For those that are sitting at home working, or just sitting at home... What will the score of tonights game be?

NU - 31
MU - 21

Michigan 34, Huskers 20

Anybody who thinks the Colorado win was a "restore the order" kind of game is delusional. We still have a loooooong way to go before we're back where we were in the pre-Pedersen era.

Ahhh Mikey, there's that eternal optimism that we love you so much for... I'll go ahead and drink the red Kool-Aid and say NU 27-24. I would say 31-21 but I guess Zac Taylor showed up in San Antonio with the flu.

Not eternal optimism, Lance...just reality-based thinking.

And, for the record, I hope I'm wrong...but I fear that not only am I not wrong, but am being conservative in predicting a 14-point spread.

CNNSI's analysis: Alamo Bowl

Nebraska is going to have to bring its "A" game if they want to keep up... UM 42 NU 17

All eternal optimism, reality-based thinking and "Nebraska needs to bring its 'A' game" aside...

Huskers win 32-28

Lance...as I said, I hoped I was going to be wrong on this and I am happy to say that I was.

The key to this game was not Nebraska nutting up in the clutch, or Michigan choking in the 4th. The key was the gross incompetence exhibited by the Sun Belt Conference officiating crew, which was easily the worst collection of zebras that I have seen at a football game in some time (and that includes some of the high school games I've seen over the last 10 years). Those guys were, without a doubt, completely clueless and we benefitted on a good share of their faux pas.

One thing I do want to say as a lifelong, card-carrying, scarlet-bleeding Husker fan...this win (and the Colorado win before it) DOES NOT -- I repeat, DOES NOT -- "restore the order" in the Big 12 Conference. It moves it in the right direction, but until we get an offensive line that can block something stronger than a stiff breeze, we are going to continue to be a fair-to-middlin' Big 12 team that is going to spend the bowl season as regular guests in such cities as San Diego, San Antonio and Shreveport. We are A LOOOOOONNG way from being the dominant force that we were during the Devaney/Osborne/Solich era, so the order is a long way from being restored. It is, however, in limbo until next September...

Go Big Red!

I will admit that was a horrible job of officiating, but at least they were consistently bad. I'm sure if the Alamo Bowl Committee has anything to say about it, this will be the last time a Sun Belt crew works an Alamo Bowl game.

This win DOES give the players back the confidence to play in--and yes even win--big games. All that "Restore the Order" stuff looks good on a t-shirt and sounds great in a pep talk, but in reality, means very little. But when Michigan was up 11 points with nine minutes left to go, the NU players didn't panic. They lined up and executed. This team now believes they can win these big games, and obviously they are buying into Callahan's system. Officiating had nothing to do with any of that.

Those offensive linemen you talked about are coming. So are some big-time playmakers at WR and on defense. And I remember a movie from a few years ago where a guy said "Superman isn't brave...Superman is bulletproof. The people who are brave are the ones who stand up to the bad guys, even though they're not bulletproof." (something along those lines) The point is, Michigan was clearly the more talented team, they had a double digit lead in the fourth quarter, and still we found a way to win. No, we may not be a "dominant force" but the team played with a lot of heart and never gave up. I'll be quite happy cheering for that team until we get the "dominant force".

Well, I for one am very proud of the way the Huskers played last night. How tough is that Taylor kid? Furthermore, living where I do, I can milk that CU win for another 9 months or so.

Yes, the officiating was horrible. I think the announcers said it best when they said there was a big difference between reffing a North Texas State v. Arkansas State regular season game verses a Nebraska v. Michigan bowl game. That crew was way over matched by the talent on both sides of the ball.

In the end, I think both teams got a few calls to go their way. The worst of all had to be Lloyd Carr having to take a time out just to get a play reviewed. Thus leaving them without a timeout and over 2 minutes left on the clock for the Huskers to run out.

And how about the refs taking their sweet time setting up the ball for play on fourth down? I've seen faster-moving funeral processions (although it did help our cause).

The one thing about the end that still bothers me is this: why didn't Callahan call for Sam Koch to take the punt snap, retreat to the end zone, and run around to take enough time off the clock? With 18 seconds left, he easily could have taken off a good 10-15 seconds before downing the ball for a safety. Then you pooch the free kick to keep it out of their stud returner's hands, game over and we don't have to sit through an 8-lateral desperation nail-biter.

Ah well...a "W" is a "W" at this point...

I think the idea of running off the extra seconds with our punter went out the window in the first half when the snap hit him in the ankles and the Michigan defense planted him like a crop of winter wheat.

Get a load of this. On another message board I check in on, the Michigan faithful are squaking about the refs giving the Huskers an extra down against Missouri in the 97 season when the Huskers "stole" the title from Michigan.

Some people just can't figure it out...

Whatever the case, Nebraska ended the year well with a win. Most people would have said at the beginning of the year that 8-4 could have been a stretch for this bunch of kids, but this season could be the start to something very special in the next few years. When's spring ball start???

quote:

Originally posted by NWI:
And how about the refs taking their sweet time setting up the ball for play on fourth down? I've seen faster-moving funeral processions (although it did help our cause).

