The Roark Bros

The transfer of Freshman Center Chad Roark from Oklahoma to join big brother *Fr DT Craig Roark in Lincoln has never been "officially" confirmed (or even mentioned) by Callahan or Nebraska. That will come before long.

Chad came to Lincoln this summer and is rooming with brother Craig and Matt Slauson.

The LJS and OHW had earlier reported Chad's apparent transfer earlier this summer, but not with words from the players' mouths. The Ada, Oklahoma newspaper takes care of that below...

From the Ada Evening News:
_ _ _

Chad Roark insists there are no hard feelings.

Roark, an All-State lineman from Ada High, thought he had wanted to be an Oklahoma Sooner. In fact, he left high school last January during his senior year, enrolled in OU early and went through spring practices with the Sooners.

But when it came down to it, family ties ultimately proved stronger than running with the Crimson and Cream. He left OU this summer and decided to join big brother Craig at the University of Nebraska.

“It’s nothing against the program or anything. I still respect all the coaches [in Norman],” Chad said. “I started looking at things, and realized I wanted to play with my brother....

“OU is going to have a good team, and it was a hard opportunity for me to walk away from. I just had to do what I felt was best for me,” Chad said. “Their offense has a chance to be unbelievable. (Running back) Adrian Peterson is a freak of nature.”

Things were going great on the field for Chad in Norman last spring. In fact, he was No. 1 on the depth chart at center and was the starter during OU’s Red-White scrimmage.

“It was great. I got a lot of reps with the first team and second team and that was a very valuable experience,” he said.

Now Chad will have to sit out a year due to the NCAA transfer rule. He’ll be the starting center on the scout team and may get a few chances to go one-on-one with Craig — who has switched from the offensive line to the defensive line.

“That’s going to be a big difference because I probably would have been playing on Saturdays if I had stayed at OU,” Chad said.

Craig is looking forward to playing with his brother. And the two will get to spend three years together on the field. During the 2007 season, Craig will be a redshirt sophomore while Chad will be a true sophomore.

[Craig:] "It's a good opportunity for him. I know OU would have been a good opportunity for him too, but our offensive line coach (Dennis Wagner) is one of the best in the country. The offense we run is an NFL offense, and if that’s what he wants to do, and that’s his dream, our offensive line coach will get him there.”

Meanwhile, Craig is looking forward to contributing to what looks like a promising 2006 season for the ‘Huskers. Nebraska is the favorite to win the Big 12 North title and Craig said NU head coach Bill Callahan basically guaranteed it during an interview at last week’s Big 12 Media Days in Kansas City.

“We’re going to have a really, really good team this year. I’m really excited about it,” Craig said. “Coach Callahan guaranteed we were going to win the north, and that’s not like him at all.”

“Our head trainer (Jerry Weber), who has been there for 30 years, says this is the best Nebraska team he’s seen since 1995 and that team is considered our best team ever. For him to say that to us means a lot,” Craig said.

It was just before spring workouts began that the NU coaching staff approached Craig about a position change. He was more than willing to try it and he liked it.

“They told me I could switch back if I didn’t like it after a few practices. We’re really short on defensive linemen, and we needed someone who could come in and help and contribute,” Craig explained. “Why wouldn’t I try it? I made the move, and I loved it. It was awesome. I have a senior in front of me this year, but it’s really working well.”

Craig said he will enter preseason practices this Tuesday about 25 pounds lighter than he was last year (he’s listed at 6-2, 295 on the NU roster).

“I’m happy with the way things are going right now. I have a good opportunity to play a lot this year,” he said.

While Craig will begin workouts this week, Chad won’t join his ‘Husker teammates until Aug. 22. When he gets to Lincoln, he’ll be roommates with Craig and Matt Slauson, a 6-6, 335-plus pound lineman.

Last year, Craig set a new bench-pressing record for an NU freshmen with a lift of 415 pounds. Slauson then erased Craig’s name from the record books with a 420-pound lift a week later....

2006 Predictions: Part 1

In preparation for the upcoming season, I am starting a contest for anyone that is interested in laying out their 2006 pre-season predictions. No more of this, "I knew all along that Baylor was going to win the South before the season started," or "I was saying back in August that Nebraska was going to win it all this year." All of the entries will be posted on this blog.

