It'sNotAFakeID

If Minnesota scores on their first possession and we punt, I'm checking out for the season.

How about the fact that Minnesota has almost 250 yards rushing in the first half? how about the fact that about every time Minnesota runs it it seems like there's no one there to tackle the back until he gets 8 yards?

Make adjustments.

I don't know how you can say Minnesota is more talented.

Another game that won't feel as great to win as beating a big name team, but a game that must be won if they want to make it to a bowl game and continue thinking about Indy.

Last I checked 4 years was approximately equivalent to 4 years.

I love it - so much energy and excitement!!

The people saying a loss would be disastrous are the same people that are saying it's just Northwestern. I think they're both wrong. Leading up to yesterday, Nebraska had won at home once, and it was on a hail mary. With the exception of 1 game, the games have always been close. Nebraska is not the only "big" team that Northwestern gives issues, either. Yeah, ugly win and there's some serious questions about the offense, namely the lack of a game breaking, tall WR. Noa has been largely a passenger in the offense. Stanley Morgan Jr was a bigger loss than we may have thought. But these are the games that must be won if Nebraska is going to make it's way back to where it wants to be. A 13-10 win is miles better than a 13-10 loss.

Reading this thread had me curious of our future schedules (2023 and beyond). In 2024, we play Michigan and Ohio State in back to back weeks, have a bye, then play Penn State. WOW

I've never seen Nebraska be shutout. I thought it was going to happen on Saturday, but they managed to get a TD.

Hell I just want Nebraska to beat all of Northwestern, Purdue, Minnesota, and Indiana.

Well it won't surprise you that I disagree. That isn't to say I'm no less upset at the loss. I wanted so much for this game to be the moment Nebraska announced its return on the national stage. I'm pretty sure my reaction to the first half was just as negative as yours. Media and fans alike were keen to point out Ohio State's stumbles in games like the one played last Saturday night. They lost 55-24 in Iowa City in 2017. They lost 49-20 in West Lafayette in 2018. Certainly monumental wins. But if you want to understand my point, you need to look at what happened for both programs after their victory. In 2017, Iowa would lose the next two games after that "monumental" win. They finished the regular season 7-5 and defeated Boston College in the Pinstripe Bowl. Purdue would lose 4 of their next 6 after conquering the Buckeyes, ending the year 6-7. So why, if this single game is perceived to be so meaningful, did wins by similar programs not propel them to the heights we thought Nebraska would reach had they won? Because college football is weird and random and the results of a single game do not mean much in the grand course of a season. That's why this loss doesn't matter. Not because it was another embarrassment, but because it says nothing of Nebraska's ability to beat their next four opponents. I'd much rather see Nebraska beat the teams they're supposed to beat consistently than have a flash in the pan moment against a title contender every once in a while. And I think that's where progress starts. Build a consistent winner and then let the chips fall where they do against the big teams.

Oh absolutely. Adrian has to elevate his play and it's odd how he's regressed from last year. I wonder if teams are throwing more zone looks at him.

This was the best looking drive of the night, and, if you could pull one thing from the game, it would be how confused and out of position Ohio State, yes the same Ohio State that pounded Nebraska 48-7, was on those plays. So now imagine this. Nebraska starts the game and has success with the spread. The defense adjusts, and then Nebraska adjust the I form and what we saw on that drive. Seriously, I think that would be a nightmare to prep for.

Where are excuses being made? I don't see excuses, just calling out the fact that this game doesn't tell us much about where Nebraska is as how they perform over the next four games. Nebraska needs to learn to walk before it learns to run. Sometimes you stumble and fall on that journey. It doesn't mean you need new shoes. This is going to take time. There will be more stumbles along the way, but they will get there.

If you want to follow a team whose coaches are honest and blunt in their press conference, go follow Mike Leach and Washington State. Called his players, fat, dumb, happy, and entitled.

Oh my God who the hell cares? It is a single tweet from a guy who was already committed to UO. And it was one tweet in the context of a much larger decision frame. If he's not N, he's not N. Let's stop getting bent out of shape over decisions made by high school kids.

I think trying in single game outcomes is difficult - especially when that single game is against what may be the best or second best team in the country. That's why I think we'll learn more about where this team is headed over the next four games. Northwestern, Minnesota, Indiana, and Purdue aren't slouches. They're not glamorous teams that'll pull recruits and draw attention, but they're important. Nebraska is even in their series against Northwestern since joining the Big Ten, with Northwestern winning 3 of the last 4. If we're a better team than last year, we'll beat them. Nebraska leads the series against Minnesota 5-3 since joining the Big Ten, but the series is split in the last 6 games. If we're a better team than last year, we'll beat them. Nebraska has played Indiana once since joining the Big Ten, winning 27-22 in 2016. Indiana always seems to hang around with most teams. If we're a better team, we'll beat them. Nebraska is 4-2 against Purdue since joining the Big Ten, though Purdue won last year's game in Lincoln 42-28. If we're a better team, we'll beat them. I think I'll know more about this team after these games. These are the teams Nebraska should beat on a regular basis if it wants to be contender in the conference, just like Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, and Colorado were the teams Nebraska needed to beat to be a contender in the Big XII.

The people who say what coaches should do have so very clearly never been coaches and/or lack a lot of self awareness.

Why would they care about getting s#!t on? They're not getting s#!t on. They can come and make a difference so that their team doesn't get s#!t on. But again, I don't think any of us knows what recruits really want. And the correlation between single game outcomes and recruiting rankings, future game outcomes, national perception, whatever, is illusory. It may look like there's a relationship, but one probably doesn't really exist.

Another bite of the apple...or nut. You think this team would kill for a second chance to play Ohio State and show how much of an anomaly the first game was? I do.

Yeah! I say we make next week's game against Northwestern a career-ending match if Scott Frost loses. We've played 17 games and haven't won a conference championship yet!

We may be a few game breaking players away from being OSU. I'm not sure any of us know what really matters to recruits. If national perception mattered as much as we think it did, then why has Frost been able to pull some solid recruiting classes? Why does Nebraska still land several 4-star recruits? Why does Nebraska flip recruits who are committed to other programs? Winning close games against NW, Indiana, and Purdue do matter. Because they keep us in the hunt and set the stage for bigger contests against bigger teams. Wisconsin loses its luster if Nebraska loses 2 of these next 4 games. And winning these games shows the team is taking a step forward from the years before. Yeah, it's not as glamorous, but nothing this program ever did has been glamorous. Nebraska didn't just become good overnight. It scratched and clawed its way there, and it took years, and it took consistently beating the less glamorous teams.

I think we may have also let last year's game bias our thoughts on this game. I know I did. But last year's Ohio State team wouldn't stand a chance against this year's Ohio State team.