Tag: Mark Whipple

247Sports’ Nick Kosko predicts Nebraska to upset Iowa in the 2022 season finale

247Sports’ Nick Kosko likes the Nebraska Cornhuskers to upset the Iowa Hawkeyes in the 2022 regular season finale.

Iowa has owned the series against Nebraska, winning the past seven contests against the Cornhuskers. It looked like the Hawkeyes’ dominance over Nebraska was set to come to a close last year in Lincoln, Neb., but a fourth-quarter Iowa rally was jumpstarted by Henry Marchese’s blocked punt that Kyler Fisher returned 14 yards for a touchdown.

That sliced Iowa’s deficit from 21-9 to 21-16. The Hawkeyes followed that special teams game-changer up by forcing Huskers backup quarterback Logan Smothers into an intentional grounding penalty in the end zone for a safety. Iowa’s Caleb Shudak added a 44-yard field goal on the ensuing possession and suddenly the game was tied.

Then, Iowa quarterback Spencer Petras capped off a six-play, 76-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown plunge to give the Hawkeyes its first lead with 2:58 remaining. Hawkeyes cornerback Jermari Harris sealed the victory, intercepting Smothers to end any final threat from the Huskers.

In the process, Iowa registered its fifth consecutive victory in Lincoln, captured the Big Ten West crown and notched a 10-win season. 247Sports’ Nick Kosko isn’t buying into any of the recent series history in his game-by-game predictions for Nebraska’s 2022 season, though.

Kosko likes Nebraska to upset Iowa, 24-21, to end the 2022 regular season.

Yes, we’re picking an upset here. Nebraska puts a stamp on its bowl game date, whenever and wherever it might be. The upset over the Hawkeyes on the road will be the defining game of the 2022 season for Scott Frost. There’s gotta be one in there somewhere, and why not the final regular season game of the upcoming fall? Let’s do it. A late field goal puts Nebraska up by 10 (24-14) and the defense holds on as Iowa fails a late comeback. With the 7-5 record, Frost ensures a 2023 campaign and has a chance to win an eighth game in the postseason. – Kosko, 247Sports.

Obviously, this would be a reversal of what fans have seen in recent years. There’s a good chance that it has serious division implications for the Hawkeyes, too. The West feels like it’s wide open, and Iowa just might be hosting Nebraska for a return trip to Indianapolis in the 2022 edition to determine the fate of the Heroes Trophy.

If that’s the circumstances going in for Iowa’s Senior Day game, then the Huskers will have earned a difficult to come by victory, and it would further signal that Nebraska has made progress as a football program in 2022.

While Iowa is an interesting team heading into next season given the disparity between the team’s offensive and defensive production in 2021, Nebraska might have been the most intriguing, hardest to figure out team in all of the Big Ten last season. The Huskers finished 3-9, which is by definition bad. Still, Nebraska lost eight one-score games, which could indicate that the Huskers are ripe for a quick turnaround.

Time will tell on that front. One thing is for certain: Scott Frost needs 2022 to show tangible results if he’s to remain the Huskers’ head football coach. Frost brought in offensive coordinator Mark Whipple from Pittsburgh to help try and rejuvenate Nebraska’s offense. Last season’s backup quarterback in Smothers returns for Nebraska, but longtime starter Adrian Martinez is off to Kansas State.

Nebraska went ahead and brought former Texas quarterback Casey Thompson in to be the likely starter, and the Huskers added Florida State transfer signal-caller Chubba Purdy as well. The wide receiving corps features a series of transfers as well with Trey Palmer arriving from LSU, Marcus Washington from Texas and Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda from New Mexico State.

Palmer had 30 grabs for 344 yards and three scores in 2021, Washington registered 18 receptions for 277 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and Garcia-Castaneda hauled in 37 passes for 578 yards and four scores. Add that in with Omar Manning’s returning 26 grabs for 380 yards and two touchdowns.

In the backfield, Nebraska will be looking for Rahmir Johnson, Gabe Ervin Jr. and Jaquez Yant to combine for the Huskers’ rushing attack. Last season, Johnson carried 112 times for 495 yards and four scores, Ervin Jr. rushed 37 times for 124 yards and two touchdowns and Yant tallied 47 totes for 294 yards and one trip to the end zone.

Defensively, Nebraska added two-time All-Big 12 second-team selection Ochaun Mathis at defensive end. Mathis has 135 tackles, 30.5 tackles for loss and 15.5 sacks over the course of his college career. He’ll team with Garrett Nelson, Ty Robinson and Alabama transfer Stephon Wynn Jr. At the second level, Nebraska linebackers Luke Reimer and Nick Henrich combined for 189 tackles last season.

The Huskers’ defensive backfield has its fair share of transfer additions as well, featuring Tommi Hill from Arizona State, DeShon Singleton from Hutchinson Community College and Omar Brown from Northern Iowa. That trio will join safety Myles Farmer and cornerback Quinton Newsome.

For a head coach in Frost that frankly is desperate for success heading into 2022, it makes sense to replenish the roster with a series of transfer portal additions and see if it works. While Iowa hopes to be fighting for the Big Ten West in the season finale, Frost just might be coaching for his job.

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Frost talks about new hires on offense

The Husker Head Coach talks about his new staff members on offense.

Nebraska Head Football Coach Scott Frost appeared on Monday night on the Husker Radio Network. The interview discussed a wide range of topics, but one segment, in particular, was illuminating. Frost talked about the four new hires on the offensive side of the ball. That would include Offensive Coordinator Mark Whipple, Wide Receivers Coach Mickey Joseph, Offensive Line Coach Donovan Raiola and Running Backs Coach Bryan Applewhite. It was nice to hear Frost talk in a little more detail about the role each of these hires is playing in rebuilding the offense and culture of the program. We still don’t know what the offense will look like, but we’ll get a better idea when the Huskers open the season on August 27th against the Northwestern Wildcats in Dublin, Ireland.

