SB Nation User Blog: corn blight

Corn Flakes Wonders Why You Can't Embrace Chaos

corn blight — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:07:14 -0000

It’s Oklahoma over Texas for the fifth-level tie breaker in the Big 12 South to determine the South champion.

Most of the Husker fans I’ve talked to are perfectly happy with Oklahoma winning the South. I’m guessing that goes back to all those years of playing Oklahoma as a rival, and blaming Texas for screwing us in the formation of the Big 12 conference, so the general attitude amongst Husker fans is that it’s a good day whenever Texas gets screwed. Agree?

Longhorn fans are not taking it lying down, jumping all over CC Machine’s declaration of themselves as Big 12 South champions. It’s not so much the article as it is the comments from ‘Horns fans.

Texas players react. They speak well. Nothing nasty (they apparently leave that up to the fans).

Orakpo, a finalist for the Lombardi Award, said the Longhorns still have much to play for.

"We'll get a chance to play in a great bowl game," Orakpo said. "I've just been telling the guys to keep their heads up. We have a lot to play for. We'll use this as motivation. We still want to prove to everyone that we're the best team in the country. It's really important to us that we play well in the bowl game because we want to finish this season off right."

Someone might mention to Orakpo that this season isn’t over yet. It’s not a foregone conclusion that Oklahoma will lose to Missouri, nor is it forgone that Texas will be shut out of the national title game.

Mack Brown reacts too, and like all coaches who get screwed, wants a change in the system after the fact:

Brown also proposed a rule change that would alter how the Big 12 employs BCS standings in the future in the case of three-way ties.

"Since this situation has never happened before in the Big 12, I think the conference should follow the lead of all of the other BCS leagues with championship games [ACC/Conference USA/Mid-American/SEC] in how they settle three-way ties," Brown said. "I think their systems are fairer and give more credit to how the two highest-ranked teams performed against each other on the field."

If that system had been in place, Texas Tech would have been thrown out because of having the lowest BCS ranking among the three South Division tri-champions. The Texas-Oklahoma deadlock would then have been decided by a head-to-head meeting which the Longhorns would have won because of their 45-35 triumph Oct. 11 in Dallas.

In other words, Mack Brown would deny you of so much fun in the interest of fairness.… or in the interests of Texas Longhorn football, whichever comes first. Mack Brown hates chaos, all the more reason why you should embrace it!

Because if you think you know all the angles, Doc Saturday throws another grenade.

Something tells me there’s plenty more left to this season with only one regular season week left to go, more chaos and gnashing of the teeth. A playoff would take all of this away from us, and yet it seems to be what so many want. I still don’t get it. Why??? This isn’t fun enough?

Husker Volleyball To Host First, Second Rounds in NCAA Tournament

corn blight — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 06:30:56 -0000

The Nebraska Volleyball team will be staying home for the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament. Nebraska received the number four seed in the tournament.

Only four Big 12 teams made the NCAA tournament, amongst them #3 seed Texas, Kansas State, and Iowa State. The complete bracket layout may be found here.

The Husker women will face the Liberty Flames (25-8) on Friday after the conclusion of the first game between the UAB Blazers (26-7) and the Missouri State Bears (23-12).

Should the Huskers win out, they will continue on to the Seattle, WA regional. Regional sites are determined ahead of time, not by seeding or record. The four regional sites for 2008 are Austin, TX (Texas), State College, PA (Penn State), Fort Collins, CO (Colorado State), and Seattle, WA (Washington).

Earlier, Nebraska won a share of the Big 12 title after Nebraska and Texas finished with the same record and split the series between them with each team winning at home. Not bad for a team from which not much was expected after having to replace uber-volleyballers Sarah Pavan, Christina Houghtelling, and Tracy Stalls. This year's title makes it five consecutive Big 12 titles.

Unfortunately, Nebraska will be without three-year starter middle blocker Kori Cooper who tore her ACL in the match against Texas in Austin.

