SAN ANTONIO, Texas - For four decades, Nebraska has been college football's most stable program. The past four weeks have been different.
When the 22nd-ranked Cornhuskers line up against Michigan State tonight in the Alamo Bowl, it will mark the one-month anniversary of athletic director Steve Pederson's unceremonious firing of coach Frank Solich.
The dismissal - the first of a Nebraska head coach since 1961 - came a day after the Huskers finished the regular season with a victory at Colorado, securing the program's 34th nine-win season in the past 35 years. Since then, the bowl game has been an afterthought to Pederson's secretive search for a coach. Nebraska remains the only major-college program without a coach.
"It feels like it's been three years since we played a game," interim coach Bo Pelini said. "I know our players feel that way, and I'm sure Michigan State does, too. But we've had some rather unique circumstances the last five or six weeks."
Pelini and the other assistants are guaranteed of working at Nebraska one more game. Yet they have had to prepare for the Spartans amid player unrest - there was talk of a practice boycott because the athletes were frustrated by the length of Pederson's search - and constant media focus on the coaching situation.
Michigan State coach John L. Smith said he feels for the Nebraska coaches. "They are to be complimented for being the professionals that they are, in knowing their job and preparing that team and bringing them down here and trying to go through the bowl game."
INDEPENDENCE: Arkansas has been to a bowl every year since Houston Nutt became coach, but only once has it left with a victory. Players say the excuses are many, from not respecting their opponents to staying out late and partying the night before the game. Whatever the reason, the Razorbacks are 1-4 in bowls under Nutt, with the lone win coming against former rival Texas at the 2000 Cotton.
Arkansas (8-4) is trying to be serious about all things this week, as it prepares to face Missouri on Wednesday in Shreveport, La. The Tigers (8-4) are making their first bowl trip since 1998, so the Razorbacks have experience over their opponent, just not winning experience.
"I think we know the reason we lost those other games," said linebacker Caleb Miller, among 16 seniors who redshirted the year Arkansas beat Texas and have been a part of three straight losses. "We had too many people staying up too late and doing things. You can't win a game when you're physically exhausted, in every game."
In the past three years, the Razorbacks have lost to UNLV at the Las Vegas Bowl, Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl and Minnesota at the Music City Bowl.
CAPITAL ONE: David Pollack went to MGM Studios amusement park Saturday in Orlando but only watched as teammates rode the roller coasters. "I don't like roller coasters," Pollack said. "I'm scared of those things." The past few weeks have been a roller coaster of emotions for the two-time All-American defensive end. Four days before the 11th-ranked Bulldogs play No.12 Purdue, Pollack still hasn't decided whether he will be back at Georgia next season. He has until Jan.15 to decide if he will enter April's NFL draft.
