big 12 football
Huskers' expectations higher than cornstalks
By John Henderson
Denver Post Staff Writer
Nebraska coach Bill Callahan finally is feeling safe in his high-profile job after guiding the Huskers to an 8-4 record last season. He debuted at 5-6 in 2004 after coaching in the Super Bowl. (The Associated Press)
Lincoln, Neb. - Things are looking up at Nebraska these days. That's up as in up, Up and UP. Up as in a new, gargantuan stadium video board, the largest in college football for now, and one that can be seen from anywhere in downtown. Downtown Omaha, that is.
Up as in a new practice facility with an indoor field, which opens to two new grass practice fields. Up as in a new seven- story athletic complex housing a 63,500-square-foot performance center that looks more like a spa than a weight room. Nothing like a waterfall, a lap pool and hot tubs to take the drudgery out of the bench press.
Doesn't that seem like a little much just for beating Colorado and Michigan? Actually, the $55 million expansion was planned all along. It just happens to be conveniently timed for the most optimistic outlook on Nebraska football in four years.
No one in Colorado, however, needs reminding that the Cornhuskers had slowly crept into the depths of mediocrity. It cost coach Frank Solich his job in 2003, and critics think it nearly cost Bill Callahan his. Then, after a last-minute field goal beat Kansas State 27-25, Callahan's Huskers throttled Colorado 30-3 and capped an 8-4 season last year by beating Michigan 32-28 in the Alamo Bowl, and now fans finally believe he once coached in the Super Bowl.
They haven't exactly put Callahan on a throne yet, but his new digs will do for now.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" he said Friday after practice. "It's absolutely incredible. I don't think there's a facility in the NFL that compares with it."
Walk around town and the vicious rhetoric regarding Calla- han and his evil hirer, athletic director Steve Pederson, has morphed into rampant optimism. On paper, if you look at it at the right angle, you can see why.
Back are 15 starters, including the best single-season passing quarterback in school history. Granted, that's like having the best cellist in North Dakota. But senior Zac Taylor, now a co-captain, threw for 2,653 yards and 19 touchdowns while spending most of his time on his back.
His 38 sacks were alleviated by changes in an offensive line that returns three starters, and his top receivers also are back. The defensive front seven, which led the nation in sacks and tackles for loss a year ago, is merely "as good as any front seven in college football," according to Callahan.
Nebraska is No. 20 in the Associated Press poll, its first preseason ranking since 2002, and perusing preseason magazines shows the Huskers are favored to win the Big 12 North for the first time since 1999.
"The sense around town is that with Coach Callahan and the coaching staff on the football side and with us getting Doc Sadler on the basketball side, a lot of people now are really thinking the way it was maybe 10 to 12 years ago," said Nebraska booster Gary Novotny, owner of Gary Michael's clothing store in Lincoln and wired inside and outside the program.
He refers to that glory period in the 1990s when Tom Osborne won three national titles in football in four years and Danny Nee took the Huskers' basketball program to the NCAA Tournament four straight years.
What happened? Why the jump from the gallows' steps to basking in waterfalls? At Folsom Field last Nov. 25, CU fans saw Nebraska football channel its glorious past. The Huskers gained a season-high 497 yards. The West Coast offense playbook that looked way too thick for college kids suddenly made Taylor look like Rich Gannon in the 2002 NFL playoffs.
After the CU game, Callahan underwent a transformation, too. Suddenly, he became less corporate and more collegiate, more Nebraskan. During game week, he put a buffalo head in the Huskers' locker room. He teared up after the game. For the first time, he took down from behind his desk the huge picture of him coaching in Super Bowl XXXVII.
Up went a blowup of his players giving him a Gatorade shower at Folsom Field. The next week a booster even gave him an Old West buffalo gun.
"It could've been a defining moment in the sense that our kids became confident on the road and played," Callahan said. "They felt everything coming together at one time."
Then they went out and upset Michigan in the Alamo Bowl. Callahan sightings soon increased around Lincoln. It's now cool to be Callahan.
"It's a process," Callahan said. "When I first got here and you change the system, you change the culture, you're changing things. I'm sure people didn't know what to expect. They didn't know how to react. And when you don't have immediate success, there's going to be those opinions out there. I understand that.
"But our players and coaches have embraced Nebraska. We've immersed ourselves in the culture, the state, its people. We feel very comfortable here."
