After yet another excruciating loss on Saturday, the Nebraska football team was in serious need of a motivational jolt. The receiver room might have gotten it from quarterback Anthony Colandrea.

Colandrea visited the receivers this week, Jacory Barney Jr., said at a news conference Tuesday. The message: Let’s have fun, among other things.

“He doing good. He doing amazing,” said Barney, who revealed he has played with a fractured rib since the Oregon game on Oct. 17. “He came to us as a receiver corps. He was like, man, stop overthinking it. It’s just football. We were doing this all our life, bro. Let’s just go out there and have fun and ball out.

“So just having a guy like that, you know, with that mentality. Of course, he beat himself up because he know the plays he could have made.

“But just coming in and telling us to just let it go and … we got to just live in the present. Stop thinking about the past because we can’t control that. Just attack these days, this week and let’s have fun on Friday.”

The Huskers (5-3, 2-3 Big Ten) visit Illinois (5-3, 3-2) on Friday night. Colandrea, who didn’t speak to the media after Saturday’s 17-10 loss to Washington, threw a killer pick-six to Alex McLaughlin with 1:15 to play to give the Huskies a 17-7 lead.

It was Nebraska’s third consecutive loss after giving up a fourth-quarter lead. And a season that started with great promise, and a 5-0 record, is simply hanging on.

Living in the present

Barney said Monday’s practice “was amazing.” The Huskers need one more win for bowl eligibility, and with Rutgers, Ohio State and Iowa still on the schedule after Illinois, Nebraska has plenty to play for.

“Living in the present, I say we’re doing a good job at it,” said Barney, a 6-foot junior from Florida City, Fla. “And just knowing that we out there and we got to make it happen. It’s not none of our coaches. It’s not none of that. It’s just us. We can’t live in the past. We can’t listen to no outside noise.

“Just remember that it’s always us and we got each other’s back and we go out there and play for each other. So, just going into these next couple of weeks, you want to just lean on each other, pick each other up and keep it about us and go win games on Saturdays.”

More offense needed

In its last three games — losses to Indiana, Oregon and Washington — Nebraska is averaging 13.6 points per game.

“I feel like the plays are there watching the tape,” Barney said. “It’s more so us receivers catching the ball and making those plays when they come our way.

“We had some big drops this last game. The ball was there. We just got to make those plays basically and we got to score more than seven points.”

Barney believes the offense is close to breaking out. He is second on the team in three categories: 35 catches, 443 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns. He has caught a pass in 34 consecutive games, the fourth-longest streak in Nebraska history and the seventh-longest active streak in the FBS.

“We feel like we have an extremely good offense, a lot of talent out there and we just get it to come together,” Barney said. “We can’t just keep, you know, saying that we got it out there. We got to really show it when we get out there.

“And really, it’s just us making those plays. If it’s making one guy miss our running back, hitting the hole or if it’s making a catch, because we have some drops in the receiving room and including myself this past game and that’s uncharacteristic of us.

“We just got to show it on Saturdays. We can’t just keep talking about it. We got to do what we do and make those plays.”

Punt return specialist

Barney ranks ninth in the Big Ten in punt returns with a 6.4-yard average. When an offense struggles, special teams can add a real boost.

“I feel confident in those guys out there,” Barney said. “I feel like every day, every week, we searching for those guys who can make those blocks from the perimeter.

“Get the guys out there around me that believe in what we got going and I believe in those guys. I feel like this past weekend was the biggest game we had as a punt return, special teams game. I feel like we took a good step, so looking good going forward.”

About that fractured rib …

“I got a fractured rib but like nobody cares about that,” Barney said. “It’s a production-based industry, so I know I got to go out there and play and give my all every time.

“If I can go, I’d going [to] go. I love playing this game, so I’m going to be out there with my brothers giving my all.

“It happened in the Oregon game. One play I got hit or something. I don’t even remember. I just remember feeling it pop and I just went to the trainers, got an X-ray, and I just went back out there. I had got injected and went back out there.”