Hope Is A Four-Letter Word

So, the Huskers lost again on Saturday. And once again, the loss was a painful one to watch. This time, however, the pain came in a different form from the previous losses this season. This time instead of coming from seeing my favorite team get embarrassed on the football field, the pain came from the Huskers completely owning #17 Texas for three quarters, only to come up short in the final 15 minutes.

What the hell? Seriously, no one, and I mean no one saw this coming. The Huskers were up 10-3 at the half, then came out on the opening drive of the third quarter and punched Texas in the mouth with a 5 play, 80 yard-touchdown drive that took just 2 minutes and 28 second! They were beating Texas 17-3! WTF?!? Up until that point, I was purposely not letting myself start believing that they could win, but that did it. I started to believe. Which was a mistake, because what happened next became all the more painful to watch as reality finally set in and Texas scored 25 straight points in the final 20 minutes and went on to win 28-25.

How did Texas pull this off? Well, for starters, they pulled their collective head out of their collective ass and finally went to the zone read which Missouri and Texas A&M used so successfully against the Nebraska defense. And guess what? It worked just as well for Texas as it did for them. Texas Running Back Jamaal Charles rushed for 216 yards and three touchdowns in the fourth quarter alone. One guy, 216 yards, in one quarter. Which brings me to the second reason Texas was able to come back and win. You see, while Texas made adjustments, once again Nebraska didn't. And once again, their inability to make adjustments lost them the game.

Sigh.

I wish that I could say that this game made me feel better about this Nebraska squad. After all, the defense looked completely different for most of the game. They were blitzing and playing with a fire and enthusiasm that I haven't seen all season, not to mention the fact that they kept Texas out of the endzone for three quarters. Marlon Lucky looked great running the football for the first time since Nebraska played Nevada, and against Texas no less. Sam Keller went 23 of 35 for 298 yards with 2 TD's with no interceptions. Hell, even the offensive line looked good for once, blocking and creating huge lanes for Marlon Lucky. There was plenty to be impressed by. But like I said, this game did not make me feel any better for my Huskers, if anything it made me feel worse.

Some may wonder why I would take no pleasure in a close loss to a ranked opponent. Well, for starters, they still lost. Second, despite an inspired defensive performance, they still gave up 545 yards. Third, it was week 9 people! Week 9! If Nebraska played Texas to open Big XII play and played like this, I would have had a totally different reaction, but this game just added to another loss in a four game slide. The first 4 game slide Nebraska has had in 46 years, by the way, since the Huskers went 3-6-1 under head coach Bill Jennings in 1961. Yay! Another record broken!

And speaking of broken records, the Nebraska needs to keep the average yards given up to opponents to under 288 yards in their next three games, or they will break the NCAA record for most yards allowed by a team in one season. In other words, they're just 863 yards away from breaking that record. And with a defense that's on average giving up 467.1 yards per game and is ranked 119th out of 119 Division I teams against the run, that record is almost certainly a forgone conclusion.

The only good news for Husker fans, really, is that Nebraska has talent. There have been those out there saying that the reason why Nebraska has been so bad this year is that their players just weren't that good. Well, guess what? They matched up pretty freakin' well against Texas, arguably one of the best teams in country as far as raw, physical talent is concerned. The bad news? Well, Husker fans are going to have to wait until next year to see what a new coaching staff can do with that talent.

That's right, a new coaching staff. After Saturday's loss, there is no way Callahan and Company are sticking around next year. No way. Even if they win out. This season has been ugly and embarrassing, and after the Colorado game, Athletic Director Tom Osborne will finally, mercifully, pull the plug. Unfortunately, there's still 3, maybe 4 games left this season. And I, for one, can not wait for the end of what has quite possibly become the longest season of college football ever.

At least, as Cubs fans are fond of saying, there's always next year.

Change Is Good: Part I

So, I'm pretty certain that all 3 of you who actually read my blog are probably hankering for at least one post that changes the topic from the Nebraska football to something else. Maybe something, dare I say, positive. So, in that spirit, I've decided to list a few people, characters, or things that my opinion on has changed on recently, for the better.

1. McG

For those not familiar with McG, or who might think he's a rapper or something, he's actually a Hollywood producer/director Joseph McGinty Nichol. He started out as a video director, directing videos for such music luminaries as The Offspring, Sugar Ray, and Smashmouth. He later moved on to film, directing movies like Charlie's Angles, We Are Marshall, and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, all of which were totally overlooked by the Motion Picture Academy when they were handing out Oscar nominations... and with good reason.

