Frost, Huskers seeking ‘something to believe in’ after falling 31-28 to Northwestern | Football

The trip to the Emerald Isle was excitement-filled.

Not just because Nebraska would get the chance to play a game overseas, but also because of the new-look roster and coaching staff that flashed a glimmer of hope that this season would be different.

But, like many games before, Saturday’s season opener was all too predictable.

In every sense of the word, it was a vintage Nebraska performance under coach Scott Frost. There were exciting stretches of play as the Huskers took leads early in both halves, but self-inflicted mistakes, an inability to pick up key defensive stops and late turnovers sunk Nebraska in a 31-28 loss to Northwestern at Aviva Stadium in Dublin.

Making his first start at Nebraska, Casey Thompson looked every bit the part of a veteran signal-caller for much of the game. He was the architect of several impressive scoring drives, the first ending with a 32-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Garcia-Castenada on the opening drive of the game. Add in a rushing touchdown of his own to go with a 17-of-24 passing performance for 223 yards in the first half. Thompson picked up right there in the second half.

His highlight-reel play, which involved scrambling all over the backfield and nearly running out of bounds before unleashing a 57-yard pass to Garcia-Castenada, quickly set up Anthony Grant’s 3-yard touchdown run. A Northwestern turnover on the Wildcats’ first play of the ensuing drive led to another Grant score, a 46-yard scamper for a 28-17 Husker lead.

Aviva Stadium was rocking, fans were grinning back home and Nebraska had every ounce of momentum.

Then came the failed onside kick.

“I made that call, so that’s on me,” Frost said of the onside kick. “At that point in the game I thought all the momentum was on our side and if we got it we could end the game … you can’t really foresee them scoring 14 straight (points) and us sputtering after we’d played well to start the second half on offense.”

After scoring 14 points in 28 seconds, Nebraska’s offense failed to score in the final 24 minutes.

Thompson, who had fired bullet passes to his receivers time and time again in the first half, suddenly began missing. Thompson went just 8-of-18 for 132 yards in the second half, and a trio of missed throws made all the difference.

The first pivotal miscue came late in the third quarter when Thompson overthrew receiver Trey Palmer on a play that would have likely produced a touchdown and an 11-point lead.  That drive ended in a punt, but an attempt to force the ball to Oliver Martin in a tight window produced Thompson’s first interception as Nebraska starter.

The final miscue was the costliest. After stringing together completions with less than 2 minutes to play, Thompson’s pass bounced off Wyatt Liewer’s hands for a game-ending interception.

In all, the Husker signal-caller finished 25-of-42 with 355 passing yards, one touchdown and the two interceptions. NU rushed for 111 yards, with 101 coming from Grant.

“At the end of the day, we have to win the turnover battle, we have to be able to run the ball and stop the run,” Thompson said. “That’s the name of football, especially in the Big Ten, so I’m going to look myself in the mirror and we all have to get better, from players to coaches to support staff.”

Things weren’t much different on the defensive side, where a Northwestern offense that averaged 16.6 points per game a year ago exceeded that number in the first half. Wildcat quarterback Ryan Hilinski completed just 54% of his passes last year and threw more interceptions (four) than touchdowns (three).

But Saturday, Hilinski looked like an All-Big Ten quarterback. He completed 27 of 38 attempts for 314 yards and two touchdowns, with much of that damage coming in the first half.

In the second half, Northwestern took advantage of a tired NU defensive front by running the ball. The Huskers didn’t have an answer.

“I thought we won the matchup physically last year but we didn’t win it today,” Frost said. “I’m surprised by that, because of what I’ve seen from the guys in training camp and leading up to the season.”

A Nebraska pass rush that seemed like it’d be a strength of the team was invisible, while the interior of the defensive line didn’t fare much better. Inside linebackers Nick Henrich and Luke Reimer both limped off the field with injuries at different times, and NU’s secondary found itself stopping runs more often than defensive backs should.

Cam Porter punched in a 3-yard score to cut Nebraska’s lead to 28-24 after the onside kick in the third quarter, and Evan Hull scored the go-ahead touchdown run with 11:34 to play.

“I didn’t think we tackled great in open space; in the box it was fine and that’s my impression without watching it on tape,” Frost said. “We missed a couple out in space that we can’t miss and we’re going to play guys that are just as talented or more talented down the road. I thought their backs ran great and they did a good job making one more cut and getting extra yards.”

Nebraska allowed 528 yards of offense. Northwestern held the ball 8 1/2 minutes more than NU.

More importantly, the Wildcats committed just one turnover and forced Nebraska into three.

If the flight to Ireland felt like a long haul, it’ll be even more taxing on the way back. Four straight home games await Nebraska when it returns from Dublin, but all it took was one game to dispel any notion that the Huskers would be dramatically improved from a year ago.

Once again for Nebraska, a one-score game went down to the wire. And again, the Huskers, who are 5-21 in such games since 2018, lost.

“We’ve just lost too many close games,” Frost said. “These guys need something to believe in, and we need to believe in ourselves as a team.”