Offense. Offense. Offense. And no where to be found: defense–by either team after halftime.

Nebraska Total Yards: 552
Passing: 438
Rushing: 112

Ball State Total Yards: 610
Passing: 422
Rushing: 188

Sam Keller sets a Nebraska single game passing yard record as Bill Callahan escapes with a close win and staves off another asterisk as he nearly became the first coach to give up two losses at home to unranked, non-conference opponents since 1962.

Listen to today’s game on Huskers Sports Network for free via Huskers.com.

[LIVE UPDATES 1st Q.] Huskers score on first possession. 7-0 Nebraska!

Cardinals drive, but do not convert on third and eight. They punt. Nebraska ball.

[LIVE UPDATES 2nd Q.] Huskers stymied by holding penalty. Third and 25. Peterson nabs a pass by Keller to cross midfield, but we’re five yards short of a first down. Punt coming up. It goes into endzone. Touchback.

Third down and nine for Ball State. Three-man line. Davis throws to 6′ 6″ Darius Hill for a 19 yard gain. First down across midfield. Third and long again. Another first down. Ball State on Nebraska’s 27. Pitch to Lewis. BSU on the 20. Pass to Hill. Touchdown Ball State (after an 80-yard drive). New ball game. 7-7.

Nebraska goes three and out. Ball State ball at their own 24. They move the ball out to the 42. Another first down. Third and 10. We pressure Davis. He completes another pass. First down Ball State. Love runs for six. BSU on the Nebraska 41. Third and five. Another first down at the Nebraska 35. 5:31 to go in the half. Third down and seven (BSU is six of seven on third down thus far). Time out Ball State. Pass to the endzone. No good. Field goal attempt. Good. 10-7 Ball State.

Nebraska ball. Third and five. Pass to Nunn for a pick up of seven. First down. Big pass (24 yards) to Hill on first down. Nebraska on Ball State 37. Lucky high steps it. We’re in the red zone. Pass to Castille, he runs to the two yard line. Castille hammers it near the goal line. No. Under a minute to play in the half. Castille slips a tackle for a stand up TD. 14-10 Nebraska!

[HALFTIME] Anyone for a beer?

[LIVE UPDATES 3rd Q.] Kick goes deep into endzone. First and ten for Ball State. They run. Nothing. Davis throws. Complete. 24-yard pick up. First down. Incomplete times two. Fourth down. Punt. Ankle tackle (or he busts it big). Nebraska ball at the 25.

Turnover Castille. Flag. On us. Ball State with the ball at the Nebraska 39. Are you kidding me?

Ball State passes. Good. Ball on our 15. Blackshirts backs are against the wall. Lewis runs right. Davis dashes in for touchdown. Ball State has the lead. Again. 17-14 Ball State.

[HARSH REALITY] It’s the second half and we’re down to Ball State, a team from the middle of the pack in THE MAC.

[BACK TO OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED 3rd Q. PROGRAMMING] All’s quiet in Memorial Stadium. Keller to Erickson. Pass is dropped. Another misfire. Our fourth punt of the game. BSU ball.

[QUICK FACTOID] Ball State is enjoying a $750,000 pay day for travelling to Lincoln.

[BACK TO OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED 3rd Q. PROGRAMMING] Ball State punts. Nebraska ball. Lucky runs for seven. Second and three. Lucky hit in the backfield, he lunges forward. Third and two. 7:10 to play in the quarter. Keller throws to tight end Hill. Touchdown! 73 yard pass play. 21-17 Nebraska.

Kick. Touchback. Pass from Davis. First down Ball State. Ball on 30. Audible by Davis. False start on the center. Second and 14. Ruud swats pass back to Davis, he somehow picks up nine. Ball on 35. Third and five. Crossing route to Love. First down Ball State. Lewis 43 yard run. Untouched for a score. Touchdown Ball State. 24-21 Ball State.

Boos.

Ball State kicks. Huskers ball. Keller passes to Purify. 28-yard pickup. Lucky swallowed up on the right side, we lose yards. Keller to Nunn. Third and six. Keller has all day. Lucky catches a pass for the first down. Keller is 15 for 19 passing thus far. Keller to Purify. No good. Third and eight. 3:47 to play in the third. Keller to Swift. Touchdown. 28-24 Nebraska.

Husker fans make some noise. Come on defense!

Davis throws to Love. First and ten on the 43. Pitch to Edmonds. Potter tackles him for a loss of one. Davis goes deep to Love. Spectacular grab. Touchdown. 31-28 Ball State.

Husker ball. Pass to Purify. Ball on Ball State’s 42 yard line. First and ten. Nebraska picks up six on the ground. Quarter ends…

[LIVE UPDATES 4th Q.] It’s a tennis match. How ’bout we turn it in to a football game?

