Stukenholtz: Nobody to Blame but Themselves

Nebraska is going to a bowl game in 2024.

Ok, now that we have that silver lining out of the way, let’s take a closer look at Iowa’s win – wait, check that – Nebraska’s 13-10 loss to Iowa on a frigid Friday night in Iowa City.

NU led 10-0 at halftime in a performance you could only describe as dominant. Defensively, the Blackshirts held Iowa to 20 yards on 20 plays, one first down, 0-for-6 on 3rd downs including *FIVE* 3-and-outs, and shut down the nation’s second-leading rusher, Kaleb Johnson, to the tune of ten carries for 16 yards.

On offense, the Huskers put a pair of crisp, efficient scoring drives together, including the touchdown less than a minute before halftime. Plus, they’d drive right down the field to start the second half, too.

All good then, right? Nebraska was cruising to a comfortable win over the rival Hawkeyes, right? Right??

Oh, boy. Not even close.

If you looked up “quintessential Kirk Ferentz wins” in a dictionary, I can’t imagine there are many better examples than this one. 

Under Ferentz, Iowa is usually somewhere between below average and terrible at quarterback. They lean hard on their running backs, offensive line, and tight ends. They are solid defensively, sometimes highlighted by a superstar. They don’t commit many penalties. They create turnovers. And they’re elite on special teams – punter, kicker, returner, coverage, all of it. Sound familiar?

Iowa thrives on your mistakes while limiting theirs. Unfortunately for the Huskers, there were mistakes aplenty in a nightmare second half that cost Nebraska a chance at a win. Let’s take a closer look, because if you’ve come this far you are a glutton for Husker punishment, just like me…

3Q, 9:26 remaining: Long snapper Aiden Flege, who has improved over the course of this season, picked a bad time to roll a ground ball back to holder Brian Buschini. Buschini couldn’t pull off a good hold after the poor snap, and John Hohl missed his first field goal attempt in ten tries, a 34-yarder that would have made it 13-0. Alas.

3Q, 6:36 remaining: Iowa punts for the seventh time (!), but disaster strikes as Vincent Shavers, who thought the ball touched returner Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda, tried to dive on the ball before the Hawkeyes could. Shavers was ruled to have touched the ball first – it didn’t hit IGC after all – and replay upheld the call, giving Iowa a new set of downs at the NU 4-yard line. After an impressive goal line stand by the Blackshirts, Iowa took their free three points, making it 10-3.

4Q, 15:00 remaining: This was the big one. I re-watched this play about 30 times to gather all the details, so you don’t have to. You’re welcome.

The aforementioned Kaleb Johnson, who averaged 135.6 rushing yards per game but was bottled up on his run plays on Friday, took a basic swing pass, asked Nebraska if they’d like to tackle him, they said “nope!” so he scored a 72-yard touchdown reception.

Taking the snap from the 28-yard line on 2nd & 13, third-string Iowa quarterback Jackson Stratton hit Johnson at the 20 (kind of threw it behind him), and plenty of Husker defenders were waiting upfield. Johnson ran to the right of a good block on Jimari Butler and easily dispatched an arm tackle attempt from Marques Buford at the 28, which was the original line of scrimmage. 

At the 31, John Bullock – one of Nebraska’s best players this season – made contact with Johnson, and the best way I can describe it is Johnson takes him for a ride for about five yards. Bullock does not make the tackle, however. Instead, as he appears to try ripping at the football, Ty Robinson and DeShon Singleton both sort of hurl their bodies toward Johnson and Bullock, with neither defender bringing their arms to wrap up. Much to Nebraska’s horror, this collision essentially shakes Johnson loose from everyone’s grasp. 

Now Johnson is accelerating again at the 40 along the right sideline, and Malcolm Hartzog is the only Husker still in front of him. Johnson plants his right foot at the 48 and cuts left to scoot by a flailing Hartzog at midfield, who may have been able to grab Johnson’s right leg if he wasn’t trucked by MJ Sherman. Now in the clear, Johnson just had to outrun Mikai Gbayor for 50 yards to paydirt, which he did.

(The only Husker defenders not involved in the play were Nash Hutmacher, who was giving chase after blocking at the line, and Isaac Gifford and Ceyair Wright, who were both blocked downfield by a tight end and wide receiver, respectively. Total team effort.)

