Well, we’re likely to know who the Big Ten West representative is by about 10 p.m. this time next week.
Nebraska outlasted Purdue (score) after letting the Boilers, who got the “first game interim coach bump” with Gerad Parker getting his first game at the helm, setting up a season-defining tilt with Wisconsin (17-9 winners at Iowa) next week in Madison.
Teams always seem to have a little extra in their step after a coach firing, which Purdue did this week with Darrell Hazell, but if you simply don’t have the talent and scheme, it only lasts so long. Which Nebraska was happy about, since for the most part, Purdue relegated them to a team searching for a running game and a way out of an upset.
It wasn’t until Alonzo Moore’s 24-yard jaunt up the right hand sideline and subsequent desperation fake punt from inside their own 40 by Purdue that the Huskers could feel a sense of relief in a game where Purdue was what they’ve been far too often over the last few years … good enough to occasionally hang around for a big upset, but never getting it done.
Next week, though, we start finding out how good these Huskers are. No team has a more daunting next two games than Wisconsin and Ohio State, both on the road.
Win one, and the Huskers probably are playing for the Big Ten title. Lose both, and the opposite is likely true.
The truth is, we know the Huskers are good, but we really don’t know how good. Coming into the season, Oregon was a barometer test for both teams. It turns out, Oregon isn’t all that hot, so that was one the Huskers had to get. Aside from that, it’s been mostly a schedule of teams you’re supposed to defeat.
Tommy Armstrong, Jr. threw for 252, a score, a pick, and ran for a touchdown. Purdue got one of those “if you’re gonna pull an upset, you need something special to happen that really won’t ever at any other point in the season” plays when David Blough slung it 88 yards to DeAngelo Yancey to make it 14-10, and that was the main source of the Huskers’ angst.
But we get the game we all expected next week.
In short, Armstrong needs to be significantly less erratic than he normally is. The punting needs to be considerably better, as Purdue got a partial block … the third time that’s happened this season and you can damn well expect Wisconsin to exploit it. But the Huskers are in the mix, which is all you can ask.
As for Purdue, Parker was aggressive (as you’d expect a 35-year-old first game interim head coach might be), but the Boilers simply lack the talent to close out a team like Nebraska.
And as for Nebraska, chide their schedule all you want, but you can only defeat who shows up to play you. The next two weeks, some salty folks are showing up, and opinion will converge with fact.
