Well here we are at T minus 3 days until the final regular season game against the vermin that is the Buffaloes of Colorado and from what I hear the winner will actually get invited to the Insight Bowl in Arizona against an opponent from the Pac-10 ohh that sounds real promising and begs the question if they beat the vermin, will Mr. Bill be the coach leading them to the Bowl game. That issue will be resolved in a few days, for this article I had in mind to give you a few of the pluses and minuses over the past 4 years and let you decide whether Dr. Tom will make the right decision. First off let us look at the negatives of his reign and then finish up with the positives.

Let's face some hard facts to start off with; back in September, when Callahan was given his contract extension there was no thought whatsoever of Callahan or Pederson for that matter being fired. My how that has changed hasn't it. We were entering the 3^rd game of the season all pumped up for an ABC Prime Time match-up against the benchmark of the NCAA D-1 for the past 4-5 years in USC. What that game actually showed us in "Huskernation" was that we simply were not ready for Prime Time, and I'm not talking about Saturday Night Live either. We were pretenders and for the rest of the season the team played like it. The next 2 months gave us a 5-6 record, stunning, almost comical defensive collapses and an awful turnover margin. In the process, it left fans, pundits and coaches to wonder: What went wrong? Why? How?

Has he performed up to expectations?

Callahan's record now stands at 27-21 and 15-17 in the Big 12, which includes last year's Big 12 championship game loss to Oklahoma. So what was our "minimum expectations" after 4 years of Callahan's leadership? Now he threw the gauntlet down a few weeks ago in reference to his offense and that "numbers don't lie". So let's look at a few numbers shall we. Against the top teams of the Big 12 (Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A & M and Oklahoma State) he is 1-10, Very Impressive Right? Against the middle of the pack teams such as Kansas, Missouri, Kansas State and Colorado he is 9-6. Against the bottom of the barrel (Iowa State and Baylor) he is 5-1, is that the teams who we are suppose to be impressed with regarding his record? Quick answer on that one is a resounding NO!

Until this year, the whole Big 12 North division has been there for the taking, when two very strong North teams (Missouri, Kansas) have emerged. Hell even the vermin won the north in 2004 & 05 and then lost in the championship game by a combined score of 112 to 6. Now chew on this: The Buffaloes managed these 2 divisional titles while dealing with one of the worst scandals in college football history. Also since 2003, three North division coaches have been fired, one retired, and two were on the hot seat. The situation was ripe for Callahan to hit the ground running, offensive overhaul or not. But he didn't, leading to our second failure, his coaching decisions.

In his first season with Joe "I really can't throw the ball" Dailey he insisted on trying to throw the ball when the team still consisted of players who were more run oriented. This was brought to a HUGE head in the Texas Tech game while NU trailed 35-10, and Callahan inserted Beau Davis, who had not played in any games. Davis promptly threw four interceptions and lost a fumble, helping the Red Raiders score 35 more points in a 70-10 victory. It was stunning to behold; Davis was clearly unprepared, yet he was asked to throw deep routes into the middle of Tech's defense. This side of Callahan rose up again a few weeks ago against Kansas when trailing 62-31, Callahan put in Joe Ganz and had him throwing the same dangerous deep slants he had all thrown all afternoon. Again the question begs to be answered why?

Defensive Coordinator:

Hiring or keeping Kevin Cosgrove. I think many of you fans/readers will readily admit that the Big 12 has way more "wide open" offensives than the Big 10 does. I can't think of any Big 10 teams that run an offense similar to say Missouri, Texas Tech, Kansas, Oklahoma State or Oklahoma, but yet, while it is painfully obvious to all us fans, Callahan seems unable to recognize that Cosgrove was struggling to stop spread offenses. A conventional attack, he could dissect. But when he needed to design a defense to cover good athletes in space, he didn't, or couldn't. Because he asks his defense to "read and react" they lack the proper technique to tackle, shed blockers, or cover receivers on simple routes either in man-to-man or zone coverage's.

Player development:

Callahan's lack of player development; I can name countless players who were highly recruited by Callahan and then they kind of drifted off into "no-where land". For one Maurice Purify this season was basically MIA the first 9-10 games of the season, then all of the sudden the past 2 games he is catching 5-8 passes for 150 plus yards and scoring touchdowns. Where was he the first 8 games? What has happened to running back Cody Glenn this season, Why was Harrison Beck good enough to have his redshirt burned in 2005, but not good enough to retain second string in fall camp of 2006? Why has Chris Brooks sat the pine for two years while Terrence Nunn clearly regresses as a receiver? Why has Nunn regressed, anyway? What happened to tight end J.B Phillips and Josh Mueller? Why has Tierre Green gone from a speedy running back to a guy who looks like he's competing for the "I will do anything for the team" award at safety? And finally;

Who are these Huskers?

