By Wendell Barnhouse | wendell@big12sports.com
Big12Sports.com Correspondent

Before he made his striped shirt debut before 77,936 fans at Nebraska's spring game, official-for-a-day Ed Cunningham was worried that if he tripped and fell, he'd wind up with more YouTube hits than Susan Boyle's appearance on "Britain's Got Talent."

The closest he came to catastrophe was a balky Achilles tendon.

"I literally exploded my left Achilles covering a deep pass," said Cunningham, a college football analyst for ABC/ESPN. "It's an old football injury and it takes a long time to get it loose. That would have been embarrassing to get hurt.

"Bo Pelini got a kick out of that. I'm just glad they didn't throw it deep very often."

The Nebraska coach and athletic director Tom Osborne signed off on having Cunningham serve as the side judge for the Red-White game on April 17. Increasing transparency and knowledge of the officiating process is an ongoing project for Walt Anderson, the Big 12 Conference's Coordinator of Football Officiating.

Cunningham, who played collegiately at Washington and had a five-year NFL career, came away with an understanding that he hopes to share with viewers during future telecasts.

"I'm going to empathize a lot more," he said. "I can now feel what they're going through and have a much better sense of why something was called or not called. Every sports fan sees an official on the screen, something happens right in front of them and they don't make a call.

"In football, you've got seven guys officiating 22 players. Each one is watching a very specific area. The little nuance of a call in front of an official that might not have been his responsibility … that's what I think I can get across to viewers."

Cunningham did the first half of the Nebraska spring game with veteran side judge Gene Semko serving as "training wheels."

"I think the benefit of having someone like Ed officiate a game is that he'll be able to defend officials in terms of why something happened," Semko said. "I think he'll get on us when we miss something. He walked away with a greater appreciation of how hard we work and how we prepare."

During the game, Semko was in Cunningham's ear helping him review his pre-snap responsibilities. In the second half, Cunningham was flying solo.

"I wanted to make him as comfortable as possible," Semko said. "He took it very seriously and was really prepared. Before the game, I tried to help him with his stance, how he moved. In the second half, I stayed as far away as I could. He needed to experience it without me there.

"He did a wonderful job."

Semko likes to carry a note card for each game that reminds him of certain areas that need extra attention. Cunningham had prepared similar reminders but they fell into the "War And Peace" category.

To prepare for his one-day officiating gig, Cunningham attended a three-day seminar in San Antonio in March. He also reviewed a DVD containing 726 different plays. That helped him to visualize what he would be going through on the field at Memorial Stadium.

"It's one thing to know the rules but it's another to apply them," he said. "Then, you've got to know what your job is. Each of the seven officials have a very specific job. You hear the term 'mechanics' and I thought I knew what that meant but I found out I didn't.

"I think one of the biggest misconceptions is that the officials show up a few hours before the game, puts on his uniform, throws some flags and he's back home that night eating supper. Take the travel and the games out of it … I'm guessing most officials spend eight to 10 hours during the week preparing, critiquing themselves."

Cunningham's preparation was miniscule compared to the due diligence performed by officiating crews during the season. He came away with a greater realization of the work and the dedication displayed by college officials.

"I knew it would be intense," Cunningham said. "I knew the level of focus that you need, that I would be exhausted at the end of the game. The pre-snap … there are so many things you have to do. Then, when the ball is snapped, you almost have to remind yourself of officiate the play. What I had to do before the snap was an eye opener and the biggest challenge."

Among Cunningham's pre-snap duties: Counting the number of defensive players on the field; checking for substitutes entering from his side of the field; checking the game clock (should it be running or stopped; reminding the referee after a penalty when the clock should start again); checking the formation to see which players on each side he is responsible for.

That's a full plate … which starts to overflow when a crew works a game where one or both teams use a no-huddle offense. His fellow officials kidded Cunningham that he was lucky he didn't wind up working the Oklahoma or Texas Tech spring games.

"I told Ed he had it easy with the Nebraska game," Semko said. "They were huddling every play."

So, Mr. Cunningham, did you throw a flag?

"I did … and I'm getting hammered for it," he said. "I had a personal foul, defender tackling a running back, helmet-to-helmet. On the (Nebraska) message boards, people are all over that. One guy, though, stood up for me. I'm not sure a lot of people knew I threw the flag; I tried to hide as much as possible when I told the referee about the penalty."

Cunningham was working the same sideline where Pelini was prowling. The rookie official recalled that there was a flash of protest where the Nebraska coach was seriously protesting the call.

"For about five seconds, I think Bo was going after Ed forgetting that it was Ed," Semko said. "Pelini didn't like the call. He laid into Ed like it was Gene Semko. Then he realized who it was … but he still said it was a horrible call, then just kinda laughed."

The personal foul call was the only time Cunningham's flag left its pocket.

"I went in hoping I wasn't going to call one," he said. "That was kinda embedded in my mind by the crew. 'Keep the flag in your pocket today, rookie.' But that play, when you're in the moment, I didn't even know I had thrown the flag. You're focused on player safety first, enforcing the rules second."

Cunningham walked off the field realizing that officiating a game can be addictive.

"All of the (guys on the crew) warned me I would get sucked in," he said. "You are a part of the game. It was a spring game but I took it very seriously. You have a sense of responsibility and it's intensely competitive.

"I'm not giving up my day job but I really enjoyed it. It was a fulfilling, cool experience."