This game showed the ceiling of both teams. Indiana is a very high quality, well coached football team. Nebraska has a ceiling of 7 wins. After a failed fourth down conversion inside the red zone momentum shirted hard in the direction of Indiana. Rourke picked apart the Husker defense even after the banged up thumb. Nebraska continued to play zone defense, allowing Indiana to pick apart the Nebraska defense consistently. Indiana was able to score at will today and the Huskers just couldn’t keep up.
Raiola played hard and played well but Indiana’s pass rush was very consistent and kept the true freshman uncomfortable and off mark. The Huskers ground game was taken away early forcing Nebraska to get involved in a shootout against the number one offense in the country. The deep running back room has not had a standout leader this year causing a lack of a steady run game. The Huskers focused on lateral plays in the pass game in the first half to replace the run game. Those lateral passing plays were not paying off as the receivers could not get open down the field to draw safety out of the box. The lack in receivers able to create separation is a big worry for Nebraska.
The Huskers defense could not keep up with the Hoosier offense. Playing zone gave Rourke all the space he needed to have his most efficient game yet. The defensive line could not get pressure on Rourke allowing him to get comfortable early and stay comfortable throughout the game. Skilled quarterbacks have given the Husker defense major issues this year and that trend continued today. Once the Hoosiers were able to establish a run game due to an efficient pass game, Nebraska’s defense completely lost its hold. Undoubtedly a top 30 defense, but not the top 5 defense everyone was expecting this year.
This was a huge game for the Huskers and they were not up to it. Short of checking to see if the flight crew left the entire team back in Lincoln, I’m not sure what is to be done about this disappointing performance. As the Huskers will face Ohio State next weekend, it could be a rough couple of weeks for Husker fans. Seven wins is still what is expected from the Huskers this year, but eight, nine or even ten wins is out as Nebraska drops a big one in Indiana today.