Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe is believed to be the third of four coaching candidates who have interviewed for the vacant Nebraska job.

The Sporting News, on its Web site, cited a source close to Grobe saying that Grobe had informally spoken with Nebraska interim athletic director Tom Osborne and UNL chancellor Harvey Perlman on Monday in Atlanta. Osborne has also interviewed LSU defensive coordinator Bo Pelini and Buffalo coach Turner Gill, both former Nebraska assistants.

Bonnie Rae, an administrative assistant to Grobe, said Grobe was out of the office and wouldn’t be in the office this afternoon. She wouldn’t say whether Grobe was on the road recruiting and transferred the call to Wake Forest sports information director Steve Schutt. Schutt declined comment, saying the school wouldn’t comment on personnel matters.

Bill Faircloth, assistant athletic director for football at Wake Forest, didn’t immediately return a phone message. Many of Grobe’s assistant coaches are on the road recruiting. One who was reached by cell phone, defensive ends coach Keith Henry, said he’d not spoken to Grobe today.

Grobe has nine years left on his Wake deal, which pays him $1.5 million annually. He has a $2 million buyout.

Meanwhile, Pelini remains in Baton Rouge, La., where he was in a staff meeting late Tuesday morning.

According to a source close to Pelini, he hasn't received an offer from Nebraska. He interviewed for the Husker job Sunday.

LSU is preparing for Saturday's SEC title game against Tennessee.

Perlman told the Journal Star on Tuesday that he had no news to report on the search and indicated he would be in meetings unrelated to football until 5 o'clock. Another source said there would be no announcement today.

Two other coaches whose names have been linked to the Nebraska opening — Cincinnati's Brian Kelly and TCU's Gary Patterson — apparently have not been interviewed.

A Cincinnati Enquirer writer interviewed Kelly on Monday afternoon, and although he did not ask the coach specifically about Nebraska, Kelly told him he had not been contacted by anyone.

The Fort Worth-Star Telegram asked Patterson on Tuesday if Nebraska had talked with him. No, was the answer.