Nebraska’s football team had a rough Saturday night, but the Cornhuskers volleyball squad kept rolling in emphatic fashion, knocking off No. 13 Purdue in four sets and extending its unbeaten start.
The Huskers dropped the second set before snapping right back into control, finishing off a 3-1 win at John Cook Arena at the Bob Devaney Sports Center: 25-13, 20-25, 25-19, 25-14. Nebraska had won more than 24 straight sets before the Boilermakers broke through, and the way the Huskers answered after that loss suggested a brief lapse rather than a real crack in the armor.
Teraya Sigler turned in a career night with 15 kills and led four Nebraska players in double figures. Nebraska finished with a .303 hitting percentage, 12 blocks and a season-high 64 digs. Purdue hit just .133 in the loss.
The victory pushed Nebraska to 19-0 overall and 8-0 in Big Ten play, while Purdue dropped to 11-6 and 4-4 in conference.
Elsewhere on the national college football scene, Oregon wideout Evan Stewart was arrested Saturday night for DUI after the Ducks’ win over Nebraska, according to KVAL in Oregon. Springfield Municipal Jail confirmed Stewart was booked at 7 am and released at 8 am. Stewart had not played against Nebraska because of injury.
There was also tragedy in San Antonio, where an Air Force member died from injuries suffered Saturday while rappelling from the ceiling of the Alamodome during a pregame ceremony honoring the Armed Forces and military veterans. He had been taking part in the ceremonies before UTSA faced Navy.
On the volleyball side, Nebraska also got another clear sign of its standing nationally. The NCAA Division I women’s volleyball committee released its in-season top-16 rankings during Sunday’s Florida vs.
Texas match, and Nebraska came in at No. 1.
The rankings help determine the top four seeds in the NCAA Tournament, and with Nebraska still the only undefeated team in the country, the Huskers sit in the spot the committee is currently showing it trusts most.
In Other News...
Oregon Exposed A Nebraska Problem That May Get Worse
Nebraskas offense spent a long afternoon trying to find any kind of rhythm against Oregon and never really did. The Huskers managed 242 yards on 67 snaps, with quarterback Anthony Colandrea doing what he could to keep drives alive, finishing 18 of 33 for 164 yards and a touchdown while adding 38 rushing yards and another score on the ground. Even with that effort, the bigger picture was hard to miss: the run game never got rolling, the passing game lacked separation, and the offense as a whole looked stuck in place.
The issues went beyond one bad outing, too. Nebraskas top running backs were held to 58 yards on 18 carries, the offensive line gave up a sack and five pressures, and four penalties made an already uneven night even messier. Injuries along the line and at running back only added to the concern, while receivers struggled to create the kind of space that can help an offense recover when the ground game is bottled up, leaving a problem that could be even tougher to solve if the same limitations keep piling up. [Read more 🡒]
Nebraska Left Wondering After Two Late Replay Moments Swung Everything
For much of the night, Nebraska had a chance to leave with a statement win before Oregon finally nudged in front with 28 seconds left. The finish came with the kind of replay drama that tends to stick with a team long after the final whistle, starting with a touchdown catch by Kwazi Gilmer that was upheld after officials said there was not enough clear evidence to overturn it.
Then came the other moment that had Nebraska wondering what might have been. A potential late fumble by Isaiah Mozee was not reviewed, and the Cornhuskers kept possession as the game tightened in its closing stretch. In a contest decided by the smallest of margins, those two replay decisions became part of the story almost as much as the score itself. [Read more 🡒]
Nebraska Fans Have One Brutal Debate After Another Late Collapse
Nebraskas recent stretch has left fans stuck in an uncomfortable place: encouraged by how far the program has come, but frustrated by how often close games are slipping away late. The Cornhuskers dropped tight decisions to Indiana and Oregon after holding leads in both, a sequence that has sharpened the conversation around whether the progress under Matt Rhule is real enough to matter when the fourth quarter arrives.
Against Oregon, the offensive issues were impossible to ignore, with nine punts and little production on the ground, even as the defense did enough for three quarters to keep the game within reach. The broader picture still shows a team that has outperformed preseason expectations, but the debate now is whether thats enough when the same late-game breakdown keeps showing up in the toughest moments. [Read more 🡒]