North Florida Ospreys (5-2) at Nebraska Cornhuskers (5-1)
Lincoln, Nebraska; Sunday, 4 p.m. EST
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BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Cornhuskers -15.5; over/under is 157.5
BOTTOM LINE: Nebraska takes on North Florida after Connor Essegian scored 29 points in Nebraska’s 96-79 win against the South Dakota Coyotes.
The Cornhuskers have gone 4-0 in home games. Nebraska averages 12.2 turnovers per game and is 4-0 when it turns the ball over less than its opponents.
The Ospreys have gone 3-1 away from home. North Florida leads the ASUN with 16.3 assists. Jaylen Smith leads the Ospreys with 5.6.
Nebraska scores 80.0 points per game, 2.7 more points than the 77.3 North Florida allows. North Florida averages 19.4 more points per game (86.7) than Nebraska gives up (67.3).
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TOP PERFORMERS: Brice Williams is shooting 45.6% and averaging 18.7 points for the Cornhuskers.
Josh Harris is shooting 61.6% and averaging 15.4 points for the Ospreys.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
The “whole time” is almost uncomfortably accurate. As he mapped each colony, Brust overlaid them on the habitats of the state’s glacial relict fish populations; in other words, those that have been present since the Ice Age glaciers have retreated.
Wherever he found the fish, he’d find the hopper.
“It has everything to do with the cold water system,” he said, “That water is keeping the environment cold enough for that fish to survive.”
But those environments and the grasshoppers therein could be in danger if the state endures milder and milder winters.
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“You know, there is cause for concern, especially as climate change keeps warming things up,” he said. “These are already a cool weather species, they’ll probably become even more and more limited.”
Brust is also concerned that human intervention may cause some habitat destruction.
“We could see a change in land use, drainage of some habitat areas, and I’m especially concerned, here in Nebraska, about invasive grasses,” he added.
The northern spur-throat eats only a handful of specific native plants.
However, Brust said the good news is that the species isn’t extinct, or even declining yet, and he’s hoping that its resurgence and growth can prove to be a bellwether for the state’s cold-weather ecosystems.
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“The number of these wetland sites that I surveyed thoroughly versus how many are out there in the Sandhills, and how extensive they are, I’d bet there’s probably five to 10 times more out there than I accounted for,” Brust said.
You may not be surprised, but winter in Nebraska and Iowa has been dry…again.
On average, we see about 16″ of snow up to early February. This winter, Omaha has received 6.5″. Not as bad as last year, but nowhere near our seasonal average. We are in a ‘snow drought’, but we are not alone.
The hotspots for snow this year have been to our east and south, leaving much of the western US high and dry. In fact, the Rocky Mountain states of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and Montana are experiencing some of the driest winters on record.
Why is this? Ridging in the atmosphere has kept winter storms away from the west and favored the east. Likewise, a series of rainstorms in early January melted much of the snowpack, which means less to melt come spring.
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You can see this in these two images. The first shows the “snow water equivalent (SWE)” over the west, which is the water content in the snowpack. The numbers are in %. Anything below 100% is below average, anything above 100% is above average. This time last year, much of the West was seeing above-average snowpacks.
USDA
2025 Snow Water Equivalent numbers over the western United States.
This year, nearly every station is well below average.
USDA
2026 Snow Water Equivalent map for the western United States
This is shown in the satellite imagery of the western US snowpack. Last year, the snowpack was quite healthy.
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NASA Worldview
Satellite image from 2025 depicting a healthy snowpack over the western US (NOTE: Some of the white is due to cloud cover)
This year, it’s a much different story, with only the tallest mountains having any snow.
NASA Worldview
Satellite image from 2026 depicting a barren snowpack over the western US (NOTE: Some of the white is due to cloud cover)
So, what does this mean for Nebraska and Iowa? In the short-term, disappointed skiiers, sledders, and kids, alongside happy drivers.
However, in the long term, the lack of moisture out west could be a serious concern.
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Take the Platte River in Nebraska. The Platte gets a lot of its water from snow runoff in Colorado and Wyoming. If those states see little snow, there is less water that flows into the river. Since the reservoirs in Nebraska are already low, this could create some water issues come the summer.
