This didn’t just happen again, right? Nebraska gives away another football game to a powerless Iowa team?
Oh yeah, that happened, with even less justification than last year’s nearly identical 13-10 loss.
With Nebraska seemingly in control of a 10-0 game at halftime, heading into the second half kickoff, and the Blackshirts playing extremely well, you had to think that only a series of brutal mistakes would somehow turn the game around. way could bring to Iowa.
The Cornhuskers were willing to do so, with three seniors playing infamous center roles, paving the way for the Hawkeyes to somehow pull off a come-from-behind victory without a serviceable quarterback.
And yes, check out the credits for “Groundhog Day.” The Iowa kicking game won another 13-10 game for the Hawkeyes, who based on another walkoff field goal – this one a 53-yarder by junior kicker Drew Stevens that stayed inches inside the right upright – are likely headed to a new defeat. in a New Year’s Day bowl game in Florida with their 8-4 record.
Did Iowa just beat Nebraska even though it had a 334-164 lead, a 144-49 lead, trailing 20-5 in first downs, while going 0-for-10 on third down and despite that had entered the fourth quarter with only 65 total yards? Yes, yes it did.
Nebraska, 6-6 overall and 3-6 in the Big Ten, which could have had a winning season, must now do so by winning a cold-weather bowl game against another mid-tier team as the offense lost its previous identity resumed and failed. at critical moments in a match it could have won more than once.
Matt Rhule and the Huskers missed a golden opportunity to gain a lot of confidence and get ready for a season full of momentum. Instead, Rhule and his staff got by by achieving the minimum possible that could be considered an improvement over last season, even though qualifying for a bowl was a big step for a program stuck in a losing mentality. Thank goodness the inept Luke Fickell brought his swooning Wisconsin team to Lincoln last week.
Nebraska had opportunities to put this one away, but the Huskers couldn’t close the deal. They missed their chance to pull away early in the second half and got sucked back into the rock fight that Iowa wanted.
Possibly the most brutally unexpected mistake came from senior John Bullock, the Huskers’ top linebacker, who allowed star Iowa star Kaleb Johnson to run dead to the sideline, apparently wrapped up on the sideline, but allowed him to get away and destroy the rest of the Husker beat. defense into the end zone for a stunning 72-yard touchdown reception on the first play of the fourth quarter to tie the game. Although he finished the game with just 45 yards rushing, Johnson gave Iowa just enough offense to keep the pulse going. To his credit, this is better viewed as an All-America effort by Johnson, and not a mistake by Bullock.
Nebraska’s other brazen mistakes came from less surprising sources: senior wide receiver Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda, who reprized Santino Panico this season in moving from punt returner to punt catcher role, and the ever-inconsistent Bryce Benhart, the senior right tackle who is his 52nd start, more than any other Husker offensive lineman in history, and did his part to prove that an experienced offensive line is not necessarily an effective offensive line.
No, Garcia-Castaneda didn’t fumble with the punt. Instead of getting into a good position to make the catch, he played the ball timidly, letting it bounce and roll back toward the goal line. The most generously optimistic assessment of his effort must admit that he willingly gave up about 10 to 12 yards of precious field position. But he was so close to the ball that everyone else thought he muffled it, including the Husker Sports Network radio team, so you can’t blame freshman Vincent Shavers for trying to retrieve something that looked like a live ball, and in doing so …touching it and allowing the Hawkeyes to take possession inside the 5-yard line, though a fantastic quick response from the Blackshirts kept Iowa within a field goal.
No, Benhart didn’t fumble the ball on Nebraska’s final series, but he allowed Iowa’s backup defensive end Max Llewellyn to quickly run around him and hit Raiola from behind, making the strip sack and recovery all in one motion at the Nebraska 36-yard line. Besides slipping back into his habit of overthinking everything in the final minutes of the match, Raiola’s biggest mistake was trusting his right tackle to do his job. Instead, Benhart rolled out the red carpet for Hawkeye’s win.
Another brutal mistake, a botched long snap by junior Aidan Flege on a field goal attempt that could have given the Huskers a 13-0 lead at the end of Nebraska’s opening drive of the second half, was another failure by the Nebraska kicking game that also resumed his previous identity. The Huskers allowed 25 punt return yards, while gaining none, and 56 kickoff return yards on two attempts, while allowing just 36 on two returns of their own.
The many mistakes on the kicking play will certainly convince Rhule to turn things around at the special teams coordinator. He should immediately reassign Ed Foley to state recruiting coordinator and hire Bill Busch, and see if Busch can hit the ground running for the 2025 season with 15 bowl practices. If Busch rejects him, Rhule will have to look for another good option. Keeping Foley in his current role would be a coaching mistake, as would keeping wide receiver coach Garret McGuire and former offensive coordinator/tight ends coach Marcus Satterfield. Nebraska’s offense and kicking game this season did a poor job of playing complementary football, to say the least.
A good case could be made for firing Donovan Raiola, but that won’t happen. His offensive line slowly improved over the last two seasons, and at times the Hawkeye defensive line was on its heels, but he couldn’t consistently keep up the pace. You could say much the same about running backs coach EJ Barthel. Nebraska’s running game has been downright disappointing over the course of this season, though there was some promise in the end.
Will Dana Holgorsen return for another season as offensive coordinator? An affirmative answer would be the best news Nebraska football could get in the coming week.
Holgorsen is good, but against Iowa it became clear that he is not a miracle worker. He relied too much on an east-west short passing attack, something Iowa defenses generally look forward to, and which betrayed Holgorsen’s understandable lack of confidence in the Husker offensive line. Technically, he lost a head-to-head matchup to Iowa defensive wizard Phil Parker, who was himself outmatched by his Nebraska counterpart Tony White. But if Raiola doesn’t miss a wide-open Jalen Lloyd on a deep route early in the game, or if Nebraska senior Isaiah Neyor can catch a ball that went right through his hands at the Iowa 25-yard line late in the fourth quarter, Nebraska probably wins and Holgorsen’s shares would have continued to rise.
Should Rhule have deliberately run out the clock at the end of the fourth quarter? Should he have played for overtime? That’s not actually a serious question, given Nebraska’s history in overtime games over the past decade. No, with decent field position you trust your players to take actions to win the game. In the final minutes of the game, Nebraska’s players abandoned their coach, showing that they are not ready to make big plays at crucial moments.
The month of December looms as an opportunity to make improvements to a scattered, underperforming Husker offense and kicking game. If handled properly, the Huskers can gradually weed out the brazen mistakes from their portfolio and learn to seize opportunities to pull away from Big Ten teams hoping for nothing but rock battles.
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