Check out various notes from Nebraska football’s loss to Michigan on Saturday.
Nebraska’s Hail Mary touchdown after Michigan oversight
Nebraska runs its Hail Mary play every week in practice, and because it’s run “on air,” receiver Jacory Barney said, it works every time.
It worked Saturday afternoon, too, when Barney caught a 52-yard touchdown as time expired in the second quarter. Nebraska lost 30-27, but tied the game at 17 going into halftime.
“It was called and I was like ‘I’ve just got to do my assignment and do what I’ve got to do,’” Barney said. “Dylan (Raiola) made a good throw, I made a good catch, I’m proud of it. It wasn’t enough. We’ve got to make another play.”
Michigan’s unwillingness to call a basic timeout preventing the Hail Mary opened the door to it occurring.
The Huskers faced fourth down (and 11 yards) at midfield with 13 seconds left. As the clock ticked, UM did not call a timeout that would have forced Nebraska to give the ball back to Michigan if it didn’t convert the fourth down. Wolverine interim coach Biff Poggi said afterward he didn’t call timeout because he didn’t think Nebraska would.
But coach Matt Rhule did. As some in the Memorial Stadium crowd booed NU’s conservatism — the Huskers ran the ball on third-and-16 instead of trying to get the first down — Rhule chose to call his timeout with one second left.
“I anticipated them calling timeout and trying to make us punt,” Rhule said. “Luckily for us, our punter’s pretty good at getting outside the pocket, so I wasn’t worried about the punt, but I anticipated them calling timeout.”
Didn’t happen. The Hail Mary did.
Raiola rolled right with token pressure, wound up, and threw to a swarm of Huskers and Wolverines near the north end zone. Barney was in front of the swarm. He caught the ball near the goal line and twisted in by a half yard.
“That was just a ‘hey we’re going to take our shot,’ and it worked out,” Rhule said. “Once all sadness dissipates on our end, there will be a lot of plays to build on, in terms of plays like that.”
Emmett Johnson’s big workload against Michigan
Emmett Johnson touched the football 24 times. No touchdowns, limited yardage, lots of hits.
The Nebraska junior said afterward he’s none the worse for wear. Big-time games require big-time workloads.
“That’s how the Big Ten is, man,” Johnson said. “You’ve got to be able to run the ball 20 times if you have to to move the chains.”
The 5-foot-11, 200-pounder carried 19 times for 65 yards. His first run of the game — a 14-yarder — was his longest. He also caught five balls for 32 yards.
Johnson’s touches total tied for the second most in his Husker career after accumulating 32 in the opener against Cincinnati three weeks ago. He entered the game averaging more than 122 yards from scrimmage per game.
With champion boxer Bud Crawford on hand, Johnson said he channeled his inner underdog like he has for most of his football life. The rusher expects more of the same with eight Big Ten regular-season games still ahead.
“I’m fine,” Johnson said. “I’ve got a lot more football to be played. I’m taking care of my body. I’m good right now. I’ll be good.”
Archie Wilson’s ‘bittersweet’ return to the field
Archie Wilson was dormant for two Saturdays leading up to Nebraska’s Big Ten opener against Michigan. The Huskers’ blowout wins over Akron and Houston Christian didn’t require the freshman punter’s services.
It all made for conflicting emotions when he punted for the first time in more than three weeks against the Wolverines.
“I was probably enjoying it more in terms of seeing the team succeed when I didn’t have to punt,” Wilson said. “But obviously getting out there, it’s a bittersweet feeling because you go out there and get to do your job, and you can do a good job of it, but obviously you’d rather the team succeed over you.”
In front of his parents, who are in town from Victoria, Australia until early next week, Wilson punted four times, averaging 49.3 yards per rugby-style, end-over-end boot.
Nebraska coach Matt Rhule has lauded Wilson for his ability to punt within different situations and requirements, but the Huskers’ special teams kept things relatively simple in calm, sunny conditions.
Wilson felt he mis-hit one ball, but Michigan was limited in the return game all afternoon. The Wolverines only attempted to return one punt, and Semaj Morgan lost a yard in the third quarter as the Huskers flipped the field.
Kyle Cunanan on his first field-goal attempt
Kyle Cunanan considered the conditions ideal for kicking. The only thing that wasn’t was his first attempt.
The Nebraska kicker misfired for the first time as a Husker on his team’s second possession, pushing a 44-yard field-goal try wide right that would have given the hosts an early lead. The setup from long snapper Kevin Gallic was good, he said. So was the hold from Kamdyn Koch.
“Just a little toe-y,” Cunanan said. “It’s bound to happen at some point. It wasn’t a great ball on my part. We’ll clean it up, and we’ll be better the next time.”
The sophomore transfer from Charlotte and Cal was better later in the afternoon. He connected on tries from 39 and 38 yards, the last of which put the Huskers back in a one-score game early in the fourth quarter.
