One of ESPN's recruiting analysts, Billy Tucker, offered his opinion on how he thinks some of the new college football head coaches have done on the recruiting trail since starting at their new jobs.

Tucker provided this take on Husker coach Bo Pelini's recruiting to date:

"The former LSU defensive coordinator closed well after his late hire in '08 and is hoping his great energy and astute defensive pedigree will start to attract some of the state's and country's finest prospects back to Lincoln. Pelini appears to have the Cornhusker faithful buying in, but has yet to make waves on the recruiting trail in '09.

"None of the Huskers' three committed prospects appear on the ESPN 150 Watch list. Shawn Bodtmann (Scranton Pa./West Scranton) is a good, solid football player, but does not possess ideal measurables for an outside linebacker prospect. Defensive tackle Thaddeus Randle (Houston/North Shore) is built in the same mold; he will need a lot of physical developing and coaching, to make in an impact in the Big 12. On a positive note, there might not be a better strength program or defensive coach for these two prospects to blossom under."

Besides Bodtmann and Randle, the Huskers also have a commitment from Cole Pensick, the defensive tackle from Lincoln Northeast.

Of course, from what we've heard out of Pelini, he's not the type of guy who is going to worry too much about how analysts like Tucker rate his classes.

Somebody tell me if I'm wrong here (McKeever! Help!).

Somebody save me from myself.

Best I can tell, after talking to people who purport to know such things, Nebraska might need only to avoid a collapse this week and in next week's Big 12 Tournament to earn an NCAA Tournament top-eight seed.

Warning: This type of speculation is extremely dangerous. Who knows exactly what the NCAA baseball committee has in mind?

That said, Nebraska is 38-9-1 overall and 17-6-1 in the league. The Huskers have a strong RPI (sixth) and remain in the hunt for the Big 12 regular-season title.

Bottom line is, the Big 12 appears to be in good position to land two teams among the top-eight seeds. A&M (42-10, 19-5 Big 12) would seem a lock to land one -- and would become an out-and-out lock if it does the expected and wins the Big 12 regular-season crown.

Oklahoma State (37-14, 16-8 Big 12) might be the wild card in all this NCAA speculation. NU probably needs to keep a close eye on the Cowboys, although they're just 18th in the boydsworld.com psuedo-RPI.

At any rate, Nebraska wraps up the regular season with games Tuesday against Creighton at Rosenblatt and with a three-game series at Missouri (34-17, 13-11) this coming weekend. So, if you're a Husker fan, you probably want to see Big Red beat Creighton and win at least one at Missouri, and then win a couple in the league tourney.

Oklahoma State plays Western Illinois Tuesday, then closes with three games against eighth-place Oklahoma (the first at Tulsa, the next two in Oklahoma City).

Texas A&M plays at UT-Arlington on Tuesday, then finishes against Texas (29-19, 12-12). The first game's in Austin, the last two in College Station.

The ACC figures to land three top-eight seeds: Miami, North Carolina and Florida State. Arizona State and Rice also seem to be good bets.

Stay tuned. And remember, this is all very tentative, not to mention dangerous, but kind of fun all the same.

No clouds, no chance of rain today.

A&M leads the opening game of a doubleheader 2-0 after the first inning.

NU freshman David Stewart is making his fourth Big 12 start at DH. Meanwhile, Craig Corriston was a late scratch at first. Tyler Farst in for the senior, whose knee must be sore.

Wind is blowing out to right field -- Aggies' four left-handed hitters, and Huskers' five, are lovin' that.

No one would have predicted that Nebraska, which stood 1-12 in Big 12 play a week ago, would be playing for a conference title today and a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

It's remarkable that as recently as Wednesday, Nebraska head coach Rhonda Revelle discussed whether there should even be a postseason tournament. The Big Ten has done away with their tournament, and Revelle predicted that other leagues would likely follow suit.

The good news for Nebraska is that the Big 12 still has a tournament and the Huskers are within a win over Texas A&M from keeping alive their streak of NCAA Tournament appearances.

Today's game is underway. You can watch on FSN.

Certainly we've still got some time before the discussion really heats up about who might succeed Tom Osborne as athletic director.

Osborne's current contract runs through June 30, 2010, and that's not to say he couldn't stay on beyond that.

But when it does come time for Nebraska to find a new A.D., Paul Meyers is one guy who is shaping up as a possible candidate to be on the short list.

