ThotDoc's Brain Droppings on the Iowa Game

Huskers Have no Heroes, but a Heaping of Heartbreak as the Hawkeyes Prevail after Purdy is Picked

On a below freezing Black Friday in Lincoln, the Iowa Hawkeyes nabbed a walk-off win over the Nebraska Cornhuskers 13-10 on a 38-yard field goal that barely cleared the crossbar. It was another painfully maddening finish for the Huskers who had possession of the ball at midfield with :23 left, and overtime seemed inevitable. But true to form for offensively inept Iowa, they took advantage of three Nebraska turnovers and turned them into 6 crucial points and their 10 th victory on the season. It was the third time in the last five years against Nebraska that Iowa has won on a late field goal. They had a walk-off trey in 2018 and a kick with one second remaining in 2019. Even though the Huskers upset the Hawkeyes last year in Iowa City, they haven’t beaten Iowa in Lincoln since 2011. The loss denied Nebraska bowl eligibility, extending the drought to seven years, the longest among Power Five schools.

The Huskers finished October with a 5-3 record needing just one win in their final four games to get the requisite sixth victory. Instead, they stumble through November with three 3-point losses (two of them walk-off field goals) and a defeat in overtime. Even though this isn’t new for Husker fans, you can never get used to one-possession losses. It’s still a gut punch that knocks the wind out of you and then just hurts. This loss marks the 40th one score defeat since 2015 against 15 victories. Mike Riley’s squads were a rather impressive 8-10 in those games compared to Scott Frost’s 6-25 record and Matt Rhule’s 1-5 effort this year. It has become a problem of epidemic proportions that is not easily exorcised. It’s enough for a religious man to believe in curses.

The truth is that close low-scoring games are the reality of Big Ten football. You must have offensive lines and running backs and big tight ends willing to slug it out and win the line of scrimmage. Sure, speed helps, but you are rarely going to be a consistent winner in this league going laterally. The game is won by the team who is most consistent at not making mistakes that cause you to beat yourself, the latter being something Nebraska has perfected. Iowa, on the other hand is a perfect example of the above as they have made winning ugly a thing of beauty. Not that I want Nebraska to become Iowa, but limiting turnovers would probably have given this year’s team a shot at an 8-4 record or better. Nebraska will likely finish the season leading the nation with 31 turnovers (15 lost fumbles and 16 interceptions).

Nebraska was fortunate to only be down 10-7 at half. They were out-yarded 200-118 with 66 of those yards coming on the long touchdown toss to Jaylen Lloyd. Iowa led in first downs 12-3, rushing yardage 126-18 and time of possession 22:12-7:48. The Husker offense took just 19 snaps. It looked to get ugly after intermission if the offense couldn’t give the defense a break. Of course, it didn’t hurt to have TWO blocked field goals to keep the score close as well.

In the second half, the Blackshirts managed to hold Iowa to four straight 3 and outs in which the Hawkeyes totaled just 24 yards and just 17 total in the third quarter. While the Husker offense managed just 3 points in the third quarter, they did earn a 11:01-3:59 edge in possession. This allowed the defense to catch their breath, but the offense continue to struggle to put together any consistent drives when they could have taken the lead. The biggest opportunity missed was in the fourth quarter when the Huskers drove into Iowa territory and Chubba Purdy lost the ball while running on 3rd and 7 and only gained 3 yards when he could have easily had a first down inside the Iowa 40. Brian Buschini punted to the one-yard line and from the endzone the Iowa QB tossed the ball to his running back while falling down. Iowa was lucky the play didn’t result in a safety or a NU touchdown that may have been the game-winning score. Instead, after another Iowa three and out, the Huskers got the ball at midfield and used 10 plays to drive just 24 yards completing two third longs only to miss a 44-yard field goal against the wind. The drive took 6:04 off the clock. Two failed chances to put the game away. The teams then traded punts and interceptions, the last of which led to the game-winner.

There was one more opportunity lost when Tommi Hill picked off a pass with about 40 seconds left and returned it to the Iowa 37-yard line. Unfortunately, Tamon Lynum was called for holding, backing the Huskers up to the NU 45. Those 18 yards lost were huge with :31 left. A couple of plays and Nebraska could have been staring at their own walk-off win. But not to be. Iowa gained just 57 yards in the second half and garnered just two first downs, and that was enough to win when the Husker offense failed and for the third week in a row by throwing an interception on their last offensive play.

Chubba Purdy finished the day 15 for 28 passing for 189 yards with a touchdown and the late pick. He also fumbled twice, losing one as he seems to resist putting the ball away in the open field. He was sacked twice but led the Huskers in rushing netting 42 yards on 12 carries with a long run of 14 yards. Even with his trifecta of game-ending terrible throws, he may be the leader in the clubhouse next season depending on who’s picked up in the portal.