Below is a list of the prediction categories:

1. Nebraska game-by-game win-loss - August 6th
2. Conference Champions (6 BCS Conferences) - August 13th
3. National Championship (2 Teams & Winner) - August 20th

On or before NEXT SUNDAY, August 6th, submit an entry which lists each game and call it as an NU win or loss.

Submit your entry via e-mail or as a comment.

Majerus > Collier

That's right, I said it.

I've always said that it's better to jinx the no-hitter in the third than wait to get everyone's hopes up all the way into the eigth.

How huge could this whole Butler AD fiasco be for Nebraska basketball? If we were able to get a somewhat higher profile coach in here, I have to think that enthusiasm would go through the roof. It would be like hiring Callahan all over again, but without the "He's going to ruin our tradition" jitters. At any rate, I and about 10,000 other students would break their vow to never buy basketball season tickets again. In fact, I think If Collier gets gone, I am going to vow to get tickets regardless of who the new coach is. Yeah, I would vow that.

As an aside, I nominate Mike Watson and Ralph Reiff, those vying for the AD job against Collier, to the Enemies of Husker Nation list. Since this is more recent than any other injustices against the Huskers, I say they should be at least 2 and 3. Being six contributors, I would say that three more votes would be enough. Anyone?

Lance Bass of 'N Sync reveals he's gay

NEW YORK (AP) — Lance Bass, band member of 'N Sync, says he's gay and in a "very stable" relationship with a reality show star.
Bass, who formed 'N Sync with Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick, tells People magazine that he didn't earlier disclose his sexuality because he didn't want to affect the group's popularity.

"I knew that I was in this popular band and I had four other guys' careers in my hand, and I knew that if I ever acted on it or even said (that I was gay), it would overpower everything," he tells the magazine.



HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Barry Ball is Finished

JournalStar:

Bye-Bye Barry?
Barry Collier is one of three finalists for the Butler AD job, the Indy Star reports. Collier will interview Friday.

I can't believe it would get to this point unless Collier had some assurances he was the front-runner.

(Fire Collier, try to contain yourself.)


Me: THANK GOD!!!! I have worshipped and prayed hard enough, and my dreams have come true. Later boring ball.

NU ranked 30th in Football Profits in '04-'05

To continue in the recent trend of rankings and such, I have located a list of NCAA Football Revenues for the 2004-2005 season. Sure, a year old, but I was pretty shocked with where NU was on this list. And even more shocked when seeing what pathetic schools were ahead of us.

LINK: http://www.dopke.com/Archives_Pages/Expenses/2004-05/DIAFBExpRev0405.htm

Rank	School	Size	FB Expenses	FB Revenues	FB Profit/Loss
1	Texas	50,377	$14,489,472	$53,204,171	$38,714,699
2	Georgia	33,405	$12,532,495	$50,895,838	$38,363,343
3	Michigan	39,533	$10,690,874	$46,396,107	$35,705,233
4	Alabama	20,929	$14,106,325	$42,979,669	$28,873,344
5	LSU	32,241	$12,175,610	$39,657,764	$27,482,154
6	Florida	47,993	$16,144,658	$43,317,641	$27,172,983
7	Ohio State	50,995	$25,711,478	$51,810,607	$26,099,129
8	Notre Dame	11,479	$15,092,475	$40,754,817	$25,662,342
9	Texas A&M	44,435	$12,513,549	$37,714,172	$25,200,623
10	Auburn	22,928	$16,374,577	$40,559,427	$24,184,850
11	Penn State	41,289	$10,746,179	$33,236,463	$22,490,284
12	Wisconsin	40,455	$12,214,995	$34,105,659	$21,890,664
13	Oklahoma	27,483	$14,584,731	$32,275,608	$17,690,877
14	Arkansas	17,269	$11,695,261	$27,783,961	$16,088,700
15	Tennessee	27,792	$13,586,845	$29,326,709	$15,739,864
16	Michigan State	44,836	$13,711,231	$29,274,872	$15,563,641
17	Washington	39,199	$13,400,762	$27,100,356	$13,699,594
18	Southern California	32,160	$16,694,449	$29,266,694	$12,572,245
19	Oregon State	19,153	$10,175,665	$22,377,743	$12,202,078
20	Clemson	17,110	$10,512,496	$22,334,140	$11,821,644
21	Kentucky	25,686	$7,868,332	$19,631,403	$11,763,071
22	Kansas State	23,151	$8,466,372	$19,954,557	$11,488,185
23	Iowa	28,442	$18,124,566	$29,568,437	$11,443,871
24	Virginia Tech	27,619	$13,842,147	$25,263,319	$11,421,172
25	Colorado	32,362	$10,935,305	$22,053,568	$11,118,263
26	Purdue	40,108	$12,287,197	$23,381,508	$11,094,311
27	South Carolina	25,596	$8,798,324	$19,224,526	$10,426,202
28	Oklahoma State	23,819	$8,625,007	$18,935,014	$10,310,007
29	North Carolina State	29,957	$5,157,534	$14,693,373	$9,535,839
30	Nebraska	21,792	$11,174,834	$20,671,989	$9,497,155

