This bit of news may mess with Husker fans' minds on this Thursday. Gary Patterson confirmed he interviewed for the Nebraska job after Bill Callahan was fired.

The Texas Christian coach told ESPN's Chris Low as much in a recent interview in which he said, "I interviewed and could tell they had already decided on Pelini."

Add Patterson to the list that includes Turner Gill (then at Buffalo), Jim Grobe (then at Wake Forest), and Paul Johnson (then at Navy). Those are the coaches former Husker athletic director Tom Osborne kicked the tires on before deciding to tab Bo Pelini as the man.

Before going too far down the "How could you?' alley, consider:

>>> Pelini, at the time, was a very popular hire with the fan base, given his success in Lincoln as a defensive coordinator in 2003 and the fact he was in charge of LSU's defense during its national title season in 2007.

>>> Patterson, while likely considered a slam-dunk hire now, wasn't quite to that level yet. He was at TCU then too. But this is when TCU was still in the Mountain West, so it wasn't known how his coaching would translate in a power league.

He'd gone 62-27 from 2000-2007 as TCU's coach, leading the team to double-digit win totals twice while in Conference USA and twice while in the Mountain West league. If there were any knocks on him at the time, it was that he was he had a few iffy seasons thrown in the mix. He had a 5-6 year in 2004 and was coming off an 8-5 season in 2007 when the hiring for the Husker job was taking place.

He also hadn't been able to show yet that he could win consistently at a school in a big-boy league. Given that opportunity the last six years, he has shown that, yes, he can do that just fine. Fine enough that any fan base would probably regret not taking him when it had the chance.

Patterson went 48-5 at TCU from 2008 to 2011 before the team moved to the Big 12. The Horned Frogs stumbled initially in the Big 12, going 7-6 and 4-8 the first two years. But since, TCU has gone 12-1 in 2014, 11-2 in 2015 and 8-1 this year. He did have a 6-7 season last year, but those are easier to stomach when surrounded by his other work.

Patterson told ESPN that Tennessee also passed on him, not thinking he could handle the big stage.

"I think a lot of these ADs now are more interested in hiring guys who're going to win the podium than they are in hiring football coaches, and there's a lot more to it than that if you're going to win championships," the coach said.

Osborne's pick, Pelini, ultimately finished a solid 67-27 in seven years at Nebraska, but took heat for being stuck annually in a four-loss rut, some embarrassing losses on big stages, and failing to deliver wins in conference title games three times.

Mike Riley has since gone 19-16, making Nebraska 86-43 overall with no championships since Patterson was considered 10 years ago.

Patterson was asked if he would've taken the Nebraska or Tennessee jobs if offered. The ESPN reporter wrote that he smiled at the question and told him, "It's sort of like the old Garth Brooks song. Sometimes the best prayers are unanswered prayers."