Dear Nebraska Cornhuskers,

We just wanted to thank you for reading our editorial last Friday, for assuming we weren’t serious when we said Coach Rhoads is a destroyer of embarrassment and that he smashes bad losing streaks with his hammer of awesomeness.

For real, Coach Rhoads is the man. He has proven that the we can play hard, they can compete, persevere and, best of all, win.

The Cornhuskers can’t even hold onto a football.

First and foremost, congratulations Cyclone football players — you’ve successfully ripped another bad voodoo monkey off your back. History has been re-written this year. An underrated bunch of football players, coming off a 2-10 season have, seemingly out of nowhere, started the season 5-3 under the leadership of an emotional and passionate staff of equally underrated coordinators who never say die.

A disgruntled fan base has been reignited, and suddenly the old benchmark of “just try to keep it close” has turned into “win, at all costs.”

The team has every right to be excited, but with the splash they’re making this year, Cyclone fans across the state are proud again.

Within a few hours of the historic upset in Lincoln, a homecoming pep rally had been planned, for which hundreds of fans and a small pep band attended. As usual, our demi-God coach gave a pep talk so inspiring it made those in attendance want to suit up and smack someone around. Is it any surprise our players fly around the field with such passion? At the rally, coach Rhoads referenced the main points of the speech he gave the day he was hired: “We will be smart. We will be passionate. We will be physical.”

The team verified that those standards are beginning to take root. Suddenly, thoughts of an eight-win season seem reasonable, and within our reach. Suddenly, the ESPN ticker isn’t a downer every Saturday. Suddenly, things seem to be happening.

Let’s not forget the volleyball team either. As excited as we are, let’s all take a moment of silence to remember those who lost in Lincoln, Wednesday.

Haha. Sorry, couldn’t keep a straight face for more than a second in that one. Go ahead and smile: We beat the Huskers! In everything! We shattered their dreams and made them realize exactly how silly those corn hats are. Somehow, the game just seemed strange, as if the Huskers didn’t know they were losing. At the end of the game, someone probably ran into the locker room and said “Oh my God, we just ran the numbers and it turns out the end zone was a few yards farther away than we originally calculated! We just lost!” The whole game had an air of certainty, but the Huskers didn’t earn it.

ESPN’s Big XII blogger, Tim Griffin, may have summarized the game better than any other. He said in his post this morning “The best coaching job in the country Saturday was turned in by Paul Rhoads. Sure, the Cyclones had a few breaks with all of the turnovers. But the new Iowa State coach directed his team to a 9-7 victory over Nebraska without starting quarterback Austen Arnaud and leading rusher Alexander Robinson in the lineup. And the Cyclones did it despite a virus that caused many members of the team to get sick in the locker room during halftime.”

After the game coach, we watched you, on national TV, crouch down and regain your composure, obviously overcome by what you had witnessed. As fans we were overcome by the team’s performance, but also by the pride that was radiating from your face when you screamed into the blob of Cyclone fans in the stands and pumped your fist in celebration.

We’re glad to have you, sir, and we can’t wait to see what are yet to do.

All in all, an epic win, coach. We’re proud of the team, and we’re proud of you. Remember that list we gave you on Friday? Keep scratching things off, and we’ll keep cheering.