3 things we learned from typical Nebraska loss to USC

Here we are again, Nebraska football fans, pondering what might have been in a 21-17 loss by the Huskers to USC.

The fourth-and-one decision to kick a field goal is a play that keeps coming up in my mind. Nebraska football was up by eight. Emmett Johnson ended up rushing for 165 yards. I’m not saying he gets it. He didn’t get the fourth-and-one to keep the game alive, but it felt like that was the moment.

Nebraska needed a touchdown on that drive. A field goal makes the lead 11, but a touchdown sends a message. Without Dylan Raiola, Matt Rhule didn’t give his team a chance. The Huskers missed the field goal. Soon enough, the game was tied, and USC was celebrating a come-from-behind win.

It happened in the blink of an eye, and here are three things we learned about the Huskers in another painful loss, the 29th in a row to ranked teams.

Matt Rhule isn’t good at game management

Rhule makes some weird decisions. But the one to kick a 52-yard field goal, instead of attempting a fourth-and-one, is one of his worst as Nebraska football head coach.

Rhule said after “it seemed like a good time to take the points,” as if a 52-yarder was a guarantee. Frankly, unless it’s a game-winning field goal, fourth-and-one inside the 40 should be a go situation almost 100 percent of the time.

Field goals don’t win football games. Touchdowns do. Yes, the Huskers had their backup quarterback in, but wasting a timeout, then being too chicken to go for it, was a bad look.

Nebraska had the chance to take control of the game, but took the passive approach and paid the price.

Emmett Johnson is indescribable

I really don’t have words for Emmett Johnson. Saying he was incredible doesn’t seem like enough. The fact that he was tripped by the backup QB on the last offensive play summed it up.

Johnson rushed for 165 yards against USC. He averaged 5.7 per attempt and added 15 more yards as a receiver. Once Dylan Raiola went out, Johnson did his best to get Nebraska in scoring range, and it worked once.

Despite the loss, Johnson became the first Nebraska running back to have over 1,000 rushing yards since 2018. He’s moving up NFL draft boards now, and I hope that this isn’t his final season in Lincoln.

My heart ached as he cried, walking off the field. Johnson deserved better. He deserved to be a winner on Saturday night.

Day one problems

Nebraska football lost this game for the same reason it has lost seven other games against ranked teams under Rhule: it’s just not good enough in the trenches.

The offensive line can’t protect the quarterback. It only allowed one sack, but it forced a fumble and knocked Raiola out of the game.

If you let the other team hit your quarterback enough, bad things will happen. Couple that with allowing well over 200 yards rushing, and that was the ballgame.

The secondary was unbelievable. Even the pass rush was good. Andrew Marshall had Nebraska in the perfect spot, up 14-6 with the ball at the plus 30 after the interception.

It finally felt like Nebraska was going to break through. Then, a few plays later, the dream was dead because in year three, Matt Rhule’s team still can’t protect the quarterback, or win in the trenches against the very best.

Until they do that, the results won’t change.

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