Can Nebraska Deny The Illini A Win In Lincoln?

If the first half the Husker season was soap opera, it would have won multiple daytime Emmy awards.  Intrigue, sudden twists, surprising results, and out and out drama have been the focus of the first half plus one game.

What’s the stretch run going to bring?

We already know that a coaching search is already over one month in and still has a month to go.  That alone has been a crazy ride.  Rumor and innuendo radiate all over Husker Nation, be it on the radio airwaves, message boards or newspaper articles.  I can barely talk to anyone that doesn’t ask me who the frontrunner might be, who is a dark horse candidate, will Mickey Joseph get the job or is it going to be Lane Kiffin?

On the inside of the University, the players and coaches are still trying to put together a season to qualify for a bowl game.  While it’s not likely, the fact is, winning three more games is within reach, but Nebraska will need to pull an upset somewhere along the way.  It’s also doubtful that they will be favored in more than one game going forward.  That would mean they will have to win at least two games they aren’t expected to win.

Enter To Win Husker Swag!

After the Purdue game, it became apparent that Nebraska simply doesn’t have the horses on defense to keep up with many good offenses.  I’m not talking about great offenses, I’m talking about good ones.  The only team left with a poor offense is Iowa, but they would be just as happy winning 5-3 as they would be scoring 24 points in a game and winning, so that’s far from an easy victory.

Nebraska has proven to have likely the best wide receiver in the conference outside of Columbus, Ohio.  Unfortunately, they can’t seem to put together a running game to compliment him.  If you throw in a defense that can’t seem to stop the run, then you start to wonder if Nebraska will win any of their remaining five games.

Each team left on the schedule is a power team.  Each one will make Nebraska pay for not fighting to own the line of scrimmage, both offensively and defensively.

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So far Mickey Joseph has surprised us by making Nebraska more competitive and a little tougher than they thought they were a month ago.  If he truly wants to be the head coach at Nebraska, finishing with three more wins, with this team and this schedule, might be enough to get it done.

(Predictions are at the end if you don’t want to read the rest!)

ON WITH THE REWIND…

Last game prediction was Purdue 31 Nebraska 23.  The actual score was Purdue 43, Nebraska 37.  Nebraska’s defense didn’t bother to show up and Nebraska still had its chances to take this game.  If the defense had made two more stops in the game, it’s likely the offense would have done enough to win.  With the sieve for an offensive line, the offense itself was a minor miracle.  Trey Palmer made Purdue’s defense look like they were in high school.  Unfortunately, the former Blackshirts made Aiden O’Connell look like an NFL All Pro.

Quick Notes:

Trey Palmer…What else can you say about Palmer after a game like that?  He was unstoppable.  He dropped a pass that was costly during the game, but he more than made up for it by beating his coverage so often that I was beginning to wonder if anyone was even covering him.  For good measure he added a 60-yard run to tack onto his career night.  If Palmer has anywhere near as good of a game the rest of the season, it’s likely that he will be in the NFL next year.  Not bad for a transfer.

Sacks…Nebraska was unable to touch O’Connell for most of the night.  I was surprised that he had 19 incompletions because it felt like he was throwing against the air most of the night.  If Nebraska is going to have any chance the remainder of the season, Garrett Nelson, Caleb Tannor and Ochaun Mathis are going to have to deliver at least two combined sacks a game.  Not getting to the quarterback is simply unacceptable.

Casey Thompson…If you remember one thing about this season, remember Thompson’s toughness.  Thompson has been hit so many times, I’m starting to wonder if he can feel his arms.  To his credit, he has hung in their and provide Nebraska with only offense that they have in the majority of their games.  If Anthony Grant doesn’t get it back together, it’s doubtful Thompson will play more than three more games this season.

Milk Carton…I feel like there are too many faces on the Husker bench that need to contribute as the season goes on.  First is Rahmir Johnson.  Nebraska is at its best when Johnson was able to stretch the field horizontally and vertically last season.  Hopefully he is healthy now.  Tack on Alante Brown and Omar Manning.  Those two guys have virtually disappeared from the game plan.  Nebraska needs at least two of those three to come back and provide some help.  If Tommi Hill can somehow get worked into the offensive game plan, maybe Grant and Palmer will have their load lessened to keep them fresh for the rest of the season.  And why can’t there be a Logan Smothers package?  Why keep your fastest quarterback out of the action each week?  Bring him in for some surprise plays once in a while.