Okay, okay, all snarkiness aside, I'll admit I actually enjoyed Charlie's Angels movies, and not just because of Cameron Diaz's dance routines. They were dumb, loud, bubblegum movies that also happened to be a lot of fun. That said, I didn't walk away from it thinking: "That McG is one fine director. I expect BIG things from him in the future!" Let's just say I looked at him like Micahel Bay-Lite, and was more than relieved when he was passed over as director for Superman Returns.

And guess what? My opinion of his skill as director hasn't changed that much, if at all. So why have I listed him as someone for whom my opinion has changed for the better? Well, because I think that now that he's directing and producing for TV, his style and sensibilities are actually working for him, not against him. Case in point is NBC's new series Chuck.

McG is the executive producer and creative force of the show and even directed the pilot. Chuck is a quirky, little action-comedy of a show that's a little hard to boil down in a concise description, but I'm going to try anyway. Here goes: The title character, Chuck Bartowski, is a computer-geek who works for the Nerd Herd at a Best Buy-type store by day, and is a reluctant and pretty inept super-spy by night, all because he had an entire computer full of government secrets uploaded into his brain. Chuck is joined in his adventures by hard-nosed NSA agent Major John Casey and smokin' hot CIA agent Sarah Walker (who, by the way, kicks ass nearly every episode in a very Charlie's Angels-esque manner). Both agents are there to protect Chuck and make sure that nothing happens to the valuable information contained in his head... or are they?

Essentially, the show is like a slightly smarter, slightly more mature Charlie's Angels movie, condensed down to 45 minutes every week. In other words, it's a fun, loud, bubblegum series, that actually has some pretty decent satire and character interaction going on. Sure, it may not be the greatest show on TV, but Megan and I watch it every week, and I think that Chuck also deserves props for being unlike any other show on TV right now, combining humor, action, espionage, and even a little sci-fi. After all, the last thing this world needs is another How I Met Your Mother. And hey, don't just take my word for it, after all, it's MetaScore is a pretty high 74 and the Chicago Sun-Times called it: "Cute, creative and slick, this is one of the best new shows of the fall season."

So, like I said, I'm really having a lot of fun with the show, and (I can't believe that I'm saying this) I actually hope McG comes back to the director's chair for a couple more episodes, as so far, none of the subsequent episodes have quite matched the pilot's stellar visuals and laugh-out-loud hilarity. Seriously, the pilot features a scene with a ninja trying to steal Chuck's computer that made me laugh so hard, it required repeated viewings. So, keep up the good work McG, and while I think that making a fourth Terminator movie is a horrible, horrible idea, because of you recent good work on Chuck, I promise not to hate it before I actually see it.

Anyhow, in case you haven't been watching Chuck, you can catch up at NBC's website where you can stream each of the previous episodes for free! As for me, I'll be back next time to big up some more people and things that have managed to change my opinion for the better.

Broken Record

I'll be the first to admit that my posts may becoming a bit like a broken record, repeating the complaints about the Cornhusker football team and how they keep losing over and over again. But there are different kinds of records, as well, and Bill Callahan has broken his share as head coach of the Nebraska football team. Here are some of the "highlights:"

-In 2004 the Huskers went 5-6, giving Nebraska their first losing season since 1961.

-2004 also saw the end of Nebraska's streak of going to bowl games for 35 straight years. Which just happened to be an NCAA record, by the way.

-The Cornhuskers' 70-10 blowout loss to Texas Tech in 2004 was the worst defeat in Nebraska football history.

-During their 35-17 win over Iowa State, ISU got off 102 offensive snaps, the most ever against Nebraska.

-This year's 45-14 loss to Oklahoma State was the worst home loss for Nebraska since 1958.

-So far this season Nebraska has given up 40 or more points in three games for the first time since 1943. They are on pace to become Nebraska's worst defense statistically since 1948.

-Currently Nebraska ranks 105th in total defense, giving up an average of 457.38 per game. If that average stands at the end of the season, it will be a school record.

Quite an impressive list, huh? Guess what? Callahan broke another streak this weekend that you won't be reading about anywhere else. I've been going to Nebraska games since I was about 5 or 6-years-old. And while I've lost count as to exactly how many games I've been to, I know that I've been, on average around 1 game a year. Some years I went more than once, and others I didn't go at all, so according to my estimates, going into Saturday's game the Huskers were 26-0 when I've been in attendance. Turns out even whatever weird mojo was keeping me from witnessing a Husker loss in person ran out this last Saturday as I sat in Memorial Stadium and witnessed first-hand Nebraska's 14-36 loss to Texas A&M.

Oh yeah, Texas A&M also broke a little streak of its own on Saturday. A&M's victory not only snapped a five-game losing string in Lincoln, but it was also their first win at Memorial Stadium in 52 years.

