Another nightmare

Mom was right. Nothing good ever happens after midnight.
Hopefully, most of you were asleep in the wee hours Sunday morning, not punishing yourselves by watching another chapter of the football scaries, a movie so horrifying Stephen King wouldn’t touch it. 
Apparently, I’m a glutton for punishment. It’s 3 a.m. Sunday morning and once again, Husker fans are left out in the wind, stood up by a hot date holding nothing but withered roses and broken promises. 
I need someone to talk me off the ledge here. I’m in my mid-30s. I was alive when Nebraska won championships, but don’t have a memory of it. I was a young boy with big dreams when Eric Crouch was pummeled by Miami’s NFL team in the Rose Bowl. 
All of the letdowns the last 25 years. Every gut punch, every heartache. Every time, saying it can’t get worse yet and somehow still being wrong. 
How many layers of football Hades do we have to endure before coming out the other side? When do the football Gods say enough is enough?
At this point, I’m waltzing through the haunted house, knowing that there’s a chain saw around the turn and someone ready to grab me from behind, yet completely unbothered by the prospect.
The fourth quarter starts, Nebraska is leading by eight and yet I’m as confident as ever the Huskers will lose. It’s a special kind of purgatory, really. 
On a day where college football fans watched in amazement as five of the top seven teams in the AP poll lost, surely something good can happen for the Big Red. One time, they’ll finally win “that” game. When does “that” time come? Someone change the channel. 
I won’t subscribe to the notion that I should still be happy that Nebraska is 5-2 entering the bye week, considering that everyone would have been thrilled with that in August. 
In early August, we had no idea that Oregon would trot out a walk-on quarterback who would have less passing yards than several run-happy 8-man QBs in this state. 
Oregon had nothing going for themselves offensively all night long. Their play calls for most of the night resembled something out of a ‘B’ team junior high sheet. 
And yet, Nebraska couldn’t get out of its own way. The Ducks find a way to score, then what? Just put together a drive to win the game. How hard can it be? 
Reality? Three and out. It’s an open book test we have the answers to and yet still get it wrong. 
For two consecutive weeks, the coaches opposing Nebraska approached the game almost unfathomably. Both Indiana’s Curt Cignetti and Oregon’s Dan Lanning waited for the Huskers to shoot themselves in the foot.
They were so conservative, holding the cards with patience and not even playing to win. They were coaching with the mindset that Nebraska will lose. That’s truly incredible. 
It was in their decision-making. Cignetti punted in obvious go-for-it scenarios. Lanning kicked three when in other games, he 100 percent goes for it on fourth down. They waited for the Huskers to blow it, and they obliged. 
Nebraska football needs to be studied by science, mathematicians and scientists. We’ve long sailed past the “improbable” with this team. It’s “impossible.” 
Okay, Mom. I’m going to bed now. Football is dumb, anyway. 
RICHARD RHODEN can be reached at sports@hamilton.net.