I’ll be honest, I haven’t been looking forward to writing the blog this week. Not just because we lost but because losses like this one tend to bring out a really ugly side of this fan base and it just brings me down. Plus, I don’t know what else there is to say about how the football team played against Michigan State that hasn’t been said already. Oh well. Here we go.
There isn’t much to expand upon for the first point. We looked flat from the get go and never picked it up. We had flashes throughout the game but nothing sustained on any level. Defense wasn’t what it should have been. Too many special teams issues. Offense was…the offense. We saw it happen with Iowa against Minnesota – when you rely on one part of your game and it doesn’t play up to it’s standard, you have ugly games. And this was an ugly game. I’m not going to sit here and call for a new QB. Or say that HH is a bad QB. Because, frankly, it’s exhausting and doesn’t interest me as a talking point. There must be a reason they haven’t put Chubba in. Maybe they will this week. I don’t really care. Those coaches know more about what’s happening with these guys than fans who watch a three hours of them a week and think they’re experts. It’s just not interesting for me to talk about it right now. It’s probably why I get so tired during the off season.
Losses like this also are tough to keep in perspective that we are in year 1 of (another) rebuild. We’ve already won 5 games. We’re ahead of “Matt Rhule Year 1” schedule. We have three chances to get our “bowl eligible” win. When was the last time that happened? With a brand new coaching staff? And a depleted offense? I’m not saying 5 wins is enough but let’s try to remember that this is a good rebuild. We’re learning to win. We’re learning about important games in November. We’re figuring out how to play through adversity. Maybe we don’t win another game this year (I hope not!) But we are being set up for success and we already see it now.The next three weeks are critical for so many reasons. Yes, winning any of them gets to a bowl game. But we also will prove something with a victory in any of them. Maryland has an explosive offense. If we can beat them, it proves the strength of our defense against a strong air game. Plus beating a B1G East team at home to get to a bowl game? Wisconsin has had our number basically since we joined the B1G. We got them in volleyball. Imagine the hurdle we’d get over (mentally) if we beat them. Plus, there are still some Nebraska fans who wish we had hired Luke Fickel so maybe there’s some pettiness there on my part to prove them wrong and shut them up. Plus…beating Wisconsin for a bowl game bid? COME ON. Iowa. I mean…do I need to say more? Remember how fun it was to ruin their season last year? And how some of their fans’ true colors were exposed? There’s a few who deemed themselves as “nice to Nebraska” Iowa fans until we lost and suddenly…well everything became very aggressive and attacky from them. (Although maybe also us beating their MBB didn’t help…I digress). End the season strong, get to that bowl game. Sensing a trend? The path to six still exists. I really hope we get there.
That’s kind of all I have to say about football. I could rant and rave about the refs. The TD that wasn’t. The PI that wasn’t called. The first down that wasn’t spotted correctly. The INC pass that was called a fumble at the end of the drive. Another facemask on a qb that wasn’t called despite being in the middle of the field. Yes, the team needed to play better. But asking for a fairly officiated game shouldn’t be dependent on how well or poorly a team plays.
Speaking of starting slow, I will admit to being very nervous about our volleyball game against PSU. That first match was…well…about as ugly as I think I’ve seen this year. They looked slow, out of place, like they didn’t realize they were playing volleyball. The second set looked better, even though we lost. You could see the girls start gelling again and it gave me a little hope. But…just a little. Going into that third set, I was sweating. I didn’t stop sweating until we completed the reverse sweep and sent the Nittany Lions packing on their own court. Save your white out, kiddos. The next volleyball match was significantly less terrifying. A sweep was quite the balm for our broken souls. 24-0 is the best start since 2005 (where we started 28-0).
Coming up: Nebrasketball Season officially kicked off on Nov 6. All four games will be discussed in the next blog but so far, so good from the men and women (MBB is 2-0, WBB is 1-0 with a 20+ pt lead with only 5 minutes left in the game). ALSO – our women’s team was picked LAST in the B1G this year???? We’ll need to discuss this at some point… Soccer takes on South Dakota in the first round of the 2023 NCAA Women’s Soccer Tournament (spoiler alert, they win) Volleyball will take on Illinois on Nov 12 (NPM/B1G+) Only a few more weeks before our rematch with the Lisconsin Badgers in Madison. Football, as you know, take on the Maryland Terrapins this weekend, at home. I think it’s a benefit for us to be at home with mid-November Nebraska weather (although, idk, Maryland gets cold and windy, right? I don’t know that much about Maryland except that I hate their flag). Hopefully the fans show up and stay loud to cheer our boys onto a bowl game.
Look, I have no excuse for this post being late. I just didn’t write it and then it was time to get ready for the next game so I just didn’t. So I’m combining two weeks into one post (mostly so I get them both posted but also because I can do what I want). So let’s get this roast a cooking with the NU Bowl and that thorn in our volleyball team’s side.
Look, we won. That’s big for us: conference win, after a bye week, against a team that we’ve struggled with in the past, again. TWO IN A ROW, kiddos. And like our coach said, there isn’t a team on our schedule we can’t beat. But there also isn’t a team on our schedule that can’t beat us. Every game from here on out is going to be tight. And probably “ugly”, especially given the continuing offensive woes that are plaguing us. We lost two? three? four? more players after this game (some we’ll get back before the end of the season, others we won’t) so I think we’ll need to keep that context in mind moving forward. Things are not going to magically look prettier each week – especially given our upcoming opponents. I have a little benefit of being late in saying that Purdue and MSU will probably be our “easiest” games and even Purdue was able to take advantage of our “ugly” offense at times. These are still P5 teams. The one things these teams likely WON’T take advantage of (thanks to 2nd Half Season Maryland) is our defense. It’s been a week so as I’m rewatching the condensed game on BTN+, I’m reminded that we gave them the ball on our side of the 50 TWICE in the first quarter and only gave up 3 points. Our defense is NASTY and that’s what we’ve been asking for since the Pelini era. When Matt Rhule was hired, I was told by insiders that we were going to be very Iowa-like: stifling defense, complimentary offense. And that’s what we’ve got. Referring to my point earlier, this offense has been particularly rough due to a variety of factors (specifically the injuries) but we lead Nebraska-East in all offensive categories (also total defense. They only have us in avg punt yards). So, yes, this offense has been painful to watch at times but I have to believe it will only improve as we continue to build. But we are a defensive team. Defense is our identity. And maybe that makes for some less exciting games than our new B1G friends on the West Coast, but as fun as a big reception is, I love a hard tackle better. Gimme a lineman who just pummels a QB in the backfield or an interception or even an Isaac Gifford “I’ve got your ankles and I will NOT let you go” special any day. Especially for my own team. Defenses win more games than offenses. Without them, you’re basically just hoping your offense never screws up (see last year’s Georgia Southern game or any number of CU or USC games this year). Right as I type that, Malachi Coleman gets his first TD on what might be the most beautiful pass Heinrich has thrown all season. Our local boys have been having themselves a SEASON on both sides of the ball. Reimer (born in Kansas, went to high school in Nebraska), Boerkircher, Sanford, Hahn, Haarberg, Gifford, Coleman, Piper, both Bullock brothers, Henrich, Alvano, Lloyd, hell Fidone is from Council Bluffs which is close), and I’m sure there are more I’m missing. I love everyone who plays for us. As a local kid who has listened to others (in and out of the state) say that we’ll never be good because there isn’t enough in-state talent…
Yes, the game was ugly. But it was an ugly win, which I’m told is better than an ugly loss. Remember when we kept saying the timeline was: Lose big Lose close Win close Win big. Guess what? We’ve lost close a lot. Now we’re winning close. And that usually means ugly. Buckle up. We’ve got some time before we get to that win big stage but it’s going to be a f*cking blast once we get there. Let’s enjoy the ride.