The one thing about the end that still bothers me is this: why didn't Callahan call for Sam Koch to take the punt snap, retreat to the end zone, and run around to take enough time off the clock? With 18 seconds left, he easily could have taken off a good 10-15 seconds before downing the ball for a safety. Then you pooch the free kick to keep it out of their stud returner's hands, game over and we don't have to sit through an 8-lateral desperation nail-biter.

Ah well...a "W" is a "W" at this point...

Cheer up Mike. You sound like the Huskers got lucky over some bad team. This is a huge win for the program over a very talented team. Don’t blame the officials for Nebraska’s win, questionable calls went both ways equally.

Callahan made the right call in the end to punt. If you take a safety the free kick is from the 20 yard line. Any kind of return off a pooch punt could put Michigan in field goal range with possibly a couple of seconds left to kick the winning field goal.

It appears Callahan is learning how to coach a college team. I have not heard any references about the NFL for a long time.

GO BIG RED!!!

Oh, Badger...I'm happy the Huskers won and I'm not blaming the refs because they were consistently horrible throughout.

If you think about it, though -- Nebraska was inside their own 25, which means Koch is standing back about the 10. By the time he runs into the back of the end zone, a properly blocked punt rush would take a good 10 seconds to get to Koch, and by the time he runs enough time off the clock, there is no way Michigan has enough time to receive a free kick AND attempt a game-winning field goal.

We'll see how good a college coach Callahan is next year when the new recruits come in and we face a tough non-conf. schedule. I've been upgraded to cautiously optimistic for 2006.

quote:

Michigan faithful are squaking about the refs giving the Huskers an extra down against Missouri in the 97 season when the Huskers "stole" the title from Michigan.

Wow! Probably kids who were 8 years old at the time and just know there was "something" that happened that year. The fact that they don't know the flea-kicker from the Colorado 5th down; well ... they were just too young to know.

I think it was the flea-kicker at Mizzou that the Michigan fans hung their hats on ... to make themselves believe they were better than Nebraska in 97.

97 was the Davison catch in the end zone in OT against Missouri after the Frost throw had been "kicked"...

No matter how any HUSKER fan looks at this, a win is a win. I am tired of people blaming the officials on the outcome of the game. If it was easy to officiate, more people would be doing it. Plus, calls went both ways. People who blame the officials are looking for excuses, and you know what they say about excuses.

If Lloyd Carr wants a penalty on the last play of the game, give it to him. It is a dead ball foul, 15 yards for the original line of scrimage, replay the untimed down (since time had expired). Do you think they could have done the same play twice? People forget that Bowman had to dodge a Michigan coach to make that last tackle.

Real fans of the HUSKERS will back them through the GOOD and the BAD. Change is hard, especially for "older" people, not saying change is easy for the young either.

Either way, when the HUSKERS get better, and start winning lots of games, and are back to national prominence, all these naysayers will act like nothing has ever changed and will jump back onto the band wagon and will cheer the HUSKERS like nothing happened.

Give the kids a break, do you think any 18-23 year old kid who plays athletics want to lose, or be average? Give them and the coaches a chance. Just remember in the 70's when the "HUSKER faithful" about ran Tom Osborne out of the state and into the head football coaching job at CU. Boy, wouldn't have that been interesting.

Time will tell, but I believe this win says a lot about the determination and will of the players and coaches.

for the most part with Nebraska Football.....in this state there is like 20% REAL Husker Fans...the other 80% are just Nat'l Champion Team Fans, Bowl Team Fans, Winning Season Fans, Record Fans and the like....we have the best fans and at the same time the WORST husker fans!

if my math is off by a few % forgive me =)

I'm a lifelong die-hard Husker fan who has been frustrated -- not by the coaching and change of style so much as by the administrative boondoggling that has existed ever since S.P. came to town.

And the thing is...Husker fans have had successful teams for so long that some of us weren't sure how to react to not only the change in staff, but the fact that we actually had to sit through a losing record. I've long said that was just what we needed to put all that success into perspective...even from my vantage point where my first Husker experience was the 1971 Game of the Century vs. OU. I got in when the program was taking off, and the crash to earth last year was difficult for all of us.

Husker fans have long whined and complained, even when the team was winning. A 40-point win over Iowa State wasn't enough...we should have won by 50. We threw the ball 10 times when we should have thrown it 20. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

The vast majority of Husker fans were there in the thick and are still there in the thin, although not nearly as vocal. If and when this program rebounds, we'll all come together again I'm sure.

I will say this, though...all this talk about "Order Restored" -- at this point -- is a bunch of poppycock. We are a middle-level team in the Big 12 right now, and beating a mediocre K-State team, a CU team in the middle of a meltdown and an overrated Michigan team DOES NOT restore order...although it certainly gives a lot more hope for that taking place in 2006.