In 1997 Nebraska was good. In 2007 Nebraska is not.This Saturday, that 1997 team will be celebrated for being good. Also this Saturday, that 2007 team will...well...who really knows how they'll be received?
All I know is that it doesn't necessarily look like ideal conditions for a Nebraska team still searching for an identity. Having the difference a decade makes laid out in front of the growing number of dissenters certainly won't temper any opinions.
Listen to some of those former Huskers speak--there have been ample opportunities this week--and you'll hear two things simultaneously: passion and disconnect. Vershan Jackson--in what's become my favorite bit of the season--will tell you weekly about how he didn't just get passed over for a GA job by Bill Callahan, he got flat out ignored. Jason Peter pulled no punches in his television interview. There was the whole golf outing brouhaha over the summer. It's a difficult situation for all involved, but it didn't have to be that way.
The solution was simple but it had to happen from day one: the new regime needed to embrace the history of Nebraska football, use it as a resource. They didn't, and now it's an onus.
Sure, when Nebraska has trotted out the greats of yore in the past, Callahan has paid the proper lip service but it has been obvious that the players and coaches have felt less than welcome. Will the 1997 team be a part of the Huskers game preparation on Saturday? Who knows. Should they be? Maybe, maybe not.
One thing is certain however, this division of the family tree isn't making anything any easier. On Saturday you'll have your choice of cliches to describe the difference between what Nebraska was and what Nebraska is: night and day, yin and yang, oil and water, ranked and unranked, proud and pummeled, ecstasy and agony, near and far, up and down.
It couldn't come at a worse time for the current coaching staff, physical proof from the end of Nebraska's greatest era followed by physical proof of where it's at now. Callahan can't want this can he? Do you think Pederson's pumped to have them? Not with the Sea of Red in such turmoil, but that's the division that was made post-Solich and now, at a time where the support of some of those former greats could go a long way towards stemming the tide, Nebraska may not have it.
This isn't necessarily a Callahan or Pederson or Pearlman thing individually but rather the fruits of a collective effort. I understand the desire to carve out your own niche, to make something your own, but there has to be a balance and it was thrown out of whack from day one.
You may not want to stand on the shoulders of giants but you shouldn't force yourself to fell them either and while it's supposed to be cloudy and rainy tomorrow morning, I promise you that there will still be plenty of long shadows in Memorial Stadium.
Further Reading:--To cheer you up, here's a picture of Peyton Manning, who may go down as the greatest QB in history when it's all said and done, looking positively beaten and here's a story following that '98 Orange Bowl detailing how far Tennessee had to go at the time to reach Nebraska's level. Since I'm all about making comparisons today.
--A letter of support from the alumni. Ty Willingham wishes he had coached at Nebraska. (So do I.)
--Corn Nation's look under the hood.
--Husker Mike's take on that painful Pelini article.
4 comments:
Ten years since 1997--time sure flies. Good post. It will be interesting to see if the "tradition" is given more than lip service or if the '07 Huskers can right what could be a sinking ship.
It may be a coincidence, it may not, but the minute Bob Stoops took over at Oklahoma he embraced it's tradition and it's many Sooner legends. Look at the sideline at any OU game and you are likely to find players from Boz and Casillas to more recent stars Jason White and Mark Clayton. This happens on a weekly basis, not just to mark the anniversaries of NC teams. Who knows which is the right approach? Good post!
What good was the 97 team when Solich was going 7 and 7? I was a Solich fan, but for crying out loud, can we get over it? Ya, we are a long way from a national tittle, but were we close to a tittle in Dr. Toms first 10 years. Please.
All I'm saying is there are two ways to go: you can make a point of embracing the past and everyone's happy, or you can make little to no effort to embrace it and then you're on your own.
I felt like Nebraska was slipping under Solich. Problem is the change hasn't fixed that. If you think this program is on the path to a national title in the next six years that's fine. I don't see it.
As for Dr. Tom, in his first 10 seasons he won .786 of his games, never finished lower than 12th in the AP poll and never lost more than 3 games in a season. The question with Osborne was first could he beat Oklahoma, then could he beat the Florida schools?
The question now is can we beat anyone we have left on the schedule?
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