Hey all. First off, I'm not dead. Spring break allowed me to enjoy a blissful week cut off from the outside world, and then life struck back with an avalanche of homework and a hard drive failure on my laptop. So we've got some catching up to do, let's talk baseball.

The Huskers have stumbled a bit since taking a 3-0 series lead against the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs a couple weeks ago. In their last 11 games, NU is just 6-5, losing eyebrow-raisers to non-BCS foes Louisiana Tech and Northern Colorado, while frankly embarrassing themselves last weekend against Northwestern. On the brighter side of things, the Huskers notched a couple of nice wins against a solid Kansas State squad and won their first ever Big Ten series 2-1 over the Fighting Illini from Champaign, Illinois.

I said it a few weeks ago, and I'm saying it again today: this is the reality of Nebraska baseball right now. We have a young, inconsistent team. When these guys are focused and playing well, they are really legitimately good. When they play poorly, they can lose to pretty much anybody. I believe that Darin Erstad's team has it in them to make a substantial run into the post season. Unfortunately, in order to do that, they must not lose highly winnable games. Good teams take care of business. Going out to Chicago to play a Northwestern team that was something like 8-14 at the time should have meant a sweep for the Huskers. Dropping a game to the Wildcats was bad. Losing the series was an embarrassment. The Huskers are not a good team right now. They are a very talented team with a very high ceiling, but until Coach Erstad marshals that talent and gets his team to realize their potential, we will continue to scratch our heads after losses like this.

I don't mean to come down hard on Erstad by saying these things. He inherited a young team and also inherited a culture of apathy and losing that developed over the last few years. These are very difficult things to overcome, and I have no doubt that they can't be overcome in one year. In the intermediate to long run, however, Erstad's success or failure will ride on whether or not he can harness the talent on his team (and make no mistake, this team is talented) and build it into a consistent winner.

On to the game reviews for the past week:

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While most of us were fixated on our tv's as the NCAA Basketball Tournament presses on, the Nebraska Cornhuskers (14-7) finished up their series with the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (10-10). After taking game three and the series 11-4, the Huskers let their youth show through as they stumbled in game four, losing 6-5 and letting the chance for a sweep slip away.

As conference play draws near, I think we have a decent feel for what this team is: pretty talented, a lot of potential, but young and prone to let downs. After winning the first three games of the Louisiana Tech series by a combined score of 42-9, I'd say its not unreasonable to say NU probably should've won game four with ease as well. Being a burned out student on spring break, I wasn't able to attend the game, but I'd put pretty big money on that particular NU effort looking a lot like the 4-0 loss to Cal.

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Hide the women and children, this series has gotten ugly. The Nebraska Cornhuskers (13-6) blasted the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (9-9) through the first two games of the weekend series to the tune of 31-5. For those wanting a little shock value, these are the same Bulldogs who beat 2011 CWS participant Vanderbilt 9-3 two weeks ago. For those wanting a little reality, Vanderbilt is just 7-10 so far this year and LaTech has lost 6 of their last 8 contests, including a 3-1 loss in Omaha against the Creighton Bluejays on Wednesday.

Even still, its been an impressive showing for the Huskers so far against the Bulldogs. NU messed around for a bit on Thursday before ultimately pulling away for a 9-2 win. Today, they were aided by a full scale Bulldog meltdown in a 22-3 win. Nebraska really seems to be building some momentum as they've now decisively won four straight games and have absolutely blown LaTech's doors off so far in the series. What's more, Nebraska hitters ate deep into the Bulldog bullpen on both days, stretching an already thin pitching staff, raising hopes that NU will be able to break out the brooms after Sunday's game.

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Nebraska (11-6) took to the field for the fifth time in five days Tuesday against the South Dakota State Jackrabbits (2-9-1) and came out with a lopsided win after a slow start. Three Jackrabbit errors and Husker runs in their last five frames helped NU dig out of an early hole and cruise to a comfortable victory.

Having SDSU follow Cal on the schedule was somewhat fortuitous as NU didn't look like it had a whole lot in the tank early on. As the game went on though, NU's batters warmed up and the pitchers began to control an over matched SDSU squad. Like many young teams, NU seems to be driven by momentum and stymied by a lack of it. We saw it against Cal, with huge offensive runs in games 1, 2, and 4 while being completely shut down in game 3. We saw it again Tuesday as the Huskers seemed stuck in neutral for three innings and then went off for 12 runs in the next 5 innings.

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My apologies for getting this up so late, life intervened.

