Photo by David Max
Huskers Hold Off Hoosiers
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On an incredibly pleasant evening in Memorial Stadium, the Nebraska Cornhuskers dominated the fourth quarter and defeated the Indiana Hoosiers 35-21 to end a nine-game losing streak against FBS opponents that spanned 364 days. In a game that was sloppy and penalty plagued, the Huskers overcame two turnovers and 111 yards in flag-induced setbacks to give interim head coach Mickey Joseph his first coaching victory. Joseph notched the win in his second attempt while previous coach Scott Frost failed six times before garnering his first victory.
Nebraska started well, struggled in the middle, and finished strong. With the incredibly disappointing 1-3 start to the 2022 campaign that saw the head coach and defensive coordinator dismissed in successive weeks, even an ugly win proved to be incredibly cathartic for this team and fan base. Far too many times in the last few years, the Huskers have squandered leads and lost a multitude of games on the final possession. What is most encouraging is that even though the team made many miscues, the energy and emotion displayed in this contest was different than we have seen in quite a while. The players were engaged and played more physically and with more intensity as they mirrored the enthusiasm modeled by coaches Joseph, Busch and Whipple on the sidelines.
The defense, dare I refer to them again as Blackshirts, played their best game of the season against Indiana. Who knew that tackling live in practice would translate to better game performance? Indiana’s offense had essentially two drives the entire game, spanning the last 5:54 of the second quarter, that netted them 14 points and allowed them to knot the game at 21 heading into intermission. Almost half of the Indiana offense came on those two touchdown drives of 70 and 75 yards. Their other thirteen possessions included seven three and outs among eleven punts, an interception, and a turnover on downs. The defense held Indiana to 2 of 15 on third down, while shutting them out in the second half, and allowing just 5 yards total in the fourth quarter, The Hoosiers had three first downs in the second half and none via the run. The Hoosiers averaged 2.9 yards per rush, but outside of one 34-yard run, Indiana gained just 33 yards on 22 carries. Granted, Indiana played without their best two receivers, who had accounted for 50 catches for 616 yards and three touchdowns in their first four games, but injuries and illness affect every game. Given the track meet we have witnessed in previous games, Bill Busch’s simplifying the defense and bringing more pressure made a significant difference with the results on the field.
The defense was led by a quartet of defenders with five stops a piece (Quinton Newsome, Isaac Gifford, Luke Reimer, and Nick Henrich). Newsome added two pass breakups, and Gifford had two tackles for loss. Reimer had a career high two pass breakups and one of the most unusual interceptions you will ever see. On a 3rd and 4 in the third quarter, Reimer hammered the receiver a yard short of the line to gain and plucked the ball from the receiver’s chest while lying on top of him. Reimer increased his career tackle total to 203 to become the 41st Husker with more than 200 career tackles Team captain Garrett Nelson had three tackles and a career‐ high two sacks for 18 yards, bettering his previous best of 1.5 sacks at Purdue in 2020. The dude has a motor with just one speed and exemplified the fire on the field with his emotional leadership. True freshman cornerback Malcolm Hartzog replaced Tommi Hill in a welcome move and notched a key third-down pass break-up as well as returning a blocked punt 30 yards for a touchdown. In another of the defensive adjustments, Eteva Mauga-Clements played quite a few minutes at linebacker and garnered three tackles. Ty Robinson (4 tackles) added a huge 4th quarter sack, and Caleb Tannor (3 tackles) provided persistent pressure with three QB hurries.
