Lost in the thunder of National Signing Day is the fact that Spring Game tickets went on-sale today. (Details here.)
There’s no pressure or anything, but it’s up to every man, woman, and child who bleeds Husker Red to do their part to fill the aisles and make an April Saturday feel like it’s October with the Badgers in town.
While Mike Riley and staff have no doubt been given an off-season taste of how deep Husker fandom runs, nothing can send a bolder welcome (or stronger message that Husker Nation means business) than a Spring Game Red Out rolling 90,000 fans deep.
At Riley’s final spring game at Oregon State, 8,263 fans showed up to see some hot Beaver on Beaver action.
That number is correct. There is not a digit missing in front of the ‘8’.
Bet those four kids who sneaked into an empty stadium to burn a doobie had their mellow harshed when a football team showed up.
Somehow, all 8,263 fans managed to hide in every photo.
Everyone who stuck around until the end got to meet a Beaver.
Let’s contrast the Reser Stadium ghost town to last year’s scene in Lincoln when 61,772 fans turned up to see the Big Red take on the Big White. (If you’re keeping score at home, that’s 16,098 more fans than Reser Stadium even holds.)
Always remember the good times.
Not an empty seat in the Memorial Stadium troposphere.
Good luck not losing your mom in this crowd.
Here’s the hard truth: BYU comes to Lincoln to start the 2015 season. Coach Riley and company are going to hit the ground running directly to a possible bautismo del fuego.
Without a Northeastern Mid-Central Kentucky to kick things off, the Spring Game is the closest thing the new Husker regime will have to a dress rehearsal.
That’s why it’s crucial that everyone in the stadium (including you, Blue Hairs) needs to be on point with their game day performance, all the way down to the Der Viener Schlinger guy. The last thing we need on September 5th is a coach distracted by flying hot dogs and shoes waving in the air on every kickoff.
Mike Riley and company have been around the football block a few times but nothing can prepare them for finding out there is no place like Nebraska until they see it and feel it for themselves.
To the surprise of just about everyone, Tim Beck is joining Urban Meyer’s staff at Ohio State.
Yes, THE Ohio State University. The same one that is playing the Oregon Ducks for the National Championship.
And yes, the Tim Beck. Public enemy number two to every arm chair coach in Husker Nation has been promoted from the thankless job of running the offense for the Scarlet and Cream to helping run the offense for the Scarlet and Gray.
While it is a surprising announcement, especially for a seemingly quiet Sunday, the move isn’t entirely out of left field. Beck will be teaming back up with Ed Warinner. You may remember their work together at Kansas when they torched the Huskers for 76 points and 572 yards and pounded a few nails into Bill Callahan’s coffin back in 2007.
If you tuned in for Ohio State’s playoff game against Alabama, you probably noticed how much the Buckeyes’ offense was reminiscent of Nebraska’s… except for that whole being able to knock off a top ten opponent part… and that whole being able to knock off a top ten opponent while using your third string quaterback part.
Needless to say, the news of Beck’s promotion was one that sent the Husker social media peanut gallery aflutter.
This Lincoln Journal Star post and comments can be found here.
Carla, this comment makes absolutely zero sense. Surely the news about Tim Beck had the power to make 75% of his haters crap their pants, but mere farts? No way.
Good job looking on the bright side, Dot.
Yep. The state of Ohio (10x the population of Nebraska, btw) loves their football. Thank you, Jon, for that astute observation.
WTF, Dennis? Did you not at all notice the part where Ohio State hired Tim Beck?
Welcome to the first Monday of 2015. No need to beat around the bush. It’s time to get down to business.
Buried in the 17th paragraph of Omaha World-Herald staff writer Dirk Chatelain’s account of following new Husker head coach Mike Riley around the Holiday Bowl was this observation:
Riley isn’t “cool” like Tim Miles. The man is 61 years old, for goodness sakes. But he is respected.
First off, aside from goody two shoes named Dirk, who under the age of 61 has ever used the phrase for goodness sakes?
Second off, was that Omaha World-Herald staff writer Dirk Chatelain’s subtle way of planting the first seeds of doubt about Riley’s abilities to lead the Huskers at such an advanced age?