Keller out of the shotgun. Pass to Nunn. Good. Ball on the 24. Keller to Hill. Incomplete. Second and 10. Five-yard penalty against the Huskers. Second and long. Intercepted by Ball State. Huskers stack the line. Lewis runs for a big gain. Davis to Love. He runs to the Nebraska 22. Blackshirts, where are you? Step up! Big third down. Pass. Touchdown Ball State. Point after no good. 37-28 Ball State.

[QUICK FACTOID] Ball State has never beaten a team from the Big 12. But they almost beat Michigan in the Big House last year.

[BACK TO OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED 4th Q. PROGRAMMING] Second and ten. Keller goes deep to Hardy. No good. Third and long. Keller throws ill advised pass. No good. Hold it. Flag. Pass interference against Ball State. First and ten, Nebraska. No one is open, Keller sacked. Lucky catches a pass. Third down and eight. Pass to Purify for a first down. Keller fumbles. Flag. Holding, Nebraska. Ball State ball. We’re in serious trouble.

First play from scrimmage. Fumble. But Ball State gets the ball back. Davis in the shotgun. He throws. Intercepted by Bo Ruud. Ruud runs it back. Touchdown Nebraska! 37-35 Ball State.

A field goal wins the game. Ball State pass to our 45. Flag against Nebraska. Personal foul. Another 15 yards. First down Ball State on our 26. Lewis runs for a solid gain. 8:52 left to play. Defense, please. First and goal to go. Run. Nothing. Run. Nothing. Third and goal. Ball State is 8 for 12 on third down. Pass broken up in end zone. Field goal team comes on for Ball State. He (a walk on) kicks. It’s good. 40-35 Ball State.

Huskers’ ball on the 18. We need a touchdown. Lucky breaks one big. Flag. Holding on the Huskers. Ten yard penalty. First and ten on the 28. Keller to Lucky for a short gain. Second and nine. Keller to Peterson. Out of bounds at the 41 for the first down. Hill across the middle for 32 yards. Hand off to Lucky. One yard gain. Screen to Lucky who slips a tackle and gets to the 18. Third down. Lucky dives for the first down! Keller throws middle screen for five more yards. Keller to Purify. Touchdown! 41-40 Nebraska.

We’re going for two.

Time out Ball State.

Keller to Peterson. No good.

It’s a one-point game with 3:13 to play.

We kick. Ball State ball at the 22. Come on Blackshirts. You can do this.

Pitch to Edmonds. Stopped. Davis passes to Edmonds. Caught. First down. Pass to Love. Good. Ball on the 39. Second and five. 1:38 to play. Blackshirts blitz. Throw. Good, but short of the first. Time out Ball State. Third down and one. Davis runs. First down Ball State. Davis to Edmonds. Complete. Ball on Nebraska 47. :43 to play. Pass caught. Out of bounds. First down to the Husker 43. :36 to play. Pass is good to the 38. Ball State has one time out left. Pass to Love who is wide open. He drops it. Third and five. Davis throws. It’s broken up by Octavien. Field goal team comes on. :17 remaining. Nebraska calls time out.

[QUICK FACTOID] David Letterman graduated from Ball State.

[BACK TO OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED 4th Q. PROGRAMMING] Another time out is called to ice their kicker. It’s a 55-yard attempt. Will they fake? Kick has juice. It has distance but sails wide to the left. Nebraska holds on to the lead.

[FINAL SCORE] Nebraska 41 - Ball State 40.

Ball State put 610 yards on our defense today. But we won.

[POST GAME REFLECTIONS] Hats off to Ball State. They came to play.

As for our predicament…it continues and will continue until we’re ready to DEMAND a new administration.

Nebraska wide receiver Todd Peterson talked to a reporter from the Omaha World Herald about the team’s desire to move forward.

“Obviously you want to be hitting on all cylinders when you hit conference play,” receiver Todd Peterson said. “We’re just out here trying to get better, because obviously we have things that we can improve — that we need to improve — if we want to have the type of season we expect and we still can. All’s not lost on one poor performance.”

Peterson said the NU staff has a “24-hour rule,” where you’re allowed 24 hours to celebrate a win or stew about a loss. Feel good about yourself or feel sorry for yourself, get it out of your system and then move on to the next opponent.

I think Huskers everywhere are ready for some football.

Omaha World Herald sports writer Mitch Sherman draws an interesting parallel between the Huskers and Arkansas–a team that knows what it’s like to get slammed by USC.

