Tag: Cornhuskers Football

Social Media reacts to Nebraska’s loss to Illinois

It was a rough afternoon at Memorial Stadium!

Where do you even begin? The Nebraska Cornhuskers lost their second game in a row as the Illinois Fighting Illini leave Lincoln with a 26-9 victory. However, a bigger storyline to the game was starting quarterback Casey Thompson was forced to leave the game in the first half after suffering an injury to his arm. Interim Head Coach Mickey Joseph has described the injury as day-to-day. 

That injury placed the offense in neutral for the remainder of the afternoon. Offensive Coordinator Mark Whipple could not figure out how to use the skills of backups Chubba Purdy and Logan Smothers effectively against a talented Illinois defense. As a result, the Huskers could only muster 248 yards of total offense, including just 29 yards in the second half. Combine that with four turnovers, and you’ll find it hard to win no matter who or where you’re playing.

The defense wasn’t much better, surrendering 367 total yards of offense, including 188 yards on the ground. Star running back Chase Brown was responsible for 149 rushing yards and one touchdown. Quarterback Tommy DeVito was efficient in the pocket, going 20-22 for 179 yards and two touchdowns.  

The fact is, this loss isn’t on any coach or players. This was a collective defeat at the hands of a talented Illinois football team. Where the season goes from here is anyone’s guess. How will this loss affect the head coaching search? Interim Head Coach Mickey Joseph had a big feather in his cap with the commitment of Malachi Coleman of Lincoln East High School earlier this week. He also made waves when Ohio State commit, and the No. 1 recruit in the class of 2024, Dylan Raiola, decided to take a visit to Lincoln. This loss will most definitely take some of the shine off those accomplishments. 

Four games are left in the regular season, and the Huskers can still make a bowl game. Mickey and the staff have shown they are willing to put in the hard work to get this program back on track. But the fact of the matter is it’s not translating to the field. Big changes are on the horizon for Nebraska football. What those changes are will be anyone’s guess.

Below is a collection of social media reactions to Saturday’s loss to Illinois.

Social media roasts Scott Frost, Nebraska Cornhuskers following season-opening loss

Following a season-opening meltdown, fans and media alike took turns ribbing Scott Frost and the Nebraska Cornhuskers on social media.

Incredibly, Nebraska has now lost seven consecutive games by single digits. According to ESPN Stats & Information, the Huskers are the first major-conference team in the AP Poll era to lose seven straight games by single digits. That dates all the way back to 1936.

All told, Nebraska is now 5-21 in one-score games under Frost’s leadership. The Huskers fell to 10-29 versus Power 5 teams and 15-30 overall during Frost’s tenure. While Northwestern isn’t a top 25 team, Nebraska is 0-13 against ranked teams in the Associated Press poll during Frost’s run as well.

This latest debacle came complete with an onside kick try that Nebraska didn’t get at the most inopportune of times. The Huskers had just gotten their second third-quarter rushing touchdown from Anthony Grant in the blink of an eye and had ballooned their lead over Northwestern to 28-17. For no good reason, Frost elected for a surprise onside kick.

“I made that call, so it’s on me,” Frost said of the decision. “At that point in the game, I felt all the momentum was on our side. I thought if we [recovered] it, we could win the game. … I felt like maybe we were the better team. You can’t really foresee them scoring 14 straight and us sputtering after we played well to start the second half on offense. Those are excuses. If I had it over, I wouldn’t have made the call.”

He also lamented Nebraska’s string of single digit losses.

“We’ve just lost too many close games. These guys need something to believe in. We need to believe in ourselves as a team. I think they do,” Frost said.

Naturally, though, social media had its way with Nebraska’s most recent demise. It probably didn’t help that all of college football’s eyes were on this one from Dublin, Ireland either.

Here were some of the best social media reactions to Frost and Nebraska’s latest disappointment.

5 takeaways from Northwestern’s ‘upset’ over Nebraska

Surprise, surprise. Nebraska lost another close game. With both Nebraska and Northwestern on Iowa’s schedule, here are the main takeaways.

The Big Ten officially kicked off its season in week zero in Ireland (any teams from there looking to join?) with an absolute barnburner. Northwestern pulled off the “upset” over Nebraska, Scott Frost’s men shockingly losing yet another close contest.

This game was everything great about Big Ten football. It had everything: surprisingly good quarterback play, Northwestern pounding the rock to the win, and Scott Frost losing another close game due to coaching ineptitude. What else could you want?

Despite being a week zero play between two teams that Iowa will see much later in the season, it did have intrigue for Hawkeye fans. Of course, Nebraska is a team many, for some reason, predicted to be a breakout contender in 2022.

If so, their season-ending clash could have massive playoff implications. Northwestern was projected to have another bad season this year, but showed some things that could possibly give Iowa some trouble coming off of a massive matchup with Ohio State. With the curtain closed in Ireland, here are the key points to take away from Northwestern’s victory.