KC Star analyzes the Patient Husker fan

[Blackshirt]

Posted on Fri, Sep. 17, 2004

 

Blair Kerkhoff

 

Nebraska fans preaching patience … for now

 

BLAIR KERKHOFF'S COLLEGE FOOTBALL

 

With a hand cupped to an ear, I fully expected to hear the echoes of anger drifting from Nebraska after last week's loss to Southern Mississippi.

 

It was the Cornhuskers' first home loss to a non-conference opponent since 1991, the first to an unranked non-league foe since 1977. They're good fans in Nebraska, maybe the nation's best, but they've been known to throw a tantrum every now and then when things don't go their way.

 

So where was the outrage in the fallout of the Huskers' 21-17 loss?

 

Ah, the honeymoon period. With all the change that's swept Nebraska football in the last nine months, patience is part of the new package. It's not that the Big Red followers didn't possess this quality before. They just rarely needed to summon it.

 

On Thursday, some of the most faithful Kansas Citians for Nebraska gathered for breakfast in Overland Park as they always do early each season and talked Husker football. Once the orders got straightened out — did you have the sourdough toast with the Conestoga plate? — so did the Cornhuskers.

 

The consensus: The Huskers have the right coach, keep the faith, pass the sugar. The attitudes were confirmed by an e-mail sampling.

 

Teresa: “I look at it like, get the losses and the errors over with early so we can make the appropriate corrections and still have a decent year.”

 

Norm: “I can honestly say that I was not disappointed with the loss Saturday. What I saw was hope.”

 

Ed: “We're going to have growing pains.”

 

Steve: “I'm willing to accept mediocre football for a year or two believing things will get better ...”

 

Michael: “It gave me a dose of reality. Our offensive players were recruited to run the option. It's unrealistic to think they can be transformed overnight into West Coast offensive players.”

 

Dr. Phil and Oprah would be proud. This is the realistic response. Only the most wildly optimistic would have expected a national championship run a year after the Cornhuskers got pushed around by Kansas State and Texas.

 

Coach Bill Callahan and his newfangled ways are best viewed as an investment, not a lottery winner.

 

Things can change quickly. In 2000, a year after hiring Bob Stoops and reinventing its offense, Oklahoma proved that greatness can be achieved. But the Sooners were an exception. This growth period could take longer.

 

You get the sense the Huskers are willing to wait, which should make Callahan grateful. If these breakfast sentiments are truly reflective of the Nebraska mood, then Callahan won't find himself answering “must-win” questions this season.

 

But it should be noted that these same fans, asked to provide a final record for this year's Huskers, set six victories as the bottom rung. Hey, they may be patient, but they're not Iowa State patient.

 

Nobody's quite sure what to do with quarterback Joe Dailey, except, you guessed it, be patient.

 

Dailey has been a turnover machine in two games, seven interceptions and a fumble. His running out of bounds short of the first down on Nebraska's final snap showed how lost he was against Southern Miss Saturday.

 

There's little Callahan can do about Dailey except coach him up. The top reserve entering fall camp, junior-college transfer Jordan Adams, just returned to practice after having spleen surgery. On Sunday night, Callahan called Dailey just to make sure the world wasn't resting too heavily on his shoulders.

 

Dailey and the Huskers have just as difficult test Saturday, at Pittsburgh.

 

Nebraska figured to emerge from its non-league schedule with no more than one loss, which puts an emphasis on this weekend. Or does it?

 

Teresa: “We're a young squad with a young quarterback all learning a completely new and difficult offense. We're going to have to be patient. For at least one year.”

 

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/s...nce/9684390.htm