Speaking of close wins…this is the part where I need a second to compose myself because every time I talk about what our volleyball team did on Oct 22, 2023, I get a little emotional.
Back in September, it felt like Stanford the first real test our young team would face, knowing that everything was leading to our matchup with Wisconsin. I was so nervous when that Stanford match started – we were so young and hadn’t been tested, and Stanford has gotten us in the past. Take that feeling x10 when the Wisconsin match rolled around. Wisconsin is a big (physically – Anna Smrek is 6’9″ and Carter Booth is 6’7″, which is entirely too tall for anyone. Spread the wealth, ladies), experienced (9 of their 15 players are seniors or grad students), and have kicked our butts for 10 straight matches. We have two players who are 6’5″ and 0 players who are seniors or older. Despite our season and our talent and all of the things that we have going for us, it felt daunting. It felt like we were just going to get completely outplayed. I didn’t get to watch the game live (I KNOW), just like I didn’t get to watch our Championship game against them a couple years ago live. I was expecting something similar – push it to 4 or 5 sets – with a heartbreaking ending. I love this team, I really do, but it’s that PTSD associated with those stinking badgers. Instead, I got text updates:
I got home that night around 2am and fell asleep, knowing I’d get to spend my Sunday morning watching the Match of the Century knowing we won. Is that cheating? Yeah probably but it didn’t make it any less stressful. It was … EVERYTHING it was hyped up to be. The two best teams in the country *should* go to five. The 5th game *should* end 15-13. Every set (except the second) were close, as they should be. Is it a bummer that the game ended with a net violation instead of a kill or block or ace? Sure. As a Nebraska fan, do I care? NOPE. I loved getting to see the entire team celebrating – from the players on the court to John Cook IN THE STUDENT SECTION because they basically stormed the court.
It’s funny, even knowing we were going to win, I don’t know how we did it. I honestly…I’ve watched this match so many times and am still in complete awe of what those young ladies were able to do. I think I’ve said it before but the absolute poise of this team is unbelievable. They never got rattled. They just kept swinging. Harper Murray is maybe the best individual example of that – she didn’t exactly put up stellar numbers throughout the set but when it mattered in set 5, she was ready. I wonder if fans really understand the level of talent on our team. And I don’t mean that to say our fans are dumb or unobservant. Or that they don’t appreciate the talent. But maybe the magnitude of what this team is and could be? Because I don’t know if *I* totally got it until this game. The way Lexi makes every dig look easy. The way Laney is earning her way to the libero position once Lexi graduates. Bergen’s court vision. Murray, Beason, Battenhorst’s abilities to twist their bodies to make shots. The speed and strength of Allick and Jackson. The selflessness of Orr, who was a highly touted setter and is now a phenomenal service specialist, because that’s what her team needs. And THEY’RE ALL FRESHMEN, SOPHOMORES, AND JUNIORS. Mind boggling. If you ever want a fun game within a game when rewatching these matches, rather than watching the players, watch the ball. Watch the spin slowly disappear with each touch on offense. It’s absolutely beautiful.
Are we all fully recovered yet? No? Me neither but we have to turn our attention to the choo choos who tried and a couple of volleyball foes out east.
“Last week” I said ugly games would be a thing moving forward. I guess you could call Purdue an ugly game (and not just because they’re black and gold), especially with the early and late game turnovers, but it had the feeling of Northwestern ’21 for our crew in the sense that it seemed like things were c l i c k i n g better than usual for this team. And, let me speak for the Purdue fan sitting next to me in the stands (hold your boos, he’s a self-proclaimed #RhuleMaker and is kind of good luck for us) – Nebraska in those first three quarters looked like a team that was ready to win the West. Our defense was, not surprisingly, a WALL. Breaking up passes, stopping runs, sacking qbs, TACKLING FOR LOSSES. In the month of October, Nebraska’s defense has had 25 “rapid possession changes” (INT, Fumble, TO on downs, 3 & outs) and allowed 24 points. THAT SEEMS GOOD (shout out to Ben Stevens for the stat). I can’t find the tweet that showed how many of our players had gotten at least one TFL this year but it was…impressive. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, this is the defense we know and love.
It’s not just the defense for us this year. Say hello, special teams! Sure, we could do better with our punt returns and kick off returns, but let’s put that on pause (because it’s still better than where we have been lately). Instead, let’s welcome back to Nebraska Football a special teams touchdown (Although you haven’t been gone for too long because of that BEAUTIFUL blocked punt for a TD by Malcolm Hartzog last year vs Indiana). And if you’ve been paying attention, you’d know Q was primed for a score at some point this year
A crazy long field goal? Sure, let’s get some ST points that way, too! 55 yards for the freshman leg.
