On a cold November afternoon on the banks of the Raritan River in Piscataway, the Nebraska Cornhuskers dominated from start to finish in a 31-0 game against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Nebraska improved to 8-0 all-time against Rutgers, tied for the most undefeated Huskers wins against an FBS opponent (also Utah State and Wyoming). It was also his first-ever shutout in a Big Ten Conference game, and his first shutout in a conference game since 2003 against Iowa State. It was their first shutout in an away conference game since 1997 at Kansas.
Granted, Rutgers was missing arguably its three best players (a QB, an RB, and a WR) and other Scarlet Knights were injured and scattered around the field throughout the game. But Nebraska was also missing its two top defenders, defensive back Andrew Marshall, who injured his foot against Illinois and had surgery this week, and linebacker Owen Chambliss, who is dealing with an AC joint injury. Marshall finished his year, but I hope Chambliss can return next week. Safety Dwayne McDougle, who is dealing with a wrist injury, also did not play and is expected to be ready to face Ohio State. At this point in the season, everyone is dealing with injuries that sideline players and that shouldn’t diminish a game in which the Huskers played decently for all four quarters.
The Blackshirts held Rutgers to 143 total yards and 42 passing yards, both numbers were the fewest for a Husker opponent in the Big Ten era and the fewest total yards since 2010 against Kansas, when the Jayhawks had 87 total yards and 42 passing yards. When Nebraska blanked Rutgers in the first half, it was the fourth scoreless first half for an opponent this season and was the sixth time in 10 games that the Huskers held the opposition without a touchdown in the first half. Nebraska also won the turnover battle as Caleb Benning and Jeremiah Charles both picked off Rutgers quarterback AJ Surace for their first career interceptions. Benning had a 39-yard return on his pick while Charles had a 23-yard return on his interception. Both plays stemmed legitimate scoring opportunities for Rutgers and helped preserve the goose egg.
Nebraska opened the scoring on its first possession with a 16-play, 94-yard drive that lasted 9:17. It was Nebraska’s longest drive of the season in terms of games and time. They added a 10-play, 90-yard drive in the second quarter and now have five touchdown drives in the last three games of 90-plus yards. In the last few comments, I emphasized how poor Nebraska’s offensive efficiency is with the Yards Per Point (YPP) metric. Even with the long drives, the Huskers YPP this week was a very respectable 13.8, a significant improvement from last week’s 32.8. Nebraska scored a touchdown in each quarter and even kicked a field goal in the fourth with a total of 429 yards of offense, and has now outscored its opponent in every game this year.
Nebraska totaled 237 rushing yards, improving to 6-0 on the season with at least 150 yards rushing. Against the worst rushing defense in the Big Ten, Nebraska went for the run, with 43 of its 68 plays coming on the ground (63%). During Nebraska’s 5-0 start, the Huskers ran it 56 percent of the time and threw it 44 percent. During Nebraska’s four-game losing streak, those numbers were reversed with 56 percent passing and just 44 percent rushing. The Scarlet Knights had also been vulnerable to running QBs, allowing an average of 65.4 yards per game to UMass, Northwestern, Maryland, Boston College and Michigan quarterbacks along with five touchdowns. Anthony Colandrea followed suit, running for 66 yards on just 9 carries and scoring on a 6-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.
The Husker rushing attack was led by running back Jamal Rule who had a career-high 22 carries for 103 yards, his third 100-yard rushing game this season and first in Big Ten play. Rule became only the second true Husker freshman running back to total 100 rushing yards in a Big Ten Conference game, joining Maurice Washington who had 109 rushing yards against Minnesota in 2018. Eight different Huskers carried the ball and as a group they averaged 5.5 yards per attempt. Mekhi Nelson had only three carries, but rushed for 31 yards and scored on an 11-yard run in the third quarter, his team-high sixth TD of the season.
A quick shout out to the offensive line, who didn’t allow a sack, and with injuries during the game to Brendan Black and Tree Babalade, were playing musical chairs by switching sides and positions. Of note, center Justin Evans, a New Jersey native, made his 41st career start, tying him with Jeremiah Sirles for second for most starts by an offensive lineman in program history.
