Nebraska Football's Mental Toughness TEST for 2026 | Brian Christopherson | Hurrdat Sports Live

Añadido: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]BC, did you think that that X thread was more positive than than heard at sports?

[00:00:09]>> [laughter] >> Yesterday You have to that thing That thing was So, what's the summary of the reaction to it? Because I always think or or what you guys think the summary of the reaction is because I always remind myself with anything Husker related that there's a very small sampling that comments and I love these people, too. I live with, you know, these are my people like on message boards and that are on social media and comment on everything.

[00:00:39]So, that I'm not trying to like take a shot here, but I also sometimes take a few steps back and I'm like there's still like 95 to 97% of this fan base that we don't hear from, right? About like the daily stuff and I always consider that cuz it it does my mind good.

[00:00:58]Because one thing I've learned through covering this team is sometimes I'll think like an opinion is slanted like 65 35 or 70 30 one way and then something dramatical happened like even when it seemed like obvious to me Frost was done dealing and it was going to end, you'll still find more people that suddenly rise up that you hadn't heard from. They're like, oh, they they there are a lot of fans that will ride with whoever as long as he's your guy and you just don't hear from him as much. And so, I always keep that in mind when when whatever reaction you get to anything that there's a lot of people you are just not hearing from and so, I probably sometimes speak for the fan too much as like I think they're thinking this and it's like I don't know what they're thinking. It's all over the place probably, but what what was did you get was like the I guess the online take of the interview? So, it was super interesting BC because like it very simply depended on A which clip they watched or if they watched the whole interview and B whether or not they were responding to a quote tweet of the interview or not because a lot of it >> Okay. on the negative side was used car salesman, just win, whatever.

[00:02:11]Um but then if you >> [clears throat] >> to the YouTube page where people will watch theoretically the whole interview or at least most of it largely positive, right? Almost all positive on the YouTube comments, which is and then if you go to the negative quote tweets, almost everybody is defending the program. So, it's almost like on Twitter people are just looking for the opposite of what they believe so they can yell at somebody whether >> [laughter] >> Yeah. And then >> that. when you get the entire context of the interview, which was on YouTube um it's mostly positive. So, it it is >> Okay.

[00:02:51]To your point, I think you're right.

[00:02:53]First of all, like as much as we all spend time on Twitter and have to for our jobs because we work in sports it Twitter's largely a toxic wasteland.

[00:03:03]Like I think we all understand that. And so, that I think needs to be very much taken with a grain of salt when you're looking at people's reactions to things because I think you're right. I do think the vast majority of people are positive, but not nearly as online as the negative people are. I think they're Go ahead, Damon. Oh, I was just going to say I don't even know if it's a positive or negative thing as much as it is like just overall comprehension.

[00:03:29]Like Mhm. I I I and I don't mean low or high, I mean whatever your strainer is, like if it's a if it's a quote unquote negative strainer then you process the same information to kind of validate how you feel. If it's a positive strainer, then I think you process the information how you feel.

[00:03:52]Sometimes I think we just need to take the information and this is really hard.

[00:03:57]Robbie makes fun of me for doing this because I I listen to people that I don't like all the time.

[00:04:03]I wouldn't say all the time, but enough to maybe learn something because sometimes I can disassociate how I feel about them and just base it on is whether there's is what they're saying can it help me?

[00:04:13]Like is there anything edifying in there that that I can learn cuz a lot of times that answer's yes.

[00:04:20]Yeah, a lot of us hear what we want to hear as as you're kind of getting at there.

[00:04:25]Like for instance, you know I understand what he's saying yesterday like in the fall when he was talking about NIL and there's sort of the thought like people heard the line like we've got what we need now to, you know, compete.

[00:04:39]Um this is back in the fall when he said this. Um you know, with with with to get the guys basically to to go after uh head to head with some of the big boys after some of these guys.

[00:04:51]And then yesterday you heard um him basically say, you know, I try to I speak the truth as I know it in that time. Things do change and um I think people need to really understand that in this in this uh college landscape it the ground moves like it never has before.

