It's 2004 All Over Again

Forgive me if it feels like 2004 all over again. The Red Sox just swept the Angels to advance to the ALCS (and now are clearly the favorite to win the World Series for the 2nd time in four years). And the talk around the water cooler has brought back the echoes of October, 2004 regarding all things Husker football.

"They might not win another game this year."

We've got the legitimate Fire Steve Pederson and of course the Fire Callahan sites all over the place. There's a great website called Coaches Hot Seat, which ranks all of the college football coaches who are in trouble. It's a great list, saying who's on the hot seat, on the edge, and safe for now.

The number one coach on the hot seat? Houston Nutt, the guy Stevie P (whether he admits it or not) wanted in the first place. Billy C finally cracked the official hot seat list (it should be noted that Frank Solich is "on the edge", but that's not the real point here).

Finally, FINALLY, the Omaha World Herald has stopped drinking the Kool-Aid and calling things as they see them, especially in Lee Barfknecht's now infamous column where he says, "How many times have fans heard Callahan say, 'I don't have a clear-cut answer for that.' Isn't finding answers to NU's problems why he's paid $4,800 per day???"

But a smaller rag (Nebraska State Paper.Com) has more famously declared mutiny on the program, begging fans NOT to order this weeks Oklahoma State game on pay-per-view. Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy and his rant, it should be noted, is right after Billy C on the hot list. But He's a MAN! He's 40!

The most significant thing about this season so far is how it actually feels a helluva lot worse than 2004. My two biggest memories of 2004 are the infamous 70-10 blowout at Texas Tech, and then the "Fucking Hillbillies" game at Oklahoma, where Nebraska was a 30 point underdog and Billy C went out of his way to kick a field goal as time expired to avoid a shutout and lose 30-3, ruining the gambling community's weekend in the process. Saturday night, Missouri looked far better than that Oklahoma team, and also didn't let Nebraska score a touchdown.

All of a sudden, road games at Kansas (where that fat ass Mark Mangino is somehow becoming coach of the year) and Colorado look dangerous. Kansas State at home is no longer a lock. So it's time to seriously re-evaluate what the rest of the season is going to look like, and why there will be no Big 12 North Championship for the Corn (and this is mostly because KU and MU are having miracle seasons mind you) and there could be a house cleaning in Lincoln come December worse than the one that's going to happen to the Yankees:

• 10/13 Oklahoma State: This is probably where that cockroach Billy C finds a way to win a close one at home and tease the fans for just a little bit. I'll say a W, but I'm not altogether putting the house on the line with that W.
• 10/20 Texas A&M: Remember, this is a huge revenge game for the Aggies, and something tells me that Billy Byrne would love nothing more than to return back to the sky suites he built and show Stevie P a thing or two. This looks like a relatively easy road win, and where fans really, REALLY start to press the panic button because...
• 10/27 @ Texas: No, Texas aint what it used to be during the Vince Young era, and Nebraska should have beat them at home last year. But this one's on the road, and the hunch is by this week, Colt McCoy will have developed into the quarterback everyone thought he was going into the season. LOSS
• 11/03 @ Kansas: This is looking like the ugliest game of the season. The real "Mangenius" has officially rebuilt the Kansas football program into a legitimate Big 12 North contender. The Jayhawk fans will be louder than the Tiger fans were. Two years ago, Nebraska got there heads handed to them at Lawrence, and barely squeaked out a win last year at home. Another Loss, and by this point in time, NU Athletic Program boosters till be going on record saying that heads must roll.
• 11/10 Kansas State: The last time K-State came into Lincoln and dominated the Corn was the game in which Stevie P decided Solich had to go. Fans left early. K-State fans stuck around and outnumbered the Husker fans. It was an ugly experience. I remember Pederson literally walking upstairs, visiting suite after suite, and you just knew he was going to do something drastic. The result on the field could be similar here (remember, in 2005, Billy C pulled Harrison Beck out of his redshirt to come in and save a must-win game against the Wildcats in Lincoln). Another home LOSS.
• 11/23 @ Colorado: Of course, after that 2003 fiasco against K-State at home, Solich rallied the troops to a huge win at Boulder in a win that everyone (including that flip flop Tom Shatel) figured gave Solich at least one more year. Somehow, Solich got everybody, his hand-picked coaching staff and even Jamall Lord for crying out loud, to come out and beat the favored Buffs. I don't see Callahan's Kids doing the same sort of rally. I mean, it isn't like Sam Keller and Marlon Lucky have been on record as saying they'd run through a brick wall for Billy C. But by this point in time, it'd probably be too late for Callahan to save his job, and as history has shown us, when he knows he's out the door, he packs shit up quick. This will be the final Loss of the Callahan era.

This would put the Corn at 5-7, and that my friends, in year four would be completely unacceptable. It's time to start looking for the next young genius that can now do what Mangino had to do in Lawrence. Completely turn a program around the right way.