If Nebraska isn’t at its low point under Scott Frost right now, the Huskers are at least in the neighborhood. Frost has bluntly acknowledged the rebuild he has in front of him, and 2018 was never supposed to be the Huskers’ year. But they still look jarringly bad, worse than a lot of people even figured they’d be in their first year after Mike Riley.
The 19 most disgusting stats from the day Michigan turned Nebraska into Rutgers
Let’s dive deep on the horribleness of Nebraska’s Saturday.
Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
The Huskers are 0-3 after their ugliest loss yet, a 56-10 drubbing by Michigan in Ann Arbor on Saturday. They might be 1-3 if their Week 1 game against Akron hadn’t been canceled amid a storm, but then, maybe that’s all that saved the Huskers from being 0-4 right now.
This team is bad, and the Michigan result was the kind of lopsided Big Ten game fate that we’ve come to expect from Rutgers, not Nebraska.
Let’s take a run through the most despicable numbers from Nebraska’s Saturday.
17
Yards of total offense for Nebraska in the first half, on 26 plays. The Huskers had a whopping 132 by the time the game ended, most of them in garbage time.
1
Twitter joke by us that would’ve come true if the Huskers hadn’t put together an 80-yard touchdown drive at the very end of that garbage time:
Outside of the Huskers’ final series, they had 52 yards of offense to UM’s 56 points.
10
Penalties by Nebraska, for ...
79
... yards, equal to 60 percent of the Huskers’ offensive yardage for the day.
14
Tackles for loss by Michigan, totaling 65 yards forfeited by the Husker offense.
1.47
Yards per throw by Nebraska freshman quarterback Adrian Martinez, a great talent who had no chance whatsoever to do anything but get crushed in this game.
1945
The year the last time Nebraska started a season 0-3 before now.
1
Time Nebraska got roasted to a crisp by a thirsty brand Twitter account.
1.3
Nebraska’s yards per carry if you include sacks.
3
Nebraska’s yards per carry if you don’t include sacks.
7
Three-and-outs by Nebraska’s offense in 14 possessions that didn’t get cut short by the end of a half. The average Nebrska drive went 8.8 yards on 3.6 plays.
2
Three-and-outs forced by Nebraska.
19
Yards of average field-position difference between the two teams. Michigan started its average series at its own 42, while Nebraska started at its own 23.
6.4
Yards per play allowed by the Nebraska defense. Michigan hadn’t been so efficient on a per-play basis. The only Big Ten opponents to give up more per play to Michigan’s offense last year were Minnesota and Rutgers.
12
Passing plays of 15-plus yards and running plays of 17-plus yards by the Michigan offense, which took whatever it wanted. The backup QB threw a 56-yard touchdown on a deep route down the right sideline when the Wolverines were already up 49-3.
9
Punts by the Huskers’ Caleb Lightbourn.
59.3
The average distance of the three punts by Michigan’s Will Hart, which had to be extra cutting for the Huskers, because Lightbourn averaged a mere 44.7. If the Huskers can’t claim a punting advantage against a Big Ten East blue-blood, then what can they claim?
3
Posts we published about the Huskers during the game. These were the headlines:
8
More games the Huskers have to play in 2018, barring a shocking appearance in the Big Ten Championship Game or a bowl. That’s just about two months of football left. It’ll all be over soon, and Nebraska fans can put this Year Zero for Frost behind them.
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