2007/2008 College Football Season

[Brad]

This has been a pretty brutal 'nfl picks' weekend as well.

As long at New England wins tomorrow (no points), I am good!

[GaryFL]

Does we realize we're looking at the distinct possibility of South Florida being the highest ranked team in Florida by the end of today?

Yeah -- and boy, I never dreamed this day would come. Especially since we didn't have a football team when I attended. Even better, Auburn has beaten both the Huskers and the Gators -- the two fan groups I have to deal with the most. Oddly, they've all been avoiding me lately...

-- GaryFL (USF Class of '96)

P.S. There's still room on the bandwagon.

[Stargazer]

I had no idea until South Florida's recent success on the gridiron... that they had among the largest student populations in the nation.  Why did it take so long to establish a football program??

[nebugeater]

Does we realize we're looking at the distinct possibility of South Florida being the highest ranked team in Florida by the end of today?

Yeah -- and boy, I never dreamed this day would come. Especially since we didn't have a football team when I attended. Even better, Auburn has beaten both the Huskers and the Gators -- the two fan groups I have to deal with the most. Oddly, they've all been avoiding me lately...

-- GaryFL (USF Class of '96)

P.S. There's still room on the bandwagon.

don't think this has been mentioned hear yet.  Does everyone here know of this Big 12 and regional tie to the South Florida Program?  Just a link to not give it away



http://www.gousfbulls.com/ViewArticle.d ... EASON=2007

[Stargazer]

I assume you're speaking of Dan McCarney being the defensive line coach.

[GaryFL]

I had no idea until South Florida's recent success on the gridiron... that they had among the largest student populations in the nation.  Why did it take so long to establish a football program??

South Florida's first president, John Allen, was vehemently opposed to intercollegiate athletics. The university was founded in 1956, and we didn't even have a basketball team until 1971. In fact, some would argue that we don't have one now.

Jokes aside, football took awhile to get going because of the expense, and a certain amount of opposition from snooty communist professors. Lee Roy Selmon, who is so beloved in Tampa that he has an expressway named after him, was a big help in fundraising. (I've mentioned this in discussions of Iowa Western's football aspirations.)

But USF's best move was in 1995, when they ignored the exhortations to hire a "name" coach, and instead hired an unknown, hard-working Kansas State assistant with Tampa ties to start the program. That's Jim Leavitt, who three days ago was on ESPN talking about beating #5 West Virginia in front of 65,000 home fans. He's also not going anywhere, having turned down Alabama offers twice, as well as the opportunity to follow Snyder at K-State.

Does everyone here know of this Big 12 and regional tie to the South Florida Program?

There are lots of Big 12 and regional ties to the South Florida program:

- One of USF's starting linebackers is Tyrone McKenzie, who played for Iowa State last year
- Selmon, early fund-raiser and USF athletic director (played at Oklahoma)
- Leavitt (coached at K-State, Iowa, and Morningside; played at Missouri)
- at K-State, Leavitt was co-defensive coordinator with Bob Stoops, now Oklahoma coach
- USF's first national TV game was vs Oklahoma in 2002 (OU won 31-14)
- A finalist for the USF head coaching job in 1995 was Tony Samuel, a long-time Tom Osborne assistant who instead went on to become head coach at New Mexico State

For everything else you ever wanted to know about the #6 team in the country (which, might I add, is 19 spots ahead of the Cornhuskers), check these links:

USF football timeline: http://www.tbo.com/news/nationworld/MGBQPSD647F.html
USF university history: http://usfweb2.usf.edu/history/index.html

Sorry for all the South Florida talk... but really, how many times will my alma mater be the toast of college football? Gotta take these chances when they arise...

[Stargazer]

unknown... Kansas State assistant

Oh right... just another student of Hayden Fry/Bill Snyder... that was a real big gamble.

[Coyote]

While I have not heard of this poll before - UNO ranks #1 in the College Sports Report Poll:

1 Nebraska-Omaha (5-0)  
2 Grand Valley State (4-0)  
3 North Dakota (5-0)  
4 Valdosta State (4-0)  
5 Chadron State (5-0)  
6 Delta State (4-0)  
7 Tarleton State (5-0)  
8 West Texas A&M (5-0)  
9 North Alabama (4-0)  
10 Tuskegee (4-0)

[Stargazer]

Oh sure... you've heard of it.  It's the poll that UNO is ranked #1 in.

