• last year
Transcript
00:00 Welcome to the Carriker Chronicles, the people show.
00:13 Checking the pulse of Husker Nation brought to you by DPS Concrete Construction.
00:16 Check them out at dpsconstruction.net.
00:19 This is my gut reaction to Nebraska's 24-17 overtime loss to Wisconsin.
00:25 Man, when this game started I was like, "Whoa!
00:30 Where has this been?
00:31 Where has this offense been?
00:33 Where have they been hiding Cheba Purdy?"
00:34 I know he's been battling that growing injury, but I was like, "Whoa, this is like fun to
00:39 watch.
00:40 We go right down the field and score on both of our drives."
00:42 Okay, I've got it in my notes here, but I was like, "Whoa, we might just beat them like
00:47 35-10."
00:48 I digress.
00:49 Alright, if you wish we'd been more aggressive at the end of regulation trying to win the
01:03 game like me, smash the like button.
01:07 Alright, Cheba Purdy starts the game at quarterback.
01:09 As I mentioned, he's been battling that growing injury.
01:11 Basically, the team doctor said he can't hurt it anymore.
01:13 Hey, he seems to be moving around just fine to me.
01:16 Alright, now last week, again, beginning to end of the game, you know how I do this.
01:22 Last week versus Northwestern Wisconsin's defense.
01:24 They looked awful, honestly.
01:26 The whole team did.
01:27 But they allowed 11 first downs on 17 third down attempts by Northwestern.
01:31 Northwestern converted all on all of their first 10 third down conversion attempts to
01:36 start the game.
01:37 Now, the Huskers' first drive, as I mentioned, touchdown, 33, Cheba Purdy scrambles 55 yards
01:43 for a touchdown.
01:45 Huskers lead 7-0.
01:46 Now, I knew he could run.
01:49 I knew he was faster than people realized.
01:51 But Purdy's fast.
01:54 I think he surprised Wisconsin's defense with his speed and me with his speed too.
01:59 Alright, one of Wisconsin's coaches talking about our defense as they get the ball, okay,
02:04 and I quote, "Ty Robinson and Nash Hutmaker, the two best defensive tackles we'll see all
02:09 year long."
02:10 End quote.
02:11 That's what they had to say about Ty Robinson and Nash Hutmaker, the polar bear.
02:14 Wisconsin does not score, does not have a lot of success in their first 12 drives, or
02:19 I'm sorry, their first couple of drives, first 12 plays.
02:21 I think they had like 12 yards or something like that.
02:23 I'll double check.
02:24 Alright, Nebraska's second drive, a beautiful touchdown pass from Cheba Purdy to freshman
02:28 wide receiver Jalen Lloyd on a skinny post.
02:31 By the way, he's also very fast.
02:33 Okay, he broke a tackle and outran everybody else on Wisconsin's defense.
02:38 Nebraska's up 14-0.
02:39 The fireworks are rolling.
02:40 Here we go, ladies and gentlemen.
02:43 Now, Badgers starting quarterback, SMU transfer Tanner Mordecai, who's missed much of the
02:48 year due to injury, did start this game, okay, played last week as well, but he's battling
02:55 injuries.
02:56 End of the first quarter, again, I was still feeling really, really good at this point.
03:00 Nebraska had 162 total yards.
03:02 Wisconsin had 32 total yards.
03:04 The Huskers were averaging 8.3 yards per rush.
03:07 The Badgers were averaging 2 yards per carry.
03:11 And I think I even said something on Facebook and Twitter, alright, I mentioned those stats,
03:16 I said, "It's early, but let's keep it up."
03:18 Alright, now, we have a lot of youth on offense.
03:22 Again, I wrote this down when we were up 14-0.
03:25 It doesn't change the fact that we're really young on offense, but I was like, "Man, looking
03:28 towards the future a little too early in the game, I'll admit."
03:31 But, alright, maybe you'll find this interesting.
03:33 Our starting quarterback today, Cheba Purdy, is a sophomore.
03:36 Our starting running back, freshman.
