"This is one of the most undisciplined teams in the country". This was Coach Frost's opening statements in the post game press conference and I couldn't agree more. Nebraska has recorded AT LEAST 10 penalties in every game this season after racking up 11 for 136 yards on Saturday. The Huskers out gained the Boilermakers 582 to 516 with 259 of those yards coming form the ground game. However, Nebraska still could not control the ball for long and saw many of their drives stall out quite quickly. The offense turned it on a a bit in the 3rd quarter, but with the defense continually giving up long TD drives, there was no shot for this game. After Nebraska scored on it's opening drive, Purdue took control of the game. The Huskers had plenty of chances to get back into it, but could never quite get the offense and defense to click together. Special teams still has countless issues, but that's just beating a dead horse at this point. Here's my break down of the game.
GOOD- Devine Ozigbo and JD Spielman, these two offensive weapons went off against Purdue! Ozigbo finished with a career high 170 yards rushing and 2 TDs. He also added 28 yards receiving and was clearly the lead back this week. Ozigbo has always been a solid running back, but never really broke away from the other kids in that position. This could be a sign he's ready to step into a bigger role as Nebraska pushes through the rest of the season. As for JD, the sophomore had 10 catches for 135 yards and 2 scores. He's become a favorite target early in the season for the Huskers and his electric play-making ability demands the ball be in his hands as much as possible. As mentioned earlier, the Huskers offense played fairly well, probably the best all season during the third quarter. This team will continue to grow and understand the playbook. Bright things are ahead for the Husker offense!
EXPECTED- David Blough torching the Nebraska secondary. Blough came into this game with nearly 900 passing yards, 6 TDs and 1 pick in his previous two games. He continued his dominating performance racking up 328 more passing yards, 1 TD and even got it done on the ground, racking up another TD on a QB sneak and 38 yards as he avoided pressure all game long. Blough is definitely hitting his stride with Jeff Brohm's offense, and Purdue could definitely be a contender in the BIG 10 West with an offense like that. Nebraska's secondary has had struggles all season, and the penalties haven't helped either. One of the biggest issue is the underneath crossing routes however. Purdue ran a lot of those and it often resulted in gains of around 15 yards or more. Nebraska has really struggled to cover the underneath routes and tend to completely forget about some receivers all together. Purdue Tight End Brycen Hopkins scored on a throwback wheel route where no Husker was in the area for at least 20 yards. This could be a very long year for the secondary.
BAD- The bad category should just be copy and pasted from previous weeks at this rate. Penalties, dumb plays and horrible execution on Defense and Special Teams. Scott Frost and his staff have had enough time to start fixing these things, now it's time to put it into effect. The real bad issue I heard about this week was the conflict between Safety Lamar Jackson and Scott Frost. After Lamar had been called for a holding penalty on defense, negating an interception by Marquel Dismuke, Coach Frost and Jackson were having a conversation on the sideline. KRNU's sideline reporter, Jake Bartecki, reported that the conversation got quite heated and Jackson even shoved Scott Frost. Frost shoved back and sent Jackson to the locker room early prior to halftime. When the second half resumed, Jackson did not play and stood in the far corner of the sideline by himself. I wouldn't be surprised if Jackson left the team to be honest, but this is a prime example of what is wrong with this team. It does not have to do with Coach Riley or any previous administration. It's simply due to the fact that Frost is not able to connect with some of these guys yet and this is causing rifts within the locker room. This will cause a lot more losses before the season is over, but will eventually get fixed. I'm not going to fault either side at this point, there are still a lot of details that need to be talked about, but things need to calm down if this team is going to start working together as a unit, coaches included.
As the Huskers head to Madison this week to take on the Badgers, I don't expect to see much of a change. Wisconsin should roll in this game and I'd be surprised if Johnathan Taylor even needs to play in the 4th quarter. Brace yourselves Husker fans, this season is only 1/3 of the way through.
Now for some other news around College Football.
- Notre Dame continues to prove me wrong (hasn't been hard to do *facepalm*) and Ian Book is making me a believer in the Irish. They have a very favorable remaining schedule, even with a trip to Blacksburg, VA this week to take on the Hokies. Big potential for a Playoff Contender.
- Kentucky keeps rolling! A road trip to Aggie-land will tell a lot this week, but I'm all aboard the Benny Snell train. Wildcats are a dangerous team in the SEC East.
- Clemson: Trevor Lawrence is the starter, Kelly Bryant peaces out, Trevor Lawrence is injured in the first quarter against Syracuse and Chase Brice leads the comeback victory. I'm all about players making their own choices and looking for what they think is best for them, but this is Nebraska's issue in a Playoff Contender. Not sure how Bryant's decision will play out in the end, but right now it's really hurting the Tigers.
- It could be impossible for anyone to slow down Bama at this rate. This team has taken their "Roll Tide" phrase to a whole new level averaging 54.2 points per game and over 550 yards of total offense.
- Penn State had the most questionable play call over the weekend as they lost by 1 point at home to Ohio State. On a 4th and 5, just over a minute left and game on the line, the Nittany Lions decided to try a run play up the middle (after 3 consecutive timeouts) which was stuffed quite easily by the Buckeyes for a 3 yard loss. Trace McSorely, the star QB and potential Heisman candidate didn't get the ball in his hands and I cannot understand why. He had the game of a lifetime and the kid is an absolute BALLER. You've gotta let him take the ball there and make a play.
Thanks for reading my Week 5 Reflection and be sure to check out the recording of my radio show CFB KnowItAll below! Also, here's a picture of me broadcasting the Purdue game up in the booth!
I've also attached a link to my recording of my radio show if you couldn't catch the live version! Thanks for all the support!
https://youtu.be/ev9JrLzWrR0
#CFBKnowItAll
Alex Fernando
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