Joe Ganz And The Numbers Game

The Big XII media day carnival is over. Now it's take a deep breath time before the final push toward the start of the season.

There was a lot of ink, video, and sound coming out of this year's circus as well. You and I have looked at it and bathed in FINALLY SOMETHING NEW FOR THIS COMING SEASON!!! (FULL VOLUME ROAR).

Okay--I'll calm down now.

One big impression I got from Our Side was this---did Joey Ganz act like an honest-to-gosh veteran quarterback or what? Showed some class. Showed some spunk. Showed some political chops (in answering a question about former coach Callahan, Joe G said that "...I'm here because of Bill Callahan, but when you have a losing season, well..."---or words to that effect. I am DOWN with that kind of lingo.

Of course, maybe it's the #12 thing.

Number 12 has a stellar track record in the last 40 years at Dear Old Nebraska U.

A tough, gritty guy named Ernie Sigler wore #12 in the '67-'68 season (not the best, but the guys still went 6-4. In this day and age, you win 60% of your games and you're in a mid-level bowl).
Ernie S was followed in the #12 parade by Van Brownson, who shared starting QB duties with Jerry Tagge in the comeback season of 1969, and who started the Sun Bowl game when Our Guys manhandled Georgia 45-6. VB and JT continued dueling it out until mid to late season 1970, when VB got hurt and Tagge took over for the historic 2 titles for the Bobfather.

Then, in the early 70s, David Humm graced the number 12. No great runner, but man could that guy throw! DH was around during the time that Tom Osborne was basically running a pro-set offense.

The drama with #12 continued in the late '70s with Tom Sorley--a tough guy from Texas who was the QB in the "Earthquake" game of 1978 when Our Guys punched OU 17-14. (I say Earthquake game because the hitting--from the stories I've heard and the video I've seen--had to have moved Memorial Stadium.)

Y'all know who followed in the #12 procession---Turner Gill. Need I say more?

There's been a bit of a dry spell since. Titus Brothers wore #12 as a D-back in '03-'05, but that just didn't look right. #12 is a QB number after all. And now it's back where it belongs--on a veteran QB who acts like he knows what's going on.

More from Joe Ganz is in this article: http://journalstar.com/articles/2008/07/22/huskerextra/football/doc48854412eab2e515775405.txt