1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - Nebraska Bowl Game a Few Days Away, December 29th, 11:00am

Episode Date: December 29, 2025

Before Nebraska's bowl game Austin and Jake discuss the 2025 Las Vegas BowlAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

It's time to go one-on-one with D.P. Coming at you live from the heart of Lincoln America, a 93-7-the-ticket and the Ticketfm.com. Sponsored by the Downtown Lincoln Foundation. Here is your host, Derek Pearson. A Monday boom here from a one-on-one-on-one on 93-7, the ticket as we get going here. At least I think it's Monday, I can't tell what day any of these days are. Once you get a few days off in a row, you have no clue what day it is.

But I'm fairly certain that's the case. And also fairly certain Nebraska is going to have their last opportunity to play some football here in just a few days. So play to talk about, especially with the news over the weekend or over the last few days that the Cowtittingham will no longer be coaching the bull game for the Utah youths. He's off to Michigan. So we just got a lot to break down here. I'm Jake Bachman, Austin Orman, in studio with you, DP on a plane. He's heading to Las Vegas. I think you wanted to get there a little bit early.

He's got some extra money in his pocket. He wants to go gamble. No, I don't know. You know, there's plenty of festivities going on down there. Austin, how have you, have you been able to kind of keep up with Nebraska? I saw Matt line, Matt rule on a zip line down Fremont Street. You know, there's all sort of hijinks that you can get to get down, get done down there in Las Vegas. And it seems to be there, they're, they're having fun down there.

It had, it had me picturing a zip line over O Street. You know, just that little bit of, I don't know, let's say like where we have. So we're at the corner of 11th and L. What, like 14th to 16th in there? 13th to 16th somewhere in there a zip line over that i do like ziplines you would you have you have you read them i have yeah yes um not not many but uh wife and i went down to branson and did the zip line down there that's as exotic as i've gotten with my with my zip lines but we'll not do roller coasters just i mean okay you can sucker me on to them but do not like it

i'm not going holding on for dear life uh like those free fall towers no thank you they like spin you around not doing that zip lines now i mess with zip lines you're a ziplin Yeah, yeah. That is interesting. What do you think about Ferris wheels? I mean, I've got to, Ferris wheels are fine because they're slow. They're awful. Really? They're awful. The one in Shields. Have you done that one? I've not done the one in Shields. I've done the one on the pier in Seattle a couple times. Okay. Well, that's a better. Ferris wheels are fine. I think number one because they're slow. Generally, they're enclosed, right? The open air ones have me a little nervous. But as long as they're enclosed, I can deal with it. Yeah, that's, that's where

maybe where I could do it. And it's nothing against the one of shields they've obviously they run it every day and people do fine it's actually better in shields whether it's not wind or anything like that and you post an outdoor one but that's my thing with roller coasters people do it all the time they're fine they're never any issues yeah but my time is going to be the one issue i'm not going to chance it i'm not going to do it that's what i feel just like every time i get up there on the fiercely you just get to a certain point you're like you remember like i'm not god i can't i can't fly what am i doing up here this is ridiculous just for a small thrill

momentarily and it's not a thrill for me anymore I'm just scared is there even a thrill on a Ferris wheel because it's so slow like is the view the thrill maybe that's the thrill. Maybe that's the thrill. But like what's the thrill of the Ferris wheel and shields? I think when it's done. That's the thrill for me. Because I

my son loves it. He's four years old. He's done it since he was like two or whatever you know, whatever tall you have to be. I don't know exactly when he passed that. But in any case so I just like oh yeah, fine. I'll do it. And I'm never going to do it again. At least a couple years to where I could say, well, maybe last time, but this time, yeah, I'm not going to do it again. I'm surprised you're a zipline guy. I think I'm not sure if I've done a professional zipline. I can't remember.

So I would assume not. I don't know why I'm a zipline guy, but of all things, it just just sits right with me. Yeah. It's fun. I don't know. It's the posture. I mean, I wasn't like Matt rule like, you know, full Superman or anything. Don't get me wrong. Like, I was still nervous enough, but oh I'll never do skydiving and not get me a jump out of a plane I'm not going cliff jumping yeah now some of those like wingsuits might be kind of fun those look cool but yeah I don't think I'm doing it yeah for the pros well like they got those like indoor skydiving whatever you don't have to jump you know I might do that one that seems safer right because you're what eight feet off the ground yeah yeah something like that yeah that would work for me yeah but anyway at least

