Rutgers could not only change the trajectory of its season -- and maybe its entire program -- with an upset victory on Saturday when it travels to Nebraska. It could get a lot of people fired, too.

This is not hyperbole. This is very real. Nebraska lost to Northern Illinois last weekend, falling to 1-2 on the season, and the mood of the fanbase is somewhere just a notch or two below a total riot. They do, after all, know how to use a pitchfork out there.

"Sickening loss," is what one noted Cornhuskers fan -- Larry The Cable Guy -- tweeted after the game. One longtime observer of this program said that head coach Mike Riley "looked like he was 104 years old" as he dealt with the pressure and fallout from the loss at his weekly press conference.

He wasn't the only one who had to answer questions. The university's chancellor, Ronnie Green, was grilled about the team following his "state of the university" speech, which isn't surprising given that a university regent said that his email "lit up like a Roman candle" after the loss with angry fans.

"We certainly are frustrated at the moment at the level of performance of our team," Green said.

All of this is before Rutgers comes to town. And if the Scarlet Knights somehow leave with a victory? There won't be a big enough cornfield in the entire state for Riley and his boss, athletic director Shawn Eichorst, to hide. There are careers at stake in Lincoln.

(UPDATE: Well, Eichorst didn't even make it to game day. He was fired on Thursday afternoon.)

"A so-called prophet has predicted that the end of the world will begin this Saturday," one columnist wrote in the Omaha World-Herald this week. "Husker fans: 'Wrong. The end of the world was last Saturday when we lost to Northern Illinois at home.'"

He was joking. We think.

The level of passion in Nebraska about its college football team -- the only big-time team within hundreds of miles -- is certainly of no surprise to the coaches at Rutgers. Chris Ash, for starters, grew up in Iowa just when the Cornhuskers were the gold standard in college football, winning national championships under legendary Tom Osborne.

Jay Niemann, the defensive coordinator, saw it from even closer up. He grew up in the southwest corner of Iowa, just 100 miles from Lincoln. The Omaha World-Herald was delivered to his family's doorstep every day, and the morning after a game, he said "it was all about 'Go Big Red.'"

And Jerry Kill, the offensive coordinator, took his Minnesota team into Lincoln and left with a 28-24 upset victory in 2014. Plenty of fans, he said, called out to him with his first name to offer their congratulations when it was over.

"They love football there," Kill said. "You show up for warmups and they'll be 60,000 (fans) already sitting there. They appreciate football. That's Nebraska. When I think of Nebraska, I think of the way college football should be. When you go through that small town, you pull in, all you see is that stadium."

Or, as quarterback Tanner Lee said this summer: "I knew Nebraska was different before I got off the plane on my visit. I had never been to Nebraska and I had already taken pictures with Huskers fans before I even got here. Every day the fans shock me in some way by showing how impressive they are."

That has a flipside, however, and we're seeing it now. A 1-2 record in Lincoln is a wee bit different than a 1-2 record in Piscataway. Remember: Bo Pelini was fired in 2014 despite never winning less than nine games in his seven seasons in charge of the Cornhuskers program.

If Ash won nine games in any of the next seven, they would give him a lifetime contract.

"It's a great, great place with the most unbelievable fan base and people that care," Riley said at that press conference. "You wear that and the good, and you know what will happen if it's not good. What we're going to do is stay the course to bring it back."

Riley only fielded one question about Rutgers during that entire interview session, so maybe everyone will be consumed with the crisis that they'll overlook the Scarlet Knights. Hey, it's possible.

But it's more likely that the coaching staff and administrators recognize that their jobs are at stake. A Rutgers win would give Ash's rebuilding efforts an immeasurable boost, but if that does happen, it's going to get seven levels of ugly in Lincoln.

Steve Politi may be reached at spoliti@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevePoliti. Find NJ.com on Facebook.