Monday notebook: Red zone woes continue to plague Huskers

It’s hard to explain why Nebraska’s offense has struggled so much all season scoring touchdowns once it's moved the ball into the red zone.

After reaching the end zone just one time in six red-zone opportunities in Saturday night’s win over Purdue, the Huskers dropped their season total to a mere 15 touchdowns in 31 chances inside the opposing 20-yard line.

In fact, NU’s overall season red zone scoring percentage is .774, which currently ties for 100th in the FBS.

Head coach Mike Riley had just as difficult of a time trying to pinpoint why his team has failed to capitalize with touchdowns in the red zone, but he was able to identify possibly the biggest culprit for Nebraska’s struggles.

“One thing that you start with there is the best way to score in the red zone is to run it in, and we’re not running very well,” Riley said. “I think if you can actually run more effectively - I’ve been waiting to get in a situation where we’re down in there and we can use a good play-action pass or a bootleg that we’ve got ready for the game, but the situation, because the run hasn’t been very good for that, we get third-and-goal, and those are tougher.”

But it’s not just an issue of the Huskers’ running game shutting down once they cross the other team’s 20. Junior quarterback Tanner Lee has seen his passing efficiency take a notable drop in the red zone compared to anywhere else on the field.

In fact, Lee holds roughly a 60-percent completion percent from NU’s 1-yard line to the opposing 21. From the other 20 and in, though, Lee is completing only around 40-percent of his throws.

Against Purdue, Lee was just 2-for-9 on red-zone passes, though one of those completions was the eventual game-winning touchdown to Stanley Morgan in the final seconds.

He also has a 12-yard completion to tight end Tyler Hoppes on Nebraska’s opening drive that would have set up first-and-goal at the 6 but was negated by a holding penalty.

“A lot of credit goes to Purdue there, but we struggled to finish drives in the red zone and made it hard on us at the end of the game there,” Lee said. “We’ve got to find a way. Whether it’s a play here or there to get us in the end zone, because it’s so important. We’ll definitely focus on red zone efficiency this week.”

- Robin Washut

Running room came few and far between for De’Mornay Pierson-El in the punt return game on Saturday night, as Purdue’s coverage team seemed to have three or four players surrounding him before he even caught the ball.

According to Riley, a big part of that was by choice for Nebraska.

Because of Boilermaker head coach Jeff Brohm’s reputation for rolling the dice with fake punts and kicks, the Huskers more often than not either had a “safe” return called or just kept their defense on the field with Pierson-El back to field the punts.

As a result, NU didn’t return any of Purdue’s five punts in the game.

“Probably half of those (punts) were with our defense still in the game,” Riley said. “We were playing defense first, covering down, preventing fakes. That team had historically, from Western Kentucky, had been a big fake team, and so we were aware of that.”

That hunch proved correct, as the Boilermakers did end up calling a fake punt at the end of the third quarter and were able to pick up a first down on a pass interference call on NU’s Dicaprio Bootle.

Nebraska’s coaches argued that by rule pass interference couldn’t have been called on Bootle on that play, and they even submitted a request to the Big Ten for further explanation on why the penalty was issued.

The league had yet to respond to the Huskers’ request as of Monday morning.

“Nothing official from the conference,” Riley said. “But that stuff has just gone in and we have had no response. We are pretty sure that we know what the deal is.”

- Robin Washut

When senior kicker Drew Brown reflects on his four-year career at Nebraska, it’s hard to realize things are coming to an end here very quickly.

During the Huskers 25-24 win at Purdue on Saturday, Brown had a major impact on the game by connecting on all four of his field goals.

“It’s definitely one of the best games of my career,” Brown said. “I hit the ball well, and ultimately the field goal team had a huge impact on the game. You never really know what a kick on the first drive of the game is going to do for the score, and ultimately all four of those kicks ended up being a big difference in the game.

"It feels good to be a part of that and it’s definitely one of the higher-ranking games of my career for sure.”

In the process of making four kicks Saturday, Brown also tied his older brother, Kris, for No. 2 on the all-time chart at NU with 57-made field goals. With one more made kick, Brown joked he will own the family bragging rights going forward.

