Stukenholtz: In the End, Huskers Remain Lost and Numb

Same result, different level of pressure on Matt Rhule as Nebraska football moves one step closer to yet another losing season.

Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

I didn’t intend to analogize Nebraska football to Linkin Park. I’ll bet Matt Rhule wasn’t planning on replacing his offensive coordinator mid-season, either. Sometimes life happens, huh?

My promise to my kids Saturday afternoon was to pick up dinner after the Husker game. With the way it finished, I decided I needed some music to match the mood. Linkin Park seemed appropriate. I’m 40, so they’re right in my high school/college years wheelhouse. Plus, they don’t exactly sing about happiness.

On my short drive, I had time for four random songs on the playlist: 

In The End
One Step Closer
Numb
Lost

Were the members of Linkin Park secretly Husker fans all along?

USC defeated Nebraska 28-20 at the L.A. Coliseum to break the Trojans' string of five straight losses in one-score games. NU’s close-game skid is now three straight after suffering similar heartbreak against UCLA and Ohio State.

Now, after a 5-1 start to the 2024 season, the Huskers sit at 5-5. They are one step closer to the extremely uncomfortable reality of missing a bowl game for a power-conference-worst eighth consecutive winter.

First, the similar. There was a bad Dylan Raiola interception. Another frustrating performance in the red zone. Defensive chances not seized. More questionable clock management. A head-scratching 4th down situation. And yes, bad calls.

There was also plenty different about this one, some good and some bad. Let’s get the bad out of the way, shall we?

USC exploited the Blackshirts more than any non-Indiana offense this season. Defining explosive plays as 10+ yard runs and 15+ yard passes, the Trojans racked up more big plays and more yards from those plays than any Husker opponent outside of the Hoosiers. By land, seven carries for 119 yards, all by either mobile quarterback Jordan Maiava or running back Woody Marks. By air, five passes for 138 yards, including the go-ahead 48-yard touchdown in the third quarter on what looked like a bust in the NU secondary.

(Indiana’s 15 explosive plays for 323 of their 495 total yards continues to boggle the mind, by the way.)

I don’t have a way to quantify this one, but I’m pretty sure that no other opponent had singled out an individual player as much as USC targeted Malcolm Hartzog. The defensive back had a rough day in coverage to say the least.

If you could boil this game down to one sentence, it would be the following: One coach had the guts to go for it, one did not. Matt Rhule explained his thinking after the game, that on 4th & 3 they had a fake punt ready, then the Trojans were in punt safe so he called timeout, then they brought the offense out, only to just sit there and take a delay of game penalty because they didn’t get the right coverage look. To make matters worse, on the ensuing possession, Lincoln Riley decided to go for a 4th & 1 and got it. Yards to go, line of scrimmage, leading or trailing, obviously these scenarios were not identical twins. But there’s something to be said about one team waffling and over-analyzing while the other just goes and takes it. Rhule would’ve been better off simply punting without a second thought. I’m not even mad about the timeout, just the indecision and cowardice!

My stance on the missed DPI calls on Jahmal Banks is that they both – 3rd quarter play before the first FG, final play of the game – were quite obvious and should have been called. Also, Nebraska failed to take advantage of numerous other opportunities to grab control of the game and whiffed, thus leaving it in the ill-equipped hands of the officials. Both things can be true.

Having mentioned red zone struggles as old news, it is new to score so few points on chances inside their 20. Since Emmett Johnson’s touchdown came from 29 yards out, the only red zone points were the two field goals. That’s Nebraska’s fewest against Big Ten competition, worse than the seven red zone points against Indiana and 14 against Purdue, Rutgers, and Ohio State. This is certainly an area of concern if you are new offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen.

As for the good, credit the players – and maybe Holgorsen, too? – for finding something in the handoff run game. In their previous Big Ten games (excluding Indiana of course), the Huskers were consistently averaging between 3.7 and 4.1 yards per carry specifically on carries for running backs. Against USC? 5.9 yards per carry. Emmett Johnson and Dante Dowdell combined for only 18 carries, their fewest running back handoffs in a conference game. You’d expect to see the volume tick up a bit based on that efficiency.

Also good? How about Ceyair Wright in his return to Los Angeles? The USC transfer and LA native returned an interception to the end zone for the first points of the game. Then he blocked a field goal to save Nebraska three points, plus made four solo tackles to boot. It was an incredible homecoming for Wright, who was not thrown at much after the pick-six.

Ty Robinson continued leading the Blackshirts by example. He crushed the pocket and was credited with the hurry on Maiava’s interception to Wright, and he forced a critical second half fumble that directly led to a field goal. Robinson has done what he set out to do in terms of his personal growth and NFL Draft stock, and it’s given the Huskers enough juice to win some of the games they have lost. He could use a little more help, though.

Are you becoming numb to all this? Rhule is trying his damndest to not go there, but even he must consider the possibility of some sort of curse or witchcraft. How else do you explain USC, a team with similarly poor vibes, being let off the hook, but not the Huskers? That chronically poor programs like Vanderbilt, Kansas, and Indiana are in better shape than a place with five national championships? 

At times, I’m sure the players and coaches must feel like Linkin Park lyrics eerily describe their thoughts to a T:

“I tried so hard
And got so far
But in the end
It doesn’t even matter
I had to fall
To lose it all
But in the end
It doesn’t even matter”

- In The End, 2000

The best news is that this is *NOT* the end. There are positives from which to build. Two weeks of Holgorsen’s coaching and influence will become three weeks from his hire to the Wisconsin game, then four weeks before the finale against Iowa. Plus, Wisconsin and Iowa don’t have the QB or receivers capable of stressing the Blackshirts like USC did Saturday. All is not lost. 

Dinner hit the table – Taco John’s – and the kids started eating. “Did the Huskers win?” asked my 11-year-old, who was playing Fortnite with his friends instead of suffering some light childhood sports trauma.

“No, they didn’t,” I replied with a sigh. My kids are would-be Nebraska football fans now, and they have me to thank. Thinking of that sometimes makes me stop and consider…

What I’ve done.

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