CelticRover20

I came late to Nebraska football: I married a Lincoln girl who helped me to understand what passion really is. In the time I've become a Husker fan, I watched national titkles come (and go...) and I watched a negative transformation appear at a college where I never thought such a thign would ever occur. Grant Winstrom, and every other player who, as he said, "wore the N," knwe what it took to be not just a winner, but a NATIONAL winner at that. Topday, very few athletes understand the true gift, the true reward that comes form hunkering down in oractice and doing the same thing time after time after time until it is done perfectly. Three national championships in four years has never been equaled. Be grateful, Husker fans, because you really do have a coach of the same stature as Tom Osborn. Bo might, or maybe he won't win three NCs at Nebraska, but he will go down fighting because he is the same type of coach as Winstrom and company were as players. And as new Husker fan, my vote's on Bo.

The wife and watched the game on the telly in our home in Louisville, Kentucky. She hid her eyes and I watched. Have to admit, I thought he'd miss the kick and doubted Henery even had the foot to make it to the end zone because the distance seemed so great. And there was the wind factor as well, if I recall. If I remember correctly, didn't Bo call a time out (or was it Colorado?) and we saw Bo pull Henery to the side and say something to him. So, he boots the ball and I bet my motherinlaw in Lincoln heard my roar as I watched the ball sail thru the uprights. WHAT A KICK!! Then later, to see Suh roll over Hawkins, that was awesome! I've been to several Nebraska home games and two bowl games and I know how loud it can get. I'm amazed that everyone who was at Memorial that day didn't leave with some level of hearing damage! Can you imagine what people OUTSIDE the stadium must have thought when the kick made it and then when Suh scores his TD? Great game Huskers: you're on your way back to 'ORDER RESTORED!"

yes, Street Novelist, as a matter of fact, I DO think I'm funny and can't imagine anything worse than Callahan coming back! Here's a list of the top ten reasons I think would happen should Callahan return: 10. Bringing Callahan back makes K-State look like a powerhouse (The more “powerhouses” you have , the stronger the conference seems 9. Bringing Callahan back ensures Nebraska summers will be cooler (his attitude toward you “hillbillies, remember?) 8. Callahan just confirms it as universal knowledge that Tom Osborne is THE football god of American style football. (remember, TO had NOTHING to do with that hire...) 7. Callahan proves the West Coast Offense belongs on the west coast. 6. Rehiring Callahan sends a sonic boom across the prairie when all 1.8 million Nebraskans simultaneously utter the sound, “HUH?” 5. Colorado fans are heard to say “YES! We’ll win at least ONE game next year!” 4. New York Jet fans send every Nebraskan a fruit basket for taking Callahan away from their team. 3. Callahan returns and Nebraskans no longer have to count Memorial Stadium as the 3d largest city in the state on game day. (can you say North Platte or Hastings??) 2. Nebraskans ask Callahan to return to replace Benji, the State Clown 1. Callahan takes his rightful place atop the Capital Building and becomes the new, official cap for the “Penis of the Prairie.” God, I crack myself up!

OKay...it's winter. You're bored. The Spring Game is still some months away. Recruiting is just about over. And although I'm not a Nebraska native (I married one, though and she's as knowledgeable about NU football as anyone else I've ever met) I thought to myslef, "Hey...I wonder what the TOP TEN reasons (kinda like Letterman and his "Top Ten") would be for bringing Callahan back as head coach at NU. Here's one: Bringing Callahan back at least makes K-State look like a powerhouse. Any takers??

Two points: Nebraska deserves to be ranked somewhere between numbers 21 - 25, and the answer to whether or not the BCS should have a playoff receives a resounding YES from me. NU beat a Clemson team that was ranked number 9 when it played Alabama at the beginning of the season. That game alone sent Bama on its way to an eventual number one ranking, which Lou Saban and team held for five weeks. And that came during the crunch time of the season, the final six weeks when everyone is really scrambling to either be in thier conference playoff (not you, Big 10) or for a bowl game assignment. So, Nebraska beating Clemson really is a bigger win than you might think when you examine the victory under a microscope. As for Utah going undefeated and beating Bama in the end? Well, that fact alone proves the the BCS needs some form of playoff system. Utah beat Bama, and the "Tide" ain't no slouch team anymore! How long have SEC fans been screaming that they have the best college football teams in the nation? Forever! Well, dang it, if the football in the SEC, the PAC-10, or even the Big 12 is really that good, then the NCAA and the BCS need to put thier tiny, acorn-sized brains together and figure out a way for the top six, or even top eight teams to meet on successive Saturdays and duke it out. A playoff system to determine the national champion in football is the only way we're ever all going to agree who deserves the national chanpionship and who doesn't. If you think I'm wrong call up Mac Brown at Texas or Pete Carrol at USC and ask them about a playoff system. I bet they'd agree to one now. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

East Coast bias. That's funny: whenever I ask my wife why NU doesn't get the respect it deserves, she ALWAYS says it's because of an east coast bias. I'm orginally from Virginia (we live in KY now...freakin' SEC territory) which is ACC land. Maybe she's right. We certainly never saw NU on the television unless it was some big game while I was growing up.