Fun story – the last time Nebraska kicked a crazy long field goal? 2008, when Alex Henery (somehow) kicked it 57 yards to beat Colorado. That’s fun but what makes it EXTRA fun is that for both of these kicks, one man was on the field. That man was Ryan Walters. Oh. I’m sorry. I’ve been told by that Purdue fan sitting next to us that “that is NOT a fun fact”
Extra fun fact about Tristan’s kick? He’s a homegrown Nebraska boy. Let’s think about some of our longest scoring plays this year (I’m sure I’ll miss some). Heinrich Haarberg 72 yard TD run vs LA Tech Malachi Coleman 44 yard TD reception vs Northwestern Jaylen Lloyd 73 yard TD reception vs Purdue (another beautiful Belly G Option throw) Tristan Alvano 55 yard FG vs Purdue. Our young Nebraska-born boys are showing out. I told someone that between Jaylen, Malachi and Jayden (not a Nebraska kid but another fast, young, WR), rather than just having a “F*ck it, Trey Palmer’s Down There Somewhere,” our QBs are gonna have a “F*ck it, SOMEONE’S Down There Somewhere” corp. Imagine these three in another year or two.
And volleyball? Well without sounding too reductionist, volleyball continues to roll. Two more matches, two more sweeps. Still undefeated (the only undefeated D1 team). Still #1. Everything as it should be in the world.
Additional Nebraska Sports News from the weekend: #15 Nebraska clinched a share of the B1G Soccer Title. They won their first game in the B1G Tournament 3-2 vs Ohio State but then fell in round two 1-3 to #12 Wisconsin. Nothing has been announced regarding the NCAA College Cup, but you’d suspect we’d get a spot in there. Our ladies finished the regular season 14-3-3 (7-1-2 in conference). Not too shabby. WBB and MBB also hosted (and won) their exhibition games against Dakota Wesleyan and Doane, respectively. Saw a lot of good and a lot where we can continue to grow but I’ve got my fingers crossed for a fun winter sports season. Brock Hardy (of Nebraska wrestling) won bronze at the u23 World Championship. Guys, we’re doing so good at sports stuff right now. Let’s keep it rolling. Oh and…idk maybe going bowling next week????
Ahh the relaxing feeling of not worrying about your team losing a football game that is a bye week. I remember when even conference games felt like a bye week because I knew we wouldn’t lose them but this here is the B1G West and those games don’t exist for anyone. At least not lately. Instead, I got to watch and rewatch a LOT of volleyball wins (I’ve seen Nebraska play MSU more times than I can count and not just because we played them in back to back weekends) and SO MANY football upsets. Typically I start these with football but given that we have FOUR volleyball games to cover (and football coverage will all be other schools + hypotheticals) I’m flipping the script and we’re gonna start with our #2, undefeated, Blackshorts. We begin our journey in the mitten state of Michigan where our Huskers (13-0) took on the Michigan State Spartans (11-4) on Friday, Oct 6 . MSU didn’t come into the game ranked but I’m not sure you’d know that by the first two sets. It bears repeating – the B1G is VERY GOOD at volleyball. And it’s only going to get better with addition of UCLA, USC, Oregon and Washington. Coming into the match, MSU had only lost one conference match (to Illinois, in 5 close sets). Don’t let that lack of a number next to their name trick ya. Michigan State got off to a quick start and kept us off our usual game, which, along with just letting us serve apparently, will be the key to beating our young Huskers. Of all four teams we played over the last two weeks, MSU is really the only one that was able to get and hold the early advantage. If Nebraska starts off fast and strong you better hold onto your butts. In the first two sets of both matches, MSU was right there with us, leading in both sets and ultimately winning set 2. We were held to (what felt like) season low hitting %s of .154 and -.103 in those sets (MSU wasn’t better in the first set at .077). It was, as I like to say on Twitter, not fun. I had the benefit of watching this game for the first time on replay because we were in the Great Brand Memorial Stadium at the time so I knew the outcome which made it easier to sit through the second set. I imagine it was particularly gross watching it live. It wasn’t particularly enjoyable to watch that set on replay but at least I knew it was just that one and that we ultimately took the W.
The Huskers traveled just about an hour south to the great college town (I assume. I’ve actually never been) of Ann Arbor to take on the, at the time, 3-12 Michigan Wolverines. Hot off their first conference win against the Northwestern Wildcats, the Murray Sisters (Kendall and Harper) squared off and Michigan played (no shade) probably the best set of the season, leading from the first point to the first set point, but were unable to clinch and the ever-patient Huskers took the first set and never looked back. Michigan is not in a great place this season. But first-year head coach, Erin Virtue, is doing some good things with her squad and I expect she’ll get them turned around once she’s able to collect from the transfer portal, not just lose to the transfer portal.
Back in Lincoln, a week later, Nebraska took on Michigan State (again) and won 3-1 (again). The final score may have been the same as the last time they faced one another, but the stats tell a different story. In their first meeting, Nebraska’s hit %s were (from lowest to highest): -0.103, 0.154, 0.29, and 0.50. In their second, 0.0, 0.393, 0.414, and 0.593. That’s a pretty substantial difference. More than that, Nebraska’s defense played better in the second game. MSU’s hitting %s (from lowest to highest) were -0.158, 0.067, 0.077, and 0.32 in game one and 0.03, 0.059, 0.14, and 0.167 in game two. MSU scored the same amount of points in both (44) but Nebraska scored more in game 2 (70 vs 56). Nebraska also had more kills (57 vs 39), more blocks (11 vs 7), more assists (48 vs 38), and more digs (59 vs 45) in game 2. MSU was pretty comparable between the games which really means that Nebraska just played better. It felt like that during the match as well. Home Court Advantage is real.
For the final game of the weekend, the Huskers once again stuck around home. And what is there to say other than…we are…Nebraska? The floors of Devaney were kept clean thanks to our sweep of (at the time) the undefeated in B1G play, #13 Penn State. Give them the credit they deserve – our hitting percent never finished over 0.30 (0.283, 0.226, and 0.290, respectively) and PSU had 10 blocks and 42 digs so their defense kept them in the first two games. There were some fun rallies in this match which, as much as I love a kaboom kill and roof-shaking block, gimme a fun back-and-forth that shows off the athleticism on both sides of the court any day. As long we ultimately win the point. Obviously.
