Nebraska defense shows off its depth, but run game and special teams lag behind

“As I said to them down the stretch, they’ve got to come out of their head and they’ve got to start playing from right here with passion and belief in themselves,” Rhule said, patting his heart.

One week after Rhule felt the Huskers didn’t play with enough juice in a home loss to Illinois, he rallied the troops for a physical drill during pregame warmups. And after a scoreless first half, Rhule again reenergized his Huskers for a second half which was one-way traffic in Nebraska’s favor.

When the Huskers shuffled out of the locker room after their 28-10 win, there were smiles and hugs — perhaps driven more by relief than jubilation. Let’s drop into coverage:

Nebraska’s Ed Foley might just about be the busiest person in Lincoln this week.

The Huskers’ special teams coordinator has plenty to address after from a performance that didn’t just continue NU’s previous struggles in that area of game — it highlighted them over and over again.

It starts in the kicking game, where Nebraska hasn’t had a solid platform all season long. The Huskers were hopeful that returning starter Tristan Alvano would work back from an offseason groin injury in August and September, but a less-than-100% Alvano hit the field before again being sidelined by an injury.

Nebraska knew it’d be without Alvano for its trip to Purdue — and with a 74-man roster limit, that meant if Nebraska wanted to travel two kickers, it’d need to leave someone else off the travel roster. Instead, it was just John Hohl with no Nico Ottomanelli present in West Lafayette.

That move felt somewhat risky, because what happens if Hohl were to tweak a muscle? Punters Brian Buschini and Kamdyn Koch would’ve been on hand as emergency options at the very least.

Credit where credit is due for Hohl, who went 4-for-4 on extra points in the win. The redshirt freshman may have attempted three field goals, but only the first can be considered a miss.

Instead, back-to-back snaps by two different Huskers — Aidan Flege and Camden Witucki — headed straight toward the Ross-Ade Stadium grass rather than Buschini’s hands.

Watching the continued struggles in the kicking game brought me back to comments Rhule made during August after a scrimmage in which only Ottomanelli and Hohl kicked with Alvano sidelined at the time.

“I feel like we’re getting to be where we’re pretty automatic from the 25 (yard line) and pretty reliable inside the 30,” Rhule said. “… In my opinion in college football, you want to be reliable with the ball inside the 30 (yard line) and reasonable out to like the 35 or 36 (yard line).”

Nebraska has now just successfully converted 4 of 9 field-goal tries this season.

Purdue also outshined Nebraska in the punting game as it averaged 43 yards per punt compared to 34.3 for the Huskers. Nebraska did punt from the plus-side of the field on multiple occasions — but its gunners were often blocked out of the play whereas the Boilermakers worked as a united unit.

When Nebraska coaches turned on the film of Purdue’s first three games of the season to create their scouting report, they saw a defense which had been gashed on the ground time and time again.

As NU coaches were quick to point out, teams with mobile, running quarterbacks had done most of the damage — but they still knew they’d be entering a matchup where the run game needed to get going.

“We have to run the ball better,” Rhule said prior to the matchup. “Even if we’re throwing the ball at a very high level, we have to run the ball better so that we wear the other team down a little bit more.”

Going up against a Purdue defense which entered the day allowing 269 rushing yards per game, the third-most in the nation, Nebraska totaled 161 yards on the ground.

A running back rotation that has looked different each and every week took another unexpected turn as Emmett Johnson played a season-high 23 snaps and powered the Husker ground game in the second half. Dante Dowdell, who’d impressed the week prior, was bottled up on his interior runs and even the shifty Rahmir Johnson couldn’t get going.

The Huskers were most successful in running to the outside, and that’s why wide receiver Jacory Barney Jr. finished as the team’s leading rusher. Barney couldn’t have done it without a stellar game from Alex Bullock on the perimeter, though.

Bullock, who’d mostly been a rotational wide receiver option over NU’s first four games, began the game as a starter and played a season-high 22 snaps one week after being on the field for just five plays. The reason? Bullock brought the boom on the perimeter.

The wide receiver threw a key block to set the edge on Barney’s 31-yard run, then single-handedly blocked two defenders on Barney’s touchdown run. Considering Nebraska has struggled to block on the perimeter all season long, Bullock may have earned himself more playing time with his performance.

Nebraska can love the contribution it got from Barney in the win, but it needed its running backs to do more.

There’s a big difference between the caliber of offenses Illinois and Purdue possess, but it was a positive sign to see the Nebraska defense play closer to its standard than it did a week prior.

The Huskers notably shook up some of their defensive rotations, keeping snap counts low for their starters across the board.

That trend was most visible in the secondary. Players like Isaac Gifford, Marques Buford and Malcolm Hartzog who’d been on the field for every snap of NU’s close games against Colorado and Illinois instead ceded many snaps to their backups.

With Ceyair Wright needing medical treatment on multiple occasions, Jeremiah Charles stepped up to play 21 snaps at cornerback after only featuring against UTEP and Northern Iowa. It was a similar story for Koby Bretz, Derek Branch and Mario Buford, who all played 10 or more snaps.

On one third-quarter play, both Buford brothers lined up next to each other in what was surely a special moment for their family.

Jaron Tibbs was the only Purdue wideout to truly trouble the Husker secondary as the Nebraska pass rush also made their impact felt. James Williams, MJ Sherman and Ty Robinson each recorded one or more sacks with Kai Wallin also crashing the backfield for a half-sack.

Nebraska also adjusted its linebacker rotation with Stefon Thompson missing the contest. Vincent Shavers played a season-high 27 snaps, and it was an encouraging sight to have Javin Wright back on the field after sitting out NU’s first four games.

Wright told reporters after the game that he’s still working on his conditioning, but that it “feels great” to finally be back on the field. Nebraska will need Wright to be at his best down the stretch this season.

One week after being whistled for 10 penalties against Illinois, Nebraska one-upped itself by committing 11 penalties against the Boilermakers.

However, just as was the case last Friday, not all those calls were clear-cut — with a questionable pass interference call on tight end Thomas Fidone looming above the rest as it wiped out a Nebraska touchdown.

“We didn’t touch the guy; we didn’t touch him,” Rhule said after the game. “It wasn’t about whether he was behind the line or not, we run at the guy and we avoid him.”

There are preventable penalties, like false starts or blocks in the back, that Nebraska can work on avoiding. But many of the judgement calls that went against the Huskers built up over time to frustrate Rhule by the time it was all said and done.

Rhule said that he didn’t want to complain about the way the game was officiated, instead saying he’ll turn in the calls to the Big Ten and is “here to fight for Nebraska.”

The only good news in the penalty department is that the Huskers are drawing plenty as well. Of the 120 first downs Nebraska has gained this season, 20 have come via penalties.

A stretch that was supposed propel Nebraska into a matchup with Ohio State now looks like it could make or break the team’s season.

Next up for Nebraska is a test against a 4-0 Rutgers team with a standout defense, followed by a bye week and a trip to an undefeated Indiana team which has cracked the AP Top 25.

Make no mistake about it — just as both those games are winnable for Nebraska, they could easily break the other way too.

Win none, and a 4-3 Nebraska team will limp into the Ohio State matchup.

Win one, and a 5-2 Nebraska team will feel it still has plenty to prove.

Win both, and the Huskers will know they’re going bowling with a 6-1 record.

It’s a three-week stretch that could go any number of ways, and it may just define how good the 2024 Nebraska football team truly is.