My wife and I were talking about Nebraska QBs. She grew up in Lincoln, attended grad school at NU,a nd is one of the most knowledgeable women I know when it comes to football and I should know because I'm a former football coach. I asked her who was the best NU QB ever, and without hesitation, she said Tommie Frazier. I questioned her about Jerry Tagge, Eric Crouch, even Scott Frost and Turner Gill. She said overall, even though he had some exceptional company, Tommie Frazier, hands down. Comments?

Allen: first, welcome to Huskerboard. Like you, I didn't grow up in Lincoln either, but did marry a rabid, "my blood is Husker red" Lincoln girl who turned me on to Nebraska football. Actually, my home is in Virginia (I now live in Kentucky) and so, like you, we didn't receive too many Husker games on regular TV. Here's two bits of advice: First, you listen to what Huskernumerouno says because I HAVE been to Lincoln and Memorial Stadium several times for games and the atmosphere there is, in a word, amazing. I've been to many college football games but the Nebraska pre-game atmosphere, the behavior of the fans during the games, and how they applaud the other team's effort is something you must experience. Secondly, look on your cable's pap-per-view channel and see if ESPN or some other channel is offering a gameday package of games that might include Nebraska on the slate for that day. That's what we have to do in Louisville whenever Nebraska's game isn't broadcast nationwide. The cost isn't that bad and you actually get an entire day's worth of games for a small price. But get to Lincoln, my new friend, and you'll see something that will stop you in your tracks. I mean, heck, everytime I go to memorial Stadium for a game, I meet friendly people who showed me where I was suppose to be sitting, I made new friends, and I adopted a new favorite major college football team (My heart still lies with William and Mary, though, where I graduated...). And it's still possible to get tickets on gameday if you're willing to take the chance and travel to Lincoln. Remember, a sell-out, which Nebraska does EVERY game just means all the tickets were sold. Each time we walk up to our gate to enter the stadium, there's always been someone standing outside the stadium selling tickets. You might have to pay a bit extra for them, but it's worth the extra cost. So, welcome, and go big Red!

Okay, two comments. The first goes to OLDMAN...I hear what you're saying, my fellow Husker fan, but only partially agree with you. Yes, I agree in that "in this day and age its hard to motivate the Xbox 360 athletes" but I disagree that winning isn't that important. To a real athelete, winning is ALWAYS important and I believe, in my short time as a Husker fan (I married into the Husker family in 1996 and I know that's only a speck in time compared to some of you guys) that winning is STILL important to any Husker player. I cointinue to WANT to believe that, anyway. Win-loss records don't measure the importance of winning in a young man's heart, it only measures whether or not he performed better or worse on a given day than the opposing player. True, in the more recent past, particularly during the failed years of the Callahan period, it appeared as if the players were playing with less heart than the national championship teams of the '90s. But who could blame those players? They were recruited by and played for a man who was an automaton, a machine of a coach who knew or cared little about Husker tradition and who did NOTHING to become a true and integral part of the Nebraska tradition. But who, really, can ever match the intensity of those five national championship teams who absolutely ruled college football? I attended last year's K-State game and even though there was a scoring marathon going on in that game, it was still a matter of the Nebraska players (and the K-state players, for that matter) wanting to WIN. It's all about desire which cannot be confused with ability. But, please, Oldman, my words are not meant to criticize: They are intended only to suport a portion of your point. Secondly is the running up the score issue that many Nebraska fans believe Mike Leach at Texas Tech possibly plans to do against NU. If he does, is it any different than when Nebraska ran up the score against it's former opponents? Now before everyone jumps up my southern regions about that comment, I only mean it in that I recall Coach Tom putting in the 2d, 3d and sometimes 4th stringers and those guys scored because they were still better than the opposing team's first team. But what was Coach Tom to do: Stop a player who was doing his best to move up to 1st string? Were the 2d, 3d, or 4th stringers supposed to drop flat, inches from the goal line? No, that's not reality. So, I think the running up the score issue works many ways, but Nebraska fans should, in my opinion (which if you add my opinion and fifty cents, you can buy a coke, that's the value of most people's opinions) recall that with parity now a major part of all college sports because of scholarship limits and so on, there are going to be schools who can not and will not forget the trouncing the former Nebraska teams placed on them. And when Nebraska comes to town, or when some other team comes into Memorial Stadium and the NU team is in it's rebuilding phase as it is now, then you can expect scoreboard payback from certain teams such as Missouri or Texas Tech, two teams Nebraska has traditionally beaten to bloody pulps. The true measure of a sportsman, however, is taking the defeat, regardless of the score, and building from that. As for Bo, well, if Texas Tech runs up the score, I think Bo will remember the man who hired him and he will, like Tom Osborne, represent Nebraska proud. Then next year, or the year after when NU football is back again as a player on the national scene, and is feared again, then Bo can do whatever he wants and it will be like old times when NU didn't dare to lose at home and when the other team wished the Husker plane had broken down and not be able to deliver them to Norman or Missouri, or wherever. Let TT run up the score: somewhere down the road, they too shall regret it. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