Sigh.

This entire year I've been calling for Defensive Coordinator Kevin Cosgrove's head, as the defense has just been embarrassing (as you can see from some of the stats above and in a previous post). But, now, I'm going to have to say that it's probably time for Coach Bill Callahan to start looking for another job as well.

Here's the deal: up until now, I've tried to be supportive of Callahan, and it hasn't been easy. It's hard to support a program and it's head coach when they're losing. It's also easy to jump on a bandwagon trying to run a guy out of town when he isn't performing. That said, he's the head coach of Nebraska, and as such, I want to see him be successful. But more than that, I like the guy personally. I like his demeanor and despite a couple of missteps (the throat-slash, calling Oklahoma fans a "bunch of f****ing hillbillies," and calling Tom Osborne a "crusty, old f****"), I think he's a pretty classy guy. I mean, let's be honest, nobody is perfect and we've all done or said things in the heat of the moment that we wish we could take back. I've also said repeatedly that if Callahan can win at least 9 games this season, he deserves to keep his job for at least one more year. On Saturday, I changed my mind.

Before you starting thinking I changed my mind because Callahan broke my personal Husker streak, let me tell you straight up that's not the case. I just think that last Saturday's game proved that Callahan and his staff are incapable of turning this team around and are probably incapable of coaching at the college level. This has probably been evident for a while now, but for some reason, be it my optimism, my love of Nebraska football, or because I wanted to be sure to give Bill Callahan a fair chance (at least 5 years) to make his program work, I couldn't allow myself to see it. Saturday opened my eyes, and here are 3 reasons I finally saw the light:

-First, until Nebraska went 6-6 in the regular season during Frank Solich's second to last year as head coach, Nebraska hadn’t lost four games in a season once since 1968. Since Callahan became head coach they've gone 5-6, 8-4, 9-5, and Saturday's loss to A&M put Nebraska at 4-4 so far this year. That's 4 or more losses a year, every year under Callahan.

-Second, Nebraska is 0-16 when trailing at the half under Callahan. Even this last Saturday, when Nebraska was down by just 2 points, trailing A&M 14-16 at the half, Nebraska couldn't make any adjustments to come back and win. Not only did Nebraska give up 20 points in the second half on Saturday, but the offense got shutout after halftime. In fact, Nebraska has been outscored 49-0 in the third quarter in its four losses this season. And Guess what? It gets worse. Callahan not only has problems when trailing at the half, but he's 1-8 over the last nine games and 3-15 overall when trailing after the first quarter. I'm sorry, but the man and his staff simply seem incapable of making adjustments. That's just bad coaching, plain and simple.

-Third, Callahan kept Cosgrove as his defensive coordinator. I have repeatedly enumerated Cosgrove's flaws on this blog, but when it comes down to it, Callahan is the head coach and so he has to take his share of the blame for keeping Cosgrove on his staff. Again, say what you will about the talent level of the defense, but I was at the game on Saturday, and I place the blame for the poor defensive performance solely on the shoulders of the coaching staff. Nebraska got shredded by the option and gave up 167 rushing yards to A&M's quarterback Stephen McGee (which was a career-high for McGee, by the way). The thing is, being at the game, I saw the defense play with an intensity I have not seen in a long, long time, but they were never in a formation that lent itself to stopping the option. Never, not once, did Nebraska put 8 or 9 guys in the box. In fact, during one series, A&M was at 3rd and 2 inside the 20. Nebraska went with a pass coverage formation, and my mom turned to me and said: "What are they doing? The quarterback is going to run it. You know the quarterback is going to run it." Guess what? My mom was right. McGee ran it. They got the first down. Then, a couple of plays later, they scored. Now, if my freakin' mom can tell you that the defense isn't lined up how they should be, what does that say about the coaches? Un-freakin'-believable.

So, there you have it, I've officially jumped on the "Fire Bill Callahan" Bandwagon. However, unlike local columnists Tom Shatel and Steve Sipple I do not want him gone today. Not only would that be unfair to his players, but to be honest, I would like to see him go out a winner. In fact, I would like nothing more than to see him win his last 4 games and have a regular season record of 8-4. If he could do that, go on to a bowl and win, he'd finish the season 9-4. 9-4 ain't bad. Heck, it was good enough for head coach Bob Devaney to keep his job after the '68 season (and coincidentally, go on to win back-to-back National titles in '70 and '71). The thing is, I don't see that happening. And even if I did, Callahan has successfully put together a great list of reasons of why he shouldn't keep his job, and they go way beyond whether he can have a winning season or not.

