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Groin Kick Chronicles: 40-31

In this week's edition of the Groin Kick Chronicles, Nebraska drops games to hated rivals Iowa, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma.
Josh Peterson|
Groin Kick Chronicles 40-31
Groin Kick Chronicles 40-31 | Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images/I-80 Club illustration

In this story:

Nebraska CornhuskersIowa HawkeyesOklahoma SoonersNorthwestern WildcatsWisconsin BadgersOhio State BuckeyesPenn State Nittany Lions

Get caught up on the Groin Kick Chronicles, including how the data was put together, rankings, and more.

Prologue
70-61
50-41
30-21
20-11
10-6
5-1

Epilogue: August 14

2017 Ohio State
2017 Ohio State | Game On Paper/Bruce Thorson-Imagn Images/I-80 illustration

The game: Ohio State 56-17 – 2017 – Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska

What happened? Oh look, another Ohio State blowout.

It was 14-0 after one. 35-0 after two. Ohio State would ultimately go up 42-0 before Nebraska was finally able to put any points on the board, doing so on a JD Spielman touchdown catch with 11:05 left in the game.

The teams traded touchdowns at the end of the game, with Ohio State winning 56-14. The 42-point win for the Buckeyes marked the largest winning margin by an opponent at Memorial Stadium since Oklahoma defeated the Huskers 48-0 on Oct. 22, 1949.

I left the game at halftime, making my way home, listening to the disgust of Matt Davison on the radio. JD Spielman was breaking the record for most receiving yards in a game by a Nebraska player, and it came in a blowout loss.

What did it mean? For the second straight season, it was but another reminder of how much better teams like Ohio State were than Nebraska. 

Was there an (un)memorable play? 

For whatever reason, the second touchdown of the day by the Buckeyes still sticks with me all these years later. Maybe it’s that JT Barrett never seemed like he wanted to run the ball, holding it as his ear until he decided, “ok, I guess I can score here!” And score, he did.

Obligatory Jack Mitchell tweet:

2024 Ohio State
2024 Ohio State | Game On Paper/Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK/I-80 Club illustration

The game: Ohio State 21-17 – 2024 – Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio

What happened? Nebraska held Ohio State to 285 total yards and just 11 first downs. After trailing 14-3 in the first half, the Cornhuskers fought back. After a missed Buckeyes field goal with 2:02 left, Nebraska drove down, and John Hohl kicked a career-long field goal to send the Huskers into the break down by just eight points.

On their first drive of the second half, Hohl knocked in another one, this from 49. It was suddenly a five-point game with a quarter and a half left. On Ohio State’s first offensive play of the next drive, things got even more interesting.

Nebraska was seven yards away from taking the lead, on the road, at the Shoe.

They were denied.

After a quick three-and-out, Nebraska got the ball back and looked to take the lead.

Like earlier points in the season, a deep pass from Raiola came back to haunt Nebraska’s offense. And yet, the defense continued to rise to the occasion, giving their offense the ball after another three-and-out. Nine plays and 74 yards later, the Huskers took the lead.

Trailing 17-14 halfway through the fourth quarter, the Buckeyes faced a fourth and one from the Nebraska 29. A Nebraska stop here and they could attempt to ice the game and pick up their biggest win since 2001, the program’s biggest road win since the Tom Osborne era. This was it.

Will Howard rolled out and threw to Emeka Egbuka, who picked up three yards. Three plays later, Ohio State took the lead and would hold on to win 21-17.

What did it mean? On one hand, it was the most impressive loss of the Matt Rhule era, especially given what Ohio State would become. On the other hand, how in the world could Nebraska lose by 49 points one week and take Ohio State the distance the next?

Nebraska was once again so close and so far away. And it marked the second game in a row in 2024, and sixth in the Matt Rhule era, where the Huskers were unable to lock up a bowl bid. They were suddenly 5-3 and staring at a tough November.

Was there an (un)memorable play? In a game full of plays you’d rather forget, the fourth and goal dive that didn’t make it will stick with people for a long, long time.

