The last quarter in Eugene will linger for a while, because Nebraska had Oregon right where it wanted it and still walked out with a 17-14 loss.
For most of the night, the Huskers did enough to make this feel like their kind of game. They held an 8-point edge in the fourth quarter.
Then everything unraveled. Oregon piled up 37 plays in the final period, Nebraska had one three-and-out and one possession that began with 28 seconds and no timeouts, and the Ducks erased the deficit to steal it.
Dylan Raiola didn’t need to be spectacular to finish the job. He completed 18 passes for 59 yards in the fourth quarter, and Nebraska let him work underneath all the way down the field.
The Huskers never brought the A-gap pressure that bothered him in Lincoln, and they even let him run for a six-yard first down on first down. He also picked up multiple first downs with his legs, which made the end of the game even harder to swallow.
That collapse has revived the loudest talk around the program, but the “Biggest overreaction” label belongs here: Matt Rhule needs to be fired.
That simply isn’t happening. Troy Dannen believes Rhule is making progress, and the reality is Nebraska is still 5-2.
At the start of the year, not many people had the Huskers in position to lead Indiana and Oregon for nearly the entire combined stretch of those two games. The record is still 0-2 in those matchups, and the losses sting plenty, but they also looked different from a lot of the defeats Nebraska fans have lived through during this stretch of misery.
The frustration is real, though. Nebraska should be 7-0 and sitting in the top 10. Instead, it’s 5-2 after two brutally painful losses in the last 25 years of pure hell.
Offense: D
Nebraska’s offense never found its footing against one of the best defensive teams in the country. The Huskers punted nine times and went three-and-out four straight times in the second half. They finished with just 242 yards and converted seven third downs.
The scoring drives were limited to a two-minute drill at the end of the first half, when Anthony Colandrea hit Kwazi Gilmer for 31 yards after converting a third-and-22, and a later series that ended with Colandrea finding Gilmer for a touchdown after a good run up the sideline.
Colandrea finished with 164 passing yards on 33 attempts, while Nebraska’s backs managed only 58 yards on 18 carries. Take away Isaiah Mozee’s 26-yard run, and the running backs produced 36 yards on 17 carries. That kind of production explains the loss as much as anything else.
Defense: B
The defense was sharp for three quarters and then faded badly late, which is why the grade lands in the middle. Nebraska allowed three fourth-down conversions and gave Oregon just enough room to finish the comeback. The coaches were too conservative after being too aggressive against Indiana, and that kind of swing has been part of Rhule’s profile before.
The numbers were still strong in spots. Oregon went 3 of 17 on third downs, and Nebraska held Oregon and Indiana to a combined 4 of 28 on third-down tries while losing both games.
The defense also forced two turnovers. One led directly to a Nebraska touchdown, and another wiped points off the board after Colandrea turned it over and gave the Ducks the ball in the red zone.
Giving up 17 points should have been enough. It was enough against Indiana too, where allowing 20 should have been enough. The problem is the same one that keeps showing up: the offense doesn’t do enough, and the defense has to hold for all four quarters.
Special teams: F
This was another rough one for the third phase, and it’s gotten to the point where a change at the end of the season feels necessary. Special teams have slid to the Ed Foley level.
A botched snap led to Archie Wilson fielding the ball with his knee on the ground and gave Oregon three points in a game decided by three. Nebraska also missed a chip-shot field goal against Indiana because of a bad snap in another three-point loss.
Jacory Barney coughed up a punt return opportunity and was lucky it didn’t become a bigger disaster. Nyziah Hunter made poor kickoff return decisions that left the offense in a bad spot, and Wilson struggled punting most of the night.
Nebraska did down one ball inside the 5, but that was about the only bright spot.
Outside of blocking a punt, the special teams have been a negative almost every week. If Mike Ekeler were still here, it’s hard to imagine Nebraska would be dealing with back-to-back bad snaps.
Coaching: D
The defensive plan worked until it didn’t. Dana Holgorsen, meanwhile, has work to do, and he should be feeling the heat the same way the special teams staff should. Rhule also took a major hit here for burning all three timeouts and leaving Colandrea with no time to operate at the end.
That late-game management mistake is a tough one to shake, especially because Colandrea has already produced in these situations. He scored in the two-minute drill at the end of the half against Michigan State, Maryland and Oregon, and he also helped Nebraska get a short field goal against Indiana that was missed.
That makes him 4 for 4 in two-minute drills during Big Ten play. With even a minute and a timeout or two, Nebraska likely gets to overtime, assuming the kick goes through, which is probably assuming too much. But once again, the game-management issue was front and center, and once again it cost Nebraska.
In Other News...
Oregon Exposed A Nebraska Problem That May Get Worse
Nebraskas offense spent a long afternoon trying to find any kind of rhythm against Oregon and never really did. The Huskers managed 242 yards on 67 snaps, with quarterback Anthony Colandrea doing what he could to keep drives alive, finishing 18 of 33 for 164 yards and a touchdown while adding 38 rushing yards and another score on the ground. Even with that effort, the bigger picture was hard to miss: the run game never got rolling, the passing game lacked separation, and the offense as a whole looked stuck in place.
The issues went beyond one bad outing, too. Nebraskas top running backs were held to 58 yards on 18 carries, the offensive line gave up a sack and five pressures, and four penalties made an already uneven night even messier. Injuries along the line and at running back only added to the concern, while receivers struggled to create the kind of space that can help an offense recover when the ground game is bottled up, leaving a problem that could be even tougher to solve if the same limitations keep piling up. [Read more 🡒]
Nebraska Left Wondering After Two Late Replay Moments Swung Everything
For much of the night, Nebraska had a chance to leave with a statement win before Oregon finally nudged in front with 28 seconds left. The finish came with the kind of replay drama that tends to stick with a team long after the final whistle, starting with a touchdown catch by Kwazi Gilmer that was upheld after officials said there was not enough clear evidence to overturn it.
Then came the other moment that had Nebraska wondering what might have been. A potential late fumble by Isaiah Mozee was not reviewed, and the Cornhuskers kept possession as the game tightened in its closing stretch. In a contest decided by the smallest of margins, those two replay decisions became part of the story almost as much as the score itself. [Read more 🡒]
Nebraska Volleyball Looks Unstoppable But Purdue Exposed One Concern
The unbeaten run keeps rolling for Nebraska volleyball, and the latest win only reinforced why the Cornhuskers remain No. 1 in the country. Nebraska knocked off No. 13 Purdue in four sets to move to 19-0, with Teraya Sigler turning in a career night and finishing with 15 kills. Even with the team still looking every bit like a national title contender, the match offered a useful reminder that conference roadblocks can still test a group that has cruised through most of the season.
Purdue was able to make stretches of the match uncomfortable, which is exactly the kind of pressure Nebraska will keep seeing as the schedule tightens. For a team with championship expectations, those moments matter almost as much as the result, because they show where opponents believe they can poke holes. The Cornhuskers escaped with another statement win, but the way they handled the Boilermakers also left a small question hanging as the season moves deeper into the Big Ten grind. [Read more 🡒]