[00:05:09]Um I mean just like this is not to uh divert to a different direction, but think about it this way like there's like this talk of like the five for five rule now, you know, like if in when when is that going to come into play? What who would that impact and how quickly would that come into play? Think about now like if you're a coach or a GM, if you're Fred Hoiberg or Matt Rhule and there's certain guys like we know who they are that you could think about like, oh, that could really be useful like for one more year with that player, but you don't know when that's going to happen or whatever and then and then it could change tomorrow. Like that that's just the the landscape we're living in where you've got to constantly uh process what might be the guard rails or when they might put those guard rails in place along the road and it it becomes a very challenging thing.

[00:06:00]And so, there are some people who like heard that comment the other day and he's like, oh, okay, why did he say what he said in the fall, you know, then? Well, things change, you know, and I hopefully people can see that because uh things are changing every 48 hours sometimes like in college sports now.

[00:06:19]B, when you're looking So, I thought he said something that was interesting about you know, Nebraska needing to go along the lines of what you're talking about we hear what we want to hear like needing to go first, right? Because a lot of times I heard or some of the comments I heard were whatever happened to just developing what like and I'm thinking, well, he he talked a lot about like what they're recruit what they're trying to recruit to, what they're trying to develop on campus how to stay in the moment. Like that was the the part about needing good players was in addition to not in in place of cuz he talked about questions earlier in the discussion about development. Did you feel like there was a a line of demarcation or did you feel like it was part of the discussion?

[00:07:11]Yeah, those are two separate things.

[00:07:12]You're going to need the the money sometimes to go after some of the some of the biggest dogs and and you're going to fall short if you don't have the same money others have. At the same time, when if you don't get a few of those uh you go back uh to the lab with uh the squad you have. You appreciate the guys you you have and I think it's a pretty interesting storyline over there in the fact that Nebraska, I don't know what the the layout is compared with all other power conference programs, but there are so many guys uh really for this day and age that are like third, fourth year type players like in that system now. And so, yeah, the development phase is everything um to maybe make up some ground where um you don't have quite as much as some others that you want to be on the same level competitively with. So, uh I think those two things you can talk about both and it's you're not they're not colliding with each other in any way. Um it Go back to basketball. Two weeks ago just before the portal opened and it's different cuz, you know, Fred's got to get, you know, five guys basically.

[00:08:19]There's a different number of players you're looking for and maybe >> That's a good distinction. Yeah, I mean it yeah, pretty big deal. And you're and you might need like three of them really to to just completely hit, right? So, where they're like in your rotation with basketball and stuff, but he was asked at that press conference about the sweet 16 run sort of and like how that can maybe help, you know, selling your your program. And he did say it it does help to some degree, but initially he made that universal sign of like the money, right?

[00:08:49]It's the money, you know, rubbing your fingers together. That I mean it it still comes down to that even if you've are sort of feeling like you you've got things grooving for your program like basketball did this last year. So, um So, what you're saying though that the two things the development and then the money part uh both are are separate and you're not uh bringing one opinion out to intercept another. You both can be true. Uh he didn't duck the the stadium renovation project either relative to NIL, you know, he he was clear about the the line of delineation kind of as he saw it in terms of pools of money.

[00:09:35]>> [snorts] >> When you look at >> remember what was his what was his quote on or what was the uh Shane, do you remember I can't remember how you labeled it. I don't want to miss You can go on if you don't I don't I know you don't want to misquote him, yeah.

[00:09:49]Um you know, but you know, basically he's talking about trusting his administration. Did did you Do you have it labeled Shane good enough where you think you can pull it?

[00:09:59]>> I don't think so. I'm sorry. All right, that's fine. We'll get back to it.

[00:10:03]Um BC and you kind of understand the the two separate entities as as we talk like hard dollars, right?

[00:10:12]Yeah, um I mean that those those things can be different, too. Um you know, and the bottom line is uh and Troy Dannen knows this, they're going to need that stadium to make money that it's not making year-round. Some people don't want to hear this, but um that's the simple fact and it's probably got to happen sooner than later uh where you pull the string on that project, which they're now doing, and you get going. Uh because it is like a uh I think like a 40% increase annually to the money you could bring in, you know, by updating that stadium. And some people will again will be like, "Yeah, I'll believe that when I see it" sort of thing, but I I I do know there's a lot of dollars that are left on the table if you don't go forward with this. And so I think Matt Rhule especially with the relationship he's really had with Troy Dannen, at least, you know, just looking in on it from the outside to me, he understands that he has an AD that is always looking at all the angles of um college athletics now and what way can Nebraska best position itself to be in that upper tier while knowing there are challenges and there's lumps and there's going to be tough crit- -iques that you sometimes take along the way while doing that stuff.

