Tony White: Nobody on Nebraska's defense played their tails off in Week 5

Nebraska defensive coordinator Tony White was not happy with how his defense played in Saturday’s 45-7 loss to Michigan.

“As a whole defense, there wasn’t one guy you could say played their tails off. Period. We just didn’t get done,” White said during his Tuesday press conference. “Nobody went in there and played the way we’re supposed to play.”

The answer is an interesting one considering what Cornhuskers head coach Matt Rhule said after the game.

He had been asked Saturday if his team had matched the intensity of the Wolverines. He took the question a different way.

“I didn’t feel us necessarily cutting loose and ripping and going attacking them. And that’s kind of where we have to get to, to be quite honest with you,” Rhule said.

“So I addressed the older guys after the game, I addressed the younger guys after the game because younger guys will play these guys again. There’s only one way to play these types of games and when these types of games and that’s to attack. But (I don’t want to take away from Michigan), they’re really good.”

Michigan totaled 436 yards on the Cornhuskers defense, including 249 yards on the ground. Blake Corum finished with 16 carries for 74 yards and a touchdown.

J.J. McCarthy was 12 of 16 for 156 yards and two touchdowns. The Wolverines racked up 26 first downs and was 8 of 13 on third down and 2 of 3 on fourth down.

The Nebraska defense was on the field over 38 minutes of game time. The team did not score a point until the final five minutes of the game when it was already down 45-0.

The previous two weekends, the Cornhuskers had only allowed 11 points and 14 points. However, Nebraska did allow Colorado to score 36 points on it in their Week 2 matchup in Boulder, Colo.

Cornhuskers safety DeShon Singleton suffered a knee injury during the game that Rhule said afterwards he doesn’t think will be season ending.

“It was his knee,” Rhule said. “He got cracked on the side and maybe his knee got stuck in the turf or something. I don’t know. He was in a lot of pain and was out. I don’t think it’s an ACL as of yet, but we’ll see. They’re gonna obviously do the tests and all those things.”

Singleton has 19 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss on the season.