Play Violent, Play Clean: Nebraska's Week of Setting the Standard

Husker fans, Nebraska won by 28 points and then spent three days at the podium working out how hard is too hard.

That question ran through everything this week, and the answers were better than the win was.

The hit

Start with Jacory Barney. His block against Ohio wiped a touchdown off the board. Asked Tuesday what he learned from it, he did not reach for the apology.

“My learning piece was that today’s football is soft. I don’t even feel like it was a blindside. The guy looked at me, I looked at him, we were shoulder to shoulder, and I just wanted to deliver a hit for once. They always want to deliver hits on me.”

Now hear Dana Holgorsen, a day later, on the same play.

“Some bonehead plays. You should never block behind the play. That took a touchdown off the board, which hurt us.”

Same block. Same football team. One guy thinks the rulebook has gone soft, the other calls it a bonehead play and points out it cost Nebraska an eight-point halftime lead — they went in 14-13 instead.

Here is the part that makes it more than a spat. Barney says the coaches did not exactly talk him down either. What they told him was that they would rather a guy go over the limit than be below the standard and not block at all.

So the message is not “stop hitting people.” The message is “hit people, and stop giving us the fifteen yards.”

Nine penalties, and the man who counted them

Matt Rhule set all of this up on Monday, and he did it in his opening statement, before anybody asked.

“If you want to look at our scoring, it basically mirrors along with our penalty chart. There is no excuse for that. It can’t happen.”

Nebraska had 9 penalties for 65 yards against Ohio. Ohio had 2. Six of Nebraska’s came in the first half.

And the detail that should sting: Rhule says they have officials at every practice and every scrimmage, and those flags never got thrown all camp.

Defensive coordinator Rob Aurich arrived at the same place from the other side of the ball, and gave the cleanest version of the whole week:

“I’m okay with a full speed missed tackle as long as it’s a full speed decision.”

That is the line the entire argument has been circling. Play fast, play violent, and be disciplined about where — not about how hard.

What they’re measuring it against

The other half of the week was about standards nobody outside the building talks about.

The knockdowns. Ron Brown still grades them, to a Tom Osborne number — 1.5 a play, 110 a game. Rhule says Saturday was the first time his offense has hit it, and Luke Lindenmeyer had 18 by himself. Holgorsen waited until the press conference was ending, then volunteered this unasked:

“I did tell Luke Lindenmeyer yesterday that his tight end performance was the best one that I’ve ever been a part of. I wanted to make sure that I said that before I leave.”

The wall. Ask Jamir Conn whether the defense has a turnover chain and he describes something else: a wall in the defensive meeting room listing every Nebraska national championship team and how many turnovers that team forced, with this year’s number alongside them. One line on it so far — Rex Guthrie’s interception.

“We’re trying to get more turnovers than they forced back in those days.”

The letters. Anthony Jones Jr. says GBR means Go Big Red to the fan base. Inside the building, the players use it for Great Brotherhood and Relentless Execution.

The week Andrew Marshall had

Six of the seven players Nebraska put at the podium Tuesday wear a single digit now — numbers voted on by teammates and handed out with the Blackshirts. Andrew Marshall got No. 7, and then had the week nobody else had.

Rhule praised him Monday. Conn praised him Tuesday, and said Ohio threw at him six times without completing one. Then his own coordinator on Wednesday:

“Completely grown-up player. I thought he was the best player on the field for us defensively. He’s really the tone-setter.”

Three days, three coaches, one name.

What actually has to change

For all the culture, the fixable problem is narrow and both coordinators named it.

Nebraska gave up 75 rushing yards to Ohio’s quarterback — more than half of Ohio’s entire rushing total. Aurich was blunt about what that is and is not:

“Rush lane integrity and discipline is something that’s being spoken about a lot in our room right now. That’s not a talent issue.”

Bowling Green’s quarterback threw for nearly 300 yards last week and can move. Rhule flagged him by name on Monday. If the rush lanes are still leaking on Saturday night, it will not be because nobody mentioned it.

Saturday

Nebraska and Bowling Green, 6 p.m. Central, Memorial Stadium, under the lights. Eddie George on the other sideline — a man Rhule watched play from a Penn State sideline in 1995 and now calls a close friend.

Husker Nation, a team that talks openly about where its standard sits is a team that has one. Buckle up for Saturday night.