PressBox: Nebraska Cornhuskers Ranked 13th? AP Voter Rob Long Defends His Ballot

Nebraska Cornhuskers Ranked 13th? AP Voter Rob Long Defends His Ballot

By Kevin Heitz

As coach Bo Pellini said after his Nebraska Cornhuskers skunked Arizona, 33-0, in the Holiday Bowl: "Nebraska is back, and we're here to stay."

The Huskers are 4-0 for the first time since 2005, and their No. 6 ranking in this week's AP top 25 is Nebraska's highest ranking since the 2002 Rose Bowl. But to diehard Husker fans, it feels like much longer.

An uninspired Nebraska squad went through the motions just enough this past Homecoming Saturday to escape with a 17-3 win against 43-point underdog South Dakota State of the Football Championship Subdivision. It was an ugly win, but a win nonetheless. After the dust settled, the Huskers were still undefeated (and Texas lost!), deserving of a top-10 ranking -- by all but two AP voters.

Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News has Nebraska at No. 12, and Baltimore's own Rob Long, host of "The Rob Long Show" on Fox 1370 Sports Radio and co-host of "Inside PressBox" on ABC-2, brings up the rear in Huskers voting with a 13th-place spot for Big Red.

As a faithful Nebraska fan, I recently caught up with Rob for an explanation.

Kevin Heitz: Let's cut to the chase, Rob, why do you have the Huskers ranked 13th?

Rob Long: From what I've seen of the Huskers -- and I know what they did last week had everybody up in arms -- it's typical of a fan base. You get a little glimmer of hope and justifies where you think you should be (ranked). To me, this week validates everything. Playing against South Dakota State at home in a 17-3 game … that's the equivalent of Maryland beating Towson 17-3 at home; that should never happen.

While I think Nebraska is a favorite to win the Big 12 … I think this is a bad year for the conference. I've been saying all year that the Big 12 was going to suffer an ugly loss, maybe two, and Texas losing to UCLA was one of them. Overall, this is a flawed year for the Big 12, and I don't think right now there are any top-10 teams in the Big 12.

KH: Why is your ballot so different than many of the other voters?

RL: This is what I do. Let's say all teams are undefeated. I don't look at it like, 'Nebraska started sixth and they're undefeated, you can't drop them down.' Yes I can. I look at all the undefeated teams top to bottom. … Last week, Alabama was at the top of that food chain. I think they can beat all the undefeated teams that are there. I think Ohio State could beat all the undefeated teams except Alabama, and so on. … To me, Nebraska can't beat any of the undefeated teams that are above them. Why rank them above TCU when I think TCU can beat them?

If you ask me who I think will win the Big 12, I'll say Nebraska. But I don't think they'll go about it undefeated.

I've gotten plenty of e-mails, and most Husker fans think either I'm clueless or I'm a Nebraska hater. I'm clueless about a lot of things; college football is not one of them.

KH: Be honest, do you have the Huskers ranked so low because of our friendship?

RL: No. As much as I dislike you, I am not dogging the Cornhuskers because of that.

KH: And you said there was something else odd about your ballot this week?

RL: I made a mistake this week on my top-25 poll, and when I found it, it was too late. I looked over and changed my top 25 a dozen times before I called it in. I kept debating where to put Texas -- are they really that bad, or was it a hiccup? … And in the end, I omitted Arkansas on my poll this week.

I threw myself on the sword for that, and I was devastated when I called the AP to explain. … Because I shuffled around so much, at one point I erased Arkansas to move them up or down, and forgot about them. And I got e-mail after e-mail after e-mail from Arkansas fans. I just answered each e-mail with an apology saying I simply made a mistake.

I think Arkansas could still be a top-10 team. Next week when I vote, if they win I will put them back in where they belong.

KH: Does that mean if you wouldn't have left out Arkansas by mistake Nebraska would be ranked 14? Wait … don't answer that.

Posted Sept. 28, 2010