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Disclaimer: I watched this game with 4 young kids & may have missed some details, but this was my impression, & I looked at the full stats to confirm.
I didn't come away from this game as disheartened as most people. It sucked to lose, and we did lose (no moral victories), so it's not a sunshine post, but the kind of game that would have especially sucked (and what a lot of people on this board seemed to think was going to happen) was Michigan just gashing our D on every play, taking 4-8 yards each carry, & imposing their will on us with long drives as our DL got pushed off the ball repeatedly. Then our run offense getting stuffed for 1-2 yards all game as our OL got pushed back repeatedly. We've all seen that movie a ton of times over the past number of years.
But that didn't happen. Our defense didn't let them sustain drives, & on the only 2 they did (16 for 77 yards & 10 for 46), the D stiffened & held them to a FG. Now when they did break down on 3 particular plays, it was catastrophically bad, but Michigan punted or turned it over on 5/11 drives, and had touchdowns on 3/11. That is a solid defensive number against a quality team, where we're holding them at or under NCAA averages. A mobile quarterback was (mostly) contained, & our secondary stayed elite in coverage.
On offense, our run game had a number of effective interior runs (particularly in the 1st half & 4th quarter - 3rd quarter was bad with two 3 & outs), and we had 5-6 quality sustained drives. Obviously, our tackles got badly overwhelmed in pass pro, but we were going against one of the most talented DLs in the country, and offensive tackle/pass rushers are the premium positions where the disparity between the elite teams & the rest of the country is the greatest. For some context, here are the prospect grades for their 2 deep across the DL:
First team:
.9872
.9789
.9253
.8825
Second team:
.9569
.9434
.8697
.8853
IOW, it was a buffet of 5 stars & high 4 stars (in a program with a strong pedigree for DL development & performance), with their second team being more highly rated than most starting units we'll see, and maybe top 3 talent in the country overall. I think Nebraska has a ways to go to get our line/tackles to elite, but I don't think we're far from being good.
I was frustrated with the loss, but at the same time, it was not the kind of loss that would have frustrated me the most. I still think there are plenty of Ws left on the table, and 2025 looking like another step forward if we respond well & continue to clean things up as the season progresses.
I didn't come away from this game as disheartened as most people. It sucked to lose, and we did lose (no moral victories), so it's not a sunshine post, but the kind of game that would have especially sucked (and what a lot of people on this board seemed to think was going to happen) was Michigan just gashing our D on every play, taking 4-8 yards each carry, & imposing their will on us with long drives as our DL got pushed off the ball repeatedly. Then our run offense getting stuffed for 1-2 yards all game as our OL got pushed back repeatedly. We've all seen that movie a ton of times over the past number of years.
But that didn't happen. Our defense didn't let them sustain drives, & on the only 2 they did (16 for 77 yards & 10 for 46), the D stiffened & held them to a FG. Now when they did break down on 3 particular plays, it was catastrophically bad, but Michigan punted or turned it over on 5/11 drives, and had touchdowns on 3/11. That is a solid defensive number against a quality team, where we're holding them at or under NCAA averages. A mobile quarterback was (mostly) contained, & our secondary stayed elite in coverage.
On offense, our run game had a number of effective interior runs (particularly in the 1st half & 4th quarter - 3rd quarter was bad with two 3 & outs), and we had 5-6 quality sustained drives. Obviously, our tackles got badly overwhelmed in pass pro, but we were going against one of the most talented DLs in the country, and offensive tackle/pass rushers are the premium positions where the disparity between the elite teams & the rest of the country is the greatest. For some context, here are the prospect grades for their 2 deep across the DL:
First team:
.9872
.9789
.9253
.8825
Second team:
.9569
.9434
.8697
.8853
IOW, it was a buffet of 5 stars & high 4 stars (in a program with a strong pedigree for DL development & performance), with their second team being more highly rated than most starting units we'll see, and maybe top 3 talent in the country overall. I think Nebraska has a ways to go to get our line/tackles to elite, but I don't think we're far from being good.
I was frustrated with the loss, but at the same time, it was not the kind of loss that would have frustrated me the most. I still think there are plenty of Ws left on the table, and 2025 looking like another step forward if we respond well & continue to clean things up as the season progresses.
