By james art COLUMBUS, Ohio – Nebraska football writer Luke Mullin offers his extra points from the Husker football team’s 21-17 loss to Ohio State on Saturday.
Gameplay: Dylan Raiola 38-yard scramble. The Nebraska quarterback showed off his wheels against the Buckeyes, picking up multiple first downs with his legs — but none bigger than the one that set up NU’s first points of the day on field goals.
Turning point: Nebraska’s success in the third quarter. While NU made it a one-score game at 14-6 shortly before halftime, Ohio State had every opportunity to come out in the second half with a touchdown or two that would have taken the wind out of the game. Instead, Nebraska’s defense played one of its best quarters of the season and kept the Huskers firmly in the game.
Quoted: Nebraska HC Matt Rhule on the brief delay as Ohio State students threw water bottles and other debris onto the field:
“I’m from Philly, it doesn’t bother me.”
Game ball: John Hall. Kicker is hardly an easy position to play, especially given the mental strain that comes with the territory. Although Hall went through his own struggles during the season, he was money on Saturday. Playing in front of over 100,000 fans, Hall made all three of his field goal attempts, including one from 54 yards.
Game ball: The black shirts. Shaking off last week’s struggles, Nebraska played with physicality and purpose against an offense loaded with NFL picks. By holding Ohio State to a season-low 21 points, NU’s defense gave itself a chance to win.
Hat tip: To running back Dante Dowdell, who took some punishment from the Buckeye defense and ran efficiently. Dowdell led the Huskers with 60 yards rushing and averaged 4.3 yards per carry, a dramatic improvement after he was blocked a week ago.
doubtful: Bad penalty calls have led to many controversial moments in Nebraska’s season so far — but no officiating team has botched a call as clearly as what happened late in the first half.
With Nebraska driving, the Huskers were hoping to pick up a first down and stop the clock with Emmett Johnson on second down. Johnson clearly carried the ball a yard for the gain, nearly reaching the Ohio State 35-yard line before being tackled back. Instead, the ball was punted short of a first down at the OSU 38-yard line, causing over 30 seconds to tick off the game clock.
Then, as Nebraska took a punt into the end zone, a rush for Isaiah Neyor led to a puzzling pass interference call. Neyor may have kept his hands on the defender, but the level of contact looked normal for one-on-one coverage.
Nebraska still pushed for a field goal to end the half, but those two rulings made it that much more difficult.
While it wasn’t quite as impressive, Nebraska also suffered from a bad spot when trying to get through the goal line in the third quarter. A third down carry by Jaylen Lloyd appeared to reach the Ohio State 1-yard line, but was instead flagged down at the 2-yard line. In this area of the pitch, every centimeter counts.
Tuning tone: Jimari Butler’s sack and NU’s fourth down on the Buckeyes’ opening possession. Indiana started early and never looked back a week ago; Nebraska made sure that didn’t happen this time.
Road numbers
1: Third down by Ohio State after 10 attempts.
5.9: Yards per carry averaged by OSU entering the game.
2.1: Ohio State’s yards per carry vs. Nebraska.
11: Minutes Nebraska held the ball more than Ohio State.
4.1: Nebraska yards per play vs. Buckeyes.