Welcome to the start of the 2022 college football season! Week 0 featured two Big Ten West foes set to square off in Dublin, Ireland. This game was a great way to kick off the season featuring highlight plays, a stellar QB dual, and a 3rd quarter onside kick call leaving the football world scratching their heads. Let’s recap Northwestern’s 31-28 come-from-behind victory over Nebraska.
Nebraska
Entering the college football season, Nebraska has a lot of question marks – and even some pre season hype. How would they fair without long-time starter Adrian Martinez; handing the ball over to incoming Texas transfer QB Casey Thompson.
Nebraska made good use of the transfer portal landing 18 players (6 starters). Some were thinking this could finally be the year they turned the corner in a very up and down start to Scott Frost’s tenure as head coach. Instead, it’s another heartbreaking loss for Nebraska, a feeling they know all too well. In fact, Frost has an abysmal 5-21 record in one score games bringing his record with Nebraska to 15-30. Aside from the horrid coaching decision mentioned above, what led to the demise of Frost and the Cornhuskers?
Positives
Before I dismantle Nebraska’s performance and coaching, let me touch on the positives. The Nebraska offense started off hot. Casey Thompson threw for over 230 yards on 17-24 in just the first half with running back Anthony Grant also playing well; rushing for over a hundred yards and two scores. Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda led the way for the receivers with 4 receptions 120 yards and a score.
Despite giving up 31 total points, Nebraska really found their groove only allowing 1 TD in the 3rd and another in the 4th. Other than that, there wasn’t really much to write home about. Luke Reimer and Ochaun Mathis recorded double digits in tackles; and I guess you could say the Nebraska pass defense played well, with 4 pass deflections.
Negatives
Offensive Struggles
I can’t exactly tell you what happened during halftime to the Cornhuskers. What I can tell you is when they came back out they looked totally different – and not in a good way, either. In the 2nd half, the Cornhuskers’ drives were as followed after a pair of touchdowns. Punt, punt, INT, punt, punt, and a game clinching INT with 1:27 left in the game.
No Show Defense
The defense had no success rushing the passer, recording 0 QB sacks. In addition to that they only managed 2 tackles for loss in the game. They also made Northwestern QB Ryan Hilinski look like an early college football Heisman candidate carving them up through the air all night.
Why Scott Frost…..Why??
In the 3rd quarter with 9:09 left, up 11 points and momentum on their side, head coach Scott Frost made what I would call one of the worst decisions I’ve ever seen. An onside kick attempt to try and keep momentum, as Frost would later say. Instead, the Cornhuskers never scored another point; ultimately losing in another disappointing Frost-esque fashion. After the contest, all fingers were pointed at Frost. Social media erupted calling for Scott Frost to be fired. Quite frankly, I don’t blame them. He has consistently underperformed as the head man in charge.
Northwestern
In recent memory the Northwestern Wildcats have found some success, followed by equal amounts of disappointing seasons. How would they respond to their disastrous 3-9 college football record a season ago?
Ryan Hilinski won the 3-man race to be the Wildcats starting QB, throwing for just under a thousand yards last year. However, he was only able to find the endzone three times in all of 2021. The defense has a new lead man, tabbing ex-Las Vegas Raiders DB coach Jim O’Neil. Will O’Neil be able to turn around the 116th total defense in the country a season ago? In this contest his defense did just enough to overcome the çornhuskers.
Negatives
2nd Half Blues
Much like their counterpart, the 2nd half definitely showed the faults in the offense that the 1st half was able to cover up. After a 17 point 1st half, Northwestern fizzled out, only scoring once per quarter. After a 217 yard first half Hilinski came down to earth, throwing for 97 yards and no scores in the 2nd half.
Positives
Just Scraping By
The defense was just good enough, as they forced two punts and a game clinching interception to secure the 31-28 victory. Unlike Nebraska, Northwestern was able to get to the quarterback and tackle behind the line of scrimmage; recording 2 sacks and 3 TFLs. The Northwestern secondary played very well despite giving up 28, recording 6 pass deflections and 2 ints in the game.
In Hilinski We Trust
Offensively the Wildcats looked better than I anticipated. They had almost two RBs rush for a hundred yards, a quarterback throw for over 300 yards, and no turnovers. As for the receiving core, Malik Washington’s 8 reception, 97 yard game is definitely worth noting. Hilinski definitely cemented himself as the starter going forward. Let’s look ahead to next week’s slate for each team.
Whos Next??
Nebraska returns to Memorial Stadium for a tune up against North Dakota in their next college football matchup.
Northwestern looks to improve to 2-0 as they also play in front of their home crowd, welcoming Duke to Ryan Field for their week two contest.
