Wolverines Leave Huskers Wanting as they Pressure and Pound and Produce

On a lovely September afternoon in Memorial Stadium the #21-ranked Michigan Wolverines defeated the Nebraska Cornhuskers 30-27. As it will be repeated until the streak is broken, the Huskers have now lost 28 straight games to ranked opponents. A Matt Rhule coached team has never beaten a ranked, power conference team as a college head coach. The Huskers have now lost five straight to Michigan since the series was tied at 4-4-1 and this marks the sixth straight season Nebraska has lost in its Big Ten opener. The Huskers had hoped to reverse all that futility, but once again they lose a one-score game for the 11th time in 15 tries under Rhule.

I really believed the Huskers would prevail this time, but Michigan still has better players up front on both the offensive and defensive lines. Throughout the game, solo Wolverine tacklers repeatedly tackled Huskers in the open field while the Huskers either whiffed or had to swarm a runner downfield. The Huskers may have had the edge in receivers, but in this Big Ten slobber knocker the Blackshirts surrendered 286 yards rushing with 166 of them coming on just three plays, touchdown runs of 37, 75, and 54 yards.

Ernest Hausmann's family waiting to greet him after the game. Ernest led the Michigan defense with 9 tackles. | David Max

On offense, Dylan Raiola was sacked 7 times losing 49 yards. Our tackles were getting overrun and when Elijah Pritchett replaced Gunnar Gottula, he false started again. Some of the sacks were on Raiola as he absolutely has to get rid of the ball quicker and better play calling by Dana Holgorsen would help that. The one time Raiola stepped up in the pocket he completed a beautiful ball to Nyziah Hunter for a 21-yard gain.

In a game you lose by three points, you only need to look to the red zone to see that too many points were left on the field. The Huskers totaled just 13 points from five drives inside the 25. On the first drive of the game, Nebraska had a 2nd and 3 at the 7-yard line and then threw incomplete on a fade (please shelve that play), rushed for 1 and went for it on 4th down coming up a foot short. Three points not taken. Nebraska had three drives inside the 25-yard line killed due to sacks. On the last play of the 3rd quarter, a 20-yard apparent TD to Hunter was waved off because he had stepped on the end line and came back into the endzone. Cunanan kicked a field goal, but four more points were lost because of lack of field awareness. In winnable games, these types of plays continue to keep the Huskers from prevailing.

With the Huskers down seven with 12:40 to go, Michigan proceeded to do what winners do. They went on a 16-play 77-yard drive that took 8:46 off the clock. Up to that point in the game, the Wolverines were 1 for 8 on 3rd down, but they converted three straight third downs from 5, 9 and 10 yards. The field goal with 3:54 to go essentially sealed it. In winnable games, not getting off the field on third down will lead to more losses.

Raiola finished the game completing 30-of-41 passes for 308 yards and three touchdowns. In the first quarter, he suffered his first pick of the season after 124 pass attempts. Today marked the first time a quarterback had a 300-yard passing game against Michigan since Purdue’s Aidan O’Connell in 2022. Fortunately, he won’t face too many defensive lines this year like Michigan’s. On two of his three TD throws and on the almost TD to Hunter, Raiola rolled out to escape pressure. Holgorsen has got to find ways to maximize Raiola’s strengths.

Tight end Luke Lindenmeyer led receivers with seven catches for 60 yards, setting career bests in both categories. Lindenmeyer had a career long 23-yard reception on the opening drive. Jacory Barney Jr. had a career day as well with a pair of touchdown catches in the second quarter. The first was a 26-yarder with 2:01 left in the half, and the second was a 52-yard Hail Mary on the final play of the first half. After not having a TD reception in his first 15 college games, he now has three in the last two. Barney finished the game with six receptions for 120 yards and has caught multiple passes in 16 straight games. Dane Key added 3 catches for 36 yards, Nyziah Hunter had 2 grabs for 34 yards, and Heinrich Haarberg ( 3 catches for 18 yards) had his first career receiving TD with the 3-yarder late in the game.

Running back Emmett Johnson rushed 19 times for 65 yards and had 32 receiving yards to account for 97 yards from scrimmage. With the 49 yards lost to sacks, the Huskers netted just 43 yards on the ground. That won’t work out well in the Big Ten.

As noted above, the defense got gashed for big plays and couldn’t get off the field when it counted most. But on the bright side, they only surrendered 105 yards though the air and did not allow a 20-yard pass or a passing touchdown in the game. The Huskers are the only team in the country that has not allowed a 20-yard pass and is one of only seven FBS teams that has not allowed a passing touchdown. Some small solace in a 3-point loss.

Javin Wright led all defenders with 10 stops including a TFL. Vincent Shavers, Jr had 7 tackles with a TFL, Donovan Jones had 6 tackles, and Rex Guthrie and DeShon Singleton each added 5 stops. Elijah Jeudy forced a second-quarter fumble, a career first, that was recovered by DeShon Singleton, which was his second career fumble recovery. The Huskers got a field goal out of their takeaway while Raiola’s pick led to a 37-yard scamper right up the middle by Michigan QB Bryce Underwood on the very next play. Linebacker Dasan McCullough had two tackles for loss ( a career high), including the Huskers lone sack.

Special teams didn’t win or lose this one and were pretty solid even with Kyle Cunanan’s first field goal miss of the year. After converting treys from 39 and 38-yards he is now 6 for 7 for the season. Cunanan also took over the kickoff duties and Michigan did not have a return. The 56-yard field goal by Michigan in the third quarter was the fourth-longest field goal by an opponent in school history. Archie Wilson got to play and punted well averaging 49.2 yards on four kicks with a long of 56 yards. Jacory Barney had three punt returns for 21 yards (with a long of 20 yards) and now has 111 punt return yards this season, the first Husker to have 100 punt return yards in a season since JD Spielman in 2019.

For the Negative Nellies, the Husker season is not lost, but Nebraska does need to take care of business in the next four games against Michigan State, Maryland, Minnesota and Northwestern if they want to take a step up this season. Beat the teams you are favored against and the Huskers will have a chance to beat another potentially ranked opponent November 1 when they face USC in Lincoln. Win that one as well and the Michigan loss won’t feel quite so bad. The bye week couldn’t have come at a better time as the Huskers have a chance to heal physically and mentally from another tough one-score loss. Learn from it and keep getting better. Go Big Red!!

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