Phil Steele predicts Nebraska/LSU in Cotton Bowl

[jimk]

There are too many bowls.

[GMoose]

The prospect of the Big East champ receiving a Fiesta bowl bid is not exciting at all, really a joke that they still have an automatic BCS bid. I would hope that if we make it a one loss Big 10 team (Wisconsin, Michigan State or Ohio), TCU or Boise gets the bid. Considering Iowa managed to get a BCS bid last year with two losses you have to figure there's a chance that a 2 loss SEC team (Arkansas or LSU) could get it too.

That's kinda what I was hoping for...but the Fiesta Bowl has the big 12 tie and, and all has last pickins for at large. Seeing as how this year the Big East is mediocre at best, he's saying that the Big East champs will be the fat kid in the kickball game. Can't say I disagree.

[mnhusker]

I do like how almost everyone is still predicting us to lose the B12 championship if we get there.

 

 

Nothing is a lock, but I'm pretty sure we have a good chance.

 

True, and yet if you look around, a lot of pundits are saying Nebraska is the best team in the Big XII. Hard to say why the dichotomy.

 

 

I agree and if the game were next week I bet we'd be favored ............

 

[Landlord]

If we lose the Big XII Championship game, we will either be a BCS at large pick, or be relegated to the Cotton Bowl. In my opinion, this decides entirely on how Missouri finishes the season.

[BIGREDIOWAN]

Not gonna happen, we are going to the Fiesta Bowl Mr. Steele.

[CornHunka]

Steele also has Texas in the Holiday Bowl, do you think they'll be eligible? They are at K-State and have Florida Atlantic, Okie State and Texas A&M left on the schedule. The way the Horns are playing, those 3 conference games are toss-ups at best, they'll be FAU, but they need at least 1 more win to get bowl eligible and would the Holiday Bowl take 5 loss Texas team? I doubt it.

[Ringer02]

at least the cotton bowl is a night game now, are they trying to make it a bcs game in a few years?

[jsneb83]

So he really believes that Pittsburgh and Wisconsin are going to get BCS at larges instead of us. Now way this happens. If we truely are the #2 Big 12 team by losing in the conference title game then that means we only have 2 loses. We get one of those BCS at larges IMO.

Pittsburgh isn't an at-large in Steele's projection, they're the Big East winner. The Big East is still AQ conference. For now.

it is ridiculous that the big east is an aq. the conference champion should be in the top 15 to automatically get into a bcs game.

 

While that's a plausible scenario, it would've hurt Nebraska last year had they beaten Texas in the CCG. It was a given that if NU won the CCG that we would play in a BCS bowl and we weren't a Top 15 team going into that game.

Yeah but we would have moved into the top 15 after the game if we had beaten them, heck we even went up 2 spots with the loss.

[HUSKER 37]

There are too many bowls.

 

How can there ever be too much football?

 

I agree with some of your sentiment, but would you rather only have the same handful of teams get the extra month or so of practice time each year..Making only the rich getting richer?

[blackshirts5115]

So he really believes that Pittsburgh and Wisconsin are going to get BCS at larges instead of us. Now way this happens. If we truely are the #2 Big 12 team by losing in the conference title game then that means we only have 2 loses. We get one of those BCS at larges IMO.

Pittsburgh isn't an at-large in Steele's projection, they're the Big East winner. The Big East is still AQ conference. For now.

it is ridiculous that the big east is an aq. the conference champion should be in the top 15 to automatically get into a bcs game.

 

While that's a plausible scenario, it would've hurt Nebraska last year had they beaten Texas in the CCG. It was a given that if NU won the CCG that we would play in a BCS bowl and we weren't a Top 15 team going into that game.

Yeah but we would have moved into the top 15 after the game if we had beaten them, heck we even went up 2 spots with the loss.

Ex-Zac-Lee what he says ^

[HUSKER 37]

Just got through watching Monte's Trojan Defense go against Oregon.

 

Licking my chops imagining Bo and Carl getting to try to defend the Ducks..Epic confrontation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Born to coach

 

Before he was coaching Oregon to a Rose Bowl berth this season, Scott Frost played at least a small, if unwilling, role in helping the Ducks advance to their last Rose Bowl 15 years ago.

