Was Texas Tech that good or did K-State really stink that bad?

Nebraska football heads into its second straight game that presents a psychological hurdle.

The Huskers cleared the first on Thursday night with a 27-12 come-from-behind win at Missouri, which had beaten Nebraska four of the last six times including a combined 93-23 score the previous two meetings. Going into the contest, one had the feeling the Huskers were better than Missou this year but Thursday’s win was a psychological hurdle.

With Texas Tech you have the same dynamic. I believe the Huskers currently have the better team but the Red Raiders, who have beaten Nebraska the last three times. First there was the 70-10 debacle in Lubbock in 2004. Then, there were two hard luck losses – 34-31 in 2005 in Lincoln and 37-31 in overtime last season in Lubbock.

With the Huskers having Saturday vacant from games, I got to asking myself after the Red Raiders pummeled Kansas State 66-14 -- is K-State that bad or is Texas Tech much better than we thought? Fair question considering the Red Raiders lost a handful of players from last year’s 11-2 team including quarterback Graham Harrell and wide receiver Michael Crabtree.

One thing is for sure about Red Raiders head coach Mike Leach, he’s a goofy SOB but he knows how to develop offensive talent. Texas Tech is 4-2 after Saturday’s win with backup quarterback Steven Sheffield filling in for an injured Taylor Potts (concussion. All Sheffield did was complete 33-of-41 passes for 490 yards, seven touchdowns and one interception.

Insane.

Nebraska is a six-point favorite but make no mistake, this should be a challenging contest.

Back up QB was outstanding. It should be a good and challenging game. To answer the earlier question of is Texas Tech better than we thought or does Kansas State really suck that bad? Well, a little of both. The Red Raiders are football’s version of a fast break offense. You have to make it a half court game because if the game is at the Red Raiders break-neck speed tempo, they are hell on wheels.

However, Kansas State is terrible. Let’s face it, the Wildcats barely beat Iowa State 24-23 and lost 17-15 to a Louisiana –Lafayette team that Nebraska whitewashed 55-0. So the truth must lie somewhere in the middle.

So I am not sure what we learned about Texas Tech. It is hard to get a read on Tech since they played some real cupcakes early on but the Red Raiders also battled gamely before losing to No. 2 Texas 34-24 in Austin earlier this season.

What concerns me about Texas Tech is the way they play run defense, ranking 28th in the nation in rush defense but have also had trouble in allowing teams to convert too many third downs.

The Huskers are coming off a highly emotional comeback win under adverse conditions and a lot of people across the country are starting to say really good things about our team. Texas Tech is a quality opponent with an unusual style of ball.

Second-year Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini and staff, however, have done a fantastic job of having the Huskers team move on from one game to the next. I just feel like this week may be a big challenge in that area.

The next game will tell us a lot about how the rest of the year's going to go.

Texas Tech, however, is not likely to sneak up on Nebraska based on scoring 66 against K-State. True, K-State is a sorry ass teams, but 66 is 66. If they had won say 38-12, we might have fallen asleep. Not now.

I do believe that Nebraska has the ability to beat just about anyone on the remaining schedule. On the other hand, I don't think the Huskers are so good that they could not be beaten by any of those teams either.

One observation I will make is that the evidence before us so far is that NU has closed the gap between themselves and other ranked teams. (exhibit 1 – Virginia Tech; exhibit 2 - Missouri).

Next week we will see whether this evidence was misleading or whether it is a sign of a positive trend.

Bring on Mizzu, Texas Tech

OK, so the regular season is one-third in the books with No. 25 Nebraska shutting out Louisiana-Lafeyette 55-0 Saturday on a day that the Huskers sold out their 300th consecutive home game.

The Huskers are 3-1 and a one-point loss away from being 4-0. Any questions of Nebraska’s resilience were answered rather decisively. That is significant for two reasons. For starters, as great of a motivator as Bo Pelini is, it’s still easy to remember the Steve Pederson-Bill Callahan era where one bad loss tended to have a prolonged effect. Pelini’s forceful personality is such that he won’t allow any prolonged slides. Then again, perhaps we should know that by now.

