LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) – Nebraska Task Force One is heading home.

Lincoln Fire and Rescue announced on Saturday that the team has been demobilized and will be returning to Nebraska soon. Members who flew out will be flying back and the rest of the fleet driving home as they went down initially.

According to LFR, around 73 members were deployed to help amid the aftermath in Georgia and North Carolina.

On Oct. 7, 21 members were sent to North Carolina to relieve 20 members who had been deployed to assist with the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. On Oct. 9, 29 members were sent to assist with Hurricane Milton in Florida.

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The Nebraska football team is 5-1, with more optimism surrounding the program than we’ve seen in many years. With the bye week coming exactly halfway through Huskers’ season, it’s a good time to look back on some of the top moments from the year to date. 

Yesterday we looked at 6 through 10; today we take a look at the top 5. 

5. Goal line stand vs. Rutgers. It was a thing of beauty. When Nebraska gave up its second blocked punt of the game (decidedly not a thing of beauty), Rutgers began the drive with 1st and goal at the 2 yard line. After the Huskers pushed the Scarlet Knights back three yards for 2nd and goal at the 5, a penalty put Rutgers right back at 1st and goal at the 2. Remarkably, having made two stops already, the Blackshirts held firm on four more plays and kept the Knights out of the end zone. The stop made a decisive difference in the one-score game, but it felt bigger than that. After what they admitted was a disappointing showing against Illinois, the Nebraska defense has responded with two stellar performances against Purdue and Rutgers. The goal line stand against Rutgers was a perfect encapsulation of that resolve. It felt like a prove-it moment for the Husker defense, and they answered the bell. 

4. 400th Consecutive Sellout. Count this Common Fan as a sucker for all the Husker history, traditions, and streaks, and that includes the sellout streak. I know it’s been on life support a few times in recent years, given the subpar product on the field. But to me, the sellout streak is an indication of the faith, passion, and resilience of the Nebraska fan base, and it’s been worth the effort to preserve it. It stands as a testament to the fact that we are the greatest fans in college football. Even in some of those lean years when there was not a butt in every single seat, and donors had to buy up the last handful of tickets for some games, the stadium was still almost entirely full. As Omaha World Herald columnist Tom Shatel has said, “Nebraska fans remain undefeated against apathy.” Husker fans keep coming back. We keep filling up that beautiful stadium, even when the team is flat out bad. This fan base deserves a winner, and I believe Coach Rhule is in the process of building just that. With the positive trajectory of the program, you can bet the sellout streak will be alive and well for years to come. 

3. Win Over Colorado. Boy oh boy, this one was sweet, wasn’t it? The Huskers had lost to the Buffaloes the last three times the teams had faced each other. During both Nebraska-Colorado games of the Scott Frost era, it felt like the Big Red gave those games away, blowing 4th-quarter leads in each. Last year, Nebraska went into Boulder and never seemed to get on track, turning the ball over early and often and playing from behind the entire game. This was the win the fan base needed. It wasn’t just that Nebraske beat Colorado. It was the sheer domination of our former conference rival that was so thoroughly satisfying. The Blackshirts imposed their will from start to finish, giving up just 10 points to an offense with several future NFL players on it. The Nebraska offense looked dang near perfect in the first half, scoring 21 points, and did enough in the 2nd half to hold the ball, bleed clock, and allow the Huskers to win comfortably. The Memorial Stadium crowd was incredible, and they were treated to a beatdown of one of Nebraska’s most hated rivals. As I wrote in my topline takeaways column after the game, “The Buffs got knocked in the chin strap early, were in a big hole by halftime, and flat out quit by the 4th quarter…The Buffaloes waltzed into Memorial Stadium with a boatload of swagger; they ended up buried on the turf under a pile of Blackshirts.” Knowing that Nebraska doesn’t have Colorado on the schedule for any future season at this point, this was the perfect way to leave the series (for now) on a high note. 

2. Dylan’s debut. After a full eight months of offseason obsessing over the new look Nebraska offense, led by all world Husker legacy Dylan Raiola, Memorial Stadium was bursting at the seams to see the quarterback’s debut in the home opener against UTEP. He didn’t disappoint. On the opening drive, Raiola completed five of seven passes, and with beautiful back-to-back throws, turned a 2nd-and-30 into 3rd-and-11, and 3rd-and-11 into a 1st down. He led the team to a touchdown on that drive, and was 19-for-27 on the day for 238 yards and two touchdowns. He has been outstanding all season long, but there was something so special about that first game. To see him command the offense and live up to expectations felt like a combination of exhilaration and relief for Husker fans. It was confirmation that he really is the real deal, and it led Big Red imaginations to run wild about what’s possible, now and into the future, with Raiola at the helm. 