Senior Citizen and Husker head coach Mike Riley looking young and hip in a hoodie at the 2014 Holiday Bowl.
Before we proceed any further, consider this: Without even coaching a single game, Mike Riley already holds the record for oldest head coach in Husker football history. By the time the 2015 season kicks off, he’ll be 62.
Tom Osborne coached his last game at 60.
Frank Solich was fired at 59.
Bob Devaney was 56 when he turned the reigns over to TO. And if you’re keeping score at home, Devaney was the very first to lead the Big Red while in his 50s.
Trust us, we looked at every Huskers head coach all the way back to the Bugeaters era.
Along the way, we did make the amazing discovery that Ewald O. Stiehm was the head coach of the Husker football AND basketball teams during his time at dear old Nebraska U. from 1911 – 1915. He did he same at Indiana for a couple years before dying of stomach cancer at age 37. Could modern medicine prove that Stiehm simply had a gnarly ulcer from the stress of coaching two teams?
So back to Mike Riley. As a senior citizen, does he have the vim and vigor lead the Huskers?
Here’s the main thing to consider in our assessment: Mike Riley has spent the bulk of his life living in crunchy Corvalis, Oregon. Clean air, organic food, mild temperatures year-round, and a small fan base that doesn’t exactly have high demands has kept Riley from aging like a typical football coach.
While the license that enables him to drive his Toyota Prius says he’s 61, Riley can’t be older than 45 in coaching years.
Give him a season or two at the helm of the Big Red and we’ll find out exactly how old he is.
And if you’re still worried about Riley’s age, consider these elderly dudes.
Steve Spurrier, still rocking the visor at age 69, dude.
Bill Snyder, 75 going on 110.
Frank Solich is proof you can be in your 7th decade and still have what it takes to lead a mediocre MAC team.
Schwarzenegger and Stallone are 67 and 68 respectively.
Liam Neeson can’t believe the incredible deal he can get on term life insurance even as a 62-year-old.
Believe it or not, Samuel L. Jackson is 66-years-old. When you’ve signed on for 30 Marvel movies, your ass better not age a single day.
It was only fitting that the seven years of the Bo Pelini era at Nebraska remained a thrill ride down to the last damn second.
In a Holiday Bowl match up against USC that very few pundits gave the Huskers any chance of winning, the Big Red showed up ready to play and ready to honor their departed and beloved coach.
There would be no Hail Mary magic this time around but the stage was set for amazing irony when Holiday Bowl officials put a final second back on the clock after a review proved Kenny Bell scrambled out of bounds with a tick to spare on the penultimate play.
While the record books will say the Huskers came up three points short, those guys played their hearts out and Pelini’s remaining staff proved their mettle on the sidelines. Every single one of them gave a reason for Husker Nation to stay proud.
Nebraska handled USC except for where it mattered the most.
The result of their efforts was arguably the most Pelini like game of the past seven years and it was the only one that had Bo watching from parts unknown.
Explosive plays, mind boggling miscues, clutch defensive stops, a momentary sideline meltdown thanks to Coach Kaz, and a never say die attitude- all the signature elements of a Pelini lead team were present and accounted for.
Kenny Bell added one more touchdown reception to his record-setting Husker career.
Three out of the Huskers’ four losses this season ended with Nebraska still in position to win at the very end. While the near-miss 19 point 4th quarter rally against Michigan State will be hard to ever top, Nebraska didn’t flinch when down 45 – 27 with 2:24 left to play in the 3rd quarter.
Instead, the Red Storm responded with a big score of their own, a 65 yard #TommyBomb to Jordan Westerkamp barely a minute later. Offensive Coordinator Tim Beck never strayed from his playbook or his quarterback.
Thanks unwavering confidence and the stone hands of the USC secondary, Tommy Armstrong ended the night with a better stat line than Cody Kessler. As Mike Purrriley pointed out, the Blackshirts held a 70% career passer to under 60%.
