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The Nebraska Men’s basketball team once again successfully defended the home court Saturday when they defeated Penn State. It’s back on the road Wednesday night against the Indiana Hoosiers, with a good opportunity to pick up that elusive Big Ten road win. By the time we do the show, we’ll know just how successful the attempt was. *Update - it was very successful.  Meanwhile, the Nebraska women’s basketball program is facing some unplanned scrutiny. While the team has won two in a row and four of its last six, it is accusations from the past that have popped up, putting a black eye on arguably Amy Williams’ finest season to date as the head coach of the Husker women. They will continue to prepare for Saturday’s game against Minnesota amid the lawsuits levied against Williams, the former assistant coach, AD Trev Alberts, and the University.  And how do you fight idiots online? One school of thought is to ignore them completely. But Greg saw something this week so repugnant that he could not let it slide. So prepare for rants against recency bias and click bait. IT WILL NOT BE CONDONED! 

Todd and I wandered through an hour long show and people enjoyed it somehow. I started out the show by letting everybody know I had been paying to no current events in football but instead I have been in studying the Ku Klux Klan because in 1924 when Notre Dame played Nebraska the Ku Klux Klan was involved and tried to disrupt the game and I’d like to do a history video about it. (I think it was the 1925 game, tho.) Todd has been watching baseball in Texas and we talked a bit about the Nebraska baseball team and their start in which they were probably more competitive than they’ve been in an opening series in the last decade. They looked good they just unfortunately lost two of the three games in the ninth inning. We talked about the wrestling team and how well they fared against Penn State and the fact that Penn State hasn’t lost a duel since 2019 The question came up of what was our favorite Nebraska football team ever or favorite season in Nebraska history and both Todd and I chose 1983 probably because that was the year we were there at Nebraska and got to watch Turner Gill and that offense in person and it was a blast There was a discussion about what Huskers you put on Mount Rushmore. Let’s face it there’s some great Huskers there’s not a lot of discrepancy between who would pick we people would pick between the the top four. Unfortunately like I told Todd it’s a list for old people by old people because we you really can’t the people that we players we’ve had in the last 20 years just haven’t had the teams around them to compete with the players we had before that so if you’re looking at a Mount Rushmore there is nobody that you’re going to pick in the last 20 years that would compete with some of the other people and that’s kind of sad. We talked about Tom Novak and I gave a short history lesson about who Tom Novak was and I should do a video about him as well.

No Huskers at the NFL Combine. Let’s be honest - it’s not totally unexpected. And it is our hope, nay, our EXPECTATION, that this may be the final year in some time that a Combine will come and go with no Huskers. Because Rhule-Aid tastes great. Yes, I hear myself saying it, and I know how it sounds. The Husker Women’s Basketball team may have hit a tough spot in Columbus last night, but that does not diminish the shine they had at Pinnacle Bank Arena Sunday, beating previously #2 Iowa Hawkettes and ol what’s-her-name. And in doing so, for the first time ever a Nebraska WBB player was named NATIONAL Player of the Week. At the same time Jaz Shelley was receiving her flowers, Ridge Lovett was being named Wrestler of the Week after his continued dominance. Good things ARE happening at Nebraska. So sip the Rhu-...kool-aid and jump on board now. Because like a lot of memes out there suggest, “if you can’t handle us at our worst, you don’t deserve us at our best.” GBR.

College baseball season is almost upon us! Nebraska plays college baseball, ergo you need to know about your favorite team. Who are the coaches? Who are the pitchers? Who are the infielders? Who are the outfielders? WHO’S GONNA MAKE THE RUNS! WHO WHO WHO! Oh yeah. Is there gonna be beer at the park this season?

Tonight we’ll be talking with Ramzy Nasrallah, a THE Ohio State Buckeye guy who runs (or kind of runs or maybe is involved with the Buckeye site 11warrriors.com. There is a lot going on with the Buckeyes: The Buckeyes have lost THREE STRAIGHT TO MEEECHIGAN As a result, MEECHIGAN has won the last three Big Ten Championships in football Many Buckeye fans feel Ryan Day should be fired... or not? that’s the question! Ohio State just hired a new Athletic Director away from Texas A&M... (odd?) Ohio State just hired UCLA’s head coach Chip Kelly as offensive coordinator There’s probably a lot of portal and transfer stuff going on because Ohio State can afford anything We discussed the future of football, ala the Big Ten and SEC forming their own alliance, including how out loud that is about what’s going to happen in 3-5 years. Any other questions?

