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Jack_John_Mark
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Ugly breakup
Before we dive into a gluttonously good week, The Dash must note the building acrimony as Nebraska (2) plays its final games as a member of the Big 12 (3). This divorce could be reaching the stage of throwing potted plants at each other in the front yard as the moving vans load up belongings.
It was all on display Saturday in Texas A&M's 9-6 victory over the Cornhuskers in College Station -- uncontrolled sideline rage, questionable calls, cheap shots; you name it. Then came the postgame tantrums. And finally the conspiracy complaints from the Corn People, whose big season has been crippled by a Texas two-step of upsets: The officials are out to screw Nebraska on its way out the door to the Big Ten.
Here are the facts as The Dash knows them:
Penalties in that game were Nebraska 16 for 145 yards, Texas A&M two for 10 yards. The Cornhuskers were hit with five personal fouls and two unsportsmanlike conducts -- one of them on sideline demon Bo Pelini (4) at a critical juncture in a tie game. A roughing-the-passer penalty on the Huskers was a flat-out bad call. And the consecutive 15-yard penalties on Nebraska tight end Ben Cotton in the first half were, as this video shows, an understandable reaction to a disgusting cheap shot by A&M's Tony Jerod-Eddie.
Jerod-Eddie should be suspended for this week's game against Texas. Preferably the suspension would be delivered by A&M, but if the school doesn't have the, um, stones to do it, let Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe step in.
Bo Pelini engaged in a few heated discussions at Kyle Field on Saturday.
Beyond that is the bigger picture, which shows that Nebraska is flagged at a much higher rate than its opponents -- the numbers are 86 flags on the Huskers and 48 on the other guys so far.
Part of that is the fact that Nebraska tends to play on the edge of mayhem under Pelini -- they are aggressive to a fault and occasionally prone to crossing the line. The number of flags this year on the Huskers falls into line with their first two seasons under Bo.
But penalties on opponents are down from the past two years, when Nebraska was a Big 12 member in good standing. As Omaha World-Herald columnist Tom Shatel pointed out in his column Monday, Cornhuskers opponents have been penalized 48 times for 420 yards. Last year they were penalized 64 times and the previous year 84. That makes you wonder.
Shatel makes a good point: There's a greater likelihood that Big 12 refs are anti-Pelini than perpetrating an orchestrated payback on the school for leaving the league. Fact is, Pelini has surpassed Arizona's Mike Stoops (5) as the worst ref-baiter in college football -- and he embarrassed himself Saturday night in College Station.
If Pelini doesn't think spending three hours screaming at officials has any negative consequences, then he must think the "N" on the helmet stands for Nowledge. If he does understand that and persists anyway, he's got an anger issue. Either way, the criticism levied at Pelini by Nebraska chancellor Harvey Perlman on Sunday was significant and justified.
Pelini's sideline demeanor was reprehensible toward the officials (including chasing after one of them postgame before going to shake Mike Sherman's hand). His tirade aimed at quarterback Taylor Martinez was even more distasteful (not surprisingly, there were widespread rumors Sunday night that Martinez quit the team -- rumors later dispelled). His equally hotheaded brother, defensive coordinator Carl Pelini (6), allegedly went after a credentialed videographer postgame and damaged his camera (Carl Pelini disputed the version of events from the videographer, who works for a Texas A&M fan site).
Pelini apologized publicly Monday for losing his mind.
For the school that gave us the dignified stoicism of Tom Osborne (7), this is an ironic disintegration of decorum. Dr. Tom needs to have a talk with his head coach, perhaps explaining that Jim Delany is much less inclined than Dan Beebe to tolerate the Linda Blair "Exorcist" routine from a millionaire head coach. Really, what Osborne needs to do is give Pelini a one-game suspension -- but with rival Colorado looming and a chance to win the North Division and play in one final Big 12 championship game, don't expect that to happen.
Stay tuned to see whether the Big 12 and Nebraska can be rid of one another without plants flying in the front yard.
