Callahan Era off to rough start

Call it the fall from grace.

Or the first loss of the Callahan Era – C.E. as scientists refer to it.

Call it what you want, but make sure you include ugly somewhere in the description.

Nebraska got brutalized on Saturday, but despite some wicked hits by Southern Miss (is Grant Mulkey still alive?) the worst brutality can be credited to the Huskers themselves.

NU had those flashes that shone all through the first half of last week's scrimmage against Division I-AA Western Illinois University, but shot their collective feet enough times to blow any chance for a win on Saturday.

Last weekend's drubbing of the Leathernecks deluded us. It put visions in our head of Matt Herian pulling five Dwight Clark catches a game, Willie Amos jump-roping nonstop into the end zone, Tierre Green being a replica of his cousin and Joe Dailey throwing darts to all corners of the field.

Then came the wake-up call: This team hasn't had enough time (or infused enough Callahan recruits) to properly run this system against a good defense.

The opportunities were there for Nebraska to easily beat Southern Miss. The defense, which didn't force turnovers at the usual clip, played a strong game despite constantly being backed up. Cory Ross had a huge game – pinballing for yards every time he had the ball. Herian, as well as other receivers, found openings downfield.

And for a while things would click.

But before long, BAM, a big mental mistake and the drive ended.

The delay of game that made NU's last shot at the end zone that much tougher and a few other mental errors showed just how crisp this team isn't.

But the overriding fault goes to Dailey, though it is hard for me to blame him.

He just doesn't have this offense mastered yet. He can't progress through reads with the required speed – or at all – and makes too many mistakes to lead Nebraska to the type of season that sent Frank Solich packing.

But, as I said, it's hard to come down on Dailey. There's nobody else right now that could do the job nearly as well as he has, and he's still just a sophomore who was recruited to do something entirely different.

So this year has that really long depressing season feel to it.

It's hard to say how many more losses could come. If the Huskers keep making these mistakes, it could be quite a few.

Don't call it a great start to the C.E., whatever you do.

But keep those visions from the Western Illinois game in the back of your mind. Given time that dream might come a little closer to reality.