Curt McKeever: World has changed, but games go on
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Sept. 11, 2004.
No matter what the effects of the terrorist attacks on America three years ago, the games go on, pretty much as usual.
Regardless of whether the horrific events tugged at your patriotic sense or at least allowed you to step back and live with more compassion for others, the stakes in major-college football and the NFL remain unchanged.
Three years ago, Frank Solich was steering Nebraska down a path that would lead to Pasadena, Calif., and a spot in the national championship game. Up the coast, Bill Callahan was receiving so many glowing reviews calling plays for the Oakland Raiders that he ended up the team's head coach.
You think things haven't turned 180 degrees since those days?
You want compassion in the 24/7 world of big-time coaching? Go 10-1. Or better.
I would never suggest, in any way, shape or form, that the men in charge of such programs face the same kind of peril as those helping protect our lives. But their enemies can possess just as brutal fighting tactics.
Today, Callahan enjoys the gladhanding freedom given to many leaders who just took office. He's taken to the spotlight like an Academy Award winner and dazzled his new audience with all the coolness of a surfer who's just ripped through a tsunami-like wave.
It'll be interesting to see what happens the first time his team wipes out whether that's today against Southern Miss, next week at Pittsburgh or in a game where the curiosity level is even higher.
Right now, what we really know about the Huskers and their coach is they had way too much for an established NCAA Division I-AA program like Western Illinois to handle.
To Callahan's credit, Nebraska looked surprisingly polished lining up in its complex new offense. Never mind the occasional execution glitches, his organized and calculated game plan came off like a best seller. If Husker fans could have written the epilogue to last week's opener, they'd have penned how masterful the author had weaved in characters recruited for another story.
Of course, the plot thickens with each chapter. And as good as Callahan looked as a rookie NFL head coach who reached the Super Bowl, he still ended up with a big mess the next season.
Maybe it couldn't be remedied. Whatever, who knows whether Callahan and Co. will look good adjusting on the cuff when the competition Nebraska faces is as big and strong as the Huskers.
Or, in the case of Southern Miss, as fast.
"We were very nervous going in, wondering if we could hang with them because they had so much team speed. A lot of team speed," Utah defensive coordinator Kyle Whittingham said of the Golden Eagles earlier this week.
Somehow, the Utes found a way to corral it in the 2003 Liberty Bowl, when they became the first team to blank Southern Miss in eight years.
Whittingham noted the physical play of his front seven tipped the matchup to Utah's favor. When he thought of the Huskers and remember, he's likely to know a little about them since NU first-year outside linebackers coach Bill Busch came from Utah he offered this assessment:
"I would think Nebraska would manhandle them (defensively)."
Because of NU's new offense, the Blackshirts have worked more behind the scenes. But their opening-week effort (the only TD they allowed came when it was 49-3) showed just how good a deal defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove got coming over from Wisconsin.
Depth, particularly in an undersized interior line, looks like it'll be an issue. But the Huskers have quite a few playmakers.
Three offensive players suspended last week I-back David Horne, tackle Darren DeLone and fullback Grant Miller also return hoping to add some punch. However, center Richie Incognito, the first-team preseason All-Big 12 pick, remains on indefinite suspension.
On Friday, Incognito and his father stormed out of South Stadium following a meeting, and how Callahan handles the situation will wind up being more critical than how he rotates his running backs.
Solich and Tom Osborne drew criticism for their soft treatment of star players who got in trouble. Incognito's repeated violations of team policy would indicate he hasn't heeded advice. Even if he makes Nebraska better (and that's been a topic of debate since he showed up to fall camp overweight), when does Callahan say enough's enough?
How about now? The Huskers are bound to have more than enough turbulence to ride out just from what they face off the field.
If there's a lack of compassion, it comes from someone who holds these games in a different light than three years ago.
"We live in these small worlds of football games and football families," Iowa State coach Dan McCarney noted on Monday. "But you do an injustice to your football fans and family if you don't (see the bigger picture)."
Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.
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