Husker football program began slide in 2003

[HuskerDaveTX]

Editor's note: On December 30, 2003, Independent Sports Editor Terry Douglass filed this column from the Alamo Bowl. We are again offering Douglass' column which offered a frank assessment that ironically may be even more valid today.

 

SAN ANTONIO -- As Nebraska's marching band proudly belted out the notes to its most famous song during Monday night's MasterCard Alamo Bowl, it was difficult not to ponder the irony.

 

"There is no place like Nebraska ..." or so the words go. Ironic because, in a football sense, they had always been true.

 

Not anymore.

 

For many of us who were born and raised in Nebraska and cut our teeth on Cornhusker football, it was kind of a bitter-sweet night. It had little to do with NU's 17-3 victory over Michigan State and everything to do with the fact that the game marked the end of Big Red football as we know it.

 

Now, Nebraska will be just like everybody else. Please excuse those of us who aren't quite ready to embrace the thought.

 

While realizing there are many out there who believe that change is the only ingredient necessary to put Nebraska back among college football's elite, making the transition to the "modern" era of football to catch up with the times almost feels like giving in. It's essentially conceding that the Nebraska way isn't good enough anymore -- and maybe it isn't.

 

One of the greatest things about Cornhusker football was that it was unique. It gave a distinct identity to a state that really had none.

 

Ask anyone in any airport across the country and chances are, if they've ever watched a college football game, they can tell you something about Nebraska football. The Huskers were a different animal and they won in the most dominating and satisfying of ways -- with smash-mouth football, with the option, with tough-as-nails Nebraska-boy walk-ons leaving cleat marks on anyone who stood in their way.

 

NU played the game of football the way it was meant to be played. Nebraska lined up and settled things at the line of scrimmage, man to man, and usually came out on top. The Huskers' offense seemed as simple as the block 'N' on their helmets.

 

Now, it seems Nebraska is destined to join the era of basketball on the gridiron. Four-wide receiver sets, formations spread all over the place and throwing the football 'til the cows come home while using the running game just to keep people honest. Tight ends and fullbacks rendered virtually useless.

 

Yuck.

 

How many of these genius-boy offensive schemes have the Blackshirts trashed over the years? Remember Nebraska shoving Steve Spurrier's "Fun 'n' Gun" offense into a place where the sun doesn't shine? You can add Michigan State's spread to the list.

 

These were the kinds of gimmicky offenses Nebraska fans used to make fun of. To run something like that was like checking your manhood at the door.

 

Nebraska was great because of the option. Because of the fullback trap. Because of the pitch to the I-back (who else has an I-back?) to the short side of the field. Because of the play-action pass that always seemed to catch defensive backs napping. Because it didn't take four hours to play a football game.

 

When the Huskers' offense was clicking, it was hip to be square. At its high point, Nebraska took old school and made it way cool.

 

Sometimes those three-yards-in-a-cloud-of-dust plays didn't look so good in the first half, but in the second half, they were golden as the Huskers would just keep pounding away, tiring out their opponents. Next thing you know, a homegrown fullback is busting up the middle for a national championship-clinching touchdown while a group of mighty Hurricanes are sucking air.

 

Nebraska football was about hard work, determination and, above all, consistency. When there was change, it happened slowly.

 

There was a coaching staff where everybody knew their names. Welcome to the future. Assistant coaches will shuffle in and out South Stadium as staff continuity will be replaced by rapid turnover -- just like everybody else.

 

While there's no doubt it's easy to get nostalgic about Nebraska football, it seems that time marches on whether we want it to or not. Childhood memories of how good things used to be are unfortunately doomed to be just that -- memories.

 

They say that the rest of the college football world has passed Nebraska by and that the Cornhuskers' offensive attack belongs in a museum somewhere in college football lore and not on the field. I'll never quite buy that argument because if NU has the right players, it would be just as hard to stop 10 years from now as it was in '83 when the "Scoring Explosion" was racking up points at a dizzying pace.

 

Monday night's game offered no such offensive display, but did show how Nebraska's grind-it-out style -- mixed with some effective passing by quarterback Jammal Lord -- can frustrate opponents by playing keep-away. While Michigan State's defensive players were busy duking it out with relentless left tackle Richie Incognito, the Spartans' high-octane passing attack was left cooling its heels on the sidelines.

 

It was one last snapshot of the way things used to be. You might want to put that one in the scrapbook.

 

All this said, it's impossible to argue that Nebraska football hasn't slipped a notch, which is a fate destined for most programs when a legendary leader like coach Tom Osborne steps aside. A period of recovery time was to be expected.

 

Regardless of who is installed as the next leader of Nebraska football, the lineage has essentially been broken. The connection from Bob Devaney to Osborne to Nebraska's sideline ended when Frank Solich was shown the door.

 

While some felt that improvements had been made and that things were looking up, others believe strongly that drastic change was for the best.

 

For their sake, I hope they're right. Right now, the remodeling project that's about to beset Nebraska football just feels wrong.

 

 

 

Man was he ever right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!