Huskers 28, Purdue Boilermakers 10

In the early going this season, Nebraska has started relatively fast in the first half and seemed to coast in the second half of games. But this week, it was just the opposite: for the first 40 minutes or so of the game, Nebraska was just plain mediocre, at best. So many squandered opportunities, and special teams was almost criminally inept.

Most importantly? Zero points.

And that officiating? Perhaps the most egregious phantom penalty since the block in the back that wiped out Corey Dixon’s punt return thirty years ago in the Orange Bowl. At the start of the second quarter, Thomas Fidone was flagged for offensive pass interference despite not even touching the Purdue defender, wiping out a 22 yard touchdown pass to Rahmir Johnson. The officiating got so bad that Matt Rhule finally decided to get himself “T-ed Up”, drawing an Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalty midway through the fourth quarter.

But then you take a deep breath and realize that the defense was actually pretty good. And then after Purdue dented the scoreboard with a field goal after an eight minute Purdue drive to open the second half, the offense finally got it in gear when Emmitt Johnson took over at I-back. And unlike the first four games, Nebraska dominated the fourth quarter. It’s a come-from-behind win…something that’s been in short supply in recent years. So we celebrate today and move on to Rutgers tomorrow.

With that, it’s onto the report card. As always, your feedback is welcome in the comments.

QB: Dylan Raiola started pretty slow, starting one for four and not completing a throw downfield until near the end of the first quarter. A much stronger second half got the Huskers the win, and a grade of B- this week.

I-Back: Dante Dowdell and Rahmir Johnson combined for 15 yards of offense in the first half. FIFTEEN. Against the worst rushing defense in the Big Ten. The lone bright spot was Emmitt Johnson with 50 yards, averaging 6.2 yards per carry, who finally got his shot in the second half. Emmitt should see significant playing time at the start of the Rutgers game; he’s earned it. Grade: D-

WR: Thomas Fidone had a good game, even if the stat sheet still shows that phantom interference penalty against him. But the star of this game was true freshman speedster Jacory Barney with 94 yards of offense. Isaiah Neyor and Jahmal Banks combined for four penalties, but considering the quality of the officiating in this game, we’ll let that slide, especially considering the number of pass interference penalties they drew. Grade: B-

OL: When you can’t run the ball against the worst rushing defense in the Big Ten, the offensive line has to take some responsibility for it. Granted, Emmitt Johnson showed that there was SOME room, but still…not a great performance. Yes, Nebraska is down to their third string left tackle and the best offensive guard is out due to off-the-field issues, it appears…still, Nebraska needs more from the offensive line. Much more. Grade: D-

DL: The defense got off to a strong start and only allowed three drives of more than six plays, and one was essentially a garbage-time situation in the closing minutes of the game. James Williams and Ty Robinson combined for three sacks on the day. Grade: A

LB: John Bullock has really emerged as a playmaker the last few weeks; great to see him get to celebrate with a touchdown on the Pick-Six. Also great to see Javin Wright get cleared to play again. MJ Sherman had two sacks on the day. Grade: A

Secondary: Ceyair Wright continues to play really well in relief of Tommi Hill, while Malcolm Hartzong had a beautiful pass breakup. Grade: A

Brian Buschini: I’m going to split Buschini separate because he did everything you needed him to do…and more. He dropped three punts deep in Purdue territory, and then had to make the tackle when disaster hit twice on two field goal attempts. Also kicked off with four touchbacks and a fifth that went to the 1 yard line. What more do you want? Grade: A

Rest of Special Teams: Two field goal attempts were blocked, and Nebraska failed to down a punt near the goal line because the gunner decided to run into the end zone for some bizarre reason. If Matt Rhule is going to have a full time special teams assistant, Nebraska needs their special teams to be better than average than awful. May I also point out that Bill Busch is still hanging around in Lincoln? I was a Busch skeptic (because of his time under Bill Callahan) when he came back in 2021, but he sold me in 2022. Grade: ZERO.

Overall: C- It wasn’t good football for about 39 minutes in West Lafayette, but Nebraska closed strong. This week will be a strong test; don’t sleep on Rutgers. Nebraska will need to play a 60 minute game this week, and that’s something that hasn’t happen thus far in 2024.

A Few Thoughts on Peacock

Games on Peacock were probably the biggest downside to the Big Ten’s new media deals, which took ESPN out of the picture. Was it a good tradeoff? I still think so, with three network broadcasts every Saturday for 11 straight hours of Big Ten football. It’s so formidable that ABC has quietly moved SEC games from ESPN over to ABC, and now ABC is showing three SEC games nearly every Saturday. (I have to believe the Big XII and ACC can’t be happy with this development.) Yesterday, it was four B1G games, and the bottom line is that the Big Ten’s richest TV deals are paying off.

But there’s no denying that Peacock’s broadcast was probably the worst coverage of a Nebraska football game in years. It reminded me of the old Big XII 11:30 am games on Fox Sports Net. It was even worse than some of the remote broadcasts ESPNU had tried to pull off in recent years.

In the closing credits, NBC credited “Carr-Hughes Productions” with the game coverage, so clearly, NBC knew they didn’t have the depth to cover four football games and had to call in help. NBC’s graphics packages are fine, but this crew were inept with showing replays, taking forever and then not showing enough of them. Jac Collinsworth got himself demoted from Notre Dame broadcasts this season, and probably shouldn’t get another shot at play-by-play. We all realize why the son of Cris got the shot, but it’s not working out.

I’d suggest that the Big Ten gently nudge NBC and suggest that they limit their Peacock games to one a week. They get nine a season, and have already covered seven in September, so this isn’t a big deal. BTN has plenty of bandwidth once the non-conference slate is completed, so there is a home for these football games, and BTN does a pretty solid job on all of their broadcasts. I can’t say the same thing about NBC’s choice for a fourth-string lineup.