As the game transitioned from shoot out to heavyweight slug fest in the 4th quarter, we did our best to just sit back and enjoy the final twists and turns of the Pelini roller coaster. The Huskers had nothing and everything at stake in their final 15 minutes of their season and, for some, their careers at Nebraska. Playing for just for the sake of playing is when any sport is at its most pure.
While the 4th and 3 that came up short and effectively ended the Huskers’ chances at winning will go down as one final boneheaded move by Tim Beck in the eyes of many arm chair coordinators, we have to say the call was sound, if not for the logic but for the symbolism.
With USC no doubt keying in on Abdullah (save for that defender locked in on DPE like a heat seeking missile), giving the ball to anyone but Ameer wasn’t bad entirely bad thinking. Instead of being furious that Ameer was lead blocker on the play, think of it as a Husker legend paving the way for a future Husker legend.
And if it makes you feel any better, USC did the same thing in the 2006 BCS Championship against Texas. Facing a critical 4th and 2 with 1:49 remaining, temporary Heisman winner Reggie Bush stood on the sidelines as LenDale White (who fumbled on the previous play) was stuffed by the Longhorn defense.
The Huskers may have closed out the Pelini era with a loss but the future is bright.
Just wait ’til next year.
Go Big Red.
NOTES:
Like everyone else, we were pretty far off base with our prediction.
“Honestly, this game could go either way with a blowout for either team being the most likely outcome. It’s hard to imagine the Holiday Bowl going down to the wire so we’re gonna stick with our way early prediction of a 38 – 17 Husker victory.”
We are so dumb.
Apparently Mike Riley left after the third quarter with a tuckered out grandson on his shoulder. Even by flaky Dodger fan standards, that’s leaving awfully early.
Someone please tell him that in Nebraska it’s still socially acceptable to leave your grandchild locked in the car as long as you leave the radio on and crack the window.
If the 2 point conversion to Kenny Bell looked familiar, it’s because you saw Nebraska win at Michigan State in 2012 with the exact same play.
Greetings from the Waffle House clogged bowels of SEC country!
While we’re traveling cross-country on Christmas Eve, we stumbled across an incredible scoop. A scoop that none of the mainstream media was even close to sniffing out because: A) it was 8am and B) none of them were posted up at LAX.
Are you ready for it? Make sure you’re sitting down before you read any further because this scoop is bulldozer sized:
On our flight from LAX –> ATL were staff members from USC and Alabama.
Here’s how it played out in real-time two days ago:
In LA, you’d never see anyone dressed head to toe in team gear all the way down to embroidered roller bags unless they were affiliated with said team. Gotta give ‘Bama guy bonus points for going Southern Preppy with a cardigan over this Crimson Tide t-shirt. Outside of the South, Southern Preppy = metro sexual and is a bold choice.
Don't know who USC guy is but in only 10 minutes he posed for three photos. How would @dirkchatelain & @sean_callahan handle such a scoop?
Here’s Tee and Marques along with a stonewashed Peyton Manning. If you recall, both Tee and Marques know what it’s like to get shellacked by the Cornhuskers.
Our flight is delayed again. Going back to the Sky Club to get away from the riffraff. Can't believe Saban & Sark make their staffs slum it.
Note how intently USC guy is reading his new Sports Illustrated with cover boy Marcus Mariota.
Here’s the transcript of our chat: BRF:You guys feeling good about the Holiday Bowl? USC GUY:Yeah. BRF:Think you can beat Nebraska? USC GUY:Hope so! BRF:Good luck!
Also, it’s cute that USC guy and ‘Bama guy got to sit together. While it may seem odd, if you’ve ever seen college coaches in airports, they tend to roam in packs.
Be sure to follow us on Twitter for more exclusives and other semi-witty banter and observations.
RANDOM CHRISTMAS DINNER OBSERVATIONS: With in-laws from Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia at the dinner table, the consensus was that Nebraska was crazy to a consistent nine win coach even with his history of “transgressions.”
On the flip side, they all thought it was hilarious that Barney Cotton was given the reins for the Holiday Bowl. Of course the hilariousness only kicked in after we explained Barney’s status among the Husker fan base.