Score Prediction:  Illinois 34, Nebraska 28

I so badly want to pick the Huskers this weekend.  Coming off from a bye week, getting a chance to heal up a bit, should be great for Nebraska.  The fact that the game is at home, and the crowd can help them when momentum seems to be shifting should be worth at least 10 points in this game.  My biggest concern is the Illini’s ability to create turnovers.  Nebraska won’t play a more aggressive defense until they play Iowa when it comes to trying to create big plays on defense.  How the Huskers offensive line handles the Illinois front, along with the turnover differential will be the reason the Huskers win or lose this game.  I hope I’m wrong, I’d love to see this score flipped.  Cheer loud Husker Fans and GBR!!

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Mickey Continues to Work

It wasn’t pretty.  It wasn’t easy.  I said to my family after Nebraska turned the ball over after a blocked punt in the first half that the game was probably over at that point.  No way the Huskers would come back from the debacle of the first half of the game.

Something happened though, something that we have not seen for a long time.  Rutgers didn’t take advantage of Nebraska’s screw ups.  The inability to move the ball on offense wasn’t offset by a myriad of defensive blunders.  Nebraska continued to fight.  The fought, almost to the point that I was surprised they weren’t down 24-0 at halftime.  I let my mind wander.  Could Nebraska come back? 

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I’ve harped often that in the last five years, something was missing in Lincoln.  Nebraska was so close so many times but fell short way too often.  There was a sense of dread under Scott Frost, wondering how Nebraska would blow it in the end.  In a strange way, Mickey Joseph has cleared that hurdle in two weeks.  Nebraska has bowed, but they have not been broken.  At least not yet.

Nebraska’s defense has completely flipped the script from the first quarter of the season.  They play with passion, energy, and a fight that they didn’t have until after Oklahoma.  They also play with a sense of togetherness that we may not have seen this season without a change in coaching.

The other thing I noticed is that the team seems to be a team now.  Special teams, defense, offense, all celebrating one another when they come off the field.  I’m not saying it never happened under Coach Frost, but it seems like it stands out more.

The season is halfway over.  Nebraska hits the meat of their schedule with a beat-up offensive line, limited running backs, a banged up tight end room.  These are not markers of a team that is about to go on a run.  In the past, I had a hard time seeing how Nebraska would win another game this season.  After last week, I don’t know that I can tell which games Nebraska will win on their schedule, but for the first time in years, I feel like they will win more games.  That has been a big change.  You can thank Mickey Joseph for that. (Predictions are at the end if you don’t want to read the rest!)

Husker Swag Giveaways

ON WITH THE REWIND…

Last game prediction was Nebraska 35, Rutgers 27.  The actual score was Nebraska 14, Rutgers 13.  So, I was a little off on how the offense would do last week.  It happens.  Nebraska could barely block long enough to hold Rutgers out of the backfield at all last week.  They must improve or Casey Thompson won’t make it through six more games.  On the flip side, the Blackshirts (even if they aren’t coming back this season, they earned them back in my mind) played with the fury of a team that wouldn’t be beat.  Nebraska did what they had to do to win.  It’s been a while since we have seen a game like that.

Quick Notes:

Trey Palmer…The best transfer in Nebraska history?  Well maybe not yet, but Palmer is making the case.  The former LSU Tiger has been everything the Huskers could have hoped for and more.  He is on pace to shatter multiple receiver records for a season.  Nebraska must continue to find other receivers to take pressure off of Palmer as teams start to shift coverage.  If the Huskers can do that, Palmer can continue to make big plays when teams lose sight of him.

Garrett Nelson…People often ask me if I think Nelson will play in the NFL.  I think there isn’t much doubt that he will.  If he plays with the fire that he brings to the table every week, he will make a roster out of sheer will.  Nelson is a throwback to the 90s if there ever was one.  It’s unfortunate that he had to play so much when he was young and wasn’t quite ready.  If he stays healthy, Nelson is Nebraska’s best chance for an All-Conference defensive player.

Luke Reimer…No one seems to have unleased themselves under Bill Busch as defensive coordinator, quite as much as Reimer.  Reimer has always been fast, but he seems to be playing with more freedom and a better understanding of his role this season.  Reimer is playing banged up this week, but if Nebraska has any chance to win, he must play at a high level.

Colton Feist…Talk about a walk on story to use to recruit small town Nebraska kids.  Feist has been a huge blessing on the defensive line.  The Yutan native played arguably his best game against Rutgers.  Along with Ty Robinson and Devin Drew, the defensive tackles are starting to be a strength for the Huskers.  If Nebraska is to have any chance against the run heavy teams at the back end of their schedule, these three will have to continue to stand tall.

