NEBRASKA’S DECLINE: EXPLAINED!
The Wizard of Odds brings us the real story behind the decline of Nebraska football–namely, the Big 12’s refusal to allow Nebraska to continue its practice of admitting an unlimited number of partial qualifiers. This story should make perfect sense to anyone who watched Nebraska football in the mid-90s go from “The All-Crushing Horde of Sagittal Crest-Blessed ‘Roid Beasts” to “We allowed a team coached by Gary Barnett to score 62 points on us”–which is a shame since we’ve honestly never met a more polite, genteel, and considerate fan horde than Nebraska fans. (We saw them in an elevator with Carrot Top at the Fiesta Bowl in ‘96, and they didn’t say a thing to him, which we doubt would have happened with any other fanbase, much less the hereditary smartasses that are Florida fans.)
Speaking of sagittal crests…what is Christian Peter doing now? Besides treating his gynocomastia?
Noted feminist Christian Peter.
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1
DevilGrad says:
You mean the “N” no longer stands for “knowledge”?
June 8th, 2006 at 10:50 am
2
Mark Twain says:
I believe Mr. Peters line pre-”attack” was, “So, you want to come up to my room and see my grill?”.
She had no idea that was code for “lets reenact that awkward scene from The Program”.
June 8th, 2006 at 11:02 am
3
brain says:
Wasn’t Coach Osborne’s thoughts durring that time, “If I get a bunch of partial quallifiers, then I can recruit more kids like we used to back in the 70’s.” 3 partials = 1 full qualifier.
June 8th, 2006 at 11:40 am
4
anon.4 says:
So how did Texas feel when Vince Young scored that beautiful single digit on the Wonderlic? After reading the initial article one has a better idea that many disadvantaged atheltes might not have had the chance at another school. I will say that it would have been a good deal for UT to have joined the Pac-10 if it would not have been for the lone no vote of Stanford. I wouls have been nice to see two states rich with talent facing off against Notre Dame and Oklahoma to decide who would face the Big 11 in the Rose Bowl. Thanks Stanford.
June 8th, 2006 at 12:29 pm
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Chris says:
My understanding is that Vince Young was a full qualifier.
Nebraska was running rampant for a long time with a recruiting and team discipline strategy that really did not do justice to the great fans in Lincoln.
June 8th, 2006 at 12:40 pm
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GamecockTony says:
Yeah, Texas in the Pac-10 would’ve made a ton of sense.
There’s nothing quite like sitting on a beach in Texas staring out at the Pacific Ocean.
June 8th, 2006 at 12:43 pm
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Andrew says:
Gamecock:
May I refer you to Mr. Strait:
“Got me some
Oceanfront property in Arizona.
From my front porch you can see the sea.”
June 8th, 2006 at 1:18 pm
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anon.4 says:
Did not realize that Vince was a full qualifier, but you have to excuse me, being thrown down the stairs by Lawrence Philips will make you forget many things especially when the cops show up.
GamecockTony, when the Southwest Conference was breaking up about ten years ago, the first choice of Texas was to be a member of the Pac-10 because it wanted to be associated with powerhouse academic institutions. California has the distinction of having more universities that are members of the AAU than any other state and Texas at that point only had two, Texas and Rice. Texas A&M did not become a member of the AAU until 2001 and that was only with the help of Texas.
Fuck it GamecockTony if you have no idea that Arizona has two univeristies in the Pac-10 conference and that the state of Arizona is landlocked I am going to assume that everything else that I would type dealing with the breakup of the Southwest Conference and the first choice of Texas was to be member of the Pac-10 with second choice being the Big Ten and how national television coverage came into play in destroying a great conference that decided the 1969 national championship with President Nixon and Billy Graham in attendance and how JFK mentioned two schools of the Southwest Conference in relationship to putting a man on the moon then you have no idea how important college football is to this country. That rant does not even include the importance the Southwest Conference possibly played when the 1947 national championship was decided in favor of Notre Dame instead of Michigan because the latter had 3 African-American players. College football is not just a fucking game it is the history of this country since it covers race relations (to many instances to mention but look up the story between Sam Cunningham and the Bear when the real USC went to play Alabama), wounds left over from the Civil War (the 1979 national championship game between Penn State and Alabama and the sign that read “Remember Gettysburg”), religious hatred (The KKK marching on Notre Dame), class struggle (any A&M school and the state’s flagship university and especially Oklahoma using football to do away with the image that John Steinbeck’s novel “The Grapes of Wrath” introduced to the rest of the country), etc.
So here are some links dealing with the breakup of the Southwest Conference which detail why UT wanted to be member of the Pac-10 and also how the Pac-10 called up Colorado to join them. That would have been good yearly match-up Colorado and Texas. Ralphie vs. Bevo. The problem would have been that it would have created the need for a conference championship game in the Pac-12.That is the only reason that I thank Stanford for voting against including Texas, but still in my opinion Austin and Boulder make a better fit with Los Angeles, Berkeley, Seattle and the rest of the Pac-10 venues instead of College Station, Stillwater, Lubbock and the rest of the Big-12, or Big Twelve, or Big XII venues.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/colleges/14735287.htm
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/stories/MYSA081405.3N.SWCbaylor.tech.1ca3e1c.html
June 8th, 2006 at 4:13 pm
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J.J. says:
You noticed that too, Orson? I’ve been to a few Nebraska games and their (seemingly) thousands upon thousands of fans have always been very respectful to the home crowd.
June 8th, 2006 at 6:06 pm
10
J.J. says:
A man can dream, though. A man can dream…
/bill hicks/
June 8th, 2006 at 6:12 pm
11
anon.4 says:
My understanding is that Vince Young was a full qualifier.
Nebraska was running rampant for a long time with a recruiting and team discipline strategy that really did not do justice to the great fans in Lincoln.
Comment by Chris — June 8, 2006 @ 12:40 pm
Thank you for setting me straight Chris. I got my wires crossed and became confused. It happens to the most meaningless of all humans.
June 8th, 2006 at 6:38 pm
12
Fred Sanford says:
Very polite fans. I sat behind Tom Osborne on a plane from Omaha to Atlanta in the late 90’s (in coach no less) and there was a palpable buzz in the cabin but the only person who spoke to him during the flight was the guy next to him who had to explain to him how to use the phone built into the seatback.
After the flight and we were deplaning wouldn’t you know the only person bold enough to approach him was a young black woman from New Orleans. After the ice was broken, people gathered around just to hear him say a few words. I was impressed with their restraint and puzzled by the timidity at the same time. Bill Curry and Mike Price would have been in heaven in Lincoln.
June 10th, 2006 at 12:48 pm