Bo Pelini has put the want-to back in Nebraska football. Saturday, however, it may have been a case of want-to too much.
Pelini told a lot of deaf ears last week that the fifth-ranked Corn- huskers would treat Saturday’s showdown with Texas as just another game. Then Friday at the Big Red Breakfast in Omaha, running backs coach Tim Beck said Nebraska had been prepping for the Longhorns for 10 months. T-shirts reading “Red Out Around the World” were sold, just to remind all of Texas’ last-second, 13-12 win in last year’s Big 12 title game.
Not that the Cornhuskers were overly hyped, but Rex Burkhead, Niles Paul and Brandon Kinnie all dropped touchdown passes in a 20-13 loss.
“I think if we make those catches,” Paul told reporters afterward, “we win that game.”
Did Pelini panic? He pulled quarterback Taylor Martinez with Nebraska down 17-3, despite Martinez’s tailback speed and the drops.
Pelini also tried an onside kick with three minutes and two timeouts left. Texas recovered, and on third- and-1 at Nebraska’s 7-yard line, the Cornhuskers emerged from a timeout with 12 men on the field. That penalty iced it for Texas.
“People around here want to make us out to be the ’85 Bears,” Pelini said. “We’re not there yet.”
McCarney and Minnesota.
The first three names emerging as replacements for ex-Broncos assistant Tim Brewster at Minnesota are Florida defensive line coach Dan McCarney, a former Iowa State head coach, former Iowa and Wisconsin assistant and an Iowa native; Houston coach Kevin Sumlin, a former five-year assistant at Minnesota; and Montreal Alouettes coach Marc Trestman, a Minnesota native and alum.
For what it’s worth, the Daily Gopher listed Air Force coach Troy Calhoun among its 34 candidates.
No play summed up Brewster’s stint better than linebacker Gary Tinsley’s interception return in Saturday’s 28-17 loss at Purdue. He tried to avoid quarterback Rob Henry’s tackle by reaching for the end zone. Instead, the ball popped loose and hit the pylon for a touchback.
The Gophers never reached Purdue territory during the first half.
Bad day for Buckeyes.
Ohio State’s defense apparently was overrated.
The Buckeyes were third nationally in total defense and fourth against the run, thanks to building a 6-0 record against Marshall, two Mid- American teams, Illinois and Indiana. Only Miami offered any offensive punch among opponents.
Top-ranked Ohio State couldn’t stop Wisconsin from a 19-play, 89- yard drive that took 10:04 off the clock in the Badgers’ 31-18 win.
Now, Ohio State needs Michigan State to lose twice in order to reach the Rose Bowl. The Spartans, whose last trip to Pasadena came in the 1987 season, still visit Iowa, Northwestern and Penn State.
Gators going nowhere for now.
It wasn’t lost on Florida fans when Dan Mullen brought in his Mississippi State Bulldogs and beat the suddenly plodding Gators 10-7. Mullen was Urban Meyer’s offensive coordinator when Florida won two national titles and Tim Tebow won the Heisman.
Either the Gators have proven recruiting rankings aren’t any more accurate than Vegas tout sheets or offensive coordinator Steve Addazio is a disaster. Arriving with Meyer in 2005 from Indiana, Addazio jumped up from offensive line coach last year when Mullen left.
This season, the Gators have had 58 first-down plays of 3 yards or fewer, they’re 91st in total offense (just ahead of Louisiana-Lafayette) and John Brantley, one of many ballyhooed recruits who haven’t met the hype, ranks 10th in the Southeastern Conference in passing efficiency.
“We’re not very good,” Meyer said afterward. But maybe good enough. Believe it or not, South Carolina’s 31-28 loss at Kentucky means Florida (4-3, 2-3 SEC) can reach the SEC title game if it wins out against Georgia (3-4, 2-3), Vanderbilt (2-4, 1-2) and South Carolina (4-2, 2-2).
Fourth-and-short.
Boise State has the nation’s longest win streak (20 games). . . . Wyoming is last nationally in total offense (232.4) and rush defense (242.1) and second to last in scoring (11.6) and rushing (68.9), the fallout of playing five ranked teams. . . . QB Tate Forcier’s 6-yard run with 6:55 left for Michigan was the first rushing touchdown Iowa has given up all season.