“He did so much while he was here,” Brown said of his brother. “It’s pretty cool to have the chance to pass him. I was with him all day in Omaha on (Sunday) and he didn’t say a word about it. So, either he’s upset about it or he’s proud of me.”

- Sean Callahan

After mustering just 40 rushing yards against Purdue last week, Nebraska will need to get creative in the run game to have success against a stout Northwestern defense.

The Wildcats will be Nebraska’s fifth opponent that ranks in the top 20 in the national run defense ranks, as well as being perhaps the most seasoned. Northwestern held Penn State’s Saquon Barkley, Wisconsin’s Jonathan Taylor and Iowa’s Akrum Wadley all under 100 yards.

Following success in the passing game last week, Nebraska may have found an alternative that will keep the Wildcat defense honest: the checkdown.

“I think (the running backs) have been doing a good job of getting out of pass protections, getting out in the flats and being able to make plays,” Lee said. “That’s just definitely been a focus for us for the past few weeks.”

That renewed emphasis allowed Nebraska running backs to account for 10 of the 32 receptions in Saturday’s game.

While Purdue played off the line on the final drive, running back Devine Ozigbo paced the offense with two key receptions to keep the Huskers’ game-winning march moving. Lee, who found Ozigbo on a crossing route to start the drive, said that play put him in a good rhythm to start.

“In two-minute situations like that, that first completion is very important just to get the ball moving, getting your guys back lined-up,” Lee said. “So that was something I’ve kind of been coached up on, especially in two minutes you use all of your check-downs and let them catch and run with it a little bit.”

On a night when the Huskers needed to throw it 50 times, the offensive line adjusted its approach in an unbalanced second half.

Purdue forced Nebraska’s linemen out of their blocks, and as the game wore on, the offensive line adjusted to pass blocking downfield on checkdowns and swing passes.

“If you’re going to cut, you’d better throw it quick,” junior guard Jerald Foster said of blocking in the screen game. “Doing it on a run play, you kind of know where the guy’s going to be, you’ve got a better sense of where he’s going to be.

“If it’s a screen or something like that, you’re just going out there trying to cover him up and trying to give him a two-way go - what that means is keeping your shoulders north and south so that the ball carrier can pick which way he wants to.”

Against a Northwestern pass defense that ranks 119th nationally in yards allowed, the Huskers may not spend much time trying to force the issue on the ground if it isn’t working.

But even with a banged-up offensive line, head coach Mike Riley maintains he will not abandon the run, even though the offense will need to be creative against Northwestern.

“All the teams, you know, Wisconsin, Penn State, for a time, had a hard time finding the run,” Riley said. “We’ve got to be very selective with that and try to find that good balance in the game.”

- Matt Reynoldson

***Running back Jaylin Bradley (sprained ankle) wore a protective boot on his right foot on Monday.

***Langsdorf said the issues with the run game have been a cumulative effort, as the line isn’t blocking well and the backs aren’t always hitting the holes and capitalizing on the opportunities they do get.

***Against one of the best run defenses in the Big Ten in Northwestern this week, Langsdorf said the offensive line had to match the Wildcats’ physicality and finish blocks, something they’ve struggled with against similar defenses.

***Langsdorf said Lee was hit 8-9 times vs. Purdue in addition to the three sacks they gave up in the game. Langsdorf said they way Lee was able to hang in there and finish the game the way he did was a testament to Lee’s toughness.

***Langsdorf said there’s obviously something to wanting to stick with an up-tempo, pass-heavy game plan after how well NU played in the final minutes vs. Purdue and how good Lee has been the past few games, but he stressed that they must maintain balance and not become predictable.

***Offensive line coach Mike Cavanaugh said with Decker going down for the season, they’re making sure they have as much center depth as possible the rest of the season. That means along with top centers Cole Conrad and John Raridon, NU is giving Matt Farniok and Boe Wilson reps at center in practice.

***Cavanaugh acknowledged that Conrad needed to get a lot better now that the No. 1 center job was his, and he was confident the junior would respond the right way.

***Tight ends coach Tavita Thompson said he always makes the young tight ends answer questions first during film sessions and meetings with the older players following. He said based on those meetings, there’s no doubt within their room that Jack Stoll is going to be “a dang good player” in the future.

“Stoll is amazing,” Thompson said.