The Reads: Got It!

The big story of the weekend was Nebraska hoops' sweep of Iowa. (Nebraska now leads 15-3 in all sports this season.)

• Let's start with the men's shocking 64-60 victory over Iowa, likely extinguishing any hopes of an invitation to the Dance for Iowa. As David reported in the recap, the game played out like so many other games against the Big Ten this year until the final minute. But rather than letting the fat lady sing, Nebrasketball finally took the game by the horns and closed out with a victory.
• Here's Nebraska's very own Kent Pavelka on the call:

• Crazy, crazy, crazy. Congratulations to Tim Miles on matching last season's Big Ten mark and going plus-one on the season, with four more games to go. Will Nebrasketball steal another win? Stay tuned! The men travel to Madison this Tuesday for a second shot at the Badgers. Tipoff is at 8pm Central on BTN.
• The women, not content with Nebrasketball taking the spotlight from their fantastic late season run, demolished Iowa 66-46. It was truly a team effort, with all nine Huskers who saw the court scoring at least a field goal. The women travel to Madison this Wednesday night for their final B1G regular season road trip. Tipoff is set for 7pm Central. There will be no television broadcast but the radio call will be available at Huskers.com as well as Husker Sports Network affiliated stations.
• Of course, the Devaney Center is entering a new chapter of its long and storied life. In a nostalgic recollection, Barfknecht makes it sound like the place is being torn down, but I think that's an inappropriate way to view this. We're giving new life to the Bob while finally allowing basketball to grow beyond "that sport we waste time on during January waiting for NSD" and "that sport we waste time on before spring practices".
• One amazing fact about the Devaney Center that I didn't know is that it will close out its basketball chapter having hosted winning home records for basketball since its opening in 1976. Here's hoping that PBA and volleyball can continue those winning traditions for basketball and the Bob, respectively.
• In this week's reminder of how insanely tough the Big Ten is, No. 4 Michigan State lost to No. 18 Ohio State. This leaves Indiana as the team to beat in the Big Ten, and I'm not sure there's any team in the country that can take them down - they've stepped up their game at the right time and are finally playing like the No. 1 team in the country should. And now that I said that, Indiana will lose this week.

Moving into Nebraska's other athletic events from the past week or so:

• Nebraska baseball is off to its worst start since World War II, going 0-fer in their 3-game series against Texas this weekend. Here are the Huskers.com recaps from Game 1, Game 2 and Game 3. While the losses certainly aren't the best thing in the world, they came against excellent programs. Our pride may be hurt but Nebraska's goals remain intact so now's not the time to give up on the Fightin' Erstads. Look for a post-mordem from James later this week. The 0-7 Huskers host New Mexico in their home opener this Friday at 2:05pm.
• Softball (11-4) had a slightly better weekend, picking up a win against No. 23 Florida State. Unfortunately, errors doomed them against No. 9 Oregon and the women dropped a heartbreaker against No. 8 California. They travel to Oklahoma this weekend, taking on Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.
• The women's tennis team (No. 15, 11-1) dominated Wyoming this weekend, going 7-0 in match play. They take on Kansas State this coming weekend.
• Nebraska Rifle took third at the Great America Rifle Conference in Oxford, Mississippi this weekend, finishing behind WVU (1st) and Kentucky (2nd). They were only two points ahead of Army.
• The No. 10 Nebraska men's gymnastics team did not have as good of a weekend in Iowa as the basketball teams, dropping a heartbreaker against the No. 8 Hawkeyes. Both squads stayed within three points for the duration of the duel. They return to the Devaney Center this weekend to take on No. 2 Oklahoma.
• Nebraska's swim and dive team finished ninth in the Big Ten championships, setting four school records over the course of the championships. (Minnesota took the B1G crown. Northwestern won this round of the All Sports NU trophy competition.)
• The Big Ten completed indoor track competition this past weekend in Geneva, Ohio. The women finished second overall, behind Illinois while the men managed a fourth place finish. The combined squads won six events, including a sweep of the long and triple jump events.

