TarheelTrojan

If you are looking for someone bias free I understand space travel will be affordable for the masses in about twenty years. Its easy to miss the obvious when you're looking for some ulterior motive. In my April 27th post I said, "It seems everybody west of the Mississippi is forgotten by the dominant media." That wasn't compassion, that was empathy. Both the Big 12 and Pac 10 are west of the Mississippi(except Iowa St). We both get dissed. Maybe one more than the other, but its the same treatment. After your post I did a little research, and, no disrespct, but I had the feeling there was a reason for it.. I couldn't put my finger on it, but after some research, I discovered Nebraska has never beaten USC. Hmm. "Outsider" TarheelTrojan

Hoyamann, Our colors are gaudy. But that sooooooooo California. TarheelTrojan.

Hoyamann, Our colors are gaudy. But that sooooooooo California. TarheelTrojan.

Thanks hastingshusker for the confirmation. I never thought about the stadium seat being one of the highest points in Nebraska. That is a totally different perspective. Besides if I was way in the back, I wouldn't have to worry about getting egged by one of those 60+ fans for wearing my cardinal & gold, SC Trojans, "Fight On!" T-shirt paraphernalia stuff! (Just kidding) Yeah, everybody has their youthful drunks. College kids I can understand, but when they are in their early 30's you know they don't have a life. By the way huskergirl, when you were talking about revenge, were you talking about us? I am shocked. Me too, I am excited. Tarheel Trojan

At first look the schedule doesn't look all that impressive. However, having VT makes up for the others. San Joses State usually has a very good football team every four years so 2008 sounds about right. In 2005 they pushed us. I am not that familiar with NMS. Those qb and receiver stats do sound good for sophs, regardless of the competion. That W. Michigan thing is lame, but if the Big 10 guys get credit for whupping up on them, so should you. Overall, having VT on the schedule legitimizes everything else. Very few big programs want to go out of conference and play someone on that level. Congratulations on that contract. I wish we would be playing you more than these two games. It could be a great annual game between big time programs. I don't mean every year, but not every 50 years like it is now. Bottom line, from my point of view your 08 schedule with VaTech looks better than a lot of the other big name programs out there (not to mention names but they tend to be in the Big Ten). TarheelTrojan

Congratulations to Adam Carriker. He deserved the high draft. In my opinion, your D line was the best we faced this year, and Adam the best of the bunch. I know you Husker faithful are rightly proud of him. By the way, I was also very impressed with one of your linebackers last year, McKeon. (Did I spell that right). He is very good. Wasn't it sweet watching Quinn sink. Dwayne Jarrett deserves a low pick. He has a very poor work ethic. Despite his denials he may be another Mike Williams from USC. I hope not. Mike let us down. Tarheel Trojan

Carpenter? I think you mean Keller. By George I think that may have been a little dig? Even if un-intentional it was still good! (Considering the 'talk' that our backup, Ganz, may actually be competition for the job!!!) Fan4USC I have had the same problem with ticket prices. The only thing I have found on the WEB starts at $440 and the seat is in Kansas! Thats why I will be watching the game on TV. If you can find tickets for less, be sure to let me know also. One reason I would like to be at the game is to see if the Husker fans are as nice at home as they say they are. They were very nice as visitors in LA last year. It's just hard to believe that in today's age people can still be nice. Its OK to be rabid and pumped up. I'm not into that laid back stuff either. Don't get me wrong Huskers, I believe your clean reputation, but I sure would like to see it first hand. TarheelTrojan

I think you have hit on a big reason for east coast bias. If they don't see you play how can they evaluate you? That leaves only the bowl games to compare, and that is not a fair comparison. Some teams just don't respond well after the layoff. Forget about that 52 day layoff crap the Michigan fans complained about. You can see it during the regular season when a team has an off week. Some teams it helps, others it harms. For example, we have an off week before we play you guys Sept 15th. Traditionally Pete Carroll has done well with that extra time (sorry for the bad news). But with that in mind after the 2005 USC-Texas championship game some SC players admitted they came back from the holidays out of shape. That could have been excuses, but we didn't play our best game against Texas (No excuses, we still had a chance to win and didn't). It seems everybody west of the Mississippi is forgotten by the dominant media. As I watch PAC-10 ball, I am amazed at the comments I hear when some national channel covers one of our games late in the season to here a comment like this:"This is the first time I have seen them play and they (or he) is really good!" First of all they have access to everybody's game film, why can't they review Big 12, PAC-10, WAC, etc,? They have the time. Are they watching Big 10 and SEC game film over and over? There really is no excuse. In addition to your point about face time on TV, I think a lot of these analysts are to lazy to do all their homework. They report on what they're familiar with and assume if they are not familiar with it, it must not be as good. I'm with you on how ridiculous it must have been to watch Purdue-Indiana and not be able to see Texas-OU.

I think one of the big factors behind the bias is television coverage. The Big Ten and the SEC completely outworked the Big 12 in getting television contracts. This is also often given as reason for the Pac 10 not getting respect, late games on crappy channels. Meanwhile, even fewer games may be shown: League seeking to fill TV void With regional coverage, I may only be able to see one or two Nebraska games here. I guess I can look forward to more exciting match ups like Illinois v. Indiana: An intriguing matchup between a recruiter who can't coach and a coach who couldn't get anyone to come to his school even if he could recruit. Great call. There have been so many times where I've been subjected to inferior big 10 games because of our TV contracts. A couple years ago, instead of the Texas-OU game, I had to watch Indiana against Purdue. I wasn't pleased, to say the least.

