OWH: Interviews with Big 12 Conference and bowl officials Saturday indicated again that Nebraska (7-4) was headed for the Alamo Bowl and Oklahoma for the Holiday Bowl. But uncertainties with the final Bowl Championship Series field kept anything from becoming official.

Persons close to the situation told The World-Herald that the Alamo Bowl still wanted an NU-Iowa matchup, but television people were pushing an NU-Michigan meeting.

Nebraska and Michigan, two of college football’s all-time winningest programs, haven’t played since the Wolverines beat the Huskers 27-23 in the Fiesta Bowl after the 1985 season. NU and Iowa have played 41 regular-season games but never in a bowl.

ESPN will televise the final bowl matchups tonight at 5:00 pm Central.

Tom Shatel for the Omaha World Herald: Volleyball is the “Type A” program of Husker athletics. Players are great athletes, great students and great philosophers. They are self-starters and self-motivators. They are motivated by success, on the court, off the court and anywhere else you’ll find it.

Most college athletes you talk to give you clichés. When you talk to a Husker volleyball player, it’s like a seminar on attaining goals and achieving a full life.

It starts with head coach John Cook, the Phil Jackson of Nebraska athletics. You ask him if the loss at Texas could be a good thing, and he doesn’t scoff at the question. He embraces it.

This is what Cook does. He has his team read books, each with a specific theme designed to flick a switch. He shows clips from TV shows or movies. Just the other day, he rolled out the “Show me the Money” scene from the movie “Jerry Maguire.”

“They loved it,” Cook said. “The idea was, now it’s time to show me the money.”

Cook is a tactician. If volleyball uses X’s and O’s, he can draw them up. But he spends just as much time pushing buttons and getting his Type A’s to channel their positive energy.

“First of all, we recruit talent,” Cook said. “But we do want a certain type of kid here. They come here because they know they will be pushed to get them to the level where they want to be. They are Type A’s. They’re perfectionists. But sometimes when you have perfectionists, you have to give them perspective. Everything in sports is not perfect. It’s not always going to happen.

“It’s like I was watching the (golf) movie “Bagger Vance” the other day. And it’s like what Bagger Vance says to the golfer: ‘You’ll never win this game. Golf always wins. But it’s a lot of fun trying.’

Omaha World Herald: Bill Callahan met with Tom Osborne, cracked on Colorado and savored two standing ovations Friday at the Big Red Breakfast.

Callahan and Osborne talked briefly, and Callahan later joked: “He gave me my official Nebraska head football coaches card, and membership, for that option play that we ran (against Colorado).”

“Wonderful, wonderful man,” Callahan said. “Really, I hope that he gets more involved with us, involved with the ballclub, and I certainly enjoyed seeing him and would enjoy seeing him in the future.”

During his ABC interview before halftime, Barnett said it was an insult to his players that Nebraska went to a no-huddle offense late in the second quarter. Callahan had fun with that Friday.

Callahan said, “It wouldn’t have been insulting to me, because I understand it.”