Puskas: Nebraska’s loss is looking like a big gain for Youngstown State

The biggest problem with Nebraska is the unreasonable expectations for its erstwhile football team, the Cornhuskers.

Which brings us to another — albeit lesser — issue: The state consists of miles and miles of cornfields occasionally separated by clusters of people in denim and trucker caps.

But hey, that’s not unlike significant parts of Ohio — including where I’m from — so it’s all good.

In Nebraska, people approach college football like it’s still 1984 and Tom Osborne’s Los Angeles pipeline is still bringing option-running quarterbacks and speedy running backs to Lincoln, where they perform behind mostly homegrown linemen the size of pickup trucks and contend for national championships every year.

Hint: It’s not 1984, Osborne is long gone and Nebraska fired Frank Solich, his hand-picked replacement, in 2003.

Osborne was 255-49-3 (.836) from 1973-97. When he retired from coaching, Solich took over and went 58-10 (.753) in six seasons.

But 10 wins every year wasn’t good enough, so Solich was sent packing and Bill Callahan took over in 2004. He lasted four years and went 27-22 (.551) before his own firing.

I suspected the Callahan hiring wouldn’t work out. As a head coach, Callahan was a great offensive line coach, which is his job now with the Washington Redskins. Solich went on to land at Ohio, where he has resurrected the Bobcats and is revered in Athens.

Nebraska did the right thing with its next hire, Youngstown native and Cardinal Mooney High School graduate Bo Pelini, a defensive-minded guy who was had been an Ohio State defensive back under Earle Bruce in the 1980s.

That’s the same Bruce who was fired at OSU because all he did was go 9-3 every year. It’s ironic because that’s what Pelini did upon rebuilding the Cornhuskers, who were virtually ruined by Callahan.

Pelini went 67-27 (.713) in seven years, but never won a Big 12 or Big Ten title and couldn’t get Nebraska back to the national heights to which Osborne took the program. A few untimely defensive meltdowns (and a couple of memorable personal ones) Pelini on shaky ground as time passed in Lincoln and he was fired in December 2014.

That was a mistake from which Youngstown State is beginning to benefit.

And that’s really what this column is about — the good fortune of the Penguins.

The Cornhuskers are 2-3 under first-year head coach Mike Riley, whose sideline demeanor — by Nebraska’s design — makes him the anti-Bo. The Cornhuskers have lost three games by a total of nine points — 33-28 at home against BYU on a game-ending Hail Mary, 36-33 in overtime against a Miami team that tried desperately to blow a big lead and last week’s 14-13 punt-a-palooza loss at Illinois.

Yes, Nebraska lost to Illinois, which fired its coach — the apparently not-at-all-affable Tim Beckman — a week before the season started. But at least the punters for both teams slept well that night after combining for 18 punts.

So how is Riley working out for you, Nebraska? Some Cornhuskers fans believe firing Pelini was a mistake. I thought Nebraska eventually would regret the decision even before Bo landed at YSU.

Pelini, meanwhile, is smiling these days and it’s not just because he gets to cash checks sent from Lincoln every month.

YSU (3-1, 1-0 Missouri Valley Football Conference) has slowly creeped up in the FCS rankings on Pelini’s watch. On Saturday, the Penguins can really show they’ve returned to the national scene when they host MVFC rival Illinois State.

The Redbirds (3-1, 1-0) were national runners-up to the MVFC’s North Dakota State last season and are the fourth-ranked FCS team. The Penguins are No. 7 and their defense — under the direction of Pelini and his brother Carl — is the top-rated unit in in the nation, allowing just 243.75 yards per game.

It may not be 1984 in Lincoln, but maybe it’s beginning to look a little like the early 1990s in Youngstown.

Premature? Sure. But if YSU fans file into Stambaugh Stadium the way Bo Pelini wants them to Saturday night and the Penguins continue to combine that kind of defense with an opportunistic offense and solid special teams, they’re going to win a lot of games and Bo is going to continue to smile.

Nebraska hosts Wisconsin on Saturday. What are the odds Cornhuskers fans will be smiling after that?

Write Vindicator Sports Editor Ed Puskas at epuskas@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter, @EdPuskas_Vindy.