In another typical non-Saturday game, Nebraska seemed to be off on its clock. I understand the “tradition” of the Day after Thanksgiving game against Iowa, but can we stop playing on Thursday’s and Friday’s?
Nebraska is 5-7 on non-Saturday games since 2020. Yes, I’m including all games against Iowa, as they are not on a Saturday.
When the Big Ten approached teams about playing on a Friday night, Nebraska said sure. We weren’t about to be a whiny little bitch like Penn State, Michigan and Ohio State. The bad part is we haven’t been successful in those games. If you do take away the annual Friday game against the Hawkeyes, Nebraska is actually 4-3. The problem is that Nebraska still isn’t very successful. Something about these games just throws off the rhythm of this program.
Don’t get me wrong, Nebraska is on the right track. They look much better than last year as a whole, despite having the youngest team in the Big Ten. However, everything in particular about Minnesota just doesn’t bode well for the Huskers. PJ Fleck and company have now won 6 straight, so it really doesn’t matter what day of the week we see them.
The Huskers just need to figure something out on a short week. The play hasn’t been that particularly inspiring. This was easily the worst performance of the season, on several levels. The team that couldn’t run can apparently do so with ease against us. The offensive line couldn’t block a wet fart in steel underwear. Dana Holgorsen decided to not throw any slants or screens to keep the pass rush at bay.
Tackling was another issue in this game. It seemed as though tackling drills were skipped during practice because they didn’t have the extra day to do such. I predict that to be the biggest outlier of the bunch if I’m honest. I don’t really recall another game where that was a massively glaring issue. All in all, what a big time stinker.
In the recent non-Saturday games, Nebraska looked good enough against Cincinnati. In fact, we are still their only loss on the season. If you look at last Friday’s game, or the Thursday night game a few years ago against Minnesota, it was turnover prone, bad defense and a very stagnant offense. The Friday night win against Rutgers in the Frost era was a 14-13 barn burner that should not have been close. Nebraska should have won that with ease.
Last year against Illinois, the Huskers just couldn’t quite make the plays down the stretch, and it cost them. Pick almost any game against Iowa and the same can be said. Multiple turnovers, and despite being statistically dominant, they lose by a last second field goal because the offense can’t finish games. I would like to think they can turn this around at some point, but I just don’t see how.
For those of you who have made it this far, I’m well aware Nebraska has done plenty of losing on Saturday as well. Believe me, I know. The fact remains that the Huskers are starting to turn it around more often than not on Saturday. Nebraska was 7-4 on Saturday games last year, as the bowl game was also on a Saturday. The Huskers are currently 4-1 on the year on Saturday, so even just record wise there is a massive difference between a regular week and a shorter week.
Nebraska will get back on track, but with the youth on the team will cause headaches for all involved. Remember, even the starting QB is just a sophomore, so there is plenty of room to grow. He’s not going to put up Tim Tebow Heisman numbers. There is a reason not many sophomores have won it. Like Joel Embiid says, trust the process. If you look at it, you can see it’s getting better, but only on Saturday game days. Go Big Red!