[00:11:29]Mhm. BC, as you're you know, as we talk through this and talk about basketball versus football and things like that. And obviously they're they're very very different, but I'm I'm always fascinated by the way we process sort of the the process of how the teams have gotten to where they're go- going or or have are on the pro- the way to getting where they're going. And and long way to ask, like why do you think we seem to be so um effusive in our praise of the of the patience that it took for Fred Hoiberg to get where he was going, yet despite real and measurable progress in the football program, we seem to totally lack any appreciation for patience at all?

[00:12:19]Um I think I think the real answer is is that is the deep history of Husker football. It just goes back so far. Um you know, like it's something people think about even back into the '60s and '70s that just like against all odds, Nebraska football became uh in a state, you know, it's grown now, but like of a million people or whatever at the time to become one of the top five programs for basically 50 years or something. That's like baked into us, you know, and so um even though like there's an understanding at some level that like there was like the seven worst years that preceded Matt Rhule arriving here, um there's still that always is sort of at odds with that like uh historical part that's in people's heads of what Nebraska football is supposed to be because they've seen it at that level at one point. And I actually don't want to knock that or or take a glove to that too much because I do think that's part of what can make Nebraska great. And I think Rhule, I don't want to put words in his mouth, but I think in a way he would agree with that. Like it's that that sense of striving to be still one of the top five, top 10 teams in the country in everything you do even if people snicker at the thought that you're going to do it um and all that because um you do have to have that mindset. So there there's part of it that's good, but I think that's why sometimes like yeah, there there's there could be more appreciation at some level probably for like the fact, "Hey, they didn't even make a bowl game for this long and now they've done it twice in a row."

[00:14:03]Um but I don't I also want to give the fans that are really skeptical right now their due and say they just they don't like like how it felt the last three or four games. Nobody did, and that's the last taste in your mouth. And meanwhile, basketball, it's a really pleasant thought right now about what's happened the last couple years. So I think right now we're just dealing with um you know, that season could have went the other way. You guys talked about it with him when, you know, they were 6 and 2 and on the 25-yard line at USC in the third quarter of that game leading.

[00:14:38]Uh but it didn't and because of that, there's always that um what's the last thing you did um sort of uh I don't know, that that emphasis that is going to connect to every take you hear in an off-season. And so that's kind of the off-season we're dealing with right now. You know, it's interesting you talk about the off-season and OTAs and they kind of flipped back to Matt Rhule and he said, "You know, we're kind of doing >> [clears throat] >> some of our tough-minded stuff situationally." And he's pretty open about going back to being down 7-6 [clears throat] to Minnesota and kind of the fragile psyche and how it kind of, you know, it was upsetting.

[00:15:13]And he's like, "Look, man, that that that toughness piece and stop looking over your shoulder kind of stuff starts with me. Like if I had my my greatest um source of anxiety for Nebraska over the last handful of years is the fact that they fold so easy, right? It's the the the the mental toughness because of the historical not historical, the recent lack of success. And I'm And I'm just thinking to myself, it's Is it the chicken or the egg thing?

[00:15:47]Because I hope not because you can't wait for you can't wait for the signature breakthrough moment before you really understand that you can't let an onside kick ruin your season. You can't let a a bad play against Colorado ruin your season. You can't you know, blow a coverage in Southern Cal 2 years ago and and have that Like you have to at some point get past that. Do you think that starts individually or do you think that's foundationally laid within what you do on the day-to-day in your culture?

[00:16:25]Man, that's a That's one of those like questions that feels like we've been on the couch about for like, you know, I I think 10 years. Yeah.

[00:16:34]It's hard. It's just my opinion, but outside of the signature player or the great recruiting or the uh you know, the the infrastructure, the building cuz I I just BC, where I ask the question is at some point we had to we had to get past the the Mike Krolls and the Bruce Pickens and the Neil Smiths.

[00:17:03]I mean, great players, unbelievable players where you transformed and I remember talking about this kind of being this other-centered thing.