 

As a sophomore at Stanford, Frost made his first collegiate start at quarterback against the Ducks on Nov. 12, 1994, at Stanford Stadium. He remembers not so fondly, but vividly, his first pass attempt being deflected by UO cornerback Alex Molden and intercepted by linebacker Paul Jensen.

 

Four plays later, Danny O’Neil threw the first of his UO-record six touchdown passes of the game, to Cristin McLemore, and the Ducks were on their way to a 55-21 rout. They would clinch the Pac-10 title a week later with a Civil War win.

 

But Frost also recalled, in detail, that against the Ducks he threw his first touchdown pass to David Shaw — who is now the Stanford offensive coordinator — and he had a 28-yard run for another score.

 

Those would be among his few highlights at Stanford. After that season he opted to move back home to play at Nebraska, where things turned out pretty well for him.

 

His return to the Pac-10 this season, as Oregon’s wide receivers coach, also got off to a rocky start, but things have turned out pretty well here, too.

 

“It’s just been a great first year, and not just because of the highs,” said Frost, 34, who joined the UO staff this year after two seasons at Northern Iowa. “We’ve been through so many highs and lows, and it’s even more fun to accomplish when you’ve tasted the other side of it.”

 

And Frost has.

 

His introduction to many UO fans was during the post-game scrum at Boise State on Sept. 3, when he found himself trying to restrain running back LeGarrette Blount from confronting a group of Boise fans. The incident, of course, was carried live on ESPN, and replayed over and over for the next several weeks.

 

“I think anybody in my position would’ve reacted that way,” Frost said. “I’m just happy for LeGarrette. You know, there’s such a court of public opinion, and these guys are under a microscope way more than other people their age, and that’s good and bad.

 

“But he’s not a bad guy; he just lost his temper in the moment, and I’m really happy for him that he got another chance and he’s made the most of it.”

 

At Nebraska in the fall of 1995, Frost was involved in another nationally scrutinized incident involving star running back Lawrence Phillips, who assaulted his ex-girlfriend after breaking into Frost’s apartment.

 

Frost did not want to discuss details of that incident, or if it affected his reaction to the Blount incident, saying they’re “really unrelated.”

 

“But,” Frost acknowledged, “any time in life you go through experiences, they help you when you move on to something else.”

 

After leading Nebraska to a share of the national championship following the 1997 season, and after six seasons as a defensive back in the NFL, Frost moved on to what seemed natural: coaching.

 

He played for some of the most successful coaches in the history of the game: Bill Walsh at Stanford and Tom Osborne at Nebraska, plus Bill Parcels and Bill Belichick in the NFL.

 

“I’ve really been blessed to be around some people who I could learn a lot from,” Frost said.

 

Osborne, in particular, has remained one of Frost’s biggest influences, both professional and personally.

 

“He’s plain and simple one of the best men I’ve ever met,” Frost said.

 

UO coach Chip Kelly compared Frost’s composed and straightforward coaching style to Osborne’s. Frost has kept in regular contact with the Nebraska coaching legend, who recommended Frost for the position with the Ducks.

 

“He has excellent values,” Osborne said. “He’s a very steady guy. He’s not going to be up and down a lot.”

 

There were a couple of other coaches closer to home who had an influence on Frost. At tiny Wood River (Neb.) High School, his father, Larry, was the head football coach and his mom, Carol, coached receivers and defensive ends.

 

“It’s unique,” Frost said. “But my mom is a special lady. She’s just good at anything she does. It helped me growing up in that environment; I was around coaches my whole life.”

 

Larry Frost played halfback at Nebraska in the late 1960s. Carol Frost was a star in track and field for the Huskers, winning four national discus titles, a gold medal in that event at the 1967 Pan American Games and representing the United States in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.

 

She later served as the head track and field coach at Nebraska, from 1976-80, and tutored Nebraska star Merlene Ottey, the Jamaican sprint champion who would go on to win nine Olympic medals.

