{"id":54702,"date":"2023-11-15T09:00:22","date_gmt":"2023-11-15T14:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=54702"},"modified":"2023-11-14T21:00:34","modified_gmt":"2023-11-15T02:00:34","slug":"what-we-know-from-the-huskers-loss-to-maryland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2023\/11\/15\/what-we-know-from-the-huskers-loss-to-maryland\/","title":{"rendered":"What We Know From The Huskers Loss To Maryland"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Last Saturday, Nebraska head coach <strong>Matt Rhule<\/strong> and his Nebraska team suffered a major loss to the Maryland Terrapins.\u00a0 As a result, the Big Red failed to capture their sixth win for a shot at bowl eligibility. And with two games left, its chances are slipping further away with their 5-5 record. Let&#8217;s talk about how this affects the program going into their last two games of the season.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>The Turnover Issue Continues <\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Just like its most recent performance against Michigan State, the Husker offense struggled to find a clear identity. After throwing an interception to Maryland defensive back Dante Trader Jr, sophomore quarterback <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/heinrich-haarberg-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Heinrich Haarberg<\/a> was sacked in his next series. This not only stalled NU&#8217;s momentum, but it also left the sophomore with an injury. Because of this, NU was forced to rely on Jeff Sims to get them out of this predicament. And he proved to be the answer in the second quarter. In 12 plays, he marched the offense 58 yards down the field. However, their progress was wiped out when he forced an interception with two minutes left. Because of this, the Huskers relied on sophomore <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/chubba-purdy-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chubba Purdy<\/a>. And he provided a legitimate spark with his 90 yard drive. But this momentum faded quickly when he would give it away at the end of the game. All in all, Nebraska\u2019s offense turned over the ball five times. And this issue will likely continue into their matchup against the Wisconsin Badgers. Can the Nebraska Cornhuskers weather the storm and still come out on top?<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Final. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/q5V1NMjRQO\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/q5V1NMjRQO<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Nebraska Football (@HuskerFootball) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HuskerFootball\/status\/1723435447060234410?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">November 11, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p>&nbsp;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3>A Depleted Secondary Works Wonders<\/h3>\n<p>After surrendering 20 points to the Michigan State Spartans, Nebraska&#8217;s depleted secondary under defensive backs coach <strong>Evan Cooper <\/strong>might&#8217;ve needed retooling. And the second half against Maryland provided more evidence of this. On the first play of the second period, Terrapins senior quarterback<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/taulia-tagovailoa-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Taulia Tagovailoa<\/a> \u00a0hit wide receiver <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/tai-felton-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tai Felton<\/a> on a long 53-yard pass. And two plays later, he would walk in for a 16-yard touchdown. But in the third quarter, the Blackshirts secondary would ratchet up their intensity. This was demonstrated when senior cornerback <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/omar-brown-3.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Omar Brown<\/a> forced a fumble on a Terrapin screen pass to set NU\u2019s offense up at the 27-yard line. This allowed Cornhuskers fullback <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/janiran-bonner-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Janiran Bonner<\/a> to tie the game at 10-10. Junior linebacker <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/javin-wright-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Javin Wright<\/a> also delivered in key moments as well, with eight tackles, an interception, and a forced fumble. Now, Huskers offensive coordinator <strong>Marcus Satterfield<\/strong> just has to show the fanbase that they can take advantage of these opportunities with the right play. Can the Huskers start this trend against the Badgers in Camp Randall Stadium this week?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>The Huskers Can\u00a0 Shut Down Any Quarterback<\/h3>\n<p>As the younger brother of current Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, Taulia is in elite company. But the problem is that none of this was able to manifest itself against the Huskers. Throughout the game, Tony White&#8217;s unit only allowed him to complete 27 out of his 40 passes.\u00a0 In the second quarter, he was able to 16-yard touchdown to Felton, but this didn&#8217;t help. Instead, it only got worse when facing Husker defenders.\u00a0 As a key contributor throughout the season, junior linebacker <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/isaac-gifford-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Isaac Gifford\u00a0<\/a> has solidified himself as a leader for the Blackshirts. The veteran came up big against the Terrapins when he totaled up five assists as well as two solo tackles. But this would pale in comparison to junior defensive back <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/marques-buford-jr-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Marques Buford Jr.<\/a> In his first game back, he impressed in his return to the gridiron with his five solo tackles and two assists. But this wouldn&#8217;t even be his best play.\u00a0 This would come in the fourth quarter when he would deliver a well-timed safety blitz in order to sack Tagovailoa.\u00a0 This allowed the Cornhuskers to stall Maryland&#8217;s momentum into their going into their final drive.\u00a0 Against Wisconsin Badgers freshman quarterback <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sports-reference.com\/cfb\/players\/braedyn-locke-1.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Braedyn Locke<\/a>, the Huskers&#8217; experience on defense will need to duplicate their performance. And there&#8217;s proof that they can. In a 20-14 loss against Indiana,\u00a0 the signal-caller only completed 21 passes. And against the Ohio State Buckeyes, he only threw one touchdown with two sacks. Can the Blackshirts make the Wisconsin offense pay with another impressive scheme by the coaching staff?<\/p>\n<p>Read more about the Blackshirt defense i<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2023\/11\/09\/can-the-nebraska-cornhuskers-finally-go-bowling\/\" target=\"_self\">Can The Nebraska Cornhuskers Finally Go Bowling?\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_54790\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-54790\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-54790\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/USATSI_21873904_168400536_lowres-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"Huskers Maryland\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/USATSI_21873904_168400536_lowres-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/USATSI_21873904_168400536_lowres-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/USATSI_21873904_168400536_lowres-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/USATSI_21873904_168400536_lowres-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/USATSI_21873904_168400536_lowres-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/USATSI_21873904_168400536_lowres-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/11\/USATSI_21873904_168400536_lowres-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-54790\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo courtesy:\u00a0 Dylan Widger-USA TODAY Sports<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last Saturday, Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule and his Nebraska team suffered a major loss to the Maryland Terrapins.\u00a0 As a result, the Big Red failed to capture their sixth win for a shot at bowl eligibility. And with two games left, its chances are slipping further away with their 5-5 record. Let&#8217;s talk about [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4440,"featured_media":54790,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[7983,9496,8000,695,511,10568,4519],"class_list":["post-54702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-bigten","tag-big-ten-football","tag-chubba-purdy","tag-marcus-satterfield","tag-maryland-terrapins","tag-nebraska-cornhuskers","tag-omar-brown","tag-taulia-tagovailoa"],"modified_by":"Tony Siracusa, CFB Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4440"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}