It’s official. Bo Pelini is relocating his beloved Panty Dropper from Holmes Lake to the smooth currents of the Mahoning River.
Coach Pelini pauses during one last spin around Holmes Lake to contemplate where it all went wrong.
In a move that went from flatly denied rumor to stone cold reality in the span of a week, Bo Pelini has been confirmed as the next head coach of the Youngstown State Penguins.
Even we could have figured out how Photoshop the N from Pelini’s hat. It might have taken a YouTube tutorial or five but we would have found a way.
If you paid at least 10 minutes worth of attention to Husker football over the past seven years, then it’s been beaten into your skull that Pelini is a native son of Youngstown, Ohio.
Since he graduated from The Ohio State University back in 1990, the population of Youngstown has plummeted by over 30,000 leaving this rust belt hamlet a battered shadow of its former self. With just over 65,000 residents today, Youngstown is little more than half the size it was when Pelini spent his summers painting houses with the Stoops brothers. And that’s a gig most likely in very low demand as Youngstown boasts a vacant housing rate over 20 times higher than the national average.
For more on the history of the Steel City, we turn to Bruce Springsteen, who, as you know, played a sold-out show at Youngstown’s Stambaugh Auditorium back in 1996.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVak9xuXyqc
While on the surface, it looks like Pelini decided that slumming it down in the FCS was as good a ticket as any to get the hell out of Lincoln, we’re genuinely excited for the guy, his new team, and his hometown because this whole scenario is the perfect set up for a goddamn Disney movie.
Then again, we are talking about Bo so Kenny Powers might be the better parallel.
Watch this video and think Bo Pelini every time Kenny Powers refers to himself in the third person and the move to Youngstown will all make sense.
Is Bo Pelini a champion or a has-been who was lucky to wash up back home coaching a glorified intramurals team with a guy in a sweater vest watching his every move? Powers had Terrance Culter as his boss. Pelini will have Jim Tressel.
If we set out to make up a Lawrence Phillips story, there is no conceivable way we’d ever come up with this one. Even today it remains one of the most mind boggling things we have ever heard and it will be forever seared into our brains.
Please note: There will be a term used that is not appropriate in this day and age or ever. Sure, we could omit it but this is a story that, even if given a revisionist sugar coating, would be no less shocking.
December 14th, 1996. It was a Saturday. The Huskers were a week removed from being upset by Texas in the inaugural Big 12 Championship game. The plan to appear in a 4th consecutive national championship game and finally cross Florida State off the list was blown off the rails due to a flu stricken Husker squad and John Mackovic’s cajones to call for a back breaking pass on 4th and inches.
This day was also the birthday of contributor Kubrickian Glee and myself. As a pair of struggling students at UNL, it was a day we looked forward to because daVinci’s just didn’t give you a free slice of pizza on your birthday, they hooked you up with a full meal on the house. Lucky for us, their 11th and G location couldn’t be any closer to our respective crap holes at 13th and G and 9th and E.
We met for a late lunch around 4:30. Somewhere behind a blanket of grey clouds the sun was setting. It was a perfect gloomy December day.
Once we showed our IDs to the semi-baffled waitress, we were seated for our complimentary birthday feast.
The only other guest was a little old lady who was preparing to leave. Even through our everyone-over-30-is-old eyes, she had to be at least 80 if not a decade older. Her waitress helped her get into a bright red pea coat and tied her doggy bag around the top rail of her silver walker and said her goodbyes. At the speed she was moving, returning next week for an early bird special was far from a given. Before setting off across the restaurant, she put a lavender knit cap on her head. Decades of practice placed it just so on the first try.
As she clomped past our booth, Kubrickian and I both acknowledged her with the courteous, yet forced smile you give your grandma right before she lays a big fat kiss on your cheek.
That was all the in she needed. She stopped dead in her four pronged tracks and said “I don’t know about you boys but I’m still terribly upset about the game last week.”
“So are we, ma’am. We really thought they were going to win.”
“They would have won if they hadn’t chased that colored running back out of town. He would have been a senior this year. I really think that boy got a raw deal.”