 

As a kid, Scott Frost competed in the Junior Olympics in the multi-events, and as a high school senior won the Nebraska shot put title.

 

“I’m a big track fan,” said Frost, who has grown close to UO director of track and field Vin Lananna. “This is the place to go for track, and we’re hoping to get some kids into Oregon that can help both (football and track teams).”

 

Football has always been his first passion, and he had plenty of other notable coaching influences.

 

At Tampa Bay, Frost’s final NFL stop, he said he learned a considerable amount from Mike Tomlin (Pittsburgh) and Raheem Morris (Tampa), who are now both NFL head coaches.

 

His quarterbacks coach at Nebraska, Turner Gill, was named the head coach at Kansas last week. Another Osborne protégé, Gill showed Frost what it means to care for his players, on and off the field.

 

“And I think that goes a lot farther than the approach that some other people take,” Frost said.

 

That style quickly endeared him to the Ducks, even though Frost was particularly tough on his receivers when he first arrived.

 

“It’s like he’s one of us in there,” receiver Jeff Maehl said. “He’s a younger guy, and he gets on the video games with us and stuff. We get together at his house and have a good time. He’s a little kid at heart.”

 

With that approach, plus his deep background on both offense and defense, and a link to some of the nation’s top coaches, Frost is considered by a many a young coach in the rise.

 

He is still passionate about Nebraska — it is home, after all — and Osborne wouldn’t rule out a return to Lincoln at some point.

 

“It could happen,” Osborne said. “But I know he’s very happy at Oregon, and I think he likes Chip Kelly and that staff a lot.”

 

Frost echoed those sentiments.

 

“I love it at Oregon, and I love running this offensive system,” he said. “I have absolutely no desire to leave here.”

 

[krill]

There are too many bowls.

 

I actually like watching the smaller bowls; the GMAC bowl was probably the most exciting bowl game last year. Adding more bowls for the non-AC conferences is not rewarding mediocrity because their overall wins are skewed by impossibly difficult non-conference schedules. So at the end of the year the top 2 or 3 teams in the conference get to take a trip and be on national TV once. I think that's good for everyone.

[jimk]

There are too many bowls.

 

I actually like watching the smaller bowls; the GMAC bowl was probably the most exciting bowl game last year. Adding more bowls for the non-AC conferences is not rewarding mediocrity because their overall wins are skewed by impossibly difficult non-conference schedules. So at the end of the year the top 2 or 3 teams in the conference get to take a trip and be on national TV once. I think that's good for everyone.

 

No don't get me wrong I love football as much as everyone else. When there is talk of not enough 6 win teams to make all the bowl games they lose some of their luster. I mean 6 wins in my opinion isn't enough for a reward. Its possible there could be a 5 win team gets a bowl game this year. Pink participation ribbons for everyone.

[Nexus]

So he really believes that Pittsburgh and Wisconsin are going to get BCS at larges instead of us. Now way this happens. If we truely are the #2 Big 12 team by losing in the conference title game then that means we only have 2 loses. We get one of those BCS at larges IMO.

Pittsburgh isn't an at-large in Steele's projection, they're the Big East winner. The Big East is still AQ conference. For now.

it is ridiculous that the big east is an aq. the conference champion should be in the top 15 to automatically get into a bcs game.

 

While that's a plausible scenario, it would've hurt Nebraska last year had they beaten Texas in the CCG. It was a given that if NU won the CCG that we would play in a BCS bowl and we weren't a Top 15 team going into that game.

Yeah but we would have moved into the top 15 after the game if we had beaten them, heck we even went up 2 spots with the loss.

 

Maybe, maybe not? I was actually basing it off the BCS poll alone and since we were a 3 loss unranked team in the BCS poll, it still might've been hard to crack the Top 15 since Texas was ranked 3rd at the time. If you look at this year's BCS poll, a 2 loss 18th ranked Iowa team only jumped two spots to 16th after defeating an undefeated #5 ranked Michigan St. team. Point is, not a whole lot of movement for defeating a Top 5 ranked team if you already have 2 or more losses under your belt, in which case we had 3 at the time in 2009.

[JTrain]

Has an unranked team ever played a BCS bowl?