Dream Weekend

It was January 1, 1994. I had just turned eight years old, and I was in love. Nebraska had just lost a heart breaker to Florida State in the Orange Bowl, and it hurt. I had followed the Huskers vaguely since my father was a fan, but I was not a big fan. Not until that night. They had played incredible, and I felt bad for Coach Osborne. He deserved to win one of these years. A year later, they won the coveted national championship. A year after that, they fielded arguably the greatest college football team ever and won their second consecutive championship. I was hooked.

It stems further than that. My father is a high school football coach. His offense in the '90s consisted of a power running game, similar to that of Nebraska. He shared my love for the Huskers and visited the University of Nebraska on more than one occasion, trying to pick up new ideas. Each time, he brought back autographs of the head coach (Tom Osborne and Frank Solich) for me. He also got me the media guides from the '94 and '95 seasons. I have spent many hours dissecting them, especially in recent years.

There have certainly been some ups and downs, like any fan following his favorite team, but this year has been different. It all started on January 9, 2004. That was the day the Huskers identity was stolen.

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In the 31 years prior to that day, the Huskers M.O. had been the power running game. They've produced some of the greatest option quarterbacks the game has ever seen (as well as some of the greatest blocking receivers I suppose). Turner Gill, Tommie Frazier, Scott Frost, Eric Crouch. You want great backs? How about Mike Rozier, Roger Craig, Tom Rathman, Cory Schlesinger, Lawrence Phillips, Jeff and Joel Makovicka, Ahman Green. There was no need to pass the ball. Third and long? QB Draw. When in doubt, run option. Then there was the famed "Blackshirt Defense," a tough-nosed, ball-hawking defense that thrived on blitzing from all angles and feeding off the emotion of their teammates and the "greatest fans in college football."

Then it ended.

The program slipped ever so slightly under Solich, and after six years and a 58-19 record, including a 9-3 record in his final season, he was fired by Pederson.

"I refuse to let the program gravitate into mediocrity. We won't surrender the Big 12 to Oklahoma and Texas," Pederson said.

Although he was not Tom Osborne, he never claimed he was. What he was was a damn good coach. Check out this paragraph from his Ohio University bio:

> Solich arrived in Athens after six seasons as the head coach at the University of Nebraska. Solich spent nearly 30 years as part of the Nebraska program as a player, assistant coach and head coach. A Big 12 Coach of the Year in 1999 and 2001, Solich produced nine-win seasons in five of his six years as head coach of the Huskers and generated six consecutive bowl appearances including a 2001 run at the national championship against Miami in the Rose Bowl. Under Solich's leadership, Nebraska spent 54 consecutive weeks in the Associated Press Top 10.

Hired that fateful day was Bill Callahan. Athletic Director Steve Pederson had his mind made up. There was no need to do much searching in his mind as he was the search committee. A studious-looking man, Callahan's NFL offenses in the past did not resemble that of what Husker Nation is used to seeing. Option? The only option Callahan knows of is whether to throw short or long.

Nobody really new what to expect. Maybe this was what the program needed. Nebraska fans rallied around their troops and backed the Huskers as they had so faithfully before. The 2004 Spring Game attracted 61,417 fans.

In his second year at Ohio last year, Solich led the Bobcats to a Division title for the first time since 1968. They also went to a bowl for the first time since that 1968 season, and Solich was named MAC Coach of the Year. In his first year at Nebraska, Callahan led Nebraska to a 5-6 record and the program's streak of 35 consecutive bowl appearances was snapped.

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A lot of the high schools in Nebraska had been running offenses similar to that of Osborne's and Solich's for many, many years. If you grew up in Nebraska and you played football, the goal - the only goal - was to suit up for the Huskers. So, coaches implemented power running games to best suit their blue-collar farm boys. These boys would rather walk-on and work their ass off for a chance to see the field as a senior for the Huskers than accept a scholarship from a "lesser" school. If you worked hard enough and were tough enough, anyone could play for the Huskers. However, since Callahan's arrival the walk-on program has greatly diminished.

In the second half of Osborne's storied career as well as the Solich era, the Huskers had around 170 players every year. In Solich's final season, 2003, there were 30 true freshmen that walked-on. Callahan began this season with 134 players and 12 true freshmen walk-ons. Only 12 of the 30 true freshmen that walked on for Solich in 2003 remain with the team.

