10 things we learned from NU's Monday press conference

When head coach Scott Frost and his staff first took over, they put a list up that singled out players who weren’t meeting the required level of personal accountability on and/or off the field.

Whether it was being late for a meeting, skipping class, getting poor grades, or missing a team meal, Huskers who didn’t take care of their business were added to the list for the entire team to see.

Only a handful of names were on it entering the first game of the season vs. Colorado, but following NU’s loss to Troy, the list had grown significantly. But when that switch seemed to flip within the locker room after the Purdue game, that list dwindled in a major way.

According to junior linebacker Mohamed Barry, there was only one name listed heading into NU’s road game at Northwestern three weeks ago.

"If you look at our team - Colorado: great game. Then you see (us) get down and then we come back up at Northwestern. That’s how the list correlates," Barry said. "It’s just crazy to see Coach talk about accountability and how it correlates to the field. It’s crazy to see that and see how we played those games and see how it actually works side-by-side.”

Frost said it was no coincidence that his team’s improved accountability was directly correlated with its improved play the past few weeks, and he expects that correlation to continue from here on out.

"News flash; when guys are doing things the right way we win more games," Frost joked. "The guys get it now, and we’re not asking anybody to do anything crazy, we’re asking them to be where they’re supposed to be and be on time and do the right things. What’s crazy is when you’re doing that, football gets more fun, life gets more fun.

"Cutting corners and finding ways around things and not being reliable isn’t a good way to be successful on the field or off. Those habits have to be learned either when you’re young or when you’re in college or when you’re an adult. As a team that’s probably where I’ve seen the most growth. Guys are starting to understand that when they have a responsibility they need to live up to it and be where they’re supposed to be.”

While Nebraska has the momentum of winning its first two games of the season, the Huskers know full well that Ohio State is going to be determined to get its season back on track.

After getting blown out on national television at Purdue two weeks ago followed by their bye, the Buckeyes will have had plenty of time to stew over their first loss of the season.

Saturday’s game has been designated as a “blackout” at Ohio Stadium, where fans are all supposed to wear black while the team is outfitted in alternate all-black uniforms.

For a team that can’t afford another setback to keep its College Football Playoff hopes alive, Ohio State will be as fired up as ever.

“They’re going to be ready to roll," senior linebacker Luke Gifford said. "We’ve talked about that. We know they’re going to be on their stuff and ready to get after it. They’re foaming at the mouth for another game. We’re going to get their best shot, and we’re going to go in and give them ours.”

Adrian Martinez was just in Columbus, Ohio, last fall when he took an official visit to Ohio State as a four-star quarterback recruit.

Current OSU quarterback Dwyane Haskins was his player host on his visit, and Martinez watched the Buckeyes bounce back from a stunning loss at Iowa the week before with a 48-3 rout of Michigan State.

Martinez got the full experience of Ohio Stadium and the program during his trip and admitted there was “mutual interest” with him and the Buckeyes.

But that all changed once Frost and Nebraska got involved in his recruitment.

“There’s a little bit of familiarity with some of the guys they have over there," Martinez said. “For a while, there was definitely mutual interest, but Nebraska came into the picture, and this is where I ended up playing, thankfully.”

Nebraska’s running game has kicked into another gear the past few weeks, and it’s done so with primarily a two-man backfield rotation of senior Devine Ozigbo and freshman Maurice Washington.

Over the past five games, Ozigbo has rushed 67 times for 620 of his 710 yards on the season, averaging 124.0 yards per game and 9.3 yards per carry. He’s only been stopped for a loss on one of those 67 attempts.

Washington has become the perfect counter attack behind Ozigbo, ranking third on the team with 344 rushing yards and fourth with 79.7 all-purpose yards per game.

While it took some mid-season attrition to get to that one-two punch, it has allowed Ozigbo, Washington, and Nebraska’s offense as a whole to flourish as a result.

“That was something that kind of turned into a pretty big positive," Ozigbo said. "Being able to get a feel for the game was such a big thing, especially at back, because you could go in there and get one carry and you don’t really know how it is. Even in this last game, it took a little to get going until the last play of the first drive. Being able to get more plays and to get a stronger feel for the game is definitely big.”

Barry and Gifford might not ever forget how rough things got for Nebraska and its defense the past two times it’s faced Ohio State.

Not only did the Buckeyes embarrass the Huskers in those meetings to the tune of a combined score of 118-17 (62-3 in 2016 and 56-14 in 2017), the games were never even close.

Ohio State has not punted against Nebraska since the fourth quarter of the 2012 game. In its 22 total drives over the past two meetings, OSU had 16 touchdowns, two field goals, lost a fumble, had a turnover on downs, and two possessions to end a half.

Those are all numbers the Huskers have no interest in being reminded.

"(Last year's loss to OSU) is probably one of the games the coaching staff has watched and said the effort and all those kinds of things wasn’t quite there in the second half, started steamrolling on us," Gifford said. "That’s one of those games that I think everyone’s kind of looked back at and seen everything that we need to change and really kind of showed where the program was at last year I think.