Obligatory Jack Mitchell tweet:

2021 Oklahoma
2021 Oklahoma | Game On Paper/Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images/I-80 Club illustration

The game: Oklahoma 23-16 – 2021 – Memorial Stadium, Norman, Oklahoma

What happened? Nebraska, a 22.5-point underdog on the road at their old Big Eight rivals, actually put up an incredible fight in this one. Opponent adjusted, it might have been Nebraska’s best performance all season long, behind only the Michigan defeat a few weeks later.

Nebraska trailed all game, including multiple times by double-digits, but they always had an answer for Oklahoma’s scores. However, the good times were marred by bad. They moved 58 yards on their first drive of the half, driving all the way to the Oklahoma 17-yard line. With a chance to trail 7-6, Connor Culp missed a 35-yarder and the lead remained 7-3. After Oklahoma went up 14-3 one drive later, Nebraska answered back with a touchdown of their own, only to have the extra point blocked, as OU raced the other way for two points.

Oklahoma would extend their lead to 23-9 early in the fourth, with Nebraska again driving deep into Sooner territory, before a costly Adrian Martinez INT, and one of the coolest plays you’ll ever see by a defender, gave the Sooners the ball at their own three-yard line.

A quick three-and-out followed, before Nebraska scored a touchdown to pull within seven.

But Nebraska was never able to tie or take the lead, and their final drive of the game ended on downs at their own 11-yard line.

Nebraska fell to 2-2.

What did it mean? Years later, many will remember this as the game that almost didn’t happen. Earlier in the 2021 offseason, Brett McMurphy reported Nebraska had tried to cancel the game, looking for an easier win and some momentum in year four under Scott Frost.

The more things change, the more they stay the same, eh?

Two games into the season, Nebraska had lost two games by a combined 15 points. A trend was on its way towards emerging.

Was there an (un)memorable play?

The blocked PAT gave all the momentum right back to the Sooners.

Obligatory Jack Mitchell tweet:

2022 Oklahoma
2022 Oklahoma | Game On Paper/Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images/I-80 Club illustration

The game: Oklahoma 49-14 – 2022 – Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska

What happened? In Mickey Joseph’s first game as Nebraska interim head coach, Nebraska got off to the best start imaginable.

The game wasn’t even four minutes old and Nebraska was up 7-0 on Oklahoma. After so much pressure in the dying days of the Scott Frost era, was Nebraska actually going to play looser? Were things really going to get better? Could they pull off the upset over the sixth-ranked Sooners?

No.

Nebraska scored the first touchdown of the game and the last touchdown of the game. In the middle, they were outscored 49-0. It was 35-7 at the end of the first half and 49-7 at the end of three. Oklahoma put up close to 600 yards in total offense and converted on 10 of 16 third downs. It was a laugher all game long.

What did it mean? One day later, Erik Chinander was fired as defensive coordinator, with Bill Busch tapped to be his replacement.

The hope after the Scott Frost firing was for a team to play without the weight of the four years that came before it. This game showed that no matter how loose they’d be, they still had plenty of deficiencies.

Was there an (un)memorable play? It was early on, but Dillon Gabriel’s scamper down the sideline might have been the play in the game that said it was time to move on from Erik Chinander.

Obligatory Jack Mitchell tweet:

2015 Northwestern
2015 Northwestern | Game On Paper/Steven Branscombe-Imagn Images/I-80 Club illustration

The game: Northwestern 30-28 – 2015 – Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska

What happened? Well, let’s see. Clayton Thorson had 397 rushing yards in 2015. Almost of third of those – 126 yards on nine carries, including one rush of 68 yards – came against Nebraska. Nebraska trailed 7-5 at the end of one, 17-12 at halftime, and 20-19 going into the fourth quarter. A Drew Brown field goal on the first play of the final frame gave Nebraska their last lead of the game. Five minutes later, Northwestern went up 27-22 before adding in another field goal to make it 30-22 with 7.5 minutes left.

