Ball-Busting Blackshirts and Buschini Bombs in the Blistering Heat are Homecoming Heroes for the Huskers

ThotDoc's Brain Droppings on the Nebraska-Rutgers football game.

Nebraska defensive back Isaac Gifford (2) celebrates Ty Robinson's sack against Rutgers. / Amarillo Mullen

On the hottest October home game in Husker history, the Nebraska Cornhuskers held off the Rutgers Scarlet Knights 14-7 in a typical hard-hitting, low-scoring Big Ten contest. The official temperature at kickoff today was 97 degrees, the hottest kickoff temperature at Memorial Stadium for a home game since at least 1985. On the field, temperatures in excess of 109 degrees were recorded before kickoff. It was also breezy with a steady southwest wind of 19 mph gusting at times to 35 mph.

The Huskers are now 5-1 on the season for the first time since 2016 and gave Rutgers their first loss in five games. The Huskers are now 7-0 all-time against the Scarlet Knights, but this one was a slugfest from the beginning and special team miscues made it all that much more difficult. The Huskers won the toss and chose to receive, eschewing the standard deferral to the second half. Head Coach Matt Rhule wanted to be able to choose having the wind in the fourth quarter and this proved to be a wise decision.

Nebraska drove to the Rutgers 44 on their first position before punter Brian Buschini was leveled on his punt attempt which was blocked and traveled just 10 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. It appeared he hyperextended his back on the play and wore a back brace on the sideline the rest of the game between punts. Later, in the third quarter, another blocked punt was returned to the Huskers 2- yard line.  In both cases, Rutgers players blew right up the middle. The Rutgers staff saw a weakness on tape and exploited it, which is not unusual for the Scarlet Knights as under Head Coach Greg Sciano, they have blocked 43 punts and 73 kicks overall. This fault needs to be corrected by special team’s coordinator Ed Foley as his squads are hurting more than helping the team so far.

If not for the other incredible contributions by Buschini Saturday, the game could have well been lost. Buschini had a 61-yard punt in the second quarter and a 69-yard punt in the fourth quarter that pinned Rutgers at their own 11-yard line with 2:17 remaining. He now has three 60-yard punts this season and seven in his Nebraska career. Buschini averaged 50.2 yards on his five punts, including two inside the 11-yard line. He also threw a 30-yard strike on a fake punt to Jaylen Lloyd, accounting for over half the 55 yards the Huskers generated after intermission.

This game was put on the backs of the Blackshirts and they did not disappoint. They held Rutgers scoreless in the first half marking the second straight opponent that has been shut out in the first half. Overall, NU has pitched three first-half shutouts in six games this season and allowed just 20 first-half points. In limiting the Knights to just seven points, it marks the fifth opponent in six games the Huskers have held to 10 or fewer points. Not surprisingly, it also represents the Huskers five victories.

Nebraska did not allow a rushing touchdown today and is the only team in the country that has not allowed a rushing touchdown this season. But it took stopping Rutgers on six snaps from the 2-yard line to make it happen. After the second blocked punt was returned to the NU 2, Hutmacher and Gifford stopped Monangai for a 3-yard loss, Kaliakmanis then passed incomplete in the endzone, but Singleton was called for holding. With the ball back at the 2, Monangai rushed for 1-yard (J. Bullock and Jeudy), and then was held for no gain (Hutmacher again). On 3rd and goal, Kaliakmanis’ completed pass to Fletcher was stopped for a 1-yard loss by Singleton. Kaliakmanis’ 4th down pass was then broken up by Buford, even though it was an uncalled illegal pick play. The defensive stand of the season by a mile. Not a bad tribute to all-time defensive standout Ndamukong Suh who was present after being inducted to the Nebraska Sports Hall of Fame this weekend.

Rutgers crossed midfield on eight of its first nine drives and didn’t score a single point. On back-to-back possessions, Rutgers set up at the Nebraska 2 and 28-yard lines without scoring a point. Rutgers rushed for 70 yards in the first quarter and only 8 yards total the final 3 quarters. Rutgers spent most of the second half in Nebraska’s territory but managed just 119 yards with 50 of those gained on their only scoring drive. Their stud running back, Kyle Monangai, ended with 19 carries for 78 yards but netted just 13 yards on nine carries in the second half.

