Pelini brothers upset by decision at end of game
By JEFFREY MARTIN Houston Chronicle
Dec. 6, 2009, 12:29AM
Jamie Squire Getty Images
Nebraska coach Bo Pelini yells at a referee during the third quarter of Saturday's 13-12 loss to Texas in the Big 12 title game.
• Game statistics
ARLINGTON — Helmets crashed into metal doors. Obscenities were flying, most directed at an officiating crew that was hurriedly escorted off the field at Cowboys Stadium and through a tunnel that also led to Nebraska's locker room.
And after a surreal final sequence Saturday night that turned an apparent Cornhuskers upset in the Big 12 Championship Game into a heart-wrenching 13-12 loss to Texas, there were plenty of questions that needed to be answered.
An enraged Bo Pelini demanded justice.
“I want to see Walt Anderson right now!” the Nebraska coach screamed to no one in particular, referring to the Big 12's coordinator of football officials.
BCS-inspired mess?
Then his brother, Nebraska defensive coordinator Carl Pelini, chimed in.
“It's the same footsteps with the trophy,” he said. “They ought to be ashamed to accept that trophy.”
He fell silent but then resumed his rant.
“That's what this conference is about,” he added. “The (expletive) BCS.”
In the distance, orange- and-white confetti dropped to the turf. The Longhorns were accepting their trophy, and coach Mack Brown was addressing the fans who remained .
“We didn't make some plays like we wanted to on offense, but that's a credit to Nebraska's defense,” Brown said. “They played their hearts out.”
Meanwhile, back in the tunnel, more chaos was unfolding.
Another Pelini brother, Vince, got in on the act — “They're sick,” he said, shaking his head and adding, “Zero-zero on the clock” — before the Cornhuskers coach resurfaced.
“Get Dan Beebe!” he shrieked, asking for the Big 12 commissioner.
Nebraska started to celebrate what it thought was a 12-10 win after Colt McCoy threw an incompletion and the clock ran down. But the officials ruled there should be one second on the clock. That allowed Texas' Hunter Lawrence to change the outcome with a 46-yard field goal.
Bo Pelini seemed to have calmed down by the time he arrived at his news conference. The first question posed to Pelini?
“Bo, do you think Texas got a little bit of home cooking there at the end?”
His response: “No comment.”
Then he was asked if the officials had provided any clarity on what transpired in those final seconds.
“I haven't gotten an explanation,” he said. “I'm not going to answer any more questions about officiating or about that call. Ask me about the football game – it was a hell of a football game.”
Corrections are allowed
Later, Anderson finally clarified what happened — “Any type of egregious clock error can be corrected,” he said — but by then, Pelini was long gone.
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