• Video Below: See the Capital One Bowl press conference and Sunday's Husker fan pep rally
• Photo Showcase: Huskers, fans in Orlando

* * *

ORLANDO, Fla. — Welcome to the Capital One Bo. What's in your bowl game?

It's a Nebraska bowl game, last call for football until the spring, so all eyes in the state will be trying to find a TV screen around noon Monday. Bowl games are usually what you make them. But on Sunday, it was hard to get a handle on either sideline.

"Put it this way: Winning is better than losing," said Nebraska head coach and philosopher Bo Pelini.

"If you win the game, it was a great win," said South Carolina wise man Steve Spurrier. "If you don't win it, well, it was another good bowl."

Wow. Pass the goose bumps.

Fact is, it's hard to find deep meaning in this one. But hunker down and I'll submit some reasons why this bowl is a must win for the Bo Big Red.

1. Three letters. S-E-C.

Nebraska needs to win this so someone can stuff a sock — albeit temporarily — in the braggadocio that is Southeastern Conference football. Yes, SEC fans will tell you (even if you didn't ask) that the SEC is about to win its sixth straight national title. The SEC thinks it invented college football. ESPN is the conference's willing megaphone. It's all well-deserved. And it's all a bit too much.

Once upon a decade, the Huskers playing an SEC team meant something good was going to happen. Like a card shark smiling at his pigeon across the table.

For a good 30 years, NU had its way with the SEC in bowl games. Bob Devaney beat LSU and Alabama for back-to-back national titles in 1970 and 1971, and the 38-6 win over 'Bama wasn't close. Tom Osborne swept LSU three times in the 1980s, and then Osborne and Frank Solich took turns mauling Tennessee in the 1990s. And who could forget 62-24 over wise man Spurrier?

Yes, Eli Manning and Ole Miss beat NU in 2002 and Auburn did it in 2007, but I don't count either. One was the Independence Bowl, and the other was Bill Callahan and his fake punt.

When did we start keeping score of which conferences win bowl games? The SEC does, and has since, oh, 2006. The SEC has a powerful public relations and media army. It is protective and relentless.

And that's why Nebraska could use a win today. The SEC is the current standard in the game. Bring home an SEC pelt and, by jove, you've done something.

All cracks aside, the SEC by and large is deeper in better athletes, speed and size than the rest of the country. South Carolina's physical specimens are no exception. While we wait for Bo to conquer the Big Ten and make a BCS bowl, today will be a good gauge of how close they are to the standard. Or how far away.

2. Swagger. NU left the building in San Diego with some mojo two years ago, but we haven't seen it since. Win today and you have a right to puff out your chest and feel good.

And what was there to feel good about this season? This was a year with very little definition. Win and you can sell progress again.

3. Three straight years of 10 wins. Beats 9-4 every time.

4. It's a Jan. 2 bowl. Thanks to the National Football League's takeover of Sunday ball, this is the deepest NU has played on the calendar since the Rose Bowl on Jan. 3, 2002. Yes, the 2007 Cotton and 2009 Gator were on Jan. 1.

The point is, NU used to play in January every year. The Cap One is a hybrid, a tweener seen as the next-best thing to a BCS bowl. Either way, you're playing on the same day as the Rose and Fiesta. People watch football today. It's a terrific national stage. Take advantage of it.

5. Prelude to a Rosie 2012. That's right. Nebraska could be in the Rose Bowl a year from now. Look at the Huskers' schedule, look who's back and who's not in the Big Ten. Note that Ohio State can't play in a bowl game. Do the math.

Sure, the Huskers have their questions, too. But many of those could be solved with a mere boost of confidence. The roll could start today.

6. Win or lose — and winning would be better — the offense has to have a big day today. Bo is going to need the "O" to do the heavy lifting next season, unless the NCAA just granted Lavonte David, Alfonzo Dennard and Jared Crick another year.

This needs to be a confident, efficient bunch in 2012. It won't be easy. South Carolina's secondary is tops, and the Gamecocks' perimeter speed will try to keep Taylor Martinez in check. Martinez will probably have to do good things in the air, which leads to ...

7. Martinez needs a big game today. Even if it's in his role as game manager. Much will be expected of Martinez in his junior year. The "next step." A big step. What he doesn't need is to struggle today and have a long off-season of criticism and doubt.

With a shallow quarterback position, Pelini and Tim Beck don't need it, either.

8. The Spurdog Factor. A lot of Husker fans still want to beat the visor off of Spurrier. Honestly, I don't see the big deal.

Spurrier isn't the same Darth Vader he was with Gator teeth. On Sunday, he talked about the significance of this because it was his biggest bowl at South Carolina, and how the school had never won 11 games in a season.

That's not the Spurdog we know. Those aren't the Spurrier standards. He's got a running quarterback now. He's still getting it done, but he seems harmless down in South Carolina, topping out at the Cap One Bowl.

(As an aside: I would have liked to see where Spurrier would be today if he had stayed at Florida all those years. Another national championship or two? And where would Urban Meyer be today? Just a thought.)

Husker fans will still have their fun if they prevail. Or, as one fan in the Omaha airport said last week, "Saying the name Spurrier is still like cursing."

9. Exorcise those ghosts of Jan. 1, 1991. The last time Nebraska played in this stadium, it lost to co-national champ Georgia Tech 45-21. The game was seen as a bottoming-out place. It brought change that paved the way to 1990s glory. Could this place jump-start the program again?

10. If none of that grabs you, well, go with what the philosopher said. It's still Nebraska football. And winning is always better than losing.

Contact the writer:

402-444-1025, tom.shatel@owh.com

twitter.com/tomshatelOWH

* * *

• Video: Nebraska coach Bo Pelini at the Capital One Bowl press conference, Jan. 1:



• Video: South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier at the Capital One Bowl press conference, Jan. 1:



• Video: Nebraska fans gather for a Capital One Bowl Husker pep rally, Jan. 1:

« Sports - Big Red Today

Share