10 things we learned from Nebraska's loss to Indiana

Here are 10 of our biggest takeaways following Nebraska's 38-31 loss to Indiana on Saturday...

Nebraska is a mediocre football team right now. There are flashes of potential, but just as many glaring instances of a team that doesn’t know how to win.

During his halftime interview with the Husker Sports Network, Frost bluntly said the Huskers “can’t be so dumb-ass stupid” and constantly make costly mistakes every week in all three phases. After the game, his message was that his team was “just OK, and that’s not good enough.”

Sure, Nebraska had to try and overcome some notable injuries on Saturday, but the root of the problem goes well beyond a few bumps and bruises.

Frost said that during NU’s morning pre-game workout, there was a noticeable lack of energy and focus from his players. Senior captain Darrion Daniels, who had only been in Lincoln since the spring, stepped up and got after his teammates, but it was already too little, too late.

Frost noted that there are plenty of players who were fully bought into the culture he and his staff were trying to build at Nebraska. He also admitted there were too many others who weren’t.

Until that locker room is filled with players all on the same page about what it’s going to take to turn Nebraska back into a consistent winner, results like Saturday will continue to be all too common.

“We’ve got a lot of guys on this team that really care we’ve got some guys on this team that are tough and dedicated enough. We don’t have enough of them yet,” Frost said. “I told the team, right now, that’s what we are; we’re just OK. We’re just OK right now because a lot of the things that are done are just OK. I’m not going to be happy with just OK.

“I want a bunch of team players that aren’t going to be happy with just OK. This is going to keep getting better, I know nobody is more disappointed than me, but Nebraska fans are disappointed, and everybody wants it to happen faster. It’s going to happen. But one of the ways it’s going to happen is just OK can’t exist around here, and there’s a little too much just OK."

It’s bad enough to lose your starting quarterback to injury for any amount of time during a season. It’s a completely different bag of issues when your top three quarterbacks all have to miss time with injuries.

Adrian Martinez suited up and went through pre-game warmups, but was eventually ruled out before kickoff with a knee injury he suffered three weeks ago vs. Northwestern.

That led to Noah Vedral, who got dinged up last time out at Minnesota, making his second straight start against Indiana. Vedral was a bright spot on Saturday until he got hurt again with an apparent leg injury late in the second quarter.

That turned the keys over to true freshman Luke McCaffrey. Frost said McCaffrey was already set to play against the Hoosiers even before Vedral’s injury, so there was a game plan in place for him when he took over.

Like Vedral, McCaffrey shined by leading three scoring drives and keeping the Huskers in reach. As luck would have it, though, he too suffered an injury early in the fourth quarter.

Frost said Martinez was an option to play in an emergency situation and said he half-jokingly turned to the team’s trainers after McCaffrey came out and asked whether Martinez or Vedral was healthier to play.

The quarterbacks were the least of the Huskers’ concerns in the loss, but now an already difficult injury situation becomes even more concerning looking ahead to next week.

“Right now, we've got three injured quarterbacks, nicked up guys,” Frost said. “So I don't know where that's going to leave us on Monday, but I thought those guys laid it all out there."

During Nebraska’s pregame starting lineup video shown on the HuskerVision big screens, Martinez was announced as the starting quarterback.

When the Huskers actually took the field, though, it was Vedral who was lined up under center.

After weeks of mystery regarding Martinez’s injury status, Vedral got the call for the second straight game and came out firing from the opening snap. The Wahoo native completed eight of his first nine passes for 139 yards and added two rushing touchdowns in the first half.

But Vedral hit a roadblock when he injured his left leg with just over five minutes left in the second quarter. He was able to return for the final drive of the fourth quarter after McCaffrey went down, but it was still a disappointing finish to what started as such a promising day.

Vedral ended the game 14-of-16 passing for 201, two rushing touchdowns, and a 22-yard reception.

As gloomy as things might be at the moment, Nebraska’s future looks to be in pretty good hands after McCaffrey’s true debut at quarterback.

Credit the coaching staff for devising a game plan that played to McCaffrey’s strengths, but the former three-star athlete also showed a knack for making things happen with both his arms and his legs.

McCaffrey finished the game 5-of-6 passing for 71 yards and tossed his first career touchdown on a 24-yard completion to Kanawai Noa. He also rushed 12 times for 76 yards.

It remains to be seen what his role will look like the rest of the season, as he’s now played in two of his four allotted games, and the plan remains to redshirt him. But looking down the road, the Huskers got themselves a good one with McCaffrey.

“Both those kids (McCaffrey and Vedral) are warriors,” Frost said. “Both of them are kids that when this thing is rolling, they're the type of kids that'll make it happen."

Nebraska’s injury questions going into Saturday went beyond the quarterback position, as Wan’Dale Robinson’s status was also up in the air after suffering an injury at Minnesota.

Even though Frost said after the game that the true freshman was definitely 100 percent, those concerns were quickly put to rest. The do-it-all Robinson took the field as the return man on the opening kickoff and was NU’s best player the rest of the day.