As for Nebraska’s heartbreaking 16-15 loss to No. 11 Virginia Tech, some message board posters wondered if that loss might end up looking bad because the Hokies were 2-1 entering Saturday’s game against No. 9 Miami. Yes, that same Miami team that some mainstream media members (i.e. Lou Holtz) proclaimed as being “back.” Well, a funny thing happened today in Blackburg, Va. It’s called VaTech kicked Miami’s ass from one end of the field to the other in a 31-7 win for the Hokies.

Not to justify Nebraska’s loss, however, that defeat coupled with the Hokies win over Miami might even further illustrate that the Huskers are getting closer.

We will know much more after Oct. 17. For starters, Nebraska faces Missouri on the road for a Thursday night ESPN telecast followed by Texas Tech in Lincoln, Ne. on Oct. 17. When breaking down Nebraska’s preseason schedule, most eyes were on VaTech and Oklahoma. Well, Kansas drew a few eyes too. However, Mizzu and Texas Tech have note despite the fact that the Huskers are a combined 2-7 against those two teams.

That stretch has included defeats of embarrassing proportions such as a 70-10 loss to Texas Tech in 2004 in Lubbock, a 41-6 loss to Missouri in 2007 and 52-17 defeat to the Tigers in 2008.

It was generally assumed that the Huskers will continue their ascension in Pelini’s second year in 2009. Nebraska went 9-4 in Pelini’s first year and would appear to be a solid bet to at least match that record. Nebraska is 3-1 so far but its truest tests still remain.

It was also generally assumed that Texas Tech, which enjoyed an 11-2 season in 2008, would falter after losing numerous players including quarterback Graham Harrell and wide receiver Michael Crabtree. The Red Raiders have already lost as many games as they did last season as they are 2-2 entering Saturday’s home game against New Mexico. However, Texas Tech’s two defeats have been by ten points or less – a 34-24 loss at No. 2 Texas and a 29-28 defeat at resurgent and No. 17 Houston.

It was also generally assumed that Missouri, which went 10-4 in 2008 and 12-2 in 2007 en route to winning Big 12 North titles, will slip after losing quarterback Chase Daniel, wide receiver Jeremy Maclin and tight end Chase Kauffman. The Tigers, meanwhile, are 4-0 and like the Huskers have 12 days to prepare for their aforementioned showdown in Columbia. The Tigers most recognizable win has come again a 1-2 Illinois team (37-9). Mizzu also escaped with a road win against Nevada (31-21) on Saturday.

Despite last year’s improvements – and to some degree this year, Nebraska is not good enough to be counting victories just yet. While every win is important, beating Texas Tech and Missouri would be psychological hurdles. Plus, despite those losses in personnel, Gary Pinkel (Missouri) and Mike Leach (Texas Tech) are two flawed but bright offensive minds as coaches.

With Texas Tech, most Husker fans still have the 2004 debacle fresh in their mind. However, Nebraska was a fumbled LeKevin Smith interception away from winning in a 34-31 loss in 2005 and a desparation Joe Ganz interception away from winning in a 37-31 overtime loss in 2008.

With Missouri, they creamed two teams coached by Callahan and another (the 2008 team) still had many Callahan remnants. They also lost to a 2002 Nebraska team that went 7-7 and a 2004 Husker club that went 5-6, making former defensive coordinators Craig Bohl and Kevin Cosgrove look like Charlie McBride.

In that respect, the next two games against Missouri and Texas Tech are similar to say the home game last season against Kansas. The Jayhawks obliterated Nebraska 76-39 in 2007 on the way to a 12-1 season. The Huskers won last year’s game 45-35 but outplayed the Jayhawks to a larger extent than the final score suggests. One KU touchdown came with the game out of reach in the fourth quarter and another was set by a Nate Swift muffed punt near the Huskers 25 yard line.

After the game, Lincoln Journal Star columnist Steve Sipple, whose work I respect greatly, referred to the game as a landmark win. I disagreed with that notion at the time and still do now because in going 8-5 in 2008, the Jayhawks (who beat Nebraska 40-15 in 2005 in Lawrence, Kansas) did not approach their 2007 success.