Then again, this is Nebraska. Nebraskans are behind the coach, win or tie. If you see past the exhaust fumes from the Big Red bandwagon rolling through the state, you can find trouble spots. While the line is back and better, the running game had all the punch of the JV debate team. It was last in the Big 12 and 110th nationally with 96 yards a game at a paltry 2.7 yards a carry.
The I-back competition is a scramble among sophomore Marlon Lucky, the No. 2 prep back in the country out of North Hollywood (Calif.) High in 2004; junior Kenny Wilson, a junior college All-American at Butler County (Kan.) Community College; junior Brandon Jackson, whose playing time nearly disappeared last year; and sophomore Cody Glenn, who gained 6,353 yards at Rusk (Texas) High.
Their credentials are impressive, but Glenn is the top returning rusher, with only 131 yards. Taylor needs to throw after practice, he's handing off so much.
"The offensive line is great," Lucky said. "Coach is pushing the offensive line and pushing us. We're hitting it. We're pounding the rock."
They had better. If Taylor gets hurt, Callahan will have to dip to sophomore Joe Ganz, who hasn't played a down. Harrison Beck, one of Callahan's ballyhooed early recruits, saw little hope for playing time this year and bolted to North Carolina State.
Callahan must replace his safeties and punter, and cornerback Zackary Bowman is out for the year because of a knee injury. Also, should Nebraska really get this excited about a season-ending, three-game win streak?
"What you don't mention here is that was the worst Kansas State team in 15 years, Colorado essentially quit after the Iowa State game and Michigan was the worst team in 20 years," said Bill Doleman, a former talk- show host for Lincoln radio station KLMS/ESPN. "I think there's a sense of security that may be a false sense of security as to just where the program is at."
They'll find out soon enough. After two home games, the Huskers play Sept. 16 at Southern California on national television. Until then, however, 6,400 more fans will fill Nebraska's new end zone seats. And guess what they'll be wearing.
"I had a guy in yesterday," Novotny said. "He said, 'What do you got red?' I said, 'I've got the red cashmere, I got a red mock. I got a red ...' He said, 'I'll take them all!"'
Huskers' expectations higher than cornstalks
By John Henderson
Denver Post Staff Writer
Nebraska coach Bill Callahan finally is feeling safe in his high-profile job after guiding the Huskers to an 8-4 record last season. He debuted at 5-6 in 2004 after coaching in the Super Bowl. (The Associated Press)
Lincoln, Neb. - Things are looking up at Nebraska these days. That's up as in up, Up and UP. Up as in a new, gargantuan stadium video board, the largest in college football for now, and one that can be seen from anywhere in downtown. Downtown Omaha, that is.
Up as in a new practice facility with an indoor field, which opens to two new grass practice fields. Up as in a new seven- story athletic complex housing a 63,500-square-foot performance center that looks more like a spa than a weight room. Nothing like a waterfall, a lap pool and hot tubs to take the drudgery out of the bench press.
Doesn't that seem like a little much just for beating Colorado and Michigan? Actually, the $55 million expansion was planned all along. It just happens to be conveniently timed for the most optimistic outlook on Nebraska football in four years.
No one in Colorado, however, needs reminding that the Cornhuskers had slowly crept into the depths of mediocrity. It cost coach Frank Solich his job in 2003, and critics think it nearly cost Bill Callahan his. Then, after a last-minute field goal beat Kansas State 27-25, Callahan's Huskers throttled Colorado 30-3 and capped an 8-4 season last year by beating Michigan 32-28 in the Alamo Bowl, and now fans finally believe he once coached in the Super Bowl.
They haven't exactly put Callahan on a throne yet, but his new digs will do for now.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" he said Friday after practice. "It's absolutely incredible. I don't think there's a facility in the NFL that compares with it."
Walk around town and the vicious rhetoric regarding Calla- han and his evil hirer, athletic director Steve Pederson, has morphed into rampant optimism. On paper, if you look at it at the right angle, you can see why.
Back are 15 starters, including the best single-season passing quarterback in school history. Granted, that's like having the best cellist in North Dakota. But senior Zac Taylor, now a co-captain, threw for 2,653 yards and 19 touchdowns while spending most of his time on his back.
