Nebraska 16 Oklahoma 23: Recap and Afternoon Thread

Mood check

First Quarter

The Huskers won the toss and deferred.

Someone really needs to invent a selective mute for Boomer Sooner. Really. Please.

The Sooners worked their way across midfield, faced a third and 11 - where they picked up 12. Crap.

Luke Reimer is all over the field - including a near interception. The Sooners answered with a nifty screen tha tmoved them into the red zone.

First and goal. Short. We see you Deontre Thomas!

Second and goal. Spencer Rattler got in on the sneak. Touchdown Sooners. It originally looked short, but the officials said he got the ball across the plane.

Oklahoma 7 Nebraska 0

Aaaaand, the Huskers open with two false starts.

Third and 12. OMAR MANNING 31 YARD RECEPTION! Good to see you young man.

Adrian is doing a lot of running so far - out of necessity. Also of note - Rahmir Johnson gets the nod in running back roulette today. I suspect Rahmir’s speed is a better matchup against that fast Sooner defense, but maybe we’ll hear something about how well he has practiced all week in the postgame pressers.

Third and seven. Adrian is short.

Fourth and three. Austin Allen had the first down and some room to run but the ball was behind him and he went down right after the catch. Good to see the big tight end on the field after leaving last week’s game with an injury.

Samori sighting!

Zavier Betts is tackled for a loss. Third and one.

The Huskers try a bunch of presnap movement and throw off their own team. False start.

Third and six. Rahmir Johnson reception! Way to go #14.

Personal foul on Cam Jurgens. Dammit. Penalties are killing the Huskers.

Second and 23. Incomplete.

Third and 23. Adrian gains two. He had some room to the left (it looked like).

Connor Culp time.

GOOOOOOOOOOD!

Flag. Whew, it was on the Sooners.

Oklahoma 7 Nebraska 3

#GlassHalfFull The Huskers are not being dominated physically. Mental mistakes (I’m looking at you o-line) are what is the problem. Early in the Frost years, Nebraska was losing both physically and mentally.

Another near interception for the Blackshirts (this time JoJo Domann). The Blackshirts allowed one first down, but then put up the stop sign. Punt.

LOL. No Husker was within 15 yards of the ball when it landed.

Second Quarter

Sevion Morrison is the RB flavor now and shows some great leg drive to gain seven, but was called down after one. Adrian is dropped for a loss while scrambling on second down.

Third and 11. These long third downs are not sustainable.

Martinez scrambles for eight.

Husker punt. And Nebraska has to burn a timeout figuring out what personnel they need out there.

Cerni has been replace by William Przystup. He lets loose a 52 yarder.

The Sooners nearly reach midfield on one play. And cross it on the next.

The Blackshirts are on their heels.

Tackle for loss by JoJo. Third and six at the Husker 37.

Rattler is pressured and the throw is incomplete. The 54 yard field goal is wide right. It is good to see the Blackshirts regroup after they gave up some big plays earlier in the series.

Oklahoma 7 Nebraska 3

Third down - complete to Levi Falck! Adrian had to work his way across the entire field to find a receiver. The ball was thrown high, but Falck was open enough to go up and get it.

Rahmir to the left - nine yards! Trent Hixson has come in for Ethan Piper on the line.

Yuck. Five yard loss. Third and four. Incomplete.

Connor Culp time - 50 yarder - no good.

Oklahoma 7 Nebraska 3

The Huskers had Oklahoma in a third down, where Marquel Dismuke got rung up for an unsportsmanlike penalty and gave the Sooners the first down and 15 yards.

Rattler grabbed Quinton Newsome bringing up the rare offensive facemask penalty and gave the 15 yards back.

Third and six. Incomplete.

Fourth and six. Riley decides not to kick the 58 yard field goal and the punt pins the Huskers inside the five.

A herky handoff results in a one yard loss.

Second and 11. No gain.

Third and 11. GABE ERVIN GAINS 12 UP THE MIDDLE! Kudos to Cam Jurgens on that one.

Austin Allen sighting.

Third and five. Adrian had to make a quick read and finds Samori Toure!

Adrian gets sacked (he had no chance to do anything) which brings up third and 19 with 1:13 left in the half.

Rahmir Johnson gains nine. Punt.

Both teams played conservatively and JoJo made a great play to keep Spencer Rattler inbounds on a run and force the Sooners to use a timeout with nine seconds left.

The Sooners wanted a second put back on the clock after making a reception on the sideline, but they didn’t get it. The clock looked they should have gotten the shot at the Hail Mary.

Halftime

• Nebraska senior kicker Connor Culp connected on a career-long 51-yard field goal in the first quarter, bettering his previous career long of 49 yards at Purdue last season.
• Culp’s field is Nebraska’s first from beyond 50 yards since Drew Brown made a 51-yarder against Purdue in 2016. The 51-yarder ties for the 12^th longest field goal in school history and is the fifth-longest in a road game.
• Senior nickel back JoJo Domann recorded eight tackles, a tackle for loss and a pass breakup in the first half. His eight tackles are already a season high. (Domann’s career high is 12 tackles vs. Penn State, 2020).
• Running back Rahmir Johnson made his first career start in today’s game.
• Will Pryzstup had a 51-yard punt in the second quarter, the longest Nebraska punt this season.

Third Quarter

The Huskers got the ball first in the second half. Rahmir Johnson is finding some tough yards on the ground to spak the offense. The Huskers reach midfield two and a half minutes into the half.

It is clear that Nebraska is trying to establish the running game right now. Gabe Ervin came in for Johnson. I expect to see Coach Frost continue to rotate backs, especially if they find some holes.

Austin Allen has made some tough catches and is clearly hurting after taking some shots. The last one was right to the chest.

The Allen catch moved the Huskers into the red zone.

Two plays for no gain brought up third and 10. Adrian nearly threw an interception in the end zone, but he got it just wide enough.

The 35 yard Culp field goal was no good.

The Sooners take over on their 20. The Blackshirts were offsides (Ben Stille) giving the Sooners first and five. Caleb Tannor drilled the ball carrier on the next play, but the Sooners reeled in a big play to get to midfield.

Oklahoma wasn’t done yet as they quickly moved into the red zone.

An offensive pass interference penalty on the Sooners led to second and 27 and pushed them out of the red zone. But Rattler found a WIDE OPEN receiver to get almost all those yards back.

Third and five. Rattler scrambled and converted despite some good pressure and coverage.

First and goal.

Second and goal.

Third and goal.

Touchdown Sooners.

Oklahoma 14 Nebraska 3

The offense really needs a score here, but I like that so far, they are stikicking with the plan. they aren’t trying to play hero ball - no panic.

Rahmir Johnson for president!

His awesome catch and run was followed by another Beef Jurgy personal foul. It looked like an aggressive play, but not flag worthy to me.

Rare event alert. Adrian Martinez slid after pickin up eight yards.

Gabe