Score Prediction:  Purdue 31, Nebraska 23

At the beginning of the week, I thought Purdue would cover the two touchdowns they are favored by, possibly easy.  After hearing about their injury woes, that may be worse than Nebraska’s, I think the Huskers will be in this game.  Aiden O’Connell is likely the best quarterback in the Big Ten outside of Columbus, Ohio.  He has tormented Nebraska fans for the last few years, and I doubt that stops this week.  Nebraska will have to play sound in the defensive backfield to have any chance at winning this game.  Nebraska should move the ball on offense and hopefully they will get their running game going enough to keep the ball away from O’Connell.  I expect a hard-fought game, even if Nebraska comes up short. GBR!!

Friday Night Husker Lights

What an interesting week in Lincoln.  For the first time in a long time, it was ok to think about football and not the circus surrounding the program.  Winning will do that to you.

It won’t be an easy season for Mickey Joseph and the Huskers, but it may not be impossible either.  It is easy to think that Nebraska really could have been 0-4 going against Indiana, and you could argue maybe they should have been.  

Last week did something I didn’t know if we would have again this year.  It gave Husker Nation hope.  

Alternative Husker Swag

Nebraska has never been as bad as their record under Scott Frost.  The most maddening thing about his regime was that Nebraska lost close games at a rate that we may never see again.  It was so frustrating to think that Nebraska was close every week, only to see it slip away, or the Huskers were unable to come back even with momentum on their side.

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As Nebraska moves forward with their Big Ten schedule, the Big Ten West seems more wide open than ever.  Nebraska probably is still a long way from competing for the division title, but the Huskers could be a major pain the ass for all the other teams fighting to come out on top.  

Nebraska still has a premier running back (Anthony Grant), along with what I think is a premier quarterback (Casey Thompson).  Add in what is likely a premier wide receiver with Trey Palmer, and it’s hard to find an offense in the west that has as many solid players as the Huskers.

So, what will Joseph and offensive coordinator Mark Whipple be able to shake out of this outfit the rest of the season?  Nebraska still has one of the worst offensive lines in the Big Ten and unless they start to protect the quarterback at a much more consistent manner, one or two more wins might be a stretch.

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We also have to wonder if the defense actually made a leap, or if they just played a bad Indiana team?

What will we see going forward?  Will there be actual improvement as the season moves forward?  We haven’t seen that since Scott Frost’s first year.  Can the special teams continue to find ways to help and make plays that change games in Nebraska’s favor?  Will new players continue to come out of the woodwork to provide playmaking that the Huskers desperately need?

So many answers to be had, and a lot of season left to find out.  Finally, we may have a little hope.

(Predictions are at the end if you don’t want to read the rest!)

ON WITH THE REWIND…

Last game prediction was Nebraska 35, Indiana 34.  The actual score was Nebraska 35, Indiana 21.  It wasn’t always pretty.  Nebraska likely should have been up at least 24-14 at the halftime and you could argue they should have been ahead more than that.  The defense showed up in the second half to dominate an opponent.  It has been a long time since Nebraska made adjustments that shut down a team in the fourth quarter.  It was an ugly game, but a beautiful win for the Huskers.

Quick Notes:

Anthony Grant…If Grant can stay healthy, he could have the best Husker running back season since Ameer Abdullah was All Conference a decade ago.  Grant continues to find space when there is little.  When the offensive line does make holes, he takes advantage.  As the season turns colder, the more Grant and Gabe Ervin are able to carry the ball, the better chance Nebraska has to win games.

Malcom Hartzog…Hartzog reminded me a lot of Cam Taylor-Britt when he committed to the Huskers.  Super athlete from the south that may have been overlooked but could be athletic enough to compete at corner right away.  It took a few games, but Hartzog started and played a big game against Indiana.  Nebraska will need Hartzog to learn fast as teams will start to pick on him.  A great special teams touchdown was a small taste of what we could see from Hartzog during his career.

Casey Thompson…Can’t get to upset at Thompson.  He continues to take hits game after game and still has three or four drives a game where you go, man, really missed something there.  The thing with Thompson is, he is so good on the other half of his drives that you just wonder what it would take for him to have a great, all around four quarters?  I think his best games are yet to come.  He needs another receiver to pop outside of Palmer, but Thompson continues to show he could be the class of the Big Ten West.

Score Prediction:  Nebraska 35, Rutgers 27

If Nebraska is able to continue the defense we saw against Indiana, then they will win this game at Rutgers by three scores.  I don’t know that the Blackshirts are back, but if they can be halfway consistent, the Huskers should pull this game out on the road.  Another thing about this game, if Mickey Joseph wants to have any chance at the head coaching job next season, this is a game that he must win.  A lot riding on this game.  Especially on a crazy Friday Night Lights schedule.  Rutgers will be physical, and Nebraska will need to match them.  It is time for Nebraska to win two Big Ten games in a row since 2018.  That’s exactly what they will do. GBR!!