His 38 sacks were alleviated by changes in an offensive line that returns three starters, and his top receivers also are back. The defensive front seven, which led the nation in sacks and tackles for loss a year ago, is merely "as good as any front seven in college football," according to Callahan.
Nebraska is No. 20 in the Associated Press poll, its first preseason ranking since 2002, and perusing preseason magazines shows the Huskers are favored to win the Big 12 North for the first time since 1999.
"The sense around town is that with Coach Callahan and the coaching staff on the football side and with us getting Doc Sadler on the basketball side, a lot of people now are really thinking the way it was maybe 10 to 12 years ago," said Nebraska booster Gary Novotny, owner of Gary Michael's clothing store in Lincoln and wired inside and outside the program.
He refers to that glory period in the 1990s when Tom Osborne won three national titles in football in four years and Danny Nee took the Huskers' basketball program to the NCAA Tournament four straight years.
What happened? Why the jump from the gallows' steps to basking in waterfalls? At Folsom Field last Nov. 25, CU fans saw Nebraska football channel its glorious past. The Huskers gained a season-high 497 yards. The West Coast offense playbook that looked way too thick for college kids suddenly made Taylor look like Rich Gannon in the 2002 NFL playoffs.
After the CU game, Callahan underwent a transformation, too. Suddenly, he became less corporate and more collegiate, more Nebraskan. During game week, he put a buffalo head in the Huskers' locker room. He teared up after the game. For the first time, he took down from behind his desk the huge picture of him coaching in Super Bowl XXXVII.
Up went a blowup of his players giving him a Gatorade shower at Folsom Field. The next week a booster even gave him an Old West buffalo gun.
"It could've been a defining moment in the sense that our kids became confident on the road and played," Callahan said. "They felt everything coming together at one time."
Then they went out and upset Michigan in the Alamo Bowl. Callahan sightings soon increased around Lincoln. It's now cool to be Callahan.
"It's a process," Callahan said. "When I first got here and you change the system, you change the culture, you're changing things. I'm sure people didn't know what to expect. They didn't know how to react. And when you don't have immediate success, there's going to be those opinions out there. I understand that.
"But our players and coaches have embraced Nebraska. We've immersed ourselves in the culture, the state, its people. We feel very comfortable here."
Then again, this is Nebraska. Nebraskans are behind the coach, win or tie. If you see past the exhaust fumes from the Big Red bandwagon rolling through the state, you can find trouble spots. While the line is back and better, the running game had all the punch of the JV debate team. It was last in the Big 12 and 110th nationally with 96 yards a game at a paltry 2.7 yards a carry.
The I-back competition is a scramble among sophomore Marlon Lucky, the No. 2 prep back in the country out of North Hollywood (Calif.) High in 2004; junior Kenny Wilson, a junior college All-American at Butler County (Kan.) Community College; junior Brandon Jackson, whose playing time nearly disappeared last year; and sophomore Cody Glenn, who gained 6,353 yards at Rusk (Texas) High.
Their credentials are impressive, but Glenn is the top returning rusher, with only 131 yards. Taylor needs to throw after practice, he's handing off so much.
"The offensive line is great," Lucky said. "Coach is pushing the offensive line and pushing us. We're hitting it. We're pounding the rock."
They had better. If Taylor gets hurt, Callahan will have to dip to sophomore Joe Ganz, who hasn't played a down. Harrison Beck, one of Callahan's ballyhooed early recruits, saw little hope for playing time this year and bolted to North Carolina State.
Callahan must replace his safeties and punter, and cornerback Zackary Bowman is out for the year because of a knee injury. Also, should Nebraska really get this excited about a season-ending, three-game win streak?
"What you don't mention here is that was the worst Kansas State team in 15 years, Colorado essentially quit after the Iowa State game and Michigan was the worst team in 20 years," said Bill Doleman, a former talk- show host for Lincoln radio station KLMS/ESPN. "I think there's a sense of security that may be a false sense of security as to just where the program is at."
They'll find out soon enough. After two home games, the Huskers play Sept. 16 at Southern California on national television. Until then, however, 6,400 more fans will fill Nebraska's new end zone seats. And guess what they'll be wearing.
"I had a guy in yesterday," Novotny said. "He said, 'What do you got red?' I said, 'I've got the red cashmere, I got a red mock. I got a red ...' He said, 'I'll take them all!"'
