RonzNotes Husker Ramblings

1 out of 5

Perception is an interesting thing.  I recall as a child and young adult all those national championships won by OU, Alabama, Miami, etc and how many times we were close to winning the national championship but "sooner magic" would get us.  Or those Florida teams would have the advantage of playing a home bowl game.  Osborne couldn't win the big one was the rallying cry across the state when there was talk of getting a new coach.

Yet, I looked it up, 5 times.  Can anyone guess what NU did 5 times under Osbornes leadership?  Solich did it once, so did Callahan.  Devaney never did it.

We played the AP #1 team five times (ranking at game time) under Osbornes leadership.  Clemson, Alabama, OU, Miami, Florida State.  Sure seems like OU was #1 every time we played them from about 1973 to 1987.  Seemed like Miami was always ranked #1 when we played them in the Orange bowl.  By way, the game we won was 1978 over the Sooners of Billy Sims.  It did not result in a national championship.  I was 16 and at the game with my brother-in-law.  I was also there in 1976...  I can still hear the Sooner theme song and in those days they had a shotgun they would blast off after you heard Boomer Sooner.  By the third quarter you stopped flinching, but you hated that song for 364 more days.

I guess our hard times or days of admiring the success of other programs was the "syndrome of the grass being greener on the other side".  Maybe we recall our days of David vs Goliath in a dramatize manner -- making our toiling as a little more dire than reality.  Keep in mind, during the 70s were were ranked #1 14 times (again at game time).  18 weeks at #1 in the 80s and now for the stat of stats 14 times in the 90s.  Yes, in the decade of 3 national championships we were #1 for only 14 games.  Four less than the decade of the 80s where we won none.  The 95 season, we were #1 for a whopping 4 games.

Perception, I guess, is everything and I'll probably go on remembering being the underdog for all of the Osborne years. 

Media Poll out - NU 3rd by a Nose

The media guys for the big xII have selected Missouri and OU to meet in the Big Twelve Title game.  History says it won't happen.  In the 12 years of the game, no time have both teams repeated as division winners.  OU has been there for half of the games and sports a 5-1 record, but even in their 6 games, they haven't met the same North champ two years in a row.

We are picked 3rd in the North by the slimmest of margins (2 points - maybe not theeee slimmest, but close) over the Buffs.  In the south it is OU, Texas, Tech.  Tech trailed Texas by only a couple points as well.

So who is the pretender?  Is Missouri going to implode and let KU, or CU or NU slide by?  Will Tech finally get over the hump and take the south?

Pelini, Ganz, Slauson, and Barry Turner meet the media on Monday (Pelini at 1:00).  Expect Bo to do his usual prize fighter public speaking - he bobs his head a lot and looks to be sparring with an imaginary 5 year old.  But he'll have great sound bites - respectful in a confident manner.

It will be an interesting season.

p.s. Expect my annual rant soon about "Heisman Candidate".  Already I am seeing the label smeared on Maclin, etc. (for those unfamiliar with my rant - the quick summary is that everyone is a heisman "candidate" since there are no criteria for the award.  Example:  One cannot run for most political offices without filling out a form, e.g., filing with the city to run for mayor, etc.  But any person with a voting ballot for a heisman can write in ANY one they want -- including third string redshirted linemen.