It was ugly, horrible to look at, frightening to children, vomit-inducing, and should not be viewed by the public. But enough about me looking in the mirror, what about that first half between Nebraska and Purdue? Between the absolute gong show that was the officiating, multiple drive stalling penalties (real ones), the inappropriate snap and field goal attempts, the miserable idea of ​​scoring points, and Brian Buschini as the leading tackler for Nebraska, that was… something .

I know there are several concerns about what happened in West Lafayette on Saturday. Finally job done. Moving the football almost at will but not scoring still smacks of the “older regimes”, but the difference was the last 20 minutes. As soon as Purdue took the lead, Nebraska responded with almost immediate effect. When the Huskers finally scored, they took full control of the game. If this doesn’t give you a hint as to what my life motto is, then this game should give you a huge hint. But just in case you wanted to know: “It doesn’t have to be pretty, it just has to be effective.”

Marc Lebryk-Imagn images

Purdue came into this game with one of the worst rush defenses in the country, and it ultimately showed. The running game slowly wore down the Boilermakers, especially after Purdue took the lead. It wouldn’t be the Nebraska of the 1990s; there were no 55+ running plays for almost 250+ yards full of options and fullback traps. Sometimes you have to do the opposite thing, which is allow the pass to open up the run game.

The receivers did a great job of getting open and ultimately all needed new pockets after being robbed multiple times by Boilermaker defensive backs. This would be a good time to donate to the 1890 Initiative so the players can purchase new wallets in case future teams try the same non-defensive tactics. Raiola was frustrating at times because he didn’t do enough on guys, but he’s only a freshman. Arm strength is a workable thing, and he will take time. If he had hit three or four guys in stride, they would have been TDs instead of pass interference calls. It’s better to let your guys get robbed than to leave them in the middle of the field.

Dylan Widger-Imagn images

Finally, I want to give a shout out to Coach Rhule. He wants “Kegs and Eggs and Football,” but noticed his boys might be lacking some energy early in the day. He changed the warm-up slightly and added the famous “Oklahoma drill” to stimulate his team. He backed his boys up with multiple looks like the one above when it came to being stupid. He even said a magic phrase to be able to impose a fine for unsportsmanlike behavior. That may not seem like much, but setting the tone is how you move the culture forward. It shows real leadership. Past performances like this would have resulted in defeat and throwing players under the bus.

Nebraska is 4-1, and most of Husker country isn’t quite sure if they’ve put together a solid 60 minutes yet. Good teams can get rid of the ugly games, the “it’s not pretty, but it’s effective” games. Find a way to keep improving and getting the wins. A win is a win, even if it looked more disgusting than when I look in the mirror in the morning.