The Nebraska Cornhuskers finished prep for the Northern Illinois Huskies on Thursday afternoon.

After practice, both Head Coach Mike Riley & Nebraska Athletic Director Shawn Eichorst met the media.

Eichorst spoke first, addressing his abrupt turnaround on the ending of the Black Friday season ending game for Nebraska.

That would be an interesting trip to Minneapolis for the end of the season. One that most Nebraska fans would be either traveling most of Thanksgiving or even the day before.

Interesting mea culpa on Eichorst’s part. Admittingly, some folks who have wanted the Friday game to stay probably were the loudest ones.

Now on to Mike Riley, who updated folks on the health of several players from earlier this week.

Mikale Wilbon to get his first start in place of Tre Bryant.

Wooo buddy, thats a lot of depth chart Running Backs on that list. The flu has made it’s way around the AD, as Women’s Soccer just canceled a match this weekend because of it.

Here is Riley’s statement about the injuries & situation at RB:

“Tre has not practiced… I was kind of hopping to wait as long as I could. He probably won’t play. (Mikale) Wilbon will start. Jaylin’s (Bradley) going to play. This was a real good practice for him today, but he was not here (ill). It would’ve been great for him to play special team [drills]. We don’t have to change too much with any of the backs. They’re all pretty much all purpose. They all have good hands. They’re all knowledgeable about what we do. They’re all experienced. Mikale and Devine (Ozigbo) a little more so. They’re all versatile enough to play all the time and so is Jaylin.”

Expect Matt Farniok to start at Right Tackle again, and Aaron Williams & Antonio Reed to split Safety duties. But, let’s hope it does not get worse.

The Huskies & Huskers get after it on Saturday morning, with Fox Sports 1 bringinging you the motion picture proof.

If your Georgia Bulldogs are about to follow up a hard-fought, emotional, late game with a trap match up before beginning the SEC schedule, you could probably use a drink. I can help you with that.

I am not going to pretend that the Samford Bulldogs are the Alabama Crimson Tide. That would be insulting your intelligence, and I try only to do that to family. But the fact is it will be interesting to see how the Georgia Bulldogs respond to the relative prosperity that comes with winning a big intersectional match up.

On the one hand, I think we all recognize that Notre Dame is not the creme de la creme of college football as it once was. Also, I anticipate that Kirby Smart and his staff reminded their charges of exactly how many errors they committed in South Bend while still being fortunate enough to escape with the victory. Saturday’s win was anything but a rousing success from a technical football standpoint. There were bad things. There were dumb things. There was enough grit and athleticism to overcome the errors.

Again, I don’t necessarily want to look past Samford. But I cannot help but notice that matchup with the Bulldogs from the state of Mississippi that looms a little over a week away. As I have said since the preseason, that is a game that really worries me. but I think we will also learn a lot about the mental make up of this team by how they handle business this Saturday against an FCS opponent. take care of business with ruthless efficiency against Chris Hatcher squad, and you may convince me that we’ve really got something here.

So what is the drink for a game in which one hopes the Bulldogs win the first part of the double Bulldog September swing? Easy. A double dawg.

It’s a variation on the Bulldog, a very common old-school cocktail. I think I have ordered maybe two of them ever, usually when I wasn’t sure the bartender could help but screw up something more complicated. Traditionally a bulldog is made by mixing 1 ounce each of gin, cherry liqueur, and lime juice over ice, straining into a martini glass, then garnishing with a lemon or lime wedge. A double Dawg is made by simply adding an extra half ounce of gin (1 and ¹⁄₂ ounces), also known as a “jigger” to those who know too much cocktail verbiage.

So drink up, and go ‘Dawgs!!!

It’s been 12 days since Florida State lost its season opening game to Alabama. It will be nine more before the Seminoles again take the field, this time in their home opener against NC State on September 23rd.

