Huskers Get Torched At Indiana Dumpster Fire, 56-7

Where do the Huskers go from here?

Indiana's Shawn Asbruy II (1) celebrates his interception the Indiana versus Nebraska football game at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. / Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Great question.

In less than a week, NU travels to #4 Ohio State.  At the Horseshoe.  In Columbus, Ohio.

Yup.  Out of the frying pan and into the fire. 

It's like one week you get beat up by Mohammad Ali when he was in his prime and a week later you take on Mike Tyson also in his prime.

Things don't look too good for the Scarlet & Cream this Saturday.

Matt Rhule needs to find a way to get his team back on track following a 49 point butt-ripping at the hands of Indiana on Saturday. 

Fans will say this is only Rhule's second year of a three to four year rebuild.  Better talent is on ithe way.  That is true.  But for now, if the Huskers play the way they did Saturday, it's going to be another blowout loss for NU.

So what can Matt Rhule do in a week to prop up his team?  Does he have a magic wand he can wave in front of his players?  Is there a Churchillian speech he can deliver to his troops this week?

Rhule continues to say the Huskers are in Phase 2 of the rebuild:  Learning how to win.

What we all witnessed Saturday in Bloomington was a total mismatch.  It was like a '72 Pinto trying to win the Indy 500.

No way, Wade.

The Indiana Rebuild

Fans (not just Husker fans) are wondering how Curt Cignetti has managed to go directly to Phase 3 (Playing championship football) in his first year at a Power Conference?

One of the big reasons for the Hoosiers' 7-0 start is the portal.  Cignetti took six of his assistants with him from James Madison as well as 13 key players from last year's 11-2 JMU team.  He also used the portal to land a bunch more.

Many of those same transfer players had a hand in beating the snot out of a good (not great) Husker football team.

How can someone whose last stop was James Madison take the Big Ten by storm in his first year?  This year's Indiana team looks and plays like a CFP contender.  How does that even happen?

Ask first year coaches like Kalen DeBoer (Alabama 5-2), Sherrone Moore at Michigan (4-3). Jedd Fisch (Washington Huskies 4-3). Deshaun Foster (UCLA 2-5). 

(DeBoer's Washington Huskies lost to Moore's Michigan Wolverines in last year's national title game.)

What leaks off Husker fans is that Indiana is a basketball school.  Before Saturday's game with Nebraska, IU's stadium hadn't sold out in years.  The last time IU started the season 7-0 was in 1967.

Since '67, NU has won five national championships, produced three Heisman winners and numerous other coveted player awards.  How about NU's crowd support? Since 1962, Nebraska has sold out Memorial Stadium in Lincoln every home game.  The on-going record stands at 401 consecutive sellouts.

How is it possible that schools like Alabama, UCLA, Michigan, Washington (and Nebraska last year) passed on Cignetti?  Did those schools even talk with him?  Did they pass on his transfer players?

How is all that possible?

The people at Indiana must have been either very lucky or really smart when they picked Cignetti.

The opportunity must have been a dream come true for him.  He left James Madison in a hurry last year, right after the regular season ended.  Before he landed at Indiana, Cignetti left town with six of his assistants (OC, DC, RB, QB, D-line and ST). 

Their departure left James Madison University high and dry just as they were preparing for their December 23rd Armed Forces Bowl game vwith Air Force.  The Dukes did their best to try to fill the vacancies, but JMU ended up losing 21-31.

This information isn't an indictment of Cignetti.  Matt Rhule did the same thing when he left Temple in December of 2016 for the opening at Baylor.  Rhule also took with him some of hisTemple assistants.  Temple met Wake Forest in the Military Bowl that month. In that game, the Owls were coached by current Husker ST coach, Ed Foley.  Temple lost 26-34.

How Bout Them Huskers

Grandson Will and I do a post-mortem on NU's embarrassing loss to Indiana.  We reluctantly look ahead to the Ohio State game.  As usual, we praise John Cook's Husker Volleyball team that remains #2 in the latest AVCA poll, a few votes behind Pitt.  Congratulations Huskers!!!

MORE: Doc’s Diagnosis: Nebraska Couldn’t Stop Indiana

MORE: Nebraska Volleyball Still No. 2 in AVCA Rankings, Receiving Fewer First-Place Votes

MORE: With Buckeyes up Next, Nebraska Will ‘Attack the Week’ After Lopsided Loss

MORE: The Stretch Big: Tate Frazier on College Basketball Teams to Watch

MORE: Nebraska-UCLA Game Gets 2:30 p.m. Kickoff

---

Stay up to date on all things Huskers by bookmarking Nebraska Cornhuskers On SI, subscribing to HuskerMax on YouTube, and visiting HuskerMax.com daily.

---