Trash. Waste. Wreckage. Sewage. These are all words that can also be used to describe the garbage we witnessed yesterday against Maryland. Nebraska once again found itself not in a 1v1 match, but rather a 3v1, including fighting themselves, Maryland, and the finest refs the Big Ten managed to pull out of a dumpster. This was yet another reminder on why many fans are walking away from Nebraska completely or a little by little each week. Nebraska had a chance to show everyone that they could be a complete football team for four quarters and were turning the corner, but once again the Kool-Aid was tainted.
On offense, Nebraska struggled mightily throughout, going on a rollercoaster of scores and 3-and-outs. Colandrea seemed off most of the game; missing passes he normally makes and hurrying throws. Luckily, he seemed to find just enough of himself to help Nebraska go on a 20-0 run in the 4th quarter. Without Jamal Rule it looks like Holgorsen is afraid to get anywhere near trying to establish the run. Mozee and Nelson looked average to good at times, but it was mostly Mozee who made the impact. When it comes to the pass catchers, it was the Kwazi Gilmore show. Watching the game it felt like every other pass was going his direction and looking at the stats it basically was. Nebraska had 40 pass attempts, and 18 of those were targeting Gilmore.. The rest of the wideouts need to take a huge step this week if Nebraska has any chance at beating Indiana. If I’m Indiana I’m double covering Gilmore all game. Finally, for the offense, the offensive line still isn’t where it needs to be. They struggled to open up running lanes for any of our guys, and if it wasn’t for Colandrea's ability to escape the pocket, there would have been a lot more than just the single sack they gave up. If they struggled against Maryland, I’m afraid of what Indiana’s defensive line will do to us.
The defense was embarrassing in the first half. Maryland did anything and everything they wanted to us. Maryland had two scoring drives of under 60 seconds. Keep in mind this is the same Maryland offense that was buried alive last week against UCLA and scored a whopping 3 points. There is simply no excuse as to how or why Maryland was able to move the ball against us so easily. It felt like Nebraska was playing with 8 or 9 guys out there at times. Missed tackles, bad angles, terrible reads, just let Maryland slice and dice us in the 1st half.
The 2nd half is when the defense finally decided to do something and that something was shutting out Maryland in the 3rd and 4th quarters. McDougle's 81-yard pick-six injected the crowd and the team with some life and helped eliminate the “Here we go again” feeling. Overall, the defense got two picks, a sack, and the 2nd half shutout, but even with all that it doesn’t save them from the embarrassment that was the 1st half.
Special teams was, well, special but not always in a good way. They blocked two punts, even though the refs decided that if you can see the players fingers move back, the ball changes its trajectory, and it only goes 24 yards, that it’s not a blocked punt but instead a penalty. So on paper only one block. It’s now three straight home games, Nebraska has tried a 50+ yard field goal attempt and missed it. The first two were short by a mile, and this kick against Maryland was wide right. I think it’s time Nebraska looks in the mirror and has a tough discussion with itself about kicking long-distance field goals as a whole, and who is attempting them. Lastly, Nebraska decided to try two onside/squib hybrid kicks for some reason, and who would have guessed it, but they both failed and just gave Maryland better field position. The cherry on top was that Nebraska had yet another offsides on one of those kicks. That makes it 3 offsides for the year. Last year there were only 4 offsides on kickoff penalties called in all of FBS football.
Going forward, Nebraska can’t afford to play anywhere near how they did in the first half. Indiana, Oregon, Ohio State, and Iowa will bury us if we give them the opportunity. We can’t have stupid penalties like false starts, holding, and offsides. Getting 10 yards against any of the aforementioned schools will be hard enough, so don’t make it 20. I hope this game is a wake-up call for Nebraska's players and coaches, because the road only gets harder from here. There is almost no room for error in most of the games left on the schedule. Nebraska is a veteran team; they need to act like it.