Before we dive into a gluttonously good week, The Dash must note the building acrimony as Nebraska (2) plays its final games as a member of the Big 12 (3). This divorce could be reaching the stage of throwing potted plants at each other in the front yard as the moving vans load up belongings.
It was all on display Saturday in Texas A&M's 9-6 victory over the Cornhuskers in College Station -- uncontrolled sideline rage, questionable calls, cheap shots; you name it. Then came the postgame tantrums. And finally the conspiracy complaints from the Corn People, whose big season has been crippled by a Texas two-step of upsets: The officials are out to screw Nebraska on its way out the door to the Big Ten.
Here are the facts as The Dash knows them:
Penalties in that game were Nebraska 16 for 145 yards, Texas A&M two for 10 yards. The Cornhuskers were hit with five personal fouls and two unsportsmanlike conducts -- one of them on sideline demon Bo Pelini (4) at a critical juncture in a tie game. A roughing-the-passer penalty on the Huskers was a flat-out bad call. And the consecutive 15-yard penalties on Nebraska tight end Ben Cotton in the first half were, as this video shows, an understandable reaction to a disgusting cheap shot by A&M's Tony Jerod-Eddie.
Jerod-Eddie should be suspended for this week's game against Texas. Preferably the suspension would be delivered by A&M, but if the school doesn't have the, um, stones to do it, let Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe step in.
Bo Pelini engaged in a few heated discussions at Kyle Field on Saturday.
Beyond that is the bigger picture, which shows that Nebraska is flagged at a much higher rate than its opponents -- the numbers are 86 flags on the Huskers and 48 on the other guys so far.
Part of that is the fact that Nebraska tends to play on the edge of mayhem under Pelini -- they are aggressive to a fault and occasionally prone to crossing the line. The number of flags this year on the Huskers falls into line with their first two seasons under Bo.
But penalties on opponents are down from the past two years, when Nebraska was a Big 12 member in good standing. As Omaha World-Herald columnist Tom Shatel pointed out in his column Monday, Cornhuskers opponents have been penalized 48 times for 420 yards. Last year they were penalized 64 times and the previous year 84. That makes you wonder.
Shatel makes a good point: There's a greater likelihood that Big 12 refs are anti-Pelini than perpetrating an orchestrated payback on the school for leaving the league. Fact is, Pelini has surpassed Arizona's Mike Stoops (5) as the worst ref-baiter in college football -- and he embarrassed himself Saturday night in College Station.
If Pelini doesn't think spending three hours screaming at officials has any negative consequences, then he must think the "N" on the helmet stands for Nowledge. If he does understand that and persists anyway, he's got an anger issue. Either way, the criticism levied at Pelini by Nebraska chancellor Harvey Perlman on Sunday was significant and justified.
Pelini's sideline demeanor was reprehensible toward the officials (including chasing after one of them postgame before going to shake Mike Sherman's hand). His tirade aimed at quarterback Taylor Martinez was even more distasteful (not surprisingly, there were widespread rumors Sunday night that Martinez quit the team -- rumors later dispelled). His equally hotheaded brother, defensive coordinator Carl Pelini (6), allegedly went after a credentialed videographer postgame and damaged his camera (Carl Pelini disputed the version of events from the videographer, who works for a Texas A&M fan site).
Pelini apologized publicly Monday for losing his mind.
For the school that gave us the dignified stoicism of Tom Osborne (7), this is an ironic disintegration of decorum. Dr. Tom needs to have a talk with his head coach, perhaps explaining that Jim Delany is much less inclined than Dan Beebe to tolerate the Linda Blair "Exorcist" routine from a millionaire head coach. Really, what Osborne needs to do is give Pelini a one-game suspension -- but with rival Colorado looming and a chance to win the North Division and play in one final Big 12 championship game, don't expect that to happen.
Stay tuned to see whether the Big 12 and Nebraska can be rid of one another without plants flying in the front yard.
