...after such a great, positive win for Nebraska last night. But this post is to bitch, in particular at ESPN. A few thoughts:

1. The SportsCenter that aired right after the game was over was sweet. Stewart Scott called the replays, and gave "big ups!" to Nebraska. However, the 1 am SportsCenter was total shit. Steve Levy (go back to hockey, you dork) did everything he could with his highlights to make it look like Nebraska cheated their way to that win. They showed the play in the end zone where Bowman made a play on the ball, but showed it from the back--where you could see that Bowman appeared to have a grab of the receiver's jersey. He said something along the lines of "(whatever the receiver's name was) is clearly being held, and the refs don't call it!"

You know why they didn't call it? They couldn't see it. That was a total veteran move by Bowman. Was it pass interference? Not if the refs cannot see it. He did it on the blind side of the refs, and did so just barely enough to keep him from catching it. Apparently when a Nebraska DB does it, it is total cheating, but when Deion Sanders does it for a living, he is the greatest DB of all time. Or how Michael Jordan played his last 5 years perfecting the duck down/push off jump shot that was, literally, impossible to defend (see the last shot against the Jazz in the Finals).

Levy also went on to say, during the last play, that Nebraska should have been penalized, and that Michigan got robbed (not verbatim, but along those lines). As I pointed out in the comments a couple of posts below--were there not Michigan players on the field? Give me a break.

What a fuck.

2. Michigan players. Wow. Reading the stories in the World-Herald, it is officially confirmed: I still really hate Michigan. They all, even after getting beat down by an athletically-inferior team, still believe that they should not have lost because they're Michigan. Some quotes:

--"Definitely. I followed through, just like a regular pass. I don't know what [the referees] were looking at." Chad Henne, referring to the fumble he gave up to give Nebraska the winning possession.

--"Some things happened at the end that I'll have to see on film. But I think our players deserved better." Crybaby coach Lloyd Carr (enjoy that hot seat this winter, buddy!)

--"I don't know how that many people could end up on the field. I just don't know what happened." Douche bag coach Lloyd Carr, still refusing to take responsibility for the loss.

--"Michigan linebacker Pierre Woods came to the interview room and claimed that a Nebraska tight end with a jersey number in the 80's came from the sideline to help tackle [Tyler] Ecker at the NU 13 [at the end of the game]." From Lee BARFknecht's World-Herald story entitled "Henne says wrong call made on fumble".

Lastly, nothing to do with this game, but infuriating all the same--Mitch Sherman interviewed Kirk "oops, I forgot to wear my wedding ring out again!" Herbstreit about tonight's USC vs. Nebraska '95 on SportsCenter. While ol' Herbie didn't say who he would pick, he did say this:

"My thought is that when you want to play with USC and beat USC, you've got to have tremendous balanace. I htink Nebraska's defense would keep them in that game. They were so physical and so imposing. But to win that game, you have to be able to throw and run."

Isn't this the exact same, bullshit argument that people made while making Florida the favorite in the Fiesta Bowl?? Nebraska's average score against four Top 10 teams they faced that year was 45-16. They beat the NUMBER TWO TEAM IN THE COUNTRY, and the bowl game favorite, 62-24, and put up 629 yards of offense against them. You know what? 629 yards against one of the best and fastest defenses in the country is 629 yards--does it really matter how much they passed? Nebraska had 13 NFL players on that *defense* that year (granted, some of them didn't play much, but still).

USC gave up an AVERAGE of 21 points a game. They gave up 344.7 yards of total offense A GAME! They gave up 42 points to freaking Fresno State! Are you kidding me? You know how much Florida's defense gave up in 1995? 315.6 yards a game. USC gives up 12.9 less yards rushing than the 1995 Florida defense did. So I guess that one-demensional Nebraska would have only gained 511 yards against USC in the running game (I went ahead and rounded it up to 13 less yards USC would have given up).

I am so sick of this argument. Nebraska would have beaten them up and down the field, on both sides of the ball. I am so fucking sick of ESPN and their "whoever is winning today is the best" mentality.

I give up.