This past Saturday morning, I attempted to cut a deal with the football gods.
The proposal?
I will trade a Kansas City Chiefs loss at Buffalo for a Nebraska victory over USC.
The football gods were not in a negotiating mood.
My beloved Chiefs dropped their first game of the year, 30-21, to the Bills and Nebraska lost its fourth straight game, 28-20 to the Trojans.
For what reason, cause, or purpose?
I believe it is football purgatory.
Purgatory. It’s a noun. 1. Any condition or place of temporary punishment or suffering. 2. Purgatory is a place where souls are cleansed of sins and prepared for heaven. The word purgatory comes from the Latin word purgare, which means “to purge.”
Okay. Whose sins?
Well, I can think of two vindictive athletic directors and a bungling chancellor who, in 2013 and 2014, fired two very successful football coaches.
Frank Solich had won 75 percent of his contests and Bo Pelini won 71 percent of his games. Both coaches were fired the day after each of their teams had won the ninth game of their respective season.
For the record, during Tom Osborne’s first nine seasons as Nebraska’s head coach, he won 77.7 percent of his games.
So, if football purgatory seems a bit harsh, then let’s label it the football gods’ “Solich/Pelini Curse.”
Here’s the curse that has been bestowed upon Nebraska after the firing of these two successful men.
Bill Callahan’s four seasons that followed Solich resulted in 27 wins and 22 losses. That is a 55 percent winning percentage.
Following Bo’s departure, Mike Riley, Scott Frost, Mickey Joseph and Matt Ruhle have combined records of 48 wins and 69 losses.
That equates to a winning percentage of 41 percent.
Of the 91 losses endured during the Callahan, Riley, Frost, Joseph and Ruhle eras, 39 have been by seven points or less.
I think I’ll stick with Football Purgatory.
Nebraska has two more chances to become bowl eligible. This Saturday vs. Wisconsin and at Iowa on November 29.
The Huskers open this week as a two-point favorite over the Badgers.
I’m praying that the football gods will finally purge Nebraska of the past sins of administrators and offer the Cornhuskers some amazing grace.