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I thought about opening with a swarmy play on the lyrics to “The Sound of Silence” but it’s clear that Nebraska fans are fed up with the latest collapse by the Husker football program. It’s anger. It’s fed up.
It’s fatigue with a football program that seems to actively seek out the banana peel each and every week. Another fourth quarter collapse for the third game in a row. It’s ridiculous. It’s absurd. But here we are.
But let’s make it clear that half of the team gave us something to build on. Rob Aurich’s defense mostly did their job for 56 minutes. So I’m not joining the “fire everyone, burn it to the ground” crowd. We can’t just keep starting over from scratch every three or four years.
But that doesn’t change the fact there was almost nothing to like from Nebraska’s offense, and it all starts with an inability to Run The Dang Ball, and my number one question is why was Jamal Rule not in the game for much of the second and third quarter? Rule had exactly ONE carry between the five minute mark of the first quarter and the last play of the third quarter. Is Rule not 100% recovered from his injury? Are they managing his workload? Or is it a warped belief that there isn’t a difference between the top three I-backs?
C’mon man.
Add into that a receiver corp that generally doesn’t know when to break off a route and come back to give the quarterback a target? Was the plan really to complete 40 yard bombs all night long?
Nebraska’s offense is broken, and the time to fix it was over last week’s bye. Now it’s a short week to find SOMETHING that works.
With that, it’s onto the report card, and as always, your feedback is welcome in the comments.
QB: Anthony Colandrea didn’t play like a quarterback deserving of a big NIL deal, that’s for sure. The first interception was a bad timing connection with Jacory Barney; the last was a missed connection with Luke Lindenmeyer. The second was an offbalance throw heaved into double coverage. And that brainfart third down sack in the fourth quarter: YEESH. Grade: D-
I-Back: On Colandrea’s second interception, Mekhi Nelson completely whiffed on a block, forcing Colandrea to throw off balance. Why Nelson starts instead of Rule is a question that probably already has been asked inside the football offices this morning. Nelson and Isaiah Mozee combined for 43 yards on ten touches; 19 on one second quarter run by Nelson. Nebraska needs more production from the backs, period. Unless he’s injured, Jamal Rule needs at least 20 touches a game. Grade: F
WR: Sometimes I get the feeling that Jacory Barney might be the only receiver trying out there at times. Nyziah Hunter need to be used more often downfield than on those swing passes, which frequently result in little to no gain. I’m hoping that Carter Nelson can evolve into another secondary target on shorter throws like Lindenmeyer is. Grade: D-
OL: “Better than last year’s line” is damning with faint praise. A half-season is not enough time to rebuild that line, but Colandrea can’t be effective when he’s constantly scrambling to save the play. This is the foundation of the offense’s struggles, period. Grade: D-
DL: The d-line was wreaking havoc all evening long. Big #44 Riley Van Poppel had two of his four tackles behind the line of scrimmage. Even Gretna’s Mason Goldman got into the act with a big sack. Grade: A
LB: Owen Chambliss led with seven tackles, and they kept the Huskies offense well contained until Washington switched up quarterbacks. Grade: B+
Secondary: Same as with the linebackers, things just got stinky in the final four minutes. Allowing the Huskies to survive both a 3rd and 14 and a 4th and 18, plus a 3rd and 4 leaves a taste of bile in everybody’s mouth. Grade: B
Special Teams: Archie Wilson is punting well, but no matter how much we feel for Kyle Cunanan’s struggles, we can’t trot him out to try field goals anymore. A little too late, but it looks like we’re going to give John Hohl a shot. But I think the bigger problem is long snaps; on both field goal attempts, Kamdyn Koch had to reach up to field high snaps, and that timing might just be the source of the problems. Grade: D
Overall: D- Another week, another winnable game flushed down the toilet.
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