1. Support for Greg Sharpe. Longtime play-by-play announcer Greg Sharpe revealed in April that he was being treated for pancreatic cancer. Many Husker fans got more of a glimpse into Greg’s battle when Tom Rinaldi interviewed him before the Rutgers game. Sharpe said his goal in April was to make it long enough to call the first Nebraska game on August 31. He’s done that and more; his next goal is to make it to his daughter’s wedding in February. It’s tough stuff when you’re thinking in terms of days and months, instead of years, and Greg is putting up an incredible fight. 

So many have been impacted by cancer. If you’ve seen it up close, especially a terminal cancer diagnosis, you know it’s one of the most difficult things someone can face. And yet, a hardship of that nature also brings out what’s best about humanity. The outpouring of love and support from Husker fans has been outstanding. During Nebraska’s first away game at Purdue, the Purdue Athletic Department gave him a “Hammer Down Cancer” hat along with a heartfelt note, and the Boilermakers student section hoisted a sign that read “Hammer Down Cancer, Sharpe Strong.” Sharpe and his family were also honored recently at a Kansas City Chiefs game. It’s heartening to see the level of support he has received from Husker Nation and beyond. It’s a reminder of how Nebraska football is more than just a game; it’s part of who we are as a people, one great Big Red family. 

We’re pulling for you, Greg, to be dancing in the streets when the Huskers get back to a bowl game, and to be dancing at your daughter’s wedding. 

MORE: Nebraska Volleyball Survives Top-10 Scare, Fends Off Purdue in Five Sets

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Oftentimes, the stat sheet will tell you all you need to know about an athletic contest. The box score for No. 2 Nebraska volleyball’s five-set win over No. 10 Purdue on Friday was a different story.

The Boilermakers (12-4, 3-2 Big Ten) hit over .300 and out-blocked Nebraska by 10, yet the Huskers (15-1, 5-0) found a way to weather the onslaught and pull out a come-from-behind win in the fifth for a 25-22, 22-25, 23-25, 25-22, 17-15 victory in front of a juiced Devaney Center crowd.

“Welcome to Big Ten volleyball,” Coach John Cook said. “Purdue played great tonight. It was a heavyweight fight and it’s almost too bad somebody had to lose that one. They gave a great effort tonight. I was very impressed with Eva [Hudson] and Chloe [Chicoine]; they put on a show tonight. And I still don’t know quite how we won it, but we’re going to take it.”

Cook said the Huskers were out of sync offensive all night, as evidenced by their 31 attack errors, but Nebraska still hit .242 as Bergen Reilly dished out a career-high 60 assists to go with a match-high 17 digs.

“She’s just so consistent with her demeanor, and I think that’s huge for a setter,” Merritt Beason said of the sophomore setter. “It’s pretty hard to play with the setter when they’re up and down, because it’s like, ‘I don’t really know what to expect from you, I don’t know if you’re mad at me, I don’t know if you’re mad at yourself.’ But that’s what she does really well, and you kind of have to be that way when you’re touching the ball every single point. She’s just so calm and so steady throughout the highs and the lows, and I think that’s what makes her so special.

“Obviously we can talk about her sets, and we know those are great, but I think her demeanor is what helps us the most in moments like that, and just that demeanor also allows us as hitters to know that she has trust in us.”

Beason was on the receiving end of nearly a third of those assists, finishing with a team-high 22 kills on .278 hitting while leading the team with 54 attacks. Harper Murray added 17 kills on .209 hitting while logging 50 serve receive reps as the Boilermakers targeted her all night.

Andi Jackson returned to the lineup after missing last week’s matches with an undisclosed injury and dropped 14 kills on .429 hitting and four blocks. She terminated on 10 of her first 11 swings, forcing the Boilermakers to commit more defensive attention to her as the match went on. Fellow middle blocker Rebekah Allick added 10 kills on .333 hitting.

Lindsay Krause got the start, though she and Taylor Landfair rotated in and out as both struggled to terminate. Krause finished with four kills on .050 hitting while Landfair added six kills on .125. Cook said he’s still looking for somebody to “step up and show that they want it” at the OH1 spot.

“Lindsay was a little tentative tonight, Taylor was tentative,” Cook said. “And then Taylor did get a couple kills in game four, and she got one in game five, but you look at the combination, Taylor had six, Lindsay had 10 kills. Eva had 26 so we’ve got to get more production from that spot.”

Hudson (26 kills on .349 hitting) and Chicoine (22 kills on .327) were anything but tentative. The Huskers only recorded five stuff blocks all night while the dynamic outside duo for the Boilermakers had success tooling most of the night.

“They’re really good players,” Jackson said. “You’ve got to give credit where credit is due. They’re very smart, they had a lot of shots, and I think sometimes at this level, you’ll see outsides who really only have one shot, and once you can take that away from them, you kind of see them start to shut down. But they did a really good job being consistent and when we took something from them, then they found another way to will points.”