Kubrickian and I both looked at each other. Our jaws were on the precipice of dropping all the way to the table. Was she talking about Lawrence Phillips?
Before we had the chance to ask, she continued.
“I’m still not sure about that white boy who’s playing quarterback now. He just looks so lost out there. The Arizona State game was heartbreaking.”
We nodded in agreement to that one.
“And it’s his fault that colored boy got in all that trouble. He shouldn’t have been catting around with his girlfriend. She was clearly a whore anyway. You know how it was all over the news that he dragged her down the stairs by her hair? Do you know what I would have done?”
Kubrickian and I were speechless by this point.
“I would have dragged her down the stairs by her feet so her head could have bounced on each and every step. That’s what I would have done. You boys have a nice night.”
And with that, she was off into the darkness.
RIP crazy little old lady Husker fan, wherever you may be.
Lawrence Phillips rushed for 206 yards against Michigan State. Then he returned to Lincoln and brutally assaulted his former girlfriend.
Nebraska redshirt freshman linebacker Courtney Love is transferring to Kentucky along with tight end Greg Hart.
We here at Big Red Fury are deeply saddened to see this duo of romantically-named braun leave the program. All the best to Hart. But, oh, what might have been had Courtney stayed…
Courtney Love leaves Nebraska after one, quiet, unassuming season.
Born in San Francisco in 1964, Love was a mainstay of the Portland music scene of the late 1980s and early 1990s before rocketing to international fame by carpetbagging Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain and goading him into fathering a love child whom they named after a psychiatric patient (Frances Farmer) and a bean.
After the death of her husband, Love tossed her music career aside to take up acting and heroin, starring opposite Woody Harrelson in The People Vs. Larry Flint and then, later, a recurring role as “Ms. Harrison” on Sons of Anarchy.
So it was a big surprise to us when Love accepted a scholarship (at the age of 48) to play linebacker for the Huskers. A three-star prospect, Love played her high school ball at Cardinal Mahoney in Youngstown, Ohio. The very same high school that produced the Pelini pipeline. How and why a middle-aged grunge-era rocker would take up high school football is beyond us but, apparently, it worked out for her as she drew offers from 13 schools including Florida State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Michigan State and, of course, Nebraska.
Recruited by Ross Els and John Papuchis, Love clearly saw the writing on the wall that these two are about to get shit canned by the new regime. So she will be taking her considerable talents (singing, acting and linebacking) to Lexington, Kentucky.
The departure of Love and Hart drives a sad wedge into the all-Romance recruiting class of 2012 that also included Vincent Valentine and Michael and Jonathan Rose.
Twitter trolls are a fascinating species. You never know when they’ll strike from their dark and dank dens deep under the staircase that leads to their parent’s basement.
A couple Sundays ago, Husker Nation and its players received enough constructive feedback from the trolls that it felt like Middle Earth came to life.
Biggest mistake you ever made…. Bo was the best coach I've ever had and I'll always appreciate the things you taught me.
Considering what happened that fateful morning, #TommyBomb’s reaction to the news was no worse than your aunt who will post a 500 word rant on Facebook whenever Hy-Vee doesn’t honor an expired coupon.
However, Tommy’s tweet had the trolls smelling blood in the water.
According to @Drama419‘s Twitter bio, he’s a “Family man, traveling man. Sports nut, Noles, Vikes, Pens! I get to travel the world and engage in Tomfoolery” and lives in Maumee, Ohio, a hamlet of 14,000 on the banks of the mighty Maumee river. The town’s biggest attraction is the interstate. I-80 and I-90 magically become one (according to the Google Maps) as it passes by Maumee.
Now @Drama419 claims to have a wife, a pair of kids and a wonderful life. A life so wonderful that he had nothing better to do on a Sunday morning than harass a college kid who just found out he lost his coach, mentor, and friend.
One can only imagine what the rest of his Sunday Funday was like. “Hey honey, round up the kids. We’re taking a cruise up to the I-80/90/475 interchange to watch all the big dreamers who are driving someplace that isn’t Maumee.”
Cut to the following Friday night.