that rule and in in Nebraska's kind of having fun down there of course mixing it up with different coaches kind of coming in and different folks rotating in as well. I saw Dave Tolveson, former defensive end for the Giants, kind of helping out there, which is interesting because I knew I'd heard that name. I forgot where it came from. Yeah. It makes a lot of sense. It's very strange because he's, I mean, I don't know, probably a couple handfuls of former NFL players that I've talked to. He's one of them, oddly enough, a long time ago, when Brett Kane used to work here. He had an in with him. So he'd call in like every week for a small period of time. So I thought

that was weird. I completely forgot about Dave Thompson and saw him back there. So that's good for Nebraska here too. But again, like I said, the biggest news from what we've missed from what we weren't able to talk about was Kyle Whittingham. Of course, the bigger story there is taking the Michigan job. And we can talk about that here in a little bit too. But as far as affecting the Utah job, the Utah game, I thought it was interesting because a lot of people look, okay, you know, this is this is kind of getting out of hand utah's clearly not at full strength or they're even going to want to play what is their the first game of their coach that's stepping in um so it's like yeah yeah i think it would be you know very important and big for them to start on the right foot

oh absolutely i the motivation piece i get it but it is kind of lame to me as well maybe it is uton and bowl game it doesn't want to be in yeah they're down their head coach but not like Morgan Scali hasn't been there for a while, not like he doesn't know how to run a team. And you're only the only opt-outs I think we've heard of for Utah Bach or the NFL tackles, right? Maybe a defensive guy. Yeah, defensive alignment as well.

And the two tackles and de-alignment. Okay, that's fine. But, I mean, if you're Devin Dampier, you still got plenty to play for, I would think, right? If you're one of the running backs or receivers, I think you have plenty to play for a defense that was okay in the regular season. Here's your chance to shut down what's kind of a scuffling offense right now in Nebraska.

And obviously the motivation for Nebraska is there, right? There's a lot of players, especially on the defensive side of the ball. In some respects, playing for a job next year, right, playing for that next contract, if you want to call it that. I know we don't love to talk about it, but plain as simple as in the reality now. A defensive coordinator, Rob Arick, will be there, if not coaching in the bowl game.

So you got to put good tape on film going into the offseason. If you're a young defensive lineman, you got plenty to prove. If you're the Nebraska offense, you probably didn't perform the way you wanted down the stretch. okay you have a chance against a team with a pulse a team that went 10 and 2 in the regular season to say yeah this is what we could have been you know we left some stuff out on the field

maybe plenty of yards and points out there for us to go get and now's a chance for us to make it happen and then you get to the big big picture headlines of seven and six does that really feel like progress you know maybe that's more from the fans than from the players perspective but I'm sure that that conversation has crept in you know I'm sure there are plenty of people in that building that thought they might be a little further along than they show

no matter what their head coach is going to say at the podium. You know, he can say they're on schedule all they want. Okay, that can be your opinion. We can agree or we can disagree. But seven and five regular season, that's a half step up from last year. You ended at seven and six. Yeah, it's just a bowl loss. It doesn't matter.

You can write it off. You still won one more game in the regular season. But I think Husker fans Bach would really rather not have to rely on that caveat and just get to eight and five and say, hey, you beat a good team in a bowl game. It's in them. Now let's translate that into regular season success. Well, and I think, too, it's just going to build. what you're working toward, right?

I mean, if you get eight wins this year, then eight wins isn't good enough next year. You know, if you get seven wins this year, then, okay, it's a tougher schedule. If you got out an eight, eight wins season, and there will be people that argue one way or another, the schedule. And it's going to come out and play out as true. Necessarily, maybe if that happens,

we don't know. Again, you know, the schedule stuff, there's definitely, it's like recruiting. There's something to it, but don't go all the way into it. Because as we know, Penn State was supposed to be the, a big game, the unsurmountable, immovable object for Nebraska this year. And by the time they got there, well, they still couldn't move them. But they, they, they, they weren't the team that we thought they were going to be. Now, there were, there are, you know, three teams that are in the playoffs, uh, that are on

the schedule next year. And again, that's going to be something that's hard to argue with a more difficult schedule. But in any case, it's, it is, I think it's huge for Nebraska. I just feel like it would feel bigger, maybe if we felt more of an opportunity to win the game if that makes sense at all. Utah just again with these bull games I think part of the problem is and I don't know how much you've been paying attention or getting excited about the bull games as opposed to the past but the matchups haven't been as enticing and part of that is of course a bigger college football playoff and then the Notre Dame like Notre Dame is opting out like okay who were

the teams that were most interested that just on the outside that didn't make it one of them's Notre Dame who decided not to play a bowl game and another one and I again I hate to say, but from just kind of an appeal of all the bowl games, Utah could have got, you know, we had a rank matchup in the Pop-Carts Bowl. Utah's one of those teams just on the outside. So it's not a tack on Nebraska, it's just the bull system altogether is that that's one of the, you know, when you have a 12-team playoff, teams 13, 14, and 15, and I know it doesn't exactly go like that, but those teams should be playing each other. Those teams should be, you know, but you've got all these, you know, obviously deals with conferences and tie-ins and all that.