I viewed the 2008 Nebraska win as psychological not only based on the aforementioned defeats but Nebraska’s ugly 14-8 win in 2004 and its 32-25 overtime win in 2006 in which the Huskers let a 24-7 lead evaporate before prevailing.

Every win is big for the Huskers getting back to prominence but wins over Texas Tech and Missouri would be of the psychological kind.

How much is too much to reward a coach?

Within a matter of two days, Nebraska football head coach Bo Pelini gets a $700,000 raise that puts him in the middle of the pack among Big 12 head coaches. One day later, Kentucky basketball inks John Calipari to an eight-year, $31.5-million dollar contract.There is one common denominator within these two jobs. Football at Nebraska is king. Basketball at Kentucky is king. The pressure that comes with both jobs can be enormous. You can say it’s blown out of proportion but the Nebraska football job was the wrong fit for Bill Callahan for a reason. The Kentucky basketball job was not a good fit for Billy Gillispie for a reason. Callahan led Nebraska to two bowl-less seasons in four years while Gillispie lasted just two years at Kentucky. In 2008-2009, the Wildcats missed the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1991. Nebraska not in a bowl game. Kentucky not in the NCAA tournament. That’s like Tiger Woods not making the cut.Coaches salaries at virtually every level of every major sport has increased drastically over the years but how much is too much?To the coach making the money, no amount is too much. It’s called capitalism. I don’t want hear any whining from you socialist liberals because I doubt you would be turning that money down.

However, I also think these schools shelling out oodles of coin set themselves up for a bad situation, such as buyouts. Let’s say the university dismisses a coach that it hired or if that coach decides to go elsewhere. The University then has to “but out” the remaining years on his contract. Look at Rich Rodriguez, who left West Virginia for Michigan with a $4 million dollar buyout for the remaining years on his contract. Rodriguez left West Virginia for what he thought were greener pastures at Michigan. As a result, West Virginia wanted $4 million dollars as compensation. Michigan wound up relinquishing $2.5 million with the rest to be provided by Rodriguez.
The truth of the matter is that not every job is created equal. It depends on the university and the perceived "tradition" that that school has in a given sport. Some schools are considered "basketball schools," while others are "football schools." It isn't often that a school excels in both sports.

In college football, the pressure of coaching at Nebraska is far different than say Iowa State. In college basketball, the pressure of coaching at say North Carolina is far different than coaching at say Washington. In Major League Baseball, the pressure of managing say the New York Yankees is far different than managing say the Houston Astros.

So, the higher the pressure the job comes with, the University needs to make it at least equitable for the coach. Equitable, however, should not mean over the top. Granted, Calipari is a proven winner but is he worth $4 million a year regardless of the market? Just a few days ago, I blogged in this very same place that the Huskers rewarded Pelini to the right extent. He turned around what was a rudderless ship of a program that finished 5-7 in 2007, losing six of their last seven games to a 9-4 campaign in 2008, winning six of their final seven. Pelini’s original contract called for him to earn $1.1 million dollars, which was No. 11 among Big 12 coaches. In a nutshell, Nebraska rewarded him but did not go over the top like Oklahoma State did with Mike Gundy, who is set to earn $2.2 million in 2009. Texas Tech’s Mike Leach is slated to earn $2.54 million in 2009.

Both coaches have done a fine job at their respective programs, making them relevant after being irrelevant for years. However, you get the feeling that OSU (9-4 in 2008) and Texas Tech (11-2 in 2008) will max out. Let’s face it; Okie State and Texas Tech get their share of kids that Oklahoma, Texas, and Texas A&M did not want.

The one question these Universities need to ask themselves before opening their vaults to head coaches is, does the head coach’s salary prevent us from rewarding assistant coaches?

Fortunately for Husker fans, Pelini understands the value of taking care of his assistant coaches just like Osborne did. Granted, the Huskers might lose offensive coordinator Shawn Watson some day to become a head coach but if you reward your assistants well enough, more often than not, they might stick around longer.

And if a team wants to become a program, maintaining continuity is vitally important.