John Cook once commented that you can’t tell this team that they’re young. They don’t play like young kids – yes they make mistakes and there are growing pains – but there is a sense of calm and patience on this team that we haven’t always seen. When they get down or lose a set, there isn’t a panic. There isn’t a crazy “I have to win this point on my own” mentality. They just keep playing their game – they stay aggressive and smart and continue to trust each other. That poise is going to help them as they continue through the gauntlet schedule that is the B1G. It needs to be pointed out that staying calm and confident in their ability to win should not be taken for granted. Coach Rhule, when discussing the young football team, has mentioned that sometimes players try to do “too much”. They lose their fundamentals. You don’t see that with this volleyball team. There really is so much to be learned from how John Cook manages this team and how they play together. It’s a master class, in my very humble and unbiased opinion.
And they have the accolades to show for it. Whether it’s Harper Murray earning Freshman of the Week (2x) Or Bergen Reilly earning Setter/Freshman of the Week (2x) Or Merritt Beason and Lindsay Krause winning Player of the Week Or Lexi Rodriguez winning Defensive Player of the Week (far too late in the season but that’s fiiiiine)
We’ve got STUDS on this young team.
As fun as it’s been watching Nebraska volleyball this season, (which it has been. Winning is fun, remember?), we can’t ignore the elephant in the room. When I started writing this post, I had to stop mid-way through because I was asked to sub in for a volleyball team. Had a blast. But ended up getting caught for a “shot caller” which basically meant I missed a serve in a game we ended up losing. Granted, we only lost ONE game but I was the only person who missed a serve in THAT game so afterwards, I owed the team a round of shots (picklebacks, btw). I don’t drink very often so they (plus the second round that someone bought just for fun) hit my empty, post-game tummy a little harder than expected and I just crashed when I got home. I share this not to brag about how cheap of a date I am but because…well…the elephant in the Nebraska volleyball room. Serving errors. Look, the team has been pretty fortunate that they’ve only dropped 7 games all season (is that the lowest? Wisconsin has dropped 8 so I’m fairly certain it is). So at max, 7 rounds of shots would have been purchased (because I can almost guarantee we’ve never had a service-error-free set in our losses). Through the NW game (to be fully discussed this weekend), we’ve had 124 serving errors, averaging 1.067 per set. Our opponents are averaging 0.844 errors/set. That’s not good, guys. Insert “we can’t keep getting away with it” gif because Wisconsin is coming and we can’t afford to GIVE POINTS AWAY. Okay, I googled it. We average 1.067 service errors/set. Wisconsin? 1.9. But they’ve had 115 aces so far and we’ve only had 48. We’ve given up 38 aces to our opponents, Wiscy has given up 75. It doesn’t matter. WE HAVE TO KEEP OUR SERVE OVER AND IN. I’d love to break down the upcoming Wisconsin game. I’m just already too stressed out by it. It’s going to be the Volleyball Game of the Century. People are talking.
That was the last two weeks of Nebraska volleyball. Again, I’d cover soccer but I don’t understand it. We are 12-2-3, 6-1-2 in conference play, and ranked #25 overall thanks to our 5 game win streak (3-2 vs NW, 4-2 vs Iowa, 3-0 vs Maryland, 2-0 vs Minnesota, and 2-0 vs Purdue). Women’s sports are kind of killing it. Big week for multiple sports this week (football trying to stay on the path to 6 and volleyball will go head to head with a tiny little program called Wisconsin). #25 Soccer ends the regular season on Sunday, Oct 22 at Illinois. B1G Tournament starts next week. Football (3-3, 1-2), welcomes Northwestern (3-3) Oct 21 @ 2:30. #2 Volleyball (18-0, 9-0) welcomes #1 Wisconsin (18-0, 9-0) Oct 21 @ 7:00pm. Guys, it’s gonna be a doozy of a game. Hold onto your butts.
Because I promised some bye-week football thoughts: We really should have been prepared for last week when it started with Coastal Carolina beating App State with a walk-off FG on Tuesday (okay, fine, Coastal Carolina was predicted to win almost the entire game but it was still the first sign). Not enough? How about on Wednesday when UTEP celebrated their interception on FIU by hanging out by FIU’s Lambo (which…there’s a sentence I never thought I’d say). More? Thursday West Virginia threw for (what should have been a game winning) 50-yard TD with 0:12 left versus Houston but OH YEAH, Houston then threw a WALK OFF HAIL MARY and ended up winning the game.
Okay, fine, but surely nothing crazier could have happened, right? Colorado said, “hold my beer, ya nerds.” After taking a 29-0 lead into the half, many sane people went to bed. The game was done. Why stay up to listen to the commentators pretend like Stanford didn’t even exist because Colorado was BACK baby? Deion for COTY. Shedeur and Hunter could be the first time split-Heisman winners. What a bunch of idiots we were.
The way I cackled when I rewatched this game.
#21 Notre Dame felt God in their stadium and handed #10 USC their first loss of the season, 48-20, and potentially costing Caleb Williams his back-to-back Heisman. Oklahoma State beat #23 Kansas, 39-32 Pitt beat #14 Louisville, 38-21 Missouri beat #24 Kentucky, 38-21 Arizona beat #22 Washington State, 44-6 Iowa beat Wisconsin, 15-6 Illinois beat Maryland, 27-24 CSU beat Boise State, 31-30 #11 Alabama struggled against Arkansas, 24-21 Rutgers needed some last quarter play to beat a broken MSU, 27-24 #7 Washington beat #8 Oregon 36-33 because Dan Lanning got overly aggressive and Oregon missed a 43 yard game-tying FG. We understand special teams woes, Puddles. #19 Tennessee eeked out a win over Texas A&M, 20-13
It was a good week to not play football. And a bad week to bet your scholarship money on CU. Beautiful.
I need to start this off with an apology. I had half of my post typed out and then just stopped writing it and life happened. I have “morning after” thoughts from our bye week that will be a separate post entirely. Hopefully it’ll go up early this week.
For the record, I *hate* Friday night college football games – especially when it’s my team. Call me old school but Thursdays are for MACtion, Fridays are for high schoolers, Saturdays are for College, and Sundays/Mondays are for NFL. I love watching college football, don’t get me wrong, but some things are sacred. That being said, if my team is going to play on a Friday, I really like when we win those Friday night games. And I EXTRA like when we win games that I get to go to. Nothing is worse than road tripping for a game then getting stuck in that town for the rest of the night/weekend (depending on the location) being sad because you watched your team lose.
THANKFULLY that wasn’t the case this week. Ugly as it might have been in the 4th quarter, it was a win. A ROAD win. A CONFERENCE win. Against a team that had our number the last 3 years. So if you’re not interested in Kool Aide, this is not the post for you. Because *of course* there are things to be critical of and for the team to work on. I’ll touch on those. But I am not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. We cannot take wins for granted. There are no wins that are givens. So I’m gonna celebrate every single one because you just never know.