Where is the team identity? The Blackshirts was more than an award for the defense, it was an attitude, a swagger, and NU was never a linebacker factory. It was a defense built on studs along the defensive line, aggressive cover corners and big, rangy safeties. NU's best teams, from 1993-1997, perfected that mold. Those Huskers featured the baddest front four in college football guy like Grant Winstrom, Jason and Christian Peter, great corners and terrific safeties like Mike Minter and Mike Brown. We lost that when Charlie McBride retired and gained one year of it back when Bo Pelini was defensive coordinator. That is what is missing on this team; the coaching staff feels that they have to be chameleons not run a set offense or defense, but to be able to change on demand, blitz one spread offense, while lying back against another, and be flexible. You know what that has resulted in, a team not knowing what to do from one play to the next. Name another team, either college or professional that operates under that method.

It was just a job:

Let's face facts; Callahan was not Pederson's original choice for his new head coach after he fired Frank Solich, not even his second or third choice. No Callahan fell into his lap after his disastrous year in Oakland after making a Super Bowl appearance the previous season. Callahan was not prepared for the love, and affection that the Nebraskans have for their football team. You've got to want to head out to those 5,000-20,000 populations towns such as York, or Valentine, or Norfolk for a steak dinner and a two-hour conversation about football. You've got to want your assistants to head out for a state tour of high schools more than once every four years. You've got to nurture those kids, who from the time they were 7 years old playing with a football in their backyard listening to the game on the radio, who want, no expect to wear that white helmet with the red N on it.

Now on to some positives Callahan has achieved, just as I promised you.

Callahan ran a Clean Program

As of the 2006 NCAA Division I Graduation Rates Report, the Huskers had an 84 percent graduation rate, behind only Boston College in BCS Conferences. Of course, NU's academic tradition was established well before Callahan arrived at NU, but he kept it going. There were no murders, no rapes, yes there were a couple of DUI's and DWI's, but God, these are 20-something kids on their own for the first time in their life. Callahan got the kids to class, kept them there and kept them basically out of trouble.

Brought the Offense into the modern era

Yea I know that a lot of you yearn for the days of old, when we had 5 320 plus pound corn feed boys up front with a speedy nimble quarterback and 4-5 different running backs all capable of running 70 plus yards on every single play, but you can't run that in a major conference like the Big 12 and expect to win, those days were/are over, the change was necessary. Yes you still need to be able to run the ball in late October and November in Lincoln, but you also have to be a threat to throw it effectively and for that Callahan has been very successful at doing.

Offensive Coordinator Shawn Watson:

Callahan's old friend was a terrific hire for offensive coordinator. He balances Callahan out, and clearly made a difference this season once he was brought down to the sidelines coach up the offense as they went on and off the field. This is one coach that I hope Dr. Tom is able to convince or does keep on the next staff. He understands the college game, especially the running game and seems to be a favorite among the players.

Callahan's attitude:

Say what you will about the man, but many a lesser man would have probably resigned by this point, given all the criticism that has been heaped upon him this season. He has also showed his loyalty to his coaches during this season, to a fault. Should he give Osborne the easy road and resign, why? Osborne was hired to be the AD and having that job requires making the tough decision, this one will be his first, then of course hiring his replacement, if he does fire Callahan will be his next and that will have more riding on it than anyone is willing to admit at this point. Callahan will leave with hardly any egg on his face. No that is/was reserved for Steve Pederson and what his responsibility was to this school and community. Callahan was simply not a match for this state or school, the place where Johnny Carson was born expects more.

Finally the game prediction:

Over the past 2 weeks Callahan has ran practice under the cover of secrecy, allowing no press into the practice. He says it is allowing his staff and kids the time to properly prepare for the final game of regular season. Okay, fine that is understandable and Callahan is neither the first nor the last coach to do this. Playing the vermin the day after Thanksgiving is always fun and usually gives us something to remember. I say that this year will be no different with the Huskers going to Boulder and bringing home a "W" by the score of 37-17. GBR and have a GREAT THANKSGIVING folks.

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JEH45 said:

	Bugeater: I see you lost your QB recruit to Mizzou. A new coach will have his work cut out for him.
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November 21, 2007
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Bugeatersteve said:

JEH45; Blain Gabbert who is 6' 5" and 225 from Ballwin Missouri. He has alrady signed with Missouri for next season. However I heard that we got a commitment, James Vandenberg of Keokuk, Iowa who just lead his scool to the 3A championship. his 13-game senior totals of 259 of 374 (69.3 percent) for 3,279 yards and 49 touchdowns with just seven interceptions. His career numbers were 7,677 passing yards and 93 touchdown passes both the regular season and career numbers are all Iowa state records. I have come to realize that in most instances, it is not necessarily the school with the most 4-5 star recruits that win, but in fact how you develope them and how they fit in with each other that is most important.

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November 23, 2007
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