Now for some football news:

• The East Stadium Renovation is about more than just football. But you already knew that. One thing though -as an academic-type who LOVES sports, I take offense at suggesting academics and athletics are an "odd couple". Football is a game of physics, risk management and human physiology, to name just a few disciplines of academia. Even history plays a huge part - I mean, look at the Big Ten. So, please. Don't call it an odd couple. The fact that it has taken this long for an athletic department to take advantage of the academic side of the university is actually a depressing state of affairs.
• In case you missed it last week (I did), former Nebraska defensive assistant coach Mike Ekeler is leaving his co-DC position at Indiana to become Lane Kiffin's new LB coach at Southern California. I don't know what to think about this. It's worth noting that Kiffin basically revamped his entire staff. Time will tell if it'll work out or if he's just rearranging deck chairs. (h/t to Brian for pointing out that I was behind on this story.)
• Hail Varsity put together their own preview of Nebraska's 2013 roster: defensive backs, defensive line, offensive line, and quarterbacks. We also recently previewed Nebraska's special teams. And don't forget to check our Husker Football 2013 hub for our other previews and all your Nebraska football news this season!
• Hail Varsity also shared an old (?) copy of Nebraska's defensive installation. I think Jon linked to this last week so if you've already seen it, I apologize. I did a really good job of avoiding things the past two weeks. Regardless, my takeaway here is that I think we scaled back our linebacker's expectations last season and I would think with the youth movement on defense more of the same is coming this fall.
• Of course, Steve Sipple has an interview with Pelini which would suggest otherwise. I'm not sure I agree with Pelini's assessment here (I don't like characterizing us as a top 5 defense in our ten wins), but then I'm not being paid 3 million a year to coach defense, am I?
• Rex Burkhead, known as RB08 at the Combine, did pretty well, reports our very own Brandon Cavanaugh. (PERSONAL PLEA: Dear Chicago - I know you hate drafting good players but please, draft Burkhead. Thanks! Salt.)
• Brandon also took sometime out of his Combine watching to answer some fan mail. Why not send him some questions through our Facebook page? (Search for Corn Nation!)
• Texas Tech might be sporting some new helmets to go with their new, non-Tuberville head coach. Brandon will have to weigh in with his Seal but they look nice. BUT NO, WE WILL NOT BE CHANGING OUR HELMETS, STOP ASKING.
• Jim Delany, finally over his courtship of Notre Dame, now eyes North Carolina, his alma mater. The only problem is that they're a member of the ACC. OH, and Jim Slive is also interested in North Carolina. DRAMA.
• Yahoo! Sports is reporting that the NCAA board has given a vote of confidence to Mark Emmert. In our experience as football fans, we know that this means absolutely nothing and more often than not simply means "we're not firing him right now, please give us some time to come up with a really good excuse". Because I guess bungling the Penn State and Miami investigations and taking forever on the Oregon case aren't sufficient cause for removal.
• Oh, and Pete Carroll had some words to say about the NCAA. I thought it was funny when he said it took them five years to target one guy at Southern California. It's almost like he's offended the NCAA didn't find more people.
• Jackson State, a FCS program is turning all those SEC cupcake games into a $200 million domed arena for football, basketball and whatever else can fill 200 days out of the year. For the sake of FCS teams everywhere, I hope the SEC doesn't change their scheduling philosophies.
• Former Nebraska QB and graduate assistant Mark Mauer was arrested and charged for solicitation in connection to a prostitution sting this past week. It looks like he's had a bit of a journeyman career since his time at Nebraska, including a stint as a car salesman. Hopefully he'll find a way past this though it's doubtful he'll remain head coach of a high school team, especially one that prides itself on "Christian values".

That's all for today! For the rest of the week, you can expect shorter Reads articles or mere open thread prompts. But I promise to deliver an in-depth look at all of Nebraska's weekend sports every Monday.

And don't think I didn't notice y'all misbehaving while I was away.

AND NOT ONE NEW RECIPE WAS POSTED. What's up with that?

The debut of "Cookin' along the Ol' Salt Creek" will be next week (because I've been busy) but y'all need to get back to work on those recipes. The next episode (after the inaugural one) will require FIVE NEW RECIPES to unlock.

So, y'all get back to work on your cookbook submissions. We'll be voting on WEDNESDAY for the recipe that I will prepare for the inaugural food post.

Have a great Monday! I know I will!

-Salt Creek and Stadium