One of the most beloved Huskers of all time announced his retirement as Rex Burkhead let it be known that he was hanging up his cleats. The 33-year-old was a sixth-round draft pick in 2013 and spent his ten year NFL career among the Cincinnati Bengals, New England Patriots, and Houston Texans.  While at Nebraska, the Plano, TX native rushed for over 3,300 yards and 15 touchdowns. He was All Big Ten in 2011. But perhaps Burkhead’s greatest accomplishment was the relationships he forged with the Team Jack Foundation, making Jack Hoffman and pediatric cancer household names.  Mr. Burkhead...we salute you!  The Husker men’s basketball team went into the Land of Lincoln for back to back games in the last week, losing an overtime thriller in Champaign Sunday before being outplayed by Northwestern Wednesday night. So that stings. I know the Big Ten is a tough conference to win road games, but the inability of this team to close out teams on the road or, in the case of the game against the Wildcats - play to their potential, is mind boggling.  Wednesday was National Signing Day, and while most players put ink to paper in December, a few others held out to the old traditional NSD, and one of those prospects is a safety that Matt Rhule and Company flipped from Wisconsin. We’ll also have a story that Dominic Raiola shared about his son Dylan and Kirk Herbstreit.  And the Super Bowl is only a few days away so we throw out some predictions.  We set a date for our Young Guns viewing AND have some Husker tattoos to share.  It’s a god time to be alive.  GBR!

Todd and I showed up well prepared as always. I was so well prepared that I forgot to put on my robe and had to take a moment to change my garb for our live show on Monday night, the best Husker Update show in the universe. Todd has been watching more basketball lately than he ever has in his life. He genuinely seems shocked by the amount of basketball he’s watched. We spent the first part of the show talking about men’s basketball because it’s the first time in a very long time that we’ve had a team that is this watchable and fun. They came back in an amazing win against Wisconsin after being down by so many points but then lost to Illinois on the road in overtime. We talked about officiating, we talked about whether or not the team needs a point guard and what that means and what anything about basketball means because we’re really not that good at it. Todd talked about wrestling for a bit and we both talked about this new thing where the Big Ten and the SEC are basically teaming up to let everybody know that they’re in charge of college sports now. There was an announcement today that the National Labor Relations Board stated that the Dartmouth basketball team is employees. This doesn’t mean much by itself but it may mean something huge down the road. I’m not sure what that is yet. Once again, the chat and the questions from our wonderful community carried the day.

Five Heart is on Wednesday this week due to men’s basketball on Thursday night. And that’s where we begin our show, talking about the Huskers against the #6 Badgers at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Can Nebraska dethrone he top team in the conference once more? Can Fred Hoiberg guide his team to another masterful upset?  Attrition is starting to come to Nebraska football. OL Ethan Piper is no longer listed on the roster, and neither is Kaine Williams.  And Greg just stumbled upon a running back in his town who has an offer from Nebraska. We’ll learn more about Dierre Hill Jr.  Nebraska wrestling had a dominant showing against Wisconsin and have won four straight conference duals since the Big Ten opening loss to Iowa. The Huskers sit at #4 and host Illinois on Sunday.  And if there’s time, Michigan wasted no time finding a head coach to replace Jim Harbaugh, promoting Sherrone Moore to the gig. What type of mess will he inherit? 

