Nebraska linebacker Nick Henrich exits game with leg injury

The Nebraska defense just took another significant injury blow in their Saturday night matchup against the Purdue Boilermakers. While attempting to knock Purdue running back Devin Mockobee out of bounds, linebacker Nick Henrich was down on the sideline holding his leg in pain. The sophomore from Omaha, NE, could not make it to his feet to get to the Nebraska sideline resulting in an injury timeout.

Nebraska has struggled on the offensive and defensive line against the Boilermakers on Saturday as they head into the locker room trailing 27-13. Defensively Nebraska has given up 129 yards on the ground, with Mockobee carrying the brunt of the load. The freshman has already gashed the Cornhuskers for 17 carries for 115 yards and one touchdown at the half.

If Nebraska is to make their way back into this game in the second half, they will start with controlling the line of scrimmage both on offense and defense. However, on defense, that might be a little tougher should Henrich miss the remainder of the game.

Offensive line shakeups don’t help Nebraska

Nebraska started two different linemen on the right side of the offensive line. Hunter Anthony started at right tackle instead of Bryce Benhart and redshirt freshman Henry Lutovsky started at left guard. Benhart replaced Anthony at right tackle in the second half.

As usual, Turner Corcoran, Ethan Piper and Trent Hixson started at left tackle, left guard and center, respectively.

Despite the changeup on the right side, Purdue tied its season-high sacks number at halftime. The Boilermakers had four sacks for 38 yards in the first half.

In the second quarter, Nebraska allowed back-to-back sacks. Anthony got beat on the first play and Thompson was sacked for eight yards on second down. On the next play, Lutovsky and Anthony both let their defenders by them for a nine-yard sack. The Huskers had to punt on 4th-and-26.