Hope?

[coolonetoo]

Well, the boys have put together two solid weekends, winning both road series. The RPI has shot up almost 40 places. The weekend rotation has been solidified and the starters are able to find the strike zone. The offense is a bit streaky but seems capable of putting at least a touchdown on the board on any given day. I'm going to choose to agree with "Coach" Lou Brown:



Is it too late? I say no. With eight games to go, six-ish wins should retain a mid-40s or better RPI before the conference tourney (if Boyd Nation is to be believed). So what, in my opinion, needs to be done to have a shot at an at-large berth?

1. Beat Creighton and UNO. Obviously, a home loss to the 180 RPI Mavericks would be seriously damaging. The opposite end of the spectrum is the opportunity to get an RPI boost for a "road" win vs. the 32 RPI Bluejays.
2. Finish third or better in the Big Ten. I think winning both series against Penn State and Indiana would secure this. A 15-9 or better record with tiebreakers against Michigan State and Indiana would probably lock up no worse than the #3 seed in Omaha. Possibly #2 because Michigan has road series at Ohio State and Illinois to end the year. It would be tough to catch Minnesota because the Gophers should get three wins at Purdue this weekend. Nebraska would need some serious help even with two sweeps at Haymarket Park.
3. At least one win at TD Ameritrade Park. Going two-and-barbecue is an obvious no-no.

Keep the faith!

 

[k9_r]

Two seed is within reach. Indiana has Illinois and us. Don't count out Illinois, they can easily get one win at Indiana putting our standing vs them squarely in our hands.

Michigan owns the tiebreaker on us and has a 1 1/2 game lead over us. But they finish on the road at OSU and Illinois. We need two or (more likely) three Michigan losses.

However, if we don't sweep Penn St we don't leave the four seed. Could be five seed.

 

[johnm17]

please oh please dont crush our hopes again huskers

 

[donahues17]

If they are to lose 2 of the remaining games, one has to be Creighton and one has to be to Indiana. Any other loss probably makes Nebraska a "conference tourney champ or bust" to get into the NCAA tourney.

With the way the pitching is finally coming along (starters more than the bullpen) and the bats slowly waking up but still not back to early season form, I want to get excited. But with the way the bats are very up amd down right now, I wont let myself.