J.D. Pickell: Nebraska was close in 2021, held back by quarterback play

On3’s JD PicKell has been surveying the college football landscape and breaking down team expectations ahead of the 2022 season. On Monday, one of the teams he took a closer look at was the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

Nebraska found themselves near the bottom of the Big Ten conference last season, finishing the year at 3-9 in 2021. And yet, if you look closer at the results, you can see how the Cornhuskers could have just as easily finished the year at 9-3.

“Nebraska, 3-9 last year, eight losses by one score or less. What does that tell you? Nebraska is really close,” said PicKell.

If the Cornhuskers were so close, what prevented them from getting over the hump last season? Well, according to the college football analyst, there was one position that significantly hampered Nebraska last season, quarterback.

“So you look at what they had at the most important position on their team and Adrian Martinez had 14 touchdowns, 10 interceptions, and three fumbles. I’m not going to pretend to be great with numbers, but when you put the ball in the end zone about as much as you give it away to the other team, it’s not great. But for Nebraska to be in every single game they played and have that at the quarterback position, I think that says something about where Nebraska is now. As a program, I think the rest was really close and it’s hard to ignore their record from last year especially given what Adrian Martinez didn’t do for them at the quarterback. Now, I’m not just here to bash Adrian Martinez, but I think Casey Thompson just brings more to the table for Nebraska is right now.”

Thompson at Texas

Thompson is likely a step up in the passing game for Nebraska. Last season with the Longhorns, the veteran college quarterback from Oklahoma City, OK, completed 165 of his 261 passing attempts for a 63% completion ratio, threw for 2,113 yards, 24 touchdowns, nine interceptions, and added in four more touchdowns on the ground.

For the most part, Thompson fit the bill of a solid starting college quarterback for the Longhorns for much of the 2021 season. Unfortunately for him, there were some games where it seemed like the Longhorns defense did not come out for the second half. Now that he’s with Nebraska, that should not be the case. The Cornhuskers had a defense that kept opponents in check more times than not. Including holding the high-powered offenses of Oklahoma, Michigan State, Purdue, and Ohio State to an average of 25 points per game.