According to people in Alabama, Nick Saban has contacted Husker offensive coordinator Shawn Watson about an interview for the now open OC position at 'Bama. Husker Extra reports Watson as saying that "nothing like that has been talked about". This of course leads to rampant speculation which is what the off-season is all about!
The Alabama position opened up when Major Applewhite recently left to return to Austin, Texas where he can once again stalk the Longhorn sidelines pretending to be taller than he really is. Maybe he'll wear his old Longhorn helmet while he coaches.
Losing Shawn Watson could be disastrous for Nebraska. He provides the continuity between last year's pretty darned good offense and the 2008 season. He's a big reason Marlon Lucky decided to stay and play for the Huskers.
Watson is the only one who knows the offense. He's the key to success in 2008. Without him you can write off at least three or four games. Watson's leaving plays to the doomsday scenario of Barney Cotton being promoted to offensive coordinator, and our going back to an option-oriented running attack. The Pelini experiment will fail before it really begins. Life as we know it will end!!!!!!
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I don't know what paranoid sunsabitches come up with this stuff, but I know they're out there, sitting in their closets and coming up with scenarios where Tom Osborne takes over the state, sticks it in his time machine and sends it all back to 1983 where he can replay the Orange Bowl and win this time.
Fact is, our offense isn't all that mysterious. The plays have been written down in a playbook and distributed to many people. It's been taught and learned by other coaches in clinics. It's not like it's been developed in a clean room, kept under lock and key and only been seen in totality by three people on the planet.
On the other hand, what if copyrights are involved? What if Shawn Watson and Bill Callahan are the only ones with the legal right to call the X15 Y Broom Handle Shifty Dog Ball Gear Shift Left 640b Hula Hoop Flare pass? Is that possible? I don't know, but I can make something up either way if you like.
I'd rather Watson stayed. It's not that he knows the offense, but that he knows intimately which players know what about last year's offense and what they're capable of doing. That, and he has great hair and that debonair smile so the chicks must dig him.
Let's get over the end of the world doomsday stuff. We're not going to run the I-based option any more than I'm going to win the lottery. If Watson leaves someone else will run the offense whether its a version of Bill Callahan's West Coast Offense or something else.
Damn, I'm supposed to be churning the waters, not settling them down, aren't I?