Report Card: Grading Nebraska’s offense

Let’s take a deeper look at Nebraska’s offensive performance in the spring game on Saturday.

After fours years together, the pair of Head Coach and play-caller Scott Frost and Quarterback Adrian Martinez had yet to accomplish anything meaningful. It was clear it was time for a change, and, to his credit, Scott Frost listened and stepped down from playcalling. With one more year of eligibility, Adrian Martinez decided to take his talents to Manhattan, Kansas, to play for the Kansas State Wildcats. The new play-caller for the Huskers will be Mark Whipple, formerly of Pittsburg. While we got a bit of a look at his scheme Whipple did not call plays this spring game and instead played the role of observer. After the game, even Head Coach Scott Frost said that the offense was watered down so as not to spoil any new looks or wrinkles before the season opener in August.

Live Reaction to Nebraska Red and White Game

The Nebraska Cornhuskers played their annual Red and White Spring Game on Saturday and Cornhuskerwire has all the reactions

The Nebraska Cornhuskers played their annual Red and White Spring Game on Saturday and Cornhuskerwire has all the reactions.

1st QUARTER

The teams are taking the field, Casey Thompson is getting the start at quarterback, and the first play from scrimmage is a ten-yard completion. Thompson did an excellent job splitting the defensive backs, and I mention this because the next play of the drive was a penalty. As much as things change, they stay the same. Garret Nelson gets a sack for the Blackshirts, and the first drive is over. He could be very disruptive this year for Erik Chinander. Brian Buschini gets a chance to show everyone why he was the FCS Punter of the Year in 2021, and he doesn’t disappoint as he hits a 63-yard bomb. That was a position in need of an upgrade headed in 2022, and early on, it looks like the Huskers may have their man.

Logan Smothers gets his turn at quarterback on the second possession and can’t do much with the ball as the possession ends in a sack. And my offseason fears about the offensive line are already starting to give me heartburn.

Chubba Perdy now gets on the field. Due to injuries, it’s been a limited spring for him, so I’m curious how much of the playbook is available. A quick three and out for Perdy and the offense. The transfer signal-caller may need a few reps before he’s ready for live ball.

Anthony Grant rips off a 60-yard touchdown run to start the drive. The Huskers haven’t had a 1,000-yard rusher since Devine Ozigbo in 2018. Will that change this year? As former Husker All-American Dom Rioala said during a sideline interview, “run the d*mn ball,” he would know better than most about the importance of an explosive run game. Receiver AJ Rollins with a nice catch near the end of the 1st quarter. He might be a target in Mark Whipple’s vertical passing scheme.

2nd QUARTER

The defense is playing well in the first half so far. They’ve had multiple sacks, and their aggressive coverage in the secondary may be a sign of things to come this season. Purdy hits a pass downfield and in the middle of the defense. Huskers haven’t hit a pass like that in four years, so maybe the FSU transfer can show more than we thought at the start of the game. Kicker Chase Contreraz splits the uprights from 26 yards out. Good sign for a kicker who went 2 for 4 in field goals in 2021. The unit was 8 of 16 in field goals in total last season.

Not much hitting in the game this afternoon, and Head Coach Scott Frost confirmed during an in-game interview that the team is playing under limited contact rules. It makes sense this early in the year for some restrictions to be in place, especially for a team with some injury and depth chart issues. A 42-yard field goal from Chase Contreraz sails wide left, and I’m having flashbacks to every Nebraksa kicker since Drew Brown’s career ended five years ago.

3rd QUARTER

The third quarter begins, and Scott Frost announces that they will remove the hitting restrictions and allow the younger players to get some live reps. Multiple drives in the 3rd period see the offense make a mistake and set the possession behind the sticks, and both times the offense was attempting to use tempo. They recovered from the miscues, and Heinrich Haarberg finds Kamonte Grimes 34 yards down the field for a touchdown. The kicking woes continue as Gabe Heins misses the extra point. It’s evident that Nebraska is playing the most vanilla version of their offense this afternoon. During camp, Coach Frost said they wanted Northwestern to have as little tape of the new offense as possible for the opener in Dublin, and the play calls and roster rotations are backing those statements up.

4th QUARTER

Redshirt Freshman Quarterback Jarrett Syneck opens the final period with a 16 yard run for a touchdown. The Hastings, Nebraska native did an excellent job breaking a couple of tackles. I like the depth from the QB room in the spring game, and it could be helpful come fall. And now a fumble kills a Husker drive was that driving deep into the defense’s territory. Late in the quarter, the offense connects on a 42-yard strike from Jarrett Synek and Ty Hahn.

The game goes final from Memorial Stadium and the White Team (defense) defeats the Red Team (offense) by a score of 43-39.

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Pittsburgh offensive coordinator resigns before Peach Bowl match-up vs. Michigan State

Pittsburgh offensive coordinator resigns before Peach Bowl match-up vs. Michigan State

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I think it is safe to say that Michigan State football fans were (and still are) a little nervous heading into their Peach Bowl match-up vs. Pittsburgh due to Pitt’s high-powered offense, which is led by Heisman finalist Kenny Pickett. However, Pitt will now be missing another weapon on their offense, so to speak, as offensive coordinator Mark Whipple resigned this week from the position, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

There are rumors swirling that Whipple is being considered to be hired by Nebraska as their offensive coordinator, according to the Lincoln Star.

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