LINCOLN — In the kitchen that is Nebraska football, picture a stove full of sizzling pans and bubbling pots. Next to it, there’s a counter with all the food for a double-digit-win season, a Big Ten West crown and, perhaps, with the right spices, even a Big Ten title.

Hovering over the feast is coach Mike Riley — the head chef who’s always tinkering with the recipe that stretches over several pages as he enters his third year at Nebraska.

As an eater, Riley describes himself as “pretty easy” to please. He likes a good cheeseburger and vanilla shake. He likes Valentino’s pizza — so long as it has some meat on it.

“Canadian bacon and raw tomatoes,” Riley says of his ideal pizza slice.

As a coach, Riley is no simpleton.

In football terms, he’s traveled the globe. He grew up the son of a coach. As a college player, he sat under a master chef in Bear Bryant at Alabama. He’s coached both sides of the ball and walked sidelines in three pro leagues and three levels of college. He’s won titles. He’s been fired. He’s hired relative strangers and fired friends.

Out of his 10-seat storefront café at Oregon State, he occasionally outcooked the three-star restaurants. He’s also served burnt toast at Illinois and Purdue.

His offensive menu is large and full of precise, intricate plays — always ambitious, always a nod to adventure. His defense was, just a few years ago, so basic that a Husker player described it as a “high school” system. He’s replaced it by hiring a mercurial, dynamic chef to redo the theme; thus far, defensive coordinator Bob Diaco has lived up to his reputation.