[00:17:19]And how it's it's more than just having good players. And And so that's what I always come back to. It's just It's just mental toughness cuz people misremember our the '93 season was ugly offensively. The '94 season was ugly offensively.

[00:17:39]You know, but never did we really waver and we still hadn't won anything yet. So that part of me makes me think it's individual, but I also know we had to have some guys that promoted being selfless, too, for that to matter.

[00:17:57]Like not caring what people thought about us. Cuz that's a big deal here. We undersell it and we we say people are soft and we we say all these things from the outside, but none of us very few of us have similarly been as heavily scrutinized on the day-to-day and then say, "Hey, man, just hang in there."

[00:18:19]Can't listen to what people think, though. You know what I mean? Like So that that's kind of where I ask the question from the outside. Looking at your thoughts.

[00:18:26]Yeah, um that's in- The The last part you said was really interesting to me. I think you can you you have to probably get to that point where you just don't care so much what anybody on the outside says without And it doesn't have to become an us versus them thing. Like you can And I know what you can't ignore everything, but it's a real uh skill or impressive trait to have that to have that like sort of I trust in what I'm doing daily. I trust in what this guy next to me is doing daily. I see it. I'm going to believe in that as opposed to what someone outside says that doesn't that that isn't seeing this each day.

[00:19:03]Um and that doesn't And again, I'm not saying people on like like Matt Rhule said, he when he goes to the gas station in Waverly or whatever on his way in, you want people talking about football. You want people analyzing this program to some degree, but you do have to somehow take that all in here and also have that ability uh to not let those other opinions uh define what you're going to be or let what happened last year in this particular game in October uh say this is how it's going to be going forward.

[00:19:34]You've really, especially now, I think got to be able to look at it and be like, "Hey, everyone around the country is flipping their rosters in some ways."

[00:19:42]Even the teams that made the college football playoff last year, they've got to adjust to new guys and new coaches and all this certain stuff. Um they've got to overcome some of same stuff uh we've got to overcome if if I'm inside those walls. That's how I'd want to look at it and just uh embrace that challenge. One of the things I loved that he said um on your uh show yesterday was the schedule part and it is a tough schedule. They play three college football playoff teams. Not everybody does that. I like how he said we recruit to that schedule. We're embracing that schedule. We don't want to talk about like oh this schedule's got like I'm glad to hear that. I like the fact that you know the Minnesota game's the one that's easy to pick out. He talked about the Maryland game with you guys the week before. Remember when um and then he he made a really good point and they won that game and it felt good when they're running around doing the lap and uh you know high-fiving fans afterward. But yes, they were up 14 points in the second quarter. I remember early in that game thinking like they can house these guys.

[00:20:52]And and they did they didn't do it. and played better Mhm. we wouldn't have had to worry about a Friday night kick.

[00:20:59]Right? The emotional drain.

[00:21:01]I I I got the I I was surprised he went there but you know because what we say out loud is well he always talks about playing close games and but that's not really what he's saying. They don't have to be. We're just in a state of we're in a state of mind right now where it just seems like doesn't matter what we do it's just going to come down to that.

[00:21:20]Like you had a chance to step on the gas and and and didn't >> and handle your emotions differently.

[00:21:25]You just didn't.

[00:21:26]That Maryland game is one of those examples. We talked about this on the show a couple weeks ago where you can highlight both things to your team as you're moving into it and pushing it forward.

[00:21:36]Is that that's an example that these you guys can win close games. You won some last year. You you you've you've done it. Um also with that it didn't have to be a close game. So you can get the best of both worlds out of that point to your team. Sort of like how we were talking about you have the stat um which is true about them being like a top 30 defense.

[00:21:56]What is it the last 5 years or whatever?

[00:21:58]You can bring Yeah, you can bring that forward and also be like look at the red zone touchdown percentage defense. It was abysmal last year. You know like and you can you can pair those two things and uh it can be motivation for your team in both ways but um it it is an interesting balancing act I guess of like and I don't know where it comes from where you guys got it in those great teams back then the kind of get over that hill of of where you just believed in yourself and you and you expected it to happen um and you didn't think about what happened with previous guys or anything like that. It's just about what you're doing in that moment.

