Report Card: Huskers 7, Indiana Hoosiers 56

I missed Indiana’s opening drive of this game, driving to a family gathering. At the time, I was fully planning to go back and review that opening drive.

Three hours later, the need to go back and watch any more of this game pretty much was nullified. During the pregame radio show, Greg Sharpe mentioned that Nebraska was wearing white pants to match the white visitor jerseys, and I exclaimed to my teenage son:

“Oh NO! Not the Surrender Whites!”

Teenage son thought the idea of an all white uniform combo was pretty cool, and I replied that while the look might appeal to his fashion sense (or lack thereof), Nebraska has historically played mostly awful in the Surrender Whites.

Some will point out that (rightfully so) that colors don’t block, tackle or catch. It doesn’t change the reality that Nebraska has consistently underperformed when wearing the Surrender Whites.

And the #1 example of the Surrender Whites is now Indiana’s 56-7 annihilation of the 2024 Cornhuskers.

Nebraska didn’t lose this game because of the white pants. They lost because Indiana beat their rear ends in every phase of the game. It was a total domination, and that makes the grades on this report card blatantly obvious; it’s reduced to degrees of failure. Some things failed worse than other things.

It was a stunningly horrific loss… and quite frankly, considering the opponent and the level of fight, I’d argue it’s one of Nebraska’s worst losses this century, rivaling only the 2017 losses to Minnesota and Iowa, the 2015 loss to Purdue and the 2004 loss to Texas Tech in terms of ineptitude. Was it just a “terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day”? Or did this expose that Matt Rhule’s program is a house of cards at this point? We won’t answer that now, because Ohio State and then a potentially daunting month of November awaits. If we see more of the Nebraska football team waiving the white flag of surrender coming out of the locker room, missing a bowl game yet again is a very real proposition.

With that, it’s onto report card, and as always, your feedback is welcome in the comments.

QB: Well, Dylan Raiola’s 64% completion percentage looks perfectly fine in this game, but that stat probably underscores Nebraska’s biggest offense issue. I don’t know if it’s by design or by fear, but Raiola is not throwing the ball downfield, and that’s leading to real consequences. Raiola completed 28 passes for 234 yards, or 8.3 yards per catch…but 115 of that was yards after the catch. Against Indiana, Raiola’s throws averaged only 4.25 yards down field. 15 of Raiola’s completions were to Jacory Barney and the I-backs, gaining a whopping 61 yards, but 52 of those yards were gained after the catch. Defenses are catching on that Raiola isn’t challenging the secondary, and thus crowding the line of scrimmage which also jams up the running game as well. Grade: F-

I-Back: For what it’s worth, Emmett Johnson looked a bit more productive than the other backs running the ball. 20 carries probably isn’t enough, but Nebraska’s got to get more than 49 yards from the running backs. Grade: F

WR: Thomas Fidone did have one of his better days catching the ball, but he missed a block badly on a second quarter Heinrich Haarberg keeper. Jaylen Lloyd made a highlight reel catch. But Isaiah Neyor and Jahmal Banks continue to be noticable by their lack of contributions in recent weeks. Need these two to help stretch the field. Grade: F-

OL: No running room and not great pass production. Grade: F

DL: Going into this game, I thought that Nebraska’s defensive line would need to set the tone. Well, Ty Robinson, Nash Hutmacher and Jimari Butler combined for two tackles period. And the Hoosier offense was off to the races. Grade: F-

Linebacker: Mikai Gbayor did have a crucial sack for the defensive play of the game. But a lot of missed tackles. Grade: F

Secondary: Without any pressure up front and Indiana running the ball with ease, the secondary was having to chase way too many things. Grade: F

Special Teams: Yet another special teams disaster to open the game as Jacorey Barney fielded a kickoff at the one and stepped out of bounds. It’s just ridiculous how bad Nebraska’s special teams are this season. Grade: F-

Overall: F Saturday was a complete failure across the board in all aspects of the game. Since for this week, I don’t think anybody could grade this game as anything but an “F”, we’ll point some fingers at the worst of the worst.