Sad
Things can only get better................................
I believe the Huskers will come back and win some games this year.
Cowboys rip NU in Lincoln
BY BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star
Saturday, Oct 13, 2007 - 10:22:12 pm CDT
As he left the field and came upon the angry voices, Bill Callahan's eyes focused straight ahead.
Despite the 45-14 embarrassing loss to Oklahoma State, Husker fans clapped for players as they trudged toward the locker room.
"Keep your head up Cortney," a man shouted at Husker senior Cortney Grixby, who flipped his sweat bands to a young boy.
But as the Husker coach came off the field, clapping gave way to shouting, lots and lots of shouting.
"You suck!" one fan shouted, and another repeated it.
An older woman leaned over the balcony rail and yelled in a shrill tone: "Fire Callahan! You're a loser, Callahan!"
You'd be hard-pressed to find a much lower day in Husker history than Saturday at Memorial Stadium, where an average Oklahoma State team simply beat the bejabbers out of Nebraska.
Mediocrity would look pretty good right about now.
The voices were no more easy on Callahan in the postgame press conference, where he was asked if he was now worried about his job being in jeopardy, in this, his fourth year at NU.
"I'm not worried about that," said Callahan, composed. "I'm just coaching for these kids, and that's why I got into this. I just feel terrible for these players. It just hurts to watch these kids hurt.
"I'm not worried about my job. I'm just going to do the best I can. Whatever happens, happens. I don't think you can coach in fear or coach like you're scared of something. I've never coached like that in my life. I've been in this business for 30 years, and I sure as hell ain't going to start (coaching scared) now, that's for sure."
He was asked if he'd consider making midseason staff changes.
"No. No, I would not," he said.
He was asked how he'd explain Nebraska's last two performances to Chancellor Harvey Perlman and Athletic Director Steve Pederson.
"More or less, we've tried hard putting a package together where our players can be prepared and perform, and it didn't happen. It's very disappointing," he answered.
He was asked if he's lost this team.
"I don't think so," he said, citing the way his team competed in the second half despite trailing big.
It's the first half Husker fans won't soon forget.
Go to the thesaurus. Find the word ugly and all the words that befriend it and there you have it.
The whole scene was absolutely bizarre.
There were a few fans with bags over their heads, a "SURRENDER STEVE PEDERSON" banner and sarcastic cheers when the Huskers finally got a first down, almost 12 minutes into the game.
It was 38-0 at halftime and there were pockets of empty seats in Memorial Stadium when the Homecoming royalty was announced.
Several thousand fans had decided their time could be better spent elsewhere, a few reaching for their car keys just five minutes into the second quarter.
"It was the worst half I can ever remember playing, especially in a first half," Husker senior linebacker Bo Ruud said. "That was just terrible. There's no excuse for that. It was just poor."
The 38 points were the most a Nebraska defense has given up at home in a first half.
Oklahoma State had lost 20 straight in Lincoln, dating to 1960. But on this day, OSU piled up 551 total yards, gashing the Huskers for 317 yards rushing.
Dantrell Savage had 212 of those yards, averaging 8.5 yards a carry.
The Huskers have now given up at least 40 points in four of the past five games. No Nebraska defense before this one gave up at least 40 points four times in a season.
Husker quarterback Sam Keller said players are angry, confused.
"It's not that easy when you're hurting inside so bad," Keller said. "I know some guys are just searching for what's going wrong. Some guys are confused or angry, but a lot of guys, myself included, don't really know how to deal with this kind of situation and the weight of this situation."
Not impressed with the football, fans did the wave to entertain themselves with 11 minutes left and the Huskers down 31 points.
When Oklahoma State made it 45-7 with 5:25 left on a 30-yard run by Savage, the stadium was only half full.
Randy York, associate athletic director for strategic communications, said Pederson would not meet with the media after the game.
Don't look now, but the schedule only gets tougher for the 4-3 Huskers.
Coaches and players talked about fixing things. But at this point, what reason is there to believe there's any chance of that being accomplished?
"There's always hope," Callahan said. "That's a part of life, is believing. You just have to believe. As a coach and coaching young men, you have to keep hope alive for those young kids. You can't walk away from them and point fingers and blame and do anything like that.
"They're hurt more than anybody. They're embarrassed. They really hurt. Those kids in that room I just left, they're gutted. They're mentally, emotionally, physically gutted. They are sick."
