Nebraska’s event staff executed the “blackout” night at Memorial Stadium about as well as you could hope.
If only the Cornhuskers had executed the read option with TJ Lateef a few more times, they might well have ended their long, painful losing streak to rated teams. Instead, it was close, but no cigar, on a night when Daylight Savings Time ended, and Husker fans would’ve had an extra hour to celebrate.
It was a game you can almost feel good about when you look at the final stats, which show that Nebraska held Southern Cal, the nation’s total offense leader, to nearly 200 yards below its average and kept the AP No. 23-rated Trojans to their lowest passing total in seven years. Instead, it turned into a game you feel lousy about when you think about how close the Huskers came to finally breaking through against a rated opponent.
It was a 21-17 loss that, when viewed objectively, probably ended up being a closer game than Matt Rhule had any right to expect, given the odds his team faced after Dylan Raiola left the field.
It was a game where the Blackshirts blacked out the Trojans in the first half, and the Huskers led 14-6 at intermission. Emmett Johnson was rising to the occasion, with just enough blocking to spring him into the Southern Cal secondary every once in a while. The junior running back from Minneapolis finished with 165 yards and a touchdown on 29 carries, which boosted him to the 1,000-yard mark, becoming the first Husker to crack that barrier since Devine Ozigbo in 2018.
EJ, who twisted, turned and fought for every yard he gained, certainly didn’t deserve to see his team fall to 6-3, and even its record at 3-3 in the Big Ten.
In a week where Nebraska athletic director Troy Dannen doubled down on the future, this was a one-score loss that, while painful, bodes well for the future. The Huskers were never out of it despite a manpower disadvantage.
Ultiimately, Nebraska is still winless all time against Southern Cal, because Rhule’s Huskers were still unable to break through and beat a rated opponent on a night when they had a 14-6 halftime lead, but couldn’t score a single touchdown after Raiola went out with what appeared to be a serious lower leg injury just three minutes into the second half.
It’s bad enough to play without your starting quarterback, and both your starting offensive tackles to boot (Gunnar Gottula still isn’t over his knee injury, and Ellijah Pritchett limped off the field a few plays after Raiola left). It’s tough enough, that is, without having the Big Ten officiating crew decide it’s going to fundamentally change the way it calls pass interference in the fourth quarter after letting defensive backs get away with heavy contact all game long. The critical moment of the game came when officials whistled a DPI on Husker senior DeShon Singleton in the end zone with just over 10 minutes remaining. It quite frankly was a cheap call that shouldn’t have been made; Singleton had superior position, with a better chance to intercept the ball than USC freshman wide receiver Tanook Hines had of ever catching the pass. But the flag was thrown, and the Trojans had a first and goal on the 6-yard line. One play later, King Miller rumbled home on a sweep, scoring what proved to be the winning touchdown.
At that point, Raiola, who was unable to run at all, looked on from the sidelines in frustration. Rhule decided Raiola couldn’t move well enough on the field to protect himself. That left it up to Lateef to lead the Big Red from behind.
The talented but inexperienced backup quarterback made most of the rookie mistakes you’d expect from a true freshman. It was apparent the game was coming at Lateef at about 100 mph, and he wasn’t able to seize the moment. He’ll do it in future games, though.
When Lateef came in, I thought we’d see him on the read option several times. He ran one, for a first down near the end of the third quarter, but had only 25 total yards for the game. Instead, Lateef was pretty much confined to scrambling when the play completely broke down, and the Trojans snuffed the one quarterback draw that Dana Holgorsen called for him.
On the second play of the fourth quarter, after Emmett Johnson broke off a 23-yard run that set up the Huskers first and 10 at the Trojan 21-yard line, Lateef fumbled the snap and lost seven yards. A once-promising drive ended in a 39-yard field goal by Kyle Cunanan, and from that point on, the Huskers lost the initiative, and eventually, the game. They were on their heels, trying to respond to Southern Cal.
Meanwhile, USC’s junior quarterback, Jayden Maiava, executed a couple of read options perfectly, and gave the Trojans their first touchdown in the third quarter. One of the nation’s top five quarterbacks for passing efficiency, Maiava couldn’t solve the Husker secondary, finishing the game just 9-for-23 for 135 yards, with one interception and no touchdowns. Instead, he beat the Huskers with his legs, adding 62 rushing yards on 11 carries. He supplemented Miller, who gained 129 yards on 18 carries. All told, the young and undersized Husker defensive front surrendered 202 rushing yards, which was just enough to give Southern Cal the edge throughout the fourth quarter. Lincoln Riley exploited that weakness all night long.
Last week, NU returned a kickoff for a touchdown, and USC in its most recent game gave up a kick-return TD to Notre Dame, but the Huskers couldn’t get another big special teams play that would’ve made all the difference in this game.
The Huskers did get a big play on defense, an interception by Andrew Marshall in the third quarter that set them up at the USC 34, but couldn’t do a thing with it and lost their quarterback while turning it right back over to the Trojans.
Lateef quite likely could start at UCLA this Saturday night in the Rose Bowl stadium. It would make sense to give Raiola two weeks off (including the bye week after the UCLA game). If indeed that happens, Lateef’s ability to execute the read option with Johnson could be a real difference-maker.
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