I have noticed that being AT the game is a completely different viewing experience than watching at home. I know, kind of a “duh” moment but I only go to 1-2 games a season so it hits me every time. I had a *BLAST* watching the game. Imagine my surprise when we get back to the hotel, I log onto twitter (X) and find … angry Nebraska fans? I mean, I should have seen it coming – there are angry fans after every win because it’s never good enough or pretty enough or dominant enough or perfect enough. I get it. I do.
But MAN it didn’t *feel* that ugly in person. Maybe it’s the environment that hypes me up enough to notice the mistakes but not care as much when we win. Or that I did actually see the game differently. There were plays that felt really obvious in the stadium that, upon rewatch, were tougher to see (more on that later).
Let’s start with my favorite part of this team. The defense. Are we back? I started writing this with the idea that Illinois has the worst offense of any team we’ve faced and will faced, based just on my observation/memory of their three big drives (the very first, their TD drive at the end of the 1st half, and the one drive in the 2nd half) so I looked into some stats.
Coming into the game, Altmeyer had a 5:7 TD:INT ratio. Illinois (as a team) had a 14:13 TD:TO ratio. Illinois averaged 242.6 pass yards/game, 148.2 run yards/game, 2.8 TDs/game, and 2.2 TOs/game. Compare that to Nebraska, coming into the game. Heinrich had a 4:1 TD:INT ratio. Nebraska, (as a team) had 13:10 TD:TO ratio. Nebraska averaged 139.4 pass yards/game, 209 run yards/game, 2.5 TDs/game, and 2.2 TOs/game. The more I look into these stats, the less I want to complain about how “close” the game ended up being. Because we basically had the same offense as Illinois (I wanted to even say that our numbers included Michigan but theirs included Penn State and while I don’t think they’re the same, they still are both a Big 3 from the East). Compare this to the rest of Nebraska’s B1G schedule (excluding Michigan because, let’s be honest, no one on our schedule is gonna compare to Michigan). Illinois averaged 290 yards per game, behind only Wisconsin (413) and Maryland (429), coming into week 6. However, they averaged 21.6 ppg, which is higher than only…um…us (18.8). Good lord the B1G West has no offense…
I don’t know if I can say for sure that Illinois is the worst offense we’ll face. Because they aren’t awful at moving the ball but they aren’t great at finishing drives. But every other team on our schedule has at least one game where their offense just went off, which Illinois doesn’t have. So if we look at medians (which would account for those outlier games), they’re about in the middle (23), on par with Minnesota (25), Purdue (24) and Iowa (24). So they’re about average for a B1G West offense. That may or may not work in our advantage. Which now deflates all the air from my excitement balloon for the next few weeks. Don’t worry, it’s a momentary setback and by the time I finish this blog post I’ll be back to being convinced that we can go 6-0 to finish the season.
Back to this game. Against the Blackshirts, Illinois offense exceeded their average pass yards (289). They were at their average for TOs (2). And were below their average for run yard (21!!!), total yards (310), and TDs (1). When the game started, I’ll admit, I wasn’t sure how I thought the game was going to turn out. I knew our offense would struggle and I didn’t know which defense would show up – the defense from the first 3 games with guys flying to the ball and tackling in space and sacking QBs as easily as I can make a “your mom” joke on Twitter, or the defense from the last couple that looked good but not great (or not even great in Michigan’s case). The first drive was going to tell me all I needed to know this week. And while I’m very thankful that we’re a bend-don’t-break defense, I didn’t realize we had THAT level of flexibility. It was not a fun first drive…until…it was. I’m sorry, STOPPING AN OFFENSE WHEN THEY’RE HALF A YARD FROM THE END ZONE??? When we got that goal line stand, I knew we would win. It didn’t matter how anemic our offense might be, we were going to win this game because I could tell, from that one drive, that our defense deflated them. And if I’m being honest, we did. For a long time. Until the end of the half.
If I had one complaint about the defense, it’s that when we whiffed on sacking the QB, we WHIFFED. It felt like we were constantly in the backfield and at Altmeyer but somehow he got through and got a couple yards. Yes, only a couple, so it wasn’t like he burned us, but while we ended the game with 2 sacks, we sure COULD have had more. I want our defense to get back to multiple sacks a game (I know 2 is multiple. I’m a greedy b*tch. I want MORE). Shout out this game to Omar Brown (again! This kid has come to life this year and I love to see it), Phalen Sanford (usually a shoutout for his ST effort but now that he’s playing more on defense, he’s proving himself), Tommi Hill, Quinton Newsome, and Isaac Gifford (who I MAYBE called “Luke” on the Go Big Redcast this week because names are hard for me) who is playing LIGHTS OUT on top of being a team leader.
Speaking of Phalen Sanford (transitions are a work in progress here, okay?) our special teams is being increasingly opportunistic this season and I love to see it. Much like on defense, our guys are FLYING at the ball. I’d like to see our return game improve. We’ve been averaging 22 yards per kickoff return but just 4 yards per punt. I’d love to see our speedsters break one loose. It’s been a long drought. Buschini is averaging 38.2 yards per punt and 45% have been touchbacks. We’re 3-7 on field goals. That’s…not good enough. Overall, I’m not mad at these numbers. Special teams shouldn’t be a main point of discussion for a team (even though we are eerily similar to Iowa this year). But if I’m being greedy (which I just established I am), I’d like to see this part of our game continue to grow.
Speaking of special teams, Billy Kemp IV, in general, needs to touch the ball more (see what I mean about transitions?). He’s averaging 12.4 yards per reception in conference play and 10.9 overall. So far, he’s having the best year of his career for yards/reception. Our offense NEEDS him to touch the ball more. We have four offensive weapons, one in each “unit” of the offense and Billy is it for our WRs. Especially now that Marcus is out as well. We need a leader in that room and he’s him. Our other weapons feel obvious. Anthony at RB -once he treats that ball like his baby and refuses to let anyone else touch it…which just sent me down a random memory rabbit hole. Did anyone watch Rock of Love with Brett Michaels? Remember when he wanted to “test” their motherhood skills by having them play roller derby with one of those baby dolls that records trauma?