I’m on the couch with my feet up watching the Pac-12 Championship Game between the Oregon Ducks and the Arizona Wildcats. It’s absolutely amazing how fun and relaxing college football can be when the Huskers aren’t playing. And by fun and relaxing, I mean your heart doesn’t stop beating every time the ball is thrown in the air.
Oregon won their rematch with Arizona in a landslide and before the final whistle even finished blowing, a Twitter troll lashed out at your humble author, his friend, The University of Arizona Athletic Department and the Los Angeles Kings hockey team.
WTF, right?
@colebigby 1. @BrettSBaker & I are both @Huskers fans. 2. Oregon is my 2nd fav team 3. Watched game w/ coach Neal's brother. 4) WTF?
A couple points to clarify in my response to @colebigby: 1) when I said Oregon is my second favorite team, the gap between the Huskers and the Ducks in my fandom (like any true Husker) is so great you’d need Matthew MacConaughey, a spaceship, and a conveniently placed wormhole in order to properly measure the distance. 2) By “watching the game with Coach Neal‘s brother” what I really meant was that we were both in our respective homes furiously texting back and forth like a pair of 12-year-old girls who just guzzled their first Frappuccinos. Lord help us if we ever figure out Snapchat.
In his defense, @colebigby was quick to own up to his mistake.
But he revealed an interesting look into the mind of a Twitter troll. What he responded to was a Twitter chat that happened two months earlier about Duck Hunt memes.
Score one for the Wildcats coming up with the Duck Hunt joke first.
And seriously, trolls. When your team wins, celebrate and enjoy the victory. If you feel compelled to tweet about it, write something nice to your team and players.
Don’t be so quick to rub your team’s victory in the faces of the losing fans that you rely on a program to help you find Twitter users to troll. But if you insist, at least make sure you’re trolling the right people.
Fun Fact #1: From the front door of Memorial Stadium to the Holiday Bowl, the total driving distance is 1,554 miles. (Drive time: 22 hours 44 minutes.)
Fun Fact #2: From the front door of Los Angeles Memorial Colosseum to the Holiday Bowl, the total driving driving distance is 122 miles. (Drive time: 2 hours 15 minutes or 7 hours 25 minutes depending on traffic.)
Fun Fact #3: Despite the geographical disadvantage, Husker fans will still outnumber USC fans 2 to 1.
Fun Fact #4: There will be at least 10 stories leading up to the game sharing the same theme- two fallen college football blue bloods slumming it in the Holiday Bowl.
Fun Fact #5: Who cares? It’s a chance for the Big Red to whoop up on USC.
We must admit, we were really pulling for the Huskers to end up in the Music City Bowl. The fact that we’ll be in Tennessee during the holidays was a rather major factor. Still, San Diego is a mighty fine destination even if Qualcomm Stadium, home of the Holiday Bowl, is a dump long overdue for a major overhaul.
And besides, it might be a win-win for us. Looks like the watch site of the Nashville Huskers features $12 all-you-can-eat wings on game day. Score.
In all seriousness though, Nebraska vs USC is a very intriguing match up. The game could easily be a blowout victory for either team or it could be a dogfight. It will all hinge on which squad has more pride in themselves and their program. Will the Huskers rally around interim head coach Barney Cotton and end the Bo Pelini era how it started with a victory in a meaningless bowl game? Or will USC continue its early 21st Century dominance over the Huskers?
Even with an NCAA sanction depleted roster, USC has the strength to bump off top ten teams (see Arizona) yet is flaky enough to lose to Boston College. In their crosstown rivalry match up with UCLA, the Trojans played a good first half before unraveling in the final 30 minutes. It wasn’t a Pelini-esque bed shitting but a flat out quitting on both sides of the ball marred by a series of cheap shots and personal fouls, a signature move of the Trojan defense.
Which storied program will emerge as the classiest in San Diego?
We’re going to go out on a limb and say it will be the Huskers winning 38 – 17 thanks to seniors who want to finish strong and underclassmen who realize they’re auditioning for a new coaching staff.
Somehow, all 8,263 fans managed to hide in every photo.
