Is This Really Year Three? Nebraska Football Out-Physicaled Again on Big Stage

The Nebraska football team had arguably its worst game of the season on Saturday night, getting pushed all over the field in a 37-10 loss to a stronger, more athletic, better coached Penn State team. After getting deep into PSU territory but having no points to show for it on their opening drive, the Big Red allowed the Nittany Lions to go 98 yards on seven plays for their first touchdown of the game. That seemed to set the tone, and it never really felt like Nebraska was on track for the rest of the night.

CHEERS TO THAT

Emmett. Nebraska’s Superman was at it again. EJ rushed for 103 yards on 19 carries, to go along with 48 yards receiving on eight catches. Yes, his 5.4 yards-per-carry average was aided significantly by an early 52 yard run, but in a game where it seemed like several Cornhuskers didn’t even come to play, #21 was outstanding. There were several plays where he had to fight, slice, and dice to get everything he had, turning four yard losses into short gains, or short gains into bigger plays. Credit to the Huskers for knowing the offense has to run through Emmett, and committing to getting him the ball, but on this night it wasn’t nearly enough.

At Least They Fought. I’m at a loss for finding much else that was positive about the night. But, I will say Nebraska didn’t quit. Although they weren’t able to convert enough 4th downs, or turn enough promising drives into points, the offense actually seemed to find more of a rhythm in the 2nd half. Even when they were down 30-10 early in the 4th quarter, the defense forced a stop and I thought, “Well, maybe they can make this interesting, crazier things have happened.” Then Penn State executed a fake punt that literally no one saw coming, which essentially served as the knockout blow for this game.

You can say this for Matt Rhule’s teams: they don’t quit. Unfortunately, there’s a lot else that needs to get fixed.

DIDN’T LIKE THAT

Getting Manhandled. Even though Penn State is 4-6, I certainly was not counting on this game as being any sort of guaranteed win for the Huskers. Yes, PSU’s season has gone off the rails, but they still have top level talent, they’re still fighting for bowl eligibility, and it was a night game at their place. What’s more, the betting lines had the Nittany Lions favored by more than 10 points.

On the other side of the coin, we also have to take into consideration what a dumpster fire this season has been in Happy Valley. They fired head coach James Franklin, they’re playing with a backup quarterback, and they lost to Northwestern and UCLA, both of whom Nebraska beat. Am I suggesting Nebraska should expect to walk in and win easily? No, of course not, for all the reasons outlined above. That said, I sure as heck expect the Huskers to be more competitive than what they showed.

Defense. Penn State’s four 1st half drives went like this: touchdown, field goal, touchdown, touchdown. By halftime, Husker fans could have been forgiven for feeling like the game was already out of reach. When the Nittany Lions scored out of halftime to make it 30-3, it really felt like the rout was on.

Just about everyone expected Nebraska to struggle to stop PSU’s rushing attack, but coming out of a bye week, I was hoping perhaps defensive coordinator John Butler had a few things up his sleeve to at least keep it at bay. That was not to be. The home team rushed for 231 yards on the night, while running back Kaytron Allen became Penn State’s all time leading rusher. Perhaps worse than that, the Huskers came into the game with one of the nation’s top passing defenses, and proceeded to make backup quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer look like Tom Brady. Grunkenmeyer had only one incompletion, and his receivers seemed to be running wide open all night like Forrest Gump on his jog across America.

Losing at the Line of Scrimmage. I genuinely believe Matt Rhule believes in physical football, and winning the line of scrimmage. To his credit, I think it’s fair to say his teams are more physical than both Scott Frost’s teams and Mike Riley’s teams. Looking at Rhule’s tenure as a whole, there has been improvement on that front, especially on the defensive side of the ball.

But it’s simply not good enough yet. When Nebraska has played the Big Ten’s best this season (I’m thinking Penn State and Michigan in particular), they’ve gotten blasted at the line of scrimmage. Even against USC – a very talented, top 25 team, but one you would expect the Huskers to match up better with at the line of scrimmage – the Big Red couldn’t stop the run. Nebraska is not going to compete with the upper echelon of the Big Ten, let alone nationally, until they start winning the line of scrimmage again. What’s maddening about this is it’s something that was Nebraska’s calling card for decades. Husker fans know what good looks like, and this ain’t it. Fixing the struggles at the line of scrimmage needs to be priority #1 for Rhule in the offseason.

BOTTOM LINE

I couldn’t help but think last night about Athletic Director Troy Dannen's comments after Nebraska’s ugly loss to Minnesota earlier this season: “The tough thing for our fans is we’re three years into a rebuild. Here, the fans are 15 years into a rebuild.” Essentially he was saying, he understands fans being frustrated because this has been happening for too long at Nebraska, but it’s only year three for Coach Rhule, and these kind of bad losses will happen during a rebuild.

Here’s my question: isn’t year three enough time to expect Nebraska at least to be competitive in every game? I think most Husker fans are rational, knowledgeable football fans; we understand a 1990s-era run of greatness is not immediately around the corner (although we should always hold the program to strive toward that standard). But we know clean, physical, competitive, well-coached football when we see it, and we’re not seeing enough of it right now. If you had told me Nebraska would lose to Penn State, I wouldn’t have been surprised. But looking like they don’t even belong on the same field as the Nittany Lions is unacceptable.

Moving forward, the Iowa game now becomes critical for Rhule. Under no circumstances will he be on the hot seat, but, I don’t think most Husker fans are going to be satisfied with a 7-5 finish that includes two duds, and no wins over ranked teams or rivals. On the other hand, beat Iowa, get to 8-4, and have a chance to get to 9 wins in the bowl game, and I think most of Husker Nation is feeling pretty good.

Funny how things can swing so much from game to game. But that’s where we are as Husker fans right now.

As always, GBR for LIFE.

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