Emerging from a Sugar/Rose Coma

by Husker Mike on Jan 2, 2008 10:04 PM CST in Nebraska Husker Football

These Mountaineers really
shouldn't sit together...

A few thoughts while watching to see if the Oklahoma Sooners can wake up from their Sugar-and-Rose-Bowl induced comas:

Former Husker offensive line coach Dennis Wagner will be named head coach of Division 1-AA Western Carolina later this week. Former NU grad assistant Keith Heckendorf will be the offensive coordinator for the Catamounts, who went 3-19 the last two years. Wagner's first opponent will be Florida State. They also play the 1-AA (aka the "Football Championship Subdivision" national champion Appalachian State.

The Lincoln Journal-Star reports that Zac Taylor will be joining Texas A&M, possibly as a graduate assistant. Why A&M? Well, it might have something to do with his future father-in-law; Taylor will marry the daughter of new Aggie head coach Mike Sherman in April. Taylor's decision to head to College Station is news to his former team, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the CFL.

ESPN's Mel Kiper told KOZN (1620 AM-Omaha) radio's Kevin Kugler and Mike'l Severe this afternoon that Marlon Lucky should probably return for his senior season. (Podcast) He sees Lucky being a fifth or sixth round pick. Kiper also is down on quarterback Sam Keller, who he thinks will go undrafted. Chadron's Danny Woodhead will get a shot at the NFL, but likely as a free agent pick.

Georgia head coach Mark Richt tells the Shreveport Times that he would tell Bo Pelini to concentrate on the Nebraska job, rather than try to help LSU win the national championship next Monday. Of course, Richt's situation was quite a bit different. Richt spent the final week of 2000 doing double duty: preparing for Florida State's national championship game and assembling a staff. Pelini is doing it over a month and is better able to segregate the two jobs. LSU took the first two weeks of December off, which allowed Pelini to focus on Nebraska. Then the recruiting dead period started about the same time LSU started preparations, allowing Pelini to shift his focus.

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Comments

Oklahoma loses another BCS game

Serious question here: Why all the hate directed at OSU and how they don't belong in the BCS title game, yet it seems that you guys would have been fine with Oklahoma in it?

It seems like the Buckeyes are catching a HUGE amount of disdain for losing one game, last year's BCS title game. I'll be the first to admit that OSU was crushed in that game, yet OSU is 3-1 in its last 4 BCS games. Oklahoma's record in its last 4 BCS games? 0-4. And two of those losses were blowout losses, one of which (against USC in the BCS title game) was even more of a blowout than the OSU-Florida game this past year.

So I repeat my question? Why is it that Oklahoma seems to get a pass and everyone forgets their BCS woes on an annual basis, yet OSU looks horrible in one game and no one can seem to let it go?

by buckeye on Jan 4, 2008 10:10 AM CST reply actions

I haven't figured out Oklahoma this past season..

Most weeks, they've looked better than just about everybody except LSU. But there were four clunkers that made absolutely no sense: Colorado, Iowa State, Texas Tech, and now West Virginia.

by Husker Mike on Jan 4, 2008 1:00 PM CST up reply actions

Well

the obvious answer is that Nebraskans have fond memories (well, at least someone of my 45 years does) of the days of war between Osborne and Switzer.

there's a certain romanticism to it, Switzer Swagger versus stoic Tom. Classic stuff, really.

As for Oklahoma, I don't know why I didn't give more thought to their past BCS performances. I watch more Big 12 and Big 10 football than anything else, and I thought that Missouri was the best Big 12 team, but Oklahoma beat them twice.

OSU for me.... I live in MInnesota and actually had Gopher season tickets for a few seasons. the Buckeyes fans I encountered left me with bad feeling toward them, so I have history to rely on, whether flawed or not.

I hate the idea that you guys played crap for non-conference schedule. Other teams did too, but hey, damn it, you're THE Ohio State University. The standard should be higher.

They really didn't play anyone that showed that they were a great team is the biggest problem, I don't really think that much about last year's loss in the title game. They lost to Illinois, and look what happened to them. They beat Michigan, but Michigan was already damaged goods.

BTW, Nebraska's schedule in the next two years, I won't be letting us off the hook on that, so just you know.

Go Big Red!

by Jon Johnston on Jan 4, 2008 8:58 PM CST up reply actions