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Nebraska Fires Callahan; Orgeron Out At Ole Miss

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The Associated Press

Published: November 25, 2007

Updated: 11/25/2007 12:22 am

LINCOLN, Neb. - Under Coach Tom Osborne, Nebraska was one of the bullies of college football, a program to be feared.

Under Coach Bill Callahan, the Cornhuskers were too often the ones getting pushed around.

After watching Callahan's Huskers for five games, Osborne, in his new role as interim athletic director, decided it was time for change.

He fired Callahan during a five-minute meeting Saturday.

"We used to be a team people hated to play," Osborne said during a news conference, "because they felt it for two or three weeks."

Callahan left the football complex without speaking to reporters.

The move was expected after the Huskers finished 5-7 with Friday's 65-51 loss at Colorado, a game in which they squandered an 11-point halftime lead by allowing 34 consecutive points.

Callahan had said after the game he enjoyed his time at Nebraska. "I have no regrets," he said.

Osborne said he had told Callahan in late October that the coach would lose his job if he didn't have a winning record this season. The Huskers kept losing, and losing big, with five defeats by at least 18 points. That included a 76-39 embarrassment at Kansas, the most points allowed by Nebraska.

MISSISSIPPI FIRES ORGERON: Ed Orgeron was fired as Mississippi's coach Saturday, a day after the Rebels blew a game against their big rival to finish the season 3-9 and winless in the Southeastern Conference for the first time since 1982.

His departure ends a tumultuous three years in Oxford at 10-25. The ouster came after Friday's loss in which a fourth-and-1 call by Orgeron started a 17-point rally by Mississippi State that ended in a 17-14 defeat.

TEXAS A&M: Aggies defensive coordinator Gary Darnell was named interim coach Saturday, a day after Dennis Franchione resigned.

Darnell served as interim head coach at Florida in 1989 after Galen Hall was fired, going 3-4.

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