Nebraska searches for answers as Indiana surges ahead

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — What do you even say?

So many words come to mind after games like this, and yet, none of them truly feel appropriate. Nor do they strike precisely the right tone.

No. 16 Indiana smoked Nebraska, 56-7. Nope. That’s not it.

No. 16 Indiana crushed Nebraska, 56-7. Eh, that’s not right. Accurate, yes, but not it.

No. 16 Indiana obliterated Nebraska, 56-7. Closer, but that’s still not quite right.

It doesn’t matter the verb. Pull out the thesaurus. Punked. Annihilated. Embarrassed. Destroyed. Demoralized. Bullied. Waxed the floor with.

This was supposed to be a good game. Two of the nation’s best defenses going against one another. Two ranked teams in the US LBM Coaches Poll. A nationally televised contest with the Big Noon crew on site. On paper, the two squads appeared to be evenly matched.

But on the gridiron? That couldn’t be further from the truth.

Indiana is searching for the College Football Playoff. Nebraska is searching for answers.

Not just answers about one flaw in particular. Answers everywhere. In every facet.

The loss was disappointing. The loss was disheartening. The loss was, well, confounding — especially from a Blackshirts perspective.

Nebraska, one of the nation’s best scoring defenses, gave up 56 points. In a conference game. Nebraska, one of the nation’s best run defenses, allowed 215 yards rushing. Nebraska, one of the nation’s best defenses in general, gave up 495 yards.

Four hundred and ninety-five yards.

The last time a Nebraska defense allowed more than 450 yards? Yeah, no one wants to remember the Georgia Southern game.

“I’ll be honest with you guys. I didn’t see this coming,” Nebraska coach Matt Rhule said. “I thought we were gonna play great. I thought we were gonna play great.”

Offensively, Nebraska had five turnovers — the most the Huskers have had since last year’s Maryland game. Nebraska may have amassed 304 yards of offense, but only had 70 yards on the ground while averaging 2.4 yards per carry. Huskers went 0-of-5 on fourth downs and 7-of-16 on third down. They only scored once, despite having three trips to the red zone.

Defensively, Nebraska couldn’t tackle. After not having allowed a single rushing touchdown all season, Indiana’s ball carriers amassed five rushing touchdowns.

As far as special teams is concerned? There’s very little special about Nebraska’s special teams. Another bad snap, limiting Brian Buschini — the one bright spot this season for NU’s special teams —to a 25-yard punt early in the game. A field goal unit so disastrous this season that Nebraska won’t even risk putting it out there. A lack of awareness on kick return.

“This was certainly, certainly, certainly not good enough by any stretch,” Rhule said. “And for that, I’m sorry.”

It wasn’t like Nebraska was playing on a short week. It wasn’t like Nebraska was dealing with a laundry list of injuries and playing a ton of backups. It wasn’t like Nebraska came into this game with a 1-5 record and had been long removed from the national conversation in college football.

Nebraska had its first idle week last week. Nebraska was able to prep for Indiana for two weeks. The Huskers were rested and refreshed. Most of Nebraska’s starters were good to go. Nebraska came into this game 5-1 and was ranked in the Coaches Poll and was on the outside looking in for the AP Top 25.

None of it mattered. Absolutely none of it.

Indiana pummeled Nebraska. From the opening kickoff to the game’s final seconds. With its starters. With its backups. The game was never ever close — at times feeling even more lopsided than the already disproportionate final score.

“Whether you lose in overtime or you lose by the score we lost by today, it’s just a loss,” Rhule said. “It’s a bad loss. And again, I apologize for that loss. I apologize if people spent their time and money to go watch that. But again, I’m not embarrassed of our guys. I’m proud of our guys. I know the work that they put in.”

So, what do we make of this? Is Indiana just that good? Is Nebraska just that bad?

I lean more in Indiana’s favor.

As Rhule said earlier this week, Indiana’s a Top 10 team in disguise. That’ll change on Sunday. Indiana will vault much, much higher than No. 16.

The Hoosiers were efficient. They played with precision.

Heisman hopeful Kurtis Rourke only played in the game’s first two quarters and still completed 81% of his passes for 189 yards with a touchdown. His backup, Tayven Jackson, completed 88% of his passes for 91 yards with two touchdowns. The ball carriers, led by Justice Ellison, collectively averaged 6.5 yards per carry on 33 attempts. And scored five rushing touchdowns.

Indiana’s the real deal, no question about it.

Saturday happened. Yes. One of the most lopsided final scores in recent years. But Nebraska still has five wins on the season — one away from what would be the first bowl berth since 2016. Nebraska only scored one touchdown against Indiana, but the Huskers still managed to tally more than 300 yards of offense. Nebraska had five turnovers, but that issue hadn’t cropped up like this all year.

The hope is that this is a blip. An outlier on the season. Something everyone will look back on and see as an anomaly.

“Honestly, I just think that our guys are gonna bounce back,” Rhule said. “I have never doubted the character of those guys. This was not a day where they didn’t come out and try. This wasn’t a week where they didn’t practice. That’s what hurts me about it, right?”

But if you glance away from the rearview, you’ll see yet another red buzz saw on the horizon.

Ohio State. In the Horseshoe. On national television.

No. 4 Ohio State. A one-loss Ohio State. Coming off of a bye week. In its first game since its 32-31 heartbreaker to Oregon.