Depending on your perspective, it's either the best or the worst of sport that Nebraska's first loss of 2007 has sent me into a three day depression. Personally, I opt for the former. The fact that USC's collection of 18- to 22-year-old athletes was superior to Nebraska's on Saturday has no connection to my self-worth but the games make us forget that for a few hours (or days) and, as bad and silly as that feels, it's why we'll all be back for Ball State.
Now, screw all that sentimental crap and forget about Cosgrove for a few minutes. Let's look at what went right. It won't take long.
--Sam Keller. He was probably the source of the most consternation coming in and the most pride coming out. The guy played pretty tough. He still has a tendency to look down his primary receiver and we've yet to see what he can truly do with the deep ball at Nebraska but Saturday night was his best performance as a Husker to date.
After a halftime beer to settle the nerves and before heading back in for the second half, my brother and I discussed two things: 1) as bad as we felt at halftime, Nebraska received the ball to start the half and with one touchdown drive we'd have a ball game again, and 2) Keller was staring down the barrel of a brutal half. With no ability to run the ball, we fully expected the Trojans to tee off.
Sam hung in there and I know it's pointless, but let's enjoy some candy and nuts. That first tipped ball somehow finds the turf and who knows what happens? A TD wouldn't have helped the Blackshirts stop the run but it would've revived a Memorial Stadium that felt like it was on death row a mere three minutes into the second half.
--The corps...receiving, that is. After a serious case of the drops in games one and two Nebraska's wideouts looked like a veritable strength which is what most of us had predicted for this veteran crew a month ago. Still, considering the number of wideouts who saw snaps it's a tad alarming that we haven't seen much of Holt, Brooks or Paul this season. Frantz Hardy? Really?
I only wish that the corps had had a chance to test the SC DB's down the field after dinking and dunking for the entire first half but, of course, that's not really their fault.
--There is a tiny part of me that thinks that maybe this USC loss will be better for the ultimate outcome of this season. Say Nebraska had found a way to beat USC, a bounce here, one more long TD drive there, something to disrupt the 35-0 run, maybe even derail it. The Huskers are suddenly a national title contender. It would've felt great but it wouldn't have changed how good or bad this team will be. It would've only changed the perception of how good or bad this team currently is.
Being "back," as many would've proclaimed after this hypothetical victory, could've been a dangerous thing indeed. Is this team talented enough physically or mentally to be one of the hunted? I don't think so. Win or lose against USC, Nebraska's absolute value would eventually be reached and it likely would've been right in the 12-25 range.
Remember, there is just a small part of me that feels this way. The larger impatient and embarrassed part is still angry. It's always better to lose early rather than late but I'm not trying to rationalize the USC loss that way. Rather I'm just noting, in my final state of grieving, that being exposed is better in week three while there's still time to adjust than in week 8, 10, or 12.
And with that, I'm done with USC. I had my emotional outburst, something I felt was important to portray unchecked, read and listened to entirely too much post-game analysis (Mandel probably summed it up best and Tim Brown had some VERY interesting comments), and now I'm ready for Ball State and, guess what, they're a good football team. That said, expect Nebraska to revert back to the Callahan era mean and run for a ton of yards this Saturday. Defending the run? Who knows?
The good news is, as a true blue fan of your first-place Chicago Cubs, I won't have to work very hard to summon much hate for the Cardinals. Redbird revenge is eternally on my mind.
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