Maurice Purify spoke to a reporter in Eureka, California about this season and his beloved Loserhan.

“He’s a good coach, and he knows his stuff,” Purify said about Callahan.

“It’s not really fair. It wasn’t the coach’s fault we were losing. We weren’t doing anything different last year when we went 9-4. It was just the little things — players not making plays when we needed them.”

“It’s crazy out there,” Purify said. “They expect a lot. Every game there are 90,000 people there to watch you play, and thousands of fans line up after the games to get your autograph. But the only thing they care about is winning. That’s it.”

Mo, Mo, Mo…If you’d spent four years in Lincoln, maybe you’d have gotten to know us better.

Yeah, that’s right, the practice squad.  You know when championship boxers take a match before a title fight just to stay fresh.   Well, that’s exactly what Nebraska needed in taking on Savannah State at the Devaney Center on Tuesday night.  The result was a resounding 82-37 woodshed thumping.  

Fourteen players contributed minutes and twelve put up points led by Shang “the thang” Ping.  The lofty lefty put up a game high 11 points on 4-6 shooting followed by Alecs Maric with 10.  Three players had career highs in Ben Nelson (6), Chris Balham (6), Cole Solomon (5), and Paul Velander had a  season high in points (8) and minutes (22).  

Nebraska stifled S.S. with defensive pressure and jumped on them offensively eary to build a commanding lead at half 42-12, tying a Devaney Center record low for points in a half (Arkansas, Bethune-Cookman, and Morgan St. ).   Much of the same ensued in the second half with Nebraska resting it’s starters and letting the young guys take a turn.

Nebraska had better play from the guard position, shooting 45% with 8 assists and only 4 turnovers.  The Huskers, as a team shot 50% and had 18 total assists and only 12 turnovers for the game.  Not quite where you want it but after the way this team has thrown the ball away, I’ll take it!  Savannah State was held to only 26% shooting with a meager 3 assists compared to 21 turnvovers.  I don’t care who you are playing that is not going to get it done.

Oregon (16)  (8-1) comes to the Qwest Center for a FSN televised 1 P.M. game on Saturday.  The Ducks are averaging 89 points points a game with all five starters averaging double figures.  On defense, however,  they seem a little lapsed at times giving up 74 a game.  Should be a very interesting game with 15,000+ in attendance.  I went out on a limb for the ASU game on my first post and I’m doing it again here.  Nebraska played Rutgers and Oregon in the non-confererence schedule last year, losing to both.  They already have avenged the loss at Rutgers and will do the same with Oregon.

NEBRASKA 78    Oregon 63

View the Huskers.com  Box Score

From the Lincoln Journal Star:

Patrick J. Witt, 18, was arrested and lodged in jail on suspicion of disturbing the peace, trespassing, third-degree assault by menacing threats, minor in possession by consuming and possession of a false ID.

Coach Pelini’s reaction:

“I have talked with Patrick about the incident over the weekend and we are looking into the facts,” Nebraska coach Bo Pelini said. “This matter will be dealt with internally.”

Hopefully this is an isolated incident. It will be interesting to see how Bo handles this situation. My guess is Witt will get a second chance as long as he’s willing to admit his mistake and a learn from it.

[update] OK Husker fans. You rallied to beat back the evil hoard of Buffalo, but what are your thoughts about Witt? Does Pelini draw a line in the sand or is it part of learning and growing up? I truely believe this is a defining moment in Bo’s tenure. If it goes south, does he loose support? Should he ignore it or address it head on? Does he keep it internal or share with Husker Nation? If Witt becomes a star is Bo a hero or someone who is only interested in winning? You tell me — a Supporter of Pelini’s on the fence.

Sunday afternoon, Nebraska rebounded quickly after the disappointing loss to WKU and showed what Doc Sadler teams are made of.  Relentless defensive pressure ensued and the Huskers walked away with an impressive 63-51 win over Rutgers from the Big East Conference.  

Maric led the Huskers with 19 points and 8 boards but committed 4 turnovers.  Ryan Anderson chipped in 14 while Ade Dagunduro added 13.  Nebraska still struggled at the guard spot while Sek Henry, Cookie Miller, Jay-R Strowbridge, and Steve Harley were a combined 3 of 15 for a measly 20%.  Fortunately for Nebraska only 11 total turnovers were committed while forcing 16 from Rutgers and those 4 only accounted for 4 of them.  The Husker’s defense lapsed a little bit after halftime allowing the Scarlet Knights to shoot 46% from the field after holding them to 24% in the first half.  There was no answer for Freshman guard Corey Chandler as he scored a game high 25 points.

Nebraska dominated the score after the 4 minute mark in the first half but Rutgers, after weathering a 9-2 run by Nebraska to open the second half, put up a 11-2 run of their own sparked by Chandler’s 2 steals and 8 points to pull it closer at 44-39.   But, the D tightened and Nebraska bounced back with a run of their own to lead 56-39 and led by double didgets the rest of the way.

Nebraska has outscored it’s opponents this year 537-448 for an average of 67-56.   The Huskers are going to have to find some offensive fire power soon.  Our guard play has been horrible this year with inconsistent scoring and poor ball handling.   One of those four guards is going to have to step up and right now I just don’t know who it will be.  We are  seriously missing Marcus Perry and Charles Richardson  and I don’t see this team pushing Big 12 teams around offensively or defensively.  All I can hope for is something to ”click” with these guys and we can have a more balanced offense with more go to weapons.  I won’t hold my breath. 

