for my team in the NFL, but it was pretty easy considering the Bears were dominant at the time behind Payton, Singletary and Dent. I even wore Walter’s jersey to my first day of kindergarten. But the reason they’re not in the first category is, for some reason, the NFL hasn’t enraptured me like the rest of the country. If this were the UK edition of my blog, a) there would be a lot more nudity, b) there would be a lot more of the letter “u” in needless places, and c) I would be the one geezer in Manchester who likes cricket more than “football.”
Bulls: There was a time when this team was definitely in the first category and it was all due to Jordan. Like 99% of the Bulls fans you meet, you can trace it all back to MJ, but I followed those teams like no other. I’m not saying my parents had illegal satellite television coming into our home or anything, but we definitely got every regional SportsChannel broadcast, and when I was nearing 10, it wasn’t uncommon for me to watch 70 of the Bulls 82 regular season games and all of the play-offs. I still have the majority of their title runs on VHS cassette.
Celtics: In the 80’s there were almost as many Celtics fans where I lived as Cornhusker fans. Boston was a blue-collar team, the antithesis of Riley’s Lakers, just the sort of team humble farmers could get behind. I was in the other camp, with the flash and slash of Jordan, until I read Drive. After that I respected everything Larry Bird did, the bad news was that it was circa 1990, when the Hick sprawled out on the sidelines with ice on his back every minute he wasn’t in the game.
Red Sox: THIS DID NOT HAPPEN WHEN I MOVED TO BOSTON! The impetus for this column came about when I noticed the disdain hardcore chowderheads had for the influx of noveau-rouge, namely the thousands of college students who invade their town every year, buy new Sox hats and act like they know who Bucky Dent is. No, I became a Sox follower due simply to time zones. When Cubs day games were ending, Sox’s night games were quick to follow on NESN. Mike Greenwell was my guy, and up until 2004 rooting for the Sox and Cubs was like pulling for the same team. But I still maintain that if it had come down to it in 2003, I may have died that year in the Bean because I was with the Cubbies all the way. The Cubs and Sox elimination that year on subsequent days was one of the worst 48-hour periods ever. Nevertheless, I’ll never forget being in Boston when the BoSox finally won it all.
Which brings me to now. I’m not trying to proclaim one rooting lifestyle over the other, just asking for a little understanding. I think deep down every sports nomad longs for a little loyalist blood, but ask kids in Houston if they wouldn’t rather have the option of rooting for the Cowboys right now.
If you meet someone who claims to follow the Kentucky Wildcats in basketball, the Pacers, the Reds and the Rams, it doesn’t mean he or she is an atheist or front-runner, it just means that
younger brother of former Husker snot-knockers Jeff and Joel, has accepted an offer to join the Huskers football team as a preferred walk-on. Justin reportedly turned down a scholarship offer from Iowa State to attend Nebraska.
he would stay the course and possessed much the same vanilla demeanor, showed he had a sense of humor. He sent in Black 41 Flash Reverse Pass, essentially the same play 