FanHouse Joe Ganz

With Joe Ganz graduating this year, the Nebraska Cornhuskers were going to have a quarterback competition in the spring with junior Zac Lee and sophomore Patrick Witt. There are a couple of other freshman candidates who will be competing for the spot in Kody Spano and Cody Green, but realistically they're longshots at best.

Or at least that's what the Cornhuskers thought. Turns out the path for Zac Lee to claim Nebraska's starting quarterback job just got a lot easier as Patrick Witt announced on Sunday that he is transferring.

FanHouse gathers around the TV to bring you insights from Bowl Season '08.

Onyx? Anthracite? Obsidian? Nothingness? Whatever they come up with, Nebraska needs to find a color beyond black and give its defense shirts in that color. After spotting Clemson an 11-point lead, Bo Pelini's Cornhuskers got huge help from their defense in the second half while the offense almost came to life.

Joe Ganz hit on two touchdowns early in the third quarter to pull within four points, but the Huskers couldn't find the end zone again. It didn't matter. The Nebraska defense had things so clogged up in the second half they could have been sponsored by Imodium. Dabo Swinney's crew couldn't even get into field goal range until it was too late to do them any good.

A lot of Blackshirts contributed to the win, but two in particular stood out. Defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh's name came up about every other play, with the other half of the plays being made by his linemate Ty Steinkuhler. The real game-ending play, however, came from sophomore cornerback Eric Hagg, who dropped Clemson quarterback Cullen Harper for a 16-yard loss on 2nd and goal with about two minutes left. Wayne Larrivee didn't broadcast this game, but he would've told you that was the dagger.

The teams you don't normally want to read about or hear about but since there's no football there's nothing you'd rather do than read this. Please. Not that I'm begging. Although I may be willing to bribe.

NEBRASKA CORNHUSKERS

Big Red hasn't been so big lately, although they're certainly a little red (in the face) after the embarrassing collapse last year that led to the termination of coach Bill Callahan.

Like a stiff prairie wind legendary former coach Tom Osborne arrived, taking the athletic director's job and replacing Callahan with former Nebraska assistant Bo Pelini. With him comes promise of a tough defense and a commitment to returning to what makes Nebraska, Nebraska. In-state recruits are getting more favored looks, the walk-on program is being dusted off and hopes for some return to glory are proffered.

That's all well and dandy but Nebraska right now is just another team in the Big 12. Pelini's a winner and has the graces of Osborne, but contending football isn't likely this very moment. Quarterback Joe Ganz showed something last year and we all know about back Marlon Lucky, so there is promise for the offense. Let's just not kid ourselves about a Big 12 Championship quite yet.

Bill Callahan's nationwide recruited boosted the overall athleticism of the program, but Nebraska still has a ways to go at various position groups. Give this one some time.

Echoing Messr. Cook's sentiment's, it's difficult to single out many overrated players so we'll mix it up with one player and several "concepts" if you will. You know what's not overrated? This list. Dig in.

TEXAS

Watch, they'll go out and prove me wrong this year, but we need something to talk about, right? Texas has earned this though. This year aside, they start nearly every year in the top five and do well for themselves but rarely look like world beaters. I sort of predicted this a few years ago, that once the program got its title it'd get fat and happy and cruise for a good long while. Yeah, Vince Young's departure has something to do with Texas' step down from the elite, but there's more at work. They'll be talking about that 2005 team for several decades, it might as well have happened yesterday which makes it difficult to move on, psychologically. Once again they'll be a good football team this year, maybe even break into the top 10 at the end of the year, but they're no longer scary good on a consistent basis. Oh, and the helmets are overrated, too. Give me Michigan's, Florida State's, Alabama's or Notre Dame's anyday.

Most Nebraska fans assumed Sam Keller would run away with the starting quarterback job a year after leaving Arizona State under curious circumstances. But someone forgot to inform Joe Ganz of this plan. The unheralded junior is confident and his performance in Saturday's scrimmage apparently bettered that of Keller. Ganz directed three scoring drives with the first team offense and also connected on a touchdown pass in the 80-play scrimmage.

"I'm as confident as I've ever been," Ganz said. "I know what I'm doing. I've been here for a long time and I know what the defense is doing. ... I like to get my motor going. I like to get the guys going and put a lot of pressure on the defense."

Keller, on the other hand, never got going on Saturday. He managed to complete a long pass to tight end Hunter Teafatiller, but failed to lead the offense to any points.

"I didn't really get into the flow today," Keller said. "It wasn't one of my best days. I made some good throws on some play-action. But we really couldn't get in the end zone, which was disappointing."

Although Bill Callahan has stressed that the starting job was up for grabs, most figured this was nothing more than coach-speak. It now appears that there is some true competition to replace Zac Taylor, who completed his eligibility in 2006. While Keller experienced a similar position battle last August, let's hope that his performances – both on and off the field – aren't signs that the pressure is getting to him.