Message board fodder

[HuskerfaninOkieland]

OWH

 

NU offers bulletin board material

BY MITCH SHERMAN

WORLD-HERALD BUREAU

 

LINCOLN — Just when Nebraska-Colorado appeared free of all that once made it a hot rivalry, two prominent Huskers pumped new bad blood into the series on Tuesday.

 

Quarterback Joe Ganz and guard Matt Slauson held little back in discussing their motivation as NU prepares to host the Buffs on Friday in the regular-season finale for both schools.

 

Slauson was the most outspoken.

 

"I've personally never been a big fan of them," Slauson said. "Being recruited there a little bit, they recruit guys there for one reason only, and that's to beat Nebraska. So if you take that away from them, they have nothing."

 

Slauson spent two years at the U.S. Air Force Academy Prep School in Colorado Springs before landing at Nebraska in 2005. He said he made a recruiting visit to Boulder and was surprised to learn of the Buffs' attitude about the Huskers under former coach Gary Barnett.

 

"They would be happy if they lost every game and still beat Nebraska," Slauson said. "They said that when I went there. They said, 'We're here to beat Nebraska.' I'm like, 'Well, shoot, I'm gonna go play for Nebraska. How about that?'"

 

Such banter was common in the not-so-distant past.

 

In recent years, the Big 12 North showdown has lost some luster. Colorado coach Dan Hawkins has not stressed the Nebraska game as much as predecessors Barnett and Bill McCartney.

 

After five straight games decided by three points or fewer, just one of the past seven has been closer than a nine-point margin. The Buffs won three of four over Nebraska between 2001 and 2004. NU won in 2005 and 2006 but lost 65-51 last year in Boulder.

 

That defeat ensured a losing season and cost Nebraska an opportunity to play in a bowl game.

 

Colorado heads to Lincoln on Friday in a similar spot. And the Huskers know it.

 

"It's an absolute redemption game — for me, for the seniors, for everybody who was a part of it last year," said Ganz, who threw for 484 yards but was intercepted three times in his first start against CU. "Absolutely, that's one thing on our mind, to see how they'll like it, sitting at home, watching everybody else play, like we did last year."

 

Nebraska coach Bo Pelini, asked about Ganz's remark, appeared surprised.

 

"I wish Joe would just worry about Joe," Pelini said.

 

Pelini downplayed the impact of last year's result on the meeting this week.

 

"Different things make people tick," he said. "Whatever it is, I'm sure Colorado is more motivated, knowing this could put them into a bowl game. I don't worry about all that. You can want something as much as you want, (but) your deeds and how you go about things better equate to accomplishing that goal.

 

"Ultimately, that game is going to be decided between the lines in who blocks and tackles the best."

 

Good logic from the coach won't stop Slauson from agreeing with Ganz on the bowl-eligibility thing.

 

"Oh, yeah, definitely," said Slauson, whose 33 career starts lead the Huskers. "As a somewhat native of Colorado, I have an extreme distaste for them, and I wouldn't mind keeping them out of a bowl, just like they did to us last year and what they did to us, what was it, '04?"

 

That's right: CU snapped Nebraska's NCAA-record 35-year bowl streak four years ago. So the Buffs had the final say in both NU absences from the postseason since 1968.

 

Perhaps it explains some of the Huskers' hostility. The Buffs, according to Slauson, "seem irrelevant" anymore.

 

Why?

 

"Because they're in the Big 12," he said, "and when you think Big 12 schools you think Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas."

 

The 22-year-old senior paused for a moment during his diatribe to admit that his words amounted to "billboard material."

 

He didn't try to take any of it back, though.

 

Suh, the junior All-Big 12 candidate, took a more analytical approach. Motivation for Suh to beat the Buffs comes from his memory of the loss a year ago.

 

Suh said he remembers thinking after that game that Colorado had just made its season by winning on the day after Thanksgiving.

 

"That is always something that's always stuck with me," Suh said. "That was a tough one."

 

Suh said the incentive to beat Colorado compares to a game against Oklahoma or Missouri.

 

"You definitely are a little bit more fired up for this game," Suh said, "than maybe, say, the K-State game, or something of that sort."

 

Suh is quick to note that he doesn't know what inspired the "bad blood" between Nebraska and Colorado.

 

Still, he said, he enjoys a game under these circumstances.

 

"It really just lit a fire underneath you," Suh said. "Regardless of what the score is — if you're blowing them out or if it's a close game — there's always a fire there just to keep getting after that team."

 

[SkerMin8r]

NOW...go out there and back it up...and i ain't got no problem with it...

[SkullandBones]

"I wish Joe would just worry about Joe," Pelini said.

 

Classic.

[huskersok]

NOW...go out there and back it up...and i ain't got no problem with it...

 

That's the ticket!

[BIGREDIOWAN]

F*&k! I just hope they back it up now......................I'm having flashbacks from a certain cornerback running his chops against USC now. Not that CU is comparable to USC, but you get the point.

[BIGREDFAN_in_OMAHA]

F*&k! I just hope they back it up now......................I'm having flashbacks from a certain cornerback running his chops against USC now. Not that CU is comparable to USC, but you get the point.

AJ was too busy trying to figure out how to pawn his roomies tv so his mind was elsewhere in that USC game.

[LouisianaHuskerFan]

NOW...go out there and back it up...and i ain't got no problem with it...

 

[BigRedPowerWagon]

The more and more i hear pelini talk to reporters the more i think he despises them. I mean how many times when we were down they reporters would ask a question and he woudl say we didnt do enough. I just think he despises stupidy. I handle it a different way and take it in stride. But i think he looks at his players and is like, dont talk smack. And when reporters are asking stupid questions id like to see him toss a michrophone on the ground.

[junior4949]

I really wish they'd have kept their lips zipped. If we lose this game, I'm sure this thread will get very lively. As my pappy always said, "there's no reason to throw gasoline on an already burning fire."

[Apathy]

OWH

 

Nebraska coach Bo Pelini, asked about Ganz's remark, appeared surprised.

 

"I wish Joe would just worry about Joe," Pelini said.

 

 

Sounds like something my dad would say to me.

[Husker_x]

Won't matter.

 

Colorado is as dead as Sonny when he hit that toll booth in Godfather 1.

[Spooky Tooth]

This isn't smack talk. Smack is disrespecting another team, its players or fans. This is two seniors saying that last year was last year and this year it will be different. If anyone at CU wants to make that BB material, I call weak sauce on that.

 

[Blackshirtsguru]

This isn't smack talk. Smack is disrespecting another team, its players or fans. This is two seniors saying that last year was last year and this year it will be different. If anyone at CU wants to make that BB material, I call weak sauce on that.

 

 

Well we all remember Hawks poor attempt with his " the worst day as a Buffalo" banter. So I would not put it past him to blow this message up to the size of road sides and paste them all the way along I-80 leading towards Nebraska.

[holvy83]

Man, I hope Pelini doesn't go all Bobby Knight on reporters! Although that would be hilarious, but hopefully he would have enough respect for the university not to throw a tantrum. He is here to coach, but I think he might have slept thru public speaking at OSU He does just fine, at least he doesn't try to paint a pretty picture like a former coach who shall remain *******.

[huskerjack23]

not to seem tasteless, but if this really is bulletin board material for the buffs, the fact that slauson has a really bad stutter is gonna add to it.