Forty-one hours had passed between media availabilities for Nebraska coach Matt Rhule.
Even though nearly two full days had gone by, he still used one of the same words to lead off both of his opening statements. Or, versions of the same word, anyway.
On Saturday, Nebraska’s 30-27 loss to Michigan was “a disappointing loss.” On Monday, Rhule was “obviously disappointed” with the result.
It’s an apt word to describe what happened on Saturday afternoon. The pageantry of having national eyeballs while on CBS, paired with the 30th anniversary celebration of the 1995 team, with the added cherry on top of having Terence “Bud” Crawford lead the Huskers out of the tunnel? It had the makings of what could have been a transformational Saturday.
But it didn’t turn out that way.
“I think it’s really, really important for us right now as a coaching staff and, really, a football program, is a very calculated response,” Rhule said Monday. “Not to overreact, not to underreact, but just to be very disciplined in the way that we see things. What I’ve asked our guys not to do is not settle for the narrative of how we’re just a couple plays away. I think that’s a deadly, deadly thing when you start saying things like that.”
He’s right.
While there are plenty of specific plays that come to mind — the turnover on downs inside the 10-yard line, the three explosive plays that Michigan turned into touchdowns, the seven but basically eight sacks on quarterback Dylan Raiola, the missed field goal, the touchdown that wasn’t for Nyziah Hunter, the punt Jacory Barney Jr. fair catch inside the 5-yard line, the three consecutive third-and-long conversions that Michigan had in the fourth quarter, etc. — Nebraska’s issues are deeper-seated than just a missed play here and there.
“It’s not to say, ‘It’s just one play.’ It’s not to say, ‘This position group has to play better,’” Rhule said. “I think everybody can play better.”
While there are plenty of questions that can be asked of this team — What’s the plan in the run game? Who is RB2? What’s the plan to work on red zone offense? — there is one question that looms large this week.
What’s up with the lack of physicality on the lines of scrimmage?
This was, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the most disappointing things to see from Nebraska against Michigan. That’s not just my wording. It’s Rhule’s, too.
“Perhaps the most disappointing thing was just the fact that they controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides,” Rhule said Monday.
Does Michigan have dominant athletes in the trenches? Yes. Without question. Credit where credit is due.
But for Nebraska to lose a physicality battle? On both sides of the ball? In the Big Ten? That’s not a recipe for success in any game, let alone Michigan.
Let’s start with defense.
Over the past two seasons, Nebraska has been elite at run-stopping. That starts up front with the defensive line. And, yes, you can point to how Nebraska no longer has Ty Robinson and Nash Hutmacher — both of whom have latched on in the NFL — on the line and lost several players to the transfer portal. But that’s old news. That doesn’t solve today’s problems.
Nebraska did play with a lot of 5-man defensive line fronts on Saturday — effectively daring a run-heavy Michigan offense to throw the ball. But, as Rhule said, “they still found a way to run a couple runs that hurt” Nebraska.
The three big whiffs for Nebraska’s defense came in three different situations.
The first: Bryce Underwood’s quarterback draw. Underwood had a gaping hole to run through in the B gap. Underwood scampered to the end zone untouched for the 37-yard touchdown.
What happened? Nebraska was in man coverage, and the safeties split at the snap to run toward the receivers who were lined up wide — which left the entire middle of the field wide open for Underwood to run.
In that situation, Michigan has a numbers advantage, but, as Rhule said, “you have to make a play. We didn’t.”
The second: Justice Haynes’ 75-yard run. Underwood handed the ball to Haynes 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage. Haynes, using great lead-blocking from UM’s center, waited just long enough for the rush lane to develop in the A gap on an outside zone play. The play could have ended for what would have been a 5-yard gain with Nebraska safety Marques Buford Jr. bearing down at the 30-yard line, but Haynes ran past him to score.
It wasn’t just a missed assignment for Buford, though. Rhule said, “Several guys just didn’t execute their assignment” on that play.
The third: Jordan Marshall’s 54-yard run. Marshall took advantage of a combo block from his offensive line before he skirted through the A gap and took off toward the end zone. What happened on that one?
“We’re just not quite lined up right, not quite communicating right,” Rhule said. “And we have three guys, really, on one side.”
In summation?
“Missed calls, missed assignments, missed assignments, that inevitably will lose you games,” linebacker Javin Wright said Saturday. “We just have to get back to the fundamentals.”
Now for the offensive line.
After the game on Saturday, Rhule didn’t shy away from his frustrations here.
“There were times where we just gave them too much credit,” Rhule said. “We’re backing up, we’re catching them like, ‘What are they going to do?’ And just not really being super physical.”
With the benefit of film review, did Rhule agree with that sentiment on Monday?
“Yep,” he said. “They edged us early, and then we started trying to absorb contact instead of taking the fight to them.”
Raiola, like any mature quarterback, is taking the blame for his sacks.
“Point it at me,” Raiola said. “I’ll take it.”
But it’s not just him.
He, wanting more time in the pocket on certain plays, is a factor in this, sure. Sometimes, someone runs the wrong route. Sometimes the running back, tight end or receiver’s attempt at chipping isn’t as effective as it should be. And sometimes, it’s the defensive linemen making quick work of beating past the offensive linemen.
In summation, the entire operation needs some work.
“The edge guys won versus our tackles too much, and it takes all 11 guys,” Rhule said. “Guys gotta get open fast. Quarterback’s gotta get the ball out. Chip … whatever you need to do, we didn’t get that done well enough.”
Here are a few examples of the sacks from Saturday:
Sack No. 1: It’s third-and-7 from the Michigan 21-yard line. Michigan brought a four-man front. With both of Michigan’s ends smelling blood in the water, Raiola stepped up in the pocket. Michigan’s Jaishawn Barham was credited here, but it was more of a self-inflicted sack after Teddy Prochaska stepped backward and onto Raiola’s foot before Raiola hit the turf.
Sack No. 2: It’s third-and-8 from the Nebraska 27-yard line. Michigan brought a four-man front after disguising for five. Raiola stood in the pocket for three seconds before it collapsed entirely around him.
Sack No. 3: It’s third-and-3 from the Michigan 14-yard line. Michigan brought a three-man front after disguising for five, but Rayshaun Benny and Cameron Brandt. Benny steamrolled through left tackle Gunnar Gottula and left guard Henry Lutovsky to first get hands on Raiola, while Brandt pushed past Prochaska to fly in for clean-up duty.
Sack No. 4: It’s first-and-10 from the Nebraska 49-yard line. Michigan brought a four-man front. After Raiola stood in the pocket for four seconds, he avoided one tackle before getting bear-hugged for a loss of 9 yards by Jimmy Rolder. Rolder got through on the left side.
At left tackle, Nebraska mostly played Gottula, but Elijah Pritchett did come in for six snaps before he was flagged for false starting.
Who’s going to start there moving forward? Unclear.
“I think that this whole week, we’re going to go back and look at those guys,” Rhule said in response to a question about left tackle. “What you find out from players is how they respond after a game like that. I’ve always felt at positions like corner and tackle, your job is to not give up a big play. And when you have a game like that where you … give up a couple sacks, it’s really about how you respond.
“… We’ll have to see through this week and then go into the next week with hopefully, ‘Here’s our best five guys.’”
How will Nebraska respond?
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Amie Just
Husker sports reporter/columnist
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