See the Huskers.com Box Score here.

The Heisman Trophy is about to be announced in New York City. I’d like to see it go to Mizzou’s QB, Chase Daniel. He represents our conference and our division, but it’s more than that. The guy’s a winner.

Now, what I really want/need to say…

A year from now, I’d love to see Joe Ganz on this national stage. If he plays next fall like he did against Kansas State and we win the Big 12, he will be on this stage.

[UPDATE] The Heisman went to Florida’s sophomore QB, Tim Tebow.

One of my favorite reads this fall, Fire Bill Callahan, is no more.

As of today, this blog will no longer be updated. I’ll keep it up for a while, but further comments have been disabled and everything is now in an archived state. In a few months, I’ll bring it down entirely.

Thankfully, Georgia Husker will continue to blog.

His new site is Husker Game Day.

Bo Pelini, in California on a recruiting mission, took time to appear on Jim Rome’s “The Jungle” yesterday.

According to Lincoln Journal Star, he said we’re not in rebuilding mode.

“There’s never a quick fix,” Pelini said. “Things have to be developed and a culture has to be built, but there’s talent here. And we just need to build on that talent and keep recruiting the right way — get the kids buying in and believing again. You start going through some tough times and people forget what it takes to win and how to win and a bit of doubt starts creeping into their minds. We have to remove that doubt and get believing again.”

He added: “I’m not talking about us coming in and rebuilding. It’s about going and trying to win right now. I’m committed to that. I’m putting together a top-notch staff that I think will be on the cutting edge of what we’re doing, and I think we’re looking to have an impact right off the bat. I don’t think they’re that far off. I think we’ll be significantly better next year. How that equates in wins and losses, I don’t know yet.”

I agree. We’ll have consistency on offense with Watson’s leadership and Ganz taking snaps. And the Blackshirts will be back under Bo’s hands-on direction.

How much money will Bo Pelini make as our head coach? The numbers are not known yet, but his annual pay will likely be less than the $1.75 million Loserhan made.

According to Lincoln Journal Star, Pelini–a first time head coach–will probably earn close to $1 million.

There are now eight coaches in the Big 12 and 54 college football coaches nationally making more than $1 million.

To provide some perspective, Osborne, who retired from coaching before the boom in salaries, made $138,240 during the 1996-97 fiscal year, receiving a $50,000 bonus in 1997 when he won a national championship.

Osborne now makes $250,000 a year, a raise from 10 years ago, but still the lowest salary of any of the Big 12 athletic directors. The university’s chancellor, Harvey Perlman, is making an annual base salary of $266,136.

On an earlier post,  Forever Red inquired about a new Nebraska assistant coach who is out there recruiting on behalf of our beloved University.  His name is John Papuchis and he has quite the history. 

Adjacent to the KU party in the back of the room will be John Papuchis, a former football graduate assistant at Kansas who possibly is involved in perhaps the most serious allegation of the bunch. An unnamed GA is accused of academic fraud for helping prospective junior-college transfers gain eligibility for the 2003 season. Papuchis will be accompanied by legal counsel and a representative from his school.

via KU Sports

With all the Academic All-Americans we have and the pride we take in graduating our student athletes, I cannot begin to believe we would hire someone to coach and mentor our young men who has done something so unthinkable at Kansas.  All I can think of is maybe he was just following orders and did what he was told to do.  Either way, I think it is not necessarily a  black eye on the University for hiring such an individual. 

Speaking of Forever Red, here is a Logo for a shirt he designed.  I think it is pretty cool.

Nebraska (5-2)  came up just short Wednesday night against Western Kentucky University in overtime and dropped a game they should have won  69-62  (O.T.).  Turnovers and poor free-throw shooting are what hurt Nebraska in this one.  The Huskers committed  24 turnovers and WKU converted them into 31 points, while Nebraska put up 20 points off 21 turnovers.  Doc Sadler has to be shaking his head after watching his team shoot 68%  (19-28) from the free throw line and seeing WK go nearly perfect while hitting 18-21 (86%).   Nebraska made some poor decisions when handling the ball but none were as important as the last possession of regulation.  With the score tied at 55, the Huskers got the ball back after an impressive defensive stand where they forced a shot clock violation.  Cookie Miller  took it down the court and at after not   encountering some pressure, bounced the ball off his foot.  He leaped on the ball and threw it to Jay-R Strowbridge, but he couldn’t get a shot off in time.  In overtime, the Huskers took an early lead but were quickly stifled on offense and gave up 7 points in 33 seconds  to Tyrone Brazelton to stymie a comeback.

Aleks Maric and Ade Dagunduro led all scorers with 17.  Maric had his second double double of the season with adding  13 boards.    Dagunduro made a move when the game was on the line that I couldn’t help to think of Michael Jordan.  Down 51-53, Dagunduro was on the right of the key.  He dribbled left, put his right shoulder down ( Jordan pushed off! ) and hit an 18ft fade away to tie the game at 53.  I thought it was his biggest basket of the game and then he had to hit 2 free throws to tie it up at 55 and force OT.  He hit them.    With only 7 games under his belt, I can’t wait to see Ade at mid-season form!

Nebraska has to have better play from their point guard.  You cannot have 7 turnovers and only 3 assists, but if you do, you have to shoot better than 20% from the field.   I have to believe Doc Sadler will have them shooting free-throws when they get off the plane tonight and I wouldn’t have it any other way.