Likewise, runoff into the Missouri River will be lower, with the Army Corps of Engineers predicting a lower runoff in 2026. This could impact river levels, which widens into impacted river travel & recreational activities.
While this sounds doom and gloom now, it’s only early February. We are just entering the snowiest time of the season for many of these places. All we need is a pattern change, and the snow issues out west could go away. Time will tell.
As much as people think Jordy Frahm was unbeatable on the mound last season, I can assure you she was not.
There was the 1/3 of an inning 6-run beating at Ohio State. And there was a 3rd inning 5-run meltdown at Iowa City which included her drilling 3 straight Hawkeyes – although I 100% understand the urge. And then she had similar experience last night in San Antonio being run after allowing 6 runs in 3 innings against Texas in the 15-10 loss.
But if there’s one thing that all of these outlier performances have in common, it’s a return to All-American for Jordy in her very next appearance and Saturday afternoon was no different. When start Alexis Jensen struggled, Frahm moved from 1st base to the circle replacing her in the bottom of the 4th with an 8-5 lead (more on that below).
She gave up an immediate double to Jaycie Nichols. After a strikeout, the speedy Kayden Henry bunted her way on and then promptly stole 2nd putting runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out.
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Time to get to work. Frahm first struck out Viviana Martinez. Then Reece Atwood drove a ball to left which the charging Natalia Hill slid and caught to end the threat. In the bottom of the 5th, another bunt single and then a bad snap throw pickoff attempt put a Horns runner at 3rd again with one down. Liners to 2nd and right ended that scare. Jordy finally got a 3-up 3-down inning in the 6th.
Then she turned up the fire for the bottom of 7.
First it was a ground out to Lauren Camenzind at 2nd base. Then it was just mow them down time. Two straight strikeouts – and just coming right at Texas with the heat on the two-strike counts. Final line for Frahm: 4 IP 3 H’s scattered 5 K’s 0 BB’s.
Nebraska 8 #1 & defending national champ Texas 5
But this wasn’t just the Jordy show…although she did get it started with her bat by blasting a 1-0 pitch well over the center field fence for a leadoff homer and a 1-0 lead. Ava Kuszak, who went hitless on Friday, immediately busted that streak with a 3-run shot to up the margin to 4.
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Andy Ketterson
Texas got 2 back in the bottom half, but Nebraska erupted again for 4 more runs in the 3rd, this time with Emmerson unloading a long 3-run shot of her own followed by Lauren Camenzind going deep for the second time in two days. The Huskers took an 8-2 lead, but Texas again got to Jensen in the bottom cutting the lead to 8-5 courtesy of yet another 3-run homer, this time by Leighann Good.
But that would do it for both teams and Nebraska would grab a huge signature win in their first of several weekends of murderer’s row competition.
Alexis Jensen after a Jekyll (10 K’s) and Hyde (4 HR’s surrendered) against Washington improved somewhat against the #1 Longhorns’ brutal lineup. She struck out 6 in 3 innings, while giving up 8 hits and, to be fair, there were a few bunts and bleeders in there. She did still get some pitches up in the zone deep into counts when a ball or a walk would’ve been fine. However, she cut the homers from 4 to 1 and clearly has elite stuff. She will improve.
The Husker bats showed they’re not dropping off in ‘26 after a historic 2025 as evidenced by strapping a combined 18 runs in the two games on Texas in addition to the 8 versus Washington. Ava Kuszak led the way Saturday with a 2-for-4 3-RBI 2-run day.
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The Huskers looked much cleaner in the field, but Jessie Farrell was a little shaky – she needs to improve on blocking pitches in the dirt to keep those in front of her. But she has a cannon and has been very close to picking runners off of first base with snap throws after the pitch. Those will come. Lauren C. with her pair of homers and continued defensive work appears to have held onto the 2nd base job for now. I had wondered if previous 2-year starter Katelyn Caneda would mount a challenge.
The Huskers will finish out the season against host Texas-San Antonio tonight and a rematch with Washington tomorrow morning at 10:05 PM.
