Peterson: Nebraska Punked By Penn State In Listless 37-10 Loss

Let’s get straight to the point; Nebraska’s 37-10 loss to Penn State was once again a failure on the big stage, against the type of team this program has been chasing after for years.

To make matters worse, this came against the worst version* of Penn State in over a decade, as the Nittany Lions continue to limp along towards a 5-7 or 6-6 season. Nebraska is once again not taking advantage of a 2025 schedule that we’ll probably look back on years from now and ask, “How on earth didn’t they win more games?”

*In a full season, that is. Penn State’s COVID-19-shortened 2020 group finished 4-5, with one of those five losses coming in Lincoln to Nebraska. Penn State hasn’t finished a full regular season with six wins or fewer since James Franklin’s first group finished the regular season 6-6 (a bowl win moved them to 7-6) in 2014.

No Ohio State. No Indiana. No Oregon. Hell, no Illinois or Washington. Instead, lesser versions of Michigan, Minnesota, and Penn State have given Nebraska three of its four losses, with the latter two absolutely punking them.

And thus, the Cornhuskers enter the Black Friday matchup with the Iowa Hawkeyes with a chance to erase the demons of the last ten years and finish 2025 8-4. Or, they could lose again, finish 7-5, and have us all asking how this has happened again?

How did this happen again? Why did this happen again?

Why does this program, under Matt Rhule and the coaches that came before him, continue to no-show in games like this?

After the loss on Saturday night, Ceyair Wright said something to the assembled media in Happy Valley that we have too often heard after these types of losses: “I don't know why we didn't come with the right mindset. I thought we were prepared. But when the time came to do it, we didn't execute it.”

I don’t know.

Emmett Johnson's early 52-yard rush put Nebraska in prime position to score first. Four plays later, he was stuffed on fourth and short, giving Penn State the football. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

On the first drive of the game, Nebraska’s offense raced down the field against Penn State, buoyed by a 52-yard carry by Emmett Johnson on third and short. Three offensive plays into the game, the Huskers were inside the red zone. A few plays later, they lined up at the Penn State two-yard line on a fourth-and-one. One yard separated them from a new set of downs and a chance to take an early lead. Instead, Johnson was stuffed, giving the ball to Penn State.

Seven plays and 98 yards later, the Nittany Lions were up 7-0, and you could feel the screws of the Nebraska operation tighten. After looking so full of life on their first offensive drive, Nebraska’s offense looked flat, akin to what we saw in Minneapolis last month. But unlike the Minnesota game in mid-October, this wasn’t so much a slow bleed as it was a quick kill. After one drive for each team, it was 7-0 Penn State. After two, 10-0. After three, 17-3. The fourth, 23-3. And after the fifth drive of the game for Nebraska and Penn State, it was 30-3.

And still more than 10:00 remained in the third quarter. It wasn’t until Penn State’s sixth drive that they finally punted, but by then the damage was long done.

How did this happen?

I don’t know.

Cards on the table, I’m trying to figure out if I am overreacting to another loss like the one Nebraska just took to Penn State. My issue? It seemingly fits a pattern this season, where Nebraska shows up and doesn’t look prepared for the game at hand. A great drive to start turns into a slog on offense; once the scripted plays are done, so, seemingly, is Nebraska’s offense.

Kaytron Allen and Penn State's run game dominated Nebraska, putting up more than 200 yards as a team. Allen rushed for 160 yards and two touchdowns. | Matthew O'Haren-Imagn Images

And no one has answers for why it happened. Again, a pattern.

“I don't know why we didn't come with the right mindset.” That quote Saturday night from Wright was reminiscent of so many we heard following Nebraska’s loss to Minnesota in October.

“There’s nothing that led me to think this was going to be like this,” Matt Rhule said that Friday night.

“We didn’t execute to our standard,” echoed Emmett Johnson.

The following Tuesday, the quotes from John Butler were even worse.

"We started off pretty strong the first two drives; got into a decent rhythm,” said Butler. Then, after that explosive run, that probably affected me more than it should, and it shouldn't. Every play has its own life. So what happens on the next play is not about what has happened on the previous play. I've got to stick to the plan."

And in his Monday presser three days after the loss in Minneapolis, Matt Rhule let us all in on something that’s still flabbergasting over a month later when he said, "I told the team the entire week that this was a tough, physical team and this would be a battle. I had even assistant coaches like, 'man, why are you keep crowning them?'”

What is going on with this program?

Why do they show up in a game like this, against a program like this, and get run off the field? This was supposed to be the year where the program started taking a step forward; a big step forward. Where they left absolutely zero doubt about the direction they’re heading in. Where the daunting 2026 schedule is lessened a bit because Nebraska is going to be able to match it with their own improvements.

And while this certainly has been better than both 2023 and 2024, it hasn’t at all been the Matt Rhule Year Three-type season so many were hoping for. He’s now 19-17 in his time at Nebraska and a Black Friday loss* against Iowa away from a 7-5 season.

*Not to mention, it would mean a 1-3 finish to the season, bringing Matt Rhule's record in November to a paltry 2-10 across three seasons in Lincoln.

They’re better, right? Why doesn’t it feel like it?

And so, another week against Iowa arrives. The Hawkeyes are 9-1 against Nebraska over the last decade, the lone loss coming at the end of the 2022 season with Mickey Joseph finishing up his interim period as Nebraska’s head coach.

The Hawkeyes themselves are in the midst of an up-and-down season, fresh off a comeback win over Michigan State to move to 7-4. As we have seen many times in this rivalry, nothing is at stake, but everything is at stake.

Kirk Ferentz and Iowa have bettered Nebraska in nine of the past ten seasons, including two straight 13-10 wins in 2023 and 2024. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

A chance to pick up an eighth regular-season win for Nebraska, a better bowl game, and a chance at nine wins, a first for the program since 2016. A chance to get revenge for 2023 and 2024, when Iowa banged in game-winning field goals in the final seconds to beat Nebraska by an identical 13-10 score.

A chance for TJ Lateef to make the conversation interesting over the next month. A chance for Emmett Johnson to finish up a tremendous junior season with an exclamation point. A chance for the Nebraska run defense to pick itself up off the mat against another mobile quarterback.

A chance to head into the most important December of the Matt Rhule era with some good vibes.

A chance to pick up one of those Culture Wins we hear so many programs speak about whenever they beat Nebraska under inauspicious circumstances. Backup quarterback, starting his third straight game, against an arch-rival that wants to ruin your holiday and leave a bad taste in your mouth to finish the season.

A chance for Nebraska football’s biggest win in years.

It’s one of those games to find out what Nebraska football is all about.

Who are they?

Agree or disagree, if you have a comment for Josh, send him an email: joshpeterson.huskermax@gmail.com

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