Jeremy Pernell's Mailbag: A Husker Football Assistant Who Should Be on Notice & More

Nebraska's second-half performance at Purdue was encouraging, but the Huskers have plenty to improve on with truer litmus tests coming up next.

Sep 28, 2024; West Lafayette, Indiana, USA; Nebraska Cornhuskers running back Emmett Johnson runs the ball during the second half at Ross-Ade Stadium. / Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images

Nebraska is coming off a 28-10 win over Purdue that helped alleviate some of the lingering headache from the Illinois loss. The Huskers are now sitting at 4-1 with a pivotal game Saturday afternoon against an undefeated Rutgers team.

I've gotten several emails about the current state of the Nebraska football program, so I decided to pick a few out that I've edited for succinctness and give my thoughts.

Do you look at the Purdue win as a "get right" game for this team? — Anthony (Omaha, Neb.)

Short answer, no. At the same time, however, the way the past seven seasons have gone, Nebraska's not in a position to take a conference road win for granted. That's a game the Huskers lose under the previous staff.

You go scoreless in the first half after missing three field goals — two of which are blocked. Your opponent takes the second-half kickoff and has an eight-minute drive that ends with points. We remember how Scott Frost's teams responded in those situations. Those Husker squads would have imploded and found a way to lose. They wouldn't have handled that adversity.

This team answered that moment by scoring three straight touchdowns on offense and icing the game with a pick-six in the back half of the fourth quarter. Even though it was against an inferior opponent, for a program that's building back from the studs, it's a sign of growth.

But let's also keep things in perspective a bit. The Boilermakers are neck-and-neck with UCLA for the honor of being the worst team in the Big Ten. These Huskers are at a point in their rebuild where they should be overcoming early struggles and beating teams they grossly out-talent like Purdue.

A better barometer for how much this team has grown will come over the next two games. Rutgers and Indiana are true litmus tests.

Nebraska needs to start beating teams like that. For as good as Illinois is, I still think Nebraska wins six of 10 on a neutral field. This program needs to start winning games that are essentially pick'ems for all intents and purposes.

Illinois gave everyone the blueprint on how to attack Nebraska on both sides of the ball, and I expect Rutgers to see whether the Huskers have adapted. How this team responds will give us a good idea of how this season probably goes.

Sep 28, 2024; West Lafayette, Indiana, USA; Purdue Boilermakers running back Devin Mockobee is tackled by Nebraska Cornhuskers defensive back Malcolm Hartzog Jr. (7) during the second half at Ross-Ade Stadium. / Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images

Are you less concerned about the defense after how they played against Purdue? — Cameron (Chicago, Ill.)

I am, but moreso because I think the ceiling is really high for this unit and not necessarily because of how they dominated Purdue. Again, let's see how they do against a team in their league.

Holding the Boilermakers to 224 yards and basically three points — that late touchdown against the backups when the game was over is inconsequential — was impressive on the surface. But again, keep in mind Purdue fired offensive coordinator Graham Harrell a day later.

Purdue was also 7-of-15 on third down. The Blackshirts are currently tied for 82nd nationally in third-down defense, with opponents converting at a 39.7% clip. If this defense wants to join the ranks of the elite, they'll need to shave 10 percentage points off that number moving forward.

The tackling was much better against Purdue after the defense uncharacteristically allowed a ton of yards after contact against Northern Iowa and Illinois.

I'm going to need to see this defense bow up Saturday. The front seven wore down against the Illini, which surprised me. With how much the team subbed during the nonconference, I expected them to be relatively fresh and hold up to the physicality of that game.

Temperatures Saturday are expected to be in the mid-90s, but with the D-line depth this team has, I'm going to be concerned if that happens again.

Illinois ran 66 plays and had only three go for negative yards. They averaged 3.05 seconds per pass attempt and gave up just six pressures on 35 dropbacks. Yeah, that can't happen again.

Rutgers is just as physical as Illinois on both sides of the ball. They aren't as talented at wide receiver or quarterback, but they're coming to Lincoln with Kyle Monangai — in my opinion the best tailback in the Big Ten. The Scarlet Knights run the ball 64% of the time and aren't exotic on offense. The Blackshirts need to show up and dictate this game.

Nebraska placekicker John Hohl attempts a 39-yard field goal during the fourth quarter against Illinois. The kick was wide left. / Kenny Larabee, KLIN

How worried should we be about the special teams? — Alec (Las Vegas, Nev.)

I think coaches should be extremely worried. We knew they were a concern heading into the season, but I don't think anyone expected it to be this bad.

Let's start with the low-hanging fruit. Nebraska's kicking game is giving off 2021 vibes, when Connor Culp and Chase Contreraz went a combined 8-of-16.

Knowing you don't have a guy who can get you points when you reach the 25-yard line has an impact on how you call the game offensively. Not only does it hamper your game plan, but it inevitably puts undue stress on the players which oftentimes leads to mistakes and miscues. Nebraska can't afford that.

The Huskers are committing eight penalties per game for 73.4 yards, which ranks 107th and 108th nationally. Rutgers, on the other hand, is averaging four penalties for 32.8 yards, which is t-5th and 7th, respectively. It's already a concern heading into the game.

Without a kicking threat, how will the offense approach this game when they cross the 40-yard line? Rutgers is second nationally in red zone defense. They've given up six scores (four TDs) in 11 trips by their opponents. This is definitely a concern.

Rhule has said the kicking operation looks good in practice, it's just a matter of doing it on Saturdays when it counts. We all know how fragile a kicker's psyche is. Will John Hohl or Tristan Alvano get into a groove at some point? Is it just a matter of knocking in a couple gimmes — if those exist for these two — and they get off the schneid?

That's the best-case scenario. I'm starting to have flashbacks to when Shaquille O'Neal used to claim he hit 80% of his free throws in practice, then went out and warped basketballs with the bricks he threw at the rim during games.

The fact of the matter is that several other parts of the operation have looked downright bad this season and that falls squarely on coordinator Ed Foley's shoulders.

There's something off with the scheme. The kick and punt coverage units have been terrible. Brian Buschini's tackle against Purdue drew "oohs" and "aahs" but you never want your punter making tackles downfield. That's a red flag that something's not right fundamentally.

Foley is one of the highest-paid special teams coordinators in the country. He's making $550K to have a pulse on these groups. If Camden Witucki wasn't ready to take the mantle from Marco Ortiz, that's on him to recognize that and plan accordingly. If he thought Witucki was ready and now the team is turning to Aidan Flege — who hadn't played football since the 2022 season for Iowa Western — that's on him too.

Did Foley know about the snapping issues this offseason? With NIL-funded walk-ons, did Nebraska attempt to find someone through the portal? They clearly should have and if Foley didn't recognize the issue, that falls on him.

Head coach Matt Rhule has commented publicly several times about scouting coaches like Iowa's Kirk Ferentz and trying to take away things he can use to replicate their success at winning close games, particularly through special teams. I don't think it's premature to suggest Ed Foley should be on notice.

This team isn't good enough to have special teams be a liability and come away with wins. Not against the teams left on their schedule. Rutgers will stress that unit like no other team the Huskers have faced so far. In 15 years as a head coach, Greg Schiano's teams have blocked 71 kicks and have scored 63 non-offensive touchdowns. His teams find a way to win close games.

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