Nebraska defeats Rutgers: Amie Just’s takeaways

What a win for Nebraska, beating Rutgers 14-7 to head into the bye week 5-1.

Dominant defense. Incredible plays by punter Brian Buschini. The offense did enough to win.

Some thoughts on Nebraska’s win over Rutgers.

I’ll expound on Buschini’s gritty effort elsewhere in this section, so I’ll keep this section brief.

There was a moment in this game where we all thought Nebraska’s punter might have been out of the game after getting injured on his first punt of the day.

He was face down on the turf. In obvious pain.

And then, he had quite the game after that. (Outside of the other punt blocks.)

On fourth-and-8 from the Nebraska 33-yard line, Nebraska opted for the fake punt and Buschini dropped a dime to Jaylen Lloyd for a 30-yard gain. Unfortunately, Nebraska didn’t make the most of that incredible play call and he was called back out to punt a few plays later.

The punt? A 41-yarder that flew to the 5-yard line before it bounced out of bounds.

Excluding his blocks, Buschini averaged 50.2 yards per punt with two over 60 yards — 61 yards and 69 yards.

Give the game ball to Buschini. He deserves it.

After Rutgers blocked and returned a punt to the 2-yard line, Rutgers had six tries from inside the 5-yard line to score. SIX. Including two from the 1-yard line.

And yet. The Blackshirts held firm. Collectively.

First down: Linebacker Isaac Gifford with the 3-yard tackle for loss.

Second down: Incomplete pass. Flag for holding on safety DeShon Singleton.

First down: Run-stopping tackle by linebacker John Bullock and defensive tackle Elijah Jeudy, Rutgers gained of 1 yard.

Second down: Run-stopping tackle by defensive tackle Nash Hutmacher for no gain.

Third down: Singleton with a 1-yard tackle for loss on a pass play.

Fourth down: Near-interception for cornerback Marques Buford Jr.

Now that’s championship-level defense.

The defense in general deserves a shoutout. Nearly every drive for Rutgers ended in Nebraska territory. Seriously. And Rutgers didn’t score a single point until late in the fourth quarter.

Drive No. 1: Turnover on downs at the Nebraska 25-yard line.

Drive No. 2: Punt at the Nebraska 43-yard line.

Drive No. 3: Missed field goal, drive ended at the Nebraska 34-yard line.

Drive No. 4: Interception, drive ended at the Nebraska 36-yard line.

Drive No. 5: Interception, drive ended at the Rutgers 47-yard line.

Drive No. 6: Punt at the Nebraska 45-yard line.

Drive No. 7: Turnover on downs at the Nebraska 2-yard line.

Drive No. 8: Punt at the Nebraska 44-yard line.

Drive No. 9: Punt at the Nebraska 45-yard line.

Drive No. 11: Turnover on downs at the Rutgers 26-yard line.

Rutgers finished the game with 78 yards rushing and 186 yards passing for 264 yards of total offense.

Game balls to the entire defense.

It’s been a long time coming for cornerback Marques Buford Jr.

It had been 757 days since he last intercepted a pass — his two-pick day against Georgia Southern in 2022. But that changed near the end of the second quarter against Rutgers.

Rutgers quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis was trying to connect with receiver KJ Duff down the sideline before Buford jumped up in front of the route to catch the ball.

The silverscreen star and former USC defensive back is finding his place within the Nebraska defense, and that showed once again on Saturday.

It’s late in the second quarter. Kaliakmanis tries to find receiver Chris Love, but Wright is in coverage and the ball hits him. He bobbles it for a second as he falls to the ground and snags it for his first interception as a Husker.

The weather — more on that later — wasn’t great for a conventional game of football when it comes to the punt and kick game. And Nebraska was aggressive as heck on fourth downs on Saturday, going 3-of-3 and 2-of-2 in the first half.

The first came early in the game, deep in their own territory. On fourth-and-1 from the Nebraska 36-yard line, Micah Mazzccua lined up as the jumbo offensive lineman and fullback Barret Liebentritt was in, and Dante Dowdell ran up the middle for a 3-yard gain. Later on the drive, Nebraska punted… and Brian Buschini was injured on after getting his punt deflected.

On the next drive? Similar concept with Mazzccua and Liebentritt but wildly different situations. Instead, Nebraska faced fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line. And again, Dowdell flew through the middle for the touchdown.

Later in the game, there was a perfectly executed fake punt by Buschini to Neyor for 30 yards.

Better Saturday. Not perfect. But better.

Nebraska had four penalties on offense — a false start, intentional grounding and two delays of game — and three on defense, all of which were holding calls.

You can make the argument that neither of quarterback Dylan Raiola’s interceptions from earlier this season was his fault. One came on a simultaneous possession and the other was on a 50/50 ball in the end zone.

The one that happened Saturday? His fault.

He wasn’t under pressure. He threw the ball within milliseconds of the snap hitting his hands. And he threw it right to defensive back Flip Dixon.

Four plays later, Rutgers turned it over, so no points off turnovers there.

It didn’t have to be this way.

Nebraska had already had a punt blocked earlier in the game, leading to an apparent injury for Brian Buschini that he opted to play through.

And then… it happened again.

After taking a delay of game on fourth down that didn’t appear to be intentional, Rutgers crashed through again to block yet another punt.

But this time, Shaquan Loyal recovered the block and ran it 15 yards to the 2-yard line before Brodie Tagaloa — how about that for Brodie — saved what would have been a punt-return touchdown. Luckily for Nebraska’s special teams, the Blackshirts saved the day and didn’t allow Rutgers to score there.

Welcome to West Texas. Welcome to the surface of the sun. Welcome to what was the hottest home kickoff in recent memory. Not just for October. For any home game. Since 1985.

The previous high kickoff temperature since Nebraska first started keeping that record was 93 degrees. That’s happened on four occasions, most recently last season against Michigan (Sept. 30).

It wasn’t just a hot day for football. It was a hot day in general. The 97-degree mark was one degree off Lincoln’s record high for both Oct. 5 and the entire month of October.

The wind was at 19 miles per hour, which was evident from warmups. Punts and kicks were flying and dying in the wind, depending on the direction.