Nebraska 17 Ohio State 52: Recap and Postgame Thread

It’s GAME DAY!!

Waking up this morning like:

Remembering we are playing the Buckeyes and are likely to lose this game and lose it bigly.

Pregame Notes

No Luke Reimers or Omar Manning on the trip. Levi Falck was spotted taking reps with the top offensive unit.

Nebraska won the toss and elected to receive. Cam Taylor-Britt caught the ball in the end zone. Touchback.

First Half

Jack Stoll hauls in the first reception of the 2020 season. That was followed by an Adrian Martinez run and then LUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUKE!! Luke McCaffrey shook off defenders to get the Huskers down to the 10 yard line. First and goal.

Adrian Martinez pulled the ball from Dedrick Mills and scampered to the end zone. TOUCHDOWN TOUCHDOWN TOUCHDOWN!!

Nebraska 7 Ohio State 0

The Buckeyes were marching until the Blackshirts forced a third and 16 and then fourth and 5. The talented Buckeyes converted and got themselves into the red zone despite the ball being tipped a the line of scrimmage by, checks roster, defensive tackle Casey Rogers.

The Blackshirts forced another third down, but Justin Fields ran for the first down. First and goal Buckeyes. Master Teague bulled his way up the middle for the one yard touchdown.

Nebraska 7 Ohio State 7

We have a Wan’dale Robinson sighting in the slot as he picks up nine on his first catch of the game. False start. Drink. The young wideout from O’Neill, NE, Wyatt Liewer jumped early. Incomplete pass intended for Kade Warner. Punt. Buckeye ball at the 25.

Justin Fields is running the ball more than I expected and he excels at making defenders miss. Then he found Garrett Wilson with the deep ball. Touchdown OSU.

Ohio State 14 Nebraska 7

Adrian Martinez found a bit of running room but headed to the sideline and needed help from the equipment staff (helmet). Luke McCaffrey came into the game and two negative run plays (one a fumbled snap recovered by Luke) put the Huskers in a deep hole which McCaffrey nearly dug them out of. On fourth and two the punt by William Przystup was downed at the six.

The Blackshirts seem incapable of tackling Fields. There’s a reason he is going to be one of the first players taken in the NFL draft this spring. However, the defense did just enough and forced a punt. Husker ball at the 23.

NO!! Swing pass that had no blockers, but Wan’Dale made chicken soup out of chicken shit and somehow gained yardage. Luke and Adrian were on the field at the same time. The coaches were serious about getting plays for #7.

Jack Stoll caught a pass for a first down but took a shot to the knee and was in immediate pain. Crap. Martinez nearly threw a pick followed by a run by Dedrick Mills (great blocking by Matt Farniok) brought up third and two. The offensive line did some work and shoved the Buckeyes back for Luke to convert. Now, the offense shifted into run-the-damn-ball mode. Why not with an experienced offensive line?

Or, throw it to Austin Allen. Nice to see the athletic tight end make the 27 yard gain. The Huskers were in the red zone. Martinez ran it to the five. Martinez first down. Dedrick Mills TOUCHDOWN!!

Nebraska 14 Ohio State 14

The Buckeyes didn’t fair catch the ball and started deep in their own territory. No matter, Chris Olave made a sideline catch to give them breathing room.

Pheldarius Payne (and some Blackshirt friends) stuffed the Buckeyes on a third down, bringing up fourth and one at their own 33. (Yes, I just wanted to type Pheldarius Payne and find an excuse for a pain gif).

They converted and followed it by a wide open Chris Olave to get over midfield. The defense was called for two penalties, defensive holding on Marquel Dismuke and targeting on JoJo Domann. The targeting was called off after review. First down Buckeyes at the Husker 22. The secondary is struggling, but I suspect everyone will struggle against Fields and those OSU receivers. The Blackshirts held on third and one forcing a fourth down, which OSU decided to go for (and it appeared they converted by the skin of their teeth after Frost called for a measurement) but got called for false start leading to fourth and six.

The field goal was good.

