Nebraska, Callahan in line of fire

They wanted to celebrate one of the high points in Nebraska football history Saturday, so school officials invited former coach Tom Osborne and members of the 1997 national championship team for a 10th-anniversary celebration before the game against Oklahoma State.

The Cornhuskers royalty were treated to one of the low points in the program’s history.

Oklahoma State rolled Nebraska, 45-15, handing the Cornhuskers their worst home defeat in 49 years.

It followed a 41-6 loss at Missouri last week, and now Coach Bill Callahan, who recently signed a five-year contract extension, is suddenly on the hot seat.

“I’m just going to do the best I can,” said Callahan, 26-18 in four seasons. “Whatever happens, happens. I don’t think you can coach in fear or coach like you’re scared of something.”

Nebraska (4-3) was ranked No. 20 to start the season and reached No. 14 before playing USC on Sept. 15, but has given up 192 points in its last five games and has the dubious honor of being the first team in the program’s 118-year history to give up 40 or more points four times in a season.

Clearly, the corn is cracked.

“There’s not really much to say,” Callahan said. “We’re just disappointed right now.”

Things have turned south in a hurry.

Last year, the Cornhuskers won the Big 12 North title for the first time since 1999, signaling that the program might be on its way back to the level that produced national titles in 1994, ’95 and ’97. They started 2-0 this season and 39 days ago, on Sept. 5, Callahan signed a contract extension to keep him on Nebraska’s payroll through 2012.

“I have said on numerous occasions that we want Coach Callahan to be the coach at Nebraska for a long time,” Athletic Director Steve Pederson said at the time.

Now, fans and supporters, who began leaving Saturday’s game after Oklahoma State took a 31-0 lead early in the third quarter, are not sure they want to see him around for even one more game. Callahan’s teams lost at least four games in each of his first three seasons. During Osborne’s tenure from 1973 to 1997, no Nebraska team lost more than three games.

“Hopeless,” said Pat Chaney, 31, as he watched his team in the fourth quarter at the Arena Sports Bar & Grill in Omaha. “Callahan and [defensive coordinator Kevin] Cosgrove have completely lost the team.”

And visitors to Internet message boards, who had high hopes entering this season, say things have hit rock bottom.

“When you feel as a fan that you have more invested in this team than the coaching staff does, that is just wrong,” a fan using the alias StuckInTexas wrote on Huskerpedia.com. “I am just tired watching this team and these coaches. It just makes me sick to my stomach.”

Half-Hart-ed victory

Michigan continued its season-rebuilding project with an impressive 48-21 victory over Purdue that might just get the Wolverines (5-2, 3-0 in Big Ten play) back into the top 25.

But the victory may have come at a price. Running back Mike Hart, who began the week as the nation’s leading rusher, sat out the second half with an ankle injury and may not be able to play next week against Illinois.

“How much swelling and how he feels in these next couple of days will really be the determining factor on what it looks like in terms of him coming back,” Coach Lloyd Carr said.

Against Purdue, Hart had 21 carries for 102 yards and two touchdowns before halftime and set a school record with his seventh straight 100-yard game. He has 1,078 yards for the season.

Super sub

Virginia Tech quarterback Sean Glennon had sat out for four games since being benched for lack of production, but he was needed in relief Saturday and played like he planned to keep the job this time.

He passed for 258 yards and two touchdowns in relief of injured Tyrod Taylor in a 43-14 victory over Duke that kept No. 12 Virginia Tech (6-1, 3-0) unbeaten in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

“Watching those last four or five games from the sideline was real tough,” said Glennon, who was benched after completing only two of 10 passes for 16 yards Sept. 8 against Louisiana State. “But after the initial disappointment, I just told myself, ‘I’ve got to stay ready for when they need me.’ And today, they needed me.”

College senior

Mike Flynt waited 37 years to get back on a college football field and when he finally did, he was part of his team’s winning play.

Playing left end on kicking plays, the 59-year-old grandfather kept his man from getting into the backfield on the game-winning field goal as Division III Sul Ross State defeated Texas Lutheran, 45-42, in three overtimes.

“I’ve enjoyed every bit of this,” Flynt said. “Stepping out on the field was kind of the exclamation point.”

Flynt was kicked out of school in 1971, but discovered he still had eligibility and enrolled at Sul Ross State. He was injured the first half of the season and played for the first time on Saturday.

Flynt is not the oldest college player ever. There was a 60-year-old who played for Ashland (Ohio) in 1997, but that guy went in for one snap late in a blowout. Flynt is truly part of his Division III team, with expectations to eventually get in at his old position, linebacker. The Lobos have four games left, and he expects to play in them all.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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peter.yoon@latimes.com

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Double whammy

Saturday was only the eighth time since 1964 that the No. 1 and No. 2 teams have lost on the same day in the regular season:

*--* DATE NO. 1 LOSS NO. 2 LOSS 10/13/07 LSU to No. 17 Kentucky, 43-37 California to Oregon State, 31-28 9/21/96 Nebraska to No. 17 Arizona Tennessee to No. 4 Florida, St., 19-0 35-29 10/6/90 Notre Dame to Stanford, 36-31 Florida State to No. 9 Miami, 31-22 11/17/84 Nebraska to No. 6 Oklahoma, South Carolina to Navy, 28-21 17-7 9/12/81 Michigan to Wisconsin, 21-14 Alabama to Georgia Tech, 24-21 11/1/80 Alabama to Mississippi State, UCLA to Arizona, 23-17 6-3 10/8/77 USC to No. 7 Alabama, 21-20 Alabama to Georgia Tech, 24-21 9/26/64 Mississippi to Kentucky, 27-21 Oklahoma to USC, 40-14 *--*

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Source: ESPN.com