My thoughts on the Bo Pelini/Youngstown State rumors as of 10 a.m. Wednesday:

1. A very good source at Youngstown State told me at 9 a.m. today that they're hoping to have the coaching search done today, adding, "The chance of the rumors last night being true are slim."

YSU radio play-by-play announcer Bob Hannon posted on Facebook this morning that he hears "it will not be [Bo] Pelini at YSU."

I've heard from several people that YSU was down to two candidates this week and at least one of them appears to be a complete mystery. As I write this, it appears the mystery candidate is in line for the job. If so, you hope he won't be known as the guy-who-isn't-Bo-Pelini.

2. Whenever I've asked anyone at Youngstown State about the Pelini rumors over the last week, I've gotten some variation on this: "Pelini has been more of a consultant than a serious candidate. Obviously, he knows that the job is open and there's some interest on our side, but we've mostly used him for advice, similar to what we've done with Pat Narduzzi at Michigan State and a bunch of other guys."

3. This, obviously, was less than 100 percent truthful. Pelini has been more interested in the job than YSU was willing to reveal. And, as Football Scoop has noted, the main reason it's possible is because Pelini's contract included a $7.65 million buyout, which will be paid out via $150,000 increments over the next four years, according to Business Insider.

That amount is offset by whatever he makes in his next job, but since he's not going to make that much money elsewhere, he's well within his rights to work wherever he wants, regardless of how much it hurts Nebraska's pocketbook.

If that means he wants to come to Youngstown State to work for $250,000 a year and stick the Cornhuskers with the rest, well, they're the ones that signed him and they're the ones that fired him.

4. Football Scoop is a reputable site, which is why its report gained so much traction on Tuesday night. That said, I talked to a very good source at YSU about 30 minutes after it broke who seemed blind-sided by the report. YSU and Pelini have both made it clear that the job hasn't officially been offered or accepted and Football Scoop has made the same distinction.

If YSU hires someone other than Pelini, there's going to be a lot of frustration from all sides over that report.

5. I talked to several people at Cardinal Mooney (Pelini's alma mater) over the last few days, including Pelini's high school coach, Don Bucci, and unless they were all lying to me, none of them thought he would come to YSU.

The consensus was he would either be a college defensive coordinator (a job he likes, since it revolves around coaching and not around dealing with reporters) or take an NFL job.

That said, Pelini is married to a Cardinal Mooney graduate and he's said that he'd like his children to attend Cardinal Mooney. Probably the only way for that to happen was for him to coach at YSU.

6. In case you're wondering, I've left Pelini several messages over the last few weeks and they've been ignored. When someone asked me on Twitter if he normally returns my calls, I said that I'm still waiting for him to call me back about getting the Nebraska job.

That's true by the way. In fact, the only time I can remember him returning one of our calls in the last five years was when Carmine Cassese died. Our interaction with him has basically been limited to some brief interviews when he was at the Cardinal Mooney Camp of Champions.

But, hey, if you're reading this, Bo, you've got my number. I'm still available.