Grading Nebraska’s Offense, Defense And Special Teams In A Pull-away 28-10 Win Over Purdue

Nebraska pulled away from Purdue in the second half behind a strong defensive performance and a balanced offensive performance in the second half that knocked on the doorstep in the first half, but finally broke through and capitalized in the second half. It was a tale of two halves in a way for the Huskers in a 28-10 win.

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It was a slow start for Dylan Raiola and Nebraska’s offense and a relatively pedestrian stat line overall for the freshman, but perhaps those numbers look better if it wasn’t for Purdue’s five pass interference penalties. He was efficient once again, spread the ball to eight different receivers and flashed with a few big-time throws in key moments. He finished the day with 257 yards and a touchdown, averaging 63% of his passes.

Nebraska’s backs struggled to get anything in the first half, averaging less than two yards per carry. Holes started to open up in the second half and the Huskers took advantage, leaning on Emmett Johnson primarily in the second half with a sprinkling of Dante Dowdell and even Jacory Barney, who ended up leading the team in rushing with 66 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Nebraska has to get more consistency from the run game early, but they played the second half the way Rhule wants his team to play.

As mentioned with Raiola, Nebraska’s stats might look better if it wasn’t for five defensive pass interference calls, but those penalties moved the chains for the Huskers. Jahmal Banks was reliable against Purdue’s aggressive man coverage, Thomas Fidone’s role within the offense continues to grow and Jacory Barney was a bright spot with the ball in his hands. Banks led the team with 82 yards and a touchdown on five receptions.

In Gunnar Gottula’s first start, Nebraska held up in pass protection and after some early struggles to get a push in the run game, the unit created some lanes for the aforementioned Johnson and Dowdell. Nebraska finished the day with 400 yards, averaging 5 yards per carry on the ground and gave up just one sack.

Nebraska’s defensive line got after Hudson Card, sacking him five times, getting to the backfield for nine tackles for loss and limiting Devin Mockobee to just 41 yards. Purdue entered the day averaging 183 rushing yards per game and 6.38 yards per carry but as a team, the Boilermakers were limited to just 50 rushing yards and 1.6 yards per carry.

Saturday saw the return of Javin Wright and more inspired tackling from Nebraska’s defense as a whole. John Bullock capped off the win with a pick-six late in the fourth quarter and had another strong day tackling, as did Mikai Gbayor.

Ceyair Wright was a bright spot, making his first start in place of the injured Tommi Hill. He got banged up at one point and Jeremiah Charles filled in just fine, but Nebraska has found a strong cover corner in Wright, who had himself a bit of a breakout game. Tackling from DeShon Singleton, Isaac Gifford and the rest of the secondary was much improved. On the day, Nebraska limited Hudson Card to just 174 passing yards, 77 of which came in the fourth quarter when the game was practically in hand for the Huskers.

The bright spots for Nebraska’s special teams on Saturday were the steady hands of Isaiah Garcia-Castenada at punt returner and the three punts from Brian Buschini, though lack of execution on an early punt that could have pinned Purdue deep was instead a touchback. Besides that, Nebraska’s special teams was an atrocity on Saturday. The Huskers had two field goal attempts blocked because of low snaps and poor holds with another field goal attempt missed. Yes, Tristan Alvano was absent but Nebraska should expect more from their special teams unit. It didn’t ultimately cost the Huskers on Saturday, but Nebraska’s struggles to get kicks through the uprights will cost them at some point this season.