but it's just I think it's such an odd bowl game and Nebraska hasn't been to a bowl game outside of the pinstripe bowl last year um you know for several years for so it's almost like this kind of jumping back into you know something and feeling like it should have the feelings of old and there's some of that there but it's just it's such a strange altogether situation because like you said too I mean last year the Boston college game the nation's leader in sacks opted out this year the outland trophy winner is up and then on Nebraska side, a first team all American running

back like it's just so odd it's just so different. I was thinking earlier if Utah loses this game should they move down in the rankings? I don't really think so. I wouldn't think so. What do the rankings even mean at this point anyways? Right. Because the college football playoff is all but done with rankings.

You know, I mean, is two lane moving down in the rankings? Who cares at this point? Is James Madison moving down in the rankings? Who cares? A&M. Whatever. You had your shot. You, you miss. missed it. Oklahoma, you had your chance. You missed it. You know, maybe for those games. But at this point, why don't we just do a final college football playoff top 12, you know, put the first round four losers in some order down there, then the next four losers, and then the final

four in some word. Just rank them how you see fit. If only James Madison, we should be among the top 12. Hey, they're going to end up there, dang it. They're going to end up there. They deserve it. They belong there. I mean, honestly, justice for, for my ball of Duke Blue Devils. You should have been a college football player participant would have given Oregon game. But that's another story for another day. Just the concept of Bulls NowBox seems weird because I think if you remove yourself from the situation, you come at it with fresh eyes and say, hey, after the year, you don't really get people excited.

Let's take the Big Ten in the SEC, whoever doesn't make the playoff, and we'll just match them up when they play an exhibition game, you know, just to see what it would be like, which conference is really stronger, we can measure it that way. And maybe we can give it a sponsor. Maybe someone's really excited about this game. they want their name on it and maybe we can send them someplace special to play this game maybe a middle point in between hey cool sign me up yeah yeah oh wait that's a bowl game no i don't want that that's no fun why do that but i get it like the the conference tie-ins i think are what makes it weird

because i think right or wrong people claim her for big 10 versus SEC right but you don't just want the acc and the big 12 you know attached at the hip and oh that's the best you can get it is you too I still think there's a lot of fun, a lot of value in seeing how different people across the country are playing football and are coaching football and seeing opponents that you don't normally see. In fact, if we're getting away from tough non-conference scheduling and we're just going to give a couple group of five games or three group of five games and not schedule power fives does not ruin our chance to get into the playoff, I think it's even more fun in the postseason, except we've really devalued that. The other thing I think is really taken away from that matchup is that conferences are so gosh dang big that some of those names lose their novelty. It was really interesting for me in middle school,

in high school, seeing Nebraska play Georgia, play South Carolina, play USC, you know, play Clemson, right? Those are teams Nebraska never sees. But think about how fun, you know, like a Clemson Cal Gator Bowl could have been. It ran, hey, never see you, never see you, you're new. This is fun. Let's play some football.

And, oh, now you're a conference game. Yeah. That just takes so much of it out of it. Like Nebraska, USC, USC, US, and the Holiday Bowl. That Nebraska team's out match, but Polini was out of the door. It was an interim coach. What did they have to play for? That was a really fun matchup.

And now we'll see it twice every four years. Yeah. Yeah, it is, it is, obviously there needs to be a reframing in my mind of the bowl setup. And again, it's not necessarily good or bad. And I get your, your kind of take too, especially because a lot of people do just kind of getting too well this isn't what it used to be so i hate it it doesn't have to be that and it isn't i i think there obviously is a devaluation of the bowl games but okay like you said like start from scratch and frame it a little bit differently it's like hey this is actually still

pretty cool because i really miss champions week that that 2020 concept i thought that was a great idea by the big 10 hey not everyone can play for big 10 championship but we have some teams that are on the outside looking in the bowls yeah let's match him up you know winner take all here's a chance to go play another game. I would think teams and administrations and especially players would be all over that. Maybe I've been proven wrong. I don't know. It is strange. I don't know either. Like I was thinking the other

day, too, is Notre Dame going to come back to a bull? I know Nebraska turned down a bull in 2020. Didn't deserve it, but they got the opportunity to go to one. And so, you know, they had a team vote and voted on to, which was kind of strange. But can you come back to a bull? Once you've acknowledged that