Anyway, we also have TE Thomas Fidone II who, like Billy, NEEDS to continue getting touches. He’s averaging 14.6 yards/reception for conference play and 13.1 yards/reception overall. Our 4th offensive weapon should surprise no one. Heinrich, for all his passing mechanics issues, is a PLAY. MAKER. He reminds me of the Nebraska QBs of old who would put their shoulder pads down and make plays (with or without the ball. Remember Eric Crouch vs Iowa??)
Not only that, but he’s got some speed. 6’5, 215lbs, and hit 19.7mph on his TD run. Look, is that SUPER SPEED? No. But for a QB? Say what you want about him but Justin Fields (6’3, 227lbs) once hit 20.3 and 20.7 mph in the same game (in the NFL). He’s an athletic dude. That’s not bad company.
Obviously Heinrich isn’t perfect. Our offense is still struggling (made harder when Marcus Washington went down after the 2nd play of the game). Against Illinois’ defense, Nebraska exceeded our average pass yards (154 vs 139.4) and TOs (3 vs 2) but were held below our average run yards (158 vs 209), total yards (312 vs 348.4), TDs (2 vs 2.6), and points (14 vs 18.8). As I’m typing this, I sent a tweet saying Iowa’s offense legitimately makes me mad but then I see our numbers staring me in the face and we have zero room to talk. Except we’re in a rebuilding year and our OC isn’t our coach’s son but that’s for another post. I was so happy to see the option finally make a return in Champaign. A 90’s sized QB running a 90’s offense? Be still my millennial heart. We’ve shown we’re willing to do it. Now we need to perfect the nuance of it. In the first half, it felt almost obvious that HH wasn’t going to pitch the ball. In the second, it felt obvious that he wasn’t NOT going to pitch the ball. The timing isn’t there yet, which kind of defeats the purpose. I mean, look, it worked well enough but the week before, I was rewatching the 97 National Championship and the commentators said something about how Scott Frost (boo hiss all you want, he won us a Natty) didn’t even have to LOOK when he pitched the ball, he just knew Ahman Green was there. That’s the nuance that is currently lacking in our option. But that’s likely because Rhule and Satterfield aren’t primarily option guys. Ron Brown is still working with them on it. I’m willing to be patient now that we’ve seen evidence that they’re working it in.
My last major thought about the offense deals with our favorite part – the offensive line. This was perhaps the area of the game where I notice the biggest discrepancy between MY feelings and Twitter’s feelings. As always, I’m not going to pretend to be an expert, I’m just going off of what I see and what I can find out quickly. HH took 1 sack and 3 TFLs. Coming into the game, he had been sacked 8 times. Jeff Sims was sacked 5 times in 2 games. I count that as improvement for our offensive line. Our run protection needs to improve – we gotta open up lanes for our young RBs. And penalties? Yeah, disconcerting. Until I watched the post-game presser and found out there might have been a reason for it (an intentional reason, not a “I was trying to get my teammate’s attention reason…). I’m not saying our OLine is great. We always have work to do. I’m just saying that I see improvement.
Guys. A win is a win. An ugly win is a win. We’ve lost so many ugly games in the past that we really need to savor the wins when we get them. You’re allowed to be happy for a while after a win, even if it didn’t go the way we wanted it to. *Should* we have scored more points? Yes. *Should* we be annoyed at THREE red zone turnovers? Yes. But can that anger wait a day or two after we won REGARDLESS of our mistakes? In my opinion, yes. If we can’t be happy about ugly wins in a rebuilding year where we’ve lost what feels like 50% of our offense against teams that have found ways to beat us in the past then when are we allowed to be happy?
This last football section is going to be a potpourri section. All the thoughts I had that don’t … quite fit in anywhere else. Also, it’s late and I want this sucker finished (and still have volleyball to talk about!) Burning Questions: 1. Why do we call Bret Bielema “Bert”? Where did that come from? 2. Why do students hold up a shoe during kick offs? A few Nebraska and Illinois fans were asking about it because a handful of fans around us were doing it and I honestly don’t know. I mean, it’s a fun tradition but it was WAY too cold to take my shoe off. Plus my feet were recovering from a minor procedure so I had to protect them. Random Thoughts: 1. I was already going to talk about this before seeing some rumblings on Twitter. When Marcus Washington went down, Illinois decided to announce, over the PA system, that they would be throwing shirts into the crowd and “get loud” for them. I commented during it that it felt really gross since Marcus hadn’t even gotten up yet. When the first Illinois player went down, Illinois announced their cheerleaders or dance squad or whatever, would be doing a little performance to get the crowd hyped up. It was a very strange experience. Upon rewatch, the “Go Big Red” chant was occurring when half of The Law Firm was being escorted off the field, which is kinda shitty. My only explanation (not excuse) is that I thought he was already off the field. Our team had turned around to get the crowd into the game PLUS the student section was evacuating like there was a fire on the field…oh…too soon? 2. Was John Cook in charge of our replays? Because the review system was our friend. They were correct but friendly. And they all were easier to see in person than they were on tv. For example, it was pretty obvious for those of us in the stadium that the punt bounced off the Illinois player’s arm. Those red sleeves helped us. Plus, on rewatch, I could *hear* when the stadium saw the replay. The facemask on AG was painfully obvious, as it was happening, to us in the stadium but less clear on TV, even though I knew it was coming. Illinois fans may have been upset about the reviews going our way, but Nebraska fans were ready to RIOT over the targeting call, had it not been undone. 3. At the time of my notes, Tommi Hill had the same INT:TD ratio as (September) Heisman candidate Travis Hunter. Someone should buy him a matching giraffe onesie (look, I know that Travis got 2 TDs in their…ahem…loss to Stanford a week later but I was so proud of that stat so you can’t take that away from me). Also, this defense will get a pick 6 this season. I thought for sure Q would have gotten into the end zone after his INT. They keep getting closer and closer. 4. Matt Rhule went full on Parent Mode with Satterfield and I both liked it (good to see a coach overstepping his coordinator if he didn’t like the play. I think Scott did this to Whip and the others but it wasn’t quite as…obvious?) and didn’t like (how bad was the play if Rhule had to take a time out and “No no no no no. No.” Satt?) 5. We got free Chicken McNuggets because of the missed field goal. I didn’t get them. It felt traitorous.
This is normally where I’d talk about volleyball and give a “here’s what’s coming up” for Nebraska sports. But it’s late, I’m tired, and the volleyball team deserves more than my exhausted rambling. I’ll include both weeks of volleyball in my “bye week” post.
