Hitless Nebraska football ripped apart by Indiana

It was one of those days when a football team finds out a lot about itself and its performance, and no one in Nebraska liked the evidence that was quickly and decisively unfolding in Bloomington. But 56-7 Indiana? Really?

“I didn’t expect that,” coach Matt Rhule said several times after the game.

Join the club, coach. Neither does anyone else. Except possibly Indiana's Curt Cignetti, who let Rhule and his staff down on Saturday.

Indiana isn't seven touchdowns better, but there's undeniably a big gap between the Huskers and Hoosiers when it comes to talent on offense.

I didn't see any first-round NFL Draft prospects on the Hoosiers' roster, although I wouldn't be surprised to see junior wide receiver Elijah Sarratt go in the second or third round next April. The 6-foot-3 Sarrat and his 5-11 running mate Miles Cross played much stronger than Nebraska wideouts Isaiah Neyor and Jahmal Banks, both of whom are 6-4. Sarrat and Cross always managed to get enough distance from the very good Husker corners Tommi Hill and Ceyair Wright to make big plays. Neyor and Banks couldn't come close to separating themselves against smaller defensive backs.

In a game where they had a chance to slay a few dragons that have plagued the program for years, the Huskers didn't show up.

On a day when a proud, senior-led Nebraska defensive unit was completely destroyed by a balanced and well-prepared Indiana offense, on a day when the Blackshirts couldn't make one-on-one tackles and couldn't make a single quarterback rush or force a single punt, the biggest discrepancy between the undefeated Hoosiers and the twice-beaten Huskers was clearly at wide receiver.

When Joel Klatt said earlier this week that Dylan Raiola needed an outside threat, he summed it up. Neyor and Banks don't show up much and Jacory Barney is kept at bay. Furthermore, none of them block each other. When Raiola makes an easy completion to one of his wideouts or backs, the Huskers usually gain less than four yards. Conversely, when Indiana quarterbacks took the easy dump-off option, they typically gained seven to nine yards a pop. Big Ten players find it relatively easy to tackle Husker ball carriers one-on-one.

The numbers don't lie. Banks: seven targets, two catches for 33 yards, three yards after the catch and a dropped pass in the end zone. Neyor: Five targets, two catches for 13 yards and 13 yards after the catch. Neyor couldn't get open for a single downfield reception. Compare that to Cross, who caught all seven passes and threw his way for 65 yards and a touchdown, including 34 yards of YAC, and Sarrat, who gained 65 yards and scored a TD on three receptions from four targets.

Banks and Neyor have regressed since the start of the season, both in their blocking and their ability to catch the ball. It's up to wide receivers coach Garret McGuire to reverse that trend and offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield to find ways to get the ball into his hands downfield. Although Barney shows promise and Jaylen Lloyd has made gradual progress as a receiver this fall, only Barney has broken a big play since the Illinois game.

Big wins were hard to come by for Nebraska in Bloomington. On NU's touchdown drive in the second quarter, Raiola had a 24-yard pass to Thomas Fidone and then a 19-yard pass to Banks. Later in the game, Fidone had a 28-yard reception where he was caught from behind at the Indiana 5-yard line, and Lloyd made a great leaping sideline catch for 17 yards, handing in the inbounds touched before going out of bounds. That was the extent of it for the Big Red, who were buried under an avalanche of explosive plays from their fellow Hoosiers.

No Husker running back could do it better than an 11-yard gain from Emmett Johnson.

Since halftime of the Colorado game, the Huskers have seemingly forgotten everything they knew about running football, with the exception of their fourth-quarter effort at Purdue (11 runs for 77 yards and two touchdowns). My assessment of the Husker running backs hasn't changed since preseason: They're all average to good backs, but none of them are excellent. No home run hitter on the team. Indiana held Nebraska to 70 yards on 29 carries, a paltry 2.4 yards per attempt, and Heinrich Haarburg gained nearly half of that total.

Even when the Huskers were trailing by multiple touchdowns and everyone in the house knew they were going to throw, even when unexpected running plays were usually broken up for big yards against teams prepared to rush the passer, the Big Red couldn't make a decent running play lie down. Honestly, it was embarrassing to watch.

Whatever Rhule found in his “deep dive” into Nebraska’s running game during the bye week, it didn’t improve.

“I don’t know that we’re going to win if we just fall behind and throw away every play,” Rhule said in the postgame press conference. “We have to run the ball to win it.”

If the Huskers don't find answers in the running game, it's going to be a long second half of the season. Will Donovan Raiola and EJ Barthel find a way to get more production out of an experienced but mediocre offensive line and a number of single-hitters at running back?

Here we learn a lot about Rhule and its employees' ability to develop talent. Not next Saturday in Columbus, but in the last four games.

Rhule can see November coming. He will have no excuse for not being ready.

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