There are many different reasons for the lack of numbers. One has to do with how Callahan conducts practice. He devotes almost all of his time in practice to the first and second teams.

Tom Osborne explains: “Some guys just don’t want to work with (170 players). Some do. But you don’t want people standing around in practice with nothing to do. And that’s why we ran two offensive stations and two defensive stations, so we had everybody in motion all of the time. We ran a lot of snaps. And that repetition was very helpful to us."

Almost all coaches, including Callahan, run one offensive station and one defensive station. Therefore, there are a lot of guys standing around, not getting better.

Despite all of this, I believe the number one reason for the lack of numbers is the offensive scheme. As was mentioned earlier, almost all of the high schools in Nebraska took advantage of the hard-nosed Midwestern mentality and implemented a "three yards and a cloud of dust" offense. All of a sudden, a coach comes in with his West Coast offense and wants to wing the ball all over the place. It's hard for someone who is not athletically gifted to excel in an offense like this. You can't just plug guys in there and make this offense click like you could with Osborne's offense. Plus, the West Coast offense like the one Callahan runs is extremely sophisticated and requires a smart quarterback with an accurate arm, big receivers, a back that can catch the ball extremely well, and smaller, more mobile offensive lineman. Therefore, it's pretty much the exact opposite of Nebraska's run-oriented, option attack executed in the past that required fast, agile quarterbacks, tough I-backs, even tougher fullbacks, receivers who didn't need the spotlight and would rather make the big block than the big catch, and big, powerful lineman that would wear you down.

Callahan couldn't rely on the Nebraska talent as much because it didn't suit his needs. So, he recruited heavily in Junior Colleges and places, such as California, where these types of offenses are run at the high school level. Now, a lot of the talent in Nebraska high schools are turning to in-state programs such as Nebraska-Omaha, Chadron State, and Wayne State instead of the Huskers. Not coincidentally, these programs are now dominating in their respective divisions.

Despite all of this, Callahan's teams have shown promise. There was the three straight wins to end the year in 2005 including the victory against Michigan in the Alamo Bowl, the Big 12 North Championship berth in 2006, and some of the top recruiting classes in the nation. Passing records were falling like rain and Memorial Stadium continued to sell out. We had forgiven him for ending Nebraska's streak of 35 consecutive bowl appearances after the disastrous 5-6 season in 2004. Still, there seemed to be something missing.

This year was supposed to be "The Year." Former Arizona State standout quarterback Sam Keller was eligible after sitting out a year. In 2006, Callahan showed he was willing to run the ball. Husker Nation was jacked for the 2007 Huskers to contend for the National Championship. Husker Nation included me, who purchased tickets in the summer to the final home game against Kansas State, hoping that game would be the one that clinched the Big 12 North title. My girlfriend and I paid triple for what the two seats in the 17th row in the endzone were worth, but I could've cared less. I've wanted to visit Memorial Stadium for as long as I could remember, and I finally did something about it. It was July, and I was already counting down to November 10.

. . .

The season started out innocently enough with Nebraska pounding Nevada and beating the defending ACC champions Wake Forest on the road. The "Gameday" crew came to Lincoln for the USC game. It was the biggest turnout in the show's history, and the "greatest fans in college football" were ready. This was supposed to be their coming out party. This was it. The Huskers were back!

Sixty minutes later when the clock read 0:00, the Huskers were embarrassed by 18. The worst part was, the game was a lot worse than the score indicated. Keller was terrible. He continued to fail to see adjustments coming out of halftime and threw the game away with some terrible reads. He was immobile and seemed to taking to long to read his keys. On top of that, Callahan had completely abandoned the run and made the offense completely one-dimensional. Although they had a long way to go offensively, they were even further away defensively.

USC exploited the defense's holes (it was kind of hard not to), and the Husker's remaining opponents followed suit. Nebraska's season quickly turned into disaster. They gave up 41 to Ball State and escaped at home, beat Iowa State, then lost five straight, keeping only one of them close (28-25 loss to Texas). Sam Keller broke his collarbone. Steve Pederson was fired. Callahan's seat was so hot, anyone who got close was getting burned.

