STILLWATER — As we sail further and further from the port of Y2K, perhaps a history lesson is in order for those who think the olden days were when Josh Fields quarterbacked the Cowboys.
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Nebraska football once was good. Really, really good.
What Southern Cal is today, the Cornhuskers were in the far-off days of the 1990s. The nation's mightiest college football program; a squadron that never seemed to lose.
Grant Big 12 football one wish, and it wouldn't ask for an ESPN contract, or a competitive conference title game, or even insight into Mike Leach's brain.
Big 12 football's greatest wish would be Nebraska being Nebraska again.
The Cornhuskers today makes their biennial appearance in Oklahoma, with a 2:30 p.m. shootout against OSU, and the Cowboys seek to keep Nebraska in its half-a-decade malaise. Independently, each Big 12 school feels the same when sharing a field with the Huskers. Collectively, they all need Nebraska to be Nebraska.
"Nebraska is a program people in California and New Hampshire know who they are," said State coach Mike Gundy. "When they play well, it's going to do more for the league.
"People recognize who they are. When (Kansas State's Bill) Snyder had a couple of good runs, I'm not sure if those people on the West Coast knew who they were. They should have, but they didn't."
Big 12 football would be perceived much differently if Nebraska again roared. Texas and Oklahoma would have to make room; the league would not be so top-heavy. The Big 12's depth would more closely resemble the SEC, which in any given year has four to five bonafide contenders for the league title.
That doesn't describe Nebraska and hasn't in five years.
What happened to the Huskers? When did Nebraska stop being Nebraska?
Maybe when Tom Osborne heard the siren song of Capitol Hill. Maybe when Bill Callahan arrived in the Corn Kingdom with his West Coast offense. Maybe it was bad turkey.
On the day after Thanksgiving 2001, Nebraska took Colorado's Folsom Field with an 11-0 record and a No. 2 national ranking. Since then, Nebraska has been absolutely ordinary.
Colorado thrashed those Huskers 62-36, starting a slide in which NU has gone 18-19 in Big 12 games, including 7-12 in conference road games.
Nineteen league losses in less than five years? Osborne had 22 conference losses in 25 years as Nebraska's coach.
Twelve Big 12 road losses in less than five years? Osborne lost 11 conference road games in his quarter century.
Yes, it's unfair to compare these Huskers — or anyone else — to the Osborne era. No one is asking Callahan to go 60-3, as Osborne did his final five seasons. But couldn't the Huskers muster something beyond mediocre? Couldn't the Huskers at least occasionally finish in first place in the woeful North Division, especially since no North foe has stepped into the vacuum created by the Nebraska slide.
Maybe Callahan is building something solid. Gundy is among the many who say Nebraska is headed in the right direction.
Callahan's first Nebraska team, 2004, went 5-6, ending a streak of 35 straight years in a bowl game. But last season, the Huskers won their final three games to finish 8-4, and NU this year is 6-2, with losses only to USC and Texas.
"We're taking all the steps necessary to improve our football team," Callahan said. "This is a mature team that embraces the expectations of Nebraska football."
How's this for expectations: Carry your weight, Nebraska. Help out your league.
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