Jimbo Fisher made no secret of the fact that his team is ready to get back on the field, missing actual competition even if the team has been able to practice for a few weeks.

“They want to play. There’s no doubt. We didn’t play as well as they wanted to so they definitely want to play,” Fisher said. “But at the same time, we need to make sure we are prepared. They definitely want an opponent and we are going to get a good one, that’s for sure.”

In spite of this lengthy absence, Fisher has seen positives to take away from this unusual stretch. For one, it provides a chance to improve the team’s health after a grueling fall camp. Additionally, it has allowed the team to really prepare for the stretch that lies ahead.

That stretch, which begins September 23rd and continues with a series of 10 games in 10 weeks, has been seen as a potential positive for Fisher as well.

“If you start playing well, it can be a good thing,” Fisher said of the daunting series of games that lies ahead. “You can look at it as needing a rest, but if you’re playing well, you manage it well, your mind is in the right place and you have the right demeanor, it definitely can.”

Mississippi State avoided the trap.

We remember 2008. We remember overtime in 2011. We remember a 14-0 deficit in 2015. Louisiana Tech is always a trap. But, on Saturday in Ruston, the Bulldogs evaded the disaster in fine fashion.

Justin Ford-USA TODAY Sports

State needed a convincing win. It wasn’t pretty, finding themselves down 9-0 early in the game with a passing game that was nothing short of anemic. But, things flip turned in an instant.

Nick Fitzgerald got his act together. The defense started dominating. Mississippi State needed some weird things to get it done, such as two touchdowns from defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons and making Louisiana Tech face a 3rd and 93. But, it doesn’t matter. The Bulldogs — the ones wearing maroon and white, that is — won.

But, now comes something completely different. Something that involves a 2-23 record over the last quarter century different. Now comes LSU.

Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

This is a pivotal moment for Mississippi State’s 2017 season. We have marveled about Todd Grantham’s defense and been captivated by State’s ability to run the ball. But, although the first two performances have been very impressive, Charleston Southern and Louisiana Tech are no LSU.

LSU is going to run it down the defensive line’s throats, go after Nick Fitzgerald, and will take advantage of any inaccurate pass.

Mississippi State — as is the case for basically any game against the Bayou Bengals —is going to have to play flawless football. Nick Fitzgerald needs to be sharp with his throws. This game requires the offensive line to maintain LSU’s front seven, so Fitzgerald and Aeris Williams can run the football.

But, this is the first time Todd Grantham’s guys up front will be tested by a lethal rushing attack. Derrius Guice can pick a part a vast majority of defensive lines that are thrown his way. I don’t think they will be able to completely shut him down. However, the line is going to have to maintain him at the very least.

State does not have many advantages in this game. However, we still don’t know much about Danny Etling and his ability at quarterback. This is a call to action for State’s secondary. They had a solid showing in Ruston, but LSU is a program that historically prides themselves on having some of the country’s best receivers. If Etling misfires, State’s defensive backs will need to take advantage.

This is the most important game on Mississippi State’s schedule. A win can propel them into road trips to Athens and Auburn with confidence that hasn’t been seen since 2014. This game can be the different between a 7-8 win team and a 9-10 win team.

The last two games were great. They showed that Mississippi State has improved dramatically since last season. But, now, they hit the real part of the schedule. This team has the talent to do big things this season, but they need to put the pieces together. And, it starts this weekend against LSU.

Many fans are already calling for Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi to replace Max Browne. Browne wasn’t terrible against Penn State but some worry about his mobility and throwing accuracy in general.

But after the game, Narduzzi acknowledged Browne was still the starter. On Monday in his weekly press conference, he elaborated and seemed even more secure with his selection of Browne.

“Obviously he’s not perfect,” Narduzzi conceded, “but there wasn’t one guy, coach, player, SID that was on Saturday. He had some — you look at it, and we look at accuracy as far as him throwing the ball, not a burn, which Coach Watson says throw away incomplete passes, but I think he had six incomplete passes that he was accurate.

