We saw our Husker’s dominate three quarters of football against Curt Cignetti and his 6th ranked Hoosiers Saturday, and even though there were 40 mile-per-hour wind gusts most of the day, the last twelve minutes of the game took the wind out of every Husker fan’s sails.

As 80,000 plus sat in their dingy bobbing in a sea of red, they sat in disbelief and watched Anthony Colandrea get sacked on the final play. And then you heard it, the giant Big Red Ballon that was Memorial Stadium deflated…P-P-P-L-L-F-F-T!!!

Every fan looked upward toward the clear blue October sky and asked God why, as that old familiar feeling sunk in. They were once again Charlie Brown lying on their backs wondering why they had let themselves believe this time would be different. Surely Lucy would hold the ball long enough to be kicked. UUUGGG!!!

So, here we are Husker fans, shaking that feeling off and telling ourselves this Husker team is different and will make it right against Oregon. They have the talent to beat anyone on their schedule, we saw that Saturday. 

But they’ll need to play four full quarters of football and finish the game strong. Plus, fix some glaring shortcomings.

The Glaring 6

Nebraska has multiple things they need to improve upon, and they must continue to work on all of them. But in my opinion, we witnessed 6 glaring failures against Indiana that need to be addressed before Oregon. If not, look for the same results against the Ducks. Here are my six.

Penalties

Penalties must get fixed if the Huskers are to achieve the season they set out to have. Since Big Ten play started, we’ve seen a rash of penalties in every game. Against Michigan State we saw the Huskers commit 7 penalties for 60 yards. Against Maryland they committed the high of the season with 16 penalties for 132 yards. And against Indiana they had 7 infractions for 59 yards. In three games that’s 30 penalties for 251 yards or 10 penalties and 83.66 yards per game.

The ones that drive coach’s crazy are the pre-snap penalties. In this case 8 false start penalties and 1 delay of game.

The bigger problem with penalties is when they occur. As in the Indiana game, 5 of the 7 penalties happened in the second half, and 3 of those were in the fourth quarter with 2 being defensive pass inference. Nebraska can’t have those penalties when the game is on the line.    

Defensive Backs

For the most part Nebraska’s secondary played a good game. But big play letdowns cost the Huskers when it counted most. Before the game Aurich said there could be no missed tackles, but there were times when the safeties were out of position and didn’t come close to making the tackle. Nebraska gave up 263 yards passing but Indiana picked up 162 of those on three plays. Two were in the fourth quarter for touchdowns.

On Indiana’s opening offensive series there was a short pass to WR Charlie Becker on second down. Andrew Marshall was covering Becker but had released him because he thought he had safety help. He didn’t. Marshall made the tackle but not until after Becker had picked up 43 yards. So, there was miscommunication on the back end right out of the gate.

The big setback in the secondary was losing Jamir Conn to an injury on the first defensive play of the second half. Caleb Benning came in for Conn. We saw Benning bite on a route in the Maryland game that went for big yards, and it happened again on Nick Marsh’s 75-yard touchdown. Benning is an uber talented defensive back who is young and inexperienced. He’ll get better with more playing time, and Tyler Yelk will coach him up about being the last line of defense.

After Marshall allowed Becker’s 43 yards reception he didn’t allow another catch. Indiana chose to go after Victor Evans instead. Hoover targeted Evans 6 times and completed 4 of those for 106 yards. Evans also picked up a 15-yard pass inference penalty. 

Only six defensive backs saw action against Indiana, that’s the least number to see action in a game this season. Will that continue or will we see some new faces against Oregon. Whatever happens, there will need to be improved play.

Offensive Line

The offensive line must start producing. This line may be the most talented Nebraska has had during Rhule’s stint but it’s not a shadow of the famed ‘Pipeline’.  The Huskers had 128 total yards rushing against the Hoosiers. With Nebraska possessing the ball for over 39 minutes of the game and running 83 offensive plays, the Hoosier defense should have had their tongues hanging out and their butts dragging on the turf. Yet Nebraska couldn’t run the ball when they needed to. Nebraska rushed for 50 yards on 18 carries in the second half and 39 of those yards came on Colandrea’s touchdown run.

Colandrea was also sacked five times on the day. The fifth and final one came on 4th down of their last possession of the game. Eerily reminiscent of Iowa 2024. Even though Colandrea dropped back 55 times and Indiana blitzed 20 times, five sacks is too many. Clearly the coaching staff recognizes there is a problem as they continue to shuffle Gunnar Gottula around trying to find the best starting five. Geep Wade and Lonnie Teasley still have work to do.

