The main reason it felt so terrible is that through the first three games the Huskers played, while not always clean, they competed. The opener against Ohio State was supposed to be a blow out, but Nebraska played the first half like they were going to compete for a Big Ten West crown. The next game was cancelled, but the next week the Huskers played Northwestern hard. They probably should have won the game, but poor execution in the red zone killed any chance of that.
Next Nebraska played a wounded Penn State and they jumped out on them so hard in the first half, even a second half collapse wasn’t enough to keep the Huskers from winning. It seemed as though Nebraska was finding itself in this shortened season.
So, when Illinois was slated to come to Memorial Stadium and open the home schedule, Nebraska looked poised to continue the building process. The problem was the Illini didn’t care about Nebraska’s rebuild and they steamrolled the Huskers.
An opening forward pass that was ruled a fumble by Luke McCaffrey sent the Huskers into a funk. It was compounded by some other questionable referee decisions. Nebraska couldn’t get a stop on defense and the offense couldn’t get out of its own way. The Huskers gave Illinois so many opportunities with five turnovers, it was hard to see any progress in Scott Frost’s program. If anything, it showed most Husker fans that we are a long way from any sense of challenging the upper tier programs in the Big Ten.
Nebraska football that we remember from the Coach Osborne years was physical, well executed and disciplined. That’s what most Husker fans expect. We see glimpses of it sometimes with this group of Huskers, but it’s not enough. Nebraska has had no identity to hang their hat on since Coach Frost took over. They resemble nothing of the teams that he played on in the 90s.
I can forgive a lot of things with Nebraska football the last three seasons. I have typed many thoughts about this coaching staff, which many of you have read. Most of those things have seen the positive within the growth of Coach Frost and the Huskers. Last week was different. Nebraska went back to the same unfocused play that has plagued them over the last five years. It wasn’t Frost that started that slide, but it was disappointing that he hasn’t stopped it by now. You start to wonder if he will ever get it stopped.
ON WITH THE REWIND…
Last game prediction was Nebraska 34, Illinois 24. The actual score was Illinois 41, Nebraska 23. A game that most people thought Nebraska should win was a disaster from the opening snap. Five turnovers will do that to you. Nebraska’s inability to pass the ball effectively was only compounded by its inability of the “Blackshirts” to stop anyone. The worst defeat of a an already murky 1-3 start.
Quick Notes:
Offense…I think it’s safe to ask if this 2020 version of Nebraska will be competent on offense. Losing Dedrick Mills has blown a hole in the running back room that has had little success. The wide receiver talent looks good on some possessions but is randomly absent from most games when they are needed the most. The old quarterback axiom that when you have two quarterbacks, you really have none couldn’t be more true right now. Nebraska’s inability to throw the ball downfield has caught up with them and teams simply force the Huskers to run into eight or nine players each possession. Coach Frost is supposed to be a play calling genius, and I think he still is, but Nebraska must figure out how to stretch the field vertically. Until they do that, they won’t be anything other than bottom dweller in the Big Ten.
Collin Miller…I must admit, I didn’t even watch the play live when Miller was hurt. As I sat on the couch, I couldn’t figure out what was happening, and replay wasn’t giving us much either. Those kinds of plays happen in football. Luckily for Miller it sounds like he will be ok but will miss the rest of the season. That’s another big loss for the Blackshirts. Miller has been the leader of the team. He has also been one of the more consistent tacklers that Nebraska has. His loss will be hard to overcome for a defense that still has too many run fit issues and can’t seem to hold up the line of scrimmage half the time. Get well Collin, Husker Nation is behind you!
Penalties…In three seasons, Coach Frost’s Husker squads have really struggled with penalties in the first half of the season. For whatever reasons, they have settled down as the season wore on and cut them down the last half. Will this season be the same? It better be. Nebraska’s inability to come out of timeouts with the right personnel or formation or sometime snap the ball before the play clock runs out is as frustrating as anything going right now. Good teams don’t have those issues. It’s simply an organizational thing that must be corrected. What is missing from Coach Frost’s program that this continues season after season? It needs to be figured out, yesterday.
Quarterbacks…We should have foreseen what was going to happen with Luke McCaffrey when teams started making him throw the ball. He simply is too inexperienced to handle different pressures and too eager to turn on those jets when he doesn’t have an easy open read. It made Adrian Martinez look like an NFL quarterback last weekend, compared to McCaffrey. It’s not all on the quarterbacks that the offense has been shockingly bad. A combination of poor offensive line play, young wide receivers and questionable coaching decisions in the run game have earned Nebraska a place at the back of the line. The best game Nebraska played was when Martinez was the starter and Luke was used as a jack of all trades. I would expect Nebraska to go back to Martinez this week. I hope that they keep Luke on the field, even if it isn’t at quarterback. You need game changers out on the field and McCaffrey is certainly that. It just isn’t at quarterback right now, at least for most possessions.
It pains me to say this, but Nebraska is lost right now, Iowa is not. At this juncture it is as simple as that. Iowa knows they are going to run the ball and they are going to force you to beat them in the air. Nebraska has weakness in both of those areas. It will be difficult to exploit any Iowa issues if you have no strengths to rely on. Nebraska will score on a couple of drives in a crazy short amount of time. It will be the same shock when they are unable to control the ball on most others. We will be riding out a Thanksgiving turkey hangover. We will still cheer on the Huskers. As always, GBR!!
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