Blackshirts revert to old dominant form, stifle Purdue as Nebraska pulls away late

Middle of the field, coach Matt Rhule told the crowd of 70-plus players. Time for the two-spot drill.

So a few Huskers — from both the offense and defense — did full-contact battle in an Oklahoma drill-style showdown as everyone else looked on. A final message that NU planned to be the hammer, not the nail.

“I saw a lot of their players turning around and looking,” cornerback Ceyair Wright said of Purdue. “I was like, ‘Oh yeah, you’re intimidated.’”

The Blackshirts carried the attitude into an overcast afternoon in western Indiana. While the Nebraska offense reached the Purdue 40-yard line on all six of its first-half possessions without scoring a point, the defense was back to its old-reliable ways. Three three-and-outs. Another Boilermaker possession stifled after six plays — defensive lineman Ty Robinson shushed the crowd inside Ross-Ade Stadium after bursting through for an 8-yard sack of quarterback Hudson Card.

James Williams added a 2-yard sack in the first quarter on a third-and-seven that set up Purdue’s first field goal of the season. Spencer Porath missed wide right from 39 yards.

“We’re still a good team; we are,” NU linebacker John Bullock said. “We just gotta play like it and I think we played like it today.”

Bullock put the exclamation point on the showing by snagging the first interception of his six-year college career and bringing it back 29 yards for a touchdown. He cheated toward the middle of the field and jumped a route on a standard Purdue pass play.

“Coaches were right,” Bullock said. “He threw it right to me and I ran it in for six.”

Stress levels were higher following a 0-0 halftime score. The hosts put together a run-heavy scoring drive of 13 plays across 55 yards and 8 minutes, 8 seconds producing a 45-yard field goal and 3-0 lead. Nebraska’s ‘D’ bowed up from there with a three and out — capped by a sack from MJ Sherman and Kai Wallin — followed by two more punts.

Bullock’s pick soon followed and the Huskers led 28-3 before a final drive from Purdue ended with a 15-yard touchdown grab from Leland Smith in the final 90 seconds. The Boilers had been averaging 25.7 points per game, ranked 91st nationally.

NU allowed 224 yards including 50 rushing on 31 attempts, factoring in sacks. Purdue converted 7 of 15 third downs and ran 56 total plays. Linebacker Mikai Gbayor and Wright each logged five tackles to lead what had been the No. 17 FBS scoring defense (12.8 points per game).

The best part about Saturday, defenders agreed, was shored-up tackling after two weeks of leaking opponent runs from Northern Iowa and Illinois. When Purdue rushers like Devin Mockobee bounced outside, the net result was usually 1 or 2 yards instead of 5 or 6. PU’s top rusher – who generated 168 rushing yards at Oregon State last week – finished with 41 on 13 totes.

“That’s our bread and butter; that’s our DNA-type of deal,” Robinson said. “I’m really happy it showed out there today.”

“When adversity hit, we knew how to respond,” linebacker Javin Wright said after his season debut. “We matched it with energy and that energy is contagious. When everyone has that energy, we play at a high level — we play physical and violent.”

Rhule praised the Blackshirts afterward for limiting chunk plays. Purdue managed just four pass gains of 15-plus yards and none more than 19 yards. The Boilers didn’t run for more than 13 yards on a single snap.

Nebraska found success with more man defense, Ceyair Wright said. And for a group that often says at halftime the score is 0-0, it actually was Saturday. Defenders continued to buy time as the offense and special teams shook off their first-half malaise and Big Red secured its first road victory of the year.

A few extra-hard hits in a surprise pregame drill helped set the tone.

“I think it was just to kind of bring that pep that we needed right there at the beginning,” Robinson said.