Where to start? The good, the bad, the nerve-wracking? Football or volleyball? Let’s get the bad out of the way first, I suppose.
I think we all knew, deep in our Kool-Aid pumping hearts, that we weren’t going to beat Michigan yesterday. Maybe some of us hoped for some crazy upset or that we’d keep it close because, if we’re all being honest with ourselves, Michigan hasn’t exactly *looked* like the #2 team against their weak OOC schedule. (If there are Wolverine fans here, don’t get mad at me – 30-3 against East Carolina, 35-7 against UNLV, 31-6 against Bowling Green, 31-7 against Rutgers, all at home, aren’t exactly statement wins. And I don’t want to hear that any of it had to do with Jim not being on the sidelines. 45-7 is the type of win you’d expect to see over those other schools). Yes, our run defense was ranked so high but we all knew, looking back at least, that those numbers were slightly artificial given…well the teams we had played. We stopped Minnesota game 1 but watching them play now it doesn’t feel so impressive. We held Colorado off for as long as could be expected given how long our defense was on the field. And Northern Illinois and LA Tech never got a run game going but they’re not P5-level offenses.
Alas. I’ll admit, I believed it could be close. I thought maybe, just MAYBE it would be a game going into the fourth. I was prepared for it to be gross. But I thought maybe it wouldn’t get gross until the second half. Not the second quarter. The end game stats are misleading. 436 – 305 total yards doesn’t SEEM like it should come from a blow out game. Heck, we had more passing yards! We held them to under 250 rushing yards. Our leading receiver (Billy Kemp) averaged 15.25 ypr. Theirs, 14.5. Our leading rusher had 74 yards. Theirs had … 74 yards. Our QB averaged 14.2 yards per throw. Theirs, 13. Now, their top receiver had 2 TDs. Ours had 0. Their QB had 0 INTS. Ours had 1. And…another that he caught himself which, idk, should be worth at least 3 points just for how weird it was. Overall, our yards per rush and yards per pass were almost exactly the same as theirs. But anyone with eyes knows the truth.
The game, as a viewer, was not fun. I assume it was not fun for the players. Or the coaches. Or the recruits. It shouldn’t have to be said but I was told once that if I don’t explicitly state that losing is bad, people think I think it’s okay (I wish I was kidding…)
So let’s just make the obvious known. Losing is bad. That game was unpleasant in nearly every aspect. I didn’t expect our offense to suddenly change course. It would be a slog against a very good defense. Just hoped, I guess, that it wouldn’t be *such* a slog. I didn’t expect our defense to fall apart so quickly. And that’s not fair, I know, because, again, Michigan has a very talented offense. But man alive, what happened between Northern Illinois and LA Tech that we seemingly forgot how to tackle players? We were out there looking like CU secondary just banging into people and hoping we’d get them. Those first three games showed us the defense we had been WAITING for (since 2021 but really for the last almost 10 years. Yes. 2014 was almost 10 years ago. Time has no meaning for Husker fans). And then…it just…disappeared. Granted, we’re still better than where we were last year but guys, that’s not exactly hard to do. Maybe we can justify our poor defensive showing on the talent differential (specifically Michigan’s OLine which is just ridiculous and unfair but hey, that’s what happens when you’ve consistently been good. Which…maybe that’s a rant for another day but at some point we should discuss the crazy narrative surrounding Jim Harbaugh’s legacy at Michigan). As Coach Rhule said, we’ll see how we compare next week.
We’ll get to next week in a second but I’d like to give some sort of positive to that game. And that’s the development of Heinrich Haarberg. Is he perfect? No. Does he still have a lot to learn? Yes. But he’s now started 3 games, including one against a top ranked defense and, frankly, did better than I think a lot of us would have thought at the beginning of the season. He was 14-25 (56% which is just a little lower than his 58% against NIU and higher than his 47% against LATech) and threw for almost 200 yards (50 yards more than NIU and almost 100 yards more than LATech). He did have that one INT which felt like the kind of luck that a team like Michigan doesn’t need (speaking of – remember in that Georgia-Ball State game when Georgia got an INT after the ball bounced off a Ball State player’s foot? https://www.espn.com/video/clip/_/id/38360529) Back to HH. Do I *LOVE* the side arm/low pass mechanic? Not so much. He’s not a short QB so there’s not a need for it…but that’s who he is and it doesn’t seem like Rhule and Satterfield are going to do much about it.
What I *do* like is that HH didn’t seem to be scared or intimidated by Michigan. He still took his hits. Every game he plays, it seems like his confidence increases. For a young qb, that’s admirable from a fan’s perspective. And we’re going to need that as the season progresses.
Speaking of the season. My final thought about this particular game isn’t even about this particular game but about the game moving forward. Our remaining schedule is…well it’s a mixed bag of who knows what.
Illinois is sitting at 2-3 (0-2) just like Nebraska. They’ve got wins over Toledo and Florida Atlantic. Losses to Kansas, Penn State, and Purdue. The Penn State and Kansas losses aren’t the problem. It’s Purdue. I had Illinois as a B1G West dark horse. I was … wrong (fairly certain). Northwestern is 2-3 (1-2) with an absolutely stupid win over Minnesota which was salt in the Nebraska wound, and B1G losses to Rutgers and Penn State. All that off-season turmoil and somehow they’re ahead of us in the standings, currently. I’d say it’s thankful that game’s at home but the way Nebraska takes over stadiums combined with the lack of interest at NW… Purdue is 2-3 (1-1) and one of the wins is, from the words of a Purdue fan, because Ryan Walters finally took over defensive play calling. Don’t love that. Michigan State is 2-3 (0-2) with a lopsided loss to Maryland and a “closer than the score looks” loss to Iowa. It’s hard to know what’s going on there but another team in turmoil *should* be something we can capitalize on. These next four games are definitely winnable. They’re also…losable. If our defense of the first 3 games show up, I’d feel better. If our defense of the last 2 show up, I’ll be alternatively chugging Pepto Bismol and whatever alcohol is closest. The path to 6 wins is very much ahead of us. I know we need to take it one game at a time but it’s there. And a bowl game would do WONDERS for this team and fanbase.
Last but CERTAINLY not least. Guys. The game was ugly. But we didn’t get shut out. It’s now been 9,871 days since we’ve been shut out. We lead the B1G. If we get through this season we’ll hit the 10k mark which feels kind of awesome. Our active streak of 339 games with points scored currently ranks 7th overall and 5th of active streaks. Now I’m a little sad to even be talking about this.
