Week 7 - Purdue

 Week 7

Last week I predicted there may have been some hope in returning the blackshirts to deserving players, and it was clear I was very premature in that statement. 

This week was full of underdog hopeful fans trying to believe and will their way to getting the Huskers to play well. While the game was full of ups and downs, it was obvious just as to why the Huskers were underdogs to being with. 

Entering Saturday night's game in West Lafayette, it was the first true road test the Huskers led by Mickey Joseph were going to face. After winning a nail bitter in New Jersey last week, it was going to be a much tougher game facing the Purdue offense led by pro-ready quarterback Aidan O’Connell. 

All week Husker writers talked about the need for the blackshirts to stand up and lock down the pass-heavy Purdue offense. However, it was clear the Husker defensive game plan didn’t focus on the run stuff, rather they focussed on protecting against the deep ball and passing game Purdue offers. Well, giving up 217 yards rushing to a -thought to be- pass-heavy offense is just a recipe for disaster in Big Ten football games. While losing the turnover battle, losing in the trenches, giving up another 600+ yard game, and being on the field for just shy of 3 full quarters worth, that often leads to what was the outcome of tonight's game - a loss. 

This game, however, certainly lived up to the offensive onslaught that everyone had predicted it would be. With 1,085 total yards of offense from both teams, this game was a fun game to watch even with the non-existent offensive line play from Nebraska. While this game was the complete opposite from last weeks game, it was instead the Trey Palmer show that kept the Huskers in a position to win. With the help of the seemingly indestructible Casey Thompson, the two connected on 6-11 attempts and gathered a whopping 237 yards and two touchdowns. Not to mention the furthest run of the game came from Palmer breaking off a 60-yard jet sweep. While this game was hard to watch in moments, it’s clear the Huskers again rely too much on the explosive play to sustain scoring drives and that is again a concern the Huskers have had for several years now. 

While the exciting game Trey Palmer had, it was another losing effort that showed us an important aspect of the team Mickey Joseph was left with. The guys held their own in a hostile environment, 14-point underdogs entering the game, and were even down 17 at one point in the game. While the team may have played sloppy in moments, they rallied behind coach Joseph and fought until that clock read 0:00 which is something that Scott Frost often found himself not being able to say. 

Later this bye week I will have an article geared toward who I want the new head coach to be but until then, I am extremely content with the way the team has rallied around and fought till the very end with Mickey Joseph as their head coach. Mickey is a leader and it’s clear he still knows exactly what’s up with wide receiver talent as Trey Palmer is now graded as the BEST wideout in the nation. I think that no matter where this team goes the rest of the season, Mickey Joseph will have a vital role in the offense and wide receiver room. This week we will learn the news of what in-state target Malachi Coleman desires in a school. However, with the talent Mickey has already produced in LSU with Ja'marr Chase and Justin Jefferson and now with Trey Palmer, there is convincing belief that Malachi Coleman will stay in Nebraska to be developed at the hands of Mickey Joseph. 

While this bye week couldn’t have come at a better time, some very critical things must be hashed out before Illinois comes to town. First, Nebraska must get this Offensive Line under control. It is no longer a strength focus, it’s an assignment issue. Donovan Raiola has scrutinized the importance of being strong and having the kids work so hard to puke, now it’s time to give them headaches from the amount of film they need to watch and understand who to block and when to stop holding. Discipline is killing this offensive line and it’s time for them to figure it out before running into the gauntlet of top 10 defenses the Huskers clash within the next coming weeks. Second is we need to get healthy. Casey has taken an absolute punishment without a cognizant offensive line, Luke Reimer, Quinton Newsome, and now Nick Henrich are all dealing with nagging injuries that have sidelined them for portions of games and Travis Vokelek seems to struggle to stay on the field with injuries, and Brian Buccini has been banged up as well, nonetheless, this bye week will be extremely beneficial before the last stretch of physical B1G games. And finally, the defense needs to regroup and get back to their sub-300-yard games as opposed to these 500+-yard games. After all, they just cost me my buy one get one Big Mac Sack deal this week.

Regardless, this bye week will be critical in defining who the Huskers' identity truly is this season. Until Illinois, we pray Coleman stays home and the Huskers get healthy.

Go Big Red.