HUSKERS FOOTBALL Recap – The Horror. The Horror!: Penn State 37 NEBRASKA 10

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The best thing to say about tonight’s game was that it ended.

Nebraska is not the first team to walk into Beaver Stadium at night and walk out wondering just what the hell happened to them. Hell, they’re not even the first Nebraska team to do it – Ask Frank Solich who strolled in there in 2002 with a 3-0 record and ranked 9th, but staggered out after 40-7 bloodying and limped to a 4-7 finish the rest of the way.

If there’s a plus, Matt Rhule only has one regular season game remaining, then several weeks to prepare for whatever bowl game comes his way. Iowa has to be salivating after seeing what the Nittany Lions did to John Butler’s defense tonight, but that’s a discussion which can wait for Monday. Rhule and Butler are both very good about owning bad performances and Monday’s presser will showcase those skills.

Ah, the defense.The final yardage totals weren’t so bad – 412-318 – but any who watched the game knew those totals made the it sound much closer than it was. Penn State scored on their five drives and six of the first seven. And they did it by going right through them. The defense’s weaknesses – long drives and chunk runs – were on full display under the lights of Beaver.

Five of those drives were for distances between 75 and 98 yards. There was also a TD drive of 14 yards which was set up by a 15 yard penalty for an out of bounds hit when Aussie punter and former Australian Rules footballer, Archie Wilson, blasted the Lions’ returner after he lowered his shoulder in Archie’s direction. Everyone knew the flag was coming, but I didn’t care – we finally drilled someone.

I take that back. DeShon Singleton put a helmet-to-helmet on Kaytron Allen in the first half which left him looking a little woozy and his helmet literally shattered. Fortunately, Allen was fine and returned, but the hit would have been very memorable in a closer game, and I’m getting distracted.

Emmett Johnson once again led the Huskers with 19 carries for 103 yards and 8 receptions for 48, a total of 151 yards for another night which demands post-season honors. T.J. Lateef, as expected, did not find the going as easy in his first hostile environment – at the half he had only 55 yards through the air and -2 on the ground before finishing with a decent night after Penn State took their foot off the gas.

The offense committed its worst sin, again on an opening drive, when they moved it to the Minnesota 3 then opted for two dives up the gut on 3rd and 4th down, and only advanced it to the two. One could see the momentum of that drive whistling out of the balloon as soon as the whistle blew.

Penn State commenced to cruising 98 yards upfield including a 50 yard rip up the sideline from Kaytron Allen and the game was basically over as Nebraska appeared to never recover from that 1-2 gut punch.

Allen finished with 160 yards on 25 carries, his contribution to the 231 Penn State recored on the evening. With the clock being eaten by Penn State’s attack, they carried the ball “only” 39 times but redshirt freshman QB Ethan Grunkmeyer threw it only 12 – and completed 11 for 181 yards and a score.

If that didn’t do it, a 23-3 halftime score followed by Penn State marching 75 yards for a 30-3 lead after the opening drive of the second half sure did. The Huskers, to their credit, kept their heads in it with the defense getting a couple of quick stops later. Trailing badly, Lateef got the green light to throw more and finished with a serviceable 21-37 187-yard night. He threw no touchdowns, but no picks either.

This defeat, and the manner in which it happened, may present the staff with its most difficult challenge of the season. It wasn’t the Minnesota game which was 7-3 at the half and got away in the second frame; it was just a beating from the jump or at least after the failed 4th down attempt which could have used a little more creativity. Ahead now is a late/early arrival in Lincoln on Sunday morning to kick off a short week of preparation for the despised Iowa Hawkeyes who return the hatred with interest.

8-4 sounds better than 7-5, but a victory over Iowa, winners of 9 of the last 10 meetings, would ease the wounds of another disastrous trip to State College. On their side, Iowa is probably thirsting for some revenge after watching the Blackshirts crack tonight – almost one year after stuffing the Hawkeye offense to around 160 total yards on their home field.

Can they turn it around again a la Northwestern? Well, this ain’t Northwestern coming to town this time, but y’all stay tuned.

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