However, despite the fact that I no longer want him as head coach for my favorite team, I will be cheering for Bill Callahan and the Huskers from in front of my TV this Saturday as they take on Texas. After all, even though I think we should break up, I'm going to do my part keep this from getting any uglier. Let's just hope that Coach Callahan does the same. And at the risk of truly becoming a broken record, I'm sure I'll have something to say about the game afterwards as well.

...And at the risk of truly becoming a broken record, I'm sure I'll have something to say about the game afterwards as well.

...And at the risk of truly becoming a broken record, I'm sure I'll have something to say about the game afterwards as well.

...And at the risk of truly becoming a broken record, I'm sure I'll have something to say about the game afterwards as well.

Restoring The Order

...and he's back. The man who coached Nebraska football teams to 5 National Championship Games. The man whose Huskers teams won 3 National Titles. The College Football Hall of Fame coach who never won less than 9 games as head coach at Nebraska. Ladies and gentleman, Tom Osborne is back at the University of Nebraska.

True, he's not back as head coach, but he is back nonetheless. And he's in a place where, right now, he can do the most good for Cornhusker football. After all the weirdness surrounding the firing of former Athletic Director Steve Pederson on Monday, University of Nebraska Chancellor Harvey Perlman needed to find someone to fill the position quickly, but he also needed someone that people could rally around bring some credibility back to the program. Thankfully, having lost his bid for governor, Tom Osborne was available. Under Steve Pederson's tenure as athletic director, Nebraska fans had started to lose hope. When Perlman fired Pederson, a little of that hope came back. Now, Husker fans have something more than hope in their newly-appointed interim AD: now they have Tom Osborne.

Sure, there are naysayers out there already. People have been quick to point out that Osborne carries at least some of the blame for Nebraska's current football woes, as he was the one who entrusted the program to Frank Solich, encouraged Solich to retain most of Osborne's staff, and who also played a role in getting Steve Pederson installed as AD in the first place. Others complain that putting in a football guy as AD will hurt the other sports programs and that when former Nebraska football coach Bob Devaney was director, programs like baseball languished. To those naysayers I ask this question: who else would have been a better choice to replace Pederson?

Seriously, Jesus himself could have returned from Heaven and Nebraska fans would have been less united behind him. I mean, come on! First of all there's the question of whether all the Jewish fans would get behind Jesus, not to mention all the Muslims, Buddhists, Taoists, and the like. Besides, what does Jesus know about running an athletic department? I've heard he's a big soccer fan, but from what I hear, he doesn't know much about football x's and o's (other than that he's a big fan of the "Hail Mary"). Not to mention that deep down, he's a Notre Dame fan, what with the "Touchdown Jesus" mural and all. And is that really who we want in charge of Nebraska athletics?

In all seriousness, Tom Osborne is once again the right man at the right time. As I said before, the instant he was named as interim AD he brought instant credibility back to the Nebraska football program. To the fans he's not only a familiar face, but a trusted and revered one. There's a reason, after all, Memorial Stadium's field is now named after him. And to the boosters who felt increasingly distanced and dismayed because of Pederson? Well, other than Dan Cook (as in "Cook Pavilion"), I have a hard time believing they won't be lining up to make donations to Ol' Tom. For that matter, I'm pretty sure Mr. Cook would pick up the phone if TO were to give him a call.

So, the future of Nebraska football looks to be in pretty good shape... in the long term. Unfortunately, from having watched every Nebraska game but one (and even that one I listened to), I think it will take more than a new athletic director (even Jesus) to salvage this season. I hope I'm wrong. There's a reason they don't give out the National Championship Trophy at the beginning, or even the middle, of the season, after all. The Huskers, theoretically, could still win the rest of their games, win the Big XII North, win the Big XII Championship, go to BCS Bowl, and even win that. The fan in me wants that to happen. But the realist in me has a hard time seeing Nebraska win just 2 more games to remain bowl-eligible.

Does that mean I'm giving up on my beloved Huskers? Hell, no. I'm no fairweather fan, my friends. In fact, I'm going to Lincoln to cheer on Nebraska as they play Texas A&M on Saturday. Besides, even though things are stormy now, with TO back in the building, the forecast is looking up.

Lame Duck

One of the pluses of working at a news station is that whenever there's a big news event, I always get a front row seat. Yesterday, I was able to sit with several of my co-workers and watch University of Nebraska Chancellor Harvey Perlman's press conference about the firing of Athletic Director Steve Pederson. And, I've got to tell you, as weird as the whole thing still is to me, I feel a little bit better about the whole thing.

