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Nebraska football: Spinning their wheels, Huskers appear devoid of an offensive identity

Shawn Ekwall

By Shawn Ekwall

Published:

Watching Nebraska football for the past 20 years has been maddening. Diehard fans have been through the gauntlet of excruciating losses — whether it be blowouts or narrow misses.

Saturday’s 20-13 loss at Minnesota was another small chapter in the 20-year novel. The script played out this way: terrific start, opposing team makes 2nd half adjustments, Huskers lose lead, and a gallant attempt to rally comes up just short.

Nebraska fell to 3-6, and its bowl hopes are on life support. A trip to Ann Arbor to face an unbeaten Michigan team is on deck. Things aren’t looking rosy.

Where are the Huskers falling short? Let’s start with the offense. Saturday’s display on that side of the ball was an embarrassment. Following a 9-play 75-yard TD drive on its opening possession, the Nebraska offense turned listless. Play calling wasn’t good. OC Mark Whipple didn’t have a great day.

Nebraska is missing an offensive identity. Do they want to run it? Throw it? Be balanced? Watching this team try to find its way through an offensive script doesn’t provide any concrete answers. And the blame falls squarely on Whipple’s shoulders.

Lost without Casey Thompson

Casey Thompson missed Saturday’s game with an arm injury. Freshman transfer Chubba Purdy got the start. Things looked good early. Purdy engineered a long TD drive to open the game. He punched it in from 2 yards out and Nebraska led 7-0.

Purdy engineered a scoring drive on the next possession. Although it ended in a Timmy Bleekrode field goal, the Huskers were up 10-0. Minnesota hadn’t won a game in 32 straight tries after falling behind by double digits.

After that? Six straight punts and an interception. It allowed Minnesota to awaken from its slumber and put together a 2nd half rally.

How did Nebraska have success early on? Simple. Running the football with Anthony Grant. Grant finished with 121 rushing yards. But 89 came in the opening half and 60 on the first drive. Whipple had several chances to feed his workhorse the ball. He didn’t, and it cost Nebraska with several 3-and-outs.

Whipple decided to go away from what worked. The results weren’t great. He asked Purdy to do too much. Minnesota’s defense rattled the freshman. Purdy threw a costly 2nd half pick and finished just 6-of-16 for 41 yards.

Logan Smothers entered for a single 3rd quarter possession. He came in again late and led the Huskers to a field goal and had Nebraska on the march for a tying TD, but Trey Palmer couldn’t snag a 4th down throw.

Smothers was clearly the better of the 2 QBs. Yet Purdy got the majority of the game reps. Why? Even head coach Mickey Joseph said after the game, they should’ve went to Smothers sooner.

One thing’s for certain, without a true offensive identity, why not play the guy reading defenses better and the guy that provides a better running option?

Swallow your pride, go with Smothers

As I wrote last week, Smothers has B1G experience. It’s out there. On film. At this point I’m not sure why Joseph and Whipple are choosing to ignore it. Had they gone with Smothers earlier, Saturday’s outcome may have been different.

Smothers finished 5-for-10 for 80 yards. He threw some nice balls. His 4th down throw to Marcus Washington was fantastic. His 4th down throw to Palmer was on the money. Palmer doesn’t miss those often. If he makes the catch, Nebraska’s knocking on the door for a game-tying score.

Purdy was clearly rattled late in the 2nd quarter and into the 3rd. He wasn’t reading coverages or moving through his progressions. At that point, Whipple should’ve pulled the plug. But he’s stubborn. And he didn’t. And it cost Nebraska a chance to steal a win at home.

Joseph said the decision on who plays QB rests with Whipple, but that they were on the same page.

Points at a premium

Nebraska is smack in the middle of a stretch of facing not only some of the Big Ten’s best, but the nation’s best defenses.

Last week the Huskers faced the top-ranked Illinois defense and put up just 9 points. They were held to 13 by Minnesota’s 7th-ranked unit. They still face 3rd-ranked Michigan’s defense and 5th-ranked Iowa’s unit. It doesn’t get easier.

Whipple has to find a way to generate some yards and points. Chucking it up-field 3 times hoping for the best, ain’t it. If Nebraska wants to find any offensive success, it needs to run the ball, use play action and keep its defense off the field. Long, sustained drives are key. It won’t happen each time, but they can’t go 7 straight possessions without points and hope to win.

Wasted defensive effort

The most disappointing part of Saturday’s loss was the performance of the Nebraska defense. They pitched a 1st half shutout of a B1G opponent for the first time since 2019. Senior Caleb Tannor had his best game of the season with 6 tackles and 1.5 sacks.

It was all for naught with the offense laying a 2nd half egg. Nebraska doesn’t know how to win. Tannor said they got too comfortable.

Yes, Mo Ibrahim did his thing and took over in the 2nd half. But it shouldn’t have gotten to that point. The Huskers could’ve had a comfortable lead. With just a competent offensive plan. It put too much pressure on a defense that shouldn’t be expected to shut teams down for 4 quarters.

In the end, it was another all-too-familiar loss for Nebraska. The plots may change, but the narrative remains the same. Nebraska can’t get over the hump. And with their starting QB sidelined, they need better leadership and a better plan from their head coach and veteran OC.

Shawn Ekwall

Shawn Ekwall has been a contributing writer for Huskers Illustrated and covers the Huskers and other B1G teams for Saturday Tradition. Follow him on twitter @shawn_ekwall