Are You Still Here?

How the hell am I supposed to even be thinking about your dumb ass at a time like this? The biggest sporting event involving my favorite team in the HISTORY of the school, and I’m supposed to find something witty to take back to you about the Huskers? Who gives a damn about Nebraska football right now? Hell, even most of you don’t really care at this point. However, I write for you ….so I will attempt to keep up the hate, even when the motivation is long gone.

So last night, I was up til about 12:30 in the morning or so, checking out scores, highlights, press releases and just about everything else associated with my team being in the tip 5 of the BCS. Despite the slight diss the national talking heads are giving Missouri (apparently beating a bunch of MAC teams gets you a lot of face time)…it’s still great to finally have to watch other games, watch computer polls etc.

However, as I was finally shutting everything down…minutes before my head hitting the pillow after a great afternoon of watching football…it dawned on me like a ton of bricks. Out of the blue…out of nowhere:

You’re completely and totally an afterthought.

It’s almost as if you don’t even have a team. Despite the big win over IDLE university yesterday (I’m assuming they scored 50+ on you)….NOBODY outside of the Sand-Loess Hills corridor even remembers that you have a team, with the exception of the fact that every now and then, they’ll see a blurb float by on their screen that says, “Tom Osborne hasn’t made a coaching decision yet”.

Wow, that’s good stuff.

I’ve learned over the past couple of decades, that big losses don’t phase you. Hell, giving up 70 points to Texas Tech or 76 to Kansas didn’t really make you flinch. What DOES piss you off is when you become an afterthought..which ironically, you have. Your games aren’t previewed on gameday. Highlights of your victories don’t splash across the introduction of Sportscenter. You’ve become Purdue. Perhaps you may figure this out soon…but I think I’ll just let you figure it out on your own. I’ve got other things to worry about.

Speaking of which, since Nebraska football is irrelevant and I’m nearly in off-season mode already…it appears that for the next week, we’re going to be in Big 12 war mode here at BEL. With that being said, let’s take a look at a few other things going on and go around the state of college football:

* Can somebody PLEASE tell me what the hell is so great about Les Miles? I realize he’s the head coach at LSU, and sure…they’re pretty good. But wasn’t he at Okie State not that long ago? Did they somehow do something impressive that I simply forgot about? According to ESPN, the Michigan job is the greatest end-all, be-all job this side of being Pope. Yet before the job is even open Les Freaking Miles is supposed to pack up yet again and save the day? What sort of lottery did this guy win? I must be blind, because I don’t get it.

* Speaking of Michigan…I get that they have tradition. I get they are two huge name schools with huge alumni bases who have pumped out great players over the years. But after watching some of that game yesterday, can anybody really claim that either one of those teams is that much better than Cincinnati? Kentucky? Clemson?

I’m all for tradition and all that (God knows you people are)…but good lord, there are HUGE games being played around the country, (Including 2-9 Notre Dame…and don’t get me started on that) do we really need 15 minute breakdowns on two teams that would finish 4th or 5th in the Pac 10 or SEC? Why ESPN latches their jaws onto something and won’t let go is absolutely beyond me. Why somebody hasn’t tried to startup another network to challenge them is even more beyond me. Oh well..at least they fired Trev a few years ago. Gotta give them that.

* Not to be a homer here…but give me one reason why Chase Daniel isn’t the Heisman winner? I realize Tebow is the media darling and Ooooooo…apparently it’s important to rush for 20 TD’s and pass for 20. (Doesn’t that just mean you have a shitty running game inside the 5?). But dude has lost THREE games…including that powerhouse Auburn team AT HOME. Daniel has fewer picks per attempts (2.08 vs. 2.02), 800 more yards and oh yeah…two more touchdowns. He also didn’t lose to Auburn at home.

The Heisman is a joke, don’t get me wrong…and yes, I see the complete idiocy of having a Missouri player be up for the award. But this little journey into the forefront of college football has shown me literally hundreds of the annoying tendencies the media has against players from the Midwest.

Oh crap…now I sound like you.

Strike that. Give Tebow the Heisman. He deserves it.

* So what do I make of the Mizzou vs. Kansas game next Saturday? (Not including the beer and hate induced violence that will rage outside the stadium for literally hours before and after the game). Well, make no mistake that KU is very well coached, and very disciplined. They stay in their lanes blocking..they run slants well, and midget boy Reesing does a great job distributing the ball. They’re balanced and they have some good football players on both side of the ball.

With that being said, there’s no way on earth they’re going to win this game.

Kool aid you say? Myopic you say?

Let’s just say it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you play absolutely NO ONE during the regular season, you simply can not prepare for the speed and size that will get thrown at you when things count. So KU’s biggest win this year is over a 6-5 Texas A*M squad? By EIGHT!?!? Meanwhile, Missouri beat the hell out of Texas Tech by 31 (Catch them last night?) and was putting the absolute wood to 9-3 Illinois before holding on at the end in week one. Even beyond that…taking Iowa State out of the equation…Missouri has throttled common foes either every bit..or more than Lamehawk U.

But take ALL of that away, anyone can win on any given Saturday. I am certainly aware of a few breaks here or there could make or break either team’s destiny. But in a game THIS big…and for those of you out of the area…TRUST ME…the stakes haven’t been this high since Abe Lincoln was in office…the thing that wins game is poise.

The team that stays within themselves and dials down the emotion is going to win the game. Now I’m sure beating a Adarius Bowman-less Okie State team is big…or slipping by Colorado in mid-season is a confidence builder…but how much big game experience can you really rely on if you’re KU? Not that Missouri has had tons of experience on a giant stage like this, but both the Oklahoma and Nebraska games this year were electric.

Did I mention the Tigers bludgeoned KU in Columbia last year?

This game could go 1,000 different directions. But make no mistake, never in the history of sports (and no…I’m not exaggerating) has one group of fans…one school…one team wanted to beat the other so badly. You can have your Michigan vs. Ohio State jerk fest…you can talk about Duke or North Carolina….Florida and LSU blah blah blah. But these teams are so good so rarely, that the event takes on even more significance. Throw it all together in the epicenter of hatred…Kansas City..and you’ve got a college football game for the ages.

I just hope I can make it through the week.

If you’re on either side of this war, I wish you luck. If you’re not, and you’re dressed in your red overalls and giant foam yellow corn hat…well…I pity you and look forward to your reports of someday kissing a live girl. It’s not like you have anything else better to do these days.

Hate Week II begins….

AJ