Rohr’s Four: Four reactions, impressions, reflections, concerns and questions after Nebraska’s 68-0 win over Akron Saturday at Memorial Stadium.
1-It’s only Akron. But man, what a performance
Yes, you have to temper your enthusiasm a little in light of the opponent it came against. But man, what a show. The offense clicked both running and throwing. After having just one run over 15 yards against Cincinnati, the Cornhuskers churned out runs of 47, 36, 28 and 15 yards against the Zips. Nebraska’s longest pass against the Bearcats was 24 yards, the only play of 20 yards or more by the NU offense. There were eight 20+-yard passes against Akron. The defense pitched a shutout while scoring two points of its own with the safety in the first quarter. And, to top it all off, 108 players entered the game for Nebraska, not including international sensation punter Archie Wilson, who played in the Cincy game and will get plenty of work in Big Ten play, even if things go well.
It wasn’t perfect, and we’ll get to the couple of warts in a second. But plenty of Husker teams have faced outmatched opponents and not done anywhere near the damage Nebraska did to the Zips Saturday night. Matt Rhule exhorted his team to keep consistent effort, regardless of opponent. Play the man, not the brand. It’s safe to say: Mission accomplished, at least for Saturday.
John Bishop brought this up on the Friday Husker Tailgate, and it’s one of my favorite stats: Tom Osborne lost only one game to a team that finished the season with a losing record: Iowa State, 1992. Osborne’s Huskers went 25-0 against Kansas, 25-0 against Kansas State and 22-0-1 against Oklahoma State. Great programs take care of the routine. Osborne’s Huskers did that. Saturday is an indication that Rhule’s Huskers are starting to do that.
2-The Triplets, part II?
We all expected Dylan Raiola to be a successful Big Ten quarterback. Emmett Johnson has emerged as the Huskers’ top running back, by a good margin. And Jacory Barney, Jr., has always been an electric playmaker. But as all three turned in career-high performances, are we seeing these three emerge as the trio that can drive Nebraska back into the national conversation?
They’re certainly the best quarterback/running back/wide receiver battery since at least the Bo Pelini teams. And considering the quarterback is far more reliable in this trio than those years, it’s tough to remember a time when Nebraska was this good at all three spots at the same time. Assuming Johnson comes back next year, you’re talking about three elite players who could drive the hype machine for this program through next year.
To be honest, I was a little surprised Barney even played as much as he did. He was slowed after an early tackle against Cincinnati, and it would tempting to rest a nicked-up, top-line player against an overmatched opponent like Akron. Instead, Barney set career highs with seven catches for 132 yards while also returning four punts for 87 yards. Barney’s energy is critical to this program. Rhule often talks about players who love the game, and Barney is the poster child for that devotion to football.
They probably won’t get to the level of the 1983 Scoring Explosion of Turner Gill, Mike Rozier and Irving Fryar. But they’re definitely the best we’ve seen here in a while, and they could pave the way for Nebraska’s return to national contention.
3-A star is born on the defensive line
Kade Pietrzak was a fall camp darling, drawing raves for his intensity and toughness. Saturday against Akron, we saw it. He had a flash in the first quarter, after the Huskers fumbled to give it to the Zips at the two. On second down, he stuffed an Akron run for a two-yard gain, setting up third-and-nine at the three. Akron tried to run Jordan Gant off the right side, but Pietrzak shot the gap, nailed him in the end zone and drug him down for a safety.
The defensive line is still trying to find its footing. The Huskers mustered just two sacks against Ben Finley, and both of those were by backups. But while Pietrzak, a true freshman from West Fargo, N.D., may not be ready to start, he is ready to contribute and his future looks exceedingly bright, especially at a position where Nebraska needs help.
4-Coming up short in short yardage
It’s tough to have many quibbles after winning by 68, but if there’s one, it’s that the Huskers are still looking for a power running game and until they find that, short yardage and goal-to-go situations will be tough for this team. This was especially true in the drive toward the end of the first quarter that resulted in Heinrich Haarberg being stuffed at the one for no gain.
This was a question coming into the season. Though Emmett Johnson has added weight, he’s still not the bruising running back that can pound away inside the five. Kwinten Ives was thought to be that power back, but an injury has hampered his development. The power-running package would’ve almost certainly involved Janiran Bonner as a blocker, but he went down with injury. The offensive staff’s creativity with Haarberg has been interesting, but I’d doubt that it’s been as successful as they hoped it would be, and it seems like more of a changeup than a reliable bread-and-butter aspect of the playbook.
The fact that even Akron, which couldn’t stop basically anything else in the Husker arsenal, stuffed NU at the one is worrisome and will make third-and-one or fourth-and-one more nerve-wracking than normal. Nebraska needs to figure how it will gain that hard-fought yard to keep the chains moving or to finish off a touchdown drive if this team will go where pretty much every other aspect of its performance Saturday indicated it would go.