“That’s our penitence and we’re OK with it,” said Taylor, a limb maker from Omaha, Nebraska. Repentance? Taylor believes Nebraska’s pain could have been avoided had the school not become – in his words – “the only school in college football history to fire two nine-win coaches.” Typical of Nebraska football these days, Taylor didn’t get the little things right. Recently fired Scott Frost was actually the only Huskers coach of the five since Tom Osborne not to win at least nine games. This complicates the issue of a reversal that has been waiting a quarter of a century. A 49-14 loss to Oklahoma in interim coach Mickey Joseph’s debut was supposed to be the start of a new era (whether the former Nebraska quarterback got the permanent gig or not). Instead, it highlighted the depth of despair as well as the depth of the hole from which the program must dig itself. “He’s on me,” said Joseph, a legacy revered in Nebraska but just organizing his playbook to pursue a lifetime’s work. “Not my players, not my assistant coaches. I have to do a better job.” Joseph at least has this part of the head coaching gig figured out: Blame yourself when you lose, credit the players when you win. Unfortunately, the ray of light that Joseph provided this week grew a little dimmer at the final whistle. The idea that Nebraska somehow deserved this misery was just the ideology of Taylor Stadium. The reality is the Cornhuskers need to get back to basics. The road to that point seems as long as ever. “We made tags [not tackling] for four years,” Nebraska safety Myles Farmer concluded. This is a good place to start rebuilding. Last year in this game, Nebraska surprisingly played Oklahoma off its feet, losing 23-16. Frost was fired last Sunday after a litany of single-digit losses confirmed an overall lack of progress. One line of thought this week: having Joseph take over as wide receivers coach (and coaching partner) would at least breathe new life into a once-glorious rivalry that was revived last year after lying dormant for a decade. No such lesson from the Huskers on Saturday. After the scripted plays ended and they took a 7-0 lead, they allowed the Sooners to score their next 49 straight. Even worse, Oklahoma ran past Nebraska. Quarterback Dillon Gabriel scrambled around a scrambling defense for a 61-yard touchdown. Eric Gray ran for 113 yards and two scores. First-year OU coach Brent Venables continued to breathe life into the defense, his specialty. At one point in the first half, nine of Nebraska’s 10 plays were scoreless. “You’re going to ask me all your questions that I really don’t want to answer,” Farmer told the media. “But at the end of the day, you’re not all here with us. You’re not at practice with us.” Taylor’s idea that the football gods have spat out the Huskers is just depressing. A large section of the 87,000 fans left at half-time. Taylor and his friend George Jones, owner of a soft drink company in Omaha, couldn’t give out passes to the exclusive Champions Club across the street from Memorial Stadium. Urban Meyer’s appearance on Fox’s “Big Noon Saturday” provided flavor, if only to the student section that chanted his name as he made his way to the infield set. CBS Sports reported Saturday that Nebraska has reached out to Meyer, but in a poll of opinions, few in Lincoln believe he is right for the program. This is one reason to support this reversal. There is nothing not to like about these fiercely loyal fans who only want to win again. They’re real, Midwestern. They know football. Forgive Taylor’s types when he reminisces. “We used to get five fat kids from Aurora, Nebraska,” Taylor said. “We’d get three guys from California, three guys from Florida, five guys from Texas. And then, okay, we’d run after these giant fat guys and we’d have speed coming out of our asses.” By contrast, on Saturday, Oklahoma ran 84 plays with star offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby snapping the ball an average of once every 21 seconds. “I have to get better as a coach,” Joseph reiterated. Does he have enough time? There are eight games left in the season. A bowl bid already slips away at 1-3. Joseph really, really, really wants the job. Taylor, as one of the Nebraska fans, would love to get it. Joseph was a prize prospect in the 1980s out of New Orleans who waited in line behind other Huskers to finally get his chance in 1990. He gave blood — literally — for this program. In the 1990 Oklahoma game — the last time Nebraska lost in that series by 35 points — his leg was bloodied in a gruesome sideline injury. In his next meeting with Oklahoma on Saturday, his team’s lips were bloody. “They don’t have the swagger,” Taylor said of the Huskers. “These kids should be one, d— them in the room 10 feet before they walk into it. That’s the attitude Mickey’s going to give them. Right now, they’re just beat [up].” Based on Saturday, this Nebraska rebuilding project — or whatever you want to call it — is bigger and more expansive than anyone thought. It was notable — if only ironically — that Joseph was wearing a black shirt. There weren’t many of his players who deserved that honor on Saturday. In fact, Joseph removed the Black jerseys awarded to defensive players for the time being as he wanted the team to start with a clean slate. The tradition began in the 1960s when first-team defenders were recognized by wearing black jerseys in practice. That was over 50 years ago. It only seems that Nebraska will long to regain that swagger that Taylor craved after Saturday’s debacle. “We’re from that era,” he said, “where we’re the best football team on the planet. We’ll never, ever be great. Oklahoma is No. 6 in the country for Christ’s sake. You could have the Green Bay Packers [as an opponent]and we would still be cautiously optimistic about winning the football match. “There is always hope. It is the hope that hurts.”
