news-engine

LINCOLN — The 93-degree heat sent Husker fans for the cool of their cars and, in the case of students, their dorm rooms well before the matter had been decided on the field. There — where the measured temperature was 140 degrees according to a local meteorologist — a different kind of sweat was beading and building after a lackluster 2½ quarters of Nebraska football against Ohio. Blown assignments on defense. Busted plays on offense. Bad penalties all over. With upset pressure mounting, quarterback Anthony Colandrea and NU’s offense quickly found their groove in a 49-21 win over the Bobcats. Touchdown drives of 73, 69, 65, 70 yards smacked Ohio like a sun glare and iced what had been, midway through the third quarter, close to a dead heat. Aided by the Huskers’ first takeaway of the day, NU tacked on a 17-yard touchdown drive at game’s end. People are also reading… A 14-13 turned into a four-score spread by the time air temps hit 94 degrees. In the considerably cooler media room, Huskers rattled off boxing analogies. “We like to say, if they’re cut, bleed the cut until they finally put their hands down, then knock them out,” said running back Mekhi Nelson, who had a 29-yard touchdown run and 51-yard touchdown catch in the second half. “I feel that’s exactly what we did.” “We gave them body blows,” said running back Jamal Rule, who rushed for 122 yards and had three total touchdowns. “Every play is working their body.” “I think it was good for us to get punched in the face and have adversity for a second, said Colandrea, who threw for 275 yards and three scores while adding 23 rushing yards and a score. The UNLV transfer, in his first start, told teammates at halftime to “execute,” echoing the message from Rhule. In front of 85,577 microwaved fans at Memorial Stadium — a smaller gathering after half —Nebraska’s brand of ball was going to be good enough when it stopped shooting itself in the foot. “Everything we said, the way that they would play, we had them dead to rights,” Rhule said. “We knew how they would play — it’s a really good system that they have. We have to have more poise early on.” Such as the game’s first play, when the Rob Aurich era of Nebraska’s defense opened with a thud, a 68-yard pass from Ohio quarterback Nick Poulos to receiver Riley Neer, a Bobcat prancing through NU’s secondary untouched until he landed inside the Husker 10. Ohio scored two plays later. Nebraska (1-0) answered with a 12-play, 75-yard march that ended in Rule’s 1-yard touchdown plunge for his first career touchdown. Ohio plodded back ahead with back-to-back field goal drives. NU’s second touchdown drive — kickstarted by a 21-yard Colandrea rollout pass to Kwazi Gilmer that Rhule called “the best play of the day — ended on a Rule’s 24-yard catch-and-run, one of the Huskers’ nine third-down conversions for the day. The Huskers lumbered into halftime up one after Jacory Barney blindside block, which came roughly seven yards behind the play, nullified a long Nyziah Hunter screen pass score. Another first-half Husker drive had been stymied by Brendan Black’s back-to-back false start penalties. And Nebraska’s opening drive of the third quarter turned disastrous with an 18-yard intentional grounding penalty when Colandrea, trapped by two Ohio defenders caving the pocket, lofted a pass that failed to reach the line of scrimmage. It’d be Nebraska’s last fruitless drive of the day. It averaged 10.1 yards and 1.2 points per play over its final five possessions. “There were really no adjustments,” Rhule said. “We ran the same plays, we did the same things. We just stopped shooting ourselves in the foot. That was the adjustment, if that makes sense. ‘Hey guys, if you’re going to have seven penalties, it’s going to be a long day out here.’ Settle down.” Teammates said Colandrea told guys to lock in. Cornerback Andrew Marshall said after an “unfocused” first half, when “everybody was trying to do a little too much,” the defense corrected errors on the sideline and tightened its pass coverage. The Bobcats (0-1) struggled to run on Nebraska’s quick, twisting front six — which didn’t have the services of linebacker Owen Chambliss, nursing a hamstring injury — and Poulos began getting more cautious with his throws against NU’s zone. Marshall and Donovan Jones, matched often in 1-on-1 deep ball situations, didn’t give up a catch on any Ohio go routes. Nebraska’s first score of the second half was set up by Rule’s 13-yard tote on fourth-and-short; Colandrea ran in a 13-yard zone read that used receiver Quinn Clark’s block as an escort into the end zone. Then he started taking key checkdowns — tight end Luke Lindenmeyer for 15 on a third-and-12, Nelson for 14 on a choice route that set up Nelson’s 29-yard score. And then Nelson on the 51-yarder, when a routine 15-yard play turned into a long score when Nelson, fresher than Ohio defenders due to NU’s back rotation, bulled through several Bobcat tacklers. “Trying to get as many yards as I could, I broke free,” Nelson said. “And I knew after I broke free, ‘I gotta go score.’” The trenches began to move in Nebraska’s favor. Power plays — with pullers — blown up early broke open late, the gap between the Big Ten and MAC widening as the clock ticked in the fourth quarter. NU racked up 183 rushing yards in the second half. The experience left Rhule and players with weary smiles. “We knew this would be a war of attrition,” Rhule said. “But we did need it. We didn’t need not to be challenged. This team needs a challenge. “And that was a challenge. They were a challenge. The heat was a challenge.” And, eventually, the heat became the Huskers’ best friend — once Nebraska stopped being its own worst enemy.