Final take: The next two weeks bring an uneasy feeling

As No. 8 Nebraska walked off the field and improved to 7-0 on Saturday, it's hard to ignore the big picture.

Yes the Huskers handled Purdue 27-14, but the issues on offense through four conference games are real. This team has no offensive line depth, and with both starting tackles Nick Gates and David Knevel playing on bad ankles, that was never more apparent on Saturday. NU struggled to run the ball against one of the worst rushing defense units in the country and Knevel left his third game in a row because of injury.

That's why when you start to look ahead to road trips to No. 10 Wisconsin and No. 2 Ohio State you don't have a good feeling. In some ways this reminds me of 2014 when the Huskers were 8-1 after two shaky wins against Purdue and Rutgers. Something about that 8-1 start didn't feel right, and it later came to reality at Wisconsin in a 59-24 route at Camp Randall Stadium.

I'm not saying that's going to happen next Saturday, but through 7 games we don't have a good feel of who this team really is. Defensive coordinator Mark Banker said we should find out everything we want to know by next Saturday.

"That's what we'll learn. To see if we are a top 10 team," Banker said. "Because both teams are big, physical, athletic - real football teams. I don't know of any weakness the two teams have offensively. Wisconsin is next and we'll see what we are made of."

The positive about this football team is how this defense has played. NU has held three of four conference opponents under 16 points. They shutout Purdue in the second half after a rocky start and the secondary has forced 13 interceptions through 7 games.

Head coach Mike Riley knows his team has work to do, but he's excited for the challenge they will face at Wisconsin.

"I think it will be great for our team and great for our league," Riley said. "All those pieces that you get to when you play later in the year, when there’s a little more definition of who the teams are. We’re heading into the third quarter area of the season, so it’s one of those games that is between two teams who have done well. It will be good."

And regardless how inconsistent Nebraska has looked the last few weeks, there is one trait about this team you can't ignore.

They have a "want to" and have kept their composure under pressure. That composure will no doubt be tested next Saturday in arguably one of the better night game atmospheres in college football.

"I think we are going to learn how strong our will to win is," senior linebacker Josh Banderas said. "These games, they haven't been pretty. My heart has been going in a lot of them. We are going to find out if our will to win is up there with the best in the country. No matter what team is in front of us we are going to prepare the same and find a way to win somehow."

Now on to the grade out...

***I witnessed a cool moment during pregame when a Seattle Seahawks scout sought out Gerald Foltz, the father of late Husker punter Sam Foltz. The scout expressed his condolences to the Foltz family on behalf of their organization. He also told Gerald Foltz how much the Seahawks thought of Sam's abilities as a punter.

***Once again in the fourth quarter Nebraska's offense found a way to make things happen rushing for 74 yards and eating up 11:17 on the clock.

***You really wonder how healthy Gates was. He could hardly move and at times he completely got beat in situations we've never seen him get beat in.

***In all, Nebraska gave up 10 tackles for loss, 9 of which came on running plays.

***Once again the receivers stepped up and made plays today. Keith Williams did an outstanding job giving his group a pep talk to get going in the second half. Brandon Reilly played his best game of the year, coming down with three crucial third down catches.

***I continue to be impressed with the job John Parrella has done with defensive line. They produced three sacks on Saturday and got good second half pressure on Purdue quarterback David Blough.

***It was a scary moment to see cornerback Chris Jones go down twice with what looked like cramping issues.

***Both linebackers Josh Banderas and Dedrick Young combined for 24 tackles on Saturday to lead the Husker defense. Banderas has put together two solid games in a row now.

Rushing offense: C-

Nebraska gave up 10 tackles for loss on the day and struggled to run the ball against a bad rushing defense. NU had 18 first down plays of 2 yards or less. They averaged 1.14 yards per play on first down in the third quarter. They were able to put some plays together in the fourth quarter, but 157 rushing yards will not get the Huskers very many Big Ten victories going forward. Obviously a lot of this had to do with the injury situation up front.

Passing offense: B

Quarterback Tommy Armstrong finished 17-of-31 for 252 yards. He was very good on some key third down situations and the receivers came up big when the Huskers needed a play.

Rushing defense: A

Nebraska held Purdue to just 24 rushing yards and limited running back Markell Jones to just 36 yards on 10 carries.

Passing defense: C+

The Huskers struggled early against Blough, as he finished 25-of-43 for 309 yards. After a hot start the Blackshirts held Blough to 4-of-17 in the fourth quarter and they forced two interceptions.

Special teams: B+

Nebraska got a career long 51 yard field goal from Drew Brown, three of four punts inside the 20 yard line by Caleb Lightbourn, a 59 yard kickoff return from Tre Byrant and solid coverage in the return game. They also sniffed out a Purdue fake punt attempt. The only thing you can downgrade them for is a missed field goal by Brown and a partially blocked punt that Lightbourn still got positive yardage on.

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-Up Tuesday's at 7 pm.