"We want to go up there and give them a good shot. We’re ready for it, we’re confident, we’re excited. It’ll be a good test for sure.”

Given what’s at stake for Ohio State and considering it will have had two full weeks to be mad about its loss to Purdue, keeping the game under control early will be one of the biggest keys of all for Nebraska.

The Huskers fell behind 14-0 out of the gates to OSU last year in Lincoln (and eventually 35-0 at halftime) and 14-3 two years ago in Columbus (31-3 at half).

Nebraska is out-scoring teams 63-53 in the first quarter this season but is at an 85-54 disadvantage in the second quarter. Ohio State holds an 83-34 edge in first quarters and a 104-61 lead in second quarters.

Frost said his message this week would be finding ways to prevent the Buckeyes from capitalizing on all of its pre-game emotion and keep things in control going into the second half.

“That’ll be valuable, particularly with circumstances of this game," Frost said. "I foresee their team coming out and playing with their hair on fire right at the beginning. We need to be able to withstand that initial surge and play well at the beginning."

Purdue shook up the College Football Playoff landscape with its 49-20 upset of Ohio State two weeks ago, and in the process showed the rest of the country how vulnerable the Buckeyes could be.

The Boilermakers were led by 128 rushing yards and three touchdowns by running back David Knox; three scoring passes from quarterback David Blough; and a whopping 252 all-purpose yards from receiver Rondale Moore.

But it wasn’t Purdue’s offense that dictated the game from start to finish; it was the defense.

Ohio State didn’t score its first touchdown 9:36 left in the fourth quarter, and Haskins was held to by far his most inefficient performance of the season, completing 49-of-73 passes with two touchdowns and an interception.

Haskins had to throw it so many times – the most attempts in his career – because OSU’s running game was non-existent all night. Backs J.K. Dobbins (11 carries for 24 yards) and Mike Weber (nine carries for 45 yards) managed just 76 total rushing yards on 25 attempts.

For Nebraska to replicate the Boilermakers’ success on Saturday, Frost knows it’s going to have to start with the best four-quarter effort of the year from the Blackshirts.

"If you watch the Purdue game, defensively they really dominated Purdue for a long time minus a few plays and Purdue hit a few plays in the first half and stayed in the game on defense and the dam kind of broke at the end," Frost said.

"There’s no question they’re a really talented team, a really well-coached team, and I don’t have any doubt we’re going to get their best shot after a loss two weeks ago and two weeks of practice and grinding. They’ve got their back to the wall, and our guys know they have to be ready because we’re going to see the best of what they’ve got.”

Nebraska had no problems doing exactly what it needed in last week’s makeup game vs. Bethune-Cookman, but the 45-9 win wasn’t without some flaws.

The most noticeable areas of concern came on defense, as the Huskers – despite keeping their defensive starters in the game well into the third quarter – still gave up 355 total yards, 16 first downs, and an average of 16.5 yards on 13 completions.

Gifford said a lot of those chunk-yardage pass plays were the result of the Blackshirts not being 100-percent focused on every snap. While they were happy with their overall effort, Barry said they couldn’t afford to have any of those types of lapses against a team like Ohio State or anyone else.

"For a lot of the players, it's maybe motivation to be disciplined at every single snap like it’s your last," Barry said. "You’re playing an opponent that if you do mess up, it’s going 60. So I think that’s what we were missing that game and that’s why those plays happen. You would be crazy if you think Ohio State, if you mess up on a play, won’t go 60 yards for a touchdown. It’s going to be different when we talk about how we focus for this game.”

Freshman cornerback Braxton Clark has been ahead of schedule since the start of fall camp, and his unexpected emergence played a big role in Will Jackson’s departure after just a few weeks on campus.

His playing time has still been few and far between this season, but Clark had arguably his best game yet against Bethune-Cookman and remains right on the pace his coaches had hoped.

Clark played 10 total defensive snaps on Saturday, posting an overall grade of 64.8 per Pro Football Focus (the third-highest grade of any NU cornerback), including a 77.6 tackling grade (tied for the highest with fellow freshman Cam Taylor).

“Braxton is a guy I think has a ton of talent and a huge upside for us in the defensive backfield," Frost said. "We thought with him it might take a year for him to get there and he’s come along at least as fast as we thought he would, so we have high hopes for him going forward the rest of this year and definitely for next year."

After seeing time in the first four games of the season, sophomore defensive lineman Deontre Thomas broke a bone in his hand in Nebraska’s loss to Purdue.

He had a metal plate and screw inserted and missed NU’s trip to Wisconsin, but he did travel and suit up the next week at Northwestern with a large cast on his hand.

Thomas didn’t see the field against the Wildcats, though, and Frost said now the plan is to redshirt the Mustang, Texas, native and preserve his season of eligibility.

“He could be out there playing right now, but he’d have a club on his hand and we don’t want to put him out there if we can help it without him being at his best," Frost said. "He sat down with us and the defensive coaches and decided he’d prefer to save that year. He’s going to be ready to play if we need him, but if we can help it, we’re going to hold him out.”