I am surprised this is the first post with this specific title.
Yesterday I wrote, “Now, watch them [Nebraska] be upset in their season debut; they are 10-12 point favorites.” Despite relieving head coach Scott Frost of the offensive playcalling, bringing in renowned offensive “mind” Mark Whipple from Pitt to install a new offense and call the plays, despite bringing in a total of four new coaches and bringing in a myriad of highly regarded players as transfers from other major college programs and junior colleges, it was the same old Huskers yesterday, blowing two 11-point leads and losing to Northwestern 31-28 in Dublin, Ireland.
The team continued to self-destruct with turnovers and penalties (the ill-advised and unsuccessful onside kick while ahead 28-17 in the third quarter didn’t help, either), but the big constant through the Scott Frost era has been the inability of the defense to make stops in crunch time. That can be laid at the feet of Frost’s personal defensive coordinator, Erik Chinander, who has been Nebraska’s DC as long as Frost has been the head coach. He is in over his head in the Big Ten.
Don’t be surprised if they’re both fired sometime after October 1 as it is my understanding that the buyout in Frost’s contract drops from $15 million to $7.5 million after that date. The sad thing about Nebraska’s many years of mediocrity is that the program still has a huge nationwide following.
Note that Nebraska is #12 with an average 2.29 million weekly viewers, ahead of storied programs like Texas (which, I grant, has also fallen on difficult times that are self-inflicted), Florida and LSU, which won the national championship just three years ago. In terms of revenue from football, Nebraska still ranks among the top 20 nationally. If Iowa and Wisconsin can have consistently successful teams, Nebraska should be able to do so as well. (This ESPN article is particularly informative, if written from a slightly different perspective.)
In case you’re wondering how/why the Big Ten just agreed to a national TV deal with multiple networks for many billions of dollars, take a look at the top of this chart. Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State are 1-2-4 in terms of average viewers.
OK, that’s probably too much football talk for most of my readers. Sometimes the axiom that the more things change, the more they stay the same is appropriate. Fire Scott Frost!
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Here are links to many posts from Why Evolution Is True; the world continues to go more off the rails every day.
Nature: Manuscripts that are ideologically impure and “harmful” will be rejected
Why Rushdie was stabbed: an absorbing video by the Ex-Muslims of North America
I believe in science OVER ideology, but they have become intertwined to a frightening degree. Here is something written by Matt Yglesias:
“Why spend your day in nasty fights on Twitter when you could be doing science? Then if you secure your impression of what “the scientists” think about something from scanning Twitter, you will perceive a consensus that is not really there. If something is a 70-30 issue but the 30 are keeping their heads down, it can look like a 98-2 issue.”
Science is an endeavor of human beings. All human beings are flawed and all endeavors of human beings are flawed. Sometimes, the view held by what seems to be a small minority proves to be right in the long run.
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Apropos of the Alaska cruise that my wonderful wife and her father are currently enjoying, I will note that on this day in 1942 the Alaska Highway was completed. It was originally built by the US Army Corps of Engineers as a supply route during World War II.
Officially, construction began in March of 1942. No project of this magnitude (1,700 miles in length at completion) could be completed today anywhere near that quickly.
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Speaking of 1942 and automobiles, as most people reading this know all civilian automobile production in the US was shut down by early February. As some of you may know, I have an affinity for one car manufactured in model year 1942.
With the hidden headlights and distinctive, but not excessive (in my opinion), front grill the ’42 DeSoto has one of the greatest faces of any automobile ever, again, in my opinion. If I ever have the resources, and that includes a place to store 4-6 cars, I would try to acquire one of these as the basis for a restomod project. (Right now, I’d settle for a swift resolution to the Z06 situation.)
Once again, I want to thank those readers who are either new to Disaffected Musings or who have returned to read as the number of daily views and visitors remains much stronger in recent days than it was for the period from February 1 through August 15. Yes, I remain grateful to those of you who have read the blog regularly through thick and thin. Please tell your friends, please feel free to post thoughtful comments and please feel free to click on any ad in which you have genuine interest. Many thanks.
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