Go ahead and admit it. At halftime of Saturday’s Husker game at Purdue with the score tied at 0-0, you were pretty sure the Huskers’ season was end up being another disappointment.
You had seen this before. Drink the Kool-Aid only to be hit square in the face with a big dose of reality.
To be sure, Nebraska made too many mistakes at Purdue Saturday, including three missed field goals (two were blocked). The Huskers also had a TD called back due to a phantom penalty.
That was just the first half.
A 1-2 Purdue team that had lost to Notre Dame 7-66 and 21-38 the week before at Oregon State was shutting out Nebraska’s offense.
To make matters worse for the Huskers, the Boilermakers actually led 3-0 in the 3rd quarter.
What was going on with Nebraska? Wasn’t Nebraska supposed to come out with their hair on fire?
Even those Husker fans who had signed up for the Peacock Network wanted their money back.
At that point, NU fans were thinking the Huskers would be lucky to win even five games this fall. Another football season down the porcelain fixture, or many thought.
Much of the first three quarters was like watching two bear cubs trying to romance a football.
But then something happened.
Nebraska woke up. Things started to click. With less than four minutes to go in the third quarter, Dylan Raiola spotted Jahmal Banks in the back of the end zone for a 7-3 Husker lead.
Then early in the fourth quarter, RB Dante Dowdell scored making the Husker lead 14-3. Next, it was Jacory Barney’s turn. He had a 24 yard run that extended the Husker lead to 21-3. A pick-six by LB John Bullock put NU up 28-3. That was a dagger in the heart of the Boilermakers.
Purdue scored their only TD late in the game to make the score 28-10 Neberaska.
The win puts Nebraska at 4-1. Not since 2013 when Bo Pelini was the Husker head coach have the Huskers stood at 4-1 to start the season..
A year ago Nebraska would probably have found a way to lose the game.
Matt Rhule says his team is in Phase Two of the turnaround: Learning how to win.
Yes, Purdue is not a very good football team. NU probably should have won by a wider margin Saturday. But remember, Nebraska lost five one possession games last year: Minnesota (10-13), Michigan State (17-20), Maryland (10-13), Wisconsin (17-24) and Iowa (10-13).
So cherish any and all Husker wins this year. Nebraska is not yet a finished product. I believe NU is going to keep getting better. It’s not always going to look pretty. Progress can look ugly at times.
Note: Of the Husker two-deep depth chart, nine are either freshmen or sophomores. Of those nine, six are freshmen.
This is a young/old football team. Mistakes are going to happen. We’ll get through it. Just keep the faith.
Don’t be surprised if he Huskers play in a few more ugly games. If they end up with wins, that’s okay.
Winning beats losing every time.
Don’t Look Now, But…
Through the first five games of the season, NU has not lost the turnover battle one time. Let me repeat, NU has not lost the turnover battle one time. In fact, the Huskers have won the battle four of the five games. The exception? In NU’s win over UNI, both teams had one turnover.
Contrast that to last year’s turnover margin: NU lost the ball 31 times while getting only 17 turnovers of their own. That left NU with a minus 14 for the year, That was one of the worst in all of college football.
The Peacock Lag
If you watched Saturday’s game on Peacock, you may have noticed a big lag between the actual game clock time and Peacock’s telecast. At times, there was about a two minute difference between the actual game clock and Peacock’s feed.
Sigh…
Quote of the Week
Nebraska had a TD called back in the first half of the win over Purdue. The call was terrible. Husker head coach Matt Rhule challenged the call, demanding a review of the play. (It was an illegal pick called on Thomas Fidone. The replays clearly showed Fidone had no contact with the Purdue defender.)
After the original penalty was confirmed, Rhule was really upset. This carried over into the second half when an apparent touchdown by Emmit Johnson was called back and Rhule got an unsportsmanlike penalty for throwing his headset.
When Rhule was asked after the game about the penalty, he had this to say:
Here’s what I know. Someone’s going to have to start to fight for Nebraska. I’m here to fight for Nebraska. I wanted the fellas to see me out there fighting for them today.
How Bout Them Huskers
Will and I talk about the Husker win over Purdue and we pick our plays and players of the game.
We also review next week’s Rutgers contest. To send us your comments and/or suggestions, email me at HuskerDan@cox.net.
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