Huskers miserable, hammered, humiliated and humiliated in a Hoosier horror show

On an absolutely beautiful and sunny fall day in Bloomington, Indiana, the Nebraska Cornhuskers were beaten from start to finish by the 16th ranked Indiana Hoosiers, 56-7… and it could have been worse. Both teams were coming off a bye week and the Huskers appeared as underprepared and clueless as the Hoosiers appeared confident, capable and competitive. On paper, Nebraska may have the higher-quality recruits, but Indiana showed better schemes, better coaching and near-flawless execution. It was the Cornhuskers' worst loss since a 62-3 loss to Ohio State in 2016.

Before the season, Indiana was expected to finish 17th out of 18 Big Ten teams. They are now 7-0 and in first place in the conference and have a good chance of finishing 11-1 with a possible loss to OSU. They just have to beat Washington, Michigan State, Michigan and Purdue. If they prevail, they will most likely be a playoff team. They're not a great team, but they play the kind of complementary football that leads to great results.

Indiana was 3-9 last season before they hired James Madison's somewhat mercenary head coach Curt Cignetti. Cignetti retained 36 scholarship players and filled the team with veteran transfers, 13 of them from JMU. The result was an entirely new veteran squad with 25 junior or senior transfers on the dual offense and defense. Colorado tried something similar, but Cignetti is a better coach, has a better staff and a more balanced portfolio of players.

Meanwhile, in rebuilding Nebraska, the Huskers are looking at another 5-3 record through November with nothing else on the schedule. The only supposedly easier opponent, UCLA, simply flew across the country and defeated Rutgers in Piscataway 35-32. Nebraska also just lost its 26th straight game against a ranked opponent, blowing its chance for its first outright win of Matt Rhule's tenure.

The first quarter was reasonably close, although the defense mounted an eight-play, 75-yard scoring drive on Indiana's initial possession. After Nebraska stumbled and the defense stopped the Hoosiers with a sack on 4th-and-2, the Husker offense moved the ball 53 yards in 9 plays to the Hoosiers' 12-yard line, resulting in a 4th-and-1 . Dante Dowdell scored the winning goal. but the ball didn't as it was fumbled. Would the game have been different if Nebraska had scored with 56 left in the first quarter to make the score 7-7? Instead, Indiana gained 88 yards in just six plays to take a 14-0 lead and score the first of the 28 points from turnovers they would score on five takeaways, the only points an opponent scored from turnovers all year.

Speaking of turnovers, Nebraska entered the game at +6 with 10 takeaways and 4 giveaways (one fumble and three picks). After Raiola's three-interception performance along with a strip sack fumble and Dowdell's fumble, the Huskers are just +2 with 11 takeaways and 9 giveaways, despite the last play of the first half interception by Hartzog. One of the reasons for the Huskers' six-game success was the quarterback limiting turnovers, but Saturday's total of five exceeds the Huskers' total in the first six games (4).

The Husker defense was not a Blackshirt-worthy performance. The Hoosiers scored 7 of 7 touchdowns in the red zone. Indiana had over 500 yards on offense before its final three losses gave them 495 yards, with a balanced 215 yards on the ground and 280 yards through the air. This ended Nebraska's streak of 13 consecutive games in which opponents were limited to fewer than 400 yards. Through the first six games, the Huskers had given up just 12 plays of 20 yards or more, which was second fewest behind No. 1 seed Texas. On Saturday, the defense gave up 15 plays of 10 or more yards and 7 plays of 20 or more yards. Indiana was the only team in the FBS not to score a rushing touchdown, so it was torched when Indiana scored five times on the ground. It was total domination.

There were virtually no defensive highlights, but rover Isaac Gifford made eight tackles, increasing his career total to 207. He became the 10th defensive back and 43rd player in school history to post a career-best 200 tackles created a career. Malcolm Hartzog Jr. intercepted a pass to end the first half, marking his team-leading third interception of the season, and linebacker Mikai Gbayor had a nine-yard sack on a 4th-and-2 and scored on two tackles Defeat. Those two plays ended two of the three drives Indiana had stopped. On the other eight drives, they punted and scored touchdowns.

Offensively, Dylan Raiola had 28 for 44 and 234 yards with the aforementioned three picks. He didn't play well. Tight end Thomas Fidone set career highs with six catches and 91 yards. He also redeemed himself after a terrible block attempt with an excellent block on Jacory Barney's 7-yard rushing touchdown in the second quarter. Barney scored eight balls in the game, marking the highlight of his career by surpassing his six catches against Colorado. Jaylen Lloyd also had a career-high three receptions, surpassing his two receptions against Rutgers two weeks ago.

To underscore the lack of a rushing attack, Heinrich Haarberg led NU rushers with 32 yards on 5 carries. Emmett Johnson added 24 yards on 8 carries and Dante Dowdell had 16 yards on 7 carries. The anemic rushing total was just 70 yards on 29 carries (a 2.4 yard average). The Huskers don't seem to be able to block on the perimeter, the receivers don't seem to block well or separate on pass routes. The offense appears to be in disarray, with no clear identity or consistency.

Special teams are still a clown show, as Jacory Barney proved when he kicked the Huskers' first kickoff at the 1-yard line and two more kickoffs failed. There seemed to be no confidence in making field goals as the offense stayed on the field and went 0 for 5 on fourth down attempts and was just 1 for 4 in the red zone. Brian Buschini averaged 41.0 yards on three punts, but one only traveled 25 yards. Kwinten Ives was the lone highlight with a 40-yard kickoff return. I haven't seen much improvement from Ed Foley's team this year.

If you thought this week was ugly, what will happen next Saturday at the Horseshoe in Columbus when the Huskers take on an upset 5-1 Ohio State team coming off a bye week after a heartbreaking 32-31 loss at Oregon will have behind you? I sincerely hope that Matt Rhule can get the team focused enough to be competitive against the Buckeyes, otherwise the confidence gained in the first half of the season will be lost. There are still winnable games on the schedule, but not from the team that showed up in Bloomington on Saturday.

Go Big Red!!

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