The Scarlet Knights came into the game with just two turnovers their first four games before the Huskers picked off two passes from Athan Kaliakmanis to win the turnover battle once again. Nebraska is now +6 in turnovers on the season with the Huskers outscoring opponents 35-0 in points off turnovers. The Blackshirts recorded four sacks (Rutgers had only given up four previously in four games), nine tackles for loss, seven quarterback hurries and broke up nine passes to go along with the interceptions by Marques Buford Jr. and Ceyair Wright. Winning on third and fourth down was significant as Rutgers was just 2 for 14 on third down and 2 for 6 on fourth down. What a difference getting off the field can make in keeping the defense fresh.

Isaac Gifford led the Blackshirts with eight tackles, including 1.5 TFL, a breakup and a hurry, while DeShon Singleton and James Williams each added five stops. Williams led the Huskers with two sacks and two more hurries of Kaliakmanis. The “Sack Man” created havoc with the game on the line late in the fourth. Defensive lineman Ty Robinson had a nine-yard sack in the second quarter, his team leading fourth sack of the season. Robinson finished the game with three tackles, including two tackles for loss and a PBU. Nash Hutmacher also had a sack to go along with his three crucial stops. The second-quarter interception by Ceyair Wright was his first career pick and he also added two pass breakups in the game. Marques Buford’s second-quarter interception was his first this season and third in his career. Buford also added a career-high three pass breakups in the game.

Offensively, the Huskers totaled 261 yards, even though they had surpassed Rutgers until the last three kneel downs lost 6 yards. The first half was decent as the Huskers had scoring drives of 7 plays and 75 yards and 7 plays and 72 yards. Ten other drives netted just 114 yards ending with 8 punts and an interception. The second half was brutally ugly as the offense has failed to play four quarters in all 6 six games to date. To be fair, Nebraska was buried deep inside its own three-yard line on three second half drives and failed to dig itself out of that hole. As a result, the play calling may have been more conservative to not make matters worse.

Dylan Raiola had his worst game as a Husker. After starting 7-for-10, he finished 6-for-17, going only 2-for-9 in the second half. His 70% completion percentage took a bit of a hit. Raiola finished with 134 passing yards, with only 14 of those coming after halftime. As noted above, Buschini had more passing yards in the second half with 30. Was it a case of being a freshman making freshman mistakes or was something else wrong? He didn’t seem to exude the same energy and confidence as in previous games. I wondered whether Heinrich Haarberg may have provided a needed spark in the second half and at least provided a run threat. The offensive line provided decent pass protection, but Raiola was often tentative and didn’t deliver the ball to open receivers as we are accustomed. Micah Mazzccua returned to provide a little nasty at guard when the Huskers were successful running in the first half.

Dante Dowdell led all rushers with 57 yards on 14 carries and scored on a 1-yard TD run in the first quarter. Rahmir Johnson had a season-long 36-yard reception to set up Nebraska’s first touchdown and has had a catch of at least 10 yards in five straight games. Johnson finished the game with five rushes for 34 yards and three receptions for 40 yards.  Janiran Bonner had his second rushing touchdown of the season on a 11-yard score in the second quarter. Before the 11-yard run, Bonner had five career carries totaling nine yards. Emmett Johnson also added 33 yards on 14 carries.

In all, the fourteen completed passes went to seven different receivers. Jahmal Banks had a season-long 31-yard reception in the second quarter, but this was his only catch of the game. Jaylen Lloyd (2 catches) had the 30-yard reception on a fake punt in the fourth quarter and of his 12 career receptions, eight have covered at least 25 yards. Jacory Barney and Thomas Fidone had three receptions a piece for 28 and 15 yards respectively. Surprisingly absent was Isaiah Neyor who was without a catch though targeted four times.  Our two best receivers, Neyor and Banks, were targeted eight times with just one reception.

I addressed the special team difficulties above but should add that they did stop a fake punt by Rutgers on fourth down for no gain, and the Knights also doinked a 52-yard field goal off the right upright. Jon Hohl had two touchbacks on three kickoffs and no significant return yardage was yielded in the kicking game.

In many ways Nebraska out-Rutgered Rutgers Saturday minimizing the mistakes and making the most of the opportunities presented. Most importantly, the Huskers prevailed in a one-score game for the first time this season. Thank goodness for the bye week. It comes at a crucial time for the Huskers to heal up and prepare for an Indiana squad that went to 6-0 Saturday with a 41-24 defeat of Northwestern. Emphasizing how tough it is to win on the road in the Big Ten, the Washington team that lost to Rutgers last week beat Michigan at home and Minnesota also prevailed at home to knock off Southern Cal. It will likely take that four-quarter performance we have yet to see this season to husk the Hoosiers in Bloomington. Go Big Red!!

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