[00:22:40]It's such a uh psychological part of sports that's fascinating and if if the Husker foot if Husker football can ever grab that in the right way um I still think they've got the guys over there um and they've put enough guys in place as much as we talk about the NIL and guys that got away. I still think there players over there that can win a good amount of games. It's just interesting cuz a lot you just and maybe it's just cuz we're not there so we don't think it but it just doesn't seem like a lot of other schools focus on what could go wrong near as much as as as we do. And maybe I'm just hyper sensitive cuz it's us.

[00:23:17]Yeah, I I don't know. Um there could be truth to that. Um like I I know it's like a Minnesota pro sports fan um like with the Vikings and and their fandom there is kind of that sense of like the other shoe's always going to fall. So I do think it it exists in some places. It is connected to like uh your history and in this case Nebraska's recent history but um to you the point you made a couple questions ago that's going to be the key is like you have the guys that they they don't see it that way that are involved in the actual action of deciding wins and losses. And if if they can be that type of team um and they can start strong this year um I think there's a possibility for that. Build confidence.

[00:24:01]Who knows? Like um I'm I'm interested I'm kind of that point now in the season where I'm like really into the roster and like diving in like who what's this two deep going to look like and stuff like that. And I know some want to kind of go back and rehash what happened in this thing or that thing a year ago. Um it it's a new squad with a lot of new parts and they've got they'll have interesting guys at each level of the defense that we haven't seen before. You've got a new quarterback. And um in a weird way I think it was kind of a quiet spring here but I don't know that that's bad for them. We've uh I I just think they were able to sort of put their heads down and go to work. Like a guy like Anthony Colandrea. I wrote about it last night. Um he's an exciting player to come in as a you know conference player of the year last year from where he was.

[00:24:49]And there's been some excitement about him and I think there's optimism but I don't think the hoopla's been like what it was about a new quarterback coming in like it has been some years I've covered it. And whether that matters at all I don't know but I think it can be useful that Anthony Colandrea just go to work, you know, bond with your boys and um the spotlight will come on soon enough where uh everyone will have their critique September 5th but I think the off-season's been good in that respect for this team.

[00:25:16]You know it's it's funny you bring up the point about Colandrea that you know I I have no idea what his season's going to look like but there's been a lot of quarterbacks who have been um a lot less productive at whatever level they've been at that got way more celebrated than Colandrea. Like I remember we we Absolutely. we rode the Chris Mortensen hey Tanner Lee's an NFL quarterback quote for 6 months. And Tanner Lee threw like 12 touchdowns at Tulane his entire career basically. Like it it's just it's it's a very a astute point by you that for a guy that was highly highly productive last year on a I believe 10 win team by the way we're just kind of oh by the way and the fact that he is here.

[00:25:58]>> Yeah, that's what it is. And and that's fine. It's fine to be gun shy about and I think it's fine for Colandrea and those guys that that's been the case and obviously there was other distractions with basketball and everything going like it did and and I I think that was useful. We've been over that. So hope hopefully they made the most of it and are continuing to make the most of it. I think the early spring was a smart move and now you've got guys sort of going over what they did together and and bonded on on the field you know in these weeks before summer. So um if I'm a player I like the schedule. I like the challenges and I I like the fact that we jumped right into spring football. I got to know my new guys on the field that way and now let's see what we can do with it how we can grow each day. Uh I just in my famous infamous sprint around this studio was over the fact that a player was pretty upset about talking about the schedule said they were motivated by it. So basically I don't I don't they're not going to run from it either at least verbally.

[00:26:58]I don't get that sense at all.

[00:27:00]Chambliss uh Owen Chambliss early on might have been be even before spring ball started came up and he he's like I love this schedule. I've looked at every team on this schedule like I mean it just to see his eyes light up talking about it and I kind of walked out of that room and sometimes you I come back to my little nerd layer you know and you're like oh man look at what they did this you know with all the metrics and stuff like that. It's good to hear from a a ball player who's just like let's go. You know like I I'm I'm excited to play Iowa State. I want to play Oregon. You know that sort of stuff. That's how it should be.

[00:27:35]Mhm.

[00:27:36]That's our guy BC Husker 24/7. Brian appreciate the time as always and we'll talk to you next week.

[00:27:42]Yeah, thanks for having me guys and it was a it was a good interview. I I appreciated uh listening to it.