“But I was pretty happy after watching the tape with him more than I was maybe after the game.”

Narduzzi, though, acknowledged there was room for improvement.

“You know, so does he have room for improvement? Yes. And so do I. So I don’t see it any different.”

Even though Browne is the starter, there seemed to be some conflict if Narduzzi would try to find playing time for DiNucci. When asked if he would look to get DiNucci into the game, he initially sounded like it would happen.

“No, we were looking for opportunities in the opener,” he initially responded when asked if they would look for ways to get him into the game. “Ben is a good football player. We’ve told you that, and he did some nice things in there. Ball security is still an issue.” But when pressed, Narduzzi seemed to change his mind a little.

“I would like to look for opportunities,” he said. “It’s easier said than done when you get in the game. It’s a hard call.”

So what did we learn here? Not too much. Browne is still the starter. For how long? That’s anybody’s guess. Now, if Pitt gets into a situation where they need some mobility at quarterback, I could still see Narduzzi giving DiNucci a look on some packages. But until Browne struggles, it sounds as if he’s the guy on a full-time basis.

Be sure to join Cardiac Hill’s Facebook page and follow us on Twitter @PittPantherBlog for our regular updates on Pitt athletics. Follow the author and founder/editor @AnsonWhaley.

According to a report from the Tulsa World, Oklahoma Sooners sophomore defensive end Amani Bledsoe is suing the NCAA over his current suspension for PED use. Bledsoe tested positive for clomiphene, which can be used as a performance-enhancer because of the fact that it can block estrogen. The suspension began last October and is scheduled to end on Oct. 5. The lawsuit asks for the reinstatement of one year of eligibility as well as reimbursement for court costs and attorney fees. You can read the full report here.

In short, the lawsuit claims that Bledsoe consumed a large scoop of Inner Armour protein powder that belonged to an unnamed teammate and later purchased protein powder of a different brand. After submitting to a random test on Oct. 5, Bledsoe’s urine tested positive for the banned substance.

Here’s where it gets a bit interesting:

The lawsuit states Bledsoe submitted the proteins and multi-vitamins he had recently taken and submitted them to athletic trainer Scott Anderson. Bledsoe and OU submitted the substances to an independent laboratory in Nashville, Tenn.

Testing revealed the Inner Armour substance contained clomiphene, but Bledsoe’s other powder and vitamins did not. After the testing, the laboratory purchased and tested another container of Inner Armour, and the test came back negative.

Bledsoe appealed his NCAA suspension on Nov. 28, and on Dec. 5, NCAA officials notified OU that Bledsoe’s appeal had been denied.

Cody Stavenhagen of the Tulsa World

Regardless of the outcome, Bledsoe will be eligible to play in Oklahoma’s Oct. 7 game against Iowa State, and the talented DE will provide Oklahoma’s defensive front with some quality depth. Bledsoe came to OU in 2016 in as a four-star prospect out of Lawrence, Kansas, and appeared in six games, recording three tackles and a pass breakup before being suspended.

Will Richardson is returning to his starting spot at right tackle this weekend after serving a two-game suspension, and that’s very good news for an NC State offense in need of a boost to its ground game. Injured cornerback Mike Stevens is also back on the two-deep this week, though it is unclear exactly how much time on the field he’ll see.

As Dave Doeren explained during his Monday press conference, Stevens hasn’t gone through a full week of practice yet this season and practiced only one day last week. They’re being cautious, but Stevens probably isn’t completely healthy yet, either.

Those are both positive developments, but could we have a game without bad news? Heavens no. Reserve corner James Valdez hurt his knee in the fourth quarter of the Marshall game and will sit out the Furman contest, as will safety Dexter Wright. The football gods are being extremely unhelpful right now.

After the Penn State game, James Franklin delivered what has been universally seen as a cheap shot of sorts.

