Nebraska football could not have started out the season any better after rolling to a 3-0 mark and earning its way into the AP Top 25 rankings.
Matt Rhule's crew, though, hit its first significant bump in the road as soon as Big Ten play began as the Huskers' losing streak in overtime games continued on Friday night and so, too, did their struggles in one-possession games with a 31-24 loss to Illinois.
Now, Rhule and Co. have to gear up for their first road game of the 2024 season as Nebraska (3-1, 0-1 Big Ten) travels to West Lafayette for a 12 p.m. ET/11 a.m. CT kickoff against Purdue (1-2, 0-0) on Saturday.
As the Huskers are on the mend mentally after that disheartening loss to the Illini, they are simultaneously needing to regroup and recovery physically with a few notable injuries coming out of the B1G opener.
Rhule commented on those injuries during his weekly Monday presser to begin Purdue Week.
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OT Turner Corcoran
Corcoran injury: “Turner has a significant hamstring (injury), so he’ll be out for a while.”
Gunnar Gottula performance in Corcoran’s place: “I thought Gunnar came in and played really, really well. Unfortunately, overtime got away from us a little bit, so that affected us. But even that was a twist move, a twist game (stunt by the Illinois defensive line), so (Gottula) needed a little bit more help there. But I thought Gunnar came in and filled in well.”
CB Tommi Hill
Hill injury: “Tommi’s probably day-to-day just based off his pain threshold of dealing with the plantar fascia.”
Ceyair Wright performance in Hill’s place: “I thought he played really well. Forced a fumble, had tight coverage on the one he got the (offensive) pass interference call on. Tight coverage down the sideline. Played with energy and physicality, and I thought he played really well.”
DL Jimari Butler
Not much to worry about with Butler’s injury: “Jimari’s gonna play. That was the (only player) that was out before that.”
Butler missed the Northern Iowa game, but he played the most snaps (36) of any Husker edge rusher and third-most defensive line snaps behind Ty Robinson (60) and Nash Hutmacher (53) on Friday.
K Tristan Alvano
Alvano's groin injury after the starting kicker was ruled out just ahead of kickoff against Illinois: “(His injury) just wasn’t getting any better. It’s hard because you can’t really – it’s not really diagnosable – so the thought process was just to shut him down last week, as of Wednesday. Didn’t feel great on Tuesday.
"Shut him down last week, however many weeks it takes and then try to start to build him up, and then we’ll see. We’re gonna be in a lot of games like this. You’d like to have excellent field-goal kicking. We did that with Tristan to get him healthy again, and we’re hoping that John (Hohl) can respond from this.”
On John Hohl: “This will be an opportunity for him, really for the rest of his life, to be proud of his response. I trust that he’ll respond well. I mean, this is difficult, but the game didn’t come down to just that (39-yard miss in the fourth quarter).
“... The ball on the 21-yard line should be, like, a 95 percent field goal made. But the game shouldn’t have come down to that play. I’ll say that for Johnny. Johnny’s going out there and filling in. He’s gonna be an excellent kicker; he’s working through. This is a lot. To go from not kicking to all of a sudden you’re kicking the game-winner at Memorial Stadium with the whole world watching, that’s a lot. To not get the perfect snap, perfect hold (makes it harder). Both those guys (Hohl and longsnapper Aidan Flege) weren’t even with us during spring football, really) or were recent (additions).”
OG Micah Mazzccua status, OL Tyler Knaak and DL Sua Lefotu
“He could potentially help us. We haven’t practiced yet. I haven’t seen him take a snap there so I don’t know. (Henery) Lutovsky’s played tackle, (Tyler) Knaak is back this week. Micah’s played tackle in the past. Gunnar (Gottula) played well. So we have a lot of things, but we have a lot of work to do. We have practice again this evening. Tomorrow is full pad practice. We will see where we are at.”
Mazzccua is fully available to play this week after some sort of disciplinary action between the Colorado game and the Northern Iowa game. He was unavailable against UNI and lost his starting spot at right guard to Henry Lutovsky for the Illinois game. Mazzccua was the backup right guard on Friday, but he did play against the Illini on special teams as part of the Huskers’ field-goal team.
Rhule said there's potential Mazzccua could help out at left tackle, if needed, though the coach noted he has never seen Mazzccua take a snap at LT. Rhule also added that he doesn’t know whether or not Mazzccua will be in the starting lineup at Purdue, although the official two-deep was released shortly after Rhule wrapped up his Monday presser with Lutovsky still listed as the No. 1 RG and Mazzccua slotted in as the No. 2 behind Lutovsky.
Another interior offensive lineman, Tyler Knaak, who has tackle and guard experience, is back at practice. Knaak, who is listed as the No. 2 left guard behind Justin Evans and ahead of No. 3 LG Jason Maciejczak, wasn't suited up against Illinois.
Rhule: “(Mazzccua) could potentially help us (at left tackle). We haven’t practiced yet. I haven’t seen him take a snap there so I don’t know. Lutovsky’s played tackle, Knaak is back this week. Micah’s played tackle in the past. Gunnar played well. So we have a lot of things, but we have a lot of work to do. We have practice again this evening. Tomorrow is full pad practice. We will see where we are at.”
On a final note: Rhule also briefly confirmed that DL Sua Lefotu had been dealing with an injury but is back at practice and is available to play against Purdue.