He finished the game with 154 all-purpose yards on 28 total touches, including a career-high 22 rushes for 83 rushing yards and six receptions for 71 yards. That included 14 total touches (11 rushes, three catches) for a combined 100 yards in the first half alone.

Robinson said he was willing to take on whatever workload his coaches asked of him, regardless of whether he was hurt or not. Frost said that attitude was exactly what he wanted from every player on the roster.

"Wan’Dale is a weapon,” Frost said. “We need more weapons. When we’ve got five of those guys spread across the field and a few guys that can make plays like Wan’Dale makes, we're going to be real tough. He wasn't 100% either, and he went out and played like he was. He earned the right, even though he's not on defense, to wear a Blackshirt today. He's that kind of kid."

Nebraska made it a point to slam its foot on the gas pedal right away on offense, as it opened the game with some of the fastest tempo we’d seen all season.

The strategy clearly caught Indiana’s defense off-guard, as the Hoosiers conveniently had players go down with minor “injuries” a several times when NU’s offense started to get the pace rolling.

None of the Huskers wanted to accuse Indiana of faking injuries in an effort to slow down Nebraska’s offensive tempo, but there was no doubt that those numerous stoppages kept NU from really getting going.

"I don't really want to speak to much to that though because I don’t know if those guys are really hurt,” Vedral said. “I think in sports you have to give those guys the benefit of the doubt, but it can hurt your tempo in a game like that with injuries and stoppages, but again, I'm not going to accuse them of anything because if they are injured they deserve the benefit of the doubt."

It looked like Nebraska might have caught a break just before kickoff when it was announced that Michael Penix Jr., Indiana’s dual-threat starting quarterback, had been ruled out for the game.

Instead, all it did was give Peyton Ramsey the chance to light up the Blackshirts.

A former starter in his own right, Ramsey was locked in from the very start and shredded NU’s secondary all day. He ended up going 27-of-40 passing for a career-high 351 yards and two touchdowns and also rushed for 42 yards and a score.

Ramsey’s favorite target was wide receiver Whop Philyor, who hauled in 14 catches for 178 yards. In all, Ramsey completed passes to seven different Hoosiers.

"We thought they would be a heavy run team which they weren't,” senior linebacker Mohamed Barry said. “We were able to knock out the run for the most part. I think how they attack our cover threes, or some of our zone coverages was smart by them and maybe the key to how they won this game. But we were in perfect position sometimes to make plays and we didn't and that's the story of this game."

There was plenty to complain about regarding Nebraska’s defensive performance on Saturday, but the inability to put any kind of pressure on Ramsey was arguably the worst of all.

With all day to sit back in the pocket and let routes develop, Ramsey and IU’s talented receiving corps picked NU’s secondary apart. Even when the Huskers blitzed, there was rarely any true pressure to throw off the Hoosiers’ timing.

Nebraska ended up with two sacks and five quarterback hurries, but only one of those hurries came from a defensive lineman.

Frost said he watched a few minutes of Ohio State’s win over Wisconsin before the game and saw All-American defensive end Chase Young single-handedly ruin the Badgers’ offense rushing off the edge.

Frost said the effort was there from his front four on Saturday, but until the Huskers could get someone like Young – or even a pass rusher anywhere near that level – the defense would always be at a disadvantage.

“We need to keep getting guys in here that can do those things, and that’s being honest,” Frost said. “We have got guys playing their butts off. I think we’ve got a lot of really good players. We’ve got good young players that are going to be good. But we can’t count on having to blitz all the time to generate pressure…

“We’re going to keep working on it right now, but we have to be able to generate a pass rush. Otherwise, we’re on islands back there.”

Not even looking at all the yards and individual statistics, there were a handful of other numbers that ultimately defined Nebraska’s loss on Saturday.

Indiana converted 50 percent of its third downs (7-of-14) and both of its fourth-down attempts. Of those nine third- and fourth-down conversions, five came from six yards or longer.

The Hoosiers were also a perfect 6-of-6 in the red zone with five touchdowns. Nebraska was 4-of-6 with three touchdowns, a field goal, a missed field goal, and a turnover.

Indiana forced two NU turnovers and turned them into 14 points. The Huskers forced one for seven points.

Nebraska committed six penalties for 44 yards, which normally aren’t bad totals. However, that included a false start on what would have been a converted fourth-and-1 run, two roughing the passers on an IU fourth down, and a pass interference in the end zone to set up a touchdown.

“You just can’t operate in this league with deficiencies,” Frost said. “In too many ways we’re just an average team right now, and that shows up. But the mistakes are frustrating. We did plenty of things good enough to win that football game just like we have a couple of others this year, but you can’t do some of the things we did."

After seven games of Nebraska trying to patch together a serviceable option at placekicker, Barret Pickering finally made his 2019 debut on Saturday.

The incumbent starter and lone returning scholarship kicker on the roster, Pickering missed the first seven games while dealing with an undisclosed injury.

The sophomore made all four of his extra points and was 1-for-2 on field goals. His first field goal try from 32 yards out sailed wide left, but he came back and hit a 30-yarder to tie it up at 24-24 just before halftime.

There’s still some rust Pickering needs to work off going forward, but having a reliable kicker will be a welcome addition for the Huskers.