In my last post I admitted that Pederson may come across as an arogant ass and that I hoped the reason that he was being fired was not just about the football team. And maybe it was just lip service, but Chancellor Perlman said that while the football team's poor performance played a small factor (mostly because it emboldened people working under Pederson to step forward), the reason Pederson was fired was because of his poor management style. If you read between the lines, Perlman was saying that Pederson was fired because, well, he was an arrogant ass.

The most surprising revelation of the press conference, for me at least, was that Perlman had made the decision to fire Pederson last Thursday, but wanted to wait until after Saturday's game so as not to negatively affect it's outcome. As it turns out, it wouldn't have made much difference.

I'm sure that most Nebraska football fans are happy to see Pederson go, but I sincerely doubt that it will have much of an affect on the performance of this year's team. If anything, the fact that the coaching staff is almost certainly now a "lame duck" one will probably make them even worse. I know that's almost impossible to imagine for most Husker fans, but a 4-8 season is looking more and more like a reality. In fact, the only plus I see in Pederson being let go now, is that fans will keep coming to games, which up until yesterday was in serious doubt. Nebraska fans wanted to see some sign that steps were being taken to turn this team around, and while it may not have been the exact step they wanted (firing Cosgrove and/or Callahan), it was a step nonetheless. It will probably be enough... for now.

The only possible wrinkle in the whole scenario (and it's a far-fetched one, believe me) would be if Callahan and Co. are actually able to turn their team around and finish 9-3. Again, it's not likely, but it is mathematically possible, and right now, Head Coach Bill Callahan has nothing to lose. And as the old saying goes, "there's nothing more dangerous than a man with nothing to lose." Would all of those people that still complain about Frank Solich getting fired after going 9-3 make the same amount of noise if Callahan were to get the axe after doing the same? We'll probably never know, but I for one, would certainly love to see.

Twilight Zone

Another Saturday, another poor performance by the Nebraska defense, and another loss. This time it was an embarassing 45-14 loss to Oklahoma State. Which sounds bad enough, but it gets worse. OSU was up 38-0 at the half, when Nebraska fans started leaving in droves. Those 38 points? Well, that was another in a long list of the wrong kinds of records broken under Head Coach Bill Callahan, as it was the most points EVER allowed by Nebraska in one half of football. This was also the Cowboys’ first win in Lincoln in 47 years. OSU ended the day with 551 total yards to go along with their 45 points, bringing the Cornhuskers' averages to 457 yards and 31 points allowed per game.

You know how I said it gets worse? As if all that wasn't bad enough, it got worse for me, because while listening to the game (thank God I didn't order it on pay-per-view because I had a wedding to go to) I couldn't even get infuriated. I had actually lost my passion. Going into the game I thought that Nebraska could win the game, but I didn't believe that they would win it. By the end of the first quarter, after OSU had scored 17 unanswered points, I was still hoping that somehow, some way, they could get it done. But when the Cowboys scored their next touchdown, after Nebraska went for it on 4th and short, I knew the game was over and it wasn't even halftime. I have never felt that way during a Nebraska game. Ever.

Apparently, I wasn't the only one. It was so bad even the announcers on the Husker Sports Network began voicing their disapproval. For anyone who has ever listened to a Husker game on the radio, you know that this is unprecedented. When they start saying things like "embarrassing" and "disgraceful," and most telling, "speechless," you know things have hit rock bottom. And when they hit rock bottom, the rumor mills started churning and Husker football once again entered the Twilight Zone.

The first time Husker football entered the Twilight Zone was on November 29, 2003 when Athletic Director Steve Pederson called a press conference announcing he had fired Frank Solich after the Huskers had gone 9-3. The nail in the coffin for Solich? A 38-9 loss to Kansas State in Lincoln that was, up until then, their worst at home since 1958. Today, after the similarly embarrassing home loss to OSU, Steve Pederson will be the one being shown the door. At 2:15 this afternoon, a press release came out saying from Nebraska's Chancellor Harvey Perlman that Steve Pederson had been asked to resign. A formal press conference announcing this will be held at 4:00 PM.

All I can say is wow. Now, I've been calling for Cosgrove to be fired for years, but THIS? This is just crazy. When I first heard the rumors about a press conference, I thought it would 1 of 2 things: either Pederson would announce his support of the coaching staff through this tough time, or Cosgrove was stepping down. But firing an Athletic Director in the middle of the football season BEFORE any changes were made on the coaching staff? That's just weird. Not only is it weird, but it's very un-Nebraska. That said, you reap what you sow, and Pederson's handling of the whole Solich fiasco probably played a huge part in what is happening to him today.

But that doesn't mean I agree with it. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Solich needed to be fired. But he also deserved to be treated better. He should have at least been given the opportunity to coach his team in the Alamo Bowl against Michigan State. He should have been allowed to finish his season. Pederson, too, should have been given at least that much. And, frankly, I'm not sure that he should have been fired at all.