As associate athletic director for development, Meyers has strong relationships with many big-time boosters. Regent Howard Hawks and longtime donors Dale Jensen and Charles Myers are among his fans.

Said Hawks: "Tom's only going to be there two or three years according to the current plan, and I know there are other people in the athletic department and at other schools. But I would hope that Paul would be one of the people Tom is mentoring as his replacement."

Jensen, a part-owner of the Arizona Diamondbacks, seconded that Meyers could do well in an athletic director post.

“He has the personality and the people skills," Jensen said. "You can always hire someone to get the technical stuff done. You don’t need to be an accountant. You just need to know a good accountant. But most important is that leadership quality, that person-to-person connection of being able to take the pulse of the state.”

A former All-American outfielder for the Huskers and fourth-round draft pick of San Fran in 1986, Meyers said he's flattered by those comments, and yes, he would be interested if people felt he was right for the position.

Of course, many will remember Meyers briefly left the athletic department at the very end of the Steve Pederson tenure, coming back soon after Tom Osborne took over the A.D. post.

About his leaving, Meyers said: "I just really felt in order for me to do my job effectively and ask people for their hard-earned money, I have to believe 100 percent in what we're doing as a group. And I didn't feel that I could and therefore I felt, for my own reasons, that I needed to separate myself."

Meyers said there's now a team-oriented feel around the athletic department. "Tom has brought that. He's a very inclusive leader. Whether you are the person that works on electricity at the Bob Devaney Sports Center or you're doing million-dollar contracts will the athletic department, he includes you in everything."

Nebraska's game against A&M scheduled for Saturday has been washed out by rain.

The teams will play a doubleheader starting at noon Sunday.

Season-ticket holders and fans that have purchased tickets to Sunday’s originally scheduled game will be able to use those tickets for reserved seating for both games on Sunday.

Fans that had tickets to Saturday’s game can use those tickets for general admission seating for both games on Sunday.

Both games will be carried on the Husker Sports Network and the first game will be carried on Nebraska Educational Television.

Nebraska won only four Big 12 games during the regular season, but after two one-run wins in the Big 12 Tournament, the Huskers are within two games of extending their string of 13 consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament.

The Huskers beat seventh-ranked Oklahoma 6-5 today, a huge win when you consider what the Sooners did to NU during the regular season. Molly Hill gutted out a complete-game win and the Huskers now have a few hours to recover before playing in the semifinals.

The game begins at 4:30 p.m. on Fox Sports Net. Nebraska will face Texas Tech, the No. 6 seed. The Red Raiders upset No. 3 seed Missouri today.

The championship game in the single-elimination tournament is Sunday.

So, today's starting time is moved back to 5 p.m. Maybe that's a good thing for all concerned. Nebraska and Texas A&M might be a little worn after last night's 16-inning affair. Heck, fans might be a little worn.

I heard something late last night you don't hear very often: A pitcher (A&M's Travis Starling) grunting as he gamely threw pitches late in the contest. He was like a tennis player returning volleys. He worked eight scoreless innings of relief.

It was two strong teams that wouldn't give an inch. There were so many dramatic moments I lost count.

"Nebraska has an incredible team," A&M coach Rob Childress said. "Their numbers on the mound, they don't lie. They have a very good pitching staff. I mean, it's as good as we've seen all year."

I think the edge now swings Nebraska's way because of its deep and talented pitching staff. Starling is done for the weekend. A&M's relief corps isn't nearly as deep as NU's. The Aggies will lean hard today on freshman right-hander Barret Loux (4-1, 4.28 ERA), while senior Thad Weber (8-2, 3.75) starts for Big Red.

NU obviously needs to do better than 1-for-23 with runners in scoring position.

More extra innings anyone?

Contrary to what he'd been indicating, as recently as yesterday, Craig Corriston is in the lineup and playing first base for the opening game of the Texas A&M series, which just started.

It was only nine days ago that Corriston had arthroscopic knee surgery, with the hope that he'd be 100 percent by postseason.

Another interesting lineup note: Tyler Farst is playing left field. It's his fourth start there. He's in because the Aggies have a lefty on the mound. But since March 23, whenever Sullivan has sat, Dan Johnston has started. Hmmmm.

After working with the Tampa Bay Bucs last week, former Husker quarterback Sam Keller is at a different mini camp this week.

He's wearing silver and black with the Oakland Raiders.

It at least figures to be a somewhat better situation than the one awaiting him in Tampa, where the Bucs already had seven quarterbacks under contract when he arrived.