A disappointing 7th place finish in the Big 12. Now granted, our licensing revenues were probably rock bottom, and generally a bad year for us - no bowl game, etc but I would have expected better.

The importance of winning is so damn evident now, we won't even be able to afford the debt service on our facilities if we don't win.

The Two-Million Dollar Club

Highest Paid NCAA Football Coaches

• Charlie Weis, Notre Dame, $3.3 million
• Pete Carroll, Southern Cal, $3.0 million
• Kirk Ferentz, Iowa, $2.7 million
• Tommy Tuberville, Auburn, $2.6 million
• Mack Brown, Texas, $2.5 million
• Bob Stoops, OU, $2.5 million
• Jim Tressel, Ohio State, $2.4 million
• Frank Beamer, Va. Tech, $2.1 million
• Bobby Bowden, Fla. St., $2.1 million
• Phil Fulmer, Tennessee, $2.1 million
• Urban Meyer, Florida, $2.0 million
• Dennis Franchione, A&M, $2.0 million
• Mark Richt, Georgia, $2.0 million

Bill Callahan is at $1.5 million

Most grossly overpaid - Franchione

I don't know what Lloyd Carr, Larry Coker and Gary Pinkel are raking in, but they are just as overpaid.

Source: Omaha World Herald - Callahan won't see his salary take a giant leap

Poor Big 10 Officiating Finally Validated

It doesn't get much better than this:

The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that James Filson, a former Big 10 referee (fired in '05) is suing the Big 10 because they fired him because he had only one eye. Yes, one-freaking-eye. No wonder Big 10 officiating has been the worst in the nation over the last five years! They had a one-eye running around the field all this time! I can't even believe this is true.

The only thing that makes this story better is that supposedly it was Lloyd Carr who complained about one-eye. Jackass.

Article: One-eyed referee sues Big Ten over firing

Stewart Mandel Blog: The Inaugural One-Eyed Post

Colorado Preview plus Media Day

The Media's Pick

This year's poll (with first-place votes in parentheses):

North: Nebraska (21), Iowa State (5), Colorado (2), Kansas, Missouri, Kansas State.

South: Oklahoma (23), Texas (5), Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Oklahoma State, Baylor.

The Colorado Preview/Rant

Colorado has 2 votes?? Hasn't anyone else noticed Boise State keeps shooting out mediocre coaches?? Their current head coach peterson, who by the way was there Offensive Coordinator for the past 5 years, is the real story. That guy can coach. Their defense stunk and Hawkins has admitted peterson ran the offensive show. Hawkins is Kenny Bannia, all he does is ride coat tails. sorry but the big 12 is no WAC. Prediction, 3 wins this year Montana St, MAYBE baylor and boy i don't know the last one is anyone's guess.
Look at the schedule:

9/2 Montana State
9/9 Colorado St
9/16 Arizona State
9/23 at Georgia
9/30 at Missouri
10/7 Baylor
10/14 Texas Tech
10/21 at Oklahoma
10/28 at Kansas
11/4 Kansas State
11/11 Iowa State
11/24 at Nebraska

They have 5 returning starters on offense and 6 on defense . . . with a green QB. Colorado will finish last in the Big 12 north Unless Crosby's Fieldgoals begin to count for Touchdowns instead of 3 points.

