Lines of the Week

We were all set to go with a column following last week's big Husker win, but instead decided to wait and see how the week played out before we came out with a Husker blog. This was soooooo the right move with what went on all week (and big tips of the hat by the way to Deadspin for bringing over some new non-Husker blood over here, it was much needed). So with the REAL line of the week being n-n-n-n-n-Nineteen, Nineteen (as in the Huskers being 19 point dogs), let's get to our other favorite lines of the week:

• "When we beat USC, this is going to slingshot our whole season. We're ready to go in there and show the world that Nebraska's back on top -- that the order is restored."

That quote, of course, is from Nebraska cornerback Andre Jones, who obviously hasn't been around long enough to know that his team hasn't even played a ranked non-conference opponent since 2001. Nevertheless, this quote was taken way out of proportion for many reasons. First being that it's not that he really "guaranteed" anything like the Omaha World-Herald suggests. But the other reason is how excited the quote made Husker Nation. "It's sure nice to see confidence back on our side," was all we heard following Jones' big "guarantee". After this one came out, all of a sudden Husker fans thought they were assured a big victory.

• "So here we are, on the verge of another Corncob invasion, stories beginning to surface about large groups of hicks, all dressed in red, coming to the big city."

From the now infamous T. J. Simers LA Times column that has relied up fans in a way we haven't seen since Woody Paige left Colorado. This was just the sort of things that non-rational Husker fans have been looking for in years. It's just going to make a bunch of folks go out and buy more red shirts.

• "This is only Year Three of the Reconstruction, so expecting Nebraska to defeat USC is like asking "Bob's Computer Chips and Deli" to compete with Microsoft."

Again from the LA Times, this time by writer Chris Dufresne, and a pretty fair and accurate description on the state of Husker football, but enough to draw ire and get most fans in the "Let's Show Them" mood. This is the more better read of the two LA Times columns, but if something like this were to run in the World Herald or Journal Star, heads would roll baby.

• "Mark May is the worst hire ESPN has ever made, and he's just saying that because he still has some beef with Trev Alberts."

This happened after a Sporscenter segment on ESPN when Mark May and Kirk Herbstreit talked about the USC/NU game, and May told Husker Nation to "not be surprised if come the 3rd quarter" there were flashbacks to the infamous 70-10 debacle at Texas Tech. No -- May was saying something rather accurate and all of the other announcers all of a sudden predicting a close game were getting off the hook. So after May made his proclamation, Herby saying NU would make it a close game made him into a Husker Hero.

• "The NCAA Gods are smiling on Husker Nation. How about all of this Reggie Bush stuff coming out again the day before the game???"

What's nuts about this is that even ESPN Radio's Colin Cowheard, who earlier in the week was leaning towards picking USC as one of his locks of the week, was now calling the game a "mousetrap" and that the allegations surrounding Bush could impact the game. Cowheard, as stated before on this site, knows quite a bit about college football, so it was suprising to hear him back off the USC bandwagon, which he's ALWAYS been on from day one. The guess here is that USC is looking at these allegations the same way the New Orleans Saints did right before they picked Reggie Bush with their first pick in the NFL Draft. It's in the past. Translation: None of this will affect the game.

• "I'm more concerned about playing Troy next week. Did you see how they played Florida State?"
• "How 'bout that Joe Dailey now? See, we were right to lose him"

This is what we've had to put up with all week around here. We've been asked all week what we thought about this game. Somewhere between the Texas Tech loss and how bad USC beat Arkansas on the road two weeks ago. Something like 50-17 USC. Cue the damn Trojans already.