Nebraska hit on a fourth and six with 5:30 to go before a banged-up Tommy Armstrong rushed in for a TD to make it 30-28. The two-point conversion fell incomplete. Northwestern got the ball back with four minutes left and proceeded to chew up every single second.

At least the loss didn’t happen on a last-second play?

What did it mean? The loss moved Nebraska to 3-5, which guaranteed Nebraska wouldn’t be able to get to the nine-win barrier that was celebrated throughout the Bo Pelini years. Ten years later, this game has gotten lost in a sea of other absolutely destructive defeats Mike Riley’s first team took, but revisiting it isn’t a whole lot of fun either.

Oh yeah, Nebraska was also wearing black jerseys, so I imagine people blamed those as well.

Was there an (un)memorable play? It’s gotta be Thorson’s 68-yarder in the first quarter, right?

Yikes. He was so slow and he made Nebraska look like they were running with cement in their shoes.

Obligatory Jack Mitchell tweet:

2020 Iowa
2020 Iowa | Game On Paper/Bryon Houlgrave/The Register/I-80 Club illustration

The game: Iowa 26-20 – 2020 – Kinnick Stadium, Iowa City, Iowa

What happened? The Hawkeyes and Huskers entered the fourth quarter tied at 20. Nebraska was looking for their first win over Iowa since 2014. Two Iowa field goals gave the Hawkeyes a six-point lead, and they had a chance to make it a two-score game with a few minutes left, but a missed field goal off the crossbar gave Nebraska one more chance.

Adrian Martinez – back in the starting lineup – drove Nebraska into Iowa territory before he was sacked, fumbled, and Iowa recovered. Nebraska would drop their second straight game and move to 1-4 on the season.

What did it mean? In a game that was played mostly even, Nebraska fumbled four times in total, including two that ended up with the Hawkeyes. They weren’t finding new ways to lose, but instead lost in similar ways to how they had previously. “Details,” “errors,” and “mistakes” were the name of the game in the columns and radio shows after Nebraska’s fourth loss of the season.

Was there an (un)memorable play? The game-ending sack and fumble recovery.

Obligatory Jack Mitchell tweet:

2017 Penn State
2017 Penn State | Game On Paper/Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images/I-80 Club illustration

The game: Penn State 56-44 – 2017 – Beaver Stadium, College Park, Pennsylvania

What happened? Penn State was up 7-0 not even a minute into the game.

After that, it was a game of runs. Nebraska scored 10 unanswered points in the first quarter to go up 10-7, before Penn State ripped off 35 straight points of their own to coast into halftime with a 42-10 lead. Nebraska would answer with all 14 in the third quarter before Penn State scored two straight touchdowns of their own to go back up by 32. Nebraska would finish on their own 20-0 run over the final 14 minutes to make the bottom line all the more forgiving when fans around the country got the first look at the score.

What did it mean? Nebraska was 4-7 and would miss out on a bowl game for the first time since 2007. More importantly though, whispers of a Bill Moos/Scott Frost meeting in Philadelphia that weekend started spreading amongst insiders surrounding the program. It was later confirmed and was another step that brought Frost back to the program to lead his alma mater as head coach.

Was there an (un)memorable play? In a game with more than 1000 combined offensive yards, you’d think a play from this one would stick out, yet nothing really comes to mind. Barkley made his first touchdown look easy.

Obligatory Jack Mitchell tweet:

2024 UCLA
2024 UCLA | Game On Paper/Dylan Widger-Imagn Images/I-80 Club illustration

The game: UCLA 27-20 – 2024 – Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska

What happened? The Huskers were absolutely dominated in the stats column in the first half but somehow only trailed 13-7 against the 2-5 Bruins. No worries, thought UCLA, we’ll make things real miserable for you in the second half. And boy did they ever.

On the next UCLA offensive drive, they poured it on.

Not only was Nebraska staring at their fourth straight loss; it was going to come to the worst team of the entire bunch. After UCLA’s score put them up 27-7, Nebraska had four offensive drives the rest of the game, each going at least seven plays, each moving the ball at least 40 yards, but only two finishing with actual touchdowns. One drive ended on a fourth and goal sack.