03:38 Two of our starting receivers are sophomore and a freshman, and also another key wide
03:42 receiver that we have, Jayla Lloyd, who scored the Huskers' second touchdown as a freshman
03:46 as well.
03:47 We have two sophomore tight ends.
03:48 The left side of the offensive line that started tonight, sophomore and a freshman, left tackle,
03:53 left guard.
03:54 Seven underclassmen start on offense tonight, okay, and only two seniors start.
03:59 Four freshmen started and/or had major contributions tonight due to all of our offense's injuries
04:05 throughout the year.
04:06 The younger, talented, everyone's talented, but younger and talented guys are getting
04:11 more opportunities and experience, and in fact, our starting quarterback tonight was
04:15 at 1.3 string this year and our starting running back was 4 string this year.
04:19 Not excuses for why we lost.
04:20 Again, I wrote this when we were up 14-0, so I was looking at it completely different.
04:26 Alright, second quarter, 640 left before halftime.
04:30 Defensive lineman Ty Robinson drops into coverage, not his strength.
04:33 Wisconsin throws a touchdown pass, 14-7.
04:36 Okay, now the score, Huskers lead.
04:39 That was the Badgers' ninth touchdown pass of the year.
04:42 Coming into the game, they only had eight.
04:43 They were tied for the fewest in the Big Ten Conference with Nebraska and Iowa.
04:49 Not exactly the air-raid offense the Badgers fans were hoping for coming into the season
04:53 with their new offensive coordinator, but obviously they found some things that worked
04:59 as the game went along.
05:00 Tonight, they made some adjustments.
05:02 It's that simple.
05:03 Again, these are my notes as the game is playing out.
05:06 155 left before halftime.
05:07 Wisconsin makes a short field goal.
05:09 Huskers lead, 14-10.
05:12 Alright, the winner of tonight's game, as we know, both teams were 5-5, is going to
05:17 become bowl eligible.
05:18 Now, it's been six years since Nebraska has been to a bowl game.
05:21 You're not sick of hearing that.
05:22 I don't know how you aren't.
05:23 Okay, that's been our longest drought as a football program without going to a bowl
05:28 game since 1955-1961.
05:31 Seven technical seasons.
05:32 Alright, Wisconsin's 21 consecutive bowl games coming into this year was the third
05:35 longest streak in FBS.
05:38 Obviously it's now going to be 22, but they were trying to keep that alive at 21 at this
05:42 point in time that I wrote that note.
05:44 Huskers drive down the field.
05:45 8 seconds before halftime.
05:47 Throw the ball, almost run the clock out.
05:51 One second remains before halftime and I was like, "Oh my God, we almost Marcus Satterfield
05:55 it and I feel bad for saying that," but that was my thought at the point.
05:58 Tristan Alvano unfortunately misses the field goal.
06:02 Huskers lead a rare halftime lead for the Huskers, 14-10.
06:06 My thoughts at halftime.
06:08 Offense looks pretty good at this point.
06:10 You can see why Chubba Purley was highly recruited.
06:12 Again, halftime notes.
06:14 The concept of the forward pass is back in the great state of Nebraska.
06:20 Offense looked good, moved the ball well, continued to take care of the ball.
06:24 I think we ended up with no turnovers on the night.
06:26 The defense needs to make some adjustments because you could see Wisconsin was figuring
06:30 things out.
06:31 This is where you could see their coaches were making adjustments and we needed to make
06:34 adjustments.
06:35 We needed to figure out a way to slow down what is really not a great Wisconsin Badger
06:40 offense.
06:41 Their first 12 plays, Wisconsin only had 12 yards.
06:43 There it is.
06:44 I did make that note.
06:45 But at this point, they had scored 10 unanswered points since those first 12 plays.
06:54 My thought was, at that point, the offense looked good.
06:57 Can our offense and defense both gel at the same time?
07:00 That's my halftime thoughts.
07:01 I wanted to be the stronger, more physical team in the second half.
07:05 I'm so sick and tired of Wisconsin pushing us around year after year, but in the second
07:11 half of games, way too often.
07:13 That was my note right here.
07:14 If we do that in the second half, we're going to win the game.
