Forty Years of Bumper Crops Come to an End in Nebraska

Nebraska is not the first major college football dynasty to fall on tough times.

In fact, Nebraska is the very last, which raises the question, what took so long?

Of the 10 winningest programs of all time, Nebraska is the only one that has avoided a downturn in the last 40 years.

We looked it up:

1. Michigan: Consecutive 4-6 seasons in 1965 and ‘66, four consecutive four-loss seasons in the mid-1990s, finished unranked in 1995.

2. Notre Dame: Forget Gerry Faust, the Irish have had losing seasons two out of the last three years.

3. Nebraska: Forty consecutive winning seasons, 33 consecutive bowl game appearances, 33 consecutive seasons of nine wins or more.

4. Texas: Finished 4-7 in 1997, endured David McWilliams in the 1980s. A few years ago, when Texas Athletic Director DeLoss Dodds asked a prominent national writer why he had not visited Austin in 20 years, the writer said, You tell me.

5. Alabama: Finished 3-8 in 2000, 4-7 in ‘97, 5-6 in ’84.

6. Penn State: Trying to rebound from consecutive losing seasons for the first time in the Joe Paterno era.

7. Ohio State: Finished 7-5 last year, 6-6 in 1999 and 4-6-1 in 1988.

8. Tennessee: Before Phillip Fulmer, Volunteers had a 5-6 season in 1988, went 5-6 in 1980 and 5-5-1 in ’78.

9. Oklahoma: School with seven national titles posted five consecutive nonwinning seasons from 1994-98.

10. USC: Basically a .500 program since the 1996 Rose Bowl, with four nonwinning seasons since.

Among the more recent dynasties, Miami, five-time national champion since 1983, had to fight back from a 5-6 season in 1997.

Florida State, almost astonishingly, finished in the top five every year since 1987 until last year’s four-loss catastrophe.

Program blips have beset every dominant program in recent history except Nebraska.

Until now.

The once-mighty Husker Nation is in apparent tatters, the team an unpardonable 3-2 after a 22-point road loss to Iowa State. The Cornhuskers dropped out of the Associated Press poll for the first time in 348 football weeks, are 5-4 since their 20-10 victory over Oklahoma last year and have been blown out in their last four games played away from Lincoln.

College football’s most seamless program, an heirloom passed from coach Bob Devaney to Tom Osborne to Frank Solich, now has a few busted seams.

There is terrified talk in Lincoln that Nebraska might lose at home Saturday to McNeese State, actually the only ranked team playing in the game (No. 2 in the latest Division I-AA ).

“We need to start moving forward again,” Solich, now in his fifth season, said this week. “We need to improve in almost every aspect of the game.”

It’s incredible how fast Nebraska was toppled, given the school played in last year’s national title game, but even then there were warning signals: The Cornhuskers somehow qualified for the game after giving up 62 points to Colorado and then surrendered 37 to Miami in the Rose Bowl.

This year, the Cornhuskers have become truly mediocre, entering play this week ranked 76th on offense and 63rd on defense.

Some are surprised the Nebraska football miracle has lasted this long.

“I think it’s inevitable, and I don’t think anybody can feel they’re immune to that,” Arizona Coach John Mackovic said this week of the Cornhuskers’ decline.

Mackovic knows. He was coach at Texas in 1996 when the Longhorns shocked Nebraska in the Big 12 Conference title game.

Mackovic says the reality of scholarship limits finally caught up with the Big Red Machine.

What’s gone wrong in Lincoln is the subject of heated debate, and centers on a few fronts:

* The offensive line, long the engine of Nebraska’s machine, got caught in a numbers crunch. Toniu Fonoti, the team’s superstar guard, left early for the NFL--he was San Diego’s second-round pick. John Dawson, a potential starter, was kicked off the team and Chris Loos was lost to a potential career-ending knee injury.

* Jammal Lord was not ready to step in for Eric Crouch at quarterback. Lord, a junior, had little time to develop behind Crouch, last year’s Heisman Trophy winner, and his performance has suffered to the point he may be benched this week and replaced by sophomore Mike Stuntz. Solich acknowledged the switch to Lord “has not worked real well.”

* The Nebraska defense, the once-feared Black Shirts, have been more red-faced this season. The potential scapegoat here is defensive coordinator Craig Bohl, in his third year since replacing the retired Charlie McBride.

The situation in Lincoln is close to meltdown. A local writer described the community reaction as a “freak show.” A sampling of Omaha World-Herald’s Internet site message-board postings sums up the mood:

“This program is in the midst of being in ruins”--Colorado Corn.

