Big Red to Big Blue

Went to the Winnipeg Free Press' sports section to read Ed Tait's annual "Bomber Bowling" feature, which gives Blue Bomber fans a glance at who their home team is looking at in the slew of NCAA college football bowl games.

Opened up the paper, went to C1 and... literally made a noise comparable to a yelp mixed with a wahoo. It went something like "Ah!!"

Before I proceed allow me to just say I know full well how big the gun is that I'm jumping right now, but it's fun to do it.

So there on the page, staring back at me, was Nebraska quarterback (and some will say program saviour) Zac Taylor who has apparently found his way onto the Blue Bombers negotiation list.

From a guy who has longed for a Nebraska player to end up in Blue and Gold, let me just channell Keith Jackson here and say: "Ohhhhh nelly."

A little background perhaps on Zac. A native of Norman, Okla., home of the evil Sooners, Taylor was ignored by his hometown school and bounced from Wake Forest to Butler (Kan.) Community College before being recruited to come to rival Nebraska and lift Husker fans out of the doom and gloom that was the short-lived Joe Dailey Era.

In his first full season, Taylor was up and down as the Huskers adapted to the West Coast system but finished 2005 by helping Big Red win its final three games including the Alamo Bowl victory over Michigan. It was in that game that Taylor fully earned his reputation as a gamer and the confidence of the Nebraska faithful. He took an absolute beating but hung in and led the Huskers to a season-ending upset that had everyone immediately ready for 2006.

This season, he's continued what he started and — I at least — have been mournfully realizing that once Jan. 1 has come and gone, so too will have Taylor. He has passed for more than 3,000 yards, tossed 25 touchdowns, just seven interceptions — a record-breaking season on every level at UNL — and won over the enamoured followers like the protagonist in a Disney movie.

So perhaps one day I'll have the fortune of watching two of my football worlds collide and, obviously, I feel like the Bombers would be better off for it, although it's hard to say how Taylor would adapt to a CFL game. He's got decent mobility and if put in a situation where he can thrive off making quick decisions — like he does in the Husker offence — he's the type of QB who could one day really thrive in the CFL. Think young Dave Dickenson.

Taylor will at least get a look in the NFL, however. Perhaps depending on what he does in the Cotton Bowl on New Year's Day, Taylor is a lock to be drafted somewhere after being named the Big 12 Conference's 1st Team quarterback this season. That said, my never-ending desire to see a former Husker dressing for the Bombers (to my knowledge it's never happened before) is telling me that it's OK to go complete overboard on this one. (For that matter, I would like to see RB Cory Ross placed on the neg list, too. (At 5-foot-6 and slippery as all get out, think a future Charles Roberts without the drama).

So not wanting to see Taylor leave Nebraska combined with wanting to see a Husker go from red to blue, has me excited for something that will probably not happen for years down the road. If at all.

Zac Taylor, Winnipeg Blue Bomber. It looks good in writing too.