5 things we learned from another Nebraska football loss

Saturday was supposed to be a day of celebration for the Nebraska football program. Instead, the Huskers might have hit a new low, at least in the era of Matt Rhule.

The only thing that stood in the way of Nebraska football and the end of an eight-year bowl drought were the 2-5 UCLA Bruins. 

Yet, one week after hanging tough with the No. 4 team, Nebraska laid an egg. UCLA punched the Huskers in the mouth, building a 27-7 lead early in the third quarter and the Big Red never recovered.

Nebraska did make a run. Dylan Raiola threw a touchdown pass. He had the Huskers set up with another goal-to-go situation, but like last week, Nebraska failed to score. They scored after the defense got a stop, but after losing by seven, those points and those play calls — such as rolling left on fourth down with a right-handed quarterback — loom large.

UCLA was averaging 64 rushing yards per game coming in. On Saturday, the Bruins had 139 including 99 in the first half. A team that has struggled all year to convert third downs, got six in the first half. The Huskers didn’t force a turnover and finished with just two sacks.

It was the exact opposite of what should have happened. UCLA led wire-to-wire and in the most important game of the season, it was disappointing, and here’s what we learned.

Nebraska football still can’t execute when it matters

It has been a comedy of errors for Nebraska football near the goal line. Just in key situations. The Huskers missed a touchdown pass against Illinois, then missed a field goal and lost the game in overtime.

They settled for three field goals against Ohio State and also failed to score in a goal-to-go situation in a game they lost by four. Saturday was the same story.

I guess you can say it’s on the players to execute, but when the team fails every time, at some point, it’s on the coaching and it just feels like the offense isn’t confident in anything inside the 10.

Well-coached teams score in those situations and for whatever reason, Nebraska just can’t.

Matt Rhule was wrong about the championship mindset

Rhule said that he saw a championship mindset after the Huskers’ loss to Ohio State. But you don’t have it one week and not the next.

Rhule was wrong about what he saw. It didn’t exist. That was reinforced on Saturday. A championship mindset can look like a lot of different things. But it’s not falling behind 27-7 in the most important game of the season.

If the Huskers had turned a corner, we would have seen it on Saturday. We didn’t and that’s worrisome.

Dylan Raiola isn’t playing well enough

You can blame the coaching or the quarterback but the production isn’t good enough. Over the past four games, Raiola has one touchdown pass and five interceptions.

The freshman was missing open guys on Saturday and it happened on the pick-6. Thomas Fidone was wide open. If Raiola hits him, it leads to a big play and Nebraska football is on the verge of taking the lead.

Instead, Raiola threw an interception and Nebraska never recovered. He did bounce back but man, the coaching staff has to find a way to get the most out of their talented QB.

Jacory Barney is a dude at least

When this Nebraska football team was on life support, it was the true freshman from Florida who made a play to ignite things.

I have talked for weeks about how receivers on this team need to make plays for their quarterback. Barney is one of the few who has been doing it and caught a 48-yarder on Saturday. That helped spark a comeback and led to a touchdown pass from Raiola to Isaiah Neyor.

There wasn’t much to feel good about Saturday but the play of Barney was one thing at least. He’s a dude.

A bowl game seems farther away than ever

I was convinced that Nebraska was going to win this game. It felt like the Huskers should be able to do to UCLA what the Bruins did to them.

It was the most disturbing loss of the Rhule era. Getting blown out can happen. The Indiana game was one thing but it looked like the Huskers had recovered.

But losing a close game to a highly-ranked team, and then laying an eggs sounds all too familiar. There are three games to go against USC, Iowa, and Wisconsin. The Badgers just lost 42-10 to Iowa.

Getting a sixth win is doable, however, it feels like the Huskers are headed for another 5-7 finish.

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