Sure, Pederson comes off as an arrogant ass. Sure, he was the one who fired Solich. Sure, he was the one who hired Bill Callahan. However, Pederson was Athletic Director of the Year at Pittsburgh the year before he came to Nebraska. Not only that, but Pederson bleeds Husker Red. This is a man who worked under Head Coach Tom Osborne. This is a man who was Nebraska’s recruiting coordinator from 1982-86. This is a man who helped revamp Nebraska’s football facilities, including the $40 million expansion of the North Stadium, which expanded Memorial Stadium’s capacity to 81,067. This is a man who helped bring in new recruits with a new locker room, weight room, indoor practice building and training facilities (recruits have been so impressed, by the way, that Nebraska's recruiting class for next year is projected to be #3 in the country). He's also kept the money flowing into the athletic department and their financial base has been called "rock solid." And let's not forget that Nebraska's volleyball, baseball, and soccer programs are doing well under his directorship as well. Hell, Pederson is also the guy who brought Doc Sadler in as the Nebraska Men's Basketball Coach! Anyone, who can help improve Husker basketball deserves some credit, right?

Apparently not. Such is the power of Nebraska football. Such is the "Power of Red." And right now that all Husker football fans are seeing. Red. I hope that there's something more to this than Nebraska football being abysmal, because if not, Pederson got fired for the wrong reason.

FIRE COSGROVE!

The last time the Nebraska Cornhuskers looked as unprepared and inept against an opponent as they did for their 41-6 loss to Missouri last Saturday was November 13, 2003. Back in 2003, the Huskers were pounded at home by Kansas State 38-9. This embarrassing loss put the final nail in the coffin for Frank Solich's tenure as head coach for Nebraska. Now, after 4 years under a new head coach and ceaseless promises of a new era this is what we get? This is progress? Nebraska's offense couldn't even score a touchdown and not only did the defense give up 41 points, they also allowed Missouri to rack up 606 yards of total offense. 606 yards! That's two teams this year that have put up over 600 yards against Nebraska. This loss to Missouri brings the average points allowed by Cosgrove's unit up to 29 per game and the average yards given up to 441.5. In fact, the only team that was held to under 200 yards of offense so far this year was Nevada, who is now ranked #86 in the country. Are you freaking kidding me?

The worst part of all of this, is from here on out things are not going to get any easier for the Huskers. Here's the rest of their schedule:

10-13 OSU 476 yards and 33 points per game

10-20 Texas A&M 416 yards and 36 points per game

10-27 Texas 420 yards and 32 points per game

11-03 Kansas 530 yards and 49 points per game

11-10 Kansas State 385 yards and 35 points per game

11-23 Colorado 380 yards and 27 points per game

It doesn't look good. Especially since the teams with the two lowest yards per game averages on that list pulled off two of the biggest upsets this year. Kansas State beat then #7 Texas 41-21 and Colorado beat then #3 Oklahoma 27-24. Even KU (whose stats have been inflated by weak opposition) looked beatable, but they just beat K-State in Manhattan for the first time since 1989! I hate to say that Nebraska is doomed, but it sure looks that way. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if Nebraska lost all of their remaining games.

Which puts me in the weird position of wondering whether or not I want that to happen. I love the Cornhuskers. They're my favorite team, but could losing the rest of their games actually be good for the program in the long run? If Nebraska somehow manages to have a winning season this year, the likelihood of the team making any significant changes greatly decreases. But, if they have a losing record, then at the very least you'd have to hope that something would be in the way of a personnel change for the defensive staff, right?

Aw, who am I kidding? I can't root against the Huskers. I still want them to go 10-2... Not that I think that's going to happen. All I can hope for is that now that the Big XII North title looks out of reach, Athletic Director Steve Pederson will see that Nebraska needs good defense to win it. And to have good defense, you need a good defensive coordinator. And Kevin Cosgrove is not a good defensive coordinator.

Pederson's contract ends in 2013. Callahan's ends in 2011. Cosgrove's ends at the end of the season. So, we may be stuck with Pederson and Pederson may be stuck with Callahan, but no one is stuck with Cosgrove. Let's hope that both Pederson and Callahan want their contract extensions to keep coming, because nothing motivates change like the prospect of losing your job. Just ask Frank Solich.

Trajan Sucks... Sometimes

Ahem. I just want to warn everybody in advance that I'm going to geek out for this post and probably discuss something that probably few people care about. I'm going to talk about typography.

