Rohr’s Four: Four reactions, impressions, reflections, concerns and questions after Nebraska’s 37-10 loss at Penn State.
1-Get better up front
It’s indisputable that Nebraska has plenty of skill-position talent on its roster. At times, the defensive backs have been lockdown. The wide receivers have flashed at times. Dylan Raiola brings a five-star pedigree, and TJ Lateef came in with four-star accolades at quarterback. And Emmett Johnson has played at an All-American level this season.
But Nebraska is going to a second-tier bowl game. Why? Because the Huskers aren’t good enough on the lines, and on Saturday, the deficiency on the defensive line was glaring.
It was going to be tough to equal last year’s D-Line. Ty Robinson was a high-talent player whose skills had been nurtured and built throughout his Husker career. Nash Hutmacher was a consistent space eater in the middle. And Jimari Butler blossomed last year coming off the edge. Terrance Knighton had established his credentials as a builder and teacher of defensive line play at the college level.
But Keona Davis has had some time to develop, right? Cameron Lenhardt has been basically a co-starter throughout his Nebraska career. Elijah Jeudy is a veteran at nose tackle. Williams Nwaneri is an elite and promising talent. And Terry Bradden has been around high-level football for quite a while as a Chiefs assistant DL coach before coming to the Huskers.
The Huskers lost by TKO in the trenches Saturday in Happy Valley. Penn State could basically run the ball at will. With Iowa’s ground-bound attack staring Nebraska in the face Friday, you know what Kirk Ferentz is going to be looking to do. He’s usually happy to keep the ball on the ground most games anyway. But with the Huskers deficient and his Hawkeyes not imposing in the receiving corps, he’ll be more than tempted to see how few passes he can get away with.
On Saturday, trying to cover for Nebraska’s holes up front ripped open holes in the coverage that hadn’t been there previously. There were more wide-open receivers for the Nittany Lions than there have been seemingly the whole season. It was a real and disheartening step back for the defense.
And it speaks to a larger issue with how this roster is built. More than likely, Pat Stewart, NU’s general manager, and Matt Rhule, have begun discussing how better to construct this team to play in the Big Ten. Rhule has often referenced preparing for those cold November games in the wind and cold. Other teams in this league have constructed themselves specifically to win those games. Look at Iowa. Look at Minnesota. Look at Northwestern. The Big Ten West may be gone, but the style of play that wins in this area still wins, and yet the Huskers aren’t built to play that way. It’s a real issue Rhule will have to deal with as he shops the portal for prospects. Right now, the defensive line just isn’t good enough, and they’ll have to take a huge jump to get there.
2-Be just cute enough
So often, offensive coordinators can get too cute, trying to trick opponents rather than putting the ball in their best players’ hands to win the game. On the first drive, Emmett Johnson got the ball six times in seven plays, including the last five. I was all for a steady dose of Johnson.
But I also like using players’ minds against them. Surely, Terry Smith’s message to his defense, all week, was stop 21. Stop 21. Stop 21! Motivated by the usual pregame pagentry and fireworks and Senior Day ceremonies, the Nittany Lions defense would be looking to make a statement. So why not use that against them? Fake the handoff to Johnson first play, and let Lateef rip it deep. Yes, you want to stay on schedule. Yes, you want to establish a good rhythm for the offense. But I thought it was really helpful against UCLA that Lateef ran it on the first play. Johnson still got a high volume of work, but the first thing the Bruins saw was the curveball, Lateef using his legs, which is a weapon. It was in their minds that Lateef was a threat to run, even as Johnson got 30 touches. So why not take it a step further and plant the idea of getting beat deep in the safeties minds early in the game?
In a 27-point game, it’s tough to say that something like that would’ve made a difference. But at the very least, it may have kept the box a little more open for Johnson to run (though he still ground out over 100 rushing yards).
3-Lateef bright spots
As expected, TJ Lateef had a much tougher time against Penn State’s defense than against UCLA’s. He was sacked three times and was 21-for-37 for 187 yards, no touchdowns, while running 10 times for 15 yards and a touchdown. But I did see a couple things I liked from him. Granted, it was later in the game, so the Nittany Lions were almost certainly playing backed-off coverage with the big lead. But Lateef did hit a couple nifty wheel routes for big gains to Emmett Johnson. Those are the plays that will hopefully open things up for the wide receivers, who have seen their usage decrease as Johnson has taken over this offense. Lateef ran a little more against Penn State than he did against the Bruins, which was fine, and he protected the ball well, which was encouraging. The Huskers didn’t turn the ball over against PSU, always a worry when a freshman is going on the road in a hostile atmosphere.
4-It’s Iowa week
It has always bugged me that Nebraska fans have not accepted Iowa as a rival. When the Heroes Game was announced, Husker fans turned up their noses at a “forced” rivalry, thinking that the Hawkeyes were beneath them. Granted, a decade of heartbreaking losses to Iowa have convinced more than a few Husker fans that it’s okay to dislike the black and gold, but it took a while. And as a result, Iowa burst from the gate in this rivalry. And yes, it is a rivalry.
Spend some time in Omaha and count all the cars with Iowa license plate holders and bumper stickers. There are plenty of Iowa fans who live and/or work west of the Missouri River. Think of all the arguments and discussions about college football over the years. And the Hawkeye fan has had the upper hand in all of them for the last decade.
That’s what most rivalries are built on: dislike and proximity. Knowing that a win by your team gets you 365 days of bragging rights and the upper hand, and that a loss gets you 365 days of your face in the mud. Nebraska had a rivalry that was built on more, sure, with Oklahoma. But that only occurred because the Huskers and Sooners were consistently and overwhelmingly great every single year, to the point where the rest of the Big Eight didn’t really matter in the 70s and most of the 80s. Unfortunately, those rivalries don’t happen all the time, and they don’t last forever. Between the Big 12 breakup, Oklahoma’s slipping in the 90s, and Nebraska’s fall in the 2000s, the rivalry ended.
There may have been a day when Husker fans could’ve looked at an opponent as beneath them, but those are long past. Let’s be real: the last 23 years, Hawkeye football has been better. And since Nebraska joined the Big Ten, Iowa has been demonstrably better. Since the firing of Bo Pelini, the battle hasn’t even been close.
And you know that they relish every moment of it. Every Keith Duncan kiss goodbye to the sidelines after he kicks the game-winning field goal. Every time their team can race across the field and lift the trophy. Their fans would admit this game means a little more to them. As a result, they’ve dominated the series. It’s time the Iowa game means more to Husker fans. Otherwise, the picture isn’t going to get better.