Final take: Mickey Joseph kept Nebraska in the fight, and his team responded with another fourth quarter win at Rutgers

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Drama is a beautiful thing.

We saw plenty of it in Nebraska’s 14-13 at Rutgers on Friday night. It was a classic Husker game we’ve watched several times over the last few seasons. The difference was Nebraska figured out a way to come out on top vs. coming up short. For two straight weeks now we’ve seen Mickey Joseph’s team close out a Big Ten football game in the fourth quarter.

NU came out of the gates flat vs. the Scarlet Knights who attacked them with several haymakers. The Huskers kept their composure, and the score was only 13-0 at halftime when it could have been much worse.

Steven Sipple: Mickey Joseph may be right about Nebraska’s “fake first place,” but there’s nothing phony about Huskers’ resolve in Jersey

Nebraska finds itself in “fake first place” after Rutgers win

As we sit here going into the weekend, Nebraska finds itself all alone in first place in the Big Ten West with a 2-1 record.

“First place is when we end the season. Not now. This is fake first place,” Joseph joked after the win.

Joseph is right, the Huskers are a long way from first place, but it’s hard not to laugh about it considering where this season was just a few short weeks ago.

With his team sitting at 1-3 after the Oklahoma loss, Joseph has figured out a way not only to keep them in the fight but to have a chance to win the fight.

The Big Red will head to Purdue next week for another big road game. My guess is the Huskers will be slight underdogs in West Lafayette. The key is they are going to be playing meaningful Big Ten West football on Oct. 15.

That’s all you can ask after everything this team has gone through.

“Obviously it’s awesome to win games,” captain Garrett Nelson said after the win. “But I’m just proud of the fact how we stuck together as a unit – as a defense, an offense, and on special teams. That’s really special when you can go through all of this and be doing what we are doing. Talk about a swing of emotions. I love those guys to death.”

NU won its second straight Big Ten game for the first time since 2018, and it was their first road victory since winning at Rutgers in December of 2020.

“This is huge,” senior tight end Travis Vokolek said. “But we are going to do the 24-hour rule. Obviously, we have a big game next week. We will enjoy this for 24 hours and learn from our mistakes because we were not perfect tonight. There’s a lot to fix but a lot to build on.”

Now on to the breakdown…

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What I saw on Friday

***You can argue Nelson played one of the better games of his career vs. Rutgers. The Scottsbluff native finished with 11 tackles, 1.5 sacks and two tackles for loss.

***Nobody should ever question the toughness of quarterback Casey Thompson. He stood in the pocket and took hit after hit. There was some question if we’d see Thompson to start the third quarter, as he was the final Husker player out of the locker room. After the game, Thompson said there was never a doubt in his mind he wasn’t coming back into the game.

***Vokolek appears to be back to full speed. He had six catches on seven targets for 46 yards and one touchdown. He’s played two of the best games of his career at SHI Stadium.

***We did not see running back Gabe Ervin Jr. vs. Rutgers, and Rahmir Johnson did not travel. Jaquez Yant spelled Anthony Grant as the duo combined for 23 carries and 69 yards.

***Senior associate athletic director Matt Davison announced before the Rutgers game it would be his final broadcast on the Husker Sports Network. Earlier this week Davison announced he was leaving NU to join The 1890 Initiative collective. Davison spent 19 years on the Husker broadcast, 16 as a color analyst. Who replaces Davison next week at Purdue now becomes the story?

***Arizona State transfer Tommi Hill was with the wide receivers on Friday after starting the first four games of the 2022 season at cornerback. We did not see Hill on the field vs. Rutgers.

***Former Nebraska quarterback Noah Vedral got the start for Rutgers. It was his first extensive action of the season and he came out motivated to make a statement against his former teammates. Vedral looked crisp early, but as the game settled in he was ineffective. The Scarlet Knights pulled him in the second quarter before bringing him back in over different periods in the third and fourth quarters. Vedral went 1-of-9 after completing his first two passes of the game for 67 yards.

***Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren was at SHI Stadium Friday’s game. It’s the third time this season Warren has been present at a Nebraska game. He was also in Dublin for the Northwestern game and Lincoln for last week’s Indiana game.

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The final grade out

	Grade	HOL Take
Rushing offense	D	Nebraska had just 78 sack-adjusted rush yards and averaged 2.8 yards per carry on true running plays. They struggled to find their ground game, as Anthony Grant had 47 yards rushing on 19 carries. His long run of the game was 7 yards. NU’s long rush was 10 yards from Jaquez Yant.
Passing offense	C	The most amazing stat was Casey Thompson only took one sack vs. Rutgers, as he was pressured hard early and threw two interceptions. Thompson and the Huskers finally settled in as he was 14-of-19 passing for 133 yards and two touchdowns in the second half.
Rushing defense	B	Rutgers had just 131 sack-adjusted rush yards, as Nebraska did a good job of standing up to its diverse running attack. The long run of the game was 21 yards on QB Noah Vedral’s first quarter touchdown. The Scarlet Knights had just 43 rushing yards on 15 attempts in the second half.
Passing defense	A-	The Scarlet Knights were 12-of-30 passing for 233 yards. NU forced three second half interceptions to break open the game. Vedral hit a couple of deep fade routes and then a missed tackle by Caleb Tannor on a screen led to the game’s longest play of 43 yards by Shameeen Jones. Rutgers had just 85 yards in the second half on 27 total plays. They were 4-of-12 passing for 42 yards and three picks in the second half.
Special teams	D	Nebraska gave up a blocked punt, but the Huskers were fortunate to stop Rutgers from scoring a touchdown, and the defense held the Knights to a field goal.