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Bye College Week Reads - October 8th, 2012

In today's Reads, Nebraska enters their bye-week, Volleyball sweeps the state of Indiana and a repeat SEC-SEC BCS title game looms.

By Salt Creek and Stadium
Greg Bartram-US PRESSWIRE - Presswire

Nebraska traveled across the country to Columbus, Ohio where they once again came face to face with their greatest enemy: themselves. Once again, Nebraska was frightened out of their minds and played to suit. While Ohio State played well enough to beat Nebraska on a good day, Nebraska elevated them to the level of a veteran team under a veteran staff, something Ohio State is not, on either count.

There is a bit of unrest in the Nebraska fan-base. Questions that we were promised would be answered haven't been and our defense, Pelini's specialty, is looking positively Cosgrovian against good talent. With two weeks until Nebraska travels to Evanston to take on another mobile QB in Kain Colter, I suspect there will be some desire to vent. I can understand that for many of you, it is sites like ours here that allow you to work through your frustrations without it spilling out into your day to day life. I invite you to do so below or throughout this week.

In fact, you should join us right here at Corn Nation tonight at 8pm CDT. The CN Staff will be hosting a live chat where you can chime in with your frustrations, comments and analysis.

My only request here on out is that if you are going to make a complaint, if you are going to cry for someone to be fired or some player to be benched is this: that you ask yourself, would I say this if we had won on Saturday? Under what conditions?

And be honest with your answer. We really want to know why people feel the way they do - something with more substance than "BO PELINI SUCKS" or "TAYLOR MARTINEZ IS TERRIBLE" or "FIRE COTTON". Give stats, give reason. Step beyond trolling.

And for the love of God, don't compare anyone to Tom Osborne or I'll send Cobby after you. 1995 is over and done with. You all aren't giving Pelini 25 years to reach that point, so why would you expect him to outperform Osborne? Compare Pelini to his colleagues and peers. That's the only fair way to approach this.

When you can't rationalize your view, you end up firing Frank Solich and hiring Bill Callahan.

Don't hire Bill Callahan. Be rational.

I still have faith in this team and these coaches. #teamsunshine may have started as a joke and now it'll probably be more so. But I'm going to continue to be the optimist.

There are places for improvement for our Cornhuskers, sure. But they're not done yet. I'll support them until the season is done.

I hope you'll join me.

Checkdown Pass:

To control their destiny, winning out is a must. Any losses from here on out takes Nebraska's fate out of their own hands. Minnesota, Northwestern and Michigan all present mobile QBs - it's going to be a long road. Not impossible but a big challenge.

Is there a golden bungee cord though? Nebraska might need his calming influence in December.

Yesterday on CN:

The Big Ten, other than the Buckeyes who are being home-schooled, spent the week making terrible macaroni sculptures. Mom and Dad looked at them, patted little Johnny Big Ten School on the head and then threw the sculptures out.

Football (4-2, 1-1 B1G)

Recaps

"It’s a team loss and we’ve just got to move on from here," Martinez said. "We still have everything ahead of us. This game really didn’t matter either way. If we win out we’re still going for our goal."

While Taylor isn't the most eloquent, it's important to note that Nebraska can still reach Indianapolis and Pascedena. But it's going to take a mental reboot of this team. Lucky for Nebraska, Minnesota, Michigan and Penn State all come to visit Lincoln. They'll just need to find some way to win at Kinnick, East Lansing and Evanston.

Commentary

Husker fans shouldn't hit the panic button yet, though. Hitting the panic button in 2003 gave us four years of Bill Callahan. Taylor Martinez shouldn't be benched, and coaches aren't going to be fired tonight. And in no way should redshirts be burned.

What Nebraska learned: ... The Huskers simply can't be taken seriously as a Big Ten power until they plug the leaks on defense, eliminate turnovers and beat a league titan on the road.

It's getting ugly when Sipple starts asking where the wagon is headed.

I'm more worried about Pelini doubting himself than I am about anything else. Love him or hate him, we're not replacing him mid-season. If he starts doubting himself now, how is his team going to have the edge to even compete?

Maybe time to get some sports psychology going in the locker room.

Pelini's comments suggest that he, too, is growing impatient with the same results in different seasons. He clearly does not know how to solve the problems that plague his program, especially in big games.

The trench is where it starts and ends in the Big Ten.