The Full Brackets Are As Follows:

LEFT SIDE OF BRACKET

UNIVERSITY PARK, PENNSYLVANIA REGIONAL

December 5-6 at University Park, Pennsylvania
*No. 1 Penn St. (32-0) vs. Long Island (19-11)
Yale (20-5) vs. Ohio (24-7)

December 5-6 at Dayton, Ohio
Western Mich. (26-6) vs. Dayton* (21-12)
Tennessee Tech (19-12) vs. No. 16 Tulane (27-5)

December 5-6 at Champaign, Illinois
*No. 9 Illinois (24-7) vs. Milwaukee (23-8)
Cincinnati (26-6) vs. Western Ky. (26-9)

December 5-6 at Berkeley, California
New Mexico St. (25-8) vs. St. Mary’s (Cal.) (20-7)
Siena (20-12) vs. *No. 8 California (23-6)

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON REGIONAL

December 5-6 at Seattle, Washington
*No. 5 Washington (24-4) vs. Portland St. (20-8)
Santa Clara (17-9) vs. Kansas St. (24-7)

December 5-6 at Clemson, South Carolina
Tennessee (22-9) vs. Clemson* (22-9)
Furman (21-13) vs. No. 12 Utah (24-5)

December 4-5 at Lexington, Kentucky
No. 13 St. Louis (28-4) vs. Alabama A&M (12-14)
*Kentucky (26-5) vs. Michigan (24-8)

December 5-6 at Lincoln, Nebraska
UAB (26-7) vs. Missouri St. (23-12)
Liberty (25-8) vs. *No. 4 Nebraska (27-2)

RIGHT SIDE OF BRACKET

AUSTIN, TEXAS REGIONAL

December 5-6 at Austin, Texas
*No. 3 Texas (25-3) vs. Lamar (17-11)
Wichita St. (29-1) vs. Rice (23-7)

December 5-6 at Los Angeles, California
San Francisco (22-7) vs. Duke (24-8)
LSU (18-9) vs. *No. 14 UCLA (20-10)

December 5-6 at Washington, DC
No. 11 Oregon (23-8) vs. Delaware (19-15)
*American (24-8) vs. North Carolina (21-10)

December 5-6 at Minneapolis, Minnesota
UNI (25-8) vs. Iowa St. (19-12)
North Dakota St. (24-3) vs. *No. 6 Minnesota (26-6)

FORT COLLINS, COLORADO REGIONAL

December 5-6 at Los Angeles, California
No. 7 Hawaii (28-3) vs. Belmont (25-7)
San Diego (23-4) vs. *Southern California (16-11)

December 5-6 at West Lafayette, Indiana
Middle Tenn. (26-7) vs. Miami (Ohio) (21-11)
Louisville (19-10) vs. *No. 10 Purdue (24-8)

December 5-6 at Gainesville, Florida
*No. 15 Florida (25-3) vs. Florida A&M (14-12)
Florida Int’l (28-6) vs. Colorado St. (22-6)

December 5-6 at Stanford, California
Pepperdine (20-7) vs. Long Beach St. (25-5)
Albany (N.Y.) (23-8) vs. *No. 2 Stanford (26-3)

2008 CBS Sports Blog Poll Top 25 Week 14 Ballot: Oklahoma over Texas

corn blight — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 19:14:38 -0000

My top five haven't changed since last week.

#1 - Alabama, although I'm not sold on them as a solid #1, I think Florida will beat them in the SEC Championship game. A solid win over their rival Auburn, although not that impressive because Auburn lost a lot this season (especially their minds).

#2 - Oklahoma.

#3 - Texas.

#4 - Florida. No doubt either Alabama or Florida will be in the national title game, so right now rankings don't matter as much. Win the game, you get your shot at immortality. I don't care for either of these teams, so don't ask me to pick one.

#5 - USC. USC lost that one game to Oregon State and it cost them everything. Pete Carroll did his whining about a playoff earlier in the year, so hopefully we won't have to hear much more from him.

