Matt Hayes

Surely, this isn't what the good people of Nebraska expected. The return to the mountaintop of college football has hit a turning point, and its name is Ball State. Ball State?!

Four years of changing the culture. Four years of coach Bill Callahan reshaping a once-elite program into something even the most basic of Big Red fans wouldn't recognize, and we have this: a win at home over Ball State -- in the closing seconds -- is a cause for celebration.

"To come out and pull out this win is big," Callahan says.

And to that I say: The experiment is over. Someone better grab hold of that Band-Aid and rip it off. Forget about the initial sting; the infection is spreading.

The day Nebraska finds hope in avoiding a loss to Ball State is the day everyone needs to take a long look at where this program is headed and realize it's just not working out. The day this proud program accepts mediocrity is the day change becomes inevitable.

We've been inundated with upsets this season, with little guys taking down big guys. Games that make you scratch your noggin and wonder how in the world something like that can happen. I can tell you why it happens: poor coaching.

With all due respect to Ball State, there's no way the Cardinals should have been driving in the last minute with a chance to beat Nebraska. Before Callahan's change of culture, Nebraska wins this game by 40 points -- instead of giving up 40. Before the change of culture, a win like this sounds alarms and raises red flags.

Now we have this from Callahan: "It's a step forward because it's a win."

It's not a step forward. It's an ugly, unnerving, unforgivable trend. Assess the past three-plus seasons or the past three weeks; it's all the same.

Three weeks ago, Nebraska needed a last-minute interception in the end zone to beat a Wake Forest team with a backup quarterback making his first start. A week later, the Huskers were introduced to reality when USC rolled into Lincoln and decleated anything remotely red. If that wasn't enough of an indicator, this is: Ball State wideout Dante Love dropped a sure touchdown pass in the final minute that would have won the game. Two plays later, the Cardinals missed a long field goal attempt that also would have won it.

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Callahan is 0-7 against teams ranked higher than 20th, 22-16 against Division I opponents and 13-12 against the Big 12. In a time when 10 or more non-BCS teams could win the watered-down Big 12 North, the Huskers are no different from the other five bland, uninspiring teams in the division.

Four years ago, Nebraska athletic director Steve Pederson fired coach Frank Solich because he said the program was gravitating toward mediocrity. I've got some news for everyone: It's here.

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For some reason, Callahan gets a pass because he is "changing the culture" of a program. He was hired to win games. He wasn't hired to take four or more years -- he recently received a contract extension through 2011 -- to implement a system that may or may not work.

And he certainly wasn't hired to take a once-proud program and turn it into one that should have lost to a middling MAC school.

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First we heard Callahan didn't have the right quarterback for the job, that it would take a couple of seasons before the change of culture could take shape. Now coordinator Kevin Cosgrove is falling on the sword because his defense can't stop anyone.

When Pederson announced Callahan's contract extension earlier this month, he spoke glowingly of the coach many Nebraskans had -- and still have -- reservations about. "In terms of what he's done for the program," Pederson said, "He has certainly met or exceeded my expectations at this juncture."

And that's the problem.

Instead of striving for perfection, Nebraska has settled for mediocrity.