Notes: Huskers find new recipe for defeat

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Nebraska had already assembled a wide variety of ways to lose games through the first eight weeks of the season, but the Huskers found a new recipe for defeat in a 55-45 loss at Purdue on Saturday.

Behind a season-high five turnovers, a season-low 77 rushing yards and easily the worst overall defensive performance of the Mike Riley era, NU fell to a Boilermaker squad that was 1-6 on the season entering the game and had just three wins over FBS opponents in the past three years.

After the game, Riley was asked if he could identify one or two common themes that have plagued his team the most during their 3-6 start, but he said this latest defeat was yet another unique set of issues Nebraska must now try to address.

"I don't know in general if I could say it, because there have been so many different stories," Riley said. "Like today was really a story of it's own too with turnovers… We wrote a new one today."

Offensively, the obvious problems were turnovers and lack of a running game. With walk-on Ryker Fyfe getting the start in place of an injured Tommy Armstrong on the road in cold, rainy conditions, the game plan going in was to attack Purdue on the ground and not put too much on Fyfe's plate in terms of throwing the ball.

It turned out the Huskers would attempt 48 passes - tying Armstrong's season-high total set just last week vs. Northwestern - to just 29 rushing attempts en route to their lowest rushing total of the year. It should also be noted that Purdue was ranked 100th in the country in rushing defense entering the game.

Offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf said falling behind early played a role in having to pass so much, but the inability to win the battles up front also kept NU from establishing itself on the ground.

"I just thought we got beat at times, and we kind of took turns doing it," Langsdorf said. "We'd have an edge play that we might lose (yardage) on, and then we'd get beat by an inside guy. Just kind of one-on-one matchups more than anything. We were about 50/50 at halftime, so we were trying to do it. But we got behind and had to throw a ton, and that's not really the game that we want to be in."

On the defensive side of the ball, Nebraska gave up 457 yards of total offense to a Purdue team that was only averaging 363.6 yards per game. In particular, quarterback David Blough torched the Blackshirts for 274 passing yards and a career-high four touchdowns. In the seven previous games, Blough only averaged 157.7 ypg and had just five passing touchdowns all season.

"Frustrating is not the word," defensive coordinator Mark Banker said. "I'm disappointed No. 1 in myself not being able to maybe come up with a cure or what have you. Players put in good work during the week and had been doing a good jobs far as paying attention to detail. It's just not coming out the way we want to on the field.

"That's really the only - not frustrating part, it's just the part that you wish was obviously different and that myself, as the leader of this group, could come up with better ways to make that happen."

- Robin Washut

Fyfe sees highs, lows in starting debut

When it was officially announced on Thursday that Fyfe would be the starter against Purdue, no one really knew what to expect from the junior in his first collegiate start.

On one hand, Fyfe put up impressive passing numbers with 407 yards and four touchdowns. On the other, the Grand Island, Neb., native also tossed four interceptions and added a fifth turnover after a snap sailed over his head and he couldn't recover the fumble.

It was far from a perfect showing, but given the circumstances, Fyfe gave the Huskers about as much as they could have hoped for.

"His performance was like our team's, probably," Riley said. "It was a mixed bag. I thought he really made some throws and some plays. I think we went through that rough spot in the middle there that really set us back, but for the most part I was really proud of him. I think that in the end will make us stronger down the road, him getting to play and making some plays.

"Everybody could see glimpses of what he is very good at and capable of, and I thought he did a lot of that. But just like we said, the turnovers were the story of the game."

Langsdorf said the plan for Fyfe going into the game was to get him in rhythm early with quick timing passes while also taking the pressure off him with the running game. With Nebraska getting shut down on the ground, Fyfe's role continued to increase, and the turnovers began to mount as a result.

"I thought he played pretty well overall," Langsdorf said. "I think there were a couple throws where - you know, we had a tipped ball that was an interception. I thought there was probably a couple that he would like back in terms of location that hurt us. The thing about the turnovers was where they were, too. We gave them great field position. It's hard to overcome that stuff."

Looking ahead to next week's game against Michigan State, Riley said it was still unclear whether Armstrong's injured foot would be healed enough to return to his starting role. Riley said they wouldn't have a good idea on Armstrong's availability until Monday at the earliest.

Not only did Armstrong not play against Purdue, he didn't even make the trip to West Lafayette as part of NU's 70-man travel roster. Riley explained that Armstrong stayed home because they wanted to bring players that would able to play. Redshirt freshman Zack Darlington came in Armstrong's place as the No. 3 quarterback.

- Robin Washut

Quarterback runs doom Huskers again

Blough entered Saturday with five career rushing yards, and his single-game high entering the contest was 11. He bested those totals in the first quarter alone.

Blough ran for 82 yards, including a 56-yard scamper in the first quarter that gave Purdue a 7-3 lead. A few of his runs were by design, but many were simply scrambles during which he left the Blackshirts in the dust.

This performance came on the heels of Nebraska allowing Northwestern's Clayton Thorson to run for a career-high 126 yards last week, and defensive end Jack Gangwish said future teams will likely continue to try and expose the Huskers in this way.

"We knew he had the ability and that he was a pretty athletic guy," Gangwish said. "We kind of figured at this point in the season based off the film we've put out there that this would be something that we'd see.

"For us, it's an execution thing. It's something that we've failed at stopping before and teams are going to continue using it against us. That's going to make it especially important for us to fix our issues there."

- Dan Hoppen

NU must again deal with loss of Pierson-El

Just as De'Mornay Pierson-El was starting to get fully integrated into the offense, the sophomore receiver was lost again.

Pierson-El went down without contact after Stanley Morgan's touchdown in the second quarter. He remained down for several minutes before being carted off. He was using crutches after the game.

Riley said that Pierson-El suffered a knee injury and that the Huskers don't yet know how serious it is. But the early indicators don't look good, and the offense might have to learn to exist without one of its top playmakers once again.

"It was hard to see that, plus it was coming off of Stan scoring a touchdown," Jordan Westerkamp said. "I was looking the other way so I didn't even see what happened. But when I looked back, my heart just kind of stopped. But he's a tough kid. I'm not sure the exact details on his injury, but he'll fight and he'll come back again. I'm praying for him and hopefully he'll be OK."

- Dan Hoppen

Quick hits

***Along with Pierson-El, the Huskers also lost junior running back Terrell Newby to an ankle injury during the game. Riley said they would know more about Newby's status for Michigan State on Monday.

***Riley was asked why Nebraska has struggled to run the ball consistently all season, with Saturday's 29 carries for 77 the most recent and blatant example of those struggles. Specifically, he was asked it if was a matter of NU not being able to run the ball or if the staff just didn't want to stick with the run long enough to make it work effectively.

"Both. Your answer is both," Riley said. "I'm telling you, we do want to run. We need to do better, and we will… We were taking too many tackles for losses on the runs, and that was really tough sledding. You really have to have patience to do that, and then when you get behind you really don't like it. That's what happened to us."

***Riley said Nebraska's struggles were certainly not a result of a lack of effort from his players.

"I can't sit here and fault the effort," he said.

***Riley said the three offsides penalties on extra points happened because the long snapper was not only calling out cadences before the snap, but as also moving the football while doing so. Riley said several other linemen were calling out cadences as well prior to the snap, which caused NU problems.

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