Purdue hit .311 but handed Nebraska 19 points from the service line via errors, allowing the Huskers to offset the gap in attack efficiency. The Huskers only missed seven serves and out-aced Purdue three to one.

“I think one thing that I’m really proud of this team is normally, if our defense isn’t going how it always is, and that’s something that we rely on, we kind of used to shut down,” Beason said. “That’s what happened at SMU, they were rolling offensively, and we were kind of like, ‘What do we do?’ But we didn’t do that tonight, and that’s what we’ve been working on.”

Both teams had a tough time terminating consistently against the other’s defense early in set one before settling in. The set featured nine ties and two lead changes with little separation until the end. Jackson took over down the stretch, terminating three times in four rallies to give the Huskers set point at 24-21. Purdue won the next point, but Reilly went to Beason out of the back row to finish it off.

Purdue out-hit Nebraska .324 to .282, but the Boilermakers had four service errors while Nebraska was clean from the line while notching an ace. Jackson went 5-for-5 in her return to the court.

“It was really fun,” Jackson said. “It honestly felt like I never left, just because when I was out, the team was so supportive, and even when I was in street clothes on the bench, I just felt so included because the team just does an amazing job making you feel surrounded with all of their love.”

The teams went back and forth early in set two until Purdue put together a 4-0 run — aided by three Nebraska errors — to pull ahead 12-8. The Boilermakers extended the lead out to six at 19-13 before the Huskers began to chip away, scoring four straight to pull within two.

However, Chicoine dropped the ball in the middle of the donut for a kill, then back-to-back Nebraska attack errors extended the lead back to five. Purdue traded sideouts to earn set point at 24-19. The Huskers ripped off three straight kills from there before Hudson closed it out.

Purdue continued to operate at a high level offensively, hitting .278. Nebraska hit .146 with eight errors in the set. Murray led the way with five kills on 10 errorless swings, but the rest of the team only mustered nine kills on 31 attacks. Landfair replaced Krause midway through the set and produced one kill and two errors on five attacks.

Purdue used a 4-0 run to break an early tie again in set three, earning a 9-5 advantage as Nebraska continued to splutter offensively. The Huskers rallied to tie it up at five different times before surging ahead for a 20-18 lead with a 5-1 run including four kills.

However, Purdue responded with its own 5-1 run including back-to-back Jackson attack errors (her first of the match) to close out the set and take a 2-1 lead.

Purdue hit .364 in the set as its outsides continued to dominate. Nebraska hit .282 behind five kills from Beason.

After Krause played the third set, Landfair was back in the lineup for the fourth. The Huskers got off to a great start, jumping out to an 8-4 lead. They pushed the advantage to five a couple of times, including at 17-12. The Boilermakers recorded blocks on three straight rallies to trim the lead to two, but Landfair and Beason both stepped up with big kills to put the Huskers back in control.

Purdue saved a few set points down the stretch, but Beason closed it out with a back-row kill out of a timeout. Cook opted to give the senior captain more turns in the back row against the Boilermakers than she’s been playing, and the move paid dividends.

“We’ve been working on it, preparing for this match, because we knew it’d be a tight match, and we’re just trying to find some more kills,” Cook said. “What they were doing is they were trapping Andi with two blockers, letting our left sides go one-on-one, and those guys were struggling tonight. So there was an open lane down the middle, and we probably hit for a huge number on our back-row attack tonight. We worked hard on it this week because we knew we were going to need it tonight.”

Nebraska won despite hitting just .114 in the set. Beason led the way with another five kills. Purdue hit .147 and misfired five times from the service line.

Purdue served into the net again to open the fifth but followed it up with a 3-0 run to take the lead. Nebraska tied it up nine times before finally breaking through with a Jackson slide kill for a 13-12 lead.

Purdue turned the tables with a 3-1 run to earn a match point, triggering a Nebraska timeout. Cook subbed Beason in for Laney Choboy in the back row a rotation early to add her firepower and the move paid off as she immediately tied it up with a back-row kill that blasted off the Purdue libero’s face.

The Huskers scored a point off a net violation on the next rally then Reilly went back to Beason in the front row to close out the match.

“She got some big kills,” Cook said. “She was struggling early, struggling blocking, struggling serving, but she showed why she’s a first-team All-American. She made some huge plays for us there. That last kill was a great kill, and that’s what you expect from your first-teamers.”

Purdue did not commit an attack error in the fifth, hitting .481, but the Boilermakers misfired four times from the service line and Nebraska hit .458.

The Huskers will face a quick turnaround as Rutgers (5-11, 0-5) will visit the Devaney Center Saturday night. Kenzie Dyrstad, a Papillion-La Vista South graduate, is leading the Scarlet Knights in digs at 2.93 per set.

First serve is set for 7 p.m. and the match will be available on Big Ten Plus.