HuskerfaninOkieland Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 San Jose Mercury News Better Nebraska than Tennessee for the Spartans By Jon Wilner Mercury News Article Launched: 09/03/2008 09:46:57 PM PDT This was supposed to be Tennessee Week for San Jose State. The Spartans were supposed to play Tennessee in Knoxville on Saturday. But Coach Dick Tomey wanted no part of the Volunteers, so he scheduled Nebraska at Nebraska instead. The snake pit instead of the lion's den? "It's crazy to go to Nebraska,'' Tomey said Tuesday. "But it's double-crazy to go to Tennessee.'' He thinks the Spartans can beat Nebraska, and he's right. Double-right. San Jose State, which almost lost to UC-Davis last weekend, is a 27-point underdog against the Cornhuskers. It would be an upset, sure, but not a Stanford-over-USC upset "... not if you consider Tomey's history in games like this, his history with Nebraska and the state of the Nebraska program. "Are we good enough to win? Sure,'' Tomey said. "The best team doesn't win. The team that plays the best wins.'' The Spartans certainly have a better chance to outplay Nebraska than Tennessee, which was put on the schedule by former SJSU athletic director Chuck Bell. After Tomey took charge of the program in December 2004, he worked with Bell's successor, Tom Bowen, to revamp the schedule. They focused on playing teams from the Mountain West Conference, signed up USC (2009) and UCLA (2011) to gain in-state exposure — the Spartans recruit heavily in the Los Angeles basin — and asked out of so-called "body bag'' games at Louisiana State, Florida and Tennessee. Volunteers Coach Phil Fulmer, a good friend of Tomey's, was amenable to the change so long as SJSU found a replacement. When Northern Illinois agreed to play in Knoxville, the Spartans were free to look elsewhere. For several reasons, Tomey looked to Lincoln: >>It's not as far as Knoxville, not as humid as Knoxville and definitely not as hostile as Knoxville. (Passionate as they are, Cornhuskers fans are among the most polite in college football.) >>Tomey is familiar with Nebraska, having coached at Memorial Stadium several times and beaten the Cornhuskers a decade ago while at Arizona. >>At the time, the Huskers were struggling under Coach Bill Callahan and his West Coast offense. Callahan was dismissed in November and replaced by defensive specialist Bo Pelini. Although the Cornhuskers demolished Western Michigan last week, they aren't nearly as talented as the great Nebraska teams of the 1980s and '90s. Meanwhile, SJSU has several defensive players (cornerbacks Coye Francies and Chris Owens, linebacker Justin Cole and linemen Jeff Schweiger and Jarron Gilbert) who could play for the Cornhuskers, perhaps even start. Then again, the Spartans needed a last-seconds touchdown to beat Davis. Their quarterback (Kyle Reed) is making the first start of his career. Their line is a mess, and their running game is on life support. A mistake here, a bad decision there, and it could be over by halftime. Difficult as the assignment appears, Tomey faced an even tougher challenge 16 years ago at Arizona. One week after tying a dreadful Oregon State team, the Wildcats ventured to Miami to face the defending national champions. Under Dennis Erickson, Miami had won 46 consecutive home games and featured future Heisman Trophy winner Gino Torretta and All-American Warren Sapp. Arizona, a 271/2-point underdog, lost on a missed field goal in the final seconds. So, yes, Tomey is in his element this week. "We've got a shot,'' he said, "but you have to take your shot.'' Check out Jon Wilner's College Hotline at blogs.mercurynews.com/collegesports. Contact him at jwilner@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5716. Quote Link to comment
BOBELIEVER Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 San Jose Mercury News Better Nebraska than Tennessee for the Spartans By Jon Wilner Mercury News Article Launched: 09/03/2008 09:46:57 PM PDT >>Tomey is familiar with Nebraska, having coached at Memorial Stadium several times and beaten the Cornhuskers a decade ago while at Arizona. >>At the time, the Huskers were struggling under Coach Bill Callahan and his West Coast offense. Check out Jon Wilner's College Hotline at blogs.mercurynews.com/collegesports. Contact him at jwilner@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5716. what's this joker talkin' about ?! Quote Link to comment
Ganz4Heisman Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 No way this game will even be close.. except when it starts 0-0 Quote Link to comment
zoogs Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Someone forward this to the team! Stat! Quote Link to comment
zoogs Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 San Jose Mercury News Better Nebraska than Tennessee for the Spartans By Jon Wilner Mercury News Article Launched: 09/03/2008 09:46:57 PM PDT >>Tomey is familiar with Nebraska, having coached at Memorial Stadium several times and beaten the Cornhuskers a decade ago while at Arizona. >>At the time, the Huskers were struggling under Coach Bill Callahan and his West Coast offense. Check out Jon Wilner's College Hotline at blogs.mercurynews.com/collegesports. Contact him at jwilner@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5716. what's this joker talkin' about ?! Dick Tomey will be telling his boys to stop the option, then. "Don't worry, they don't throw much." Quote Link to comment
