Final take: 'Just OK' not good enough in another Husker letdown

No one wants to hear this now, but according to head coach Scott Frost and some of his players, Saturday's loss to Indiana started Saturday morning at the team hotel.

NU went through their normal pregame workout routine at the Cornhusker Marriott Hotel and something was off. Guys weren't locked. They were having side conversations and joking around. They didn't approach Saturday morning as a team that wanted to win a football game.

This led to senior graduate transfer and captain Darerion Daniels to lay into his teammates he's only known for a few months. This set the tone for what ended up being another disappointing Saturday in NU's 38-31 loss to Indiana.

"We were just warming up, getting the guys up in the morning and getting their blood flowing," Frost said following his team's loss. "I know what that would look like on a great team, that would look like a bunch of guys getting out of bed and already got some butterflies going. It would look like Marine drill, and it didn't, until (Daniels) said something."

And none of it mattered. As Frost said after the game NU played "just ok." They produced over 500 yards of offense but had two costly turnovers. They gave up over 350 pass yards on defense and were dominated in the kicking game.

Frost didn't come to Nebraska to be "just OK," and that's not what he's getting paid $5 million a year for.

"I want a bunch of team players that aren’t going to be happy with just OK," Frost said. "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."

While Nebraska's played "just OK" on Saturday, their defense laid another egg. This was the worst we've seen NU against the pass all season.

The Hoosiers torched the Blackshirts for over 350 yards and had nine third and fourth down conversions. IU quarterback Peyton Ramsey was hardly touched.

Most importantly Tom Allen's team adjusted. They saw NU was playing with a run-heavy front, so they opened it up and found the match-ups they wanted with Nebraska's back seven in the passing game.

“Well we felt like we really knew running was going to be hard, based on their alignments, their mass, and the strength of their defense," Allen said. "So, you’ll notice we didn’t really ram our heads into the wall to try and force it. We still continued to run the ball, but we found things we could take advantage of in the pass game and they proved to be true.

"But, you still have to execute, you still have to make catches. We felt like we could throw the football, and we were able to, but as the game comes you have to adjust and they do different things and start bringing different coverages and pressures and you have to adapt.”

It's hard to say what's next. Nebraska has not won more than four games since 2016. They sit at 4-4 with Purdue, Wisconsin, Maryland and Iowa ahead. The goal still has to be making a bowl. Everything about this team is so unpredictable moving forward. To get six, they might have to win two road games, and since Frost at been at NU he's won just once outside of Lincoln.

"In too many ways we’re just an average team right now and that shows up, but the mistakes are frustrating,' Frost said. "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."

Now on to the breakdown...

***Nebraska played it as if Adrian Martinez was going to start this game. He went through full warm-ups, took pre-game snaps with Cameron Jurgen and the big screen boards named him the starter. Frost really did his best to create an element of surprise with his quarterback decision.

***Nebraska is 4-0 season when they hold opposing teams to 450 yards or less. Indiana had 455 yards on Saturday.

***The Huskers simply could not get the Hoosiers off the field Saturday. IU was a combined 9-of-16 on third and fourth down plays. The lack of pass rush and effective blitz calls played a big factor in this.

***NU made an effort to get Kanawai Noa going in this game. The first play of the game they went to him. He also made a huge touchdown catch before halftime off-balanced with the sun in his face.

***The Huskers produced flawless touchdown drives on their first two possessions. The previous three games NU's starting offense produced just one touchdown drive combined against Ohio State, Northwestern and Minnesota.

***We saw freshman Garrett Nelson on the field on Nebraska's second defensive series. That's the earliest he's seen the field all season.

***It was nice to see Mike Williams make a big catch over the middle. Williams hauled in a 34-yard reception from Noah Vedral.

***Any questions about Wan'Dale Robinson's health were answered pretty early in this game. He had 14 touches in the first half vs. Indiana, and was NU's No. 1 option in the running and passing game. He finished with 28 touches for 154 yards.

***Broc Bando came for Boe Wilson when he got injured. Trent Hixson moved to right guard and Bando played on the left side.

***There were at least five different moments on Saturday where an Indiana Hoosier player went down with an injury when NU's offense began to run tempo. It's hard to know if they were all legit injuries or if that was gamesmanship by the Hoosier coaching staff.

Rushing offense: B

50 rushes for 220 yards should've been enough for Nebraska to win this game. If you rush for over 200 yards in a conference game, you typically win, especially when you hold an opponent to just over 100. I was a little surprised that Dedrick Mills got just eight carries in this game, but credit Wan'Dale Robinson and his versatility. He's Nebraska's best player right now, and I'm not sure it's even close.

Passing offense: B

The biggest turnover of this game for Nebraska came in the passing game. It completely changed the game. NU could've gone up 17-9 or even 21-9 they chose to go for it on fourth down. Instead, IU went up 16-14 after the Noah Vedral fumble on a third-down pass play where the protection broke down upfront. With that said, if I told you NU went 20-of-23 for 294 yards passing on Saturday, you would've liked the Huskers chances of winning. But the Vedral fumble and the Kanwai Noa fumble completely changed the game.

Rushing defense: B-

Indiana tried to run early, but quickly gave it up when they saw the match-ups NU had in the secondary. The Huskers played heavy upfront and the Hoosiers picked them apart with match-ups, so running the ball became an afterthought. IU had just 104 yards rushing on 31 carries, but Stevie Scott did get the tough yards when they needed them.

Passing defense: F

Indiana attacked Nebraska's secondary more than any team all season. They found the match-ups they wanted and Peyton Ramsey was rarely pressured. He picked apart the Blackshirts for 351 yards. Whop Philyor had 14 catches for 178 yards. It was the worst we've seen NU's secondary look all season. There were also some questionable coverage match-ups with linebackers left in space in Nebraska's zone looks.

Special teams: F

The Huskers had a missed field goal, a kickoff out of bounds and a shanked punt that went for 19 yards. Wyatt Mazour gave them a little spark in the kickoff return game, but other than that they were completely dominated in this phase of the game. IU punted consistently inside the 10-yard line and won the field position game.

Sean Callahan can be reached at sean@huskeronline.com and he can be heard each day 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 NET's Big Red Wrap-Tuesday's at 7 pm.