that's not the program standard, and yes, they feel like they were jipped out of the playoffs and should have got in. But I don't know if Notre Dame, like if an eight and four Notre Dame goes, you know, do they, are they going to accept the bull bid next year? Or are we going to start seeing schools just say, you know what? No, thank you. But it's, it's just, again, the strange part of it is there's still money to be made. There's still football, you know, like experience to be gained practices to be had. It's, it's all, you know, it's still beneficial. And it's almost like if you, we talk about it, like the spring game. That's

what we want, right? You want it next, but it's just kind of turning into something kind of in the middle there. Well, the spring game thing is an interesting thought. I mean, what if we took what were bowl matchups and moved them to the spring to what everyone's whistle for football again? Then you'd have full teams playing. You'd have complete teams, I would think. But would they play four quarters? I mean, spring games on their own are competitive till the end generally. Right. So there is that. And I think the other difference, too, is that bowl games like this are like at the end of a long season and unless you're going from like one in five to six and six and you're like you're the hot team going into bowl games like just get this over with come on next year already players are out so

if i spring games i think we enjoy them well we used to enjoy them because hey look spring football's back we can watch something this is great and now it's well this guy you're going to be on the roster after the game we see you can transfer out yeah i would move the bulls to the spring i really save up the money give people something to get excited about hey this is your first look at your team you can travel to an exciting destination, just as the weather's starting to get nice. Spend your holidays at home with your family because we know you want to, that sort of thing. But it's just never going to happen. But it's just so strange.

Again, I don't know, you know, college football, it just has so many questions. And you're just kind of, again, kind of building the plane in the air as to, and, you know, kind of trying to fall back on old traditions and old models and trying to move into the new age and what's going to be the best. And it's just kind of like, all right, well, let's just see how this, how this flies, how it lands when, you know, once we get to the destination. But I mean, I, again, I agree with you. I mean, I think there could be a route for a spring football bowl system that kind of work a little bit better, more interesting, and feel like that the importance is there a little bit more. But again, it's just so strange because when I look at Utah and this matchup, and I said, even if they lose, do we devise?

that is that should Utah even on their 10 and 2 slate fall to 10 and 3 like they will it'll be in there but without their head coach without the three best players that are going to be potentially you know first round or second round draft pigs like that's not the Utah team that earned 10 and 2 at all here here's the here's the spin box Utah will fall because they're in the big 12 another win for the mighty big 10 over the big 12 just evaluating you know another another another reason to give the big 12 anything nope If they can't even beat, you know, middle of the road big 10 team,

they deserve to drop out of the top 25. How's that for spin? That's definitely, that's definitely been. That's like Tony Petit enough right there. I mean, I can see it happening. But again,

and then on the opposite side is Nebraska, who I feel like there is a lot to play for. You know, again, without Imit Johnson, without your defensive coordinator for the, you know, the entirety of the year.

I mean, so they've got their own, you know, your own kind of thoughts there about is, is this the complete team? Is this the seven and five? Huskers, but it's a chance to win a top 15 game as, again, I don't know, is that the top 15 Utah team? No, but they're ranked 15th. You know, the chance to improve

on the win total like we were talking about earlier. And I think the biggest thing for Nebraska and this more than anything is just to get a different taste your mouth head into the offseason because the last two games were brutal and really tough to feel like, okay, this is heading in the right direction. If you can reroute that with a win at the end of against Utah, then you'll have a lot of people kind of pulling back their mid-season thoughts and say, you know what, I said about eight wins coming in. They got to it. Beat a top 15. You know, you can start to spin it. You do your own spin cycle there. You sure can. I'm a little surprised that we, maybe you've seen it,

and I don't want to speak for you or anyone else, but I'm a little surprised that I haven't seen the take of, well, because of the way the regular season ended for Nebraska, because of all the new coaches, maybe they should just opt out. You know, what's the point to get in steamrolled again and ending at 7 and 2nd? I'm kind of glad I haven't seen that. I think people are going to at least tune in to watch Nebraska, which is

not nothing. But as doom and gloom, as this fan base has been sometimes, I'm a little surprised there hasn't been more. Yeah, just opt out. We don't care. Get the new people integrated. Yeah, yeah, I haven't seen that either. I suppose, again, after years and years of not going to a bull game,

it's just kind of like, well, at least we're here. and I think that that was so heavily valued throughout and it should be like I mean you missed what seven years of bulls 15 practices I mean you're talking about a lot of practices there close to 100 practices that the program could have used to to get better and so I think there's just a base level understanding that this is maybe good and at least the practices um you know even the experience whatever it might be. But there is, obviously, I don't even know if the line came down

from once Whittingham took that job. But it was like close to two touchdowns. Yeah. And I haven't seen sense. I mean, we had a, I think it was on the drive. They had Salt Lake City personality come in and say basically Nebraska can stop the run.

