Los Angeles Cornhuskers Might Be The Only Answer

Now do you know why Coach Tom Osborne had no real interest in suspending Lawrence Phillips from his squad permanently?

Anyone who thought he would doesn’t know football.

What’d the guy have--three touchdowns? 165 yards? He put the game away for Nebraska in the Fiesta Bowl. They didn’t need him in the second half. What’d they have by then--35 points?

I would think Nebraska would be embarrassed. What was the score--62-24? And didn’t a Nebraska player kneel down with a cinch touchdown one foot away at the final gun?

To go 62-24 against the certifiably second-best team in the country is almost obscene. But not any worse than beating Arizona State, 77-28. Or Iowa State, 73-14. Or Oklahoma State, 64-21. Or Missouri, 57-0. Or Michigan State, 50-10. All of which Nebraska did this season.

They must have two out of every three able-bodied football players in the country at Nebraska. A couple of them even come from Nebraska.

It’s getting ridiculous. The field is no longer level. It’s a good thing for Nebraska that schedules are made up years in advance. Who would want to schedule a team that beat you 73-14? Or even 62-24?

It’s no secret how you get a team like that. There are probably 200-300 really top-flight players coming into college every year. Every coach knows who they are. Nebraska obviously gets to pick first. Three Florida schools get what’s left over. Then comes Notre Dame, Colorado, the Big Ten.

Not that my heart bleeds for the Fiesta Bowl losers, the University of Florida. They beat Tennessee, 62-37; beat South Carolina, 63-7.

Some years ago, they had a coach at Ohio State known as Francis “Close the Gates of Mercy” Schmidt. But even he never rolled up the scores the “haves” roll up today. He never had the studs these guys put together.

I don’t blame Tom Osborne. He’s doing what he’s paid (handsomely) to do. And And that keeps the school administration and faculty from being mutinous.

Osborne has had 23 years experience at it. He’s got the pipelines flowing. He’s out recruiting right this minute, you can bet me. You heard Northwestern’s Gary Barnett admit during the news conference on TV the other night that he had four visits to make the next day to prospects. That’s where you win national championships. In the living rooms of kids who run the 40 in 4.3.

Tom Osborne has to work hard to keep his program going, his pipelines open. I wouldn’t doubt that. Talking a kid with 50 offers coast to coast into spending his bright college years in Lincoln, Neb., can’t be the world’s easiest sell. Particularly when you’re competing against Miami Beach and Disney World and places where you need sunglasses, not snow blowers.

But it’s nice to be able to say, “Hey, kid, would you rather win games 62-24, and 77-28 or would you like goal-line stands and waiting for a fumble? How does an annual national championship grab you? Or would you rather go to Iowa State?”

When you have a reputation of sticking by your guys when they get in a spot of trouble, even starting them in the Fiesta Bowl to show everybody you’re in charge, it couldn’t hurt.

But when it verges on overkill, it’s less healthy. The New York Yankees once won a World Series game, 18-4, and often won 13-5 and 13-6, and it began to hurt baseball and give birth to “Break Up the Yankees!” cries.

Rolling up 62 points in a national championship game is good coaching. But Steve Spurrier’s running up 24 points against that juggernaut may have been even better.

No less an authority than Terry Donahue--who should know a blue chip football player when he sees one--said on national TV that, when he went out to scout the Nebraska lineup for his telecast, he saw it had three certified giant All-Americans for every position.

You need all that to beat Iowa State? I’m sorry, I’m just not all that impressed. I mean, I expect Russia to beat Finland or China to conquer Tibet.

But, Nebraska-ites, don’t write to me. I’ve already been called enough names by people championing “Dr. Tom Osborne.”

I’m glad Lawrence Phillips kind of ran wild in the Fiesta Bowl. So people could see for themselves why Dr. Osborne was not about to cut him loose. It might have been a gesture of ultimate defiance by the good doctor. But the player’s performance may have shed more light on why he wanted him in there than all the sanctimony in the dictionary. Coach Osborne did exactly what he wanted to do. Stood by the player and gave the impression he was taking the high moral position in so doing.

As to Nebraska, which ran up 638 points this season and 629 total yards Tuesday, how can it in good conscience go back to playing Kansas State and Oklahoma State? One of their opponents of last year, Pacific, has dropped football.

I have a suggestion: Los Angeles is without a football franchise with the Rams and Raiders gone. Right! How about the Cornhuskers?! I mean let ‘em play somebody their own size. They won’t run up 62 points on the Rams. Would they?