Jan

8

Fascinating facts heading into tonight’s BCS National Title game

Filed Under National Championship, Oklahoma, bowl games | Leave a Comment

With kickoff of the BCS Championship Game less than 17 hours away, we thought we’d share one more compendium of fascinating facts, stats and nuggets for the season finale. Most of this info was provided courtesy of the fine folks at Sooners Gameday :

* Expect Florida to have the home field advantage tonight . According to the Miami Herald, only 4% of BCS tickets from StubHub were shipped to Oklahomans, compared with 57% sold to Florida residents. (link )

* The Detroit News confirms that Oklahoma will be at a distinct disadvantage at Dolphin Stadium tonight, in terms of fan support. After all, the Gators have 13 players from the Miami area . (link )

* Oklahoma has the most victories and highest winning percentage of any major program since World War II . Florida’s not in the top 10 in either category, with most of its success coming in the last two decades. (Palm Beach Post )

* According to , Oklahoma had the #8 toughest schedule in the country, while Florida faced #19 toughest. (link )

* The Sooners stand alone nationally in producing four 100-win coaches : Bob Stoops, Barry Switzer, , and Bennie Owen. The Gators can only boast one with that many wins at Florida (Steve Spurrier), though Urban Meyer is off to a pretty good start. (link)

* Dick Weiss of the NY Daily News traces the origin of Oklahoma’s motto for this season, "Win the Last Game" to a post-bowl game comment by West Virgina quarterback Pat White in January 2008, after his team manhandled Oklahoma.

It is possible to rationalize three of Oklahoma’s four BCS defeats. It’s no disgrace to lose to in a game played just 60 miles from the Tigers’ Baton Rouge campus and with quarterback Jason White injured. In the other ones, USC was simply better and in the Boise State game, the Broncos won by scoring a two-point conversion on a trick play. The end came when quarterback Jared Zabransky faked a pass to the right side while holding the ball behind his back with his left hand. When the OU defense shifted, running back Ian Johnson took the ball from behind Zabransky and ran untouched into the end zone.

But there was no excuse for the meltdown against West Virginia, a Big East team that should have been in disarray after coach Rich Rodriguez abandoned it for Michigan. The Mountaineers savaged the Sooners’ defense, rushing for 349 yards, even though star running back Steve Slaton did not play.

"We were a little more hungry than they were," West Virginia quarterback Pat White said. There were whispers of too much partying on the part of the Sooners. Stoops pasted White’s telling words on a banner in the OU locker room before this season.

Oklahoma senior All-American safety Nic Harris went one step further, declaring the Sooners’ motto for this year would be "WTLG: Win the Last Game." (link )

* The best argument I found to bet on Oklahoma tonight came from the "Upon Further Review" blog on KansasCity.com. They are picking the Sooners to win by three points.

Here’s their logic: Oklahoma has played six BCS ranked teams and Florida has played three BCS ranked teams. Oklahoma’s six opponents are ranked #3, #7, #11, #12, #13, #21. Florida’s three opponents are ranked #4, #15 and #25. Not only has OU been tested more often against stronger competition, but they have fared better. Oklahoma is +24 ppg against their six BCS ranked opponents, while Florida is +16 ppg against theirs. That’s the ultimate bottom line. OU by 3. (link )

* When it comes to "settling matters on the field", it doesn’t matter who wins the BCS Title game tonight. It’s already been settled on the field. Your real national champion is Tulane , according to King Kauffman of Salon.com . Kauffman postulates that, "there’s a direct line of losing from both teams in the BCS Championship Game to Tulane. That’s what makes Tulane, last seen losing 45-6 to Memphis, your 2008 national champion. "

Tulane only won two games all season, and finished the year with a 2-10 record. However, Tulane beat Louisiana-Monroe, which beat Troy, which beat Middle Tennessee, which beat Maryland, which beat Wake Forest, which beat Ole Miss, which not only beat Florida but also beat Texas Tech, which beat Texas, which beat Oklahoma. (link )

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Jan

1

CHARLESTON.NET: Nebraska’s loss at Texas Tech was 2008 turning point for Huskers

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Continuing our stream of news heading into this afternoon’s Gator Bowl between the Nebraska Cornhuskers and Clemson Tigers, we’ve got this interesting take from Ken Burger of The Charleston Post and Courier. Burger syas that two losses back in October - Nebraska’s overtime loss to Texas Tech and Clemson’s loss to , were key catalysts that launched each team into a successful second half of the season.