For me, Buford and Hartzog certainly could have done more to slow Johnson down, but this one’s mostly on Bullock, Robinson, and Singleton. Three seniors on defense collectively undid an otherwise incredible defensive performance in a split second. It was a devastating play to begin the fourth quarter, and one that undoubtedly planted that pesky little seed of doubt into the minds of Husker players, coaches, and fans. All tied up, 10-10.

4Q, 7:09 remaining: On 2nd & 1, Dana Holgorsen calls in a play meant to get a Husker receiver wide-ass open. And boy did Isaiah Neyor find himself wide-ass open. Problem is, he didn’t catch the ball.

From their own 44-yard line, Dylan Raiola went under center, looked at a teammate to his right, and pointed towards the end zone. He was gesturing to Jahmal Banks to make sure he knew to get vertical as quickly as possible. Banks was merely taking coverage away from where his counterpart, Neyor, was going. Neyor, lined up on the left and ran a crossing pattern toward the right. They were the only route runners on the play.

Raiola play-faked to Emmett Johnson, planted his right foot on his own 35, and delivered the ball on time and on the money as Neyor ran free to the Hawkeye 40. The ball hit him on the hands – at least, it would have if it didn’t fly between them and harmlessly fall to the turf. If he had caught it, he could have outrun the defense and would have been a good Banks block from scoring a go-ahead touchdown to make it 17-10. Alas.

NU ended up punting from Iowa’s 40 to conclude a point-less, 5:44 drive, their longest of the game.

4Q, 0:22 remaining: The sack-fumble. 

After collecting their second first down of a potential game-winning drive that began at their own 20-yard line, Nebraska gets to the line with their 1st & 10 play call ready – four verts. The idea was to either get close enough to try a game-winning field goal or have the clock expire and try their luck in overtime. (Wonder how that would have turned out. Also, does Holgorsen know NU’s overtime history?)

From their own 43, the Huskers had two receivers left and right with Emmett Johnson in the backfield. Johnson did not attempt to block, and an Iowa linebacker was in man coverage on him. It was a four-man rush. And it was a catastrophe.

Bryce Benhart, who has started 53 games at right tackle and played in 59 games – both Nebraska records – lost his pass protection rep to defensive end Max Llewellyn. Looking to his left, Raiola never saw him coming. To make matters worse, Raiola couldn’t hold on to the football. Llewellyn jarred it from Raiola’s right hand, both players went to the ground, and after about three seconds, Llewellyn emerged holding the ball high above his head. After replay review, Iowa ball. Three plays later, they kicked a 53-yard field goal as time expired. 13-10, Iowa. Just like 2023.

[Quick aside on the fumble sequence. The white hat announced as they spotted the ball immediately after the sack, “The ruling on the field is the runner was down prior to the ball coming loose.” Then the fourth quarter clock ran out. *THEN* as they went to review, white hat announced, “The ruling on the field is the ball was loose and recovered by defense.” And finally, after the review, he said, “After review, the ruling on the field of a fumble, recovered by the defense, is confirmed.” How or why did they change the call on the field?

Also, had the call on the field been Raiola was down, then to overturn the call would have required “clear and immediate recovery” by Iowa. Raiola had the ball in his belly all the way to the ground *AND* while on the ground for a good three seconds, then the defender wrestled it away. Does that qualify as “clear and immediate?”]

It was truly an infuriating Nebraska football loss, right up there with a cornucopia of close losses over the last few seasons. NU out-yarded Iowa 334-164 and stopped them on all ten of their 3rd down attempts. Iowa ran just nine plays in Husker territory, gained a mere three yards on those plays, but scored six points off their two forced turnovers. Gross.

Who made the crippling mistakes? Not Iowa. That’s not what they do. Nebraska couldn’t execute a simple field goal snap. Nebraska refused to tackle on one play. Nebraska dropped a potential go-ahead fourth quarter touchdown pass. Nebraska lost two fumbles. 

Credit to Iowa for recovering those fumbles, to Kaleb Johnson for continuing to run on his long touchdown, and to Drew Stevens for hitting the winning kick. But it’s not in question that Nebraska cost themselves ten points AND handed 13 to the Hawkeyes. 

They have nobody to blame but themselves.

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