I really don’t want to write this article because I don’t want to think of Nebraska losing to Purdue. The last game Nebraska won was last year on October 28, 2017 when Tanner Lee threw a touchdown with 14 seconds left. To think that Nebraska might go through almost a year and have two wins and they’re both against Purdue is not a happy thought. “Luckily” I’m here to say Nebraska will not beat Purdue.

Offensive Line (1-5)

Last week a lot of comments told me that I should’ve included the offensive line in the article. I was giving them the benefit of the doubt that they didn’t preform well in the Troy game because the Trojans stacked the box since Andrew Bunch was playing. After watching the game against Michigan I can tell that wasn’t a fluke. The offensive line needs to step up BIG TIME against the Boilermakers if Nebraska is going to win this game. Sadly, I don't think this that’s going to happen. The offensive line has been awful for the last three years and Purdue’s stout defensive front is going to eat against the Huskers.

Slow Start, Again

At this point of the season I think it’s impossible for Nebraska not to start the game slow. I don’t know why that's the case, but I think a slow start in this game is really going to cost the Huskers. Frost said in his press conference that Nebraska has started each game by gifting the opponents points. It’s hard for a team to come back down by 14, 17 and 20 at the end of the first quarter. Nebraska is going to start the game slow again on offense and it’s not going to help the defense.

Special Teams

Last week I grouped special teams, turnovers and penalties into the same category, this week special teams gets it’s own category. In the last two games Nebraska has given up a punt return in each game. On top of that Nebraska muffed a punt in the game against Michigan which would’ve given Nebraska great field position. Special teams was awful under Mike Riley and Co. and it doesn’t look like it’s gotten any better. I hope special teams improves every week from here on out, because so far this season I’ve bled out multiple times from my eyes.

An Avalanche

Every game since I’ve started watching football in 2003 it seemed like whenever Nebraska got down it couldn’t stop the bleeding. In the 2015 and 2017 seasons it went from individual games to the entire season. I’ve been saying since after the Colorado game Nebraska needs that one win to put itself on the right track for the rest of the season. If Nebraska gets out to a slow start this week I have a feeling it won’t be able to recover. Not being able to recover from a slow start is going to cause an avalanche and Nebraska will not be able to recover. If Nebraska doesn’t win this game it’s going to be a long first weekend in October.

Purdue is Better than Their Record Seems

Purdue went into last week 0-3, but two of the losses came at the hands of Northwestern and Missouri. I know Northwestern isn't a B1G powerhouse, but Missouri was in the game against Georgia until the fourth quarter. Missouri almost blew the game against Purdue and if the Boilermakers wouldn’t have blown the game against Northwestern in the second half Purdue could be entering this game at .500. The defensive front of Purdue is stout and David Blough has lit the Huskers defense up multiple times in the last few seasons. I’m worried he is going to scramble and score another 50 yard touchdown against us like he did in I think 2015. Forgive me if I don’t know when it was, I tried to block the Riley years from my memory.

Let me know what you think the five reasons should be in the comments.