Nebraska Football 13 Northwestern 21: Recap and Post-Game Thread

Pre-game notes:

The Wildcats showed some real kindness and observed a moment of silence for Christian Miller, the Husker wrestler who died in a car accident earlier this week.

Nebraska won the toss and elected to receive.

First Quarter

Dedrick Mills gets the first two carries and the first first down of the game. The Huskers came out with high tempo right away. This Northwestern defense is sound so tempo may be Nebraska’s friend. Wan’Dale Robinson and Marcus Fleming both made catches (Martinez sidearmed the one to Fleming) and Nebraska continued to use Mills as a hammer.

Flag. False Start (Boe Wilson). Drink.

Holding (Bryce Benhart). Drink.

Third and 18. Wan’Dale gains four-ish. Fourth down. Punt.

A promising drive derailed by penalties. Go ahead. Drink again.

Northwestern is a run heavy team and no surprise they hand off to John Raine. Then Luuuuuuke! Luke Reimer sacked Payton Ramsey. The Blackshirts forced a fourth down near midfield but the Wildcats went for it and converted. Two plays later Drake Anderson found paydirt and Northwestern scored first.

Missed tackles. Drink.

Northwestern 7 Nebraska 0

False start (Matt Farniok). Drink. Going to be drunk soon.

Travis Vokolek catch for no gain. Dedrick Mills run for no gain.

Offsides Northwestern. What?!?

Third and five. Incomplete (Wyatt Liewer). Punt.

Luke Reimer forced another fourth down near midfield. He has been everywhere so far this game. Punt.

Holding. Don’t drink. We can’t keep up this pace.

Great punt by William Przystup – Wildcat ball near midfield.

The Wildcats marched down the field but a JoJo Domann sack forced a field goal attempt. NO GOOD!

I can hear Husker nation screaming for Luke McCaffrey to be inserted into the lineup.

Wooo! An Austin Allen catch gets Nebraska over midfield.

End of quarter. Northwestern 7 Nebraska 0

Second Quarter

Check your beer supply. We’ve had to drink too many times so far for penalties to think you have enough.

Nebraska went for it on a fourth down (Adrian Martinez carry). It was close, but the Huskers converted. In three plays, the Huskers faced another fourth down (and one). Scott Frost made the same decision – with the same result (only this one had room to spare).

Yet another fourth down (and six). Field goal attempt by Connor Culp is good!

Northwestern 7 Nebraska 3

Ty Robinson had a nice stop and on the following play the ball bounced off Marquel Dismuke’s helmet and was PICKED OFF BY MYLES FARMER. Welcome to the Blackshirts young man.

A wide open Marcus Fleming catch and Nebraska is near the red zone. On the next play, Adrian Martinez rushed to the 10. (Tuck that ball a little better please).

Adrian Martinez has not been accurate, but he is battling The Huskers faced a third and 12 in the red zone and then a fourth and 12. (A catchable ball would have drawn a pass a pass interference penalty on Northwestern).

False start. Drink. Sigh. Conner Culp’s field goal was good.

Northwestern 7 Nebraska 6

Matt Masker was seen on the sideline comforting an obviously frustrated Adrian Martinez while Luke McCaffrey sat nearby with his helmet on.

Northwestern came out throwing for some reason and the Blackshirts forced a punt. Payton Ramsey took some hits and pressure on this series. Punt. Husker ball on the 36.

I’m still wondering where Luke McCaffrey is. I get that the Husker coaches are letting AM battle through whatever is plaguing him today, but putting #7 in as a receiver or RB could provide a nice spark.

The Huskers moved over midfield behind Dedrick Mills. #26 is going to be sore tomorrow, but he is carrying the team while his QB struggles. Appearances by Vokolek and Marvin Scott put Nebraska nearly into the red zone. On third and 11 at the 22, a very conservative draw play call netted a yard or two. Seriously?

Conner Culp is getting a workout. But this field goal was no good.

Northwestern 7 Nebraska 6

The Blackshirts looked like they had forced a fourth down, but didn’t get the timeout called in time to force a review. Will Honas, Colin Miller and Luke Reimer are playing pretty well so far in this game.

On third and 5 – MYLES FARMER STRIKES AGAIN! He baited Ramsey into throwing his way, picked it off and returned the ball to the three yard line. FIRST AND GOAL NEBRASKA!!!

Not bad for a first start for the youngster. Two interceptions is a good day at the office.

First and goal. DEDRICK MILLS TOUCHDOWN!!!

The extra point was good.

Nebraska 13 Northwestern 7

The Blackshirts are dragging their struggling offense along with them in hopes that the O finds their stride soon.

Luke Reimer knocked the ball away from Ramsey but the Wildcat QB recovered to save the possession.

Reimer’s current level of play:

The Huskers used timeouts to try and preserve some time to make a run at points before the half. Husker ball at the 26 with 40 seconds and no timeouts.

The Huskers got to midfield with 10 seconds left (seriously, he is a freight train today).

With five seconds left, the Huskers were at midfield with one shot at the end zone. Incomplete. (Hey, it was at least on target)

I suspect the o-line’s struggles are making Martinez uncomfortable.

Halftime

• True freshman receiver Marcus Fleming had the first three catches of his career in the first half, totaling 47 yards, including a 28-yard reception.
• Northwestern gained 80 yards on its opening drive and 54 yards in the remainder of the first half, including just 23 yards in the second quarter.

Third Quarter

The Husker special teams gave up a kick return and Northwestern got the ball on their own 40 to start the half. The Wildcats have the wind at their back for this quarter.

The Blackshirts left Kyric McGowan wide open and he pushed the Wildcats over midfield. Garrett Nelson is getting in on the linebacker tackles now too.

