Husker Power

A photo of all the Nebraska players who were out on work release for the Alamo Bowl.

If there's one thing I get tired of, it's the sports media. Aside from Jim Rome, whose rants occasionally border on ridiculousness, sports reporters have the easiest job in the world, and most of them don't even do it well. A great example of this is the Alamo Bowl game between Nebraska and Michigan. In case you were watching the Gilmore Girls on Tivo, here is a recap.

The Cornhuskers were 13 point underdogs in the game. Not a single game preview that I read anywhere gave the Huskers much of a chance at all. Not a single sports reporter, even those who reside in the Cornhusker State, gave the Huskers a fighting chance. Nevermind that this year, the Big 10 was the most over-rated conference in the history of college football.

I'm not trying to say that Nebraska is the greatest team that ever took the field, they're admittedly in a rebuilding phase under second-year head coach Bill Callahan. All of Nebraska's 4 losses this season came to teams that are playing in Bowl games (Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas). And we all know how the Alamo Bowl turned out despite the lack of credit given to Nebraska.

I wrote about this same paradox last year, when Wyoming beat UCLA in the Las Vegas Bowl. No one gave the Cowboys a fighting chance, and they put UCLA out to pasture. If you look at either match-up (Husker vs. Wolverines now or UCLA vs. Wyoming last year), the games are not as one-sided as the sports media would have you believe. I'm not saying that Wyoming and Nebraska should have been favored in either game, but I am saying that being 14 point underdogs is pretty damned generous to UCLA and Wolverines.

And then there's the dry humping of USC that has been going on all year. USC has an impressive team, and despite my dislike for the BCS, I am glad that they will be playing Texas in the Rose Bowl, mostly because I think Texas will beat their PAC-10-dominating asses. Quote me on this later, the Rose Bowl is going to be an offensive masterpiece on both sides, but Texas has a defense that has received very little press, and Texas is going to do to USC what USC did to Oklahoma last year. That won't keep some sports reporters from claiming that USC could beat the Houston Texas of the NFL, or that Matt Leinert has the sweetest ass this side of Aunt Jemima.

We have very few good sports reporters out there who actually analyze match-ups and make solid assessments of the sports they are covering. I don't think that you can look at USC and Texas Rose Bowl game and honestly give USC an edge, but that's just my opinion based on watching a lot of football. I told you last year that Wyoming would triumph, and I am telling you now that Texas will win the Rose Bowl. Don't listen to the sports pundits, they all want a piece of Matt Leinert's ass.