A Fall From Grace Misconduct In Once-Unblemished Huskerland Now Make It Hard To Root For Nebraska

Ever since that bowl game a dozen seasons ago - when he went for two and the win, even though an extra-point kick and tie would have won his team the national crown just the same - it seemed easy to root for him. He always appeared as if he did the noblest things.

He and his players not only looked like the good guys under their red-trimmed white helmets, they were. They were as likely to be honored for their play on the field as for the reason they were in college in the first place. In fact, they lead the nation in first-team Academic All-Americans to this day.

Never, ever did NCAA officials point a finger their way for anything other than, say, being exemplary.

Rooting for Tom Osborne’s Nebraska Cornhuskers seemed, indeed, an easy thing to do - lest, of course, you hailed from Oklahoma or Colorado or somewhere else in Big Eight country, where he racked up so many wins.

There was no reason to think this season, as Osborne’s troops defended his first national title, would be any different. As the top-ranked Cornhuskers prepare to play the second-ranked Florida Gators in the Fiesta Bowl the day after New Year’s, there are reasons aplenty, however. Seven, if you’re counting.

One is Lawrence Phillips, the Cornhuskers’ star running back at season’s start. He beat up a former girlfriend, who plays basketball for Nebraska, in early September. He was sentenced to a year’s probation for the crime.

A second is Riley Washington, a reserve receiver. He was charged with attempted second-degree murder in a shooting in Lincoln, Neb., home of the Cornhuskers, before this season kicked off.

A third is Tyrone Williams, a backup cornerback. He was charged with weapons violations in a shooting in Lincoln in 1994. His case is still in court.

A fourth is Christian Peter, a star defensive tackle. He was sentenced to an 18-month probation for a third-degree sexual assault in 1993 at a Lincoln bar.

A fifth is Jason Jenkins, a defensive tackle. He was ordered to pay restitution to a man who was blinded in one eye after Jenkins allegedly struck him with a beer bottle.

A sixth is Reggie Baul, a receiver. He pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property, a wallet, in 1994.

The seventh is Osborne. In almost every case, he played judge, if not jury. He believed this player innocent, or that player troubled by mitigating circumstances.

The coach allowed back his star runner before the justice system ran its course with him. He played Washington and Williams, too, although their cases remain unresolved.

Baul didn’t miss a game last year. Peter didn’t miss a game in 1993.

We won’t add Damon Benning to the count. The backup running back was absolved of an assault charge that hung over his head as he, too, continued to practice and play this season.

And all, of course, are in Tempe, Ariz., this week readying themselves for next week’s showdown with Florida. Not a Cornhusker was shucked by Osborne for having run afield.

That is what makes it so difficult this season to root for Nebraska to become the first team in nearly 40 years to go undefeated and untied and win back-to-back titles. It isn’t that miscreant behavior was found inside Osborne’s silo. It is that, from the outside, it looks as if little was done by the operator to weed it out.

One Cornhuskers’ captain, center Aaron Graham from Denton, Texas, told the press that the coach warned the team to steer clear of trouble - before and after some members got into it.

“Coach Osborne stands up … and he tells the guys that they’ve got to straighten up,” Graham said. “He was almost giving these guys too many chances.”

Words may be enough when you have one recruit practice rogue behavior. It is not when you have half a dozen. That isn’t an isolated problem. It is nearly a plague.

At some institutions, like Oklahoma and Miami, what has developed at Nebraska has been termed losing control. At Nebraska, as a credit to Osborne’s mostly spotless record over 23 seasons, it’s been called an aberration. I’d like to think so, too.

The Cornhuskers are a favorite of the oddsmakers on Jan. 2. But, at least for this go-round, they are not a favorite of mine.