Nebraska football tailgate talk: Kegs and eggs and pursuing Purdue

Coach Rhule is getting what he wanted this week ("kegs, eggs and football") in a Nebraska football road trip to West Lafayette where they will play the Purdue Boilermakers, on their homecoming week at 11:00 am CDT, available on Peacock. First a Friday night home game and now Peacock.... That's as wonderful as the weather forecast which includes Hurricane Helene lingering on up to Indiana.

It will be a rainy, wet grass field with temps climbing from an overnight low of 60 up into the low 70's. Send an extra prayer for no more Husker injuries because I'm still haunted by Purdue's field eating up De'Mornay Pierson-El in 2015. (insert fingers crossed emoji here).

If the game hadn't been a loss last week, fans would be celebrating the solid play of backups Ceyair Wright (in for injured Tommie Hill-plantar fasciitis) and O lineman Gunnar Gottula (in for Turner Corcoran - hamstring). Instead, their contributions off the bench are being overlooked. Stupid injury bug. This game had all the Halloween season nightmares and PTSD from seasons past. I can take it if Huskers are bad, I can't take it when we are our own worst enemy.

The defense let too many chunk plays happen. Leaky coverage and busted assignments, and not to mention the fact that the Huskers were NOT the most physical team on the field. The Blackshirts had trouble containing the mobile QB. Maybe in practice they should put Haarberg in as the scout QB to get them back on track. This week they need to RTDB and get off the field on 3rd down. It's nice to see Coach Tony White take ownership of it. He will get them right.

Offense had its problems too. They couldn't handle the run blitz by Illinois. Don't think that's not on every scouting report now especially with Dylan Raiola not being a run threat. There also seemed to be zero push by the O line (see not physical above...). I feel like Satterfield panics when he can't run the ball and has no clue where to go next.

You have a stable of different running backs. Why not use Rahmir Johnson or Emmett Johnson (or even Jacory Barney) on a jet sweep if there are too many in the box? Most importantly, I want the Cornhusker receivers to turn 50/50 balls into RE-ceptions and not inter-ceptions. At least the return game for the Huskers seems to be kind of ok for now.

On the bright side, all these are all fixable problems for the Huskers, except that of healing up Tristan Alvano or the others now injured. I have faith in most of the coaches that the University pays. There are others I would bring the cardboard boxes to their offices myself. That's a conversation for a "bye" week column.

What can you expect this week at Purdue? Offensively they are ranked 96th. Their O line has good assignment blocking up front. They use a lot of motion to disguise their plays with misdirection. Senior QB Hudson Card needs to be able to get his passing game going if they want to be successful but they've had more rushing yards this season than passing yards. He has 2 TDs and 3 INTs so far this year. Blackshirts need to steal more footballs from him. Boilermaker RBs Reggie Love III (when will he finally graduate?!) and Devin Mockobee have done well for Purdue despite the 1-2 record. Don't forget they played Notre Dame and Oregon St in non-conference.

Positive news for the good guys in Red is that Purdue lost a lot of players in the transfer portal, including wide receivers and their run defense is only ranked 132nd. On a crappy weather day, that's a bright spot for Big Red. Defensively they've allowed 340 rushing yards the last 2 games. Are you listening Satterfield, and Dante Dowdell, and Emmett Johnson?

Nebraska football kegs and eggs

Since it would be an early morning get together for the Husker faithful, I would recommend the breakfast casserole that gives you a solid base for early day drinking (mimosas or bloody marys). I cook up ham bits (or sausage) with a small, chopped vidalia onion. In a bowl I whip together 9 eggs, 3/4 cup milk, 8 oz. sour cream and 1 tbsp of Hot Rod's Gawlic Buttah seasoning. In a separate bowl, mix together a package of frozen hashbrowns, 1/2 cup parmesan cheese and whatever meat you cooked up. Pour the potato mixture in a greased 9 x 13" pan. Then slowly pour in the egg mixture. Bake at 350 for about an hour. Very tasty and warms up great if there is any leftovers.

I'm not thrilled about having to purchase a streaming service when I already have full cable service. I may just put in the ear pods and listen to the call on the radio. It's a get right game for Nebraska that needs the win more than Purdue. It doesn't get any easier after this week, either. I'll be cheering for healthy bodies to come off the field and a HUSKER win! Send me your tailgate photos or recipes for drinks or food at @kelian_NE on the X. Always love to share the knowledge. As always, GO BIG RED!

Lagniappe: Props to AD Troy Dannon expressing his displeasure to the B1G about stuffing a Friday night home game down the throats of the Cornhusker faithful. I appreciate you standing up for the University publicly. I can tell you teams like Michigan flat out refused to do it, and you don't notice it on Ohio State or Penn State or Oregon's schedule. We all know Husker fans will tune in no matter what time the game is on or what day but that's not the point. Why stick it to a loyal fan base? Since any football is better than no football, the teams with low visibility should get those slots. A BIG RED shout out to the 86k of Nebraska football fans who made it into Memorial Stadium Friday night and the 4.2 million watched the Huskers play horribly btw. End of rant