Cunanan also handled kickoffs. His bouncing onside attempt nearly lofted high enough to buy Nebraska time to snag it in the final minutes.
Cunanan is 6 for 7 on field goals a third of the way through the season and has yet to miss an extra point.
Matt Rhule expresses frustration after loss
Ten minutes into his press conference after a 30-27 loss to Michigan, Nebraska coach Matt Rhule was offered the opportunity to provide a little uplift as his team heads into the bye week.
“I don’t like where we’re at right now,” Rhule said. “I feel like somebody hit me with a hammer right now. I wanted to win the football game, and I thought we would win the football game.”
The Huskers, instead, never led. They tied the game twice, at 10 and, after a 52-yard Hail Mary, at 17, but relinquished those leads. They allowed 286 yards rushing to the Wolverines — including 75, 54 and 37-yard touchdowns — and seven official sacks (it was really eight since offensive guard Henry Lutovsky caught a pass for a 12-yard loss).
“There’s things that were exposed that have to be improved or we won’t be the team we want to be” Rhule said. “There’s other things that I thought were excellent.”
The improvement is clearly in run defense — where Rhule cited tackling as a prime issue on Justice Haynes’ 75-yard touchdown — and protecting Raiola.
“In pass pro, I thought, there were times we just gave them too much credit,” Rhule said. “We’re backing up, we’re catching them, like ‘what are we going to do?’ Just not really being super physical.”
With its run defense, Rhule said, players have to get off blocks better and make more tackles. He cited Bryce Underwood’s 37-yard quarterback draw — in which he went untouched to the end zone — as an example.
“If you get in five wides and run quarterback draw, it’s going to be a tough play,” Rhule said. “You’re going to need the D-lineman to make a play. We’re going to have to, as a team get past — and I think they have, I’m not saying anything about our team — but we’re going to have to get past the ‘perfect call’ world. We have a call, there’s going to be stress on somebody, you going to have to make a play.”
Dylan Raiola: ‘There’s no magic sauce’ for pass protection
Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola knew going into Saturday’s game that Michigan had good pass rushers.
By Saturday night, he was tipping his cap to a group that sacked him seven times and forced a -12 yard completion to an offensive lineman.
“We just have to find a way to get the ball out quicker,” Raiola said after NU’s 30-27 loss to the Wolverines. He threw for 308 yards and three touchdowns. “There’s no magic sauce. We just got to figure it out and move on.”
Asked to gush a little more about Michigan’s front seven, Raiola demurred.
“I’m not going to sit here and crown them,” Raiola said. “At the same time, I respect them. They rushed hard, they collapsed the pocket and they did a good job.”
When asked if he’d like to take some of the burden off the offensive line for the sacks, Raiola said he’d take the blame.
“Point it at me,” Raiola said. “I’ll take it.”
Raiola threw a 26-yard touchdown in the second quarter to Jacory Barney — it was the result of a check he made at the line of scrimmage to Michigan showing blitz — and a 52-yard Hail Mary. Asked specifically about the play, and the Memorial Stadium reaction to it, Raiola contrasted the cheers to the boos fans had a few minutes before, when it appeared the Huskers were headed into halftime without trying to score.
“Shoot, we were getting booed,” Raiola said. “So I mean, I love that. I mean, shoot, it sucks when your home crowd boos you. Once again, we appreciate them and everything they do. It’s cool now, but, you know in the game it doesn’t really matter, when it comes down to it.”
Nebraska defenders break down errors
Three times Saturday, Michigan made Nebraska pay for a breakdown on defense.
Bryce Underwood, Justice Haynes and Jordan Marshall all escaped for touchdowns of at least 37 yards in the Wolverines’ 30-27 victory. All had daylight in front of them from the moment they burst through the hole at the line of scrimmage.
“They do have a lot of big bodies, a lot of tight end movements,” Nebraska linebacker Javin Wright said. “They have pretty good players. They change a lot of personnel and stuff like that to mix you up. Just gotta have good eyes and fit the run, and sometimes it doesn’t always fit the correct way, and they break one. So that’s their game.”
The Wolverines finished the game with 286 rushing yards. The three touchdowns accounted for 166 of them.
Linebacker Vincent Shavers Jr. cited miscommunications for the Huskers’ inability to stop Michigan on the ground.
It’s the second straight game against a power conference opponent that Nebraska has struggled in defending the run.
In the season opener, Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby piled up yardage in the second half.
Two games against inferior opponents didn’t improve the situation, and now the Huskers have a bye week to lick their wounds and adjust with the bulk of Big Ten play still to come.
“I feel I could just challenge myself to be better, like getting off the blocks, seeing a puller,” Shavers said. “So I feel like they’re a good O-line. They’re disciplined, so I feel like I could just be better by watching more film and breaking down the O-linemen.”
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