Now, if they win in Grand Forks this weekend...  we might just see them challenge for #1 in some more widely followed polls.

[Linkin5]

UNO will most definitely lose to south dakota.

[Coyote]

Woodhead has now rushed for 868 yards this season and 7,233 for his career. He needs 121 yards to pass R. J. Bowers of Grove City College in Pennsylvania, who concluded his career in 2000 with 7,353 yards.

7,389 and counting.

[joeglow]

Woodhead has now rushed for 868 yards this season and 7,233 for his career. He needs 121 yards to pass R. J. Bowers of Grove City College in Pennsylvania, who concluded his career in 2000 with 7,353 yards.

7,389 and counting.

ESPN mentioned it!

[Big E]

7441 by the end of the day.

It's been running frequently on the ticker of ESPNU during the South Florida - Florida Atlantic game.  (You dodged a bullet there, Gary!  Refs screwed FAU on that punt interference call.)  Unfortunately, they don't mention where Chadron State is.

I haven't noticed it on any of the other channels, but that doesn't mean it hasn't been there.

Update: It's running on the other ABC/ESPN and GamePlan tickers as well.  I'm sure it will get some mention during the NU-Miz game, as well.

-Big E

[Big E]

Wow.  This NU team is an absolute joke.  I think it might actually be worse than the final two teams that got Solich fired.  There isn't a game left on the schedule that I would make NU less than a 7 point dog.

I'm with the team until I die.  The coaching staff and administration, on the other hand...

-Big E

[Stargazer]

We may need to add a 2% state entertainment sales tax to help pay for the buyout of Steve and Bill's contracts.

[guy4omaha]

If they had to make the change with Frank, Turner Gill should have been hired as head coach. He could have then hired Bo Pelini as defensive coordinator. He'll never win a national championship, heck he'll be hard-pressed to ever win a MAC championship. But Turner is doing something special with those young men at Buffalo. He has taken a bunch of college football's downtrodden and made them believe in themselves and has them playing above their abilities.

Callahan and crew on the other hand seem to get five star recruits and then over-coach them until they underachieve. My estimate is that that the poor play selection and clock mismanagement by the coach cost us 10-14 points a game .But then again what do I know 'bout fuutball.

[DTO Luv]

WOHOO MISSOURI!!!!



What happened to beating USC and getting a lock on the Rose Bowl? I love it!!!

[edsas]

I had given Callahan the benefit of the doubt for three seasons and five games. 2004? 5-6 is what happens when you throw in a new offense wholesale, using players that only know option football. Fine. 2005? We get a junior college QB who can pass the ball and has got a brain for picking up Callahan's schemes. Sure NU gets blown out by Kansas, but hey, they win 8 games and beat Michigan in the Alamo Bowl.  2006? Nine wins. None of them marquis, but they "played with" Texas and Auburn and were not exactly blown away by USC or Oklahoma. And they win the division. Progress? You bet.

Now 2007. Cally has the players he needs and the time to teach the schemes. What happens? USC blows NU out in Memorial Stadium. I said it before the game -- SC is "average" -- and they proved it yesterday against Stanford. Down to the wire against Balls State?  :x And now last night?

It's over for me defending Callahan. I don't think he should be bought out after this season, but Cosgrove has got to go and any other assistant coach who isn't cutting it.  I'll give Bill one more year (with a new DC and new whatever else) to prove he can coach these kids to a higher level. If what we get in 2008 is more of what we've seen in the last 4 games, then I don't care. Take a collection. Get rid of Callahan and Pederson, too.

[GaryFL]

It's been running frequently on the ticker of ESPNU during the South Florida - Florida Atlantic game.  (You dodged a bullet there, Gary!  Refs screwed FAU on that punt interference call.)

I'll take your word for it. I don't have ESPNU so I followed the webcast. That game was way too much of a nailbiter. However, we're still #5!

[Big E]

It's been running frequently on the ticker of ESPNU during the South Florida - Florida Atlantic game.  (You dodged a bullet there, Gary!  Refs screwed FAU on that punt interference call.)

I'll take your word for it. I don't have ESPNU so I followed the webcast. That game was way too much of a nailbiter. However, we're still #5!

FAU punted late in the 4th down by less than a touchdown (28-23, I think).  USF fumbled the punt and FAU recovered deep inside USF territory.  FAU was flagged for kick catch interference, but replay clearly showed the FAU player was engaged with a USF player and therefore should not have been flagged.  USF scored their final touchdown on that drive, I think.

