5 things we learned from Nebraska football loss to Ohio State

The most frustrating thing about the Nebraska football loss on Saturday is that the Huskers didn’t even play their best football and they still could have knocked off the most talented team in college football.

Dylan Raiola missed a wide-open touchdown on a drive that ended in a punt. There were key penalties — and the mistake on the opening kickoff.

It’s not like Nebraska football pitched a perfect game and fell short. Far from it. That’s a good thing for this program and while Matt Rhule was right to say this program isn’t about moral victories, it still felt like a step in the right direction.

“We are the University of Nebraska,” he said. “We aren’t here to lose.”

Rhule said he was “proud” of the Nebraska football team. We all are but I’ll be more proud if the Huskers get their sixth win next week. With that in mind, here are five things we learned.

Nebraska football has what it needs to win

I have said this before and I’ll say it again, this program doesn’t need more time. The pieces are there to win right now and Nebraska football proved it on Saturday.

The Buckeyes could easily win the national championship. Nebraska exposed some concerns and frankly, the Huskers’ defensive line pushed around Ohio State.

But still, there isn’t a team more talented in all of college football. The Huskers went toe-to-toe, blow-for-blow No. 4, on the road.

That’s an encouraging sign as long as they can build on it, which starts by beating UCLA this week.

Stop with the screens

I’m not going to be overly critical of Marcus Satterfield. He dialed up some good plays. Raiola missed a touchdown pass. The running backs missed numerous chances for explosive runs, etc.

But for the love of everything holy, stop calling screens. Nebraska football doesn’t execute them well and averaged about a yard per screen yet wasted eight throws on them.

You have a five-star quarterback and are playing against the No. 4 team. Don’t be conservative. The screens aren’t going to work against the speed of the Ohio State defense anyway.

Third and goal on the first scoring opportunity was wasted on a screen. Let Raiola try to make a play. Be aggressive and quit calling plays that everyone knows won’t work.

Nebraska football needs to find a true RB1

I wonder if Nebraska football will ever be able to recruit the kind of talent needed to run a pro-style offense. But if you look at the quarterback room, outside of Heinrich Haarberg, none of them are runners.

Dylan Raiola did run for a 38-yard gain on Saturday. But he’s not a running quarterback. The receivers were better against Ohio State but Isaiah Neyor dropped a key ball that could have led to points.

However, some of the biggest mistakes were made by the running backs. It’s hard to call them mistakes, but it felt like they left a lot of yardage out there due to missed reads or making the wrong cut.

If Ameer was the running back, he would have rushed for well over 100. Instead, Dante Dowdell had 14 for 60, which was a good day, just not as good as it could have been. Dowdell also chose to leap instead of trying to power his way into the end zone on a fourth-and-one and was unsuccessful.

Dowdell is a good player. Emmett Johnson is too but they aren’t difference-makers and finding one in the portal this offseason should be a priority.

The Huskers might have a kicker

For all the criticism of John Hohl, we have to give the kid his flowers. He was incredible on Saturday and went 3-for-3, an effort that included a 54-yarder right before the half.

That play gave the Huskers a shot in the arm. Being down 14-6 was much different than 14-3. Hohl kept Nebraska in the game until they finally found the end zone in the fourth quarter.

Kicking is often about confidence and you have to think after that performance, that shouldn’t be an issue for Hohl going forward.

Maybe, just maybe, the Huskers finally found a kicker.

This isn’t the same old Nebraska

I didn’t know what to expect from Nebraska football against Ohio State. A 52-10 loss wouldn’t have been surprising after what we saw last week.

That’s what some of the previous Nebraska teams would have done. They would have folded falling down 14-3 in the first half.

This Nebraska team feels different though. We’ll see if that’s true over the next month because it feels like the Huskers could win all four games or they could lose all four games.

My prediction has always been that Nebraska will make a bowl game and after the 21-17 loss to Ohio State, I’m even more confident that the Huskers will finally end the drought.

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