Did you have a bit of déjà vu Thursday night?
Nebraska football, the program that’s continually found new and interesting ways to lose over the last decade, was again up against it. After dominating much of their contest vs. Cincinnati, the Cornhuskers were trying to keep the Bearcats (a) out of the endzone and/or (b) out of field goal range.
Groin Kick Chronicles: Which loss was the worst?. dark. Next. Groin Kick Chronicles: Which loss was the worst?
We’ve seen this movie before. I helped build an entire podcast series out of this exact same movie. You bet your ass I was thinking to myself, “wow, it’s going to happen again. I wonder where this loss will rank on the list of worst losses over the past decade.”
Perhaps you were thinking the exact same thing.
Cincinnati, the team that finished the first half gaining 17 yards across their final 11 plays, started their final offensive drive at their own nine-yard line. They were moving quickly, running up the middle for eight yards, before completing a pass for 14. They stalled a bit over their next three plays, suddenly facing a fourth and seven with the game on the line. Matt Rhule and Nebraska called a timeout, but to no avail. A 12-yard completion put the Bearcats near midfield. An eight-yard rush a play later and they were now in Nebraska territory.
Was this actually going to happen?
Nebraska forced another third down, only for Cincinnati to pick up three yards and move the chains again. On the next play, Malcolm Hartzog thought he broke up a pass before a late flag came in for holding. From their own nine to the Nebraska 33, the Blackshirts were on their heels. The Bearcats’ offense had a chance to steal the game and put Nebraska in an 0-1 hole that few of us around here had planned on.
It was déjà vu. It was happening again.
And then on Cincinnati’s final offensive play, Brendan Sorsby’s deep ball didn’t have enough air on it, Hartzog picked it off, and an entire state* breathed a sigh of relief.
*And approximately 98% of Arrowhead Stadium.
Nebraska held on to win 20-17 and move to 1-0.
For much of the night against Cincinnati, I felt like I was again watching the 2024 Huskers. New pieces were there, sure, but the way it all looked, especially on offense, reminded me oh-so-much of what I saw throughout much of 2024.
An offense that averaged 23.5 points per game in 2024 scored 20. An offense that averaged 5.3 yards-per play put up 4.5-per. A passing offense that averaged a 96th-best 6.8 yards per pass averaged just 5.8. And an offense that put up just four plays per game of 20+ yards only broke that barrier one time all night.
It was indeed déjà vu.
And yet, they escaped with a win, moving to 1-0 for only the fourth time since 2015.
Beggars can’t be choosers, and this type of performance is the exact thing we’ve been asking for from this program for years now. Did they have any business being in a dogfight with a team that won just five games last year and three the year before? I don’t know, it’s not like Nebraska has done a whole lot better; putting up six (in the regular season) and five wins in the same timeframe, with a four-win season in 2022* to boot. I picked Nebraska to cover the 6.5-point line, but I didn’t feel incredibly confident in my pick, especially since I predicted Nebraska to finish this season 7-5.
*And three in 2021, three in 2020, five in 2019, four in 2018, and four again in 2017… but I digress!
The further away* we get from Thursday night, the more I find myself impressed by what happened. Not that there isn’t plenty to worry about, if not outright dislike, because there absolutely is. That said, I am definitely one of those people who’ll remind anyone that will listen, “ya know, I don’t really think the 2024 or 2023 teams would have pulled this one out.” Perhaps that’s unfair, given I’m writing this with the benefit of hindsight, but as the Bearcats marched down the field on Thursday, all I could think to myself was, “they’re going to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory again.”
*Having this amount of time to sit in my thoughts won’t be the norm. I plan on writing about Nebraska’s games each and every Sunday morning this season, so most of the time, I will be 12-20 hours removed from whatever happened the day (or night) before.
Until this becomes more of a regular occurrence, I imagine we’ll be comparing the 2025 Nebraska football team to the many others from the Groin Kick Era. Fair or not, this is how I’m viewing the program right now. And for the second-straight game, Nebraska had to make plays and pull out a one-score win.
It’s certainly better than the alternative.
So, what do you do with Thursday night’s win by Nebraska? I’ve already tackled what looked the same, but what about the things that were different?
All offseason, I’ve argued that Nebraska’s special teams just need to be a net-neutral in year one with Mike Ekeler in charge. Only recently did I start buying into them being a net-positive in 2025, given so much of the operation comes down to doing the most basic of things. Snapping, holding, kicking, punting. Too often over the last few years, Nebraska couldn’t do those things. And if you couldn’t hold a field goal or correctly punt the ball to the opposition, how on earth could you properly cover a kickoff or return a punt?
And Nebraska couldn’t do those things.
Even with Cincinnati returning the first kickoff of the night for 20 yards, and even with Nebraska’s own return game delivering middling-to-poor results throughout the evening, Nebraska’s offense had an average starting field position of their own 36* vs. Cincinnati starting at their own 22. In 2024, Nebraska’s offense average starting field position was at their own 27; their opponents averaged at their own 28. It’s but one game, but Nebraska’s +14 yards in field position easily smoked their 2024 average of -1 yard.
*Shoutout to Vincent Shavers for delivering the hit and Williams Nwaneri for recovering the fumble that gave Nebraska the ball at the Bearcats’ 24-yard line, easily the best field position of the night for the Big Red.
Of course, this stat isn’t entirely built on special teams. How well your offense and defense perform does play a big part in starting field position, but Archie Wilson’s ability to put it inside the Cincinnati 20-yard line three times in four punts, as well as his ability to take his time before delivering each punt, turned a weakness into a Nebraska strength on Thursday. He’s able to add an artificial hangtime to the punt that we’ve never really seen around here.
Meanwhile, the kicking operation was executed better than we saw even in the best of times in 2024. The snap was good, the hold was good, and Kyle Cunanan delivered on all four of his kicks; two PATs and two field goals, including a 52-yarder that got Nebraska on the board for the first time in the second quarter.
Like I said, it was a net-positive.
Dylan Raiola completed close to 80% of his passes but averaged under six yards per attempt.
Emmett Johnson went over 100 yards on the ground, led the team in receptions with seven, but had a combined 32 touches and averaged just 4.3 yards per touch.
Nyziah Hunter and Dane Key caught 12 of their 16 targets, scored a touchdown each, but barely went over 100 total yards combined.
Luke Lindenmeyer was a true bright spot of the offense, catching five passes for 47 yards, including two where he rumbled inside the 10-yard line. On the other hand, no other Husker tight end even caught the ball, and Heinrich Haarberg’s blocking left a lot to be desired.
And the Blackshirts allowed Sorsby to only throw for 69* yards while giving up over 200 yards rushing on 6.7 yards per carry, including 138 yards on the ground in the second half.
*Nice!
Thus was the story of Nebraska’s opener.
If you want to find the reasons for optimism, I genuinely think they are there. If you want to find reasons why this won’t be the breakthrough season we’ve been pining for around here for years, well, there are plenty of those, too. On one hand, starting 1-0 instead of 0-1 is all that matters. On the other hand, the issues that plague the team in week one could come back to bite them as soon as week four against Michigan.
The Groin Kick Era of Husker football might not be in the rearview mirror just yet, but Thursday night’s win was another sign that maybe, just maybe, they’ve taken a step forward into a world where every one-score game isn’t destined to be a loss.
Say what you will about everything else; that’s progress.
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