But it doesn’t matter which five are on the field until they start getting some push off the ball and getting to the next level. They are effective when pulling or zone blocking, which is why Jahmal Rule’s running style fits them best. He creates holes. But when it comes time to put a hat on a hat and blow people off the ball they struggle. That’s why Mekhi Nelson and Isiah Mozee have difficulty running the ball, they need holes because unlike Rule, they are unable to create them.

Field Goal Kicking

Something is off this year with Kyle Cunanan, and it makes you wonder if it’s time to see John Hohl. Cunanan is 4-of-8 on field goals and has missed an extra point this season. Yes, three of those FG attempts were over 50 yards, but there seems to be a confidence issue. Some will point to the snap and hold and poor execution as an excuse. But Cunanan has made contact with the ball on each kick. He needs to learn not to worry about what’s happening with the set up and just make the kick. Is it time for Hohl or Michael Sarikizis?

Don’t Let the Game Get Too Big

We saw against Maryland that Anthony Colandrea was off on his throws after he had scrambled for big gains. While I thought he looked better against Indiana, you could visually see him trying to compose himself after big plays. However, he still struggled in the fourth quarter at critical moments. At one point Colandrea threw deep into double coverage on third-and-ten when he had Barney open on a crossing route that would have given Nebraska a first down.

Once again, he was feeling the pressure and looking for home-run plays. You could sense a change in him when they fell behind on the scoreboard. Part of Indiana’s success is you never saw them press or look like they feared losing. Nebraska needs to get to that point because there will be moments in Autzen Stadium on Saturday night when things aren’t going well and the Huskers will need to respond. They also need to learn how to play from behind.

Don’t Get Out Coached

This won’t be easy as Oregon coach Dan Lanning is admired for his decision making during critical moments in big games. And after falling to 3-2 with losses to Oklahoma State and UCLA, this will be a must-win game for Oregon. But there is hope for the Huskers when talking coordinators. If anything, you could point to the loss of OC Will Stein and DC Tosh Lupoi as the reasons for Oregon’s struggles this far.

We saw Nebraska’s coaching staff get out coached against Indiana. Cignetti called timeouts on key fourth downs trying to decide if he was going to go for it. He felt his team needed a boost, and his heart was saying go while his head was saying no. His head prevailed. But it wasn’t just Cignetti, his coordinators both made half time adjustments that changed the game.

Often, it doesn’t appear Rhule has a feel for the game and where his team is emotionally. Against Indiana he once again called a timeout trying to get a targeting call that I felt killed his team’s momentum. Rhule continues to baffle fans with his use of timeouts and not using them when he should. He knows he should have called a time out on Indiana’s fourth and one when he had a goal line defense on the field. And later even though analytics said go for it, it wreaked of desperation when he decided to go for it on the 4th and 9 with over 4 minutes left in the game. Cignetti kept Rhule guessing throughout the game with his use of timeouts.

Dana Holgorsen called a near perfect game in the first half but after Indiana’s defensive coordinator Brian Haines made second half adjustments Nebraska couldn’t move the ball. It’s disappointing because Holgorsen is a seasoned vet who should have anticipated Haines making adjustment and had a game plan ready. And even if a game plan wasn’t ready, he must make changes on the fly.

After seeing Rob Aurich shut down Indiana’s run he should be able to do the same thing against Oregon. The Ducks offensive line isn’t as talented as Indiana’s, and they only rushed for 73 yards against UCLA last week. Oregon also has issues at quarterback. Starter Dante Moore may still be out due to concussion protocol. Backup Dylan Raiola had a stellar performance coming in against USC after Moore was injured but was dismal Saturday against UCLA and was benched. It remains to be seen who will start against Nebraska.

If Moore can’t go it’ll be Raiola or Brock Thomas. Raiola went 16-of-19, passing for 43 yards, 2 interceptions and 1 lost fumble. Thomas came in and went 11/15 for 156 yards and 1 TD.

Whoever plays, Rob Aurich needs to figure out how to exploit the Duck’s offensive weaknesses.

GO BIG RED!! SIMPLE, FAST, VIOLENT!!

Photos courtesy of the Falls City Journal Home - Falls City Journal - Falls City, NE

Stats gathered from ESPN - Serving Sports Fans. Anytime. Anywhere.

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