And I think very unlikely this week.

Yeah, I think the, uh, the contributing circumstances of where he could have been, uh, a, a top NFL pick last year, they're not...

You know, m- Moore's looking at it from his own financial perspective of, of you've, of he's gotta protect himself.

And even though college players get paid in some cases quite a bit of money, as a first round pick in the NFL you're gonna get paid more.

And so it would make a lot of sense for him to sit out a- and to sit the rest of the season.

Um, a- and as poorly as Raiola played at the end, I think you have to go with the third quarterback.

I think you have to, uh, at least just try and ride the hot hand if you're, if you're Oregon.

Yeah.

... where I would say that.

But there were four plays that were 199 yards, and I think three of them were touchdowns.

Certainly set up touchdowns.

But two, definitely two of them were the two Nick Marsh fourth quarter touchdowns.

So i- i- it's that consistency, it's that constancy of every single play being at your best.

Nebraska was at its best, and thus better than Indiana the vast majority of the snaps on Saturday.

They were not better than Indiana every single snap on Saturday, and you've gotta be pretty close to that to beat a team like that.

Yeah.

I'll take Georgia in this one.

Yeah.

I'm riding with the Dogs.

I, I just don't...

I'm not bought into Alabama yet.

I think the Mississippi State game's a little fool's gold.

[laughs]

Notre, Notre Dame plays BYU next week.

Say your piece then [laughs].

Yeah, McDougle, uh, McDougle's play, I mean, look, he only had one tackle in the game, but that pick six, because of where that game was and because of how it was going and the opponent and the, "Oh my God, we're gonna drop a game to a coach who's gonna get fired in two weeks" sentiment, I mean, how different do things feel if N- even if Nebraska ekes out a win over Maryland? I mean, that ended up being a blowout, but, you know, I- if Nebra- if that's a one-score Nebraska win, you're even more troubled.

And essentially that interception erased 25 minutes of good work by Maryland as a football team.

So, uh, it, it's one play.

I know it's only one play.

Obviously he's done more than that.

Uh, but even for just that one play, Dwayne McDougle gets a helmet sticker.

Yeah.

But it's been rough.

Well, and, and it just feels to me, and maybe this is- I, I don't know if it's confirmation bias, but it just feels to me like there have been a lot of high penalty games this year in the Big 10.

So you wonder if there was a directive to Big 10 officials, national officials, whatever, "Hey, call it a little tighter." But whatever it is, it seems like there are a ton of penalties nationwide.

That's not to excuse what Nebraska, certainly what Nebraska did last week, because y- there's no reason for getting 16 penalties, especially against an inferior opponent.

And one of the things I really respect about him was there were some really good players at Indiana that it sounded like when as I listened to them, like, hadn't bought into that process, and he moved on.

Y- yeah, it's interesting, I mean, how he went about it.

He was able to transplant a big chunk of his James Madison culture.

Uh, it, you know, this is a success story that needed timing.

So there's a, there's a lot of things that concern me about this Indiana team.

Y- yeah, y- you mentioned that Dana Holgorsen says, "Hey, they're still the best team in the country." I know you haven't seen everybody, you haven't been able to study everybody, but are they the best team in the country in your book?

I can hear you, Nate.

Yeah.

Okay.

Well, eh, you know, we have the, uh, uh, the situation with Jamal Rule, uh, at running back for Nebraska.

How confident are you in his ability to step right back into the lineup?

Uh, and what quick takeaways from that, uh, yesterday, Nate?

Obviously plenty of respect for, um, uh, for Indiana, and happy with, uh, what they got.

It ...

How they were able to work through sort of the ups and downs of the Maryland game, and obviously was still not thrilled with the penalties.

Um, he, he dipped his toe just a little bit into the running back situation.

The sense you get is that if Nebraska really needed Jamal Rule against Maryland, he could have gone.

Mm-hmm.

Well, he got, he tripped over a lineman's foot running a play in practice.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But, you know, Oregon has been just so hit or miss this year.

Um, a- and they've, they've really underperformed what I thought they would do, but I think they're still the third-best team in this league.

And, and maybe they, after that bad start, after the Boise State game that was close, and then losing to Oklahoma State, maybe they're starting to find their footing to where they can climb back into it.

Of course, Nebraska can shove them off the ladder, um, uh, y- next week.