Book IT
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Launching v1.1

Changes in the layout have warranted a version update.

Thanks, D.

A new feature at Displaced Huskers and some good old-fashioned axe-grinding

Ever get the feeling of being left unfulfilled? No, I'm not talking about a night with G-Money. I'm talking about the kind of unfulfilling feeling that comes from suffering through some of the worst years of Husker football in decades. I'm talking about the kind of unfulfilling feeling of going to school at a football POWER, and walking away with but one conference championship to show for your efforts, and yes I said efforts because it was hard work. I'm talking about grinding out a career record of 50-15, compared to a preceding five-year mark of 58-6, not to mention three undefeated national championship seasons.

You guessed it, a Solich rant.

Off the football field (save recent debacles, read: date rape DUI) Frank Solich was a great head coach (except for recruiting). On the field, he was a straight up disaster. Sure, we had our fun during the Solich years, like the 2002 Rose Bowl which we probably had no business being in (what are souls for??), but it was only a matter of time before we figured out that Rome was burning. Thankfully, Steve Pederson saw the light (and an impregnated football secretary) and canned Solich after a 9-3 season, which saw Nebraska lose games by 17 (MU), 24 (UT) and at home by 28 (KSU).

But despite all of his downfalls, Solich provides us with lasting memories of his ineptitude. Yes, I'm talking about Frank "the quote machine" Solich. He has provided us with the following gems: “They had their whole package against us. They ran the ball well; they threw the ball well; they got out of third-and-longs, and that makes it fairly tough on you," and “We will come back and get ready to start off on Monday. And hopefully meet the challenges that are ahead for us in the Mid-American Conference," bwaahaha. But how could we (I) forget the all-time classic:

"For our coaches, for our players, we don't see it as there being a surrounding of this game in a manner that is really not coming from the end of it being an exciting football game," which Solich said during a press conference prior to the 2002 Kansas State game.

Illiterates all over the world were left stunned after that one.

But this all brings me to one exciting announcement: I am unveiling The Frank Solich Quote of the Week. I will accept submissions with one requirement: It has to be something so confounding that you had to read it twice to either a) understand it, and/or b) believe it. The educated and well-read need not apply. I should specify that they do not need to be quotes from the namesake himself. But if Solich uttered the words, then it will receive priority.

So with that, enjoy, and I'd like to sign off with a classic "Obermeyer's View". Reproduced without permission.

Beer exec gets beered up and drives home

Now this is a great story.

Pete Coors, that gray-haired dude in the Coors commercials, got picked up for a DUI. Imagine all the work this guy has done over the years to encourage safe consumption of alcohol and sing the praises of the DARE/MADD people , only to have his license revoked for getting a DUI. He is going to fight it of course, saying he only had one beer and that he drank it 30 minutes before he took off from a wedding reception. Yeah, OK. I've been to a wedding reception or two over the years, and let's face it, the only people that leave one sober are the pastor and his wife. As an aside, did he cover the tab for the open bar?

Isn't there some type of unwritten rule at breweries that you are not allowed get picked up for a DUI?

Good going Pete, taste the rockies.

Putin Fights Back

Putin calls Cheney's criticism of Russia 'an unsuccessful hunting shot'

That may be the funniest thing I've heard out of Russia since Chernobyl.
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The World Cup 2006, ABC Style

As the 2006 World Cup comes to an end, I think it deserves at least one serious post. In fact, I think that every sporting event that only occurs in four year increments does. That said, there isn't much to say. Congratulations to Italy. Congratulations also to Zidane for becoming the first person to demonstrate how to lose your head and use your head at the exact same time.

A comment for ABC: When trying to keep or even gain a viewership for a sporting event or sport in general, choose competent studio analysts. I don't know if any of you watched any of the games, but why the hell is Brent "Open Container" Musberger in the studio to talk about the World Cup? Ridiculous. I can see him with his wife the night before going over his flashcards, "OK honey, What is a Striker?" To make up for his lack of soccer knowledge they threw in a couple of people with soccer backgrounds, but no experience in T.V. (at least it seemed.) Sorry, but Julie Foudy wasn't given the tools to be a succesfull T.V. personality, World Cup champion or not. It was painful to watch this crew try to give accurate analyses. The only comparison I can come up with is asking the world putt-putt golf champion to team up with the world long drive champion and having them take on Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh. It just doesn't work that way.

