The opening weekend loss to Illinois has put the Huskers in the unenviable position of having to finish out 4-4 in the Big 10 with five of those eight teams being ranked if they want to go bowling again. To make it even more difficult, the unranked teams in that group are Purdue, Minnesota and Northwestern - three squads which have had some success against the Huskers in the last few seasons.
First up in the gauntlet are the Michigan State Spartans who have jumped out to the 3-0 start for which the Huskers were hoping, the most recent win of which was a 38-17 shellacking of Miami.