Nebraska lost 13-10 on Saturday, giving away the ball and the game to Maryland, in a game that the defense kept the Huskers in throughout.
The Huskers had a number of issues in this one, utilizing all three quarterbacks, turning the ball over five times, multiple times unforced by the defense and it never was quite able to allow the running game to just take over the game — either by their own execution or their own decision making.
Here are the grades:
Nebraska rushing offense — The Huskers came into another Big Ten game with a chance to prove it could carry the offense by just rushing the ball. The Huskers largely were unable to do it for much of the game, though a couple sizable runs in the final full drive for the offense helped push up the totals and the yardage to more respectable numbers, but ultimately it was another uneven rushing day where the Huskers didn’t get enough done on the ground. Jeff Sims also fumbled the ball on the first play of the fourth quarter, setting up Maryland to tie the game with a kick. Rushing offense grade: C-
Nebraska passing offense — Three quarterbacks played on Saturday as fans got to see all of the Huskers options at signal caller and each managed to throw an interception, with Sims throwing two. All of them hurt, but none more than an ill-advised throw on an ill-advised play call late in the game when Chubba Purdy tossed an interception in the end zone, killing Nebraska’s chance to go-ahead late in the game. Nebraska’s receivers didn’t help matters much, but it’s hard to put blame on them when the quarterbacks were erratic throughout the day. Passing offense grade: F
Nebraska rushing defense — The Terrapins had zero yards rushing yards as a team entering the second half. Roman Hemby finished with 67 critical yards in the second half and 74 for the game. He also coughed up a fumble, but Nebraska’s offense didn’t make Maryland pay, so it pales in comparison to the lift he gave a Maryland team that only threw for 99 yards in the second half. Overall it was far more good than bad for Nebraska — huge fourth down stop swung momentum — but the late yardage was a killer. Rushing defense grade: B+
Nebraska passing defense — The Huskers largely kept Taulia Tagovailoa in check aside from three throws on Saturday. More than a third of his yards came on two drives right before halftime. Tagaovailoa on all other drives completed 22 passes for 163 yards. Considering what was expected, Nebraska did a nice job in the passing game. They had a takeaway, hounded him most of the day, but the missed sacks, some leak yardage did hurt the Huskers as well. Passing defense grade: B
Special teams — Nebraska made its field goal. Brian Buschini had two punts that weren’t great, but they did the job. However Nebraska continues to field punts inside the 10-yard line for inexplicable reasons. Ultimately it didn’t hurt the team that badly, but it’s still questionable decisions that could be avoided. Special teams grade: B