The offense began the game with a 3-play 72-yard scoring drive that took just 47 seconds and featured back-to-back 34-yard completions. This was the first time in five games that the Hoosiers didn’t force a punt on their opponent’s first possession. The offense also had a promising second drive of 43 yards to the Indiana 26-yard line before it was derailed by penalties. Casey Thompson was 18 of 27 for 270 yards throwing for two scores and running for another but was also sacked three times in the first half and was called twice for intentional grounding. A sack on Nebraska’s third possession led to a extended tongue-lashing from OC Mark Whipple and a benching of Thompson for the next series. I’m all for keeping players accountable, but that next series began at the NU 9-yard line and resulted in Chubba Purdy being sacked and fumbling in the endzone for an Indiana touchdown. Purdy did not look good in his abbreviated snaps and I’m not sure that putting him in that deep in Husker territory was advisable. The next six Nebraska possessions resulted in five punts and an interception as the Huskers struggled to regain any momentum as they incurred repeated penalties. Nebraska began drives in the third quarter at the IU 32 and 49 and at the NU 44 and lost 7 yards on just 8 total plays. But with the game on the line, the Huskers out yarded the Hoosiers 140-5 in the final period with one quick (:59) and one long scoring drive (6:05).
One of the offensive challenges has been trying to establish some consistency with the offensive line. With Turner Corcoran getting ejected for back-to-back unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, Brent Banks replaced him at left tackle. The first foul was for a small shove to an Indiana player who flopped in true WWF fashion. The second looked like a hands to the face that was called “punching” that Joseph said would need to be looked at more closely. The zebras disrupted play for both teams as they combined for 23 penalties totaling 203 yards. One encouraging change was Hunter Anthony replacing Bryce Benhart at right tackle partway through the second quarter. Anthony looked like an improvement at that position, and he significantly assisted Jaquez Yant into the endzone on his second quarter TD.
Anthony Grant was a workhorse as he carried the ball a career high 32 times for 136 yards. It was his fourth 100‐yard rushing effort in five games this season and he is the first Husker with four 100‐yard rushing games in a season since Devine Ozigbo had five 100‐yard games in 2018. Brody Belt helped out his teammate by recovering Grant’s fumble and preventing another turnover. Gabe Ervin contributed 21 yards on six carries. The four quarterback sacks accounted for -42 yards and dropped the rushing total from 157 to 115 yards.
Trey Palmer was electric as Thompson’s go-to receiver as he finished with eight receptions for a career‐high 157 yards, including a 71‐yard touchdown bomb in the fourth quarter. Palmer bettered his previous career high of 92 yards vs. Oklahoma. Palmer has had at least 68 receiving yards in each of Nebraska’s five games. Oliver Martin (3 catches for 65 yards) reemerged by catching a 34‐yard touchdown pass on Nebraska’s opening drive for his first TD catch of the season and the second of his Husker career. Marcus Washington added 2 catches for 15 yards.
Special teams showed the biggest improvement of all the Husker components. In the second quarter, Chris Kolarevic blocked a punt that Malcolm Hartzog picked up and returned for a 30-yard touchdown. It was Nebraska’s first blocked punt returned for a touchdown since 2009. The celebration that ensued by the entire Husker team was noteworthy. Going into this contest, the Huskers had totaled -1 yard in punt returns. Trey Palmer returned three punts for 37 yards with a long of 21 yards. Punter Brian Buschini had an up and down night as he averaged 39.1 yards on 8 kicks with a long of 54 yards and placing three punts inside the 20-yard line. Brendan Franke had 5 touchbacks out of 6 kickoffs with the lone return only to the 21-yard line.
Going into the game at 1-3, this was as close to a must win as you can get. Mickey Joseph has installed a different atmosphere and it offers this fan some measure of hope going forward as the Huskers find themselves in a six-way tie for first at 1-1 in the Big Ten West. Allow me the additional smile to see 0-2 Wisconsin occupying the cellar. A 5-4 conference record may well win the division. I’m not offering up the Huskers as solid contenders for the title, but every one of their division opponents is beatable. Who foresaw Illinois thumping Wisconsin 34-10 in Madison or Purdue stuffing Minnesota 20-10 in Minneapolis? Next Friday’s opponent, Rutgers, despite being 3-2 was hammered 49-10 today in Columbus and surrendered 27 points at home to offensively inept Iowa. No Big Ten road game is easy, especially for this Nebraska squad struggling to get back to .500, but Mickey has the team playing with more intensity and if they can clean up some of the mistakes, they can prevail in Piscataway. Go Big Red!
