Nebraska Cornhuskers abysmal upset shows a reset is in order

Tuesday night was one of those nights where Nebraska Cornhuskers fans are reminded just how good they’ve had it during the John Cook era. The kind of loss Cook’s volleyball squad took just doesn’t really ever happen. Until it does.

The Huskers marched into Moody Coliseum saying all the right things. They talked about how their struggles last weekend against some inferior opponents were a wake up call. But it turns out that they haven’t quite woken up yet. Instead, they lost to SMU 25-23, 25-21, 25-18.

Whatever has caused the Huskers to play less than impressive volleyball since they upended then-No.9 Kentucky to open the season is still bugging them. The Nebraska Cornhuskers volleyball coach thinks he knows what at least part of the problem is.

“We got punched in the mouth, and we let them keep punching us,” John Cook said on the Huskers Radio Network. “So I’m pretty disappointed in how we responded tonight.”

Nebraska Cornhuskers get punched in the mouth over and over

On the one hand, the Huskers’ loss is part of a rather weird trend this week. Several Top 5 teams have lost matches. Texas was toppled by No. 18 Minnesota. The Wisconsin Badgers haven’t won a match yet this season.

The difference there is that NU lost to an unranked opponent. An SMU Mustangs team that charged admission to a volleyball match for the first time. Ever.

It was the kind of loss that hasn’t happened to a Cook-coached team in seven years. You read that correctly. NU hasn’t lost to an unranked opponent since 2017. 128 straight matches.

The usual questions are going to pop up after this one. 

“Are the Huskers focused in after their surprising championship run last year?”

“Did a rough offseason affect them more than they let on?”

“Did all the departures and roster turnover kill the chemistry?”

Or is it just that a team that was pretty young a year ago is still learning the realities of a long regular season? Is it that after the kind of run they had in last season, they’re sort of bored with regular season matches against the likes of SMU?

Cook thinks that last one might be at least a factor. “Part of it is we think we’re Nebraska and we’re going to roll out here and smoke teams,” Cook added.

Here’s hoping this was an actual wake up call for the Nebraska Cornhuskers. A straight sets loss to SMU shouldn’t happen.