07:18 I'm tired of that being the case over the years.
07:21 The Blackshirts did have two sacks in the first half, but there were times when Mordecai
07:26 was sitting back there with all day to throw.
07:29 We needed to find ways to get more consistent pressure on Wisconsin.
07:33 Quarterback, Bryce Benhart, this was a halftime note.
07:37 He made his 40th career start tonight with Chubba Purdy starting tonight, the Huskers'
07:42 third different starting quarterback of the year.
07:44 This is the first time the Huskers have started three different starting quarterbacks since
07:48 2013 when they started Tommy Armstrong, Taylor Martinez, and Ron Kellogg.
07:52 Some interesting halftime stats.
07:53 Nebraska more than doubled Wisconsin's offensive output at that point in total yards.
07:58 The Huskers had 270 total yards.
08:00 Wisconsin had 133.
08:01 We were 10 of 12 passing, which was our highest completion percentage at halftime or in a
08:05 half in the entire season.
08:09 We were averaging 12 yards per pass at that point, also the highest of any half of the
08:14 season.
08:15 At that point, Wisconsin had passed the ball 15 times and ran it 11.
08:19 Obviously they ran the ball more as the game went along.
08:21 They played some power football when it mattered the most.
08:24 We did get some stops, but couldn't get the key stops in overtime.
08:28 It was just weird to see them passing the ball more than they were rushing in the first
08:31 half.
08:32 We were averaging 5.3 yards per rush.
08:34 They were averaging 4.1 at that point, which is a little high for our blackshirts typically
08:38 throughout the year.
08:39 Time of possession, we had the huge advantage, not so much at the end of the game, but at
08:42 halftime, 18 minutes 25 seconds to 11.35.
08:46 We had a huge rush yard advantage at halftime, 1.26 on our behalf to 45 rushing yards for
08:51 the Badgers.
08:53 My next note, Wisconsin has clearly made adjustments.
08:56 That second half is just starting.
08:58 How do our coaches answer?
09:00 I wanted to see the second half.
09:02 7.47 left in the third quarter.
09:04 Wisconsin running back Braylon Allen has a touchdown run.
09:08 He's been out with an injury and really wasn't even sure if he was going to play tonight.
09:13 The guy was a warrior tonight.
09:14 You got to tip your cap to their quarterback, their running back.
09:18 They were tough.
09:19 They played tough.
09:20 They clearly wanted it.
09:23 They cap off a 10-place, 79-yard drive, took 4.31 off the clock.
09:27 17 unanswered points at this point.
09:29 Wisconsin leads 17-14.
09:31 My wife texted me exactly what I was thinking at this point in time.
09:36 Here's her text, and I quote, "It looks like Wisconsin wants it more."
09:40 That's how I felt at that point in time too.
09:41 It wasn't until 8.39 left in the fourth quarter.
09:45 The blackshirts defense stuffed Wisconsin short on a third down and a short on a fourth
09:49 down attempt.
09:50 I felt like we might have a little momentum finally.
09:57 I might have even been back-to-back fourth down stops.
10:00 Two consecutive Wisconsin drives at that point.
10:02 I'll have to go back and watch the film to confirm.
10:04 Now Nebraska in the fourth quarter had 13 turnovers throughout the year.
10:10 No turnovers so far tonight in this game.
10:12 The problem is our offense has basically been dead for a while now in the game.
10:17 At that point, we hadn't done anything since those first two drives when I was oh-so-excited
10:21 talking about the forward passes back and we're going to score like 50,000 points.
10:26 We had basically been dead since those first two drives.
10:29 Now I do have some weird stats.
10:31 I don't know.
10:32 I wrote them down.
10:33 It would land better if we had won the game, but here it is.
10:36 The blackshirts last year gave up 414 yards per game.
10:41 Coming into this game, they had narrowed that down to 307 total yards per game and only
10:45 allowed 79 yards per rushing coming into the game tonight.
10:48 Vast improvement as we know.
10:49 Again, just interesting stats now.
10:51 This is not so interesting.
10:52 It's not so great, but it's interesting.
10:55 Basically we're every team's slump buster.
