Bill Callahan is slightly over .500 -- 7-6 -- in his career as Nebraska's head coach. AP
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It's only been two games, and, even though they both ended in Nebraska victories, it's clear Huskers fans are becoming increasingly agitated with second-year coach Bill Callahan. A year after watching his offense bumble its way through the school's first losing season in 43 years, the Huskers' loyal legions -- and lord knows there's a bunch of them -- were hoping for something more encouraging than an average of 273.5 offensive yards -- ranked 99th nationally -- against Maine and Wake Forest.

"What is wrong with Nebraska's vaunted West Coast offense?" asks Eric from Lincoln, Neb. "How long can Callahan hide behind the excuse that he needs his own players?"

Then there's Robert Huelin of Farmington, Conn., writing, "Why not state the obvious: Callahan has no idea what he's doing at Nebraska. Anybody who watches the Huskers can see that the coach doesn't have the respect of his players."

Admittedly, the light bulb could flick on for Zac Taylor and Co. at any moment and render this whole discussion moot. And certainly Callahan can't be expected to completely overhaul the roster to his liking in the course of one recruiting class. But from where I sit, it's looking more and more to me like Callahan's hiring was a potentially colossal mistake. Not because he can't coach, but because he's the wrong coach for Nebraska.

Back when AD Steve Pederson made the controversial decision to replace Frank Solich with Callahan, there were several assumptions made that, in retrospect, were not particularly wise.

No. 1: Callahan's assumption that college players could grasp a complex NFL offense within a reasonable amount of time. From talking to people familiar with the West Coast offense -- and I'm talking the full-scale version Callahan runs, not the more modest, college-level versions you see at other places -- it can take NFL rookie QBs several years to master the considerable verbiage and decision-making that goes into every play. And unlike "student-athletes," the pros have their entire day to devote to football. Now, that's not to say a guy like Harrison Beck, the highly touted freshman Callahan recruited this season, couldn't excel in the offense by his second or third season, but it was unrealistic to think Taylor or Joe Dailey could grasp the thing in six months.

No. 2: Pederson's assumption that NFL experience automatically equals college success. It may have worked for USC, but Pete Carroll's infectious personality practically screams college. And while there's certainly a strong NFL influences in Carroll's program, he hired a successful college coordinator (Norm Chow) to install his offense, one that was far simpler than Nebraska's (and which already had much of the appropriate personnel in place to run it). Callahan's businesslike demeanor may be commonplace in the NFL, but it doesn't exactly light a fire under a bunch of college kids. (Charlie Weis' approach is similar, but those four rings on his hand make it a whole lot easier to gain players' instant respect).

No. 3: Pederson's assumption that the majority of Nebraska fans would accept Solich's firing as a necessity. Sure, people weren't jumping for joy when the Huskers went 17-10 in Solich's last two seasons, but I never got the impression they wanted to run him out of town. The state was divided before Callahan even coached a game, and Ohio's big win over Pittsburgh last weekend only furthered the furor of Solich loyalists.

I agreed with Pederson's assessment at the time that the program was slipping toward mediocrity. And I firmly believed Nebraska needed to modernize its old-school offense to remain nationally competitive. As it turns out, Solich, who's running a spread offense at Ohio, may have been fully capable of doing it himself. And even if he wasn't, there were any number of available candidates who could have instituted a less radical transformation.

The one bright spot from the Huskers' first two games has been the play of their defense, which, after slipping considerably last year, has thus far produced more points (28) than it has allowed (10). If the Blackshirts can return to dominance, they could at least carry the team to a bowl game and help buy time for the offense to fully develop. It's not unrealistic to think, however, that it could take Callahan another two years to produce a legitimately powerful offense, which leads us to false assumption No. 4: That Nebraska fans have patience.

It seems like every job Dave Wannstedt gets, he finds himself immediately in hot water. I can't remember the last week of football where fans in Chicago, Miami, or now, Pittsburgh, haven't called for his head. How long will Wanny last at Pitt, and is it possible this Panthers squad isn't the Big East contender we thought it was?
--Zack, Rockville, Md.

Wannstedt's situation is similar to Callahan's in one sense: Wannstedt walked into a program that wasn't exactly broken and, therefore, won't be afforded the same patience as a coach in a rebuilding situation (and ironically, the two face each other Saturday, after which one of them is going to be feeling even more heat). The difference is, while Callahan had no connection whatsoever to Nebraska, Wannstedt is a definitive Pitt guy, which is why I, like most people, bought into the hype -- in spite of the fact that, as you mention, his sterling coaching reputation, due primarily to his role as defensive coordinator for the Cowboys' 1992 Super Bowl team, seems to be impervious to actual wins and losses.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves, folks. He's been there two games. While the apocalyptic media reaction in Pittsburgh has certainly been amusing ("Pitt's 16-10 loss to poor little Ohio University ... was one of the sorriest chapters in the university's athletic history," wrote one particularly over-the-top columnist), there are still a lot of games left for Wannstedt to turn things around, and as of now the Panthers are still undefeated in the Big East. If we're still talking about the same thing next year at this time, however ... well, see the above comments on Callahan.