Tom Dienhart, BTN.com Senior Writer, December 17, 2014

It didn?t take Bo Pelini long to find new employment, as he?s headed home to coach FCS Youngstown State.

Pelini has spent the past seven seasons as Nebraska's coach, where he guided the program to nine wins or more in each campaign, including 10 victories on three occasions. He posted a 67-27 record (.712 winning percentage) with the Huskers and guided NU to four divisional titles, but no conference championship titles. When you read all of that, it?s kinda hard to believe Pelini got canned. But, he did.

***

Scratch LSU?s Les Miles? name from Michigan?s wish list, as the Tiger boss has said he?s not leaving Baton Rouge.

 ***

Well, it?s official: Ohio State offensive coordinator Tom Herman will be the head coach at Houston but will remain with the Buckeyes for the playoffs.

Now, Urban Meyer is in the market for a new OC. So many options. Doug Lesmerises of Cleveland.com has eight thoughts on the subject.

My thought: Let co-offensive coordinator Ed Warinner run the show. But, I?m afraid that won?t be sexy enough for some who will want to hire an OC from the outside because, well, it?s always more ?exotic? to bring in an outsider than to promote someone that denizens already are familiar with.

I hope I?m wrong.

***

Who doesn?t like some nice photos? Here are some from a recent Michigan State practice as the Spartans prep to play Baylor in the Cotton Bowl.

***

Speaking of MSU, it seems Spartans A.D. Mark Hollis thinks the bowl ticket system is antiquated and needs to be changed. He has a good point.

Hollis said the emergence of third-party ticket brokers allows fans to purchase tickets at a cheaper price than Michigan State can offer them. As of Tuesday, online ticket brokers were offering seats for as low as $73. Michigan State's tickets cost $150 after it sold out of $50 student tickets.

Perhaps the lag in demand is because the Cotton Bowl really doesn?t mean anything-like most bowls. Bowls are just a trumped up 13th game played at a neutral field that come with big prices in faraway cities. What?s the end game? Maybe if these bowls were playoff games with something at stake that led up to something, demand would be bigger and selling tickets would not be an issue.

Just a thought ?

***

Congrats to Nebraska interim head coach Barney Cotton and Huskers? o-line coach John Garrison on joining the UNLV staff.

***

Penn State defensive coordinator Bob Shoop was impressed by true freshman safety Marcus Allen down the home stretch of the season. The kid is gonna be special.

Allen took over for the injured Ryan Keiser and started the final six games. Pennlive.com notes that his first start was kind of a big deal — the Lions' prime-time matchup with Ohio State. Allen made 11 tackles and broke up two passes. He finished third on the team in tackles with 52. If you project his numbers over 12 starts, Allen was in line for a 100-tackle season. Not bad, huh?

***

I?ll leave you with this neat story on former Indiana defensive lineman Victor Adeyanju, a computer geek who has transitioned nicely to the real world.

***

Michigan hoops wants to pursue 4-year deals in the hunt for quality non-league games. That?s noble.

Brendan F. Quinn of Mlive.com notes that college basketball's age of exempt tournaments, made-for-TV neutral court games between big name programs and conference-vs-conference agreements, like the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, have changed the face of scheduling. Programs such as Michigan no longer need to schedule true home-and-home deals to secure quality games. Those games are delivered via other means. The problem is, Michigan, along with some other programs across the landscape, still see value in home-and-home deals. I?m not sure why that?s the case. But, anyway ?

About Tom Dienhart BTN.com senior writer Tom Dienhart is a veteran sports journalist who covers Big Ten football and men's basketball for BTN.com and BTN TV. Find him on Twitter and Facebook, read all of his work at btn.com/tomdienhart, and subscribe to his posts via RSS. Also, send questions to his weekly mailbag using the form below and read all of his previous answers in his reader mailbag section.

And if you want to leave a comment on this post, use the box below. All comments need to be approved by a moderator.