Ahhhh, college football season is here again... While the scholar in me detests the way athletics trump academics on too many college campuses across the country, I grew up in the Husker Nation and bleed the Big Red. College football remains the only sport that I follow passionately.
Ohio 16, Pittsburgh 10. What - an - upset. And this one is particularly bittersweet for us Husker fans. Sweet because Frank Solich, Nebraska's former head coach who is truly a class act, just won his first game as the coach of the Ohio University Bobcats. The underdog Bobcats, who have had 29 losing seasons in 35 years, defeated the Pittsburgh Panthers, the defending Big East champions, in overtime.
I'm truly happy to read about the outpouring of support for Frank Solich in Ohio. He deserves it, especially after the shabby treatment he received from Steve Pederson. Husker fans, too many of whom endorsed Pederson's judgment about Solich, know what I'm talking about.
The bitterness comes from the fact that Steve Pederson, Nebraska's arrogant athletic director, fired Solich after the 2003 season, when NU went 9-3. Pederson's reason: While Solich had compiled a fantastic number of wins during his tenure at NU (58-19 in six seasons) and had even played in the National Championship game (NU lost to Miami 34-14 in the 2002 Rose Bowl) he couldn't win the big ones. Nebraska, which dominated in the 1990s, was regularly losing to the likes of Oklahoma and Texas, its Big 12 rivals.
In 2004, under new head coach Bill Callahan, who brought with him a West Coast (passing) Offense, Nebraska suffered through its first losing season in 40 years.
Reading of Solich's victor, coming on the heels of Nebraska's lame victory last week over Division I-AA Maine, it's impossible not to cringe at Steve Pederson's decision to fire Solich as head coach of Nebraska and wonder where the Cornhuskers would be now had Solich remained at the helm. Next week Nebraska plays Pittsburgh, where Steve Pederson served before coming to NU, which will be hungry for a victory. It's painful to say, but I'm not convinced that Callahan's Cornhuskers are ready for the challenge.
But enough looking ahead. Tonight NU plays Wake Forest. And these days its especially true that NU can't afford to overlook any of their opponents.
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