Quarterback Adrian Martinez completed 16-of-31 passes for 248 yards. His 299 yards of total offense increased his career total yardage to 10,418, moving him into second place on the NU career list. He passed Taylor Martinez (10,233) in today’s game is only 272 yards from Nebraska’s career total offense record (Tommy Armstrong Jr., 10,690). Martinez also eclipsed 3,000 total yards this season at 3,014 and is the third player in school history with multiple 3,000-yard seasons. He has thrown for more than 200 yards in a school-record 11 straight game, breaking a tie with Joe Ganz who had 10 straight 200-yard passing games. However, his overthrow miss of Levi Falck on 3rd and 4 from the Ohio State 13 was critical as an average throw would have led to a first and goal and a chance to take the lead with less than 9 minutes to go.
Samori Toure finished the game with 4 catches for 150 yards and almost two touchdowns. The 150-yard receiving game was the first by a Nebraska player since JD Spielman had 160 receiving yards at Illinois in 2019. Toure has four receptions this season of at least 68 yards (2 vs. Buffalo, 1 vs. Northwestern, 1 vs. Ohio State), and also added a 53-yard catch in the third quarter. Tight end Austin Allen finished with 2 catches for 33 yards including a 26-yarder. Allen increased his season yardage total to 404 and is the first Nebraska tight end with 400 receiving yards since Mike McNeill had 442 yards in 2008. Omar Manning added 3 catches for 26 yards but the no call on the defensive holding against him when he was tackled with less than 6 minutes to go may have been the most crucial miss of the many by the blind zebras. The officials did not decide this game, but they certainly had an influence on the outcome.
On defense, the Blackshirts did not deserve their fate as they played well once again in holding the Buckeyes to less than half their season scoring average. The challenge for the defense was containing a trio of future NFL receivers. Jaxon Smith-Njigba was virtually unstoppable as he was targeted 18 times and had 15 catches for 240 yards including a 75-yard touchdown. That touchdown pass in the second quarter was the longest opponent pass play of the season, bettering the previous long of 48 yards. Despite those eye-popping numbers, the defense did well in containing the Buckeye rushing attack holding them to just 90 total yards. Their standout freshman running back, TreVeyon Henderson, didn’t have a carry for longer than 6 yards until Ohio State’s final drive.
JoJo Domann played like a man possessed as he finished with had nine tackles including a tackle for loss, two PBU, a QB hurry and an interception. His interception was his second of the season (Fordham) and his two PBU tied his career high. He just missed another pick earlier on the drive in which he got the interception. Linebacker Luke Reimer made 10 tackles for his fifth double-figure tackle game of the season. Reimer increased his season tackle total to 96. Quintin Newsome also had 10 stops with an important tackle short of the sticks as the first half expired. Myles Farmer (7 tackles) had an interception that was set up by pressure by Luke Reimer. Caleb Tannor (5 tackles) and Garret Nelson (1 tackle) both added sacks with the Nelson play creating a fumble that Nelson just missed chasing down. Another near miss in a season full of them that could have turned the tide for the Huskers.
Special team play was briefly addressed above but after the game Scott Frost commented on the errors and said, “it wasn’t an issue of the teams playing poorly but with the ‘specialists.’” Chase Contreraz falls into that category as does punter William Przystup who followed up a 58-yard boot with a 13-yard shank out of bounds at the NU 49-yard line. The poor kick functioned like a turnover and OSU used the short field to score a touchdown and a 10-0 lead. Przystup punted well the rest of the game and still managed to average 43.1 yards on 8 punts. The kickoff and punt coverage remains solid and was highlighted by a nifty ankle tackle by John Bullock for a -5-yard punt return. The fair catch interference call against Alante Brown was bogus as the “halo rule” in no longer in effect and Brown came past the receiver’s side and was not in front of him as the rule states is necessary.
Time for another bye week before the final two contests. Garret Nelson said after the game that the two remaining trophy games vs. Wisconsin and Iowa still had a lot of meaning for Nebraska to try and build some momentum going into next season. “We haven’t had a trophy around here in a while,” Nelson said. That’s for sure.
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