Yesterday, the Nebraska Cornhuskers managed to hold down the highest-scoring average offense in the nation during a 37-31 overtime loss to Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas. Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini's Huskers have finally arrived.
After the Huskers got their collective clocks cleaned by Missouri last week, I was of a mind that it was going to take Pelini and his staff at least 2 more years to undo the damage to the program that former Athletic Director Steve Pederson and former Head Coach Bill Callahan had done. After yesterday, however, I have changed my mind. This team, as one of the TV announcers noted, "grew up before our eyes today." Husker football is back!
Now, the won-loss record still may not reflect that for another year or so (got to get the best possible personnel in all the key on-field positions), but this was a true Husker team. Texas Tech was in serious danger of losing its homecoming game, and everyone in Lubbock knew it.
I have not always been a fan of Husker football. For one thing, my dad's Air Force career meant that I'd lived in every other state comprising the (then) Big Eight long before he got stationed in Nebraska. So there was some question of prior loyalties. Furthermore, I never cared much for the fact that under legendary head coach Bob Devaney (and to a somewhat lesser extent, coach Tom Osborne), football players who committed criminal acts were protected from the consequences of those acts for the sake of the team--and winning. But Nebraska IS my alma mater, and Nebraska's academic scholarships awarded to me are what allowed me to afford getting a college education in the first place, so . . . it's kind of nice to see positive reporting related to my school in the national news for a change.
Go Big Red!
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