Bush League

"WTF?!?"

That was Max's text reply when I sent him a text message from the Getty Center in LA with the final score of Nebraska's 73-31 total ass-kicking of Kansas State. Since we were both in California, neither of us were able to watch the game, but I think that Max's response pretty much summed up how every Husker fan felt about the game. Nobody, and I mean nobody, saw this coming. Sure, I predicted a win over K-State, but 73 points? After giving up 76 the previous week to Kansas?

Mindblowing.

I still have yet to watch the game, and believe me, I'm going to, but the more I read about it, the more I don't like it. Now, don't get me wrong, there was a lot to like about this game. For starters, I like seeing the Huskers win. Especially after they went winless the entire month of October, and I especially like a win over Kansas State. I also like the fact that the seniors were able to win at home on Senior Day. And how about finally getting a kick return for a touchdown? Courtney Grixby's 94-yard return was the first in a decade. Think about that, the last time Nebraska ran a kickoff back for a touchdown was the same year they won their last national title. Finally, there's Joe Ganz. The kid completed 75% of his passes, threw for 510 yards and 7 touchdowns, and had no interceptions. That's freaking amazing. He played out of his mind and was rewarded by being named the Big XII Offensive Player of the Week. Like I said, all of that is great, but did Coach Callahan really need to run up the score like that?

Seriously, going for it on 4th and 20 from K-State's 46? That's fine when the game is on the line and you're driving to stay in the game, but when it's in the third quarter and you already have a commanding lead, that's not cool. That's bush league. I can't stand it when coaches run up the score. It's classless. I didn't like when Mangino's Jayhawks did it to Nebraska last week, I didn't like it when Pinkel's Tigers faked a field goal against Nebraska earlier this year, and I especially don't like it when Nebraska does it.

Now, there are those out there that say that Nebraska has always run up the score. That running up the score, especially under Head Coach Tom Osborne, is the definition of Nebraska football. To that I call bullshit. For one thing Nebraska ran the football. Late in the game, they would pull their starters and just keep grinding away. Sure, the scores often ended up lopsided, but that's because no one could stop them. What was Osborne supposed to do? Start taking a knee in the third quarter? I'm sorry, but that would be way more embarrassing to a team. Besides, how many times did an Osborne-coached squad hang 70 plus on another team? Okay, it was 12 times, but I guarantee you the starting quarterback wasn't throwing touchdown passes in the 4th quarter and that the starting running back wasn't still in the game with 4 minutes to go so they could score another touchdown to go up by 49 points. In fact, the last quarterback I remember throwing a touchdown pass in the fourth quarter in 70-point Huskers blowout was Matt Turman in a 77-28 drubbing of Arizona State in 1995. Matt Turman. The 5'11", 165 lb, third-string quarterback. It's hard to buy that Osborne was running up the score intentionally with someone like that in at quarterback.

In a lot of ways, I'm still thankful for what happened on Saturday. I'm thankful that Nebraska' streak of having a winning record at home remained intact. At least there was one streak that Callahan didn't manage to break. But mostly I'm thankful for Callahan acting like a complete douchebag before, during, and after the game. From running up the score, to walking off the field alone and not joining his players in singing the school song with the band (a tradition that he and former Athletic Director Steve Pederson started, by the way), to putting all the credit for the win in his system as opposed to the players, to having his agent tell us to "go study soil or something," he truly showed me his true colors. Before the Kansas State game, I felt bad for him, because his offense looked good enough to win more games than they did, but didn't because the defense was just so god awful. But now, thanks to his complete and utter douche-iness, I can watch him get fired after the Colorado game without a twinge of regret, a job which Callahan also made easier for Tom Osborne to do. For that, both Tom and I will probably be eternally grateful, so thanks again, Bill.

Win or lose, the Colorado game looks to be Bill Callahan's last as the head coach at Nebraska. Hopefully, the players come out and play like they did against K-State and they can manage to not have a losing season. Unlike Callahan, I'm putting this all on the players, because if they win, it will not be because of anything the Nebraska coaches do, it will be in spite of it.

Go Big Red.