A solid shutout win over Purdue today, though the Boilermakers were their own worst enemy with penalties and turnovers killing their scoring opportunities. Good thing, because the Cats didn’t take full advantage of their scoring opportunities, either.
The Cats and the Huskers are both 5-2, so next week’s game is for bowl eligibility.
Nebraska kind of laid an egg at Minnesota, so much for their top 25 rating for a while, unless they can notch some solid wins against the likes of USC, UCLA and Penn State. I suspect they’ll still be favored at home over the Cats, but if the Husker defense plays as bad as it did on Friday and the Cats offense looks anything like it did against Purdue, I think the Cats will get their 6th win of the season in Lincoln, and that should pretty much end the Huskers chances of another top 25 rating this season unless they win out after that.
Rhule probably didn’t improve his resume for the Penn State job, assuming he’s interested. I don’t think my wife would be sad to see Rhule leave, for some reason she doesn’t like him. I wonder if the Huskers would be crazy enough to go after Franklin? I can’t say I’d be fond of that choice, but I could think of worse ones.
It feels like Groundhog Day for the Nebraska as it seems like every year is their “breakout” year where they get back to their glory days. Each year they muddle through the schedule winning between 5 and 8 games.
Other than the last 10 minutes of the game I thought it was a solid effort from the Cats. Losing Komolafe was a big deal as Himon just doesn’t have the ability to step through tackles. Stone looked good for most of the game, although some of his passes to open wide receivers needed to be crisper as the corner was able to close the gap and bat the ball away.
Our seat neighbor will really miss the lakefront stadium, but I’m mixed. Super casual, great concessions and bathroom situation, but tight/dangerous seating for older patrons and exiting after the game is quite a challenge.
The sixth win for the Cats won’t be easy, as they’ll likely be underdogs for each of their remaining games. But the Cats seem to be steadily improving, so I wouldn’t count them out. USA and the Huskers may be the most winnable.