What Matt Rhule and Brian Buschini said about Nebraska’s kicking woes

The senior Nebraska punter is also the Nebraska holder. He served as a frustrated witness to two blocked field goals and a pulled 42-yard kick wide left. Two low snaps affected the timing of both stuffs.

“Our field-goal unit’s not good right now, to be honest,” Buschini said. “We need to be better. It’s a point of our team that’s a liability — everyone knows it. I think as a group we need to feel the gravity of that. And we need to really pick our stuff up. Like, seriously. It’s time to get going.”

Buschini has been the only constant within the operation this season. Redshirt freshman John Hohl was the lone kicker to travel to Purdue, with sophomore Tristan Alvano still working through a groin injury. Junior long snapper Aidan Flege handled early duties with the ball before giving way to classmate Camden Witucki, who worked without issue on four extra points in the second half.

Field-goal snapping has been “night and day” different from practice to the games, Buschini said. Flege and Witucki are “elite” behind the scenes, he said, but it needs to translate to Saturdays. Hohl has shown a strong leg with an ability to connect on attempts beyond 50 yards.

“John needs to just get his confidence back,” Buschini said. “He needs to swing the ball and get a little better lift than he had on a couple of those today. A couple of those were also on the snap.”

NU coach Matt Rhule saw the same thing, with the field-goal blocks — one with Flege delivering the ball, then Witucki — on snaps “in the ground.” Hohl, off a strong week of practice, is still a growing player who Rhule said is 50-50 from the 15-yard line and 45-yard line alike.

“They’ve got to come out of their head, they’ve got to start playing from right here with passion and belief,” Rhule said, patting his heart. “I know it sounds corny but it’s not.”

Another week of preparation before a home game against Rutgers is a blessing, Buschini said. So is correcting mistakes in a road win that could have been more lopsided — and less frustrating.

“Something’s gotta change,” Buschini said. “I’m going to spearhead that effort making sure the guys in our room figure out what’s going on and we get that fixed.”