Southern California pummeled Arkansas 70-17 two years ago in Los Angeles, a loss that sent the Razorbacks to four defeats in their next five games and a losing season. A year later, Nutt’s club felt confident before a rematch at home. It had the national news media in town for a night game.

“The fans were all juiced up,” said guard Stephen Parker, a two-year starter and senior last season at Arkansas. “Everything was in our favor.”

USC won 50-14.

Arkansas head coach Houston Nutt, whose team advanced to the Capital One Bowl last season, said the Trojans possess a unique ability in today’s era of college football to demoralize the opposition for weeks after a loss. It has to do with the pregame hype, the method by which USC wins and the game’s immediate aftermath.

All I know is we need to hit some people on Saturday and keep on hittin’ all the way to Columbia and beyond.

Husker Nation meet Quentin Castille, (if you haven’t already). Castille, who is 6′1″ and 245 pounds, is a freshman fullback from La Porte, TX. Rivals.com listed him as the nation’s No. 2 fullback prospect last year.

StatePaper.com reported yesterday that senior cornerback and captain, Zachary Bowman, left his blackshirt in the locker for Tuesday’s practice.

Actions often speak louder than words…

Radio Rush recounts his experience on the field at Memorial Stadium last Saturday.

I look up, and there’s a lot of people, 30 or 40, standing up and they’re pointing at me, thumbs up, taking pictures with their cell phones. Then the largest roar I have ever heard erupted, and the whole stadium, whole corner of the stadium where I’m looking, stood up. Well, naturally, I thought it was for me. I thought they’d all spotted me. Then a split second later, I realized, “This can’t be for me.” I turned around and the Huskers had just come on the field. (Laughing.)

Supreme Court Justice, Clarence Thomas, was also in attendance. ABC presented a game time interview with him from a private box.

-Humor from my email this morning:

A Nebraska farmer dies and, being a heathen, goes to Hell. When he gets there its 95 F with 90% humidity, but Satan notices he’s kicked back on the brimstone relaxing comfortably.

He asks, “Why aren’t you miserable like everyone else here?” The farmer replies, “Oh, this is like a warm spring day in central Nebraska . I like it.”

Angry, Satan turns up the thermostat until its 100 F and 95% humidity. Still, the farmer’s happy. “This is like a good June day on the farm. Not bad at all.”

Furious, Satan turns it up to 105 F and 99% humidity. Everyone is even more miserable, except the farmer still resting. “Hey, this is like a good August day on the farm bailing hay. Feels good, the hotter the better.”

In a total rage, Satan turns the thermostat down to minus 25 F. Within seconds, the air becomes chilly and frost appears, soon followed by solid ice everywhere. Satan smirks, watching the farmer.

The confused farmer looks down at the frozen ground for a moment. Suddenly he jumps up excitedly, looks around everywhere and begins to laugh, scream, and jump for joy!

“BILL CALLAHAN WON A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!”
“BILL CALLAHAN WON A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!”
“BILL CALLAHAN WON A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!”

Lincoln Journal Star delivered a stunning lead today: Nebraska hasn’t practiced in full pads since the latter stages of preseason training camp last month.

David at Fire Bill Callahan is one Cornhusker fan taken aback by this news.

I think Callahan is just trying to write this blog for me. It’s not at all hard to have a “Fire Bill Callahan” blog when he actually says, in public, on the record, that the team hasn’t been practicing in full pads since the season began. Then, earning every penny of his contract, he thought it might be a good idea to start doing that again today.

What?

I don’t even know what to say to that. I get that there are half-pad days, and helmet-only days, and walkthrough days, but to never — ever — strap on full pads and hit somebody for three weeks … even I’m astonished.

In related news, Corn Nation is publishing photos of the holes in our line.

Oh, I almost forgot. Nebraska defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove is bummin’.

“He’s hurt. He’s down,” Callahan said. “I tell him to keep his head up. He’s got my full support. He’ll do a great job this week as he hits the practice field . . . It just hurts. When you have a performance that you didn’t expect — that you never even think could happen — it hurts.”

According to the Omaha World Herald, we’ve got a QB to be concerned about coming to Lincoln on Saturday.

Nate Davis, a sophmore at Ball State, passed for 8,000 yards and 80 touchdowns in his high school career. He aslo hit .500 in baseball and wound up as Ohio’s seventh leading basketball scorer of all time, puttting him in the company of luminaries like LeBron James, Jerry Lucas and Bob Huggins.

He took over the starting QB job last season against Northern Illinois, tossing four touchdowns to go with 298 yards. At undefeated Michigan, he broke out in the second half.

Ball State trailed 31-12 when Davis spearheaded touchdown drives of 73 and 64 yards. A potential game-tying drive fell short inside the Michigan 10, but Davis finished the second half with 205 passing yards.