Colandrea finished 15 of 22 through the air, gaining 188 yards and two touchdowns, as he connected with Luke Lindenmeyer and Carter Nelson. It’s worth noting that in the first half, Colandrea was 8-for-12, with five of those grabs coming from running backs and three coming from tight ends. The wide receiver corps contributed to the drops. Running back Isaiah Mozee had four catches for 48 yards, tying his career-high in receptions. In the second half, WR Jacory Barney had 3 catches for 28 yards, but Kwazi Gilmer was 0 for 1 and Nyziah Hunter lost 5 yards on his only catch. In recent weeks, this wide receiver group has been largely ineffective, and it was good to see the tight ends included in the offense. Luke Lindenmeyer had a 15-yard touchdown catch in the first quarter, his second touchdown catch of the season, and finished with three catches for 52 yards. With these catches, Lindenmeyer increased his season reception total to 35, putting him within three catches of Austin Allen’s NU season-ending tight end record of 38 catches in 2021. He also increased his career total to 69 receptions, passing Kyler Reed (67) for second place on NU’s career list, 13 catches of Mike McNeill’s Husker record of 82 receptions. The other tight end, Carter Nelson, had a career-long 40-yard reception to set up a Nebraska touchdown in the second quarter. He then added a 13-yard TD reception in the fourth quarter, his second TD reception this season.
The defense forced seven punts, one turnover on downs and two picks on Rutgers’ ten possessions. They were led by Vincent Shavers, Jr who had ten saves and a PBU. Jamir Conn returned from injury and contributed 7 tackles while Dexter Foster had 6 tackles. With Andrew Marshall sidelined, true freshman cornerback Danny Odem III made his first career start and made 4 tackles. This child has enormous potential and it will be exciting to follow his development. In addition to his pick, Caleb Benning continued his strong play and also made 4 tackles including a TFL. Defensive tackle Jahsear Whittington had a 6-yard sack in the second quarter, giving him a team-leading 5.5 sacks this season and added another tackle for loss in the third quarter, giving him 6.5 TFLs on the year. He left with an undisclosed injury late in the third and Husker fans are certainly hoping he can recover quickly. Defensive end Jordan Ochoa had a 2-yard sack in the second quarter, marking his second straight game with a sack. There were several other defenders who were quite disruptive, including Cam Lenhardt, Dawson Merritt, Donovan Jones, Dylan Berymon and Mason Goldman.
Special teams helped more than hurt for a change, although Carter Nelson’s fake punt pass to a wide-open receiver was dismal. John Hohl kicked a 41-yard field goal in the fourth to close out the scoring and hopefully that will boost some confidence in the kicking department. Hohl also had 3 touchbacks on 6 kickoffs, and none were returned by the Scarlet Knights. Punter Archie Wilson averaged 43.7 yards on 3 punts with a long of 51 and two inside the 20, the last being downed on one.
The penalties were better than the poor average of 70.8 yards per game, but the Huskers still committed six infractions for 50 yards. The pre-snap penalties are particularly infuriating since two of them blocked a drive in the first quarter. Baby steps, I suppose.
Nebraska was expected to win by a few touchdowns and they overperformed against a team that only lost to Michigan by 7 and USC by 8. The biggest takeaway is that after five attempts, the Huskers are finally bowl eligible. The Huskers also had a rare November victory, just the eighth November win in the last 10 years (not the 10 wins Big Ten Network announced in their postgame recap). The Huskers are 8-30 in November during that span and Matt Rhule has just his 3rd win against 11 losses. With Ohio State and Iowa gone, it certainly doesn’t get any easier, but interim offensive coordinator Glenn Thomas put together a decent game today and if the Huskers can gain some confidence and consistency, an upset still isn’t out of the question. As an example, look at Wisconsin, which beat Penn State and USC, but lost to Maryland 24-21 on Saturday. Yes, we have a chance, but it will take four good quarters against much better opponents. Go big red!!!
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