Nebraska Football: 3 areas the Huskers must improve to win in 2022

One of the absolute biggest reasons why the Nebraska football team struggled in 2022 is because it simply wasn’t good on 3rd down on either side of the ball. The good news is that there were certainly teams that were worse; the bad news is there weren’t that many that were as bad as the Huskers on both offense and defense.

When it came to the offense’s 3rd down conversion percentage, Adrian Martinez and company converted just 41 percent of the time, which was good for 56th in the country. In 161 third down attempts, the team converted 66 times.

Again, that isn’t a horrendous number all on its own. Most teams would even say that they’d be quite happy with a conversion rate of 41 percent. But in reality, it’s pretty middle of the road and is one of those things that can be even bigger when talking about the number of close games the team played in. One or two third downs that weren’t converted can mean the difference between a win or a loss. Especially teamed with a defense that struggled at times to get opponents off the field.

The Blackshirts, who were certainly considered the bright spot of the Nebraska football team for most of the season, had their problems every now and then. That was especially the case when it got a team to third down, as it allowed those opponents to convert 38.9 percent of the time. That number was good for 72nd in the country. Once again, in games that were decided by a touchdown or less, one failed conversion or one successful conversion here, and there could mean a win was turned into a loss.