James Franklin said when Pitt beat Penn State last year it was like they won the Super Bowl

“For us this year it was like beating Akron” pic.twitter.com/TiC362Ax4q

— John Clark CSN/NBC (@JClarkCSN) September 9, 2017

Kind of ironic, of course, considering that Franklin recently stated that every game for Penn State was the Super Bowl. But I digress.

It’s worth pointing out that, while some Penn State fans incredulously insist that wasn’t the case, the quote was seen as not only a low blow by Pitt fans but also by some national media, who have absolutely no skin in the game.

John Feinstein called it arrogant. USA Today had an article, calling it a shot. Famed basketball writer Dick Weiss called it a shot. A writer for the Tennessean says Franklin is full of it. Surely, there were more.

Beyond those folks, a gaggle of other outlets, including SportsCenter, didn’t entirely print that it was a shot but noted the quote on Twitter and elsewhere, virtually acknowledging it as a shot. And while Rich Eisen took a poll on his Twitter account and about 2/3 of the nearly 10,000 respondents looked unfavorably on Franklin’s comments.  Eisen also didn’t crush Franklin directly but did acknowledge that Pitt’s ‘Super Bowl,’ if there was one, was against Clemson and not Penn State last season.

Either most of us are wrong here and Penn State fans are correct in their assertion that it wasn’t a cheap shot or vice versa. I’ll let you make that call.

On Monday, it was Pat Narduzzi’s turn to weigh in. His reaction?

Pat Narduzzi was asked about his reaction to James Franklin’s Akron comment: “You’d have to ask him. They went low, we went high.”

— Craig Meyer (@CraigMeyerPG) September 11, 2017

My general reaction is that I honestly don’t care if Franklin said that. Did I think it was tasteless? Sure. But he’s allowed to say whatever the heck he wants and, by the way, Pat Narduzzi has rubbed some folks the wrong way, too, in the past. But the idea of Franklin and Penn State fans to essentially play dumb here and act like this wasn’t a shot is kind of amusing. It all sort of reverberates back to the idea of many Nittany Lions fans that often have this strange notion that their team is above the fray and is the standard-bearer for justice and purity when quotes like this sort of show that nothing is further from the truth.

That’s what irkes me more about this. I didn’t like Franklin’s comments but they didn’t throw me into a complete tizzy, either. But the suggestion that this is nothing more than Pitt fans taking his comments the wrong way is beyond laughable.

As I said in one of the comment threads, if he intended to not make it a cheap shot, he would have simply left Pitt’s reaction to winning the year before completely out of it. If he wants to take the approach the game is no different than any other, that’s a view taken by most college coaches around the country. However, he chose to say that the game was Pitt’s Super Bowl last year and that was the key to it.

Take the cheap shot all you want – just admit as such. Penn State won the game and a year of hearing 42-39 surely provided some amount of frustration for them, including Franklin, whether he wants to particularly admit it or not. Some would even suggest they were entitled to such a low blow because a rivalry includes some hatred and some back and forth barbs. But to take a cheap shot and then pretend as if it wasn’t one is just kind of silly.

Be sure to join Cardiac Hill’s Facebook page and follow us on Twitter @PittPantherBlog for our regular updates on Pitt athletics. Follow the author and founder/editor @AnsonWhaley.

Quite a few contributors might not be active for Wisconsin’s road trip to BYU later this week.

No. 9 Wisconsin released its preliminary injury report on Monday, showing five players listed as questionable. They include starting guards Beau Benzschawel and Jon Dietzen (both listed with right leg ailments), running back Bradrick Shaw (also right leg), kicker P.J. Rosowski (yup, you guessed it, right leg), and safety Patrick Johnson (left arm).

The injuries to Dietzen and Benzschawel are of the most interest and possibly the most concerning. Benzschawel was injured during Saturday’s win over Florida Atlantic. Redshirt junior Micah Kapoi took over for Benzschawel at right guard against the Owls.

