WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Mike Riley often paces the sideline alone.
Alone in his thoughts.
He paced and looked at the grass at the end of the third quarter Saturday, his Nebraska football team trailing Purdue by 26 points — an obscene number for a litany of reasons.
I watched him for 30 seconds and wondered what he was thinking at that moment.
After Purdue's 55-45 victory was complete, Riley said Husker coaches just need to keep pushing forward.
At the same time, "You'd be naive not to know this is not a good thing," Riley said after his team fell to 3-6 (1-4 Big Ten).