In my opinion (of which that and fifty cents will buy you a coke) I think it all comes down to two things: sportsmanship, or the lack thereof, and the legacy of Nebraska fans. IF (and I think that's a BIG "IF") a Nebraska player actually spit on Chase Daniels, then prove it, Mr. Daniels, or simply sut up. Name the player and don't think that just because you don't that not doing so makes you a better sportsman. Bo and the Missouri coach allegedly discussed the incident over the phone and Bo, if memory serves me, stated the issue was being handled. My guess is that Chase Daniel got caught up in a lie and realized too late he had publicly stated something he realized he could not retract. I mean, he had all the microphones in his face (Which he cretainly seems to enjoy...another Terrel Owens type of persona. God save us!) and suddenly had his forum. He's a spoiled little boy caught in a big boy's world and he wants to enjoy these last, fleeting moments of noteriety before the lights fade and he's forced to scramble around some NFL backfield with someone like Warren Sapp or Grant Wistrom chasing his butt and preparing to welcome him to the NFL by pushing his brain six inches deep into the turf. But, for the sake of fairness, let's say a Nebraska player DID spit on Daniels. That then speaks more of the player than the fans. I've been to your stadium and I've witnessed Big Red fans cheering for the other team. If a current player spit on Chase Daniel, THAT Husker player was a Callahan-recruited player, not a Bo-recruited player. You are what you are and any player who wears the red of Nebraska certainly wouldn't have spit on an opposing player while Osborne or Solich were the head coaches. So, realize what you have on the team: a collection of players who suffered under Callahan but who MIGHT NOT reflect nor possess the sportsmanship qualities Nebraskans are accustomed too. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

In a way, the comments here about Bo are very much tied in with another thread about Nebraska fans. I didn't see the press conference (we live in Kentucky and had to get the game on ppv) but from the comments I read about him "calling a spade a spade" I'd say that in my opinion, that's what Nebraska fans wanted from the head coach of a major college football program. You had Callahan and how many press conferences did he conduct that left you wanting more? How many vague phrases did Callahan need to utter before his words began to sound the same as the press conference before, and the one before that, and so on? With Bo Pellini, you know what you get and that's the truth, even if it is brutally honest. Nebraska fans want to be a player, a major player, again in the ever elusive hunt for a national championship: For that to happen, you better hope the head coach is being as open and honest with you as possible. You call yourself the best fans in college football, and having experienced several games at Memorial Stadium and a few bowl games to boot, I'd have to agree that Nebraska fans are the finest, and most courteous, and, in contrast to their nasty counterparts in Boulder, supportive of the exemplerary play, of the effort, of the competition. Now, you must be a fan of the coach and he must know you support him. You welcomed Bo Pellini when he was hired: now is the time to welcome his honesty as well.