Micheal Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 i just laughed while reading that. i know they gotta think they can win but, come on, they barely beat uc davis or w/e. but nebraska cant overlook the spartans or anyone Quote Link to comment
papersun87 Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Wow, and I thought WE were Kool Aid drinkers. Quote Link to comment
BIGREDFAN_in_OMAHA Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Well he was right that the weather is supposed to be nice on Saturday. He has that part of his master plan going for him. Quote Link to comment
Dundermifflinite Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 San Jose Mercury News Better Nebraska than Tennessee for the Spartans By Jon Wilner Mercury News Article Launched: 09/03/2008 09:46:57 PM PDT >>Tomey is familiar with Nebraska, having coached at Memorial Stadium several times and beaten the Cornhuskers a decade ago while at Arizona. >>At the time, the Huskers were struggling under Coach Bill Callahan and his West Coast offense. Check out Jon Wilner's College Hotline at blogs.mercurynews.com/collegesports. Contact him at jwilner@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5716. what's this joker talkin' about ?! Definately the writers fault. Tomey was on Sports Nightly last night and talked about playing Frank in 1998. Quote Link to comment
DeathCultArmaggedon Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 San Jose Mercury News Better Nebraska than Tennessee for the Spartans By Jon Wilner Mercury News Article Launched: 09/03/2008 09:46:57 PM PDT >>Tomey is familiar with Nebraska, having coached at Memorial Stadium several times and beaten the Cornhuskers a decade ago while at Arizona. >>At the time, the Huskers were struggling under Coach Bill Callahan and his West Coast offense. Check out Jon Wilner's College Hotline at blogs.mercurynews.com/collegesports. Contact him at jwilner@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5716. what's this joker talkin' about ?! I was confused when I first read this as well, but I think he is referring to when SJSU put us on the schedule (i.e., we were struggling at under Bill Callahan when SJSU decided to play us). I do agree, the mention of the 80s in the previous paragraph muddles the water. Quote Link to comment
SOCALHUSKER Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 San Jose Mercury News Better Nebraska than Tennessee for the Spartans By Jon Wilner Mercury News Article Launched: 09/03/2008 09:46:57 PM PDT >>Tomey is familiar with Nebraska, having coached at Memorial Stadium several times and beaten the Cornhuskers a decade ago while at Arizona. >>At the time, the Huskers were struggling under Coach Bill Callahan and his West Coast offense. Check out Jon Wilner's College Hotline at blogs.mercurynews.com/collegesports. Contact him at jwilner@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5716. what's this joker talkin' about ?! Definately the writers fault. Tomey was on Sports Nightly last night and talked about playing Frank in 1998. The writer wasn't trying to say that 10 years ago Tomey was at Arizona and they beat Callahan while he was at Nebraska, he just wrote it confusing. What he meant was when they scheduled the game they were confident they could beat Nebraska because 1) Tomey had beaten Nebraska 10 years earlier and also when it was scheduled 2) the Huskers were struggling under Callahan's West Coast Offense. Make sense? Though I understand their logic somewhat, I still can't wait to see the Husker's completely beat that ass on Sat. After reading this article and after having watched Tennessee get beat by UCLA, I just laugh at any notion that because a team is in the SEC they are so great talent wise and have such a hostile environment. WHATEVER!!! Just because a crowd of 85,000 are nice people doesn't mean they create a friendly environment, oh well, we'll see what happens on gameday, Go HUSKERS Quote Link to comment
Reebsker Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Wow, and I thought WE were Kool Aid drinkers. I think someone may have spiked his Kool-Aid. Quote Link to comment
T_O_Bull Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 I don't want to overlook anyone. I still remember times when some school with no chance to win came in and gave us a game. I seem to remember last week when WMU piled up a lot of yards passing. A missed assignment here and a turnover there and that's how upsets are made. GO BIG RED T_O_B Quote Link to comment
Igetbored216 Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 I don't want to overlook anyone. I still remember times when some school with no chance to win came in and gave us a game. I seem to remember last week when WMU piled up a lot of yards passing. A missed assignment here and a turnover there and that's how upsets are made. GO BIG RED T_O_B Yep. And the Husker secondary did not look good last week. Hopefully they can tie up some loose ends this week! Go freakin' Huskers! Quote Link to comment
junior4949 Posted September 4, 2008 Share Posted September 4, 2008 Wasn't Arizona and Penn State the preseason favorites to win the NC in 1998? I think Arizona was the first that year to lay an egg and ended up losing like 4 games. Quote Link to comment
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