No Saturdays off during football season in Nebraska

Saturday was a tire swing of different emotions, from scouting out Nebraska football’s future to living vicariously through another program’s success. 
Following two consecutive nights of high school football in person watching the Hawks rout Elba on the road Thursday night and looking on as High Plains suffered a heartbreaking fourth quarter defeat at home, could there be any other way to begin your Saturday morning than to get out of bed bright and early for the first snap of flag football on the home turf?
Short answer, no. 
No matter the time of day, it’s fun to see the look on every youngster’s face as they experience playing football in an organized fashion for the first time. 
Aurora coach Kyle Peterson has quite the flag football league set up Saturday mornings, with so many teams and players it’s split up into two sessions. 
There were also several young ladies on the field as well, which is another big plus. Football runs deep in everybody around these parts. 
It’s also great to see a lot of the high school players there, from Carsen Staehr to both quarterbacks, Drew Knust and Booker Scheierman coaching up the youngsters. 
Those kids look up to those guys Friday nights, looking on with wide eyes and dreams of one day playing themselves. 
Heck, Carlos Collazo mentioned in a TV interview after beating Ashland-Greenwood a few weeks ago that his main priority was getting the win coaching his flag football team the next morning. 
You betcha. 
After a wild morning chasing the youngsters, the rest of the day was spent making sure my recliner in the man cave didn’t run away, so I had to hold it down for the remainder of the day. 
With Nebraska on a bye week, it was a stress free Saturday. I could watch several games at once and never get too bent out of shape. 
It also provided the opportunity to scout out potential coaching candidates for the Huskers’ opening. 
For those that don’t know, Kansas football is all the way back and probably better than ever. The Jayhawks had a sellout Saturday morning as they defeated Duke 35-27. 
The Jayhawks are a perfect 4-0 and have wins over two Power five opponents. Not many in the country can say that. 
Friend of the program Dave Bradley and I keep in touch throughout Saturdays, letting the other know what the other may be missing in any game throughout the day. 
As I watched Kansas, I told Dave that not only would Kansas beat Nebraska if they played this year, it may look similar to the 76-point drubbing the Jayhawks handed the Huskers back in 2007. 
The more things change, the more they stay the same. 
Kansas is such a well-rounded team. In fact, you put their resume on just about anyone in the Big 10 or the SEC, that team would not only be ranked, but quite possibly a top 10 or 15 team. 
In other words, rank Kansas!
The Jayhawk defense is buttoned up nicely and its offense doesn’t make many mistakes. Their quarterback, Jalon Daniels, is quite impressive if you give him a chance. 
Onto the bigger issue, however, and that’s Kansas’s coach, Lance Leipold. 
If I were in charge of the Kansas athletic department, I would have made sure yesterday that Leipold was my head coach for years to come. 
We know what Kansas football was on the national stage since 2009. This is just year two of the Leipold era and we’re discussing Kansas being a ranked team, 4-0 and leading the Big 12 standings. 
Nebraska could do a lot worse than throwing the kitchen sink at Leipold. Leipold was an assistant at Doane way back in the day and was also an assistant under Frank Solich at Nebraska. 
He’s won six Div. III national championships and done what many thought was impossible, fixing Kansas football. 
Nebraska’s mess can be fixed quickly. Guys like Leipold have proven that at other places, and he very well could be the guy to do it. 
After a chance to regroup, refill and readjust, the opportunity to watch a former Husker hero whip on a former rival was too much to pass up. 
After years of disappointment and missed opportunities, former Husker and current Kansas State quarterback Adrian Martinez played the game of his life and in the process led the Wildcats to a huge 41-34 win over Oklahoma in Norman. 
Martinez went into the game with experience playing in Norman with Nebraska in 2021, another game that slipped through the fingers of the Big Red. 
It was another reason why it was so much fun to see Martinez stick it to the Sooners as many of us Big Red supporters lived vicariously through Martinez Saturday night. 
Whatever your feelings on Martinez through his time at Nebraska, most Husker fans support those who have been here, even in their future endeavors. 
Martinez was 21-of-34 passing, 234 yards and a touchdown. On his feet, Martinez was even more impressive -- 148 yards and four touchdowns on 21 carries. 
But, the play that sealed it all was familiar to Husker faithful. 
It was a 3rd and 16 with two and a half minutes left and the Wildcats up seven. 
Martinez dropped back to pass with five receivers running routes. Martinez took off and found open space in the middle of the field, split two Sooner defenders before flashing speed we probably haven’t seen since his freshman season, all the way down inside the five before eventually scoring to go up by 14. 
It was great to see Martinez finally have that moment where he came up with a clutch play in the clutch moment to win the game. 
It’s amazing what a guy can do with a solid offensive line in front of him and how the confidence goes up with confidence around him.
Oh, and seeing Oklahoma and Texas lose on the same day is never a bad thing. 
RICHARD RHODEN can be reached at sports@hamilton.net.