Stories That'll Probably Get Blown Out of Proportion

I'm guessing it was an honest mistake. That being said, Ohio State's security or SID officers should've kept them from entering the field.

Team Jack

Jack Hoffman is sadly still sick but thankfully 13-month old Jack Lees is not.

Volleyball (13-2)

Volleyball had a better weekend, sweeping the state of Indiana.

Softball (6-2)

Women's Softball goes 3-1 over the weekend to close out the fall season.

Nebraska rode a powerful offensive performance to an 11-2 victory over UNO in game one Saturday, before Tatum Edwards' one-hitter pitched the Huskers to a 1-0 victory over Colorado State in game two.

Powered by the big bat of Ashlie Ortega, Colorado State scored 11 runs over the first three innings and added single runs in the fourth and fifth frames to defeat Nebraska, 13-8, on Sunday.

The Nebraska softball team used a pair of big innings and a second straight outstanding start from Tatum Edwards to conclude its fall schedule with a 13-0 victory over UNO on Sunday.

Soccer (6-7-1, 3-3-0 B1G)

Mayme Conroy's first career hat trick and the 31st hat trick in Nebraska soccer history came at just the right time as Conroy's third goal of the game powered the Huskers to a 3-2 overtime win over the Wisconsin Badgers. After taking a 2-0 lead in the game, the Huskers (6-7-1, 3-3-0 Big Ten) won their first overtime game of the season just over one minute into overtime to drop the Badgers to 1-4-1 in conference play.

Rifle (1-0)

Husker Rifle moves to 1-0 on the season.

Big Ten (44-23; DNP: Iowa, Minnesota)

Taylor Martinez used to do this.

Anyone who is surprised probably thought Wisconsin would do well.

Oops. Not entirely our fault.

Apparently ESPN still isn't giving up on Nebraska, though the Rose Bowl isn't ours in the projections. If ESPN doesn't give up on this team, why are you?

Michigan has it figured out, why don't we?

Going 6-0 to finish is going to be a tall order. It's possible...but it'll be difficult.

Big Ten surprise contenders: With the Big Ten in shambles in September, experts starting touting Northwestern and Purdue as perhaps the best bets to win the conference title. Well, Northwestern blew an 11-point lead to Penn State, which is something a conference championship contender can't do. Then Purdue was dismantled by Michigan, 44-13. That will put the talk of Purdue perhaps being the best team in the conference on hold as well.

At this point, you'd be better off spending your money on lotto tickets.

Other Stories

Hey, at least we'll get some variety in the BCS final 5. South Carolina/Florida vs Alabama, anyone?

See? Someone else had a bad weekend too.

Kind of glad we're not playing ISU every year. I'm not sure Nebraska fans hearts could take this much pride.

The honeymoon is over in Pasadena.

***

How They Did: A Look at Our Upcoming and Past Opponents.

Click the link for a recap of each team's previous game.

Date Opponent Last Week This Week Record
9/1 Southern Miss vs Boise State, L 14-40 @UCF (3-2) 0-5
9/8 @UCLA @Cal, L 17-43 vs Utah (2-3) 4-2
9/15 Arky State @FIU, W 34-20 vs South Alabama (1-4) 3-3
9/22 Red-White Scrimmage*


9/29 Wisconsin vs Illinois, W 31-14 @Purdue (3-2) 4-2
10/6 @URBZville vs Nebraska, W 63-38 @Indiana (2-3) 6-0
10/13 BYE


10/20 @NU @PSU, L 28-39 @Minnesota (4-1) 5-1
10/27 Mitten @Purdue, W 44-13 vs Illinois (2-4) 3-2
11/3 @Mitten State @Indiana, W 31-27 vs Iowa (3-2) 4-2
11/10 Penn State vs NU, W 39-28 BYE 4-2
11/17 #teamKill BYE vs NU (5-1) 4-1
11/23 @Iowa BYE vs Mitten State (4-2) 3-2

Overall: 40-22*

* I stopped scoring Idaho State.

***

Yes, they beat us. Yes, it was like they were playing NCAA football on Freshman against us. But hey, their band is pretty good and coordinated.


And let's end with some humor from NEBRASKETBALL COACH TIM MILES

Have a good Monday everyone.

Go Big Red! Win the Bye Week!

-Salt Creek and Stadium

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!)

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