Dylan Widger-USA TODAY Sports
Tad Stryker: Stage Frightful
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Dame Fortune must’ve figured she showed up at the wrong theater. She stayed for only one series at Memorial Stadium before deciding she was not going to play a factor in Mickey Joseph’s debut as interim head coach.
Once Casey Thompson led a perfectly-executed 77-yard touchdown drive on Nebraska’s opening series, Oklahoma responded with seven unanswered touchdowns, and Thompson was never heard from again, eventually being replaced by Chubba Purdy. Talk about your anticlimactic plot.
For Joseph, it was akin to forgetting his lines in the opening act of his big audition. There was no magic from Mickey, or his staff. They were decisively out-adjusted by the Sooners, who grabbed a 35-7 halftime lead.
Given Lincoln Riley’s departure for Southern California and Scott Frost’s firing earlier this week, it was the first time two first-year head coaches faced off in the NU-OU rivalry since 1973. Brent Venables became the first OU coach to win his inaugural game against Nebraska since Barry Switzer in 1973, and he had an even bigger manpower advantage than Switzer did that year.
Although the consensus was that Oklahoma would return measurably less talent than last season, it really didn’t appear to be that much of a dropoff from their 11-2 Alamo Bowl winners. Based on Saturday’s performance, there’s not a player on Nebraska’s first-string offense or defense who would start this year for OU, including tight end Travis Vokolek, who was targeted only twice and caught one pass for 2 yards.
The Sooners rushed for 312 yards, passed for 268 and could have had much more. It was a thoroughly miserable performance by Nebraska’s offense, defense and special teams. Even punter Brian Buschini, who had been performing remarkably through three games, had an off day.
Joseph has some time to make any significant changes in staff or strategy before his next game, Oct. 1. Those changes likely will make or break this season.
Thompson, who passed for five touchdowns as a Texas Longhorn last year against Oklahoma, was not a factor in the game after the first series. He was sacked three times late in the first quarter, including twice on back-to-back plays. He missed several open receivers and seemed uncomfortable throughout. Purdy replaced him after two series in the third quarter and played with the Husker first string, finally leading a touchdown drive against Oklahoma reserve players late in the game.
Without the reinjured Teddy Prochazka in the game (it was announced that Prochazka will redshirt this season), the Huskers moved Turner Corcoran back to left tackle and put Ethan Piper at left guard, rotating Kevin Williams Jr. in at guard from time to time. Nothing really worked for the Huskers, who were clearly outmanned and outquicked at the line of scrimmage. Things were no better at any level of the Husker defense, whose linebackers and secondary were thoroughly outclassed by OU’s stable of backs and receivers.
When OU quarterback Dillon Gabriel scrambled away from a host of Nebraska defenders on third-and-7 to begin one of the slowest 61-yard touchdown runs in the history of the game, featuring missed tackles and bad angles taken by Husker defenders along the way, it was a bleak foreshadowing of the rest of the day. Not surprisingly, it quickly became no contest, an unfortunate way for Joseph to break in as Nebraska’s head coach. Thankfully, Venables decided to keep the score down and played it close to the vest in the second half.
Regrettably, many of the players from the 1970-71 Nebraska national championship teams were on hand to witness the carnage. It took me back to Sept. 20, 1986, as Nebraska went on the road to destroy Illinois, 59-14, when Dick Butkus was forced to endure that beatdown on the night his number was retired by the Illini. If there are football gods, they apparently do not intervene in such debacles. Nebraska has hosted more than its share lately.
Joseph spent no time bemoaning his fate. In fact, in the postgame press conference, he fell on the sword for his staff and his players.
“This is on me,” he said, “not my players, not my assistant coaches. I have to do a better job and I will. I thought they fought today and I would like to thank the fans, they hung in there with us and we fed off their energy. We did not do enough. They beat us in all three phases of the game, offense, defense and special teams, but this comes back to me. It is not my kids' fault. It is not my assistants’ fault. This is on me. I have to accept responsibility for it and I have. We are going to get better next week. We have eight games left and we are going to get ready to win some games.”
The refreshingly blunt Joseph promised more individual drill work in the coming bye week, plus more live tackling.
“I did not do enough tackling and I have to do more,” he pledged. “I have to get them better in that part.”
Joseph also promised a more thorough evaluation of several younger Huskers who saw playing time in the second half.
Admirable as it was, Joseph’s self-critique was a bit too harsh. He was in a tough position this week. However, after the bye, the Huskers have four games against Indiana, Rutgers, Purdue and Illinois, which likely will provide clear direction for many of Nebraska’s 2023 recruiting class, and for athletic director Trev Alberts as he considers his next move.
- More coverage & commentary: HuskerMax game page
