Ruined Reputation

When the 2007 college football season ended I could not help but think that Nebraska Cornhuskers' head coach Bill Callahan would not be getting hired for a head coaching position anytime soon.

It doesn't have anything to do with the fact that in six years of being a head coach (2 with the Oakland Raiders) he has coached a team with a losing record three times. It simply has to do with the fact that Bill Callahan has developed the reputation as a head coach who has players on his team who quit.

Quit: give up; throw in the towel. You name it, Callahan's players do it.

Just look back at the records. A year after losing the 2002 Super Bowl 48-21 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Callahan's Raiders went 4-12 in 2003.

4-12! Cornerback Charles Woodson said things got so bad in the locker room that he feared for Callahan's life! Okay so that was one bad time Callahan had with his players, give him a break.

Wrong!

This past year the second team he's been the head coach of quit on him much like the Raiders did. The Cornhuskers had improved every year since Callahan had arrived in 2004. 5-6, 8-4, 9-5, and then 5-7?!

Don't attempt to convince me the Huskers did not give up on this season! Yes, they did put up 70+ points one week late in the season against Kansas State, but I can honestly say that seems to be the only time during the season following a win 35-17 against Iowa State September 29 the Huskers played a full four quarters.

At one point during this season Nebraska was 4-1. They would lose 6 of their final 7, while giving up a pathetic 46 points per game!

I know that sticks out the most about Callahan's resume; he builds teams of men who occasionally quit. Check that: EVENTUALLY quit. I would be very surprised if Callahan ever got a major college coaching job again. Much less ANY head coaching job.

His reputation is cemented...and so is his head coaching career. Enough said.

Falling Giants

Penn State, Nebraska, and Notre Dame

These 3 schools strike fear into all opponents in college football. They represent the elite, the juggernauts of NCAA football...

...or at least they use to...

Times have changed in the world of college football. The Nittany Lions, Cornhuskers, and Fighting Irish are no longer seen with the same image the nation saw them for so long.

Penn State, home of 2 National Championships (1982, 1986) is a school in disarray. Fans find themselves looking at their 80 year old coach and asking, "What happened Joe Pa?" A very proud football school is continuously finding themselves attending low-marquee bowls. As for big games at Happy Valley, they all end in such similar plights (OSU 38-17). Other than the 1994 undefeated season, and a couple late 1990 seasons, the Lions have not found themselves in some serious national championship talk for quite some time.

Is a change needed?

Then there is Nebraska. The nation of Big Red. The land of Tom Osbourne and Tommie Frazier. Those names are about as ancient as the word "Mayans." Other than foolishly being chosen to go to the 2001 National Championship and getting destroyed by Miami-Florida, not much has been worth cheering for in Lincoln. The once proud school is being forced to settle for their 3rd and 4th choices for head coach. Frank Solich? Was not the school's first choice as well as Bill Callahan.

You can't help but wonder how far this school has fallen? Considering Callahan's team has pretty much quit on the season the bleeding will only continue for the Big Red faithful.

The 3 National Championships of the 1990s (1994, 1995, 1997) seem so far away...

And finally there is Notre Dame. The "favored son" of college football has been to back-to-back BCS bowls. Regardless of not rightfully earning the 2007 Sugar Bowl bid, the Irish nonetheless competed in those bowls. With that said, championship times have been gone for quite some time in South Bend. 1988 was the last time the Irish have won a National Championship. Furthermore, the Irish really haven't found themselves in the championship race late in the season since 1993.

3 legendary programs all falling and all soon hoping to stop the plunder. Currently, Penn State is 8-3, Nebraska 5-6, and Notre Dame a dreadful 1-9.

Hey there's always basketball season...