This week, Nebraska stays home to take on the Idaho State Bengals, a FCS school located in Pocatello, Idaho and part of the Big Sky conference. The game will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network, for those of you who have it (sorry Dish customers), with kickoff at or around 2:30 PM CDT.
Go Big Red!
In today's Reads, Joe Ganz talks grad life, Idaho State's coach loves ice cream and Tyler Moore commits to Florida. Those stories and more below.
Baylor takes on Louisiana-Monroe, Arkansas' nemesis and Auburn's nightmare, tonight at 7pm CDT on ESPN.
Join us for the game-thread and let's see what Jon says! Go Warhawks!
Congratulations to Rex Burkhead and Gina Mancuso for their nominations for the CLASS award!
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The Check Down Pass
Hope your local bar has good fare. This could start getting ugly in a week.
Bo Pelini went to the hospital on Saturday and in doing so, gave us all a little perspective of his decision making. Maybe we can all learn a little something from that.
"He turned out to be healthy, which didn't surprise me," Carl said. "I know he's a very healthy guy, and he takes his health seriously and gets a physical every year, which you've got to do in coaching."
Not just coaching, in my opinion. Take care of yourselves, everyone!
More Nebraska football news and other stories after the Jump!
This morning on CN:
Will Miles' position assignments to his assistant coaching staff result in the loss of Coleman and the loss of recruiting momentum?
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Yesterday on CN:
Hey, listen to this and let Will and Jake know what you think!
No injuries and don't let Idaho State be a South Dakota State or Appalachian State.
We're a fickle bunch.
He'll ask people at bars to give him questions if you don't. So please, send him questions!
Welcome back, young man.
THIS IS GOING TO BE GREAT.
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N for ‘Nowledge
Very cool!
Football (2-1)
Take a hit of the Steel-Aide and find Nebraska in Indianapolis in December. #teamsunshineULTRA
"You didn't see a lot of that last year," said the wide receivers coach after Wednesday's practice.
Have to catch the ball first, Golf Coach Fisher. (Great job this season!)
Players
Hopefully the offense continues to take advantage of our tight ends.
"They are all deserving." Beck said. "Just because Rex is back doesn't mean we are going to push those guys away Saturday. They are a big part of our offense and they always have been, and they will continue to be a part of our offense."
RUNNING BACK CONTROVERSY.
I like Nebraska's trend towards the hybrid linemen/linebackers and corner/linebacker, but only as long as we can get the athletes who can play that position.
"But he's becoming more aware of, ‘OK, big plays are going to happen within the system. If I throw it to the right guy in a certain coverage, we're going to get a big play. It might be a 5-yard throw where Jamal or Quincy or Kenny takes it 30. That's a big play.'"
Man, being a grad student sounds TERRIBLE.
Opinion
Frankly, it sounds like many of these players are trying to link two different eras of football. Nebraska hasn't lost it's culture. It's a new game. Get over it.
McBride thinks good things are coming if the players keep their heads down and execute.
Idaho State (1-1)
Expect Nebraska to run Idaho State over, despite their 3-4 look.
"I'm a big guy, fellas. You put ice cream in front of me, I'm gonna eat it," Kramer said on Wednesday's Big Sky Conference coaches teleconference. "When Nebraska comes on the table, you want to be a part of something like that for the experience of it."
I hope we're something good, like peanut butter ice cream with chocolate swirls!
A test for our secondary after two weeks of balanced attacks.
Volleyball (8-2)
Fans can listen to all of the action with John Baylor and Lindsay Peterson on the 25-station Husker Sports Network, including B107.3 FM in Lincoln and The Wolf 93.3 FM in Omaha. Fans outside the state will also be able to catch the live audio feed for free on Huskers.com.
Have no fear, Dish customers - there is no BTN feed (it's a football day). Good luck ladies!
Basketball
Both the men's and women's teams continue to hunt for nonconference opponents to open the arena against next fall. Boehm said the men are focusing on "Big 12 teams, high-caliber Missouri Valley and high-caliber mid-major" teams.
Offer Missouri two games in Kansas City and a game in Columbia for a game at Pinnacle.
Big Ten (26-10)
Before you write angry letters to ESPN, keep in mind we're only a quarter of the way through.
IDAHO STATE at No. 25 NEBRASKA
Adam Rittenberg: Superman (Rex Burkhead) returns and breaks off a big run early to show Huskers fans he's just fine. The coaches wisely don't overdo it with No. 22, and Ameer Abdullah and Imani Cross combine for 300 rush yards and four scores. Nebraska breezes through its final tune-up before Big Ten play. ... Nebraska 49, Idaho State 7
Brian Bennett: What, you weren't impressed with Idaho State's win over Black Hill State last week? The Cornhuskers make mashed potatoes out of the Bengals on both sides of the ball. Taylor Martinez completes 13 of 15 passes and throws two scores and a bevy of backs finds the end zone in a romp to welcome back Bo and Rex. ... Nebraska 56, Idaho State 10
No one's as optimistic as me, as you'll see in today's prediction post!
No one wants to watch Nebraska, I guess. That's fine. We do better when no one's watching.
Perhaps Bucky isn't down yet. Nebraska better bring their A-game next Saturday.
It's official. Stave wins the job because he's a better game manager.
Fullback to running back? Good luck with that.
Well, there's a loss. Unless you're taking STEELE-AIDE.
Nebraska defense is going to have its hands full in two weeks.
Other Stories
Happy trails, Tyler.
As long as companies like Under Armour (which does Utah's gear) keep trying to outdo each other, we're sure to see a steady stream of interesting uniforms from just about every team.
STOP. You, you there. Nebraska fan. Asking for more wardrobe changes. You be quiet and look at what we got for the Wisconsin game. Why would we want to risk that again?
How about we let Rich get more than half a season at Arizona before crowning him the Fresh Prince of the Pac-12?
Get him a scholarship!
And they say coaches are stodgy people!
If you want people to stand the whole game, why not get rid of the seating? Also, the ND commercial is rather...off-beat...for Notre Dame.
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Join me every morning Monday to Friday for a round-up of the day's stories. Comments, rants and cat pictures are welcome below! (Not a member of CornNation? Join today and take part in the conversation!)
Have a great Friday! Remember to join us for the Baylor vs ULM open thread! GO BIG RED!
-Salt Creek and Stadium