The weight-challenged woman is not only warming up, but she’s clearing her throat and stepping up to the microphone.
Appropriately enough on Black Friday, Nebraska put the finishing touches on an epically bad season with an equally epically bad 56-14 loss to Iowa. In Lincoln, no less.
The loss dropped the Cornhuskers to 4-8 on the season; it’s the worst year record-wise for the once-proud program since they went 3-6-1 in 1961. Worse than the pair of five-win seasons the reviled Bill Callahan posted, the first of which marked only the second time (Frank Solich, 7-7, 2002) since that ’61 season that the ‘Huskers had failed to win at least nine games in a season.
Add it all up, and Mike Riley has posted a 19-19 record as the Cornhuskers head coach. It’s the worst three-year stretch for the ‘Huskers since... going 11-18-1 from 1959-61.
“I’m going to, I’m going to anticipate that,” Riley said when asked if he thought he’d be back for the 2018 season. “When I go to bed I’ll be hoping for that, because I would love to do this. I truly believe I’m exactly the right person to do that.”
Common sense, though, suggests that, at some point in the not-too-distant future, NU will mercifully pull the plug on the failed Riley experiment and set its sights on native son Scott Frost -- and potentially Bret Bielema if the Frost pursuit falls short because Florida grabs him. In fact, a divorce could happen much sooner than any later.
SOURCE: #Nebraska's football staff has been called in to meet with AD Bill Moos right now.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) November 25, 2017
Until The Watch concludes -- an early-afternoon press conference is expected to announce the inevitable -- we’ll leave you this reminder of the man Riley replaced:
The Cornhuskers won at least nine games in each of the seven seasons under Bo Pelini. His last two seasons, the ‘Huskers finished a combined 18-7, one less win and 12 fewer losses than Riley had in his three years.