Burger writes that, “Clemson and Nebraska arrive at today’s Gator Bowl with similar histories and circumstances. Both schools have rich football tradition, national championships and zealous fans. But they have also known how easily it can all slip away with coaching changes and turmoil in the ranks. For first-year head coaches Dabo Swinney and Bo Pelini, getting their players to buy into their programs was key. But it doesn’t happen overnight.”

“Changing the direction of a college football program is like turning an aircraft carrier. It’s big, slow and has many moving parts. In order for it to perform in battle, each and every person has to be on board. It takes skill, commitment and leadership, the latter being the most important. For Swinney and Pelini, the key moments for the Tigers (7-5) and Cornhuskers (8-4) came way back in October. And both involved defeat.”

Burger says the Cornhuskers’ performance against Texas Tech was the turning point in Nebraska’s season:

For Pelini, the turning point of Nebraska’s season was a road game the Cornhuskers lost at Texas Tech, their third straight.

“We had a long way to go when we first got together,” he said of his first season in Lincoln. “You know, you’re trying to institute a different type of culture, get everybody on the same page, develop trust and build relationships between the coaches and players. That doesn’t happen overnight.”

The Huskers began the season with three wins over lesser opponents, but lost three straight against Virginia Tech, Missouri and Texas Tech.

“I think the turning point of our season was the Texas Tech game, a game we lost (37-31),” Pelini said. “After that game we walked off the field and these guys understood how good they could be. There wasn’t a guy in that locker room who didn’t feel we were a better football team than the team we lost to that day.

“At that point, the team started coming together and realized how good we could be. We had some bumps along the road, especially the first year together. But no one ever panicked, no one ever pointed fingers.

“For that, I credit the senior leadership on this team. They kept everybody on the same page.”

Two proud football programs, two similar situations. Should be an interesting game.

KSU03TK10

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Dec

6

Just saying…

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With Virginia Tech wrapping up the today, 2 of the  4 Huskers losses came to teams who will have won their conference championship, and 3 of the 4 opponents having played for a conference championship.

The only exception: No. 7 .

Not bad…

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Nov

30

Jeff Sagarin keeps screwing up college football

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The Sagarin Ratings continue their embarrassment on the college football world.

The new rankings have Alabama number 6, while Texas Tech is number 5.

Someone please explain to me the rationale behind this ranking?

I guess going through the SEC meat-grinder of a schedule with an unblemished record means less than being exposed in blowout fashion by Oklahoma and barely beating an unranked .

Even more amazing is the have James Madision ranked 34th in the nation, sandwiched between and Kansas!

This is the same James Madison that lost to Duke 31-7 in their opener.

James Madison is coming off an impressive 38-35 victory against Wofford, while beat only beat West Virginia 19-15 and Kansas squeaked by Missouri 40-37.

Yes, I’m being sarcastic, but these rankings have no legitimacy!

It’s time for the to go.

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Nov

9

Bo Pelini puts his stamp on this season

Filed Under Big 12, Bo Pelini, Kansas | Leave a Comment

The victory over the Jayhawks, the same that embarrassed and destroyed Nebraska 76-39 last year, represents tangible progress and makes this season a undeniable success. It’s also the greatest triumph of ’s short tenure.

On top of that, the Huskers are progressing throughout the season and developing younger players. This bodes well for not only for the rest of the season, but 2009.

Because of Bo delivering the Huskers a bowl game, the Huskers will get an extra 15 practices, a game against a quality opponent, and a real chance to finish the season in the top 25 and start 2009 in the Top 25.

If you can’t get excited about that, then HG can’t help you.

We are all disappointed that the Huskers couldn’t pull out a victory against and Virginia Tech. We were all questioning the coaching staff after and Missouri, but after beating , the Huskers are poised to finish 2nd in the North.

We came into as underdogs and some of us were expecting the worse. What we got was a team that in 7 days absorbed a soul-crushing loss at the hands of the Sooners and defeated a competitive team.

A tip of the hat goes to the players and the coaching staff for keeping the team focused on finishing the season strong.

Restoring the Order has taken a step forward.

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Nov

2

New Rules: College Football Edition

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HG likes Bill Maher. We don’t always agree with him, but we find him generally funny and amusing.

That being said, we are totally going to rip-off his “New Rule” riff:

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Nov

2

Some Cornhusker blame to go around for the carnage in Norman…

Filed Under Big 12, Bo Pelini, Oklahoma | Leave a Comment

HG is backtracking a little on our original post saying: let’s not blame anyone, let’s just chalk it up to a loss.

