Nebraska football players and coaches reflect, vow change ahead of Ohio State trip

Saturday shock from a 49-point loss at Indiana had faded into a hard edge for many Huskers following a cathartically hard-hitting Tuesday practice. Pick a player — each was somewhere on the path to recovery as NU prepares for No. 4 Ohio State while still diagnosing the surprise blowup in Bloomington.

“It’s not my first ass whooping,” senior safety Isaac Gifford said. “You only get one option and that’s to keep going. Keep fighting.”

“It’s not like it’s our last game of the season,” quarterback Dylan Raiola said. “We got punched in the mouth and it’s as simple as that.”

“I don’t know if I ever lost like that,” senior receiver and Wake Forest transfer Jahmal Banks said before a pause. “I don’t think the scale of the loss really matters. It’s the fact that we didn’t play to our standard.”

The margin of defeat — Nebraska’s second most lopsided in the Big Ten era — brought a somber mood to the weekly round of interviews, giving 2-5 vibes to the 5-2 Huskers. If the team was a work in progress before Indiana, the cold reality has sunk in this week ahead of another road trip against another ranked opponent with College Football Playoff aspirations.

No more so than for both coordinators making seven figures in their second seasons in Lincoln. Tony White said there were defensive schemes Saturday “that I would definitely not do again.” Marcus Satterfield said a better traditional running back-based run game on offense starts with him buying more into the approach — NU rushed 29 times for 70 yards while throwing 44 passes against Indiana as the game got out of hand.

“It’s a lot on me; I have to commit to it,” Satterfield said. “…I’ve got to make sure I get back to getting in the mindset of you have to, in order to win in this league, establish the run game.”

Getting the proper plays called that attack the proper edges of a defense is on him, he said, and more about his own trust in the strategy than patience for it. The style will be as important as ever when the weather becomes less hospitable for the stretch run of the Big Ten season.

Nebraska ranks 10th in the 18-team league in rush attempts per game (34.29), though some of those have been sweeps by freshman receiver Jacory Barney Jr. or Wildcat runs by backup quarterback Heinrich Haarberg. Its team average of 3.71 yards per carry is ahead of only Maryland, Minnesota and UCLA in the conference.

Satterfield said he was “stumped” by a question asking his ideal yards-per-play total, venturing a number between 4 and 6 yards. Nebraska is at 5.54 (89th nationally) and needs to be “a little bit more than it is now.” Told that Miami leads the nation at 8.05 yards per play, Satterfield said he’d bump up his preferred total by a couple yards.

Indiana finished Saturday at 7.9 yards per play to NU’s 4.1.

White said his biggest takeaway from reviewing the game was not just tackling issues but too many one-on-one situations for Husker defenders. The scheme isn’t good enough, he said, when there aren’t three or four Blackshirts swarming the ball on a given play.

“These dudes, man, they’ll run through a wall,” White said. “That’s why it really bugs me, because it’s me. Just gotta keep on finding different ways to make sure that they’re playing with their hair on fire.”

Players were mixed on whether Ohio State as the next opponent keeps them from dwelling too long on last weekend. Guys are “pissed” anyway, Gifford said. But it’s a chance to show that Nebraska has future NFL players who compete just like the brand name on the other sideline.

With the university on fall break, players watched more film together as a full team this week. Another reminder of how quickly a game can turn when attitudes and assignments aren’t working as one.

And why it can’t happen again.

“Lack of complementary football, one thing leads to another,” Banks said. “Snowballing. It shows you how important it is for everybody on the field to be doing their job.”