Another would end on an INT.

Heinrich Haarberg was on the field late for an injured Dylan Raiola and Nebraska had the ball down seven points, with a chance to tie the game if they could get into the endzone.

Of course UCLA would get the takeaway on an interception that could have been caught.

What did it mean? If Indiana was the most disappointing loss of the year for how it unfolded, this might have been the most disappointing loss; full stop. It was also the third loss in a row. Matt Rhule was now 0-3 in 2024, and 0-7 overall, when looking for his sixth win at Nebraska. 5-4, things were suddenly looking very, very scary.

One positive? Dana Holgorsen joined the staff after this game, replacing Marcus Satterfield as OC.

Was there an (un)memorable play? The pick six to start the second half was groan-worthy.

Obligatory Jack Mitchell tweet:

2016 Iowa
2016 Iowa | Game On Paper/Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images/I-80 Club illustration

The game: Iowa 40-10 – 2016 – Kinnick Stadium, Iowa City, Iowa

What happened? Iowa’s rushing offense finished 67th in the country in yards per game in 2016; 65th in yards per carry. They rushed for 264 yards – almost 100 above their season average – and 5.6 yards per carry – about a yard better than the rest of the season.

They made it look easy.

What did it mean? The Iowa run game was immortalized afterwards, when defensive coordinator Mark Banker told reporters, “I bet their practices are like a bloodbath, because both sides of the ball kind of emulate that.”

He’d be removed from the program within two months.

The first two seasons of Mike Riley’s tenure featured constant criticism of the physicality of the program. After that quote, there was no way they’d ever beat the charges.

It was also the second-straight loss to Iowa and the program’s fourth-straight season without a division title.

Was there an (un)memorable play? Not really. This was an ass kicking that’s largely remembered for a postgame quote more than the actual game itself. The season finished in a malaise of bad losses.

Obligatory Jack Mitchell tweet:

2021 Wisconsin
2021 Wisconsin | Game On Paper/Dan Powers/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin/I-80 Club illustration

The game: Wisconsin 35-28 – 2021 – Camp Randall Stadium, Madison, Wisconsin

What happened? In the first game with a re-tooled coaching staff and knowledge of Scott Frost’s 2022 return, Nebraska did what they had done in their previous seven losses in 2021: Played their opponent close, made some mistakes, lost by single-digits.

In recent games, it had been Nebraska’s offense that continually let them down, but in this one, it was the defense, giving up 35 points, including 28 combined in the first and third quarters. Nebraska had more first downs – 23 to 15 – more total yards – 452 to 397 – and had the ball for more than 33 minutes. But Wisconsin returned the opening kickoff for a score and Nebraska lost the turnover battle 2-0.

After Nebraska tied the game at 28-all midway through the fourth quarter, a Braelon Allen touchdown put the Badgers up 35-28.

Nebraska would drive deep into Wisconsin territory, before a 4th and 20 heave to the goal line was knocked to the turf. Nebraska fell to 3-8, losers of five in a row.

What did it mean? A win would have been nice, but would it have meant anything? With the announcement that Scott Frost would return for 2022, the wins and losses were just window dressing* at this point. 

*Hold that thought for our complete and total breakdown of Nebraska’s loss to Iowa to end the season.

If anything, another loss after changing out so many coaches on the staff showed the rot of the program went beyond a line or quarterback coach. It went to the top.

Was there an (un)memorable play? The opening kickoff ended up being the difference maker in a very tight game.

Obligatory Jack Mitchell tweet:

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Josh Peterson
JOSH PETERSON

Josh Peterson has been covering Husker athletics for over a decade. He currently hosts Unsportsmanlike Conduct with John Bishop on 1620 The Zone and is a co-founder of the I-80 Club with Jack Mitchell. When he's not watching sports, Josh is usually going for a run or reading a book next to his wife or dog. If you have a comment for Josh, send him an email: joshpeterson.huskermax@gmail.com.

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