Is the Groin Kick Era of Husker Football Over?

Is the Groin Kick Era of Husker football finished?

That question, among others, was ultimately what Josh Peterson and Jack Mitchell wanted to figure out in the finale of the Groin Kick Chronicles. Before answering that question, they looked back at the game that finished atop the rankings, discussed a potential category that could have been built into the formula, and more.

Below is a lightly-edited transcript of select conversations on the epilogue.

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

Prologue
70-61
60-51
50-41
40-31
30-21
20-11
10-6
5-1

Was the 2019 loss to Colorado the correct pick for #1?

Josh: Was the order ultimately correct? I know that there was a lot of build-up to the end of the episodes and to what was ultimately going to be number one. And we talked about it a lot in the lead-up to it; rivalry games had so much extra weight to them, and that's why 2019 Colorado was the number one game. You and I did a bonus episode of the Chronicles recently where all of our subscribers told us stories, and that 2019 Colorado game did show up for a lot of people!

2019 Colorado | Game On Paper/Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images/I-80 Club illustration

Jack: For a road game, it showed up a lot, because a lot of the stories we thought might have been attending games, and some people did attend it, but yeah, you're right. I think that sort of vindicated the ranking to some degree when I heard how many people associated events that happened around these games. Which I was a little surprised by it, to be honest.

Josh: Yeah, me too. And then, yet, like in hindsight, I look back at that as kind of a marker for me in time of, “wow, how I viewed Scott Frost and where the program was going pre-Colorado 2019 and post-Colorado;” for me, it was pretty much night and day. I still remember doing the post-game show that afternoon, that evening, and just wondering, “Oh my gosh, is this not what I thought or what we thought this thing was going to be moving forward?”

Jack: And it had so many of the hallmarks, and in the end, that's kind of how I defined this whole thing, was whether or not it had all of the various hallmarks within it, which is at some point you think there's going to be a celebration and there's not. We talked about that in the last couple of episodes. Had that, right? It was an opponent that you desperately wanted to beat. You had that, right? It was at an important time, a pivotal time within a season and/or a career. Both of those were true with this one.

Nebraska's 2019 loss to Colorado featured a stadium filled with more red than black and gold, adding insult to injury as Nebraska fell. | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

And then, kind of the individual things that went along with it, right? Some interesting late decision-making; special teams issues. A meltdown. One unit looking really good and then not looking really good. You know, turnovers. It had so many of those things as well. And a signature groin kick play with the flea flicker.

Opportunity lost

Jack: What is the difference between where a win takes you emotionally – takes the program – consequences that are actually concrete, going to a bowl, and what's a loss? Basically, the floor-to-ceiling measurement of both outcomes. And I think that was why, for me, the ones that were the final game where you missed a bowl game, that to me was huge, but there could be other ways that that could be the case.

And a bunch of those games in 2021, it’s also just like a program so desperate for a little bit of momentum at that point. And if they got it, it felt like whether it was that Michigan State game, especially that Michigan game is another one, which I think was ranked way too low, because of that as well.

Josh: Because it felt like they lost out on something that night.

Jack: And probably shows that that [opportunity lost] formula wasn't completely baked in our formula because I felt like that 2021 Michigan; the distance between the floor and the ceiling in the way you would have felt after that game, almost as big as any game that we've had.

Josh: Yeah, I think you're right. It’s easy sometimes to look back at some of the opportunity lost, if you will, of like a national championship loss, obviously, a conference championship loss, maybe a division championship in the old era.

And what's interesting about this project is that, outside of 2016, they were never in contention for anything. Bowl games, yes, but they were never in division contention in the first year of the 18-team Big Ten era. They were obviously not in contention for anything there. And so that is what kind of made this project really, really interesting is “opportunity lost” so often was kind of that feeling, right, that you always describe it as that “you should be with me right now.” That's what I think of: the celebration that you've had planned for so many of these games. And that is what we are talking about in a lot of these matchups.

And that Michigan game certainly fits that. The Michigan State game that year certainly fit that. But there aren't really a whole lot of those that are away from the Black Friday Iowa loss that kept them from bowl eligibility.

The 2021 loss to Michigan featured one of the most memorable Nebraska football crowds of the last decade. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

Jack: Yeah. A little bit of that just goes with who the opponent is, right? Like, that Colorado game. That's what I think amps up that Colorado game too. It's because of them, but you know, you're more exuberant about it. Not only cause it's a win at that point, but it's at Colorado, and you turn the stadium red and just, I think maybe the metric should be called “fireworks left intact.” Like how many in Lincoln and Omaha, you know how it happens sometimes. It'll always happen in East Lincoln at least.

In fact, that 2021 Michigan game we were watching on my porch, I had projected it, and I was because of YouTube or the projector or something. We were about, as seems to always be the case, we were about 30 seconds behind. And so, every good play that Nebraska had got spoiled by fireworks in my neighborhood. But I think we could make a metric that after the game, when fireworks go off, it should be “fireworks saved” because sort of measuring the glee and the joy and the celebration that would have happened that you didn't end up [with].

What have we learned?

Josh: Which [season] do you think had the highest ranking in terms of the Groin Kick Rating?

Jack: For an entire season?

Josh: For an entire season's worth of losses.

The Groin Kick Era of Husker football ramped up quickly in Mike Riley's first game as head coach. | Bruce Thorson-Imagn Images

Jack: Either right off the top of my head, I want to say 2015 or 2021.

