Biggest overreactions and grades from Nebraska’s maddening loss to Oregon

It’s still maddening to think that Nebraska football squandered an 11-point lead against Indiana, then allowed Oregon to rally from an eight-point deficit in the fourth quarter to win 17-14.

Frankly, that had to be one of the worst fourth quarters in Nebraska football history. Dylan Raiola threw 18 passes for 59 yards. Nebraska allowed him to dink and dunk down the field. He didn’t do anything special, and the Huskers never sent the A-gap pressures that caused him so many issues in Lincoln.

It’s almost like they forgot who he was. Nebraska also allowed him to run for a six-yard first down on first down, which frankly is inexcusable. He might be the most unathletic quarterback in the country, yet he ran for multiple first downs.

Nebraska allowed Oregon to run 37 plays in the fourth quarter. The Huskers had one three-and-out and a possession that started with 28 seconds and no timeouts.

Even though this team looks promising, that loss was still the darkest moment of the Matt Rhule era. This team should be 7-0 and ranked in the top 10. Instead, it’s 5-2, with two of the most painful losses we have experienced in the last 25 years of pure hell.

Here are the overreactions and the grades.

Biggest overreaction: Matt Rhule needs to be fired

People are still saying this. Matt Rhule could lose the rest of the games this season and wouldn’t be fired, so why waste time talking about it?

Troy Dannen believes Rhule is making progress. He is. Just not in the way we all want. Nebraska is still 5-2, though, and at the start of the season, nobody predicted Nebraska to win these games.

Yes, it was soul-crushing how they lost. The Huskers should have won both, but this team has exceeded many people’s expectations. Many fans predicted Nebraska to win four or five games, let alone lead Indiana and Oregon for all but about five minutes combined across the two games.

Nebraska outplayed two teams, even though Indiana and Oregon have a clear talent advantage. You can blame the coaching for not being able to win at the end. That is part of it, more against Oregon than Indiana, but you also have to give credit to the coaching staff for playing better than two teams ranked in the AP Top 5 at the start of the season.

The record is still 0-2 in those games. However, those losses looked and felt different, at least until the end, from many others during this era of pure hell as a Nebraska football fan.

All we can do is hope that Matt Rhule has it in him, but he’s not going anywhere. Not this season. Not next season. Not anytime in the near future.

Nebraska football grades vs. Oregon

Offense (D): Oregon is one of the best defensive teams in the country, but Nebraska punted nine times. The Huskers went three-and-out four times in a row in the second half.

The only scoring drives were a two-minute drill at the end of the first half, when Anthony Colandrea converted a third-and-22 by throwing a 31-yard pass to Kwazi Gilmer, and a later drive when Colandrea found Gilmer for a touchdown after a nice run up the sideline.

Nebraska converted seven third downs. However, the Huskers managed just 242 yards. Colandrea passed for 164 yards on 33 attempts. The offensive line got dominated.

Nebraska’s running backs got just 58 yards on 18 carries. If you take away the 26-yard run from Isaiah Mozee, the Huskers ran the ball with their backs 17 times for 36 yards. Basically, two yards per attempt. That is why Nebraska lost the game. Oregon ran for more yards in the fourth quarter than Nebraska did all game.

Defense (B): The defense gets an A for the first three quarters but a D for the fourth quarter, allowing three fourth-down conversions. The coaches were too soft this week after being too aggressive against Indiana. It’s something Rhule tends to do: He overreacts, like in the Wisconsin game in 2023. He didn’t go for the win because Chubba Purdy threw an interception that cost the Huskers a win the week before.

Oregon was 3 of 17 on third downs. Nebraska held Oregon and Indiana to a combined 4 of 28 on third-down conversion attempts and lost both games. Hell, the Huskers even forced two takeaways. One led directly to a Nebraska touchdown, and another took points off the board after Colandrea turned it over, giving the Ducks the ball in the red zone.

Allowing 17 points, even with 11 in the fourth quarter, was good enough to win the game. Just like allowing Indiana to score 20 was good enough. The offense needs to get it together.

The defense also needs to figure out how to defend teams for four quarters, not three.

Special teams (F): Matt Rhule needs to make a change at the end of the season. Special teams have regressed to the Ed Foley level. A botched snap led to Archie Wilson fielding the ball with his knee on the ground, giving Oregon three points in a three-point game.

Nebraska also missed a chip-shot field goal against Indiana because of a bad snap, in another three-point loss. Jacory Barney fumbled a punt. He was fortunate to avoid disaster. Nyziah Hunter put the offense behind the 8-ball with poor kickoff return decisions, and Wilson punted poorly most of the night. Nebraska downed the ball inside the 5 once.

Outside of that, the special teams didn’t make a single impact play. Outside of blocking a punt, the special teams have been a detriment in almost every single game. And if Mike Ekeler were still here, it’s hard to believe we’d have a bad snap two weeks in a row.

Coaching (D): The defensive game plan was solid until the fourth quarter. Dana Holgorsen needs to do some soul-searching. He’s been terrible and should be on the hot seat like the special teams coordinators. Rhule panicking and wasting all three timeouts, leaving Colandrea with no time to operate at the end of the game, will be hard to forgive. That alone deserves a failing grade.

Colandrea scored in the two-minute drill at the end of the half against Michigan State, Maryland and Oregon. He also got the Huskers a short field goal against Indiana that was missed.

So he was 4 for 4 in two-minute drills during Big Ten play. Chances are, if the Huskers have a minute and a timeout or two, the game is at least headed to overtime, assuming Nebraska could make the kick, which is probably assuming too much.

Still, it was yet another massive game-management mistake from Rhule.

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