Tad Stryker: Recovery and Resolve in Columbus

Can Matt Rhule turn the Cornhuskers’ moral victory into a satisfying end to the season?

Nebraska placekicker John Hohl boots one of his three field goals against Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus. / Kyle Robertson/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

What legacy will this — another one-score loss for the Nebraska football program, another loss to a rated team — leave behind?

Have we seen this movie before? And will it turn to ashes, as did a seemingly promising 36-31 loss to Ohio State late in Scott Frost’s first season?

Or will the hard-fought 21-17 loss in the Horseshoe be a substantial step in a long-awaited revival for Nebraska football?

Seven days after the Cornhuskers were stunned 56-7 at Bloomington, Indiana, at the end of a long, disconcerting week where a growing chorus of loud voices in Husker Nation proclaimed that Rhule was on the verge of losing his team, they made a 180-degree turn on defense and resumed their previously stingy ways. The Huskers had three sacks, all in the first half, and made seven tackles for loss. They got three-and-outs. They forced five Ohio State punts and intercepted a pass. The front seven were disruptive. But leading 17-14 midway through the fourth quarter, with the chance to beat a Top 5 team for the first time in 23 years, they couldn’t quite take the next step beyond looking like they belonged.

In the five-point loss at Columbus in 2018, freshman Adrian Martinez stood tall, completing 22 of 33 passes for 266 yards and a touchdown, with no interceptions. He had Nebraska in the lead twice, including a 21-16 advantage at halftime. But the Huskers lost to the eighth-rated Buckeyes on a day when they went plus-two in turnovers. After the game, Urban Meyer praised Frost and elaborated about how hard his offensive scheme was to handle. At the time, Meyer appeared to be right on the mark; the Huskers won four of their final six that year.

Frost seemed to have the Husker program on the upward path at the end of 2018, but he couldn’t sustain the momentum. What about Rhule?

Nebraska Cornhuskers quarterback Dylan Raiola (15) looks to hand off during the second half of the NCAA football game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Ohio Stadium in Columbus on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. Ohio State won 21-17. / Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Huskers gave Ohio State all they could handle without getting much from Dylan Raiola, who showed some scrambling ability but never hurt the Buckeyes with his arm. Raiola produced only one touchdown on four trips into the red zone. He couldn’t match Martinez’s efforts from 2018, completing 21 of 32 passes for no touchdowns and an interception, gaining only 152 yards through the air, or 4.75 yards per attempt. In the two-minute drill, he threw an interception, missing his receiver badly on a seam route, to end Nebraska’s potential game-winning drive.

Raiola got some help from his running game (Dante Dowdell ran for 60 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries), but perimeter blocking on screens and sideline passes was again subpar.

Maybe the best news of the day came from the right foot of placekicker John Hohl, who hit all three of his field goal attempts from 39, 54 and 47 yards. Snaps and holds seemed to be improved. It was a long-overdue breath of fresh air and three refreshing gulps of cold water for for the drought-ridden kicking game. Hohl, a redshirt freshman from Lincoln Southeast by way of Iowa Western Community College, had never kicked a field goal longer than 21 yards for the Huskers.

Through it all, the Blackshirts stood tall for NU, keeping Ohio State’s five-star athletes off balance and ineffective for much of the afternoon.

“We never really controlled the game,” OSU coach Ryan Day acknowledged to a FOX Sports reporter after the game.

Across the way in a postgame press conference that sounded more like a sermon, Rhule turned up the optimism, saying he caught his first glimpse of a championship mindset in his players, and talked about the way he, his staff and his team are battling to overcome a decade-old negative vibe in the locker room. He spoke of efforts to continually fight through the losing mindset pervading his program.

Ohio State Buckeyes running back Quinshon Judkins runs the ball against Ohio State Buckeyes during the fourth quarter of their game at Ohio Stadium on Oct 26, 2024, in Columbus. / Kyle Robertson/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

On the Husker Sports Network, color commentator Damon Benning openly praised Rhule for his outspoken candor and his efforts to build a culture and inspire his players, saying he’s glad his son is playing for him. It’s obvious that Benning likes what Rhule is preaching. Four games in November will reveal if Rhule’s players are buying it. Rhule himself acknowledged that if it doesn’t translate into four well-played quarters against UCLA, the moral victory in Columbus wasn’t worth it.

A selective look at statistics gives Nebraska fans reason for hope. The Huskers had 18 first downs to Ohio State’s 11. The running game was spotty as usual, but they still outrushed the Buckeyes 121-64. The total offense totals were remarkably similar, 285 yards for OSU, 273 for NU, who had a 10-minute time of possession advantage over the Buckeyes but could find the end zone just one time. The Buckeyes got two long touchdown passes from Will Howard on a pair of busted first-half coverages, and not much else until their final game-winning drive.

After a promising start to the season, the Huskers (5-3 overall, 2-3 Big Ten) have an offense that’s in the midst of a crisis of physicality. Blocking by the offensive line and wide receivers has been undependable. It took a step forward at Columbus, but has much more to prove in November, starting next week against UCLA, a must-win game for the Big Red before Rhule’s talk of turning losing mindsets into winning mindsets into championship mindsets can be taken seriously.

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