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LINCOLN, Neb. — With an elk’s head mounted on the wall and the Farm Service Credit of America luncheon on the calendar, Elks Lodge #1790 in Ainsworth, Nebraska, seems like an unusual place for a blueprint for the revival of Nebraska football to reveal itself.

Forget restoring the championship glory of Tom Osborne, winning the Big Ten West or, heck, even figuring out a way to get past Minnesota in the opener. To resuscitate the Nebraska football program from a generational low point, new coach Matt Rhule first had to win the offseason one handshake and selfie at a time.

A few months ago, Rhule flew into Ainsworth, which is the home of the state’s top high school player, blue chip tight end Carter Nelson. Eating options are limited in the town of 2,000, so Rhule and a few staffers knocked on the door of the Elks and were greeted with the news that a private baby shower was unfolding inside.

Midwestern hospitality soon collided with the realization the new Cornhuskers coach stood at the door, and Rhule and his assistants lunched with the family, took pictures and got to know the folks who’d driven in from Iowa and the Dakotas.

“Everywhere we go we try to go, we sit down somewhere and we have lunch and have dinner and meet all the people in the towns,” Rhule told ESPN in his office recently. “Because when you go across Nebraska, it really hits you, these people are counting on us, counting on us to win and bring the program back to the level that’s been.”

Nebraska’s $74 million bet on Rhule is that the master college rebuilder can lead the dual comeback of both his own career and Nebraska’s floundering football program. In the wake of Rhule’s firing from the NFL’s Carolina Panthers in the middle of the 2022 season after amassing an 11-27 record, he’s tasked with both restoring his own reputation as one of college football’s most promising coaches and Nebraska’s relevance on the national landscape.

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Wisconsin QB O’Neil carted off with leg injury

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Wisconsin QB O'Neil carted off with leg injury

MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin quarterback Danny O’Neil was carted off the field and into the locker room after injuring his leg in the first quarter of the Badgers’ game against No. 24 Washington (No. 23 College Football Playoff) on Saturday.

O’Neil got up at the end of a 21-yard keeper, limped and then went back down and clutched his right leg. Wisconsin announced in the second quarter that O’Neil would miss the rest of the game with what was officially ruled a lower-body injury.

The San Diego State transfer was making his first start since a Sept. 13 loss to Alabama, though he had played in a reserve role Sept. 20 against Maryland and Oct. 18 against Ohio State.

Freshman Carter Smith took over for O’Neil and made his college debut Saturday.

Quarterback issues have hindered Wisconsin throughout the season. Billy Edwards Jr. was Wisconsin’s first-team quarterback at the start of the year, but he sprained his knee in the second quarter of the Badgers’ season opener and has played only one full series since.

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Ohio St. WR Tate sits out with undisclosed injury

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Ohio St. WR Tate sits out with undisclosed injury

Ohio State standout receiver Carnell Tate sat out Saturday’s game against Purdue after suffering a minor undisclosed injury during pregame warmups.

Coach Ryan Day said the Buckeyes held Tate out just as a precaution.

“[Tate] wanted to play,” Day said, “but we’ve got a lot of football ahead us.”

The top-ranked Buckeyes (9-0, 6-0 Big Ten) still defeated Purdue 34-10 to remain unbeaten. Jeremiah Smith led Ohio State with a career-high 10 receptions for 137 yards and a touchdown.

This season, Tate has 39 receptions for 711 receiving yards and 7 touchdowns.

The Buckeyes play UCLA next weekend.

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Texas Tech hands BYU 1st loss, improves to 9-1

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Texas Tech hands BYU 1st loss, improves to 9-1

LUBBOCK, Texas — Stone Harrington kicked a school-record five field goals and standout Texas Tech linebacker Jacob Rodriguez had two takeaways as the No. 9 Red Raiders defeated No. 8 BYU 29-7 on Saturday, holding the previously undefeated Cougars to a season-low 255 total yards in a game with Big 12 and playoff implications.

Behren Morton passed for 216 yards and threw a 9-yard touchdown to Caleb Douglas while Cameron Dickey ran for 121 yards and a 1-yard score for Texas Tech (9-1, 6-1 Big 12, No. 8 CFP), which played in its first top-10 matchup since 2008.

“I told the team we have another gear,” Tech coach Joey McGuire said. “We can play better.”

BYU (8-1, 5-1, No. 7 CFP) had never played in such a game, though the teams could meet again in the Big 12 championship game in four weeks in Arlington, Texas.

Harrington kicked field goals of 47, 39, 34, 29 and 27 yards.

Rodriguez, the FBS leader with seven forced fumbles, had an interception midway through the third period leading to Harrington’s fourth field goal. He recovered a backward pass late in the fourth quarter that set up Harrington’s final kick.

Tech has gone from ranking 121st last season in the FBS allowing 34.8 points per game to fifth at 13.2 going into Saturday and lowering that to 12.6.

“Yeah, we are a better [defensive] team than we were last year,” Rodriguez said. “But … we’ve still got a lot of things to clean up.”

BYU snapped a 10-game winning streak dating back to last season. The Cougars avoided their first shutout since 2017 when Bear Bachmeier threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Chase Roberts midway through the fourth quarter.

The Cougars went into the game third in the FBS in turnover margin at plus-1.25. They lost two fumbles, threw an interception and muffed a punt.

Bachmeier was 23-of-38 passing for 188 yards. The true freshman also had two turnovers, an interception and a backward pass for a fumble.

“A couple of passes and a muffed punt cost us, I think, 13 points,” BYU coach Kalani Sitake said. “Even after that, I thought we were going to be able to respond and make a game of it in the second half, but we weren’t able to do that.”

The Cougars went into play averaging 36.3 points and 434 yards per game. Their previous low offensive output this season was 332 yards in the 27-3 win over Stanford on Sept. 6.

Both teams have home games remaining against UCF, while the Cougars also play at No. 25 Cincinnati — the only other Big 12 team with one league loss — after hosting TCU next week. The Red Raiders host UCF next week before an open date and then their regular-season finale at West Virginia.

The Red Raiders, charter members of the Big 12 in 1996, are in position to play in the conference championship for the first time. Their remaining two opponents are a combined 3-10 in conference play.

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