Corn Flakes: A Disconnect Between Darin Erstad's Toughness And His Team's

Nebraska remains at 7th place in the Big Ten Conference in the baseball standings. Not a ranking change from last week, but the gap between the Huskers and Michigan widened. The Huskers have a series at Northwestern this weekend, then at home against Purdue.

It's an understatement that they need the upcoming series against Northwestern. They have yet to win a Big Ten road game, so even though the Wildcats aren't very good, something will have to change.

Take a look at the recent losses. Of the last five, three have been by one run, three in extra innings.

They haven't won a Big Ten Conference game on the road, granted they played against two of the better teams in conference on the road.

AH! Excuses! They're always there when you need them!

Clearly there is a disconnect between the toughness that Darin Erstad exhibited throughout his entire career and that which his team has shown this season.

I don't know how you fix that. Maybe you change the line up. Maybe you just deal with things as they come. It still goes back to this quote from Augie Garrido, of all people, a quote you might have seen here before, and you will probably see again:

The hardest thing to teach is accountability and responsibility. There is always an excuse. Someone else missed a ball, didn't get a hit, or threw a bad pitch.

The problems are not unlike Pelini's football team, or Tim Miles' basketball team this season. They're not unlike why your projects are failing at work.

One bad loss could be understandable. A number of them, and there's a problem.

From the outside, it looks like a matter of ownership. You can work around people who aren't buying into what you're doing at work sometimes (not always), but if you're on these types of teams and there are one or two guys that aren't 100%, these types of losses happen.

This team is running out of time to figure it out. Nebraska looks like a lock for the Big Ten baseball tournament. Gee. Whiz. Okay.

This is how far the bar has fallen?

		Overall		Conference
		W-L-T	%	W-L	%
1.	Illinois	36-6-1	.849	13-1	.929
2.	Iowa	30-11-0	.732	13-2	.867
3.	Ohio State	31-10-0	.756	12-3	.800
4.	Maryland	30-13-0	.698	11-4	.733
5.	Michigan	27-17-0	.614	11-7	.611
6.	Michigan State	25-17-0	.595	9-6	.600
7.	Nebraska	30-16-0	.652	6-9	.400
8.	Minnesota	18-21-0	.462	7-11	.389
9.	Indiana	23-17-0	.575	6-10	.375
10.	Rutgers	15-27-1	.360	5-10	.333
11.	Northwestern	13-29-0	.310	4-11	.267
12.	Penn State	13-26-0	.333	2-12	.143
13.	Purdue	13-31-0	.295	1-14	.067

Ohio State baseball breaks 5-year rankings drought, enters D1Baseball Top 25 - Land-Grant Holy Land
After defeating ranked teams Louisville and Nebraska previously, Ohio State is ranked 25 in this week's D1Baseball poll.

WINNING TIME: IOWA SWEEPS NEBRASKA & STANDINGS/RANKINGS WATCH - Black Heart Gold Pants
Iowa won another nail-biter in the front half of a doublheader Sunday, then finished a sweep of Nebraska in dominant fashion in the nightcap.

The evolution of the Air Raid Quarterback: The Johnny Football effect - Football Study Hall
Johnny Manziel's wild success at Texas A&M may have changed how Air Raid teams evaluate quarterbacks in recruiting, and the result could be offenses that are more flexible than ever before.

Michigan State Spartans Football Recruiting: Messiah deWeaver - The Only Colors
MSU lands a four-star quarterback

The Curious Case of Willie Taggart - Underdog Dynasty

How has the USF coach recruited so well and won so little?

Taggart did really well at Western Kentucky.... but now?

Illinois' Tim Beckman explains Big Ten challenges and his mom's birthday - SBNation.com
A Q&A on recruiting challenges, rule controversies and more with the head coach of Illinois football.

NFL mock draft roundup: Nebraska's Randy Gregory remains linked to New Orleans Saints | NOLA.com
Projecting the Saints' picks present quite a challenge with the team possessing a few holes

2015 NFL mock draft: The big week is here - SBNation.com
Here's the fun thing about the draft. Gregory could be the pick for the Falcons at No. 8. The lanky pass rusher has that much skill. But he also could be out there for Atlanta in the second round because of his issues with drugs. I tend to believe the former is more likely, but don't be shocked by the latter.

Minnesota Gophers Football 2015 NFL Draft Profile: Maxx Williams - TE - The Daily Gopher
Maxx should be the first TE off the board, but where is he heading?

...So You Drafted Ross Travis - Black Shoe Diaries
Don't worry, he's a football player now.

KRVN Radio - NEBRASKA MAN ACCUSED OF TESTING NEW PICKUP ON RACETRACKA

Waverly man accused of testing his new pickup on the Eagle Raceway track has been arrested.

When I first saw this, I thought, "Well, whoopeee, some guy went out and ran his new pickup on a racetrack."

Eagle Raceway owners scramble to make repairs after vandalism - www.kmtv.com

The owners of Eagle Raceway say damages from vandalism over the weekend will add up to a lot of money.

Then I saw this, and it's like, WHOOOAAAAA. Now you know THE REST OF THE STORY.

Somehow this whole video makes sense.