That would be fine if we lost by 14, but we weren’t even in that game. Not even close.

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Oct

12

Cornhusker glory waits another day…but I got ‘the feeling’ back

Filed Under 2008 Opponents, Big 12, Joe Ganz, Marlon Lucky, Steve Sipple | Leave a Comment

Ouch baby, very ouch.

Nebraska losing to hurts.

This loss really hurts and it’s tough to be positive after a loss but weren’t you surprised by:

  • The Huskers fight
  • The brilliantly executed game plan
  • and the entire coaching staff
  • Marlon Lucky
  • The pride
  • Joe Ganz
  • The coaching staff
  • The fake field goal
  • The heart of the Nebraska Cornhuskers
  • The offensive line
  • The running game

We could go on and on. HG saw a lot of things we haven’t seen in the Huskers in years. I actually got ‘the feeling’ back.

You know what I’m talking about. The feeling that the Huskers are putting it all on the line and are playing to win. That you just knew the Huskers were going to drive down for a touch down in the 4th quarter. The feeling that we were outsmarting one of the best coaches in the . The feeling that we could move the ball at will. The feeling that the coaching staff was a plus. The feeling that the team was improving before our very eyes.

The feeling that we could be competitive in the 4th quarter.

The feeling that even in defeat, that we can all be proud of the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

Basically, everything you use to feel but haven’t been feeling the past 4 years!

It would of easily of been the biggest win since 2001 win over Oklahoma and may of given the Huskers a chance to enter the Top 25 by the Oklahoma game. Instead, we are just a 3-3 team that hasn’t beaten anyone of substance.

But, let’s take some perspective: during one of the toughest stretches any college football team will face this year, the Nebraska Cornhuskers went 0-3.

That’s the bottom line. Yes, we may have gotten a ‘moral victory’ in the sense that we were competitive, but sometime you have to cash those moral victories in for a real W.

The good news is they rebounded from a blowout loss from Mizzou with a gutsy effort and a better game plan. Make no mistake about it: the Nebraska Cornhuskers came to with victory on their mind.

Going for it on 4th down, going for 7 points,

For that, we should all be proud.

From here on out, there are no such things as moral victories.

HG expects the Huskers to be competitive in the rest of the games, including Oklahoma.

Moral victories are done. The bar has been raised. We’ve seen enough glimpses of what this team can do and the Huskers have a lot of room for improvement (penalties anyone?).

Shawn Watson’s game plan was brilliant in strategy and almost perfect in its execution.

HG will never go back and say ‘we should of won that game,’ especially when we hurt ourselves as much as we did. We lost and we accept that.

But we can’t help but be optimistic that this team is on the path to go bowling.

As Sipple put it today:

2. Bowl ramifications. Remember, nobody was giving Nebraska a chance to beat Tech (6-0, 2-0 ). Iowa State obviously is a different story. But NU needs to roll up its sleeves, as beating the Cyclones isn’t a given, their bad loss Saturday at Baylor notwithstanding. If the Huskers prevail, their bowl chances suddenly would look very promising. And getting to a bowl would be a significant accomplishment after last season’s 5-7 debacle. It would be a tangible sign of progress.

Plus, those 15 bowl practices are crucial for a Nebraska team with 20 freshmen and sophomores on its preseason two-deep.

Let’s say Nebraska manages to win at Iowa State and then does the expected and beats Baylor in Lincoln. That would place the Huskers one win from bowl eligibility with four games to play — road games against Oklahoma (Nov. 1) and State (Nov. 15) and home games against (Nov. 8) and Colorado (Nov. 28). You’d have to like NU’s chances to go at least 1-4 in that stretch.

Perhaps Nebraska would be sent to Phoenix for an Insight Bowl matchup against a middle-of-the-pack Big Ten team. Dear old NU wins the bowl and everybody in red goes home happy.

Discuss…

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Oct

9

Is a moral victory possible against Texas Tech?

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Don’t want to say ‘yes’ because you’ve got to aim high and this is college football, where anything happens.

The Huskers can win. We can specifically point to penalties, bad punts, unnecessary offensive sacks, and missed tackles as the main culprit for the Huskers.

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Jun

19

Corn Feed for Thursday June 19th

Filed Under 2008 Preview, Big 12, Big 12 Preview, Bo Pelini, Corn Feed | Leave a Comment

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