Despite all of this, there were two things I was excited about. The return of Tom Osborne, the interim Athletic Director, and Joe Ganz. After hearing about the hype surrounding Sam Keller for a year and a half and watching him in the preseason and the first few games, I was disappointed. He didn't seem to fit the offense the way Ganz did. Plus, it was only his second year in the offense; Ganz was in his fourth year. After a tight battle in the preseason that opened some eyes around the country ( Wasn't Keller supposed to be the only choice at quarterback?), Keller got the nod. I thought Callahan would give Joe a chance earlier in the season to show his stuff, but he continued to stick with his boy Keller.

Keller went down with a season-ending injury against Texas. Enter Joe Ganz. He quickly took control of the offense and knew how to get the ball into the hands of the playmakers, something that Keller had trouble doing.

The week before my first ever Nebraska game, they gave up a school-record 76 points to Kansas, a team they have owned in the past 40 years. Callahan's defenses have now given up the two most points in a game against a Husker squad (Texas Tech scored 70 on the "Pinkshirts" in 2004). Offensively, I was impressed with how Ganz ran the offense. Although he threw four interceptions, he continued to move the ball against a Kansas defense that was statistically one of the best in the nation. He continued to get the ball to the playmakers, namely Maurice Purify, who enjoyed his greatest game as a Husker. Purify caught seven balls for 158 yards and three touchdowns, while Ganz finished 25-50 for 405 yards and four touchdowns. Ganz also ran for a touchdown and finished with 11 yards rushing. Although that doesn't seem very noteworthy, consider that Keller's season rushing stats are 25 carries for negative 78 yards and zero touchdowns. Ganz was asked to produce points on every single possession, an unfair task for any quarterback, let alone one making his first career start. He forced some throws, but he showed signs of greatness.

. . .

What was I to expect from my first trip to Lincoln? I had no clue. It was the Huskers worst season in decades, and they were also coming off one of the most embarrassing games in the history of the program. However, Kansas State wasn't feeling much better. After a great start in which they pounded Texas, they were coming off a loss to the lowly Cyclones of Iowa State.

We've all heard how loyal Husker fans are. They represent during away games (see Notre Dame game, 2000), and they certainly represent at home, with 288 consecutive sellouts going into the game against Kansas State. Were we going to the game where that streak ended?

If it was going to end, I would've understood. It was the most disappointing year in a long time. 2004 was hard, but the Huskers weren't really expected to do much anyway. This was supposed to be "The Year," not "The Year...Callahan gets fired."

It's easy to show up every Saturday wearing you're Nebraska hat, Huskers shirt, screaming your lungs out for the Huskers when they're dominating teams week in and week out. The Huskers have been one of the top programs in the nation for decades. It's easy to be supportive when you're team is always awesome. What's the mood going to be in Lincoln now that Huskers are having one of their worst seasons ever?

I found out that the fans in Lincoln view the Huskers about the same as I do. It would be like having a son in rehab. Sure, you're disappointed they he is there, but he's still your son.

We got to Lincoln after a seven hour drive. I had been waiting for this day for over ten years, game time was less than 24 hours away. After we checked into our motel, we went into the city and checked out Memorial Stadium. We then headed to the mall and to get something to eat. Everywhere we went, we saw red. On campus - red. At the mall - red. Ruby Tuesday's - red. There was a buzz about this "meaningless" game that I had never experienced anywhere before. There was Nebraska memorabilia everywhere you looked - an Eric Crouch autographed jersey here, a Tom Osborne autographed helmet there. So this is what heaven looks like.

. . .

(Note: If you don't want to individually click on the pictures, you can go to my blog)

Gameday was finally here. Kickoff was scheduled at 11:30, so naturally, we left our hotel at 9:00. We drove about a half mile to the nearest Slumberland and hopped on a shuttle for $8 round trip. So far, so good. The shuttle dropped us off in the back of Memorial Stadium.

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We were still about a half hour from when the gates opened, so we walked around for a while and soaked in all the atmosphere. We walked to the front of the stadium and eventually found our gate.

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Walking up the stairs and into the doors, my heart was racing. I could not get this stupid grin off my face. We had to walk about 20 steps to find our seats - then I almost died.

