Ask around the Big Ten this fall and nobody wants to talk about it, so we will. Play Nebraska, and the next Saturday tends to hurt.

Every Big Ten team that has played Nebraska this season lost the following week. Michigan State, Maryland, Indiana and Oregon. Four for four. That is not a coincidence you can wave off. That is a bruise. And it goes beyond the league, too: five of the seven teams the Huskers have faced lost their very next game.

The receipts

Michigan State got handled by the Huskers 31 to 13, then went to Madison and scored 3 points in a 31 to 3 loss to Wisconsin. Three points. That offense looked like it was still icing its ribs.

Maryland left Lincoln after a 48 to 23 beating and walked into Columbus the next week, where Ohio State rolled 45 to 16. Tough way to spend two Saturdays.

Indiana is the one that stings for us, because the Hoosiers escaped Memorial Stadium 20 to 17. But look at what came next. Back home in Bloomington against Ohio State, Indiana managed 15 points and lost 19 to 15. A top ten team that had been scoring at will suddenly could not find the end zone. Somebody hit them hard the week before, and we all know who.

Then there is Oregon. The Ducks got out of Autzen with a 17 to 14 win over Nebraska, a game that was a street fight from the opening snap. On Saturday they went to Champaign and Illinois beat them 21 to 10. Ten points for Oregon. If you watched the Huskers defense throw those Ducks around last week, you are not surprised.

Bowling Green fits the pattern too. After the Huskers won 56 to 7, the Falcons went to Ames and lost 55 to 7 to Iowa State.

The two that survived

Fair is fair. Ohio needed four overtimes to beat Jacksonville State 29 to 27 the week after Nebraska. North Dakota bounced back with a 42 to 35 win at Indiana State. Survived is the right word for Ohio, though. Four overtimes against a team you should handle is a hangover with a happy ending.

Why it keeps happening

Here is the insider part. This Nebraska team is built to win the line of scrimmage, and it plays that way whether it is up 30 or locked in a one score game in Eugene. Teams leave Lincoln sore. Quarterbacks get hit. Running backs get swarmed. Offensive lines spend 60 minutes moving bodies that do not want to move.

Look at the scoring. Michigan State put up 3 the next week. Maryland 16. Indiana 15. Oregon 10. Bowling Green 7. Those are offenses that looked fine before they saw the Blackshirts and looked a step slow after.

Is part of it schedule luck? Sure. Ohio State shows up twice on this list. But you do not get four for four in the Big Ten on luck alone. Physical football has a cost, and the Huskers are sending the bill to everyone else.

The bottom line

The record says 5 and 2. The two losses came by a combined 6 points, against Indiana and Oregon. And both of those teams went out and lost the very next week.

Nebraska is not just showing up this year. It is leaving a mark. Washington comes to Lincoln on Halloween night. Hope they stretch first.