Nebraska (10-6) got a big win over California (11-4) on Monday at Haymarket Park, drawing a 2-2 series split with the ranked Bears. After a slow start that resembled Sunday's dud, the Monday contest returned to the form of the Friday and Saturday contests with batters on both sides teeing off on apparently outmatched pitchers.

The game represented yet another instance of NU falling into a hole early followed by the offense blasting its way into a shootout. With this fourth data point, I feel confident in saying that the Sunday game was the oddball game and that my initial diagnosis of Cal and Nebraska being stronger at bat than on the mound was correct. NU's reliance on the offense to show up means that Nebraska is likely a team that can win against or lose to just about anyone at any time. A major job for Erstad moving forward will be finding ways to keep his team motivated and ready to play.....like, oh say, against a small South Dakota school immediately after NU downed a ranked west coast school the day before?

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After a huge rally in defeat on Friday and an impressive win yesterday, the Huskers (9-6) came into today's game at Haymarket Park hoping to ride the momentum to a 2-1 series lead over the California Golden Bears (11-3). Did not happen. In front of 2,351 fans on a cold and wet day, the Huskers struggled mightily against six different Cal pitchers, registering just three hits and suffering their first shutout loss of the year.

From my point of view, it looked like a lazy day at the plate for the NU batters, who watched strike after strike go by, falling behind in the count and then popping up or grounding out after just three or four pitches. By contrast, the Cal hitters battled in every at bat, fouling off pitches, forcing the NU pitchers to throw strikes and eating deep in to the count seemingly every time they stepped up to the plate. Their efforts paid off as Cal managed to gut out four runs on 13 hits in spite of a game effort by Husker pitchers Tom Lemke and Dylan Vogt.

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The Nebraska Cornhuskers (9-5) met up with the California Golden Bears (10-3) for the second game of a four game series today at a sunbathed but windy Haymarket Park. The 5,298 fans in attendance today were not disappointed as the Huskers erupted for ten runs in the 6th, 7th, and 8th innings, paving the way for the biggest and most impressive win of the young Darin Erstad era to date.

Today's game evens the series at one game apiece and also defines this series as an offensive one. Through two games, Nebraska has scored 20 runs to Cal's 16. Both games featured wild stretches where pitchers seemed helpless against the onslaught served up by opposing batters. We will see if this trend holds in the last two games of the series, but it certainly doesn't look like either team has the pitchers to control the others' batting lineup.

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Well that was an adventure. The California Golden Bears (10-2) blitzed Nebraska (8-5) out of the gate, leading 7-0 through three innings. The Big Red didn't give up, riding four runs in the 5th inning, two in the 8th and two in the 9th to tie the game at 8-8 sending the battle into extra innings. After a scoreless 10th, the Bears dinged NU closer Travis Huber for a three run 11th, giving Cal their margin of victory, 11-8.


I have to say I really enjoyed this one. The weather was spectacular and the game was wild. I got to sit at a picnic table with two very entertaining gentlemen, both of whom had some insightful things to say about the game and the direction of the program. One of the more sobering remarks that I think was both accurate and deserving of being repeated here is that the move to the Big Ten is not good for the long term prospects of Husker baseball. We have by every measure the best facilities and best supported baseball program in the Big Ten and we should do well in that respect, but that's about it. Our move effectively shuts us off from a regular top tier competition which seriously hurts our ability to bring in top tier players. To an extent, I think we saw the effects of a talent gap today at Hawks Field. By and large, I felt the Huskers played well today, played with poise, and frankly played with better overall fundamentals than Cal did. But it was Cal that made the spectacular plays, it was Cal that had that extra step that allowed them to beat out a throw to first, or to keep a ground ball from escaping to the outfield. It was those special plays of athleticism that made Cal the better team today.

On to the recap:

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I dislike these games. Regardless of sport, whenever you play a Division II team, you're placed into a no-win situation. Prohibitive favorite against a fired up opponent. Roll and you've done what you should've done. Struggle and you fail to meet expectations. Lose and....well lets not think about it.

Nebraska (8-4) met up with the Lopers of the University of Nebraska at Kearney (5-7) today in chilly overcast conditions at Haymarket Park. For most of the day, the teams had little trouble getting men on the bases, but struggled to plate them. Nebraska scored a run in the 3rd inning and added three more in the 6th before UNK answered with one in the 7th, giving us the final of 4-1, Huskers.

More after the jump.

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Nebraska defeated Kansas State today in its home opener at Haymarket Park in front of more than 4000 fans and under some absolutely gorgeous weather served up by Mother Nature. The game itself was a back and forth affair with KSU charging out of the gate and dominating the early innings while Nebraska controlled the middle of the game with the 'Cats mounting a late surge that ultimately came up short.