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Our seats were incredible. The stadium was incredible. The suites, the JumboTron, the field - incredible.

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The specialists came out first. Fan favorite Adi Kunalic was booming kickoffs and long field goals, out kicking (distance, not accuracy) Alex Henery by kicking a 60-yard field goal before some of the skill position players came out.

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Cool, calm, and collected, it's like Joe Ganz doesn't even realize he's going to have the best game any Nebraska quarterback has ever had throwing the ball.

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You can't see it here, but Keller is taking notes.

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The stadium starts to fill up as the Huskers stretch as a team.

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Before they break for the locker room, there seems to be a lot of emotion. That's been one of the knocks on this team all year - a lack of emotion. They seemed pretty jacked to me.

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Ahhh... the power of red.

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Consecutive sellout #289. Was there any doubt? (Don't answer that.)

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The tunnel walk, one of the best in the nation. I had goosebumps for about 3 days after this. I should've consulted my physician after four hours.

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Each of the 29 seniors was individually introduced and ran out of the tunnel. The two to receive the most applause? Keller and Maurice Purify. It wasn't even close.

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The opening kickoff...I have no clue what everyone was looking at.

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After a deflating Kansas State drive resulting in a touchdown pass, the crowd was down. Everyone had that here-we-go-again look on their face. The vibe wasn't good. Then the unexpected happened. Senior and Omaha-native Cortney Grixby, playing in his last game at home, returned a kickoff for 94 yards and a touchdown. It was the first kickoff return for a touchdown by a Husker since 1998. The vibe was good again. (By the way, on every replay, everyone on the north side of the stadium would turn around to see it on the massive JumboTron. Obviously, I was jumping up and down and yelling like an idiot as Grixby was running toward us for a touchdown, so I took a picture of the replay.)

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There are some things that you can't experience when you're watching a game on television. You can't experience the incredible atmosphere, the amazing roars of the crowds, and things like this:

There was a lull in the game during a television timeout. Egged on by a few ladies in front of us, fullback Thomas Lawson shook his ass for the ladies like he was grinding at a club. Not to be outdone, Terrance Nunn and Purify also joined the scene. This lasted for about 45 seconds. Not to sound gay or anything, but that dude can shake it.

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There were many former Nebraska greats that were presented during timouts, including former Nebraska pitcher and current Yankee Jaba Chamberlain.

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Ganz under center.

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After a spectacular half, the Huskers were rewarded by the thunder of the fans.

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Scoreboard. Scoreboard. Scoreboard. That's right, we're still in the middle of the third quarter.

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After his seventh touchdown pass, Joe Ganz's day is over. 30-40, 510 yards, 7 touchdowns, 0 interceptions, and 6 carries for 18 yards. I don't think those numbers will be seen from a Nebraska quarterback for a long, long time.

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...and that's the game. Although it had been over for about a quarter and a half, nobody left early. The standing ovation lasted for about 10 minutes. It was a great day to be a Husker.

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Must be nice to be Joe Ganz...

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...safety Bryan Wilson thinks so too.

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As we left the stadium, I couldn't believe what I just saw. Apparently, neither could anyone else. As we left the stadium, I couldn't believe what I just saw. Apparently, neither could anyone else. The Blackshirts were back. The offense looked unstoppable. They continued to overload one side of the field with receivers and go one-on-one on the other side, usually with Purify. Ganz picked apart the Cover 2 all day, dissecting the defense and continually throwing down the middle of the field, where Frantz Hardy seemed to be every time.

The Huskers put up numbers, as usual, but they also put up points. Not only that, their defense played extremely well. Football is one of those games that statistics don't tell the whole story. Callahan's offense has continually put up big numbers, but usually they are garbage yards that don't result in anything or don't produce any points - and a lot of times, both.

As much criticism as he's gotten, his offense has produced. He is known for his offense. However, there are two other "teams" that need to be addressed - defense and special teams, and the head coach is responsible for everything, not just the offense. The defense has been absolutely pathetic this year, and Defensive Coordinator Kevin Cosgrove should not get all the blame. Callahan deserves to go, and somebody a little more well-rounded should come in to restore order.

With everything that has gone wrong with the program in the past couple years, November 10th was a day Nebraska fans will never forget. I know I never will.

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