The rushing game was essentially nonexistent as the Huskers totaled a paltry 75 yards on the ground with Emmett Johnson netting 27 yards on 11 carries and Anthony Grant just 4 yards on 4 totes. Billy Kemp led the team in receptions with 4 for 21 yards. Alex Bullock two big third down catches for 35 yards. Thomas Fidone had just 2 catches for 9 yards and could have made a bigger impact had he been targeted more. Jaylen Lloyd’s 66-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter was his thirds TD catch of at least 58 yards this season. He joins Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr. as the only Big Ten players with three catches of at least 50 yards this season. That play was also the longest play against Iowa in 2023.

A shout out to often maligned offensive tackle Bryce Benhart who made his 41st career start and is now tied with Jeremiah Sirles for the most starts by a Nebraska offensive lineman in a season. With al the injuries up front, Benhart was the only Husker offensive lineman to start all 12 games this season.

The defense was led once again by safety Isaac Gifford who made a career-high-tying 11 tackles in the game, matching his 11 tackles last season against Georgia Southern. This marked his ninth game with at least seven tackles this season and third career double-digit tackle game. Gifford increased his season tackle total to 86, becoming the first Husker defensive back with at least 80 tackles since Nate Gerry in 2014. He walked today with the seniors but still has eligibility remaining and would be a crucial cog for the defense should he return next year. Linebacker Luke Reimer had a season-high 10 tackles to increase his career tackle total to 293, moving him into third on the Nebraska career tackles list passing Dedrick Young (284), Lavonte David (285) and Mike Brown (287) in today’s game. Safety Phalen Sanford finished with a career-high nine tackles, all in the first half bettering his previous high of six tackles against Purdue and Illinois earlier this season. Nash Hutmacher (4 tackles) and Javin Wright (3 tackles) shared the team’s only sack with Nash also knocking down a pass and contributing to QB hurries.

Special teams had an up and down day with some really good and some not so good moments. Defensive end Ty Robinson and nose tackle Nash Hutmacher each blocked a field goal in the first half, marking the first block FG of their careers for both players. It marks the first time Nebraska has blocked two field goals in a game since a 7-6 win over Pitt on Sept. 17, 2005 (Zach Potter, Adam Ickes). Nebraska had a total of four blocked kicks this season, including three field goals (Elijah Jeudy vs. Purdue) and one blocked punt (Blaise Gunnerson at Illinois). Brian Buschini averaged 39.9 yards on 7 punts with the highlight being the one downed by Phalen Sanford at the one. Iowa even helped out by kicking two kickoffs out of bounds. Tristan Alvano made a 44-yard field goal with the wind and missed badly from 44 yards against the wind. The offense needed to get the ball closer but those misses are huge in a tie game. Alvano finished the year 9 for 14 on his field goal attempts. Alvano also failed to show up for a 60-yard attempt against the wind that was going to be a fake and Matt Rhule needed to waste a timeout as a result. He’s just a freshman. I believe he will get better. Ethan Nation fumbled a punt return but was bailed out by the blocked field goal.

One final shout out to the players who participated in today’s senior day introductions. They included, WR Billy Kemp, S Isaac Gifford, LB Nick Henrich, LB Luke Reimer, LB Luke Reimer, CB Quinton Newsome, RB Josh Fleeks, S Omar Brown, WR Ty Hahn, S Ashton Hausmann, RB Anthony Grant, LB Garrett Snodgrass, RB Trevin Luben, S Phalen Sanford, PK Timmy Bleekrode, FB Braden Klover, LS Marco Ortiz, TE John Goodwin, LB Grant Tagge, OG Ethan Piper, OG Nouri (Ragaller) Nouilli, OL Keegan Menning, DL Jacob Herbek, LS Camden Witucki, DE Blaise Gunnerson. It will be crucial for some of those with eligibility to return for another year, especially those on defense.

Nebraska began the season with a late turnover against Minnesota that led to a 13-10 walk-off field goal and ended the season doing the same thing resulting in the same result and the same score. That’s not the kind of symmetry you want to see in a new regime. However, I am more hopeful at the end of this season than I was after 2022, even though there was just a one game improvement over last year’s 4-8 record. Missing the 15 additional practices that a bowl bid would have granted is a big loss, but I still believe Matt Rhule is the right guy to turn around the program. He said in would be a process and as such it is proving to be more painful than we had hoped. But I would take it any day over the scorched earth circus over in Boulder led by their knucklehead coach. Stay the course and Go Big Red!!

Related: HuskerMax Game Page

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