Offsides Nebraska. Drink.

Casey Rogers sighting. Ty Robinson has been playing well, but Rogers has been a pleasant surprise along the DL.

The Wildcats continued to strike and moved inside the red zone. One second and goal, Ramsey found Raine for a touchdown.

Northwestern 14 Nebraska 13

We have an Alante Brown sighting on the kickoff.

False start. Drink. (7th penalty for those of you keeping track at home)

On second and 15, Martinez pass to Levi Falck was complete and got a 15 yard horse collar tackle added on. The Huskers couldn’t capitalize as they had to punt three plays later when the pass to Kade Warner came up short. Wildcat ball at the 24 yard line.

Cam Taylor-Britt showed up in coverage, outrunning his receiver but not able to stretch enough to intercept a pass. Good to see #5 back on the field.

Followed by a wide open receiver. Drink. Northwestern was past midfield.

JoJo Domann continues to put pressure on Ramsey when he rolls out. He hasn’t gotten the sack, but he is causing some havoc.

False start Wildcats. Third and 12. Great coverage by the Husker backfield. Fourth and 12.

Husker ball inside the 10 yard line.

On third and 11, I was wondering when we’d see Luke when AM scrambled his way for the first down and more. Then he did it again to get past midfield.

On another AM scramble, the refs called holding on Northwestern’s defense.

As the Huskers neared the red zone….sigh. AM throws the interception in the red zone. This was a terrible decision and throw by Adrian.

The Blackshirts had their QB’s back and forced a three and out. Ramsey was taken down hard on third down and slow to get up (Caleb Tannor with the hit).

A TREMENDOUS punt by Northwestern was muffed by Wan’Dale, but he fortunately got back on the ball. The Huskers were pinned inside the 10 after a 63 yard punt.

LUUUUUUUUUUUUKE!!!! is in the game at QB.

Fourth Quarter

I may have overestimated the points scored in this game in my predictions. I think I had both teams reaching the upper 20s.

Flea flicker goes badly and McCaffrey loses 12 yards.

So, how’s Logan Smothers looking?

False start. Drink. (Assuming you aren’t already)

What’s the play call on second and 27?

Pass to the flat for a loss apparently.

THIRD AND 30

McCaffrey gains 20 to give the punter some room.

SERIOUSLY?!? The first and second waves of special teams missed the returner and gave up a 33 yard return on a 56 yard punt to set the Wildcats up at midfield.

Time for a cat gif.

MOAR MISSED TACKLES. DRINK. DRINK. DRINK.

Good news. Cam Taylor-Britt sniffed out the reverse. Ramsey has all day to throw the ball and gets the first down near the 10 yard line. First and goal Wildcats.

A purple penalty pushes them back five yards. It didn’t matter. Two plays later, Northwestern danced through more missed tackles and Riley Lees scored the touchdown.

Northwestern 21 Nebraska 13

Luke McCaffrey comes back out at quarterback. This does appear to be a real benching and not just a “let’s give Luke some time finally”.

Zavier Betts sighting! And again for a first down.

McCaffrey scoots past midfield and to the Wildcat 40.

WE CAN HAZ COMPLETIONS!! This time to Fleming. The Huskers are nearing the red zone.

Marcus Fleming drew the pass interference penalty to set up Nebraska first and goal from the three. Loss on first down. Second and goal. McCaffrey draw gains a bit. Third and goal from the five. Vokolek draws the pass interference penalty in the end zone on a nice touch pass by Luke. First and goal at the two. The penalty seemed a bit ticky tack to me, but I only saw one angle.

INTERCEPTION. SHIT.

There is frustration on the Husker sideline. Understandably so.

There continues to be open Wildcat receivers – especially along the side line. I don’t think it was just the talented Buckeyes that caused the secondary to struggle.

Missed tackle. Missed tackle. Drink. Drink.

The Wildcats were pinned deep but no longer as they are nearly at midfield.

Welcome back to the game Deontai Williams – tackle for loss.

The clock is becoming a factor as it goes under three minutes. Nebraska has all of their timeouts, but chooses not to use one on second and 13.

Nebraska deserves to lose this game. I don’t know for sure yet that they will, but they deserve to lose. The play calling is suspect. The discipline isn’t there. The angles on tackling are atrocious. They are showing grit and fight, but they need to get past being a spunky team and start being a solid, disciplined one.

Third and 11. Nebraska uses a timeout. The Wildcats make a weird play call. Fourth and 11.

False start Northwestern. The Huskers brought pressure but didn’t quite get there. Husker ball with 2:14 left.

Block on the back on Nebraska. Drink.

Husker ball on the eight.

Luke is back on the field. Adrian is clearly frustrated on the sideline. You can’t blame him. He’s a competitor, just not having the kind of day the coaches want.

Two completions by McCaffrey keep the clock moving and then a scramble play initially looked disastrous but ended up being a no gain. Fleming got out of bounds at the Husker 36 yard line and then Wan’Dale had to slide to make the catch (in bounds). Tick. Tick.

Northwestern timeout.

McCaffrey runs the draw and makes it past midfield (and more importantly made it out of bounds).

46 seconds. First down Luke.

33 seconds….28 seconds…Dedrick first down.

23 seconds…20 seconds…spike at the 20 yard line.

Incomplete.

14 seconds. Third down and 10.

Sideline throw. Complete. Not out of bounds. Timeout. Seven seconds. Fourth and four.

Incomplete.

Northwestern wins 21 Nebraska 13.

Again, turnovers by Nebraska’s quarterbacks were huge. Penalties were huge.

Nebraska out Nebraska’d themselves to lose this one.