Let’s face it, the Michigan game has caused a lot of strife amongst Husker fans, me included. It was another day where the Huskers could have proven that they can hang with the big boys of the conference.
Michigan was even an unknown quantity heading into this game. It struggled against Oklahoma, but handled its other two opponents well enough.
Nebraska having a couple of weeks to try and fine tune things is a good idea, but against competition that weak, it didn’t battle harden them at all like the opener did. It served as a false sense of security in a way. The team had gotten a little too relaxed and it showed. One thing is for sure, the Michigan game wasn’t doomsday.
Let’s take a look at the good. Dylan Raiola threw for 300 yards and 3 TDS against what will be the toughest defensive scheme he sees all season. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Michigan defensive coordinator Wink Martindale, he is without a doubt the best exotic blitz package schemer in college football. It’s very difficult to see them rush the same guys two plays in a row.
Raiola and the passing game kept Nebraska in this. The Hail Mary right before the half, the drive that brought Nebraska back into it the first time the Huskers were down ten, to the final scoring drive. The passing game picked apart a secondary that was supposed to be fairly decent. Kudos to the receivers for giving Raiola options to throw to.
Let’s move to the bad. The run defense will take the brunt of this one. Michigan ran the ball 31 times for 290 yards. That’s 9.4 yards per carry. Now a large chunk of that was the three rushing touchdowns, as that accounted for 166 yards on just those three plays. So that makes it 28 carries for 124 yards, or 4.4 yards per carry. I know, you can’t take away the “if” plays. That’s why this is bad. Giving up over 4 yards per carry is not an ideal thing either.
On all of the rushing touchdowns, the nearest Husker to make a tackle were Herbie and Lil’ Red. No linebacker or safety were to be found within the same area code of the ball carrier, and that’s alarming. We will see a few teams that can run the ball (looking at you Minnesota, Penn State and Iowa). If the defense can’t figure out the run fits, particularly at the 2nd level, Nebraska could be in for a long season.
Then there’s the ugly. With all due respect to the defensive line and their lack of production, this EASILY has to go to the offensive line. How in the ever-loving hell can you give up 7 sacks? How is it that THREE different left tackles gave up a sack? How is it that BOTH right tackles gave one up? For all the clamoring about Raiola not stepping up into the pocket, it’s really hard to do when the edge rusher has you wrapped up by the time you have finished with the dropback.
The times Dylan could step up; he has one of his own guys pushed into him by the interior defensive line. Looking back at this one, there weren’t many lanes for him to escape to. He barely even had time to step up into the pocket as it was. How he went 30-41 is beyond me. The rushing offense looked bad because the 7 sacks took away 49 rushing yards. When Nebraska did run, they had 24 carries for 92 yards, which is respectable.
All in all, it’s a good thing this is a bye week. Spend the week really focusing on learning the bad things that happened between the Michigan and Cincy games with regards to line play. Then take the opportunity to look at what went right in those games and put those reps to good use in upcoming games. Finally, it’s a good time to reset the mind and body, knowing there is still A LOT to play for. Go Big Red!
