I will try to put the best spin on our butt-kicking as possible.
Total yards: NIU 350 Neb. 535 and total first down: NIU 20 Neb. 22. 185 yards in total offense differential is not close, but it’s not a 36-point differential. That point difference is largely the result of giving Neb. way too many short fields. Neb. had TD drives of 21, 42, 48, 50, 83 and 87 yards. Therefore, we gave up 28 points on 161 yards! Two of the short fields we handed to Neb. with the failed fake punt and on-sides kick, and 2 were from blocked punts. I am a huge Hammock fan, but with our D being so depleted with injuries (and Williams being out the first half with the Utah targeting call that Hammock agreed with) handing Neb. 2 short fields made no sense.
Only getting 6 points (10 if you count Harbs breaking the plane, which he did) off 350 yards is bad, but is explained by our drives starting at our 10 (twice), 12, 17, 20, 22 (twice), 25 (5 times), 35 and 49 yard lines. We definitely did a lousy job with field position.
These stats are from here:
https://www.espn.com/college-football/ga.../401112240
Looking forward, I agree the bye week is perfect timing, from both a mental and physical standpoint. I am hoping the O line is coached up and gels as the season progresses; our rushing game is horrible and Bowers is going to get hurt sooner or later. This will not happen overnight, but it is something the coaches need to do everything possible to fix. We need to get our defensive starters back. It is clear Neb. saw something with our punt blocking and took advantage of it. We better get that fixed as other teams will be trying the same thing, as someone already noted.
I definitely want to beat Vanderbilt and I know we can. However, if we have players that are not healthy the extra week before MAC play starts will be important, although neither I nor anyone else here that I have heard knows how significant the injuries are. Pugh is a great player, but just can’t stay healthy. I’m not suggesting we hold out players for the Vanderbilt game, as I haven’t for any other game. However, we need to be healthy for MAC play; really, at this point the MAC championship is what we are playing for.