Nebraska QB Chubba Purdy heads to locker room vs. Michigan, backup Logan Smothers in

On a scramble late in the second quarter, Nebraska quarterback Chubba Purdy — normally the backup but getting the start for an injured Casey Thompson — appeared to injure his right knee after sliding awkwardly and taking a hit.

Purdy ran out to his right and started to give himself up, sliding on his knees. As he came to the ground, a Michigan defender closed in and ran through his upper body, torquing Purdy’s body around and twisting his knee in an awkward fashion.

After staying down for a few minutes, Purdy walked to the sideline where he was shown being attended to by trainers. Lincoln Star Journal columnist Amie Just tweeted that Purdy shortly headed to the locker room.

Third-string quarterback Logan Smothers entered the game for Purdy and a promising Nebraska drive unraveled in scoring position.

The Cornhuskers did manage a field goal, making the score 14-3.

Nebraska OC Mark Whipple got injured in the first half, too

Whipple went down hard while on the sideline during Saturday’s contest against Michigan. The unfortunate incident happened when the Cornhuskers’ defense drove Wolverines wide receiver A.J Henning out of bounds. Unfortunately, Whipple was too close to the collision and ended up being collateral damage in the process.

ESPN sideline reporter Quint Kessenich provided an update following the scary collision involving the Cornhuskers’ coordinator.

“Coach Whipple is conscious,” Kessenich said. “He looks like he’s in pain, he’s actually rolling up and now he’s about to sit up, so that’s a good sign. He fell down on the turf and perhaps hit his head some way. But he never lost consciousness and now he’s struggling to stand up.”

Damn, Mark Whipple goes down. #Huskers pic.twitter.com/vzkwAlPAOw

— Dan Corey (@DanCorey_) November 12, 2022

He provided another update later in the half.

“Mark Whipple on the Nebraska sideline,” Kessenich said, “offensive coordinator who took a hit about five minutes ago, attended to. The medical staff actually looked at his left knee and he then reached and grabbed for the headset, because there was almost a changeover in possession, as if he were going to call the game. He put the headset on and now has stood up. You see he’s getting support here and it looks like the medical staff has got a good hold of him, so they’re not letting him walk around. But Coach seems eager to get back involved in this game. All signs, visually, down here are positive, in terms of Coach Whipple’s health.”

On3’s Justin Rudolph and Riley Gates contributed to this report