In my line of work, typography is not only essential, but one of my favorite subjects. It's not just about using letters to make words, it's also about choosing what words you want the audience to read in what order, how easily you want the audience to be able to read those words, and how you want your audience to perceive those words. As the great typographer and graphic designer Neville Brody once put it it:

"Typefaces control the message. Choice of font dictates what you think about something before you even read the first word. Imagine Shakespeare in large capital drop shadow. Our response would be quite different towards the content."

Sounds complicated, right? Well, it is. But let me make it a little easier to follow with a little visual example of how different typefaces can be used to make the exact same words have totally different meanings:

You see what I'm talking about? The type in the top graphic actually conveys the words as though they are true, making the text appropriate for advertising featuring a spa, a couch, or even Calgon bubblebath. The second graphic subverts the meaning of the words by merely changing typefaces. Instead of conveying the feeling of relaxation, the type signifies animation and excitement. Now, the text has become totally inappropriate for the uses I mentioned before, and would instead might appear in an advertisement for an amusement park, or more likely a novelty t-shirt. To better illustrate this, I've even slapped together a couple more examples below.

So, there you have it, a couple of examples of how type can have a meaning all it's own, no matter what the words actually say. In other words, choosing the right typeface for the right job is one of a designers most important tasks. The importance of this task, however, has recently been disregarded or discarded by my alma mater, The University of Kansas.

Here's the deal, The University of Kansas recently went through a rebranding and changed their typeface to Trajan. Without going into too much detail, basically this means that from now on whenever you see their brand on things like stationery, signage, advertising, etc., it will always be in Trajan, as opposed to say, Times New Roman or whatever random typeface any doofus with a PC might choose.

My problem, therefore, is not that KU has committed itself to an extensive rebranding was actually a smart thing to do, as establishing a consistent, universal typeface helps make your brand more recognizable and cohesive. Nor do I have a problem with KU using Trajan as their typeface. Sure, it's becoming about as overused as Helvetica and it's seen everywhere from The West Wing to just about every movie poster for the last 20 years (seriously, it was used on the posters for A Beautiful Mind, The Pefect Storm, The Mummy, Titanic, all 3 Lord of the Rings movies, and even Minority Report. The list goes on and on, and I'm not even mentioning the countless posters that use typefaces that are derivatives of Trajan!). In the end, I like Trajan in the right context, and I think it works as the typeface for a university. It is, after all, based on the letterforms found on a column in Rome and most all universities like to pay homage in one way or another to Rome for having the first university. Take a look at it here on KU's homepage. When used in this instance, Trajan works, and I think it works pretty well.

My problem is context. Just about any typeface can work in the right context and while Trajan may work for representing the academic side of a university, it is woefully out of place on the athletics side. I would think that would be obvious to even the most casual of viewers, but apparently not, because the University of Kansas in their attempt to standardize the KU brand has actually started using Trajan on their jerseys and other sports apparel! Which is to say, the KU emblem an their jerseys went from this:

To this:
For the love of God, why? Now, I'll admit that it doesn't look as bad on the basketball jerseys, but it really looks awful on apparel that features just the KU emblem. Just take a look at the hats below. The one on the left features text set in Trajan and the one on the right isn't even set in KU's previous sports typeface and it still looks better than the one set in Trajan!
Now, I could get all KU fan-boy on you an go off in how replacing the now classic letterforms that adorned the KU jerseys for last 25 years (during which the men's basketball team earned 5 Final Four appearances, 3 NCAA Finals, and one national championship) flies in the face of tradition. But, I think it would be more productive to make the case from a visual identity or branding standpoint, because while the university may not have had a cohesive and recognizable brand, KU athletics already did. KU athletic apparel had not only the Jayhawk, but their own typeface that was immediately recognizable and unique to the University. Now, they've flushed that all away and replaced it with a typeface that, in the context of jersey, looks not only generic, but, well, wimpy. Generic, I can stand, but wimpy? On a sports apparel? Not exactly the image you want to convey.

And just so you know, I'm not the only person upset about all of this. In fact, this entire post was inspired by a website that Josh put me on to called trajansucks.com. Judging from the comments posted on the site (some of which are not even from KU fans) the consensus is that at least when it come to KU jerseys, Trajan, does indeed suck. So, if you agree with me and the many others that think Trajan has no place on sports apparel, stop on over and buy one of their snazzy shirts or at least post a comment. Of course, I did both. Maybe it'll do some good, you never know. After all, Nebraska changed their football uniforms back in 2002, and that lasted all of one season. So there's still some hope to be had.

Before I go, I'd like to make an admission, I actually have a KU hat with KU set in Trajan. There's even a couple of pictures of me wearing it on this blog. But, in my defense, it was the only St. Patrick's Day-styled KU hat I could find here in Omaha. But rest assured, I will try to make that the only KU apparel I have featuring Trajan. But now that they've even put Trajan on the freakin' Jayhawk, I don't know if I can.

