Instant takes and reaction: Nebraska falls to Northwestern 21-13

EVANSTON, Ill. - Here are some quick takes and analysis following Nebraska's 21-13 loss at Northwestern on Saturday.

There's no other way to say it. This one really hurts for Nebraska.

Northwestern was without their starting running back Isaiah Bowser. They were an extremely limited version of themselves on offense, and the Huskers could not take advantage of that.

Also, it hurts because the same little things we talk about each week came out to bite the Huskers again.

Penalties, turnovers, bad tackling on special teams, and poor execution in the kicking game. All of it played a factor on Saturday, and those were the exact things NU couldn't do if they wanted to beat Northwestern.

If the Huskers are going to be the kind of team they want to be under Scott Frost, these are the type of games NU has to win.

I get that Adrian Martinez is your guy and a team captain, but they have maybe the best No. 2 quarterback in the conference in Luke McCaffrey.

It became very clear it wasn't going to be a good day for Martinez in the first half. He was off in several elements of the passing game early. He wasn't seeing the field and when he avoided pressure, he basically was throwing the ball away vs. trying to hit open guys.

The minute McCaffrey came into the game, the timing and the rhythm of the Huskers offense looked different.

I think that would've made a difference if we saw McCaffrey go into the game earlier. Now the question is who starts next week vs. Penn State?

Nebraska got no impact in the return game, and their punting and kick/punt coverage was an issue.

On top of that, Northwestern got valuable yards in the second half off a short kickoff and a punt that outkicked the coverage. This empty yardage essentially allowed them to win the game by having shorter fields.

The special teams game for NU appears to be far from repaired at this point.

I was also surprised how unathletic Nebraska looked covering the one big punt return the Wildcats had. They need to get better athletes on the field in that situation.

My biggest positive out of this game was beside the one big play early, Nebraska's defense played well enough to win this game.

Most importantly they looked physical at the line of scrimmage, and we are seeing a lot of new faces make plays.

Linebacker Luke Reimer looks like a future star, as does defensive linemen Ty Robinson. Pheldarius Payne also is a difference-makers.

There were some encouraging things to take out of this game with how the defense looked at times.