Oklahoma - Texas

I have Oklahoma ahead of Texas for the following reasons:

- End of season high. Oklahoma played a better opponent on the road and beat them. Texas got a down Aggies team, the Sooners got an Oklahoma State team that's done as well as any Cowboy team in the last 20 years.

- Texas non-conference schedule is a joke, while Oklahoma soundly beat both TCU and Cincinnati. Should the "head-to-head" reference come up in a discussion with a Longhorn, feel free to throw the "body of work" phrase in their face.

The bottom line here is I firmly believe teams (especially power house school like Texas) should be doing a better job of scheduling tough games and if they're not they deserve to be penalized where it hurts the most - at the end of the year.

Is this subjective? Yes, but all things college football are subjective. This is not the NFL where things are neatly packaged (and I might add, is boring as watching corn grow when compared to college football).

Other

Yeah, I'm ranking Nebraska at #24. Our four losses came against Oklahoma, Missouri (before the loss to Oklahoma State sucked the life out of them), Virginia Tech, and Texas Tech in OT. That's not a bad group to lose to.

Again, tell me why I'm wrong.

Rank	Team	Delta

1	Alabama	--
2	Oklahoma	--
3	Texas	--
4	Florida	--
5	Southern Cal	--
6	Penn State	1
7	Texas Tech	1
8	Utah	2
9	Boise State	1
10	Cincinnati	7
11	Ohio State	2
12	TCU	1
13	Ball State	2
14	Oregon	8
15	Oklahoma State	4
16	Georgia Tech	5
17	Missouri	5
18	Georgia	4
19	Brigham Young	--
20	Boston College	--
21	Pittsburgh	5
22	Northwestern	4
23	Michigan State	1
24	Nebraska	1
25	Mississippi	1

Dropped Out: Oregon State (#16), Florida State (#23).

Athlon Spirit Award - Support Your Husker Cheerleader

corn blight — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 20:37:19 -0000

Nebraska Katie Rockwell is participating in the Athlon Spirit contest this year. She would like your support!

My name is Katie Rockwell and I'm a cheerleader here at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I'm a junior studying Communication and this is my third year on the team, second year as a captain of the squad. As some of you heard before, I competed in the first round of the Athlon Sports Sideline Spirit Contest.

Due to the great dedication of the Husker Nation, I was able to receive the most votes in the Big XII conference, and am now going to compete in the final round of this online competition.

The final round will begin at 12:00am on November 29th and will end at 11:59pm on December 12th. I would truly appreciate the support! Fan voting is limited to 20 times per day per account, which is free on the Athlon website. Fans can also vote up to 10 times per day with a valid Facebook account through the Sideline Spirit Facebook application.

The winner will be featured in the 2009 Athlon Sports College Football annuals and her squad will receive $1,000, plus a JVC 42-inch television with integrated iPod Dock, a JVC Full HD Hard Disk Camcorder, a JVC Enviro Hard Disk Camcorder, and a JVC Mini System with Built-In iPod Dock.

For more information and to place your vote, visit www.athlonsports.com/spirit

Alex Henery 57 yard field goal - Radio Call as Henery makes his school record field goal to put...

corn blight — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 19:21:38 -0000

Alex Henery 57 yard field goal - Radio Call as Henery makes his school record field goal to put Nebraska ahead 33-31 the 2008 Nebraska - Colorado game.

Nebraska vs. Colorado: Post Game Overreaction

corn blight — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 23:58:44 -0000

It’s 4th and 25 and you’re thinking "we’re going to lose to those SOB’s from Colorado again", right? Then a skinny kid makes the longest field goal in school history and a second later you’re on top of the world and the Huskers are on top of Colorado.

- Alex Henery made the game. He saved his quarterback, Joe Ganz, who put the Huskers in horrible shape by taking a sack to make it 4th and 25. He saved his coach, Bo Pelini, who made one of the worst calls I can remember with a fake field goal that had already been run earlier in the season. You know what happened - the ball is picked off in mid-air and what should have been a 10 point lead ties the game.

