Welcome to Pediocrity.

2 years ago, Nebraska's athletic director made the statement that he refused to allow Nebraska to "gravitate to mediocrity". Whether we are "gravitating" or "accelerating", there is no denying it.

We have descended below mediocrity.

138 total yards of offense.

428 total yards and 40 points given up on defense. To a team that had was 1-4 in Big XII play and had scored 49 points in those 5 games.

For those of you who had the misfortune of listening to Jim Rose today, at least you could turn it off. I watched the whole thing in person.

Here are some of the more disturbing observations from section 31:

• Playcalling was even more abysmal than usual. Bill Callahan decided that we needed to establish a ground game against one of the top rushing defenses in the country. And there was almost no variety in the running play; if I had a video tape, I would say of the first 10 runs, there were only 3 or 4 different plays run.
• Kansas defended us with 9 or 10 players "in the box" most of the game. However, we only attempted to stretch the defense a handful of times by sending receivers deeper than 10 yards downfield.
• Harrison Beck and Joe Ganz know that they aren't getting into the game unless Zac Taylor is knocked out. They spent much of the first half watching the Kansas dance squad.
• Callahan might be trying to get Zac Taylor killed by leaving him in the game to get assaulted when the game is out of reach.
• The defense tried to keep Nebraska in the game today. Corey McKeon had a key interception to end a Kansas threat as well as the safety. But, they wore down, and sadly in the 4th quarter, threw in the towel. All season long many fans have raved about their "never give up" will, but today, they went to the well one too many times.

They need to find a way to beat either Kansas State or Colorado. Kansas State may be the only opportunity as they may be struggling more than the Huskers at this point.

This Husker program is staring 5-6 in the face for the second consecutive year.

I must say, however, that you couldn't help but be happy for the Kansas fans. Everyone I ran into was cordial. Heading back up the hill, I had a heck of a view of the KU students swimming with the goal posts for the second straight week. And I was touched by a conversation with a Kansas fan who talked about being 5 years old the last time Kansas beat our Huskers. As the final seconds, you could see the tears in his eyes as he watched his team accomplish something he thought he might never see.

It brought back my own memories of watching Tom Osborne defeat Miami on their home field for the 1994 National Championship. My, how times have changed.

During a dinner stop on the Plaza in Kansas City this evening, we ran into several Husker fans trying to recover from the game. From the persepective of the fans I talked to this evening, I think HuskerNation is growing restless.

Update: Revisiting Pediocrity