Despite the lack of competence in the studio, props to ABC for having a couple of good commentators for the game action. I can only think it is because there is actually a need for commentators on a regular basis because the MLS is regionally televised, but there is probably never a situation other than the World Cup where they need to "take it back to the studio." Would it really have hurt to pay a couple of British guys to come over and help out? I would have loved the feel that would have given the game. They could even put the Brits on play by play and color commentary and move the other guys into the studio, like a promotion. I don't know, but I have to think that anything would have been better than what they had. No one can ruin a World Cup experience like Brent.

Does anyone else wish that soccer was as big in the states as abroad? In Berlin they had a MILLION people in the streets watching Germany's last meaningful game. A MILLION. I wish I could have been there just to be part of that. Can you imagine a million people gathering here to cheer on Team USA? It's like HuskerNation times 10. I wish soccer was that popular here just for that experience. The sad thing is that it will never happen. At least we can get somewhere close on a regular basis in the fall.

Major Malfunction

From the Journal Star:

Culbert a Husker?
I love headlines that end in question marks.

Frankly, though, Major Culbert's status as a Husker remains unclear. Hence, the question mark.

No word today -- yet -- from South Stadium about his future in Lincoln. The incoming recruit -- arrested and charged in May with first-degree burlary and first-degree sexual abuse -- plea-barained Wednesday to lesser charges of trespassing and harassment.

Bob Gorham, the deputy district attorney in Lane County, Ore., told me this afternoon that Culbert was sentenced to five years probation and 25 days in jail. He can do that next summer, with options of work release, work crew and electronic monitoring. He already served five days in jail in California earlier this spring.

Gorham stressed that the two female victims of the assault wanted Culbert to be able to complete college, so they suggested the lesser charges.

Said Gorham: "That was pretty nice of them."

NFL Export Rankings

Alright, I suggested it to Sto, but I couldn't wait to see the results. Here is the ranking of states based on their NFL player to total population ratio. NFL player totals were taken off of the site that Storo linked to, and populations were based off of approximate July 2005 populations for each state. Populations were taken in millions rounded to three decimal places, which is probably too accurate. Hope I got all of the state abbreviations correct. Anyway, we can take three things from this analysis:

1. Nebraska is king over the West and Midwest.
2. SEC football should be better than it is.
3. Don't recruit in New England.

Props to Hawaii and their abundance of linemen. Also a suprise is D.C. with double the score of any other East Coast state. All in all not what I expected, but Nebraska didn't do too bad with a 9th place finish. South Dakota verified that it will be a powerhouse no time in the near future coming in at 39th. The numbers do not lie gentlemen. Feel free to analyze.

Current NFL players per million citizens:

Rank	State	NFL/Pop
1	LA	16.80
2	MS	15.75
3	DC	14.55
4	SC	11.28
5	FL	10.06
6	GA	9.92
7	AL	9.65
8	HI	9.41
9	NE	7.96
10	IA	7.75
11	TX	7.70
12	AR	7.56
13	OH	6.80
14	OK	6.48
15	VA	6.48
16	WA	6.36
17	TN	5.53
18	CA	5.51
19	NC	5.18
20	NJ	5.16
21	MD	5.00
22	MI	4.94
23	ID	4.90
24	KS	4.74
25	PA	4.67
26	UT	4.45
27	OR	4.12
28	MO	3.97
29	WY	3.93
30	AZ	3.87
31	CO	3.64
32	DE	3.56
33	IL	3.53
34	ND	3.14
35	WI	3.07
36	NV	2.90
37	KY	2.88
38	MA	2.81
39	SD	2.58
40	MN	2.53
41	IN	2.23
42	WV	2.20
43	MT	2.14
44	CT	1.71
45	NY	1.61
46	AK	1.51
47	NM	1.04
t48	ME	0.00
t48	RI	0.00
t48	VT	0.00
t48	NH	0.00

I'm not going to go as far as to say I agree with Mr. Hornung, but with no comment on intellectual ability, only the obvious advantage in athletic ability, I would say that these numbers are interesting when compared to this Link.