Josh: All right, so here's what's interesting. 2021, which we have held up for years now, four years later, as like the worst of the worst, actually came in at number six.

Jack: Well, we did have the Michigan game rated incorrectly, so that would have made it better.

Josh: The other one you said was 2015?

Jack: Yeah.

Josh: That was number two. Seven losses, those averaged 39.17 on the Groin Kick scale. Number one was Matt Rhule's first year. If you look, Jack, at the top 20 onward, number 20 was actually a 2023 game of all games. That was a 39.90 on the Groin Kick scale. The average for the 2023 losses, they had seven losses that year, was 40.80. So on average, the 2023 losses were top 20 losses. And that shows up time and time again.

2023 Iowa | Game On Paper/Reese Strickland-Imagn Images/I-80 Club illustration

Michigan State ‘23, Maryland ‘23. So we're already looking at two. Obviously, the opener versus Minnesota, the Wisconsin game, and the Iowa game; those games were all in the top 20. And so what have we learned? As bad as the Scott Frost era was, and the 2021 season seemed to be, as horrible of a start that the Mike Riley era got off to, the Matt Rule era surprisingly has gotten off to a more heartbreaking start because number three is the 2024 season in terms of average rankings for an entire season.

Jack: So the Rhule era has the majority of the top four, the plurality of the top four seasons.

Josh: Yes. By far.

Is the Groin Kick Era over?

Josh: Will they be able to come out of it? There’s like this sick part of me that kind of wants them to play in a close game against Cincinnati in the opener later this month, just to see what's going to happen. On the other hand, I know everyone hearing that is saying, “Please God no; that sounds scary as hell. I would rather not have to deal with my heart beating out of my chest for three hours.”

Jack: Josh, I said that exact thing about the 2023 game against Minnesota, even. I was even saying it then. And I was like, “I'd rather have them overcome a close game just to get over the Groin Kick Era when Scott Frost was there.” And I got it, and they didn't do it. And it was one of the big ones.

2023 Minnesota | Game On Paper/Matt Krohn-Imagn Images/I-80 Club illustration

Josh: That game ended up very, very high on the list. It ended up at number ten, that game against Minnesota. That was the highest-ranked of all of the Minnesota games. It was a great representation of it, because if they're able to hold on, they played not well that night, and they still very much could have won the game, and then they didn't.

It's what makes this upcoming season so interesting. You know, that we've gone through this. Every offseason, you and I are talking about like, “what do you remember about last year?” and “what is it gonna mean?” I don't know if I've ever done such a deep dive into the previous season that I was able to do this offseason because of this project that you and I have undertaken.

Jack: So what’s your thought about it after that? After taking a deeper look at what happened last year and how it impacts how you look at this coming year?

Josh: Well, certainly if you're wanting to be glass half full, I would say, look, the game against Boston College was one that in the last decade they would have lost many times, because it had the hallmarks, as you said. And I know we keep going back to the special teams blunder, but that really kicked things off. And after that, it was like “they're going to do it again.”

Jack: Absolutely. What happens if that is a typical Groin Kick Era game is they can't get the first downs to run out the clock, and they punt. And then you know what happens next. And then all of a sudden the defense doesn't look like they did. Because the defense had looked good for the vast majority of that game.

Josh: As they always do! In so many of these games the defense looks so good.

Jack: I mean, we can all tell exactly how it would happen. How many games did you talk about on this thing where it looked like Nebraska was just going to be able to run time? Run the clock and either set up a game-winning field goal or just run out the game, whatever it is or any of those things.

There were umpteen of those situations where if they get a first down, it's over. And that's what differentiated what happened in the Pinstripe Bowl is they got the first down. They got the first downs that they needed, and they were able to run out the clock.

Nebraska wins the 2024 Pinstripe Bowl — Nebraska overcame a bad fourth quarter to pull out a one-score win in the 2024 Pinstripe Bowl. Did that turn the tide on a bad decade of Cornhusker football? | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Josh: Let me ask you this one more, kind of a different way to ask this question. Do they need one of these wins to come against Iowa, against Minnesota? I'm looking at the schedule this year, and I'm thinking of the schedule. Colorado is gone, right? Colorado meant something last year, but of course, it wasn't a one-score game. Wisconsin is off the schedule this year, so you're not going to be able to beat them. Do they need it to come against a team not named Boston College? That ultimately you feel something about? Or if they do it against Cincinnati, or if they do it against Michigan, which we've talked about multiple times today. Michigan State is on the schedule this year. Maryland, 2023, was very high on the list.

Is it okay if it happens this year against one of the non-Minnesota, Iowa matchups?

Jack: You're getting that type of ugly Groin Kick-avoidance win, but against a specific set of teams? Namely, those who are most common and most commonly in our list, and highest ranked on the list. Because the ones we were even talking about during the era, we mentioned Michigan state twice, which they were in there once significantly, but not a ton. The win they did get against Iowa was a Mickey Joseph thing.

Do you think the Groin Kick Era of Husker football is over? Let us know: joshpeterson.huskermax@gmail.com.

More From Nebraska On SI

Stay up to date on all things Huskers by bookmarking Nebraska Cornhuskers On SI, subscribing to HuskerMax on YouTube, and visiting HuskerMax.com daily.