Moving onto the good and nerve-wracking. But…actually first the nerve-wracking.
Friday night our volleyball team was pushed into their first 5 set match against Purdue. Admittedly, I was playing in my own volleyball tournament that night, so I watched the first set then got updates during breaks so re-watching the game meant I wasn’t nearly as nervous about it as everyone who watched it live. But man, did our team seem…off…during that match. The hitting percentages really tell the tail: in sets 1 and 4, Purdue hit at .324 and .407. In sets 2, 3, and 5, they hit at .000, .206, and .250. Defense will win championships but so will avoiding service errors (12 vs 4) which will be a reoccurring theme while in Indiana. Good news is that Harper Murray, Andi Jackson, and Becca Allick all had season high kills (21, 12, 9, respectively) and Bergen Reilly had a career-high 54 assists. Overall, a win is a win and adversity now will only continue to help this young team. A side note – Nebraska fans are SO SPOILED by our facilities because Holloway Gymnasium looks … just a little bigger than my high school gymnasium
Saturday night, our ladies once again saved our Husker souls by winning their 13th straight match this season over the Indiana Hoosiers in 4. The first set was…well it was a little worrying. Were back to back away games too much? How would this young team respond to their first major challenge the night before? Turns out, a little slow but they found their rhythm and easily overtook …whatever a Hoosier is. (in St. Louis, a Hoosier is not a good thing so it’s still so odd to me that a team would willingly pick that as their mascot) Serving continued to be a problem. SIXTEEN service errors. That’s just not enough. Defense came to life in the later sets but maybe not in the way we’d expect. Indiana’s hitting percentage dropped from .351 to .200 to .000 to .097. But we had 2 blocks the entire match.
Me too, lady.
But while we’re talking about confusing things, can we talk about how John Cook won TEN challenges this weekend? TEN. That’s absurd. Officials are human, humans make mistakes especially when high powered, elite players are hitting the balls as hard and fast as they are (does anyone track speed of hits? I’m sure someone does…it’d be kind of fun to see) Anyway, yes, officials are human and they’re bound to miss fingertip touches and pancake digs and tight in/out calls from time to time. So this isn’t a comment on that. In 2021, a handful of conferences experimented with a new rule that allowed coaches to “keep” their challenges if they won the call. In 2022, the NCAA approved it for all women’s volleyball teams. IMAGINE this game if John Cook only had 2 challenges total. At the end of set 2 of Indiana, Merritt Beason hit a ball long, Indiana up 24-22. John Cook challenges a touch and wins. 23-23. The VERY NEXT PLAY, Indiana had a kill, up 24-23. John Cook challenges that it touched the antenna and wins. 24-23 Nebraska. Harper Murray crushed the ball, Nebraska wins set 2 25-23. What a swing. That likely wouldn’t happen in the old rules because John Cook had already used one challenge earlier in set 2. Whew.
So that was the weekend for Nebraska sports. To note, the women’s soccer team played today (10/1) and beat Northwestern 3-2 but soccer is probably the sport I understand the least so I don’t have many thoughts other than – winning is fun. Volleyball: 13-0 (4-0). Next game: Oct 6 6pm at MSU, then Oct 7 7:30pm at Michigan Soccer: 8-2-3 (2-1-2) Next game: Oct 7 1:05pm vs Iowa Football: 2-3 (0-2) Next game: Oct 6 7pm at Illinois
Welcome. If you follow me on Twitter/X (@AbbieSomething) then you know that I’ve recently started doing a “Morning After Thoughts” tweet every…well…morning after Nebraska football games. Not knee jerk reactions immediately after a game but a delayed response after I’m able to sleep on the game. Lately, I’ve realized that my thoughts exceed the 240 character limit but had zero desire to give ol’ Elon any money. After talking about it, a blog seemed like the perfect solution for me to be as wordy as I want to be while expressing all my feelings about (mostly) Nebraska sports. Which is how we wound up here.
A little about me. Hi. I’m Abbie. I am an amateur sports watcher who has bled Nebraska red all my life. I was born and raised in Nebraska but moved down to Missouri to get my PhD. I’m a Husker through and through. I was raised through the second great decade of Nebraska football – watching THREE National Championships in 4 years. I was a spoiled fan, as were so many who lived through those times. Football was not a sport, it was a way of life, and life was good. And then, it wasn’t. I remember sitting in the basement, watching Colorado (COLORADO!) destroy us in 2001. Sure, we still went to the National Championship game but it didn’t erase the pain. The first big moment of failure I could remember. I remember throwing stuffed Buffalos at my family members in 2003 whenever Nebraska scored against Colorado – with no idea that Nebraska football was about to be changed. Forever.
And now, 20 years, 6 full-time head coaches, and 2 conferences later, I’m still here. Supporting Nebraska the same way I did as a spoiled baby Husker. I moved away from Nebraska for school and now reside in old Big 12/new SEC territory. Maybe moving away from my home has made the Kool-Aid pump harder. It’s solidified my identity as a Husker. As I’ve gotten older, my support looks different. I *rarely* tweet during games. I *rarely* tweet immediately after a game (unless it’s a win). Everyone associated with our program is doing everything in their power to do well. Fans don’t like losing but in my opinion, it doesn’t even come close to how the players and coaches feel. It more directly impacts their future than it does mine. I have to deal with trolls on Twitter. They’re fighting for their futures and jobs. This realization has changed my overall perspective.
I’ve been told I’m too positive. I’m too optimistic. I’m not willing to be critical. I suppose there’s some truth to that. The internet rewards negativity disproportionally than it does positivity. It’s easy to be negative when things are hard. It’s easy to find things that are bad. I chose to take an alternative view and find something positive to take away from games. I support our players. I support the coaching staff. I speak in generalities because I’m not there. I’m not a coach, I’ve never played collegiate sports. I can only judge what is shown on the field/court each week. Players and coaches see what fans say. It’s important they know we haven’t turned on them. That we’re going to support them.
Maybe a blog isn’t the best idea because I think I somehow got off course here and just started rambling…
Anyway. Welcome. This is where I will share my not-an-expert, arm-chair-coach, I’ve-had-some-time-to-think-about-this thoughts about Nebraska sports. It started as football but I’ll expand as the season progresses. Let’s see how this turns out.