Penalties have become a stubborn problem for Nebraska, and the last two games have made that impossible to ignore.
Against Washington, the Huskers had a chance to finish off the Huskies in a 7-3 game, but a delay-of-game penalty on first-and-goal changed everything. Nebraska wound up missing the field goal. Then against Illinois, pre-snap penalties showed up again on the first two drives and put the offense behind the chains right away.
Luke Lindenmeyer said the issue has been showing up long before Saturdays.
“It’s been in practice. And we’ve seen the penalties in practice, and maybe we were just like, ‘Oh, it won’t happen in the game,’ but we’re bringing in some serious accountability about that. We’re not going to let stuff like that slide anymore,” the Nebraska football tight end told reporters.
The bigger question is how much of that gets cleaned up by changing the offensive coordinator. Dana Holgorsen is out, Glenn Thomas is in the mix, and the penalties still fall on Matt Rhule to fix first and foremost. That part of it remains a little baffling.
Elsewhere, Nebraska’s offensive coordinator search is already taking shape. A first Nebraska football OC hot board included five candidates Rhule should look at, and Jerry Neuheisel is another name worth tracking. The Northwestern quarterbacks coach has worked with Chip Kelly, has called plays before in the Big Ten, and looks like an up-and-coming offensive mind.
Still, Rhule may have someone in mind nobody sees coming. Rob Aurich was not on anyone’s radar, and that’s part of why this search could go in a direction few expect. Whoever it is, Nebraska has to get it right.
On the defensive side, Cameron Lenhardt is set to return to Lincoln for a fifth season. The new 5-for-5 rule gives him another year since he didn’t redshirt. Lenhardt has started 11 games over the last two seasons, and this year he has played in every game while posting 15 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and 1.0 sack.
Nebraska women’s basketball also kept rolling, moving to 3-0 behind another big night from Britt Prince. She scored 24 points, including 14 in the first quarter, after recently passing 1,000 career points. Prince shot 9-for-15 from the field and hit four 3-pointers.
Amiah Hargrove added 13 points and 10 rebounds, while Natalie Potts chipped in six points, six rebounds and two assists. Potts finished 3-for-5 from the field.
In Other News...
Nebraskas First Top 25 Night Brought Exactly What Fans Wanted
The first night as a Top 25 team came with the kind of performance Nebraska fans were hoping to see, as the Huskers rolled past Lindenwood 94-60 in a nonconference home game. It was a comfortable win from the start, and it gave Nebraska a chance to settle into its new ranking without much drama, while senior forward Damon Wilkinson provided a strong lift with 19 points and solid shooting from beyond the arc.
Pryce Sandfort led all scorers with 22 points, giving Nebraska another scoring option to lean on as the schedule turns a little more demanding. The next test comes against Boise State at a neutral site in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, a matchup that should offer a better gauge of where this group stands now that the early-season spotlight has found it. [Read more 🡒]
Nebraska Heads To Rutgers With A Defensive Problem It Must Solve
Nebraska heads to Rutgers with a defense that has to absorb two significant losses before the trip even kicks off. Linebacker Owen Chambliss and defensive back Andrew Marshall are both out because of injuries, leaving the Cornhuskers to reshuffle key spots on the back end and in the middle of the field as they prepare for a Big Ten road game that already had enough on the line.
Rutgers is dealing with its own personnel hit, with star wide receiver KJ Duff lost for the season, so both teams will be leaning on players who now have to do more than they were expected to do a week ago. For Nebraska, the bigger question is how quickly those replacements can settle in against an opponent that will be trying to test the spots where the Cornhuskers are thinnest. [Read more 🡒]
Nebraskas Slide Just Made This Final Stretch Feel Even More Urgent
Nebraskas latest loss to Illinois did more than extend a frustrating skid. It pushed the Cornhuskers into a deeper hole in the national polls and triggered a major change on the coaching staff, with offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen fired after the defeat. For a team that has tried to steady itself through a difficult stretch, the timing only sharpened the pressure around what remains of the regular season.
Rutgers is next, and the math is simple enough for Nebraska even if the path is not. The Cornhuskers need one win in their final three games to become bowl eligible, which makes every remaining Saturday feel heavier than the last. After four straight losses to Illinois and the fallout that followed, there is no margin left to waste. [Read more 🡒]