- Ndamukong Suh. Is this guy wonderful to watch or what? What an exclamation point - him smashing Cody Hawkins into the ground on his way into the end zone. It was clear he was not to be stopped.

- Time of possession. People can say all they want about it being an overrated statistic, but it has accomplished what’s been needed from this team this year - kept the defense from being exposed more than needed.

- A game we probably should have lost but found a way to win. 8-4 is wonderful and beating Colorado in the manner we did, snatching victory from the edge of an abyss, has to be incredibly disappointing for the which makes it all the more sweeter.

Nebraska vs. Colorado: Game Day Thread

corn blight — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 16:53:14 -0000

Next Game

Colorado Buffaloes
@ Nebraska Cornhuskers

Friday, Nov 28, 2008, 2:30 PM CST
Memorial Stadium

Nebraska vs. Colorado: Blogger Q&A with The Ralphie Report

posted by corn blight 2 days ago

0 comments | 0 recs

Nebraska vs. Colorado: Buffs Fans Classless Behavior Is Systemic, Tolerated

posted by corn blight 3 days ago

21 comments | 0 recs

Would-be Husker expects jeering - The Denver Post

posted by corn blight 3 days ago

4 comments | 0 recs

Complete Coverage >

Click on the Complete Coverage link to get all the stories related to the game.

Internet-Streaming Audio: Huskers.com
Television: 2:30 PM, ABC - National
Radio: Affiliates

Live Stats: Huskers.com

The last game for a lot of Husker Seniors today, amongst them Joe Ganz, Marlon Lucky and Matt Slauson. These guys have been through a lot - finishing their home careers with a win over Colorado would be sweet!!!!

Please join us for comments and conversation about the game today. To post, you need to create an account by clicking on the 'Sign Up" button at the upper left. All you need is an email address.

Once you join Corn Nation, you're free to join any other SB Nation blog with the same account if you want to annoy our Big 12 counterparts, or something like that.

If you need more incentive, accounts are free!!

"Keys to the Game": Colorado Buffaloes vs Nebraska Cornhuskers - The Ralphie Report

corn blight — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 19:06:00 -0000

"Keys to the Game": Colorado Buffaloes vs Nebraska Cornhuskers - The Ralphie Report

Keys to the Game from the Ralphie dudes.

Now for our beloved Buffs. Clearly, this year has been a struggle. You name it, the Buffs have probably been through it this season.

It ain't over yet, the most painful part is just about to begin!!! Wheee heeee heee!

Happy Thanksgiving!

corn blight — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 14:45:33 -0000

Happy Thanksgiving to all you CN'ers!

I hope you stuff yourselves to the point of gluttony and have an enjoyable time with your families, friends, and whomever they may bring.

There's a lot to be thankful for this year. We can be thankful that we're no longer rudderless. We can be thankful that we have a team that is playing hard, that is already bowl eligible, and on their way to a pretty good first season under new head coach Bo Pelini.

The Husker volleyball team is on their way to sharing a Big 12 title with Texas and the basketball team is 4-0 and looks like they're making progress under Doc Sadler. Baseball is still a ways off, but I'm already looking forward to seeing what the team can do and seeing what Khiry Cooper is all about.

It is also time to remember there are those less fortunate. Tomorrow's game will have a collection for Toys for Tots. It doesn't take much to buy a ball, a set of legos, or the toy you loved so much when you were a kid. Just remember to keep it simple, but bring something to the game.

As for me, I'm going to be thankful that I have neighbors who invite me over to their place, treat me like I'm family and allow me to wallow around all day eating like a pig and watching football. And I'm thankful for Mrs Corn Nation, who still puts up with me.

Life is good.

Bud Light: Real Men of Genius - Hopeless Notre Dame Fan. Man, I hope this never becomes us.

corn blight — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 00:32:47 -0000

Bud Light: Real Men of Genius - Hopeless Notre Dame Fan.

Man, I hope this never becomes us.