No one can disagree that what happened to Sean Taylor is a grave tragedy.  Anytime a child the age of his daughter loses her daddy is something that should never happen, but unfortunately, we live in a world where this happens.  There are things frankly that boggle the mind about this case. 

Miami police have said this is a random act.  If this was a random act, why wasn't Taylor's girlfriend shot?  What about the child, who was in the same room?  What was taken?  If nothing was taken, it's hard for me to classify this as a burglary.

There are many things about this case are troublesome.  First of all, his house was broken into about a week prior to Taylor being killed...was there not an alarm system?  Many months ago, my next door neighbor's house was broken into, and he immediately had a security system put in his house...in fact, I had one put in as well.  Was there not a security system on his house, especially given the fact that, according to long time friend and former U of M teammate Antrel Rolle that he had many enemies?  I take seriously what Rolle said.  Rolle and Taylor go back to when they were six years old. 

Why were they staying in Miami in the first place?  If he didn't feel safe, couldn't they stay somewhere else, maybe in DC or wherever Taylor resides during the season?

There are a lot of questions I have, but my heart goes out to Taylor's girlfriend and his daughter.  I commend Taylor for trying to turn his life around, and it's a shame that someone did not allow that to continue. 

Why was it important to take a little girl's daddy away from her? 

Interim AD and Nebraska legend Tom Osborne did what anyone who at least remotely follows college football knew what he would do, give the pink slip to Bill Callahan.  I've read a lot about how he isolated himself from the fans of Nebraska while past coaches really embraced the community, but ultimately, it comes down to wins and losses.  If he's 10-2 every year, who cares if he's isolated from the community or if he runs the west coast offense? 

The reason why Nebraska wasn't successful this year has nothing to do with the change in offensive philosophy that he brought to Lincoln.  That defense was atrocious.  Yesterday's game against Colorado was the only time I watched Nebraska play this year, but Colorado on offense seemed to run similar plays on a frequent basis simply because the Buffalo coaching staff knew it would be successful.  Looking at the numbers defensively, they could stop a high school team. 

In listening to Osborne's press conference earlier today, he has very high expectations, similar to what he had when he roamed the sidelines, but is that really fair?  College football is far more competitive than when he coached and Nebraska now has four new teams in their conference, and only Baylor is a scrub football program of the new four teams in their conference, and Kansas and Missouri have improved significantly since Osborne coached, evidenced by the Big 12 game of the year tonight. 

Osborne's vision is a bit off base.  From listening to him, I get the feeling he expects 9 and 10 win seasons every year.  That's just not feasible in today's college football landscape.  Look at the Gators this year, from national champs to a 8-3 record, and 3rd place in the SEC East.  Should Nebraska be more competitive?  Sure...will they?  I'm not so sure.

Getting kids to go to Lincoln will be more of a challenge with so many more competitive places to go and more appealing places to go.  Frankly, Lincoln doesn't sound that appealing when I could go play for Pete Carroll at USC, Urban Meyer at Florida, etc.  As for tradition, I get the feeling that high school kids care less about tradition and more about getting on TV every week and finding the best avenue to get to the next level.

With tougher competition in the Big 12 North with Kansas and Missouri on the rise, Colorado coming back from the dregs of their 2-10 season last year, Nebraska faces more obstacles than they did when it was just the Big 8, and frankly, the only competition for most of his regime was Oklahoma, and Colorado in the late 80s and 90s.  

Whomever takes the Nebraska job has some high expectations of him, and likely unrealistic ones...good luck...   

Who would have thought that after going 2-10 last year and an offense that was offensive, that the University of Colorado would be bowl eligible the next season?  It was a possibility in my mind, but a highly optimistic one.  Coach Hawk has done Buffalo alumni proud after what he has accomplished this year. 

The non-conference schedule went according to my plan in going 2-2, with a convincing win over Miami (OH), and a thrilling OT win over Colorado State, then here comes the big one...Oklahoma.  One student writer practically showed CU zero respect with, among other comments, referring to Hugh Charles as Jamaal Charles, the Texas RB (and OU's opponent following Colorado) and maybe the team was looking ahead in blowing a 17 point lead in the biggest win this program has seen since defeating Texas in the Big 12 title game in 2001. 

Here's where the roller coaster ride starts.  The Buffs hammer Baylor, but then lay a huge egg in Manhattan.  They had a solid performance against Kansas (and not for a Hugh Charles fumble and Kevin Eberhart missed FG, CU wins that one), and laid a huge egg against Missouri (who will win in KC against the Jayhawks) and against Iowa State.  A great win in Lubbock against Texas Tech leads two teams heading in opposite directions to Boulder this morning (or afternoon since it started noon my time). 

Nebraska's offense looked dominant in the second quarter doing what ever they wanted against a secondary missing their best player in Terrance Wheatley.  Ganz did a good job running the offense, then unfortunately for Nebraska, halftime came.  Before you know it, Colorado rolls of 34 straight and seizes control and ends up the big winner. 

Coach Hawk has this team on the right track.  It was unrealistic to expect Colorado to compete for a Big 12 North title this year, but as a Buffalo fan, I'm pleased with finishing 3rd in the Big 12 North.  This is a team with youth all over the place offensively, namely at QB, LG, RT, and WR.  All these positions have either true or redshirt freshmen starting, and they're only going to get better.  Once Hawk gets the junk that Barnett left behind out (for the most part, he did leave some talent behind, like Dizon), and gets his guys in place, Colorado will be a perennial contender for the Big 12 North title every year, and back on the college football map where they belong. 

As for Coach Hawk's rant about not being intramurals, I loved it!  Boulder is a different kind of town, as any Colorado native can tell you.  Hawk has to try to change the culture up there, and Big 12 football ain't intramurals brother...unless you live in Lincoln, where any intramural defense would be an improvement over the alleged blackshirts that were dressed in all white on the Folsom Field turf today.