Ohio State 17 Nebraska 14

Brody Belt is back on kickoffs along with Cam Taylor-Britt.

Delay of game. Handoff for loss. Sack. Third and 20. More crappiness ensues. Fourth and punt-out-of-our-own-end-zone. A facemask penalty on Dismuke gives the Bucks a free 15 yards on top of already good field position, near midfield. (Replay showed it to be a crappy call.)

Justin Fields wasted no time going after the home run ball but Dicaprio Bootle laid a hit that dislodged the ball from Olave when he hit the ground in the end zone. The announcers were already yelling ‘touchdown!’ when the ball came out. A shitty pass interference call on Taylor-Britt gave the Buckeyes a first down in the red zone. They quickly took advantage of the gift from the officials. Touchdown with 1:10 left in the half.

Ohio State + officials 24 Nebraska 14

OSU did what any good team does and took advantage of the situation and stole back the momentum. If Nebraska wants to become a good team, they have to shake stuff like this off and play ball.

Frost was content to run out the clock and go to half to regroup.

Halftime

I have decided that all second half gifs will be from the Lord of the Rings. Enjoy.

Second Half

WIDE. OPEN. RECEIVERS. EVERYWHERE. And when they are even slightly covered, Fields runs. Touchdown.

Ohio State 31 Nebraska 14

Hey look! A swing pass that didn’t suck!

Option. /Wipe away a sentimental tear.

Dammit. Just when the offense had a bit of momentum going for it, Adrian fumbled and the Buckeyes scooped and scored. I guess our “keep their offense off the field strategy” isn’t going as well as we hoped.

Ohio State 38 Nebraska 14

Rahmir Johnson sighting on the kickoff. Husker ball near the 25.

Ronald Thompkins sighting on a nine yard gain. More Thompkins – this time in the pass game.

Adrian runs to the red zone. First and goal.

On third and goal, Adrian overthrew a wide open Kade Warner (it was still catchable).

The Connor Culp field goal was good. Field goals are not going to get Nebraska back to a respectable showing in this game, but maybe Frost decided his offense needed to feel like they accomplished something rather than take a chance of coming up empty handed?

Ohio State 38 Nebraska 17

Will Honas sacked Fields and pulled him back into the end zone. Forward progress kept the Buckeyes from taking the safety.

Cam Taylor-Britt was called for targeting which was upheld after review.

Deontai Williams and Chris Olave collided with both players shaken up. Quinton Newsome was in on the tackle too. Olave dropped the ball, which took a review for it to be called. JoJo Domann recovered the fumble. Husker ball at the 21.

Another Husker penalty, holding on Boe Wilson, put the Huskers in a hole right away.

Three and out. Punt. Good return by the Buckeyes past midfield.

Caleb Tannor sack!

REALLY?!? ANOTHER TARGETING CALL?

This one was against Deaontai Williams.

Now, the Huskers will be without Cam Taylor-Britt and Deontai Williams for the rest of the game and the first half vs Wisconsin. This will be fun. The announcers were even upset about that BS call.

Touchdown Ohio State. The catch was originally ruled incomplete, but it was a helluva catch right on the line.

Ohio State 45 Nebraska 17

Luke McCaffrey is in at quarterback. Thompkins made Husker fans grin when he lowered his shoulder to hit a defender as he was going out of bounds. And then an option pitch to Thompkins gave us all a bit of nostalgia.

AND THERE IT IS. Fumble. Luke McCaffrey couldn’t hold on to the ball. Buckeyes recover.

Justin Fields is still playing while OSU is up 45-17. That makes sense.

The Blackshirts sacked Fields and forced a punt. Tick tock. Tick tock.

Some plays happened and went the wrong way. Husker punt.

The second string OSU offense had no trouble moving the ball after getting it on the Husker half of the field. As the clock ticked under a minute, the Huskers forced a fourth down near the goal line. OSU touchdown.

Ohio State 52 Nebraska 17

Kickoff. A couple of plays happened. Frost called a timeout with three seconds left to get his team one more offensive rep. Final.