Tad Stryker: Painful Lessons for the Huskers as Utah Administers a Bowl Beatdown

The Utes' physical domination reveals profound issues at line of scrimmage for the Big Red to correct during the offseason.

The Huskers had no answer for Utah quarterback Devon Dampier, who passed for 310 yards and ran for 148. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Nebraska is not in the same class as Utah right now, and really, there’s no reason except money that the two teams were on the same field in Las Vegas.

The fact that Nebraska’s fan base would predictably show up en masse and spend freely in Sin City is the only reason 7-5 Nebraska lined up against 10-2 and 15th-ranked Utah. Given that, a 44-22 beatdown was disappointing but not surprising.

Although embarrassing for Husker Nation, it will likely benefit the program in the long run, at least if you believe, as I do, the old adage, “Short-term pain, long-term gain.”

Ultimately, Utah may have done the Nebraska football program a huge favor. By ripping the remaining veneer of fool’s gold from the Huskers’ 2025 season, it exposed their lack of athleticism on the offensive and defensive lines and at linebacker, and gives new assistants Geep Wade, Rob Aurich and whoever ends up as defensive line coach a stark view of what’s needed.

Nebraska quarterback TJ Lateef throws out of the end zone during the second half. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

It’s not what anyone wants to hear, but the unvarnished truth-telling that took place in Allegiant Stadium, the bald-faced evidence that this ebbing Nebraska team which finished with three whippings would have had to fight like crazy to survive a second-round FCS playoff game, should be ample motivation for Matt Rhule and his staff to prepare the extreme makeover it needs to finish above .500 when the schedule turns nastier in 2026. The Huskers’ 7-6 record speaks for itself. Nebraska did not significantly improve from last season and missed a huge opportunity with a relatively weak conference schedule.

The makeover, through both the transfer portal and development of the current roster, has a decent framework, including wideout Nyziah Hunter (who missed the bowl with an injury) and tight end Luke Lindenmeyer, left tackle Elijah Pritchett, center Justin Evans, linebacker Vincent Shavers and corner Andrew Marshall. There is some good raw material on the defensive front, including edge Williams Nwaneri and tackle Kade Pietrzak, but it’s in dire need of additional size and refining. Relatively untested redshirt freshmen and sophomores like safety Caleb Benning, tight end Carter Nelson and offensive linemen Grant Brix, Jason Maciejczak and Preston Taumua will have to show up and show out if the Huskers are to be taken seriously next fall.

Speaking of sending the wrong message, Rhule wearing his camo cap backward under his headset all game long wasn’t quite as bad a look as the “Surrender Pinks” that someone decided to dress his team in before sending them out in public in Minneapolis back in October, but the beatdown was similar in both games, a clear signal that significant changes are needed. If 15 practices with Matt the d-line coach sparked something in the young, outsized Husker front that will help next fall, that’s great, but against Utah, it didn’t manifest itself. Hopefully that goofy-looking dude has a serious conversation with the head coach and makes sure he understands just how much of a problem the d-line has getting off blocks, filling run lanes and rushing the quarterback.

Although they briefly appeared in the AP top 25 just before the debacle at Minneapolis, the Huskers showed that night they didn’t belong, and in the Las Vegas Bowl against Utah, the Huskers demonstrated how far they have to go to become relevant on the national stage.

One hopeful sign was the running game, which even without Emmett Johnson looked great on the first two series, then disappeared and re-emerged in the fourth quarter. At the two-minute mark of the first quarter, Nebraska led 14-7 and had 93 rushing yards, with Mekhi Nelson bolting for a 38-yard touchdown run that temporarily had the Huskers riding high. Then, without warning, the running game receded and the Husker offense disappeared, unable to get a single first down for more than two quarters.

Utah wide receiver Ryan Davis carries the ball during the second half as Nebraska's Andrew Marshall tries to bring him down. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

That allowed the potent and physical Utah offense, which relies on misdirection and a strong running game of its own, to go to work on the outmanned Nebraska defense. The Blackshirts had good moments on almost every drive, but could never find a way to close out the Utes in key third-and-long situations and eventually buckled under the pressure, allowing 37 consecutive points as Utah went from a 14-7 deficit to a commanding 44-14 lead. In the second and third quarters, the Utes did pretty much anything they wanted to the Husker defense.

Meanwhile, well into the fourth quarter, Nebraska had fewer than 80 yards rushing, having gone three-and-out on five consecutive drives. Then the rushing game re-emerged after the Huskers benched Turner Corcoran, moved right guard Tyler Knaak to Corcoran’s spot and inserted sophomore Sam Sledge at right guard. Nebraska doubled its rushing total from that point to the end of the game with two productive drives.

The most disconcerting thing about this contest was the way Utah played the hammer and Nebraska took the role of the nail for most of the second and third quarters. NU players dropped like flies, leaving the game in droves with injuries. It was obvious who the more physical team was. It was even more obvious which coaching staff could respond effectively to changing game conditions and which couldn’t.

Corcoran, who started 40 games at Nebraska, had to play out of position his entire career because Greg Austin and Donovan Raiola couldn’t recruit, retain and develop effective offensive tackles, with the exception of Pritchett, who is gaining momentum on the left side of the line. The Huskers need to get him some help during the upcoming transfer portal window.

One of the main side effects of its weakness in the trenches showed up again versus Utah. As was the case so often down the season’s homestretch, Nebraska was unable to effectively use the speed of Jacory Barney. With only one exception — on the 8-yard push-pass touchdown that gave NU its brief 14-7 lead —neither Dana Holgorsen nor Mike Ekeler could find a way to get the ball to Barney in open space.

Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule has no shortage of roster issues to address. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

On the defensive line, the Huskers even more urgently need someone north of 310 pounds to step in as a run stuffer, and a linebacker who can capably fill the sure-tackling role that Georgia Southern transfer Marques Watson-Trent was supposed to handle this season. Watson-Trent, who came into the season covered with Group of 5 laurels, couldn’t make much of an impact in the Big Ten; he finished his senior season with 39 tackles (24 fewer than redshirt freshman safety Rex Guthrie), and just 2.5 of Watson-Trent’s stops were for losses.

At quarterback, freshman TJ Lateef had some good moments but was erratic as a passer, completing just over 50 percent of his throws, with an interception. He occasionally showed some quickness, running 13 times for a sack-adjusted 39 yards rushing. He certainly didn’t grab a stranglehold on the race for QB1, which, if the Huskers take another signal-caller or two during the portal window, could become quite interesting.

A thrashing at the hands of the third-place Big 12 team strips away any thought of complacency going into the offseason and, for Rhule and his team, should supply plenty of motivation to find answers.

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