10:58 We are the team you want to play if you're on a losing streak.
11:00 So basically, Michigan State had lost six in a row.
11:03 Boom.
11:04 Beat us.
11:05 Maryland had lost four in a row.
11:06 Boom.
11:07 Beat us.
11:08 Wisconsin had lost three in a row.
11:09 Boom.
11:10 Beat us.
11:11 Alright.
11:12 We've now lost three in a row.
11:13 We've now lost three in a row to get a win.
11:15 The field goal right before half that we missed really hurt us, obviously, as the game wore
11:18 along.
11:19 Evan Bland had an interesting tweet throughout the game.
11:23 This is per Evan Bland on Twitter.
11:25 Fun fact.
11:26 Nebraska starting quarterback Chubba Purdy has given name as Preston, but Chubba caught
11:30 on as a nickname from his dad when he reached 38 pounds as a one-year-old.
11:34 One other interesting stat about Chubba.
11:36 Chubba Purdy is only a sophomore in college, but he's also only 18 months younger than
11:42 his older brother, who starts for the San Francisco 49ers.
11:46 He's been in the league a couple years.
11:48 A couple years, that's Brock Purdy.
11:50 One last interesting stat.
11:51 Again, this would land better if we'd won, but our starting offensive tackles, Bryce
11:54 Benhart and Teddy Prochaska, are 6'10" and 6'9".
11:58 That's really freaking tall.
12:00 Okay.
12:01 Now, where are we at?
12:06 I lost my train of thought.
12:08 Alright.
12:09 327 left in the game.
12:12 Wisconsin's punting near midfield.
12:13 Kobe Brett comes unblocked on a Wisconsin punt.
12:17 He could have blocked it.
12:19 Didn't lay out for it for fear of a penalty, okay, and fear of making that mistake, a possible
12:25 missed opportunity on special teams.
12:27 Now, the Huskers get the ball on their 20-yard line.
12:30 Nebraska 8-play, 68 yards later, game-tying 30-yard field goal made by Tristan Alvano.
12:35 We're tied 17-17 going into overtime.
12:38 Now, I'm glad we tied it, but that was not great clock management.
12:42 I did not think.
12:43 I felt like we were playing for the field goal instead of trying to win at that point.
12:48 Now, the Badgers get the ball, okay.
12:50 We basically kick their butts on first and second down, convert a long third down.
12:55 Kick their butt on first and second down, then they convert a fourth down as well around
13:00 the four-yard line.
13:01 Then Braylon Allen runs it in for a touchdown.
13:03 Wisconsin leads 24-17.
13:05 They basically just shove the whole pile into the end zone.
13:09 Alright, the Huskers were unable to score or even get a first down on their possession
13:14 and overtime.
13:15 Wisconsin wins 24-17.
13:16 We were outscored 24-3 after the first quarter.
13:22 I'm upset and maybe I'll change my mind later, after I watch the film, but I feel like we
13:30 were outcoached this game.
13:32 I just do.
13:33 24-3 after the first quarter.
13:37 That's coming in with a great game plan.
13:39 Nebraska, first two drives scoring, but not great in-game adjustments.
13:45 Not trying to take a shot, but it sounds like the previous regime and what would happen
13:48 with them.
13:49 This is the third straight game between Nebraska and Wisconsin decided by one score.
13:54 This is a game we absolutely had a phenomenal opportunity to win and we did not do it.
14:00 Alright, questions, hit me up in the comments below.
14:03 What's your gut reaction to this game?
14:07 Your thoughts on Shubha Purdy's performance and how you feel about him most likely being
14:11 our starting quarterback going forward.
14:13 Yes or no?
14:14 Just simply let me know yes or no.
14:16 Will Nebraska go to a bowl game or not?
14:18 None of this 5-7 crap either.
14:19 I want to be 6-6 and go.
14:24 As always, check out CarrikerChronicles.com.
14:27 John Johnson is putting up his reaction.
14:29 Corn Kray is putting up his reaction.
14:31 Rob Zadiska, Doc Talk, check it out.
14:34 CarrikerChronicles.com.
14:35 And feel the bones.