Once upon a time Nebraska used to be good, but if you were born after 1990 you probably will have to take my word for it. But during this time, if you played the Big Red it meant either they would stay atop the polls or there was an upset that would rock the very foundation that held up college football. These were the days of Tom Osbourne, Turner Gill, Steve Taylor, Broderick Thomas, Mike Croel, Ken Clark, Mike Rosier and other names that are synonomys with the golden era of college football.

But ever since Miami humbled Nebraska in the 1991 Orange Bowl, the program just has not been the same. They still have those oversized corn fed lineman and still have some of the greatest uniforms in college football. Theyusually have a good running back and sometimes they have great name's such as "Thunder Collins." But what Nebraska doesn't have is winning football.

It's easy for me to drone on about Nebraska's glory years, but that is because I can remember them. But I am a balding thirty-something who prefers movies over bars and not a high school stud with breakaway speed. Nebraska has lost all sense of who they are and there is nothing to say that they will ever be back.

Sure we like to think about Nebraska among the greatest programs that make up college football, but to do so you must also live in the past. The tenure of Bill Callahan has caused the Huskers to abandon yelling "Go Big Red" and replace it with "One Time" and "Lets Go!" Prior to Callahan, crossing your fingers and praying had never been common practice when hosting the likes of Ball State or traveling to Missouri. Usually the Huskers reserved their losses for big games that command the national spotlight.

Nebraska's Athletic Director, Steve Pederson gave Bill "of goods" Callahan a six-year extension this year and has asked the Husker faithful to drink the Kool Aid of mediocrity, but something has gone wrong. It seems the Big Red support machine has started to add up that 2+2=4 and Callahan is in peak form by showing Husker fans just how easy it is to become irrelevant when the Lord answers your prayers and you actually do hold off off Ball State.

The great thing is Nebraska supporters will jump on me for this and call me names and look for grammatical mistakes to discredit what I am writing and my response to that is "Exactly!" You can point out my short comings all day and I will agree with most of them. However, when the dust settles and the smoke clears, you will have to process the reality that there is really no good reason that Nebraska will ever be a powerhouse in America's greatest game again. The geography is not stellar, the recruiting base is bland and the tradition rich history they pride themselves on is just that...history. Today's high school athletes just don't have any reason to know who Nebraska is and certainly have not seen any recent evidence that indicates they are a National Championship caliber program.

Ironically this is the same reality that faced their rival Oklahoma in 1998 as John Blake went 12-22 in an attempt to donk off what Barry Switzer and Bud Wilkinson spent years building. The difference is that the Sooners did not hire a joker with a proven track record of failing and then give him an extension once he exercised his legacy in his new surroundings. The Sooners have an innovator in Bob Stoops and Nebraska has Bill Callahan and there you have it.

Enjoy winter in Nebraska, as well as the next six years.