On to the recap:

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Ok, I have a confession...I'm one of those fans that loves bowl discussions, projections, and hypotheticals.  It's a big reason why I love the bowl system and oppose a playoff.  Anyway I was watching BTN's Football and Beyond tonight and they were talking about the Big Ten's chances of a second BCS berth.

Obviously the only possibilities are a 10-2 Nebraska or a 10-2 Michigan, but the analysis struck me as interesting.

Basically, here's what one of the analysts said based on his "contacts" in the relevant bowls:

The Fiesta Bowl badly, badly wants Oklahoma-Nebraska, and if OU doesn't make the NCG and if NU finishes 10-2, it's happening.  The Fiesta's had a rough year with the scandal and last year's dud of a game.  NU/OU would be a huge coup for their bottom line and ratings.  If Michigan was the 10-2 team, the Fiesta would take Stanford and let Michigan fall to the Sugar Bowl.

The Sugar Bowl would love Michigan.  For that to happen, Houston must lose as they are automatically in if they win out and the Sugar gets left holding the bag in that scenario.  The Sugar Bowl is in a tough spot if Alabama is the rep from the SEC as there's literally (in my opinion) nobody available to them who could make it a game with the Tide.  At least with Michigan, they'd have a big game brand-wise.

So there we go.  Obviously all of this assumes Nebraska doesn't make Indianapolis, which is a bit of a disappointment, but I don't think there's a fan on here who wouldn't feel better about things with a matchup with OU in a BCS bowl.  We'll know much more about our chances after Saturday's huge game in Ann Arbor.  Even with a 10-2 record, there are no guarantees until the announcements are made, but it's still fun to speculate about right?

So, I was planning on going to church today, but I woke up still feeling crappy from my weeklong battle with the flu and since God clearly wears burnt orange pajamas to bed at night anyway, I figured it wasn’t really worth it.  So instead you all get to read my ramblings about Husker football!

So understandably, a lot of people are upset about the Huskers dropping yet another home game in the regular season that they had no business losing.  Diagnosing the problem isn’t difficult: the Huskers had a let down against a dangerous team.  We were elated over curb stomping Sparty and looking ahead to our trip to Happy Valley and “jNW” as our friends over at BHGP like to call them, kicked us in the ass.  Following the game reaction on twitter, facebook, and elsewhere I saw people questioning whether Pelini has what it takes to get it done at Nebraska.  After all, each of the past three seasons, a ranked Husker team has lost in Memorial Stadium to an unranked visitor (2009, 10-31 TTU, 7-9 ISU), (2010, 13-20, Texas), (2011, 25-28 jNW).  Now, don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a good thing.  Memorial Stadium needs to be the place where unranked visitors go to get slaughtered, not to derail NU’s season.  But what I’ve been hearing is essentially “this never used to happen, so Pelini must be the problem” and that’s what I’ll be addressing today.

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Howdy everyone!

Like I mentioned in a few threads, I will be writing up a brief wrapup thread with some closing thoughts and to say goodbye.

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Howdy folks!  I have to say its good to be back here (again!) as this has been hands down my favorite opposing blog to hang around in the week running up to the game.  I know both Gekko and John have picks to make, so I thought I'd give you all a Nebraska-eye view of the 2011 Cornhuskers.

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The NCAA Seattle Regional is going on right now.  And wouldn't you know it, it's Washington vs Nebraska.  It looks like NETV (our PBS station) and UW TV are cooperating to broadcast this one.

UW largely dominated and ultimately won the first set 25-16. NU rallied in the second set, going on a 10-2 run to finish out the set, winning 25-20.

Amidst all of this Holiday Bowl stuff, I think we tend to forget that we both have pretty good volleyball teams.

The following is an attempt by me to explain a few things from a Husker's point of view about this bowl arrangement.  In this, I might say some things that might be interpreted as demeaning to UW.  I absolutely do not intend to do so.  Please understand that I have a lot of respect for your program, and I believe it is on the way up.

That said, anyone who ventured over to Corn Nation undoubtedly noticed that the reaction to this bowl was.....tepi---awww screw it, we're pissed.  I'm going to try to explain the why, because it really honest to God has nothing to do with Washington being "unworthy" to play us.

For starters, this has been a really bad weekend anyway. A lot of the more disparaging posts that you might see over on CN results from people being pretty fired up (in a bad way) over extremely fresh wounds.  We barely missed out on our conference's championship for the second year in a row.  That cemented our season as a failure.  We failed to beat Texas, we failed to win the conference.  Those were our goals, and we fell (albeit barely) short.  That our 3 losses were by 7, 3, and 3 points only adds to the agony. 

