No. Any hopes for a national title were dashed when Zac Bowman went down with a season ending knee injury in an August practice.
One person being injured(unless it's the QB or RB) would not put a dent in a team that's
actually going to compete for the national championship.
Besides, do you really think that these stats:
Callahans averages/season at NebraskaWins - 7.33
Losses - 5
Division Championships - .33
Conference Championships - 0
National Championship Appearances - 0
National Championships - 0
Bowl Game Appearances - .66
Bowl Game Victories - .33
Top Ranked Finish - 0
Top Five Finish - 0
Top Ten Finish - 0
Top Twenty Finish - 0
Top Twenty Five Finish - .33
Victories over teams that finished ranked in the top 25 - .33 (One team in three years
)
Victories over teams that finished ranked in the top 20 - 0
Victories over teams that finished ranked in the top 10 - 0
Victories over teams that finished ranked in the top 5 - 0
Doing something unprofessional and emberassing - .66 ("f*cking hillbillies!", throatslash)
Score of conference games - 25.2-24.6
Division opponents finishing in the top 25 - 0
These statistics look like that of a coach capable of taking a team in Nebraska to the national championship?
Delusions.
He has weak statistics, ESPECIALLY considering the talent he has(Nebraska is easily the most talented team in the division, and has been ALL THREE YEARS) in a division that has had ZERO TEAMS finish in the top 20 during Callahan's entire tenure.
So basically, someone who has a lot of talent, who's doing very little, in an absolutely horrible division.
If you compared every one of those statistics to Frank Solich's, you'd find they'd be at least equal, if not far superior. (Except maybe the chances of doing something unprofessional/emberassing.) I still love listening to the excuses of why he was fired (In a season where Nebraska won 10 games, something Callahan STILL hasn't done..) "Oh sure we didn't lose often, but in the losses we DID have, we were getting beat badly." Basically in reference to K-state's pounding of Nebraska in Lincoln when there was noone left in Memorial Stadium to clap. And I guess that 70-10 doesn't count as "getting beat badly?"
It was all worth replacing Solich with Callahan.
That bowl streak Callahan broke meant nothing. Unimportant.
Losing to Southern Miss on ABC at home meant nothing. Unimportant.
Losing a multiple decade spanning win streak over Kansas(in emberassing style) meant nothing. Unimportant.
An average of five losses per year mean nothing. Unimportant. (Did Solich EVER have five losses in a year?)
An average of 7.3 wins per year mean nothing. Unimportant. (Didn't Solich average like 9 or 10 wins per year, in a time when there were fewer games?)
At least you got rid of Solich!
The reality of the situation is this: Nebraska fans were spoiled by Tom Osborne, and to a degree even Solich. They not only wanted to win the division almost every year, but the conference at least every other year, and be in the national championship once every couple years. In a division they thought was their's for the taking in 2003, they were demolished by a superior K-state team. Being restless, they fired Solich in hopes of hiring someone that would produce a team that could win conference championships regularly and compete for national championships often. Instead they hired someone who had just been FIRED from the NFL, relies heavily on JUCOs, and had to completely overhaul everything about the Nebraska schemes that had won them those championships.
While all of this was going on, the rest of the Big XII north declined, rapidly. The other two teams that regularly won the division, K-state and Colorado, both hit rock bottom. K-state with a 4 and then 5 win season. Colorado with a combined score of 6-70 in the Big XII championship games, and then 2 wins. NONE of the teams have finished in the top 20.
Combining the decline of rest of the north with the talent advantage Nebraska had, Callahan won a division title. Delusional husker fans call this 'progress' over Solich's years. Realists realize that Callahan has yet to finish even as highly ranked as Solich's AVERAGE end of the year ranking. Realists realize that Solich would have won the north the year following his firing, as both Colorado and K-state tanked majorly. Realists realize that Solich would continue to win 10 games a year,
something Callahan hasn't done even with the addition of an extra game. The cornhuskers would still have the Nebraska option run game of old, and an additional division title(definitely 04 and 06, if not 05 as well.)
They refuse to acknowledge this because they don't want to look back and think they made a mistake in firing Solich. They want to think they made a great decision in hiring Callahan. They want to think that they have improved, when in reality their BEST record is inferior to Solich's AVERAGE (despite the addition of a game) and their division opponents have been even worse(Not a single one finished ranked in Callahan's entire tenure, usually at least three finished ranked at all times under Solich.)
Nebraska's dismay with getting crushed by K-state at home and not being in the national championship for *gasp* three years caused them to prematurely fire a coach who was at least capable of reaching the national championship. Now they're stuck with the coach for all the bad media, bad statistics, and bad records that are posted above.
Nebraska will never have another Tom Osborne. But the closest thing to him was Solich. And he was succesful, as he proved by consistantly winning 10+ games per year and even reaching the national championship in 01. Nebraska's greed is ultimately leading to their own demise.
Game set pwnt.
