Welcome, Husker Nation, to a very special edition of the Carriker Chronicles. I am SUPER pumped for the Main Event of this video, which obviously will come at the end. Before I get to that, I want to answer a question I was asked, which was: If you had one Christmas wish for the Huskers, what would it be? Could be for the football team, baseball team, volleyball team, or whomever. Well, me being a football guy, I’m going to talk about my one Christmas wish for the Husker Football program.

For me, it’s not about the wins. When you get 9 to 10 wins per year, that’s nothing to take for granted. Did you know that the Huskers won every game in which they were favored to win this year? This doesn’t seem like a big deal, until you realize that it’s been almost twenty years (1997) since that same feat was accomplished. So to me, it’s not about, per se, the wins. It’s more about the losses. When I say this, I’m talking about the lack of big wins and lopsided losses.

Now, I played football for 20 years of my life. I started playing competitive sports when I was five. (I understand I was only five, but at my house, trust me, it was competitive sports). So, I spent 27 years of my life playing competitive sports; there have only been five years that I haven’t played a competitive sport, so I’m still getting used to this. Point being, I’ve had my fair share of lopsided wins and losses, so I can’t completely abstain from that conversation myself either, good or bad.

I’ve brought these things up in the past, but I wanted to make a couple different points than I’ve ever made before. I’m going to look back at 2001, at the Colorado game where we lost 62-36. It was a 26 point loss. I know. Why would I bring up that atrocious day in the history of Earth, right? I do so to make this point. When we lost that game, It was a shocker. It was beyond a surprise. We could not believe what had just happened. And I feel like blowout losses over the past 15 years since 2001, the progression or regression; however you want to look at it, it’s gone from a shocker and surprise to something we unfortunately expect to happen during the Husker football season. It’s almost like “Here we go again…” rather than being an unforeseen mind blowing occurrence. That’s why I bring up that game. That’s what I mean by lopsided losses; the expectations. Now versus then. Now when it comes to lack of big wins against top ten teams, or championship caliper teams, I did it earlier this year because of where the program is at.

I talked about it before the Ohio State and Wisconsin games. Obviously, we want the wins. But I also talked about how we needed to be competitive, keep it close, and earn respect. That’s exactly what needed to happen based on where we are right now. I would like to get back to the point where it’s not just about earning respect. When you have College Gameday laughing at you on national television, as ridiculous as that is, the goal is to earn respect. I would like the goal not to be to earn respect, but to have the expectation of winning big games. We need to get back to that point. Back to where the program once was, or where the Nebraska Volleyball program currently is.

I hear people say all the time; you can’t compare it because of the parity today, or you can’t play for a championship year in and year out. Well, here’s what I’m going to tell you: Alabama does it. Are you going to sit there and tell me that the Alabama program as a whole is better than the Nebraska program is? I would disagree with that. Alabama can do it. We DID do it for years! We did it for decades! Big 8 Championships, every year! Big 12 Conference Championships, it could be currently Big Ten. We were always in the conversation for a major bowl game. I look at a team like Wisconsin; I can hardly think of a year when they haven’t been in a Big Ten Championship game since they started having one.

The way I look at it, is if Alabama can do it, If we did it for years (I understand the parity is a little bit different now) if Wisconsin can be at that level all the time, I certainly believe that the University of Nebraska Football Program can be at that level as well. Because in my opinion, we’re a great and elite football program and we need to get back to that.

Now, to the New Year’s Six bowl games; it makes me laugh. They’ve been diminished in value over the years. It used to be four major bowl games. Then they made the National Championship game separate, so then there were five major bowl games, and now there are six major bowl games, where there are regularly 3 loss teams getting in when that rarely used to happen. There are teams barely in the top 15 who are sneaking in there. To me, this is another conversation we could be in every year.

The reason I bring that up is when you look at the Nebraska Volleyball team, who won the National Championship last year, and the Big Ten Championship this year, are competing for championships year in and year out. Even though they lost this year, they made it to the Final Four. To me, that equates to the New Year’s Six games in football. That’s a conversation we could be in every year as well.

To wrap this thing up before I get to that Main Event, I don’t want those lopsided losses to be something we just try to avoid. I want them to be a shocker when they do happen. You’re going to get your rear end kicked every once in a while. The other guys lift too; they take protein shakes too; they practice too; they’re on scholarship too; every once in a while, it’s going to happen. I’d like it to be a big surprise going forward. I’d like the goal and expectations of big games to win those big games. That way, when it comes to guys on College Gameday, they shut their faces and have nothing but absolute respect when it comes to Nebraska Football. But we have to earn it. We have to get back to that point. Get back to competing at the highest level. Alabama does it. Our AWESOME volleyball team does it. Look at Wisconsin. What do they have in Wisconsin? Cheese, right? They have cheese and football. If they can win with cheese and football (I know it’s not very nice, but it’s MY show and I don’t have a producer censoring me, so it’s ok) if they can do it, I see no reason that a great football program like the University of Nebraska can’t get back to that and compete at that level as well. That’s my one Christmas wish for the Husker football program.

Now. The Main Event of all main events. (LLLLET’S GET READY TO RUUMMBLLLEEE!!!!!) You may have noticed how awesomely awesome dressed I am today. There’s a reason for this shirt. I want to make an announcement today, and I want to bring on my beautiful wife, Angie, if you could come join me please. We have a big announcement, would you like to tell Husker Nation what the announcement is?

(Angie Carriker) WE’RE PREGNANT!!!

(Adam) You’re welcome, America! Now, I wrote down some questions. It’s not often a man gets to grill his wife on camera with questions! This should be fun; Question 1: How far along are you?

(A) 3½ months

(Q) And when is our due date?

(A) June 19th

Right after Father’s Day. Just a quick note, we have five kids already, with one on the way, so I call them the Dirty Half-Dozen. It’s okay, I’m Dad, I can say that. With our other five kids, we’ve only found out the gender one time. This time, Daddy gets to have his way and I get to find out if it’s a boy or a girl, so Mom gets to be surprised, and nobody else knows. I get to have a little fun toying with everyone else because I get to know starting February 6th all the way up until June 19th.

As far as the Chronicles next week, I’m still going to be here. I understand it’s right after Christmas, right before New Years, it’s Holidays, maybe you don’t have to go to work, maybe you’re on a vacation, but I will be here as promised Monday and Wednesday. Right up until the bowl game next Friday, when it’s gonna be on like Donkey Kong! I’ll be here, you might as well be too, and it’s only a couple times per week, so check it out! I will be breaking down Tennessee more in depth next week, I will be breaking down the Huskers and what they need to do, and I will be giving my final prediction for the Music City Bowl next week. So until Monday, Husker Nation, Go Big Red, and always remember to THROW THE BONES … baby! ;)