As Nebraska comes up short again, Huskers must confront truths of where they need to improve

LINCOLN, Neb. — When the pain dissipates and the immediate analysis of a defeat ends, a tendency exists to boil that football game down to one or two seemingly absolute truths.

Fans do it. Observers in the media do it. Players and coaches do it.

For Nebraska, after a 30-27 loss against Michigan, there are two roads to take.

The first focuses on missed opportunities. Nebraska left seven to 11 points on the field Saturday against the Wolverines, a big number in a three-point loss. The Huskers got nothing out of drives to the Michigan 6- and 21-yard lines in the first 10 minutes. Later, wide receiver Nyziah Hunter stepped out of bounds, unforced, in the back of the end zone, before Dylan Raiola hit him for a 20-yard strike. The illegal touching negated a touchdown.

The second road looks hard at the ability of both teams to impose their will. Michigan rushed for 286 yards on 33 carries. It sacked Raiola seven times. Nebraska running backs managed 3.8 yards per attempt, five first downs on 12 possessions, and no ground gain of more than 14 yards.

Michigan, after moving the sticks once all day on third down, converted third-and-5 from its 38-yard line, third-and-9 from its 45 and third-and-10 from the Nebraska 39 as part of a drive that ate nearly nine minutes of clock in the fourth quarter. The series of gut punches ended with the Wolverines extending their lead to 10 points with less than four minutes to play.

That is winning football in the Big Ten. In a slight iteration of the contest played Saturday at Memorial Stadium, Michigan wins 41-17.

That is the absolute truth on which Nebraska must focus if it intends to fix the shortcomings that led to a 28th consecutive loss against an AP-ranked team — and to break through in the third season under coach Matt Rhule.

“A couple years ago, guys would have been jumping up and down to be this close,” senior linebacker Dasan McCullough said.

Easy for him to say. McCullough was playing two years ago at Oklahoma, via a transfer from Indiana. He hasn’t suffered through the pain of close defeats like, say, Javin Wright, a seventh-year senior linebacker. Wright was there when Michigan beat Nebraska by three points in 2021.

No one was jumping up and down.

“The fans look in from outside the box,” Wright said. “We understand what you guys are thinking. But it’s a different story inside the box. I would say, ‘Just keep riding with us like you always have. We’re going to fix the problems that we need to fix. We’re going to get better every week.’ That’s all there is to it.”

Wright’s asking for your trust. And there is growing reason to trust this team, despite what it needs to fix. Michigan exposed Nebraska’s weaknesses on defense. Michigan showed that the Huskers’ offensive line, despite its better depth and improved physical condition versus two years ago, is not ready to hold up against a top-tier pass rush.

Some of that deficiency is magnified perhaps within the psyche of the Nebraska linemen. The Huskers gave the Michigan defensive front too much credit, said right guard Rocco Spindler, the Notre Dame transfer. Rhule echoed the sentiment.

“They pressured us,” Rhule said. “They brought blitzes. They challenged our running backs. That’s what they’re good at. We knew going in, it would be about stopping the run and our ability to pass protect.”

Good fortune helped keep this game from spinning out of control for the Huskers.

Michigan safety Brandyn Hillman bailed the Huskers out of a punting situation deep in their own territory by taunting the Nebraska sideline after a defensive stop. With new life, Raiola hit five consecutive throws and led the Huskers on a scoring drive that cut the Michigan lead to seven.

Interim Michigan coach Biff Poggi, by failing to call a defensive timeout that would have forced Nebraska to punt, gave the Huskers an extra play at the end of the first half. Raiola connected with Jacory Barney on a 52-yard Hail Mary to even the score at 17.

Good luck? Yes. But to Wright’s point about trust, improved toughness and resolve allowed Nebraska to make something of those second chances.

Still, when the Huskers should have held a big energy edge to open the second half, Michigan squashed them. The Wolverines, in the third quarter, rushed for 70 yards on six carries. Nebraska gained five yards on seven rushing attempts.

When Michigan needed to bust a big play on the ground, it happened. Nearly every time.

“Take all the emotion out of it,” Raiola said, “this is when our brotherhood is tested.”

Raiola took offense to fans who booed the Nebraska sideline in the closing seconds of the first half as the Huskers appeared — before Michigan’s gaffe with the clock — content to let time expire. Raiola shot down a suggestion that the bye week, now upon the Huskers, is coming at a good time after a loss.

“It actually sucks,” Raiola said. “You gotta taste this for two weeks.”

Blame him for the sacks, the QB said.

Good for Raiola for developing into a well-rounded leader. He’s not a pushover. The sophomore completed 30 of 41 passes for 308 yards, the first QB against Michigan to top 300 since Aiden O’Connell of Purdue in a 21-point loss three years ago.

Raiola looked shaken a few times by the pressure, but he is more than good enough to direct Nebraska to nine wins this year. His protection needs an upgrade. So does Nebraska’s ability to stop the run.

“I feel like these are moments when you see what our team is built of,” running back Emmett Johnson said. “Adversity’s part of the journey.”

Adversity struck. Nebraska responded. Consider it a box checked.

“The only thing to me about this game that I didn’t want to do,” Rhule said, “is have any regrets that we didn’t try, that we didn’t try to play. I didn’t want to go out there and play close.”

Well, Nebraska played close. Again. It played to win, though. And the Huskers learned, painfully, in what areas they must improve.

(Photo: Dylan Widger / Imagn Images)