Nebraska: "Worst Week Ever"

[The Ancient Enemy]

Let's just say that VH1's "Best Week Ever" was not on location in Lincoln this past week.

The sad reality of the sports world is that whereas you have hundreds of shooting stars, you end up with just as many stars that plummet straight into the Earth. The Nebraska family is unfortunately dealing with that first hand. In the third quarter of the game Saturday night against Big XII North rival Missouri, a crushing, embarrassing defeat, the Nebraska sideline was shown looking up at the clock. That clock would not tick fast enough for the Huskers. All they wanted to do was get out of there and get the thing over with.

They say bad things always come in threes. Well, Nebraska was unlucky enough to receive a bonus. They are probably on pace to receive a double bonus, this weekend.

NU's "Worst Week Ever" started on September 24th, with a familiar face. Former Husker RB Thunder Collins was arrested early that morning on charges of first-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder, and felony weapons charges. The news was simply surreal. Days earlier, former Nebraska QB Eric Crouch had run into Collins and said that Collins really seemed to be doing well. So well in fact that he was re-enrolled at the university and determined to finish his degree. When he left NU, he was only a few credits short on finishing his sociology degree. He was determined to get his life in order and even take a shot at working his way into some NFL tryouts. It took a lot of character for Collins to make this decision and then to go for it. So many times we have seen kids leave a program early, for whatever reason, and then end up having their face on TV for something far different than a football performance.

When the story turns out like this, it is nothing short of tragic.

Collins was no stranger to having run-ins with the police. After coming to Nebraska as the top-rated JUCO RB in the nation, Collins played 3 seasons with the Huskers before quitting the team following an NCAA rules violation. In 2002, he pleaded guilty to a disturbing the peace charge in order to have two assault charges dropped. In 2003, the same woman would be involved again, this time in Corvallis, where Collins would be charged and acquitted of assault and burglary charges. In 2006, he would serve 10 days behind bars for obstructing justice. In that incident, witnesses claimed Collins was involved in a shooting.

His football stats never ended up being as long as his police record. In 2001, his most productive year, Collins rushed for 647 yards and 5 TDs.

Three days later, expectations and optimism were through the roof in Lincoln. Nobody really expected new head-coach Bo Pelini to win a national title in 2008, but still, in situations like this, you can't help yourself from wanting it so badly. The newly-energized Huskers were actually playing defense. In the games previous to the Virginia Tech showdown, the Cornhuskers looked like a million bucks. Three blowout victories over non-BCS (yet decent teams) gave people reason to be as hopeful as they were. On September 27th, Nebraska played host to a Virginia Tech team that had already lost to East Carolina and had not looked very impressive to date. Virginia Tech was an opportunity to beat a team everyone respected. It would instantly catapault Nebraska back into the national spotlight. The Huskers fell short in front of their home crowd, 35-30, and expectations for 2008 came back down to Earth.

The team simply was not there yet.

Six days after the loss to Virginia Tech at home, another familiar face re-emerged for the Cornhuskers. This face was one that no one had forgotten. Former RB Lawrence Phillips was sentenced to 10 years in prison for an incident in 2005. Phillips was playing in a pick-up game outside the Los Angeles Coliseum and was so upset that he drove his car into a crowd of people. Three teenagers were struck by the vehicle, and thank God no one was seriously injured. Assault with a deadly weapon. At the time, Phillips was wanted in San Diego for domestic abuse. He was also wanted in Los Angeles for a similar charge.

Lawrence Phillips was one of the best running-backs in the history of college football. His power and speed were unmatched at the time, and he demanded respect by playing through his injuries. He was tough as hell. When Tommie Frazier went down with an injury in the 1994 season, Phillips, a sophomore, rushed for 1,722 yards en route to an undefeated season and a national championship.

But unfortunately, his on-field exploits never matched his off-field ones. In that 1995 season, Phillips went after his ex-girlfriend, drug her down a flight of stairs by her hair, and smashed her head off a mailbox. He was obviously suspended from the team, but then in a move that will absolutely never be forgotten, Tom Osbourne reinstated Phillips later in the season. They repeated as National Champions.

Despite the troubles, Phillips was drafted in the first round by the Rams in 1996. After arguments with Dick Vermeil, Phillips was cut in 1997 and played two games with Miami before being released again. He then went to NFL Europe where he had a marvelous season with Barcelona before ending up with the 49ers. After a short stint in the Arena Football League, Phillips led the Montreal Alouettes to a Grey Cup championship in the CFL. He was then released for "insubordination", went to Calgary, and was again released for the same reasons.

As a bonus to the black smear on the program over those days at the end of September and early October, the Cornhuskers were handed their most humiliating defeat in 53 years to a team who had not beaten them in Lincoln in 30 seasons. Missouri throttled the Huskers 55-17, and the game was even worse than the score indicated. What happened last Saturday night pales severely in comparison to what those two RBs did, but from a football standpoint the Husker faithful (and the whole college football world) witnessed just how far Nebraska had slid under Bill Callahan's watch. Staring up at that clock in the 3rd quarter, with absolutely no hope of making it respectable... God, just please let it be over.

For a group of fans and a whole Nebraska family that is without question amongst the classiest people in all of football, it has been a rough stretch. After this weekend in Lubbock, it should get better. Things are looking up for Nebraska, and Pelini is already building a strong recruiting class for next season. There is no question that Nebraska will return to national prominence. They just need to have the patience to let Pelini build this thing, take their lumps and get through it. It's been a bad stretch over this past week or so. But as the old saying goes, you gotta go through Hell before you get to paradise.