Go Big Red

Importance of Recruiting CA, FL & TX Athletes Even More Obvious

Maybe Paul Hornung was on to something...

I recently came across a ranking of states in terms of production of NFL players and found that the State of Nebraska ranks a mediocre t29 with 14 players in the NFL. However, compared to the state's population rank of 38, there is some increase seen as a result of being home to a football powerhouse.

The point is to further state the importance of Callahan and Co. recruiting not only out of the State of Nebraska, but out of the region, as the states of California (199 players), Florida (179) and Texas(176) led the list, with Georgia and Ohio rounding out the Top 5.

Nebraska's bordering states ranked as follows: Iowa (t20), Missouri (t20), Colorado (t26), Kansas (t31), South Dakota (t42).

Surprises?
- Missouri has the same amount of players in the NFL as football-crazed Oklahoma.
- The third-largest state, New York, has only the 18th-most players in the NFL (31 players). Likely reason: NYC not a football hotbed - obvious I suppose.

From Stewart Mandel's MAILbag

Nebraska this year will have two games against top powers (at USC and Texas at home) to prove that they are back as a top-notch program. One, how do you think they will do in those games? And two, will Nebraska this year return to the top of crop in the Big 12 like it's used to?
-- Mike Bilesimo, Pittsburgh

I learned my lesson about trying to predict the outcome of games several months in advance with last year's Ohio State-Texas game. So I'm not going there. As for Nebraska in general, obviously the Huskers have got to be considered the preseason favorite in the Big 12 North. It's hard to believe, but Nebraska, once an annual national title contender, hasn't even won its division in seven years. But with quarterback Zac Taylor having a full year in Bill Callahan's West Coast offense under his belt and with some of Callahan's highly touted 2005 recruits ready to contribute, I certainly think the Huskers will be much improved.

That said, If I'm a Nebraska fan I'd still temper my enthusiasm just a bit. If you think the Huskers are suddenly going to leap back into the nation's elite this season, I think you're reading waaaay too much into one lopsided victory over a mediocre Colorado team and an admittedly exciting Alamo Bowl victory over a five-loss Michigan team. Let's not forget that only weeks before, the Huskers were losing 40-15 to Kansas and 41-24 to Missouri. The end-of-season run certainly showed signs of progress, but for Nebraska to beat a USC or Texas, its running game is going to have to improve immeasurably from a year ago, and the defense is going to have take the step up from decent to dominant. On paper, the defense certainly has the potential to do just that. I'm more skeptical about the running game. I-backs Marlon Lucky and Cody Glenn looked good in the spring game, but let's wait and see how they and their blockers do when the games count before making any grand proclamations.

Screw the "commies" and CBS sportsline

CBS sportsline preseason college football mag, or rag have you, has Brandon Jackson as the projected starter . . . BRANDON JACKSON AT RUNNING BACK!!! Again one more reason to boycott CBS sports as well as Dennis Dodd. Poorly done (if ANY was actually done)research with inaccuracies throughout. It is a disgrace to football fans around the globe. Yellow Journalism at it's best.

NU stressing speed

Journal Star Blog-

Senior free safety Andrew Shanle offered a glimpse of what's going on during Nebraska's summer conditioning program, which is closed to the media.

"We’re doing a lot of speed drills," he said. "We’ve always done a lot of agility stuff. But we’ve bumped up the speeds that we run. I think Coach (Dave) Kennedy realizes what our potential is this year. If he asks us to do a little more, and we do it, everyone has a little more confidence in what we can do."

Shanle -- unsolicited -- said he likes the team’s overall cohesiveness, saying newcomers are fitting in well.

"You’d think everyone’s been friends for the last four years," he said. "We’ve done a great job of keeping the family . . . It’s different than it was when I came in (in 2002). There aren't cliques on the team. It’s not offense separate from the defense. You’re not just a little scumbag freshman.

"That’s how it was before, at least from my perspective. You just kind of knew your place. But these days, you know, anyone can play. The freshman we have are more mature. They’re very talented guys, so we see everyone as an asset to the team . . . We want everyone to contribute."