CowboyBob, Thanks, I really mean it. I've looked at SC websites about tickets and the prices are just out of reach for me. Some day I will get the see the Big Red play in Lincoln. You bring up a very good valid point. California, Texas, Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania have the talent, so there is an instate advantage for those colleges. However, all those states produce more quality recruits than the state schools can matriculate. The excess numbers (not necessary less talented) go elsewhere. Nebraska is not that far from Texas, so I would go after that pool of talent. I was stationed in Fort Riley, Kansas for 6 months so I am familiar with your area. I have never been to Nebraska but I think geographically and culturally they are similar (stick with me here I don't want to insult anyone or stir up some local stuff I am not aware of). But there are some kids who want to stay closer to home, and some kids who are intimidated by big city programs like USC. I'm a North Carolina country boy and I understand that. Yes, I have heard Nebraska is a great place to raise a family (actually I am considering retiring there just because of that down home flavor with big time college sports) I'm sure there are recruits who cold be "sold" on that easily. You would have to "sell" them, however. Even with that said, your main point is the time to turn around will take longer. However, if you have read the book, "Tipping Point", its been documented that the sudden change for the better can happen rapidly despite the factors you mention. So don't resign yourself to a long time table. I would like nothing better than to see us play you guys with us ranked #1 (I had to pick us first, you know the loyalty stuff and all), and you guys #2, and scared to death if we didn't play our best game we would be run out of the stadium. I don't see why that couldn't happen soon. Besides, every time I go back to LA, I enjoy it less and less. Except for the SC campus, I really don't enjoy being there that much and I find myself asking myself, why would any one want to live here. Maybe its my age, but I can't help but think that some great talent out there thinks the same thing. Many people think of LA and see of Manns Chinese Theater, Hollywood, Disneyland, Movies, Georgeous weather (you wouldn't believe winter there) etc and go all wild eyed. Other people think of LA and see Smog, The Land of the Fruits, Nuts, & Flakes, Gridlock Traffic, and just plain Weird. I think the negatives of LA would offset the positives if you sold NU AND Linclon as a package deal. SC campus is beautiful, but just outside its gates is SouthCentral LA! Don't get me wrong, I love the place, but there are ways to position yourself for the kid who isn't interested in LA LA land. Thanks for your reply. Hope you go to the game and enjoy yourself Sept. 15h. Fight On! TarheelTrojan

Hey Husker Nation, I have been reading various NU blogs for several weeks, and I'm hearing a lot of pain. As a Trojan I want to remind you we were down and out for about 12 years before Pete Carroll turned things around. Look at our record the past 5 years and we look great. But I remember the 1991 USC season. We finished 3-8 and lost to Memphis State! You talk about being in the dumps. But guys, Nebraska is a school of champions. You are a class act. When Pete Carroll came, signs started appearing in the stands, "we believe". You have to keep the faith, you are not that far away from the glory years like the past. I remember wondering if we would every get back to the top, now I almost take it for granted. I have two kids who graduated from SC. The oldest never saw USC beat UCLA, the youngest never saw USC lose to UCLA. Things can happen that fast when you have the right combination of talent and coaching. You are almost there. Don't get negative on yourselves. Another motto SC has is "Living the Dream". Some of you aren't living the dream, you're sleep walking. Besides USC, I have been a distance fan of Nebraska and Alabama my whole life. It pains me to hear what I am hearing. I look at the banner at the top of this page and I see 43 bowl games, 92 All-Americans, 5 national titles, and 48 conference titles, and I don't know how many Heismans. You've been there before, you will be there again. Last year I read where two PAC-10 players from different schools said something to the effect that they were looking forward to the SC game because USC was the standard to measure your self. Well I'm telling you, we are looking forward to the Nebraska game as a standard of measure. That "N" on that helment means something, and you had better believe when the cardinal and gold show up in Lincoln Sept 15th they will be aware of who you are. Thats respect.

I would like to add something to the "who is the best conference". I am a USC guy, and I agree with the East Coast bias stuff. I think the PAC 10 doesn't get the credit they should, and Notre Dame gets more than they deserve. When you compare conferences what is your standard? For example, if you asked what is the world's tallest building, you could legitimately get three correct, verifiable, answers. The reason is that there are three standards used. One measures to the tallest occupied floor. Another standard measures to the top of the building. The final one measures to the top of the structure, i.e. towers on the top. You can look at football conferences the same three (or more!) ways. This past year (not necessarily always) my bias is the PAC 10 as the best conference. I think the top three teams last year in the PAC 10, (USC, Cal, & Oregon State) were as good as the top three in any conference at the end of the year. For example, the smear the PAC-10 gets every year is they are finesse, but not physical. Well, Cal handled "physical" Texas A&M handily in their bowl this past season. Yet Stanford ranks down there with Duke in the ACC . The best team in North Carolina wasn't even in the ACC, it was Appalachian State. I do think the Big Ten was vastly, vastly overrated last year. If you use the top three teams as your standard, in addition to the PAC 10, I think the Big East was as good as the SEC (blasphemy I know!). The ACC was mediocre at best. I think the Big-12 (don't stone me) was below the PAC-10, Big East, and SEC. Like someone said earlier, where were your big wins against legitimate outside competition last year? Well, there's my eye's view from North Carolina with my heart in California. Nebraska is a great program with a great tradiiton, and great fans (mostly). Hope you beat Texas next year. I am really looking forward to our game next September. Our team will be better than last year, but I think the home field advantage will make it a very close game. Its a game we could, but shouldn't lose. Fight On! TarheelTrojan