Final take: Buschini's second-half herorics help Nebraska grind out 14-7 over Rutgers

It was no secret what Rutgers was going to do on Saturday. Under head coach Greg Schiano, they came into Lincoln with a history of blocking kicks, 71 to be exact.

They set the tone immediately with a blocked punt on Brian Buschini that nearly took him out of the ball game. They blocked another punt where they started at the 2-yard line. The defense stood strong in both situations, including an eight-play stretch in the second half where the Blackshirts held the Scarlet Knights to -16 yards and no points on possessions that started at the 2 and 28-yard lines.

“Brian, we thought, was the unsung hero last week, and I say he’s the unsung hero this week,” head coach Matt Rhule said following his team’s 14-7 win.

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It was a win-ugly kind of day on an upset-filled Saturday around college football, with Vanderbilt beating Alabama, Minnesota beating USC, Washington beating Michigan, and Arkansas beating Tennessee.

I think Husker fans sometimes forget that wins in the Power Two come at a premium. There are no free lunches in the Big Ten and SEC. We learned that on Saturday.

The Huskers (5-1, 2-1) did what they had to do in a win over Rutgers (4-1, 1-1) on one of the stranger weather days you’ll see at Memorial Stadium. It was also not quarterback Dylan Raiola’s best day, as he completed just two passes for 14 yards in the second half.

It was a day that saw record temperatures and winds that came out of the south in the first half and the north in the second half. Rhule chose to take the football after winning the opening coin toss, knowing how big the wind conditions might play in Memorial Stadium.

You had to know the terrain, and nobody knew it better than Buschini, who delivered a magical performance, highlighted by his 69-yard punt to pin Rutgers on the 11-yard line. He also had former Husker and NFL kicker/punter Brett Maher advising him. He, too, knows how to play the conditions in Memorial Stadium.

This forced the Scarlet Knights to go 89 yards into the wind, where they needed a touchdown. Buschini even produced NU’s longest offensive play of the second half – a 30-yard pass to Jaylen Lloyd on a fake punt. Have yourself a day, No. 13.

“Before the last punt, (Maher) came up to me and said, ‘There’s not too many times a punter has a chance to put a dagger in the game,’ but he said he called the shot on that and jinxed it,” Buschini joked. “He’s just an incredible tool for us, but that’s someone who we just need to continue to lean on because there’s still a lot of improvement to be made in the special teams area.”

Now, on to the breakdown…

What I saw on Saturday

***Special teams continue to be an issue. Rutgers blocked two punts on Saturday and injured punter Brian Buschini on one. Luckily, the Blackshirts held, and it didn’t cost the Huskers the game. This was the only way Rutgers was going to win on Saturday.

After the game, Rhule said the Scarlet Knights were bringing 10 at NU’s punts and leaving the gunners uncovered. This led to them calling the fake punt. During halftime, Nebraska actually went out to its practice field and worked on the fake punt pass, knowing they were going to call it.

***The stat of the game was Rutgers finished just 4-of-20 on third and fourth down conversions. The Scarlet Knights entered the game converting over 50 percent of their third downs.

***Saturday, we saw just what type of pass rusher James Williams could be in the defense. He finished the game with two sacks and two hurries.

***Emmett Johnson got the start at running back on Saturday, but it was also a healthy dose of Dante Dowdell and Rahmir Johnson in the backfield.

***We saw NU use wide receiver Jacory Barney as a decoy multiple times. His motion drew the attention of the Rutgers defense and opened up a few big runs in key moments.

I also liked the wrinkle of Micah Mazzccua coming in as an extra blocker. Nearly every one of those plays resulted in NU’s line getting a big push up front.

***The official temperature at kickoff today was 97 degrees, the hottest kickoff temperature at Memorial Stadium for a home game since at least 1985. The previous high kickoff temperature in that stretch was 93 degrees on four occasions, most recently last season against Michigan (Sept. 30).

***We saw defensive linemen Riley Van Poppel and Sua Lefotu on the field as part of the defensive rotation on Saturday and wide receiver Malachi Coleman, who worked as a punt blocker on the edge. Both Van Voppel and Coleman are more than likely four-game redshirt candidates.

The final grade out

	Grade	HOL take
Rushing offense	C	NU’s top three running backs combined for 33 carries for 124 yards and one touchdown. It was a very physical workload, and early on, the Huskers executed situationally in the run game to jump up 14-0. The Big Red had just 11 yards on 19 carries in the second half.
Passing offense	D	QB Dylan Raiola completed just 2-of-9 passes for 14 yards in the second half and threw one interception. Rutgers also sacked him three times. This is after completing 11-of-18 of his passes for 120 yards in the first half. It was tough sledding through the air.
Rushing defense	A	The Huskers struggled with running back Kyle Monangai early on, but the Blackshirts held him to virtually nothing in the second half. He had just 78 yards on 19 carries for the game after having 64 yards on eight carries in the first quarter.
Passing defense	A	The Blackshirts forced two interceptions and four sacks. They only allowed one big play late in the second half. Athan Kaliakmanis was just 15-of-37 for 186 yards through the air.
Special teams	D	Rutgers blocked two punts, but we saw Brian Buschini respond by connecting on a fake punt and then pinning one punt to the 5-yard line. He later finished the game with a 69-yard punt to the Rutgers 11-yard line. NU was very fortunate the two blocked punts did not impact this game in a bigger way.

Sean Callahan can be reached at [email protected] and is heard daily at 6:45 am and 5:05 pm on Big Red Radio 1110 KFAB in Omaha during the football season. He can also be seen on KETV Channel 7 in Omaha during the fall, and each week, he appears on Nebraska Public Media’s Big Red Wrap-Up Tuesdays at 7 pm.

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