The Bo Pelini Situation

You have noticed this progression of events too many times in college sports. The head coach does something wrong. Athletic director and president/chancellor publicly denounce the coach’s action. Coach publicly says he is sorry.

That’s exactly who happened with Nebraska coach Bo Pelini this week. Pelini put on a show of major anger Saturday night in the Huskers loss to Texas A&M on national TV. Bo was anger at his starting quarterback and the officials and let his strong feelings known in visible ways

We don’t know if ‘ole Bo was truly sorry for his actions. Only he knows for sure. We do know his bosses were not pleased.

They say timing is everything. Bo picked a bad time for his anger. These days with the media, one needs to be extra careful because the news cycle is 24 hours. Bo was not only noticeable on TV but on You Tube too. The matter was sliced and diced

Bad, bad publicity for Nebraska and its football program. Bo forgot that he is not only head football coach, but CEO on the field. He didn’t take care of it behind closed doors out of the public eye.

Football coaches are emotional guys. I get that. But this time emotion crossed the line and ‘ole Bo paid for it.

Coaches are so scared about providing bulletin board material for their opponents. Maybe some coaches need to realize that the public has their own bulletin boards.

Nebraska-Iowa State Presents Interesting Match Up

Nebraska continues its Big 12 Conference farewell tour Saturday in Ames against Iowa State.

This game may be closer than the 18-point spread. The Huskers (7-1, 3-1) battle a Cyclone squad who was about dead after blowout losses to Utah and Oklahoma. Then the magic happened at Texas. Now Saturday’s home team needs one more win (5-4, 3-2) to become bowl eligible.

It will be interesting to see what Nebraska team shows up. Will it be the club that pounded undefeated Missouri last week or the team that blew a tire at home against Texas?

The Huskers shouldn’t lack for motivation. Last year, Iowa State traveled to Lincoln and upset Nebraska 9-7. Then Cyclone Coach Paul Rhoads appeared all over You Tube with his victory speech “I’m so proud to be your coach…”

Nebraska is still playing for an outside chance at the national championship. The Huskers are ranked No. 7 in the BCS and have dates with Kansas, Texas A&M and Colorado beyond Saturday. Traveling to College Station figures to be Nebraska’s toughest game of that bunch.

Apparently, starting quarterback Taylor Martinez will play Saturday after spraining an ankle last week. Cyclone fans would prefer backup Zach Lee who couldn’t move the Huskers in last season’s game as Nebraska was bit by the mistakes bug.

Iowa State needs to hang on to the ball this week to have a chance. Turnovers have killed the Cyclones in their losses.

The game is on ABC, but only goes to 13 percent of the nation.

Is this an upset waiting to happen or will Nebraska prevail?