A league full of tight, physical games gives Nebraska no breaks — even at Purdue

Or, as various Nebraska players said this week, a punch in the mouth. The Big Ten team that brawls most scores best, irrespective of which squad has the golden-armed quarterback.

It’s a lesson NU (3-1 overall, 0-1 in the Big Ten) takes into Saturday morning’s, Peacock-streamed game at 1-2 Purdue, and it’s a lesson coach Matt Rhule’s club would have preferred not to learn in a 31-24 overtime loss to Illinois last week.

Nebraska led for the bulk of the Friday night game, the crowd cranked to 11 thanks to a sparkling passing night from freshman Dylan Raiola. But as the game wore on, the defense wore down. NU didn’t stand out as the more physical team, Rhule said, as it got outrushed 166-48 and generated less quarterback pressure than its Big Ten counterpart.

“The tape says everything,” linebacker MJ Sherman said. “Anybody who knows football, they can kind of tell for themselves.”

The game got tight, and so did the Huskers, collapsing in an overtime period catastrophic even for NU, which has lost eight straight OT games.

It left players with their heads down Monday, a posture for which Rhule had little time.

“I hate that we are still in the learning how to win phase,” Rhule said. “That’s not what I want. It’s not an excuse like, ‘Hey guys bear with us.’ It’s the Big Ten. Everyone is going to want to show up every week, and the games are going to come down to the wire.”

Rhule noted Michigan’s 27-24 win over USC, decided by a 2-yard touchdown run on fourth down. Illinois-NU needed extra time to decide.

And Nebraska played six league games last year decided by a single score. The Huskers won just one of those, lost five overall and lost three — to Minnesota, Maryland and Iowa — by an identical 13-10 score in the identical way: A final possession turnover, followed by the opponents’ game-winning kick.

This collection of tiny moments marks life in the Big Ten. Last year, 25 league contests, or nearly 40%, were determined by one score, and 14 were decided by a field goal or less. While the success of the two best teams — Michigan and Ohio State — stayed constant 2021-2023, many other programs ebbed and flowed based on the year.

It’s no different in 2024, where teams picked 13th and 17th in a preseason media poll — Illinois and Indiana — sit 4-0 overall and 1-0 in the league. The Illini, which outplayed Nebraska last week, are seeking to regain its 2022 form when the team finished 8-5. IU hasn’t been a league contender since 2020, posting disastrous 2-10, 4-8 and 3-9 in the following three seasons, which led the firing of coach Tom Allen and the hiring of 63-year-old James Madison coach Curt Cignetti at IU.

After infusing his roster with players who followed him from JMU, Cignetti has been a hit for the Hoosiers, who host the Huskers Oct. 19.

What made looked like a manageable Big Ten schedule — full of losing teams from 2023 — now appears much stingier in Rhule’s view.

“All that preseason stuff is fluff,” Rhule said. “It’s not real. Especially now, in the transfer portal era, you better just get to the season and see who you’re playing.”

Nebraska’s almost guaranteed one more ranked foe — at current No. 3 Ohio State — and if IU keeps winning it’ll likely be ranked when the Huskers come to town. NU heads to USC Nov. 16, and the Trojans still sit comfortably at the Associated Press Top 25 at No. 13. Iowa’s close to being ranked, as well.

This week’s foe, Purdue, is not. The Boilermakers, picked last in that league media poll, are playing to their prediction, having been blasted 66-7 at home by Notre Dame and beaten 38-21 by Oregon State. Purdue allowed more than 300 yards rushing to each foe, hardly a marker of success. The Boilermakers haven’t snagged a takeaway yet in 2024. Their passing game, dynamic at times in 2023, ranks 110th nationally in yards per game — 130th against FBS opponents.

Nebraska’s largest concern revolves around Purdue’s outside run game. Northern Iowa and Illinois both deployed outside runs, including with the quarterback, to avoid NU’s stout defensive line while attacking outside linebackers and safeties. Rhule said Thursday he intends to rotate more players throughout the defense, not just along the defensive line.

NU stands as a 10-point favorite headed into Rose-Ade Stadium. But history suggests Nebraska can’t sleep on poor Purdue, which pulled upsets in 2015 and 2019 with 2-10 and 4-8 football teams. The latter of those, a 31-27 defeat full of missed opportunities, missed tackles and untimely turnovers, could be the kind of game in play this weekend if Nebraska’s not locked in.

The Big Ten has been unkind to the Big Red in that way. The Huskers have had few weeks off in a league that’s neither soft nor subtle.

“What are you supposed to do when you get punched in the mouth sometimes?” Sherman said. “Put your hands up next time. Learn from it.”