Great game, but FAU was hosed.  Still, USF very well may have gone on to win.

-Big E

[GaryFL]

I've since seen the clip. I don't know what the rule is, but I'm pretty sure you can't just shove the returner's own teammate into him while he's signalling for a fair catch. Still, it wouldn't be the first time a Big East team got some home cookin' from a conference official. Anybody see the end of Temple-Connecticut? Temple won that game, but the replay official refused to overturn a bad call (a Temple player had clearly caught the winning TD as time expired).

And I think that game could have easily been lost had USF fallen behind. They did not play very well at all. I'm hoping for a much better effort this week against Central Florida. Yes, UCF. You know those lower-tier I-A schools the Nebraskas and Oklahomas bring in for a September payday and think nothing of? We still have to take games like that seriously.

[Big E]

I don't know what the rule is, but I'm pretty sure you can't just shove the returner's own teammate into him while he's signalling for a fair catch.

Yes, you can.  I forget how they word it, but it's called "engagement" or some such thing.  Oh well, everyone gets those calls once in awhile.

-Big E

[edsas]

Trouble brewing for USC?

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/news?slug ... &type=lgns

[Whale Shark]

Trouble brewing for USC?

Don't you mean U$C?

[Brad]

Wanted man (Bo Pelini)

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/news;_ylt ... &type=lgns


Part of the story:

Pelini used a fiery persona to inspire the Cornhuskers and win over fans. After Kansas State defeated Nebraska 38-9 in Lincoln, Pelini chased down Wildcats coach Bill Snyder at midfield and lashed out at him for running up the score. Months later, during Nebraska's bowl game, Pelini drew a 15-yard penalty for leaving the sidelines to argue a call.

"Guys were ready to run through a wall for him," said Ruud, a junior on that Nebraska team. "He was such a great motivator. He'd print out cards with different quotes and leave them in our locker to fire us up before games, and when it came to X's and O's, he definitely had the 'it' factor.

"He was the total package."

With Pelini leading the way, Nebraska annihilated Michigan State 17-3 in the Alamo Bowl, prompting fans to chant his name as he left the field. In just a few short months, Pelini's blue-collar approach had won the support of a rabid fan base that didn't even know his name a year earlier.

In the end, it didn't matter.

Pelini said Nebraska athletic director Steve Pederson "stopped talking" to him in the days leading up to the bowl game and, following the victory, Pederson didn't fly back to Lincoln with the team.

Pederson eventually spoke with Pelini about the opening, but Pelini said it was clear he had no chance of landing the job.

"It was just a token interview," Pelini said. " (Pederson) brought me in because he had to bring me in. He told me I was being considered, but I don't think I ever was. He wanted to hire a name guy. He would've hired anybody that had a big name."

That person turned out to be Oakland Raiders head coach Bill Callahan, who has yet to win the support of Nebraska fans. The Cornhuskers went 5-6 during Callahan's first season in 2004 – their first losing campaign since 1961. They're struggling again this year, too, following last week's 41-6 loss at Missouri.

Pelini, though, doesn't take any delight in Nebraska's demise. He's too consumed with his role at LSU to play the what-if game.

"I didn't feel any sense of entitlement to that job," said Pelini, who spent a year as an assistant at Oklahoma before moving on to the LSU job in 2005. "I don't completely agree with how it was handled, but that's not for me to say.

"It's only the right job if it's a mutual thing, if both sides see it as the right fit. That obviously wasn't the case at Nebraska."

But what if the Cornhuskers had offered Pelini the job? At 36 and with only one year of college experience on his resume, was he ready to become a head coach?

"Oh yeah, I was ready," said Pelini, tilting back in his office chair and propping his feet up on his desk. "But I'm even more ready now."

[edsas]

I'm speechless.

I don't think even Callahan's biggest critics would have predicted this before this season started.

My god.

[Omababe]

Uh, what's going on here?

I'm in no way a football strategist or tactician, but I know something is wrong!

Is it talent? Is it coaching? Both? None of the above but something else?

I don't know, I'm asking.

Oh well ...

[Erik]

As a husker fan and from watching the game, I'll explain what I see..

The players have had more of a size/speed combo than every team we've played except USC, where it was actually similar, this includes Mizzou and okie st..

The players on the field are not playing ball as much as reacting to the opposition, puts them into the 'give me mercy role' rather than making the offense react to them.
The players were trained to be thinkers, emotions are empty, too much knowledge and very little heart.
The players do not believe in the system, but try to execute to please the coaches..

