On October 3, the Nebraska football team scored 20 points in the fourth quarter against Maryland. Thanks to the 17-7 loss to Washington on Saturday night, it will end up being more than a month since NU managed even 20 points in an entire game. Assuming they somehow manage 20 points next week against Illinois. It doesn't feel like there's a guarantee this offense could even score 20 against an absolutely moribund Rutgers defense.
Dana Holgorsen used to be one of the greatest minds in college football. His Air Raid offense piled up the yards and points. When he came to the Huskers he talked a big game about running an adapted offense that could run his Air Raid but also take advantage of NU's desire to run the football. Turns out, Holgorsen doesn't actually have the slightest clue how to do run that kind of offense.
Consider this. Against Indiana, Holgorsen managed to score 17 points against an Indiana defense that is one of the best in the country, and in the process, allowed him team to take a 17-6 lead in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, those 17 points have been the high water mark of the last four weeks.
Against Oregon, a week later, it looked an awful lot like Holgorsen just decided there wasn't much of a chance to generate an offense so why even try? The approach seemed to be to run out the clock from the very beginning. It didn't work when his former quarterback drove the Ducks on an 18 play possession to eat up the final five minutes.
Dana Holgorsen’s Nebraska football offense has scored just 41 points over last 12 quarters
Do anyone who watches Nebraska believe that Holgorsen could draft up an 18 play drive to win the game? Any game? He had the opportunity to do that against a Washington defense that's among the worst in the Big Ten. With just over 5 minutes left in the game, the Huskers forced a punt and held a 7-3 lead.
NU went three and out on three plays that looked like nothing more than mass confusion. Washington then drove down the field to score the winning touchdown. In the fourth quarter. Again.
Since those 20 points in the 4th quarter against Maryland, Nebraska has scored 41 points in the following 12 quarters. When you take way the field goal with NU down 17-7 with 30 seconds to go, he probably shouldn't get credit for those 3 points, but I digress.
Since Nebraska improved to 5-0 thanks to an offense that never scored less than 30 points in a game, the Huskers offense has averaged 13 points over the last three contests. Does anyone want to claim that's acceptable?
Nebraska's defense allowed 10 points on Saturday night and the Cornhuskers lost. At home.
Last year, when Dylan Raiola entered the Transfer Portal, Holgorsen took some not so subtle shots that alleged Raiola was the reason the Huskers' offense struggled at times. But when the Huskers had 1st and goal at the 5 yard line and a chance to go up 14-3 (which would have salted the game away), it wasn't Raiola who called three empty backfield pass plays that were all progressively worse, execution wise.
The boos that rained down in Memorial Stadium told the story on Saturday night. Nebraska fans have no more patience for this kind of performance. The Huskers are 8-0 with a remotely competent offense during this stretch. Changes have to be made and the first change should be saying thanks but no thanks to Dana Holgorsen calling another game.
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