Nebraska Feels Further Away Than Ever After Loss to UCLA

Huskers left seeking answers after confounding loss to the Bruins.

Nov 2, 2024; Lincoln, Nebraska, USA; UCLA Bruins running back T.J. Harden (25) runs the ball against Nebraska Cornhuskers defensive lineman Jimari Butler (10) during the third quarter at Memorial Stadium. / Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

Nebraska lost 27-20 to UCLA on Saturday, in what amounted to a hugely disappointing performance from the Huskers. The Bruins outplayed and outcoached the Huskers for most of the afternoon, at one point leading 27-7. There’s no other way to say it: in front of a home crowd, with bowl eligibility on the line against a 2-5 team, Nebraska laid a massive egg. Screwed the pooch. Choked the chicken. Dropped the ball. However you want to say it, they didn’t get the job done, and Husker fans are left to wonder how much progress has really been made this season. 

Now let’s get to the topline takeaways. 

CHEERS TO THAT

Common Fan Tailgate. The Common Fan Podcast hosted our first ever tailgate on Saturday before the UCLA game. So many friends, listeners, and supporters showed up and we had a blast (and the rain even held off for us!). Thanks to everyone who has helped us create this community over the last year. We absolutely love doing it and we’re just getting started. 

Special thanks to Certified Pidemontese, Chick-fil-A and owner Charlie Colon, and White Elm Brewing Company for generously donating food and drinks to the effort. We were well stocked and the Common Fan partygoers were well fed!

Comeback Attempt. I don’t know about you, fellow Common Fan, but I’m really tired of the moral victories. At some point Nebraska needs to get over the hump. Come from behind to win a game. Beat a team you’re not supposed to. Beat a team you’re supposed to. Something. Anything. So it feels a little irritating even to write this. BUT, the team did fight on Saturday, and they didn’t give up. After a shaky first half where it felt like the Huskers were lucky only to be down 13-7, things got worse in a hurry. UCLA had a pick-6 on the first play of the 2nd half, and then held Nebraska at mid-field on 4th down and immediately went down and scored again. Suddenly it was 27-7 and it felt like things could get out of hand. The Huskers would claw back to make it 27-20, and they had the ball with a chance to win at the end. 

There was so much that was lacking about this performance, it’s hard to know where to start. But credit to the Big Red for not folding when it looked like things were slipping away. 

DIDN’T LIKE THAT

Organization-Wide Failure. Matt Rhule said the team played with a championship mindset against Ohio State. That game felt like a turning point, something the Huskers could build on for the remainder of the season and beyond. Whatever Nebraska showed in the valiant effort in Columbus, we saw the opposite on Saturday in Lincoln. As things were slipping away against the Bruins, I couldn’t help but think about what I wrote in my Keys to Victory article: 

“The Huskers are 5-3, one win away from being bowl eligible for the first time since 2016. UCLA is 2-5. UCLA has a first year head coach. While they've shown improvement in recent games, UCLA is not the better team. Conversely, Nebraska is the team with the second year head coach whose culture is firmly established. Nebraska will be playing at home. Nebraska is favored (most betting lines currently have the Huskers favored by around seven points). THERE IS NO REASON NEBRASKA SHOULD LOSE THIS GAME.”

And of course, that’s exactly what Nebraska did. They came out flat to start the game, let a very pedestrian offense score on the first three drives, and looked completely lost on offense for most of the afternoon (more on that below). I don’t understand how this happens. Where is the team that dominated Colorado? Where is the team that went blow-for-blow with Illinois and took Ohio State to the wire? Where is the team that fought to gritty victories over Rutgers and Purdue? It’s like you never know what you’re going to get from week to week. 

This Offense is So Bad. The offense is simply not good enough. They have no identity, don’t do anything particularly well, and never seem to have any answers. They talk about committing to the run game but they don’t do it. We watch other teams scheme successful plays and drives against a very good Blackshirts defense, and the Nebraska offense never seems able to do the same. Running backs miss open lanes. Wide receivers continue to struggle to block. The list goes on and on. We are at the point where Coach Rhule is going to have some very difficult decisions to make in the offseason. Offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield is among the highest paid OCs in college football. His offense was historically bad last year, and so far in 2024 they rank 100th in the nation in scoring offense, 99th in total offense, 104th in rushing offense, and 67th in passing offense. Since conference play started, the operation on offense hasn’t looked a whole lot better than last season (and that is saying something). Satterfield has had nearly two seasons to make something happen at Nebraska and hasn’t done it, and nothing in the historical record would suggest it’s going to get better. 

Getting Outcoached. UCLA had a bye week before playing Nebraska, and Coach Rhule made a comment in the post game press conference about how the Bruins did some things differently than what they had shown up to that point in the season. The most basic Common Fan could have told you that was going to happen. It feels like we’ve heard coaches give that explanation so many times. How are other teams able to work their bye week magic but Nebraska never seems able to? The Huskers had a bye week before getting drubbed 56-7 by Indiana. It would seem Nebraska’s coaches are not able to use the extra time to build new wrinkles into the game plan. Rhule’s comment reminded me of when Scott Frost said after the loss to Illinois in 2021 that Nebraska had to throw half of their playbook out the window because the Illini lined up differently than what the Huskers expected. Why does it feel like other coaching staffs are able to play this chess match from week to week, and to make in-game adjustments, but Nebraska never is? The same old things seem to keep happening over and over, regardless of who is coaching. It’s maddening. 

QUESTIONS

Is the Team Getting Worse Every Week? Nebraska’s 28-10 manhandling of Colorado feels like a lifetime ago. Even the loss to Illinois felt like an evenly matched battle between two good teams. Where did that offense go? What happened to the mental edge the Huskers seemed to be playing with early in the season? Nebraska was ranked in the top 25 at one point this season. They’ve gone from 5-1 and everything to play for, to 5-4 and hoping to figure out how to make a bowl game. I would venture to guess most fans did not expect the season to go by without some bumps in the road, but the way this season has played out represents some kind of special hell for Husker fans. We finally felt we were turning a corner in Year 2 under Matt Rhule. The early results backed that up. Suddenly, after three consecutive losses, we are watching all the same old issues that have plagued Nebraska football for a decade or more. 

FINAL THOUGHT.

I don’t even know what to say at this point. I’m certainly not giving up on Matt Rhule, and Nebraska can still make a bowl game. 6-6 would represent progress after nearly a decade without a bowl game, but I would venture to guess most Husker fans would be disappointed with 6-6. There was so much positive momentum coming into the season, and the first half of the year confirmed that positivity. Now it feels like the team is lost in the wilderness. The players probably need the bye week as much as anyone, but it will be a long couple of weeks for Common Fans. 

One thing I know for certain is that Husker Nation will continue to show up. At this point, it’s bowl game or bust. We can (and will) talk about everything that went wrong for eight months of the offseason. For the next three games, let’s enjoy the hell out of what’s left of this college football season, and do our part to will the boys in red to at least one more victory. 

As always, GBR for LIFE. 

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