Utah might be in trouble. It's like, well, yeah. I'm still seeing Utah by 13 and a half, so maybe you're still talking about basically two possessions there. And so again, that's part of this whole, the whole discussion where it began is it's just it's somewhat of a mismatch dynamic of this bowl game because of the bull tie ends to begin with. But I don't know. It's hard to even put your feelings into, to kind of one place about all of it, just so many moving parts. But that's, again, that's called football now is so many moving parts and you just kind of take whatever's there, whatever they're going to present you. I'm excited for it. I mean, it's another chance for a Nebraska football game, a chance to see, you know, some of the younger players, a chance to see if T.J. Lateef can kind of rise, you know, so there's a lot of intriguing storylines on the Nebraska side of it. And certainly I'm happy that it's here and happy it's a few days away. I agree. Now, I don't know what Las Vegas can do to make it fun, like IQ.

is getting out on the text line, you know, do you introduce a slot machine, whoever spins it and, you know, hits jackpot first, gets the opening kickoff or the choice for the opening kickoff or something, I don't know. But IQ crew says, outside of the college football playoff, if more of the bowl games were like the Pop-Tarts potato or baked beans bowl, it would be more fun and fans would be more interested. I would love to know if those are actually more popular because of the gimmicks or if that's just a social media sort of phenomenon. Like credit to the Pop-Tarts bowl. It's become a thing, partially because of the Pop-Tarts that have entered the national conscience, but also because think about our two match-ups, Bob. The best season in Iowa

state history against the guy in Cam Ward that went on to be the top-picking the NFL draft by the Titans, that's a good matchup, even though he only played a half. That's the best season in Iowa State history against, oh, Miami, just on the doorstep of the playoff, they just fell out. Then this year, Georgia Tech, in the ACC, in the ACC, race till the end, one of their better seasons in recent memory against BYU. You know, runner up in the Big 12. That's a good hard-nosed matchup. So yeah, the Pop-Tarts have something to do with it. But guess what? That's a fun matchup that people wanted to watch. You think about the potato bowl. Guess what? That's a game that means something to mid-major, you know, more group of five type programs, right? Yes, it's become a thing

dumping the potatoes on them who wants to go to Boisey. Well, a team that's happy to play another game, happy to have another chance to lace them up and the chance to dump some fries on their coach, right? Is it because of the fries that's a fun game? Or is it because the teams are invest in care and want to be there in a fun match. I would argue it's more of the latter. And maybe the, you know, the French fries and the pop tarts are more for social media, which absolutely drives clicks, I get it. But I'd love to see the TV ratings for these bulls.

And if you could survey the people who are watching, did you watch for the Pop-Tarts or did you watch because of the football? I'd love to know. It's the only ranked matchup we've had so far outside the playoffs, obviously. And in Bull games, again, yeah, part of the, going back to part of the problem there. But that is a good point. And I do wonder, you know, there's obviously a lot that you could do in Vegas. I was wondering if the uniforms are going to be a little bit different or, you know,

kind of have, you know, hearts and diamonds and, you know, whatever littered across them. From what I've seen, they've got the patch, which is expected for any bull. But I think it would be worth it. Now, Nebraska this year, as far as mixing up the uniforms, have not gone too well other than where. Everyone loves blackouts, right, Bach? That went over without controversy. The Minnesota game, obviously, Nebraska, you know, put some pink in there.

That didn't work out well either. The Houston Christian did when you wear all red. But that was funny because Derask hasn't wore it all red for the longest time because they thought it was cursed. So they brought it out for Houston Christian where it almost couldn't bite them back. And hey, look, we're fixed. We're solved. Maybe what they need to do is go full Nebraska men's basketball and do actual

scarlet and cream. Yes. I would love that, yeah, at some point. Yes. Yeah. I don't know. That would be good for Vegas too. It would be. Yeah. Well, we'll see. We've got plenty more to talk here on one-on-one. We'll kind of get a little bit more to your text as well.

If you have any ideas of how to kind of mix up this Las Vegas bowl, make it somewhat like the Pop-Tart Bowl or jumping mayonnaise on the coach or whatever, you know, that is for some people. They love it. So let us know 402, 464-5685. We'll live back with more on one-on-one a 93-7-the-ticket. Download our app by searching 93.7 a ticket in your app store. You're listening to One-on-One with DP on 93-7-a-ticket in the Ticketfm.com.