On a lovely day in Dublin, Ireland, the Nebraska Cornhuskers squandered a pair of 11-point leads and allowed the Northwestern Wildcats to patiently wait for the Huskers to give them a 31-28 victory.
No matter the continent or the quarterback, the Huskers’ ability for futility continues as they fall for the 12th straight time by single digits since 2020, leaving Scott Frost-led teams 5-21 in one-score games. Second-half heroics remain a rarity as they are also now 3-21 under Scott Frost when trailing at the half.
The 56-7 thrashing of Northwestern last year appears to be a solo aberration as this was the ninth one-score game in 12 meetings for the Big Ten Conference opponents, including the seventh meeting decided by three or fewer points. Five of the last six games in the series have been one-score games. No matter the talent, close games are the norm and coaching mistakes are magnified.
This was a game that I truly believed the Huskers would win as the apparent upgrade in personnel in the offseason looked like it would propel the team to improved play and more victories.
In fact, the newcomers played reasonably well.
- Casey Thompson looked like a significant upgrade as he was well in control until midway through the third quarter.
- Anthony Grant led all rushers and had a sparkling second-half touchdown run.
- Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda had 120 yards receiving and was the recipient of a touchdown grab on the game’s opening drive.
- Trey Palmer caught eight passes for 68 yards, including six receptions before halftime before a few second-half drops.
- Brian Buschini averaged 47.2 yards on six punts in his Nebraska debut, including four downed inside the Northwestern 20-yard line, and Tommy Bleekrode looked quite competent as a placekicker.
But, with the game on the line, all the talk about changing culture and becoming more psychologically stable once again went out the window. Pat Fitzgerald outcoached Frost and the Wildcats were more physical than the Huskers on both sides of the ball.
In a game of changing momentum, the Huskers were victimized in both halves. Up 14-3 in the first half, the Huskers looked invincible until a bust on defense led to an easy score followed by a controversial turnover by Garcia-Castaneda at the Northwestern 11-yard line left points on the field (his knee was down). Nebraska finished the half with a punt and a missed field goal.
Nebraska again looked stellar at the start of the second half going up 28-17 and with 9:09 to go in the third had recaptured all the game’s momentum. At that point, Scott Frost made a coaching decision that may eventually end up costing him his job. He called for an onside kick that failed and led to a short field and a Northwestern score.
For a team with this fragile a psyche, it was a kiss of death. Doubt entered the cortex and the sphincter-tightening alter ego took over. The rest of the third quarter, the Huskers netted 0 yards, and in the final 24:09 of the second half, they netted just 58 yards while going 0 for 5 on third-down conversions, in drives that led to four punts and two interceptions.
The Blackshirts were a diabolical disappointment. Purported to be the strength of the team, the miscommunication in the defensive backfield was only matched by the lack of pressure from the front seven. The heralded speed from the edge failed to materialize as a 54% passer completed 87% of his first-half passes and finished with 314 yards for the game. The Huskers failed to record a sack and rarely even pressured Northwestern QB Hilinski.
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The 527-yard total was the most yards gained by a Northwestern offense since the first game of 2020. In the late third and fourth quarters, the defense was gashed and left gassed as Northwestern beat them with a very conventional straight ahead running game. Northwestern carried the ball 47 times for 214 yards, or 4.6 yards per carry.
Luke Reimer led the team with 12 stops and newcomer Ochaun Mathis added 10 tackles. Marques Buford had 7 tackles including a TFL and was partially responsible for the blown coverage on the Wildcat touchdown, but also laid a lick that forced a fumble that the Huskers turned into points. The only other remarkable feature of the defensive effort was a striking inability to tackle.
Texas transfer quarterback Casey Thompson completed 25-of-42 passes for 355 yards and one touchdown in his Nebraska debut. Thompson’s 355 passing yards are the most ever by a Husker QB in his first start, bettering a 238-yard effort by Tanner Lee against Arkansas State on Sept. 2, 2017. Thompson completed passes to seven receivers, including six different receivers in the first quarter.
Although less mobile than Adrian Martinez, when he is on, he is a far better passer and the third quarter scramble and pass to Garcia-Castaneda was highlight-reel worthy. The jury is still out as to if he can change the end of a game because his receiver had a catchable ball deflect off his hands for a pick. Travis Vokolek getting hurt in the second half didn’t help Nebraska’s chances either.
Anthony Grant (19 rushes for 101 yards) averaged just 3.1 yards per carry without the 46-yarder. He does look explosive if he can get out in space, but that was a big “if” today. When including -18 in sack yardage, all other runners gained 9 yards on 12 carries. The offensive line looked steady in pass protection but got no push forward on runs. Logan Smothers (1 carry for 7 yards) may end up providing a change of pace to shake up defenses.
Seven different receivers had receptions, led by Trey Palmer (8 for 68 yds.), Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda (4 for 120 yds.) and Travis Vokolek (5 for 63 yds.). Palmer’s total bettered his career high of seven receptions and 64 yards (while at LSU). Oliver Martin and Wyatt Liewer were both targeted once and yielded interceptions. The effort by Martin was especially disappointing. The play of our backup tight ends was also poor (Brewington and Boerkircher) as they were targeted three times without a catch and seemed a bit lost.
Special teams play was much improved over last season’s comedy show, even with the onside kick, which was Frost’s folly. Even though I disagreed with the call, if the kick had been placed about two more feet to the right, it may well have been successful. I noted above the exceptional play of Montana transfer Buschini who may well keep us in some games this fall with his punting acumen. Brendan Franke had the distance but not the accuracy on his 56-yard missed field goal, which is a low-percentage play at best. Franke had two touchbacks in four kickoffs as the kickoff team yielded just one 18-yard return.
Why don’t we just fair-catch kickoffs? The Huskers returned two of three inside the 20-yard line. What you want from special teams is for them to help and not hurt you and they were better than both the offense and defense in this game.
In trying to look for positives from the Dublin experience, I found two candidates. The Huskers did seem more disciplined in that they had five yards total in penalties (an offside by Ty Robinson). There were several holding and pass interference penalties that could have been called by the zebras on both teams that weren’t. The other plus is that the fans at the game who spent several thousand apiece to make the trip were at least treated to free beer. Some of them may have been drinking something stronger at the end of this one.
Scott Frost likely won’t be fired before Oct. 1 when the buyout price drops considerably, and it may take an upset of Oklahoma to prevent that action. That’s assuming wins over North Dakota and Georgia Southern, which is no gimme assumption. At least next week it’s not North Dakota State. My season prediction of 8-4 was obviously Kool-Aid induced, and it assumed a win over Northwestern. Now I hope for 7-5 and attempt to keep some semblance of faith in the future. Go Big Red!!!
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