It took until week 5 for Nebraska to play its first morning game, and its first road game. A definite shake up in the routine of the last four weeks. Nebraska was also coming off a tough overtime loss to Purdue, so I knew it was going to be interesting to see how they responded. All in all, the Huskers took care of adversity and won. We can frankly just leave it there. But we will dive just below the surface.
Nebraska entered Purdue’s territory 6 times in the first half and had zero points to show for it at half. John Hohl, who stepped in for the injured Tristian Alvano, missed three field goals. A touchdown was called back on a phantom penalty. In the end it didn’t matter, Nebraska owned the fourth quarter outscoring Purdue 21-3 and won the game with no drama at the end. I could sit here and talk about the special teams’ woes, but why? Whether the issue is with long snapper or the kicker himself, it’s evident this might not get fixed this year. Its Rhule’s second year only, and its unfortunate that he doesn’t have someone to kick field goals, yet what is there to say? Rhule is well aware of the issues. Is it a personnel issue, a special team’s coach issue? I don’t know.
Nebraska’s offense looked solid, considering third string LT Gunnar Guttula was playing as was the backup guard. The running game still needs to find a way to be more consistent, but I am nitpicking at this point. The defense bounced back, although it still was missing some easy tackles. Overall, they only gave up one touchdown in garbage time. It was a solid road win. Good bounce back. On to Rutgers.
GO BIG RED.
