Week 10: Minnesota

 Week 10 - Minnesota

Following an astounding first half, the Huskers dropped their fourth straight game to the Minnesota Golden Gophers this Saturday afternoon. As the Huskers continue to struggle to finish off the season, more questions continue to arise. How does Mickey’s interim tag removal look after this game? Who is QB2? What needs to change for this team to finally compete for 4 quarters and win close games? These are tough questions that need time to be answered but this loss was arguably the toughest pill Mickey Joseph and his supporters have had to swallow thus far.

After an electric start which carried that momentum into the second quarter, the Huskers entered half-time stunning the home crowd to a 10-0 lead. However, this was the peak of the mountain for Nebraska and their momentum as they returned flat. 

After giving up the lead and allowing 20 unanswered points in the third and early fourth, the Huskers finally stuck with quarterback Logan Smothers to change the look of the offense. The only issue that there is with Logan Smothers playing is the simple fact that the playbook changes drastically. Offensive Coordinator Mark Whipple all season has expressed his concerns with Logan’s arm yet when he is in the game, he only gets screen passes and read-option rushes. It is an unfair balance between Chubba Purdy and Logan Smothers. 

After knowing Casey Thompson wasn’t going to be starting this week, Chubba Purdy got the start leading an impressive first and second drive before having 6 consecutive three-and-out drives essentially costing the Huskers their game. After finally getting his chance, Smothers got a drive to hand it off, hand it off again, and throw a pass that wide receiver Oliver Martin stone handed before he was reintroduced with the sideline. While Logan later became the saving grace to the Husker offense and nearly led a game-tying drive, Logan proved he could make deep throws in critical moments. The most crucial of which was the 4th & 10 from the Minnesota 45 down the sideline to Marcus Washington where the ball was placed perfectly where only Marcus could make the play leading to a field goal to keep the Huskers within reach. 

My point is, with Logan making crucial throws in the few opportunities he has been given, it’s clear the bias that Whipple has with Chubba Purdy is costing the Huskers games. Personally, the head coach that I have been watching has been the Coastal Carolina coach Jamey Chadwell. He has been running heavy-read option football with mobile quarterbacks, similar to what Nebraska used to do in the 90s which led them to successful seasons. Jamey has a record of 38-20 at Coastal and while it doesn’t seem special, I think he brings exactly what Nebraska needs and brings back their triple-read option that confuses the defenses like crazy. This type of offense is something Scott Frost tried to implement with Adrian Martinez, which if you recall, was the majority of the successful plays Scott Frost had in Nebraska with the trio of Smothers, Martinez, or even Luke McCaffery. If you can pry Chadwell to be even an offensive coordinator on Nebraska, I would love for that type of flair to be returned to Memorial Stadium. And before you say, “he’s only a Sun Belt coach,” just remember he beat Georgia Southern and Nebraska didn’t.   

Now as for Mark Whipple, there have been rumors of him retiring mid-season due to health, him wanting to step away from the program altogether, and even somewhere he wants to return. While the rumors are grasping for any type of drama around Nebraska football, it’s clear that Mark has to go. While I had extreme excitement, along with the rest of Nebraska football fans, it’s just plain and simple Whipple’s offensive design doesn’t work with Big Ten play and at least Nebraska’s offensive scheme. While it isn’t entirely fair to blame Mark as he was dealt a poor hand with Nebraska’s offensive line, he simply hasn’t made the adjustments needed. His personal bias with Chubba Purdy doesn’t help his case either as Logan Smothers proved today that he is the more seasoned option at quarterback. While neither are Casey Thompson's level, it was clear that Chubba didn’t show off a better arm than Logan Smothers today which was reflected in the amounts of underthrows and poor accuracy today. 

The takeaway from today’s game leaves me feeling that Mickey Joseph will not remain the head coach of Nebraska after this season and we can only hope that he stays within the program. But ultimately with 3 games to play and bowl games all but out of the picture, I hope to see the Huskers play spoiler. The Huskers have an extremely challenging finish to the season with Michigan in Ann Arbor, Wisconsin coming to town with a young defensive-minded coach, and the stout Iowa Hawkeye defense in Iowa City. I hope that the Huskers can find something to build on starting with getting a new head coach named to stop the rumors, stop the guessing, and stop the distracting. The sooner this gets cleared, the sooner we can begin drinking Kool-Aid for next season's inevitable heartbreak. 

As for myself, I have grown up being a die-hard Chicago Cubs fan and one thing I have learned through being a part of their fanbase is understanding the term, “There’s always next year”. While enduring the hardships and giving up hope for this season isn’t enticing, what is enticing is the thought of knowing that it won’t be long until we have a winning, championship-contending, competitive team. While we are staring at a 3-win season right now, just remember that there’s always next year. 

Until then, Go Big Red.