"People used to fear coming in to play us, not because we were so physically gifted, but because they knew it was going to be four quarters where we never stop coming, and that's intimidating. That's what we need to get back to." - Trev ALberts. Read those words again, slowly if you must. I've been a Husker fan since I married a Lincoln girl (I'm from Virginia) and I STILL remember, even before we married, the type of football Nebraska has always prided itself on. I mean, let's be realistic here...Nebraska has had it's offensive marvels: Tommie Frazier, Mike Rozier, Eric Crouch, Johnnie Rogers to name a few (and before anyone jumps up my arse and reminds me there are thousands of other former Nebraska players who were great on offense, please remember NU games were not shown on TV in my small east coast town. I'm speaking from current memory here). But how many of those offensive guys went on to great NFL careers? On the other hand, look at players such as Grant Wistrom or Carlos Polk who played in the NFL and made their physical presence well known. But what I remember the most about NU football BEFORE I became a real Husker fan is the defense it played and how that defense, all eleven players, were simply maniacs dressed in football uniforms. As a high school football defensive backs coach in Kentucky, I showed Nebraska highlight films to my players to prove how determination and dedication can win over size, speed, and hype nine out of ten times. What Trev Alberts is saying is the same thing Doctor Tom said last year just moments before he announced Bo Pelinni's hiring, and that was that in the past when Nebraska played ANYONE, the opposing players hurt for weeks afterward and every bruise and bump they carried with them from Lincoln or from their own stadiums after playing Nebraska was a physical reminder that there would be more of the same thing the next time they played Big Red, and the time after that, and the time after that and so on and so on. Give Bo a chance, as I know the people of Nebraska are doing, to do two things: First, give him the time to build an all-Bo recruited team in Lincoln and see what happens then. Bo is a defensive genius as evidenced by LSU's crushing of Ohio State last year. Does anyone really think LSU won the national championship only because Les Miles was the head honcho? No, it was defense that killed OSU and that defense was led by Bo. I can't even begin to count the number of times I've discussed Nebraska football with ANYONE and the discussion DID NOT end on the topic of Nebraska's always-famous defense. Secondly, watch what happens when every player finally buys into what Bo and his staff are selling. There are still some of Callahan's recruits on the team and it goes without saying that their young minds may still be in the Callahan "Who cares about tradition?" mode. Give Bo three years and see then where NU is ranked. Possibly, the team may be ranked again this year, at least somewhere in the top 25. And isn't that a start, a beginning of what the state wants? Look at Florida State: They're back, or at least are coming back after a few years at the bottom. So I agree with Trev ALberts: defense is what NU needs to get back to and when they do, when the Black Shirts are feared again as they once were, then may the lord of football have mercy on anyone who gets in their way. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Living in Kentucky, neither of the first two games were broadcast here. We could't even get the games on the radio, so my wife and I are at a loss as to how the games really went. How did the offense look? Did Watson show any brillance in his play calling? What about the defense? I've read some of the threads on other topics, but it's hard to tell just how things went. What about the crowd? Were they into the game? Was there any of the loud sarcasm that was evident everytime I attended a Callahan-coached game? How was the exit from the tunnel? What's the word on the Va. tech game? Geez, it's a female dog being in the dark here in the bluegrass state. SOMEBODY HELP US!

The essence of your letter, and certainly that of the responses provided by Dr. Tom and Trev Alberts is something I learned simply by marrying the right woman. I'm from Virginia - born and raised - but when I met and eventually married a Nebraska girl, I was exposed to the "Nebraska way." At first, I had no idea what that meant, but when she and I met, the Huskers were in the midst of owning college football in the 1990s. Now, with absolute certainty, I know what the "Nebraska Way" is and even tout it to my friends here in Kentucky. To me, the Nebraska Way is first determining that you absolutely will not be beat, then putting your head down and going forward, and stopping at nothing short of total success. If that effort requires sacrifice, so be it. If the end goal means sharing in the trials and tribulations of others, then Nebraskans will lend a hand. And when the realization finally sets in that the program, the idea, and the very essence of Nebraska football is so very important to so many people of the Cornhusker State, then count Nebraskans in as a very determined bunch focused on success through hard work, through teamwork, and through believing that success will come and will not be denied. As a high school football coach, those were the basic principles I attempted to instill in my players. As for the University of Nebraska, somewhere along the way, those principles were either lost or given such a low value that the concept of team, as well as the importance of striving for what was valued by the people of an entire STATE was lost. I watched in complete awe during the 1990s as Nebraska did what Dr. Tom described when he stated that the Huskers often left people hurting for weeks after a Saturday game. With the hiring of Peterson, which is where I believe Nebraska began it's fall from grace as a perennial power in college football, to the even more disastrous hiring of Bill Callahan, the "Nebraska Way" dimisnished. The people of the state were left to ask "What happened?" but neither Callahan nor Peterson were willing or able to answer the question or provide a solution to a situation that progressively worsened. But by the grace of God, and perhaps ONLY by the grace of God and the wisdom of Tom Osborne did the Nebraska Way not disappear. I believe in Bo Pellini and I believe in Nebraska football. I've attended two of Nebraska's bowl games (Independence Bowl and Alamo Bowl) as well as numerous games at Memorial Stadium and have stood witness to the amazing atmosphere that is generated by Husker fans and players. I may be an outsider looking in, but I'm glad to be a part of it all. Those are my thoughts.

Trouble called the guy who called into the Jim Rome show a "fkn retard." I have issues with that....why would you insult retards that way? THat's my story and I'm stickin' with it