“Pathetic. Thanks Frank for making us a laughing stock”--QB choice.

“Better pull it together or McNeese State will bring the program to an all-time low.”--Vegas Husker.

“Fire Bohl! Fire Solich! Fire [Athletic Director Bill] Byrne! Get rid of them all! Save the Big Red”--Corn Cob Nation.

For the record, Solich’s 45-11 record in Lincoln works out to a winning percentage of .804, but Nebraska fans have been spoiled like no others.

Should Nebraska finish 8-4 or, heaven forbid, 7-5, Solich may be forced to shake up a coaching staff build for years on loyalty and stability.

Times vs. Times

No one will ever compare the Seattle Times with the New York Times, but we give Seattle the news context award this week.

The New York Times garnered national news attention when it trumped the release of its first computer ranking, which had Notre Dame at No. 1 and USC No. 2.

With much less fanfare, the Anderson-Hester/Seattle Times rankings also premiered with Notre Dame at No. 1.

Both the New York and Seattle Times’ computer rankings are among seven used in the bowl championship series standings, which determine the two teams that play in this year’s national title game.

Chris Hester, half of the team that tabulates the Anderson-Hester ranking, said not much should be made of rankings released in early October.

“I think computer rankings at this point in the season are interesting, but not overly reliable to determine the end results simply because there are so many significant games left to be played,” Hester said.

For what it’s worth, USC is No. 15 in the first Seattle Times ranking.

The only BCS computer ranking that hasn’t published yet is Los Angeles-based Peter Wolfe. Of the six computer s released, USC has an average ranking of No. 12.

Under BCS rules, however, USC’s worst ranking, No. 33 in Richard Billingsley, would be discarded, leaving the Trojans with a 6.5 average.

Hurry-Up Offense

Run of the year so far in college football? No disrespect to the kids, but we’re going with 75-year-old Joe Paterno’s postgame sprint toward official Dick Honig in the aftermath of Penn State’s 42-35 overtime loss to Iowa. Paterno’s closing speed, frankly, was remarkable and makes you think JoePa might coach into his 80s. When a reporter on this week’s Big Ten coaches’ teleconference call asked Paterno for his sprint time, the coach remarked, “Faster than yours, I know that.”

Paterno’s blood and legs were pumping because he felt officials had blown at least two calls in the game, the most important coming in overtime when a referee ruled receiver Tony Johnson out of bounds on what appeared to be a catch. After Paterno reached Honig, he grabbed the official to get his attention. Interestingly, Paterno did not apologize for making contact with the official and the Big Ten Conference did not issue a reprimand. “Contact?” Paterno said. “I just stopped him. I didn’t want to knock him over. If it had been a reporter, I probably would have knocked him over.”

David Parry, the Big Ten’s supervisor of officials, told the Chicago Tribune that Honig did not take exception to Paterno’s approach. “According to Dick Honig, there was nothing that crossed the line,” Parry said. “There was nothing vicious or hateful.”

In other words, this was not Woody Hayes punching a Clemson player.

Tommy Bowden gets another shot at dad tonight when Clemson (3-1) meets Florida State (4-1) at Tallahassee in Bowden Bowl IV.

When Tommy faced Bobby in 1999 it was historic, the first time in major college football a son coached against his dad. That game was a thriller, Florida State rallying from a 14-3 deficit to win, 17-14.

The last two games have been Florida State blowouts, leaving Tommy with an 0-3 record against his famous father. Tommy’s chances for a victory didn’t improve after Florida State lost to Louisville last week.

“I know he is upset after losing to Louisville,” Tommy said. “There is no doubt what little chance we had of them looking past us is gone. Had they beaten Louisville, they might have looked ahead a bit to Miami and Notre Dame.”

The rain-soaked overtime loss to Louisville dropped Florida State from No. 4 to No. 11 in the polls and means the Seminoles must win their remaining games to stay in the national title race. Some wonder if sophomore quarterback Chris Rix is capable of taking up this charge. His interception in overtime led to Louisville’s victory, and one Seminole has already grumbled publicly about Rix’s decision making.

Yet, there is only one opinion that matters. “I have not lost confidence in Chris and I have not lost patience in him,” Bowden said.

More on Bobby: You have to wonder how many more Louisville-type losses the 72-year-old legend can take. After last week’s loss, the Florida State plane did not return to Tallahassee until 5 a.m. Friday morning, after which Bowden taped his weekly television show.

What was that like? “If you ever see it, you’ll know,” Bowden said. “You’ll say, ‘Why don’t he know their names?’ It’s because he’s sleeping between the commercials.”