Anthony Broome of On3 joined us to discuss the 2023 Michigan Wolverines! We had a friendly but lively discussing, including: Did Michigan cheat their way to a national title? Is this an overblown bunch of booey? Is everyone else doing it? What is a Michigan Man? What did Ohio State have to do with all of this? Where is Connor Stallions! What’s he up to these days? What about Sherrone Moore, new Michigan Football coach? Was Jim Harbaugh going to go to the NFL regardless of what happened at Michigan or is he fleeing the sanctions? Is Moore the right guy for the job or was he just a good pick because Michigan saw how many Alabama players fled into the portal upon the hiring of Kalen DeBoer? What does the Michigan fan base think of this year? ALL this year? Are Ohio State fans insane that they think they’d be good with any coach? What will college football do without Jim Harbaugh? (He’s a great quote, alla the time!)

CONTEXT!  Matt Rhule gave a clinic to Texas high school football coaches titled “Winning in the Red Zone.” This has been an area of concern for the Huskers in recent years. Nebraska had a 69% (nice) success rate in the red zone last year. That was good for being tied for 127 out of 130 FBS schools.  One could argue that Nebraska’s biggest issue last year was holding onto the ball long enough to make it to the red zone. Matt Rhule’s squad had just 28 trips inside the opponent’s 20 yard line, scoring on 20 of those. That’s roughly two and a third trips per game. And WE NEED MORE! So hopefully whatever Matt Rhule told these high school coaches will be seen on the field by the Huskers in 2024 and going forward.  Also, oh boy, the Nebraska men’s basketball team put on a show at PBA, cruising past an Ohio State 83-69 on Tuesday. Next up is a road trip to Maryland on Saturday and then next Thursday Reink, Keisei, and the rest host the Wisconsin Badgers.  Meanwhile, he Husker women’s basketball team is 13-6 overall and 5-3 in the conference and will go up against the Iowa Jerkeyes this Saturday and apparently the most dynamic or impressive athlete in the whole wide world. So...pray to the deity of your choosing that Caitlin Clark’s flop after the Ohio State game did irreparable damage to her ego and tailbone. Look, I know it’s not ballet, but you could have fooled me with her dancing skills.  Looking forward to one of my favorite times of the whole week. 

We finally had a show on Monday night that’s supposed to be a Monday night show for the first time in well before Christmas that Todd and I were last together. We talked about a number of different subjects. We discussed the men’s and women’s basketball teams and their standings in the Big Ten. Nebraska men’s basketball is currently tied for fifth while the women’s basketball team is in fourth place in conference. We had a discussion about wrestling and how Nash Hutmacher is extremely agile for as big as he is as a heavyweight and as a huge guy. Todd talked for a bit about multi-sport athletes and why it’s a good thing. Someone asked our opinion on whether or not Kaelin DeBoer would be successful at Alabama. We discussed where people would rank Nebraska quarterbacks since Eric Crouch and there were a number of them. People had a lot of different opinions on the matter. We discussed Caitlin Clark’s latest run in with a fan on the floor at the Ohio State game. People discussed the fact that Caitlin is both an exceptional basketball player and a good flopper. I pointed out that she’s not our player so it’s perfectly well and good that we make fun of her and tear them down when they lose. I will be jumping in a frozen lake or a cold lake this Saturday and I hope that you can contribute to my donation so I can raise $500 to give to the Minnesota Special Olympics. SEE BELOW! Also, if you’re looking for history videos, this offseason I will be doing a lot more with my Hardcore College Football History channel. We’ll still be having live shows and I’ll still be doing some videos on the Corn Nation channel, but my focus will be on history for most of the offseason.

I realize that the title for this looks like it belongs on the daily Flakes. Lots going on.  Dylan Raiola is not the only future Husker who participated in the Polynesian Bowl, which perplexes me entirely because I thought you had to have Polynesian heritage to play in the game. But looking over the participants, that is NOT the case (looking at you, middle America’s Carter Nelson). And with all the worries about long snapper, is there one to be found playing among future Huskers in Hawai’i?  After topping the number one team in the land, the Husker MBB team has slipped slightly, losing road contests to Iowa and Rutgers, with the loss to the Scarlet Knights coming in overtime. That is not how you follow up the biggest win in over forty years, and it’s not helping to make the case for a tournament bid. Sorry, it’s just not.  And Minnie’s been working up a chart that shows how Matt Rhule’s staff is comprised of people he largely knowns and has worked with in the past, including new quarterback coach Glenn Thomas.