Then there was the Big 12.  The Big 12 engaged in petty little jabs all season to aggravate Nebraska.  One of our players became the first to get suspended by the conference for an in-game hit that wasn't particularly notable as far as helmet to helmet hits go.  Then highly questionable officiating occurred in two games that we lost.  Then they refused to present us with our divisional trophy citing safety concerns due to some nasty emails (that the police didn't feel were credible enough to investigate).  And then today, reports almost immediately surfaced that the Big 12 essentially threatened the Insight Bowl with disaffiliation (the Big 12 has to downsize its bowl commitments in future years) unless it took Missouri instead of NU.  That denied us a rather appealing matchup with our neighbor and soon to be Big 10 rival, Iowa.  So our anger is almost exclusively directed at our soon-to-be (THANK GOD) ex-conference.

Last is the general frustration with the situation.  It was a season of high hopes that ultimately fell short, although 10-3 with 3 narrow losses is by no means bad.  And now, in our bowl game, we are given an opponent that we've already beaten comfortably, who will have a losing record should we beat them again.  This game gives us absolutely no avenue for redemption.  If we win by 40, it doesn't mean much.  If we win narrowly, its an unsatisfying reminder of how we limped out of this season.  If we lose (which is possible...not likely imo, but definitely possible).....it would be an utter disaster. 

There is nothing that we can salvage from this game.  Our season died when our team choked away a 17-0 lead yesterday.  And we're sick about it.  Nothing that happens in this game can heal the hurt that we're feeling right now.  Even a lopsided win would be a hollow win.

I'm sorry if you didn't want a WoT moaning and groaning about how hard life is for poor Nebraska.  I just felt it necessary to explain the negative energy that is coursing through our fan base right now.  It's not you.  It's us (and our motherf*@!$#& conference).

That said, of all the teams we've played this year, your board was my favorite to visit, and I'm glad to have an excuse to come back and talk football with you guys (and I promise I'm done reflecting on our season).

One last addition after thinking about the situation further:  It's not right to make this all about Nebraska.  It's not.  I genuinely feel bad for you guys as well.  This should be a time of celebration for you.  This season represents a significant breakthrough for UW.  And when you finally get a bowl bid......its against a team you've already played who's fan base is seething right now.  Whatever you do, don't let our negativity ruin the moment for all of you.

It seems all of the experts have our teams coming down to the Insight Bowl to get our rivalry kicked off a year early. If this proves accurate, screw calling it the Insight Bowl.

Nebraska and Iowa, welcome to the What If Bowl!!!

No, seriously, our teams took shockingly similar paths this year.  High expectations, derailed by 8 combined losses by a combined 31 points.  That would be by a whopping 3.9 points per game.  The most lopsided losses were a 7 pointer by Nebraska to Texas and a 7 pointer to Arizona by Iowa.  How close were these teams to breaking through? I'd say change the outcome of about 5 plays for each team and they're both in BCS bowls.  In these two teams combined 17 wins, exactly TWO of those wins were by less than double digits.  I think its fair to say that both of these teams are better (in Iowa's case MUCH better) than their final records.

Since both of our teams are anchored by strong defenses, it seems pretty likely that our bowl game will be a low scoring nailbiter ending once again in heartbreak for one of our teams.  Oh well.  At least this game will mean something in a bowl game that is otherwise irrelevant.

Anyway, I thought I'd kick off some Husker-Hawkeye discussion before we're all consumed by hatred for each other.  And of course, all of this is contingent on the experts actually being RIGHT about Nebraska and Iowa's bowl destination.

UPDATE: Looks like the Insight took Mizzou over NU.  Kick their asses please, and we'll see ya next year.

Perhaps I'm taking this a little too seriously because of our proximity to a very depressing/frustrating/enraging loss.

But right now, Twitter is absolutely on fire with rumors that Taylor Martinez has quit the team.  I overheard a couple of people comment on it here on UNL's campus, and people are panicking over on Huskerboard as well.

A couple of things make me nervous about this.  One, Martinez is an 18-19 year old kid and likely has all the insecurities of a freshman.  That berating Pelini administered last night was........pretty harsh.  Second, I've heard some comments here on campus about how off the field, TMart is a bit of a whiner and isn't overly popular on the team.

Now all of this is hearsay, and it could be nothing, but I think now would be a good time to start praying to the football gods to show a little mercy.  Bowl eligibility could be a concern for next year if Cody Green is our only option at quarterback.