Sigh. Oh well, at least I can wear my "Trajan Sucks" shirt if all else fails...

Back In Black?

For the first time in my life, I took got to see back-to-back games in Memorial Stadium when I saw the Huskers take on the Iowa State Cyclones last weekend. And I've got to say, it was probably the second weirdest Nebraska game I've ever seen (the weirdest being the Huskers' 24-17 victory against the Kansas Jayhawks in 1999, when Nebraska scored all of their points in the second half and a game they would have lost without former quarterback Bobby Newcombe's 200 all-purpose yards). This game was similar, in that it took Nebraska's offense a while to get going, and without a couple big plays that led to Husker scores not by the offense (in '99 it was an 86-yard punt return for a touchdown by Newcombe and this time it was an interception returned 93 yards for a touchdown by Bo Ruud) the outcome might have been different indeed.

What made it so weird? Well, for starters Iowa State's time of possession for the game was 39:03 minutes. This was about 19 minutes longer and nearly doubled Nebraska's T.O.P of 20:17 minutes! Second, Iowa State ran astounding 102 plays versus only 59 from Nebraska. ISU topped off their amazing statistics with an impressive total of 28 first downs. When one team is dominating those three categories, like Iowa State did on Saturday, it usually means they're also dominating the other team. But here's the thing, with all of that going for them on offense, Iowa State was only able to score 17 points! Even when ISU was up 10-0, it never felt like Nebraska was out of it and once Nebraska took the lead, it never felt like they were ever really in any danger of losing it. In fact, if anything, it felt like it should have been, and would have been, a blow-out by Nebraska if not for 3 turnovers early in the game. Like I said, weird.

Another weird factor of the game was definitely the play of the Nebraska defense. For the first time in recent memory they look not only prepared, but energized. The defense was flying to the ball, making gang tackles, intercepting passes, and pressuring the quarterback. To me, the pressure the Huskers were able to put on ISU QB Bret Meyer was definitely the most impressive. Impressive mostly because Meyer was sacked three times with Nebraska managing just three sacks in their four previous games and the Cyclones having only allowed three all year. Aside from the sacks, that pressure was definitely a factor in the passes that Meyer threw which the Huskers were able to pick off. It just goes to show what good pass rush can do.

That all sounds great, right? Keep in mind, I said that the play of the defense was weird, too, so before you get all excited about what the Nebraska defense did right, there's definitely some nagging concerns. First and foremost were the number of plays ISU had (the aforementioned 102) and the fact that Iowa State outgained Nebraska in yardage 415 to 369. Those 415 yards, by the way, were ISU's second-most ever in Lincoln. Now, I'm going to cut the D some slack here, because as I said before they were playing with intensity (finally) and were probably more than a little tired after their teammates on offense kept turning the ball over in the first quarter. But keep in mind, Iowa State is ranked at the bottom of the Big XII North in scoring offense and were 83rd in total offense going into last Saturday's game. Even more disturbing, is that when you add the 415 yards ISU had to the 610 yards Ball State had, and you'll get 1025 yards given up by the Cornhuskers in back-to-back games to opponents who are now ranked #104 and #59 respectively.

So, the question remains, is the Nebraska defense getting better, or was Iowa State that bad? I'm actually willing to give them the benefit of the doubt here because of the turnovers by the Nebraska offense, the fact that they came up with big plays when they had to, they only allowed 17 points, and finally, because the Huskers won. Does that mean that I think that this was a return to form? No. This was an ISU team that the Blackshirts of old would have kept out of the endzone, and maybe kept from scoring entirely. But, I do think that is was a step in the right direction. You've got to give credit where credit is due and Defensive Coordinator Kevin Cosgrove got his players prepared and fired up despite all of the distractions surrounding his defensive unit this week. That takes focus and determination. That takes good coaching. And for the first time in weeks, Cosgrove stepped up.

Now, can Cosgrove take the necessary steps to keep his defense improving for the rest of the season? If not, Cosgrove might need to put his house up for sale. True, he may be off the hotseat for now, but a poor defensive performance against Missouri this Saturday will put him right back in it. And with Kansas State upsetting #7 Texas and Colorado upsetting #3 Oklahoma last weekend, no game looks like a gimme for the rest of the season. Which doesn't mean that Nebraska has to win the rest of their games either, it just means that the Nebraska defense needs to look just as prepared and fired up from here on out as they did against Iowa State. Because Nebraska fans can handle losing, but they what they can't handle is bad coaching.