By John Walters

Well, facial hair fans, it has finally come to this. Whereas Big Ten rivalries have their Little Brown Jugs and their Floyds of Rosedale and their Paul Bunyan's Axe, Saturday's Nebraska-Oklahoma contest has been dubbed: "The Mustache Game." Members of the Cornhuskers' secondary have been eschewing razors for at least the past two weeks so as to take advantage of the apparent "power of the mustache" as they refer to it.

Now, you may just think of this as a residual by-product of what I'm calling the My Name is Earl Effect. Ever since NBC began slapping up billboards of Jason Lee with that ridiculous tuft between his nostrils and his upper lip last summer to promote their new comedy, mustaches have been growing back as if they're going out of style, which they already were. Mustaches are cheesy, clear and simple.

Jake Plummer's mustache was the beginnng of a whole revolution in facial hair for athletes. Getty Images

But they're also popular.

There's Earl's mustache, of course. Denver Broncos quarterback Jake Plummer began the season with an out-of-control 'stache, which has morphed into a full grown, out-of-control beard. USC quarterback Matt Leinart, though he does not have a mustache, does have a beard. And, if you spot one of the more memorable photos of this season, in which Leinart is being hugged from behind by a Trojans assistant, you'll see that the coach is sporting a mustache. We especially love the site "Every Day Should Be Saturday," which has a weekly item entitled "Mustache Wednesday."

Now, we don't mean to mock (or even Mach III) the Nebraska players. At least they came up with the idea first. According to fifth-year inside linebacker Adam Ickes, "We've had a mustache game every year since I've been here."

So the Mustache Game is something of a tradition in Lincoln. I doubt they'll be devoting space to it in the media guide any time soon, though. Anyway, each year the Huskers designate one and only one game as "The Mustache Game." Last year it was the Missouri contest, which the Huskers won 24-3 in Lincoln. In that game, Ickes returned a punt 16 yards for a touchdown, attributing his special play to "the power of the mustache."

And so, we mustache-um, must ask -- what will come next? Here are a few suggestions:

1. Feathered Hair Game. Sure, it's tough to see those Shaun Cassidy 'dos (or if that doesn't ring a bell, think William Zabka in The Karate Kid) under a helmet, but the backup quarterbacks, punter and kicker should be made to sport them. They rarely wear a helmet, anyway.

2. Members Only Jacket Game. Instead of those water-proof shells coaches love so much, they should appear on the sidelines in cool (circa 1983) Members Only gear. Hey, some day we'll all be making the same jokes about Under Armour. You watch.

3. Swatch Game. The official timekeeper must keep time with a Swatch watch. And there will be another official in the press box to interpret just what the watch hands read.

4. Braveheart Game. Is there a rule against a player painting his face for a game? Heck, all the fans do. I mean, how cool would it be if the entire Stanford team ran out of the tunnel with their faces painted cardinal red? Tell us that wouldn't make the other side a little uneasy.

5. Halloween Game. Players wear a rubber mask of their favorite scary creature underneath their helmet. Would give an entirely new meaning to the term "facemask". Personally, we'd go with the Scream ghost mask.