Dietzen was dinged up a bit during fall camp and was also out during spring practices. He did play in Wisconsin’s first two games this season. He and BenzschawelBenzschawel are still listed on the Badgers’ depth chart released as starting guards, though Kapoi has experience at both positions. Redshirt sophomores Jason Erdmann and David Moorman are listed as second-team right guards.

Redshirt sophomore Zach Hintze replaced Rosowski on Saturday and performed well, registering four of his six kickoffs as touchbacks. A walk-on from Fond du Lac, Wis. (St. Mary’s Springs), Hintze said Rosowski injured himself during Thursday’s practice.

Listed as out for this week’s match-up against BYU are running back Taiwan Deal (right leg), defensive end Chikwe Obasih (left leg), wide receiver George Rushing (left leg), and fullback Jake Whalen (head).

Redshirt freshman wide receiver Kendric Pryor, who sustained facial injuries in a moped accident during fall camp, is off the injury report.

Wisconsin’s full Week 3 injury list:

Questionable

• OL Beau Benzschawel (right leg)
• OL Jon Dietzen (right leg)
• S Patrick Johnson (left arm)
• K P.J. Rosowski (right leg)
• RB Bradrick Shaw (right leg)

Out

• RB Taiwan Deal (right leg)
• DE Chikwe Obasih (left leg)
• WR George Rushing (left leg)
• FB Jake Whalen (head)

Out for season

I’ll say it up front. This isn’t going to be a pretty article, dear readers. I will disclaim the following: I am sick of Notre Dame. The sea of red reared it’s ugly head in South Bend and I have plenty of opinions on that. The media was crappy to the head coach. I have even more opinions on that. I will keep them to myself for the sake of this article, but don’t expect anything super optimistic or cheery from here on.

Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports

Aaaaaaaanyway….

We’re back again to take a look at that stat sheet following a rough one in South Bend on Saturday night. The Georgia Bulldogs went all out in South Bend, overrunning the city, university, stadium, and even Chicago in the process.

Here’s what I noticed in reviewing the statistics from Saturday night.

First downs. Notre Dame had 18 first downs in the game, compared to Georgia’s 16. But that did not equate to a productive day for the Irish offense; they managed a piddly little fart of 266 total yards, only 55 of which came on the ground. Most of their first downs came as a result of Georgia penalties, and Notre Dame was only 3 of 17 when it came to converting on third down. That’s the truly telling statistic right there.

I expected more for a Chip Long offense, if that’s fair to say.

Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports

In the name of being fair, Georgia does have a very good defense. However it’s pretty frustrating to hear all about the vaunted Notre Dame offensive line and rushing attack only to be stonewalled by the visitors.

Then there is Brandon Wimbush’s stat line. 211 yards through the air doesn’t sound too bad, right? Unfortunately if you go 19 of 39 with a 5.4 yard average, you’re only going to end up with a QBR of 19.3. Yuck. Restart. Unsubscribe.

55 yards on the ground. That’s it. 1.5 yards per attempt. Not a single Dexter Williams carry. This is indicative of poor play calling and questionable coaching, and certainly doesn’t reflect well on an offensive line that is supposed to be home to one or maybe even two All Americans.

I’ve been soft on Brian Kelly in the past, but I think a well-coached Notre Dame team wins this game, particularly in regards to the offense. That’s all I’ll say on that matter.

Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports

On the other hand, the Notre Dame defense came to play. Mike Elko’s unit gave up 185 yards on the ground, but many thought both Sony Michel and Nick Chubb would go over 100 yards. That was not the case, they had 73 and 63 yards respectively. If you would have told me that that’s what the defense would do heading up to the game, I would have taken it. I still think it was good enough.

But the offense let the Irish down, much like many fans did in selling their tickets. You want a real stat that doesn’t lie? Take a look at the attendance numbers for Georgia fans. Well done, Notre Dame faithful.

On to Boston College, I guess.