Cosgrove never was a good defensive coordinator  even at Wisconsin, he was however a friend of Callahan's since they bunked at the same college and this is how he got the job.

I have never seen this much talent which is actually equivalent to the talent in the top 5 in the nation underacheive so badly, well with the exception of Notre Dame this year.
Look for the finger's to be pointed at how the players are being trained by the coaches, and the play calling as well..

To salvage the season, they need to put the playbook in the locker with the exception of about 70 plays out of that overly-monstrous 8 pound playbook, and at least try to make a bowl, play more aggressive.  Dont react, and start dictating the game.

One way to completely destroy any team in any sport is to base your game off of reaction and not dictating..

The cancer has spread to the offense now, and the team is dying.. Whatever is needed to bring this team back to life has to have already been started after the Mizzou loss, this big blowout at home to one of the worst big12 teams will add to the thinking and reacting.  It looks grim............

[Coyote]

#6 University of Nebraska at Omaha 28 @ #2 North Dakota 17

[nativeomahan]

I have followed NU football for 40 years, more or less.  It is sad but perhaps not surprising that most of the past 6 or 7 years the team has been struggling.  The glory days of the 1990s are gone, I suspect for a long long time to come.  AD Pederson gambled when he let Solich go.  He gambled further with the Callahan selection.  Pederson is not a guy who is easy to like on a good day, but I think the consensus is forming very quickly that both he and his boy Bill Callahan need to go.  I don't know how Callahan can keep a straight face while cashing all his paychecks.  My grandmother could coach this team better than he is.  And she's dead.

They will be lucky to win one more game this year.  A bowl game?  Puhleeze...

[DTO Luv]

GOOD JOB OSU!!!!



I was invited to the game but didn't go for obvious reasons but now I wish I would have. I would have been so over the top obnoxious in the stadium it would have made the news.

[the1wags]

[Stargazer]

Well the good news is... if this keeps up, the house cleaning will be THIS year... rather than next.

[Uffda]

http://firebillcallahan.blogspot.com/

[DTO Luv]

I am not sure if you all heard about this case in the news...but you
> should really read the whole thing...
>
> Tragic Local Courtroom Drama plays out in Omaha-
>
> Omaha, NE (AP) -A seven-year old boy was at the center of a Douglas
> County courtroom drama yesterday when he challenged a court ruling
> over who should have custody of him. The boy has a history of being
> beaten by his Parents and the judge initially awarded custody to his
> aunt, in keeping with child custody law and regulation requiring that
> family unity be maintained to the highest degree possible.The boy
> surprised the court when he proclaimed that his aunt beat him more
> than his parents and he adamantly refused to live with her.
> When the judge then
> suggested that he live with his
> grandparents, the boy cried and said that they also beat him.After
> considering the remainder of the immediate family and learning that
> domestic violence was apparently a way of life among them, the judge
> took the unprecedented step of allowing the boy to propose who should
> have custody of him.After two recesses to check legal references and
> confer with the child welfare officials, the judge granted temporary
> custody to the Nebraska Cornhuskers, whom the boy firmly believes are
> not capable of beating anyone.

[Stargazer]

Actually they've been beating up on one another these days... I think he could find a better custodial parent.

[Big E]

I can't believe the judge would give custody to a guardian that lives in the city.

-Big E

[Uffda]

There are going to be a lot of (sports) bars losing money this weekend.

NU Notes: TV lineup won't include Huskers
BY RICH KAIPUST, MITCH SHERMAN AND DIRK CHATELAIN
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU




LINCOLN — The Big 12 and its television partners on Sunday bypassed the Nebraska-Texas A&M game for its Saturday lineup.

Nebraska has set a 1:05 p.m. kickoff with no pay-per-view planned. It will be the third time in four weeks that the Huskers haven't been picked for a Big 12 television slot.

[Stargazer]

This will likely be the first time in 'modern' history that Memorial Stadium appears to have a less than capacity crowd at kick off.

With Franchione coming to town... it's been dubbed the "Contract Buyout Bowl" ... I love it!

[Brad]

There are going to be a lot of (sports) bars losing money this weekend.

We did good last weekend because no one wanted to spend their own money on the game  However once the season is "over" the games don't really affect business much anymore positively or negatively.   That's 400 bucks the bar owner doesn't have to spend this weekend.