Nebraska Football clearly not ready for primetime competition

By Leigh Oleszczak | Sep 29, 2019

LINCOLN, NE - SEPTEMBER 28: Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Justin Fields (1) gets sacked by Nebraska Cornhuskers linebacker Caleb Tannor (L) during the game between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Nebraska Cornhuskers on September 28, 2019, played at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, NE. (Photo by Steve Nurenberg/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

Nebraska football faced a tall task of going against the fifth ranked Ohio State Buckeyes on Saturday and the end result wasn’t pretty. The Huskers were crushed 48-7 by Ohio State and proved they still have a long way to go.

For anyone who thought Nebraska football might have a chance against Ohio State as the Huskers got the primetime slot on ABC, they found out quickly that it was going to be a long night. Ohio State went down and scored immediately and on Nebraska’s first drive, Adrian Martinez threw a pick, which was his first of three interceptions on the night.

The Huskers played Ohio State tough last year in Columbus and that’s why fans thought Big Red might have a chance in this game, but it was clear early on that this Buckeye squad is different from the one Nebraska gave a run to their money to a year ago.

The running game absolutely dominated the Huskers, tallying 368 yards on the ground and three touchdowns with J.K. Dobbins leading the Buckeyes with 177 yards off of 24 carries. Quarterback Justin Fields did well in both the run and the passing game too, with 212 yards passing to go along with three touchdowns and 72 rushing yards and a touchdown with his legs.

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The same could not be said for Martinez, who had a terrible night. He completed just eight of his 17 pass attempts for 47 yards and three interceptions. He did rush for 81 yards, but that came off of 15 carries.

The only way Nebraska really stood a chance in this game was if Martinez aired it out and did so well, which was not what ended up happening. He looked awful and any hope he had for the Heisman is now certainly gone.

All together, it was an embarrassing effort by Nebraska football against one of the nation’s best teams. While there aren’t silver livings in college football, one positive is that Nebraska was able to rush for 184 yards against a good Buckeyes defense, but Ohio State was probably fine with the Cornhuskers running down the clock in a game that was OSU dominated from the get go.

The schedule lightens up a bit over the next few weeks with a home game versus Northwestern next Saturday. The Wildcats are 1-3, but did play eighth ranked Wisconsin tough last week, so they’ll definitely give Nebraska a game.

With Nebraska’s toughest game out of the way, the Huskers have just two ranked opponents on their schedule for the rest of the season. If those games end up as losses, but Nebraska wins against the unranked opponents, they could be 8-4 by season’s end. Still a HUGE improvement from a year ago and that’s all we really wanted to see this year.

This Nebraska football team still has a ways to go, but for now, they’re not ready for the spotlight quite yet.

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