NU eyes bowl possibilities

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BY BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star

Talk of a Husker bowl game suddenly doesn’t seem so silly after all.

After Nebraska’s 73-31 win against Kansas State on Saturday, players were excited at the prospect of extending this season.

“I don’t think it’s going to stop here,” Husker senior safety Ben Eisenhart said. “We have two weeks to prepare (for Colorado), we have to go out and play and we have to get to a bowl game. We’re going to definitely do whatever we can to do that.”

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Andy Poulosky (86) sums up the feeling of the Huskers as the left the field at halftime. (Michael McNamara)

Andy Poulosky (86) sums up the feeling of the Huskers as the left the field at halftime. (Michael McNamara)

Nebraska and Colorado, both with five wins, will be playing a playoff game of sorts when the two teams meet on Nov. 23. The winner likely keeps its season alive.

The Big 12 Conference has tie-ins to eight bowl games: the Fiesta, Cotton, Gator or Sun, Holiday, Alamo, Independence, Insight and Texas. A team must win six games to be bowl-eligible.

Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas and Texas Tech all have seven wins or more, likely ensuring themselves bowl appearances.

That leaves Nebraska, Texas A&M, K-State, Colorado and Oklahoma State to fight for the remaining spots.

If Nebraska beats Colorado, likely bowls that might take the Huskers are the Independence Bowl (Dec. 30 in Shreveport, La.), Insight Bowl (Dec. 31 in Tempe, Ariz.) or Texas Bowl (Dec. 27 in Houston).

Joe Darwin, chairman of the Independence Bowl committee, was in Lincoln on Saturday and said inviting a 6-6 Nebraska team to his game would be “something we would significantly entertain.”

“I think the fans’ perspective of the program would be significantly different if they were on a two-game winning streak,” Darwin said.

He noted that ESPN would certainly like broadcasting a game with a tradition-rich program like Nebraska. The Independence Bowl is on ESPN.

It probably also doesn’t hurt Nebraska’s chances that this team is in the midst of a soap opera season that would present plenty of storylines for a TV broadcast.

Of course, if Nebraska has any coaching changes after the Colorado game, how exactly would the program handle being offered a trip to a bowl game?

“It’s premature to comment on any kind of bowl speculation,” said Randy York, associate athletic director for communications. “We just want to enjoy the win.”

Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7439 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.