For the average college football fan watching Missouri's 41-6 dissection of Nebraska last night without a rooting interest, let me clear something up: Matt Davison is not the only person who cares about Nebraska football.Sure it probably looked that way last night as the former Nebraska receiver visited the ESPN booth, using words like "embarrassment" and "unacceptable" in a refreshing dose of honesty, but look around the the Internet today and you'll find plenty of fans saying the same such things in much more colorful ways.
But here's who you won't hear saying those things: Bill Callahan. When you begin sorting through the pile of problems plaguing this football team right now I think you might find that utter lack of emotion holding the ball at the bottom.
Read through the post game quotes from Callahan and see if you find anything other than defeat. It really doesn't change much week to week. The buck never stops anywhere, it just keeps getting passed from having a lot of season left to making just enough plays to beat Ball State to turnovers. Last night third downs, both stopping them and converting them, somehow entered the conversation. Sure that's a problem, but does it explain 41-6? Nebraska was more than just a few stops or conversions away, but why face the real problems at hand when there are Xs and Os to manipulate? That continued rejection of reality might ultimately be the ruin of this era at Nebraska.
Look around college football right now. You might not recognize it as parity is the order of the day, but who are the teams on the rise? Let's take a look:
- Two weeks ago South Florida's Jim Leavitt was lathered up like a thoroughbred coming out of the tunnel to face West Virginia. His Bulls dominated that game and have cracked the Top 5 in the program's tenth year.
- Jim Harbaugh made headlines in the off-season with his honest and opinionated assessments of USC and Michigan. Yesterday he took Stanford into the Coliseum as a 39-point underdog and ended the Trojan's 35-game home winning streak.
- Dan Hawkins, keenly aware of the difference between intramurals and the Big 12, has Colorado looking like a contender in year two.
Does Nebraska have that? Will they ever start playing like they have something to prove rather than something to uphold? That's a coach's job and we never saw that spark of enthusiasm with Callahan's arrival in 2004. If we didn't have it then, how hard will it be to get it now?
The irony of the whole thing is that as college football looks more and more like the NFL game, it is still the guys who can motivate in the grand old tradition of a Rockne or Royal that get the results. That's how Oklahoma went from three straight losing seasons leading up to 1999 to national champions in 2000 with a guy who was enjoying his first ever head coaching job.
Well, Nebraska has their NFL guy but they seem to be missing the college part of things. The pride. Before games Nebraska likes to play up the "I Play for Nebraska" angle, but right now that feels like a hollow marketing plan, as easy to say and ultimately disposable as "Just Do It" or "We Try Harder." I'm sure the players still believe in it, but do the men in charge go to bed saying that slogan?
It's obvious that Matt Davison still does. He was quoted after the game as saying, "There's no leadership. What's going on in the locker room right now? What's going to go on at practice tomorrow? There is no attitude. What is this team about?"
All good questions but six weeks into this football season I'm tired of so many questions, so let's just boil it down to one: Has Bill Callahan lost this football team?
When Callahan was hired, after a search that was more embarrassing than exhaustive, he was most notable not for getting to the Super Bowl but for totally losing that team one year later.
After last night I think it's fair to ask if he's lost this one.
5 comments:
I'm of the opinion that the 'fire' thing is overrated. Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne were far from firey guys. You never see Jim Tressel have a coronary. Bob Stoops is much more subdued than his reputation would indicate. Moreover, when BC has shown 'fire' (throat-slash, fucking hillbillies, etc.) he's thoroughly been chastised. I'm not going to defend our performance on the field, I just think it has little to do with 'fire' or passion.
The "fire" doesn't have to be evident but it does have to be there. Devaney and Osborne may not have had it in their personal demeanors but their teams came out and played with it on the field.
Callahan doesn't have it either place. Is there any excitement surrounding Nebraska football? I see teams all around the country fired up by the chance to prove themselves.
I don't see that in Nebraska.
I just don't know anymore.
I can agree with that. I just don't like when people confuse 'good motivator' with 'fire and brimstone' attitude. Plenty of coaches motivate their players without Jim Harbaugh's "enthusiasm unknown to mankind!" What I want to know is what has changed. Last year's defense had plenty of 'fire' and passion. Players like Zac Taylor, Brandon Jackson, and Cory Ross regularly willed this team to victory. They displayed the passion we lack now. Why doesn't this current team display that? Is it the coaches? Is it the senior "leadership"? What's changed?
Christopher,
I wish I had an answer for that. I see players on this year's team with that same will to win. Sam Keller's made some mistakes but he's taken ownership of this team and I feel pretty good about that.
I don't think Marlon Lucky is quite getting his due as the Nebraska run game is routinely trashed. Lucky is still the leading rusher in the conference.
I watch those two and it makes the struggles that much worse because they're earning their way.
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