But then, yeah, you're right.

Mm-hmm.

And so let's enjoy some of the spoils of at least having these thoughts enter our minds.

Right.

A- and, you know, it, it would be indicative...

A- again, going back to that Michigan State win in Mike Riley's first year, and maybe this was just me, but, you know, whether Nebraska won that game or not, it, it was pretty well in my head that Mike Riley was not gonna win here.

He was not gonna be a success here.

He was not going to get Nebraska into national championship contention.

Maybe you have formed that opinion about Matt Rhule.

Oh, yeah

Football's on all season long on ESPN and streaming on the ESPN app.

somebody transferring from Nebraska to Penn state for instance, but it's bump set spike.

Next point we're ready to serve.

Whereas, you know, you couldn't hold up the game for a minute and the TV folks often do as a true artist on radio plagued by this.

Um, but at any rate, you can hold up the game for, for an extra 30 seconds or whatever to show the clip.

And then as the first batter is stepping in, you can get into that drama of she said, then she said, then they said on social media and, and all of that.

So I think it lends to the pace of the game.

But what do you see as sort of the immediate future for this program coming off of a really impressive season and an impressive run at the College World Series?

Any hindsight in terms of how you think that you may have done Saturday versus Sunday with pitching 1 and 1A? Not necessarily if, Jordy, it comes out during a no-no or not, but more the utilization of the arms.

I mean, there's always a case to be made for starting Alexis Jensen on Saturday.

She has pitched well.

And she ended up pitching well against Alabama.

And I don't know if maybe...

there could have been a little quicker hook for Geordie from, but I think to Ronda Ravel, it came down to this.

There is no pitcher in all of college softball who has the depth of experience that Geordie from has had on that stage.

Yeah, I look at Saturday like,

Has it changed your vantage point?

Yeah, you look at what both teams were able to do yesterday, Texas and Texas Tech, and especially where they have had pretty emotional runs through all this.

You think about everything that surrounded Texas Tech, and there would be a question of how much energy do you have, how much do you have in the tank to go out there and win two games.

So the fact that they were able – to win a game against a really good opponent, Tennessee in the case of Texas and Alabama in the case of tech, and then gas it back up, grab it on crustable in the dugout and get going again, that takes some doing and, and, and remember both those teams played the day before.

So, so you're not just talking about two games in 24 hours, you're talking about three and 36.

And again, against the best competition, the sport has to offer.

So it, you know, it's tough enough to do when, when it's February and it's early in the season and you're, you're as gassed up as you're going to be.

Yeah.

Who else do you think can have a big impact this weekend?

Well, I'll move down to the three and four spots in the order.

Hannah Kamen's in and Ava Kuzak.

And Hannah had the big home run on Sunday to win the regional, but they're going to need a little more consistent production out of her.

And then Ava Kuzak's been up and down the stretch run of the season.

And you trust that Jordy and Hannah Core can get on base.

Hannah Core has been one of the hitters that's still been pretty good into the NCAA tournament.

Is there anything you know that would tell you that Ruby and Jordy have more than just a friendly rivalry? Is there anything you know about maybe that there's a little bit more animosity there? Because we'd like a little bit more animosity, in my opinion, because it's good for ratings.

Is there a part of you that likes that it wasn't as smooth as just racking up easy wins down the stretch for softball?

Yeah.

And the fact that they were challenged, especially at the big 10 tournament was good.

You know, Michigan really put, put a nice fight on them.

I mean, Jordy, Jordan ended up winning the game and allowing two runs.

And I think one was earned, but it really felt like it was a fight.

There were a ton of long at bats.

How do you look at this team in particular and the way they're built, especially in the pitching staff, and go, yeah, this actually is a team that's built to make a pretty sizable run?

Is there a part of you that likes that it wasn't as smooth as just racking up easy wins down the stretch for softball?

Yeah, and the fact that they were challenged, especially at the Big Ten tournament, was good.

You know, Michigan really put a nice fight on them.

I mean, Jordy ended up winning the game and allowing two runs, and I think one was earned.

But it really felt like it was a fight.

There were a ton of long at-bats.

in that game that really forced her to be at her, you know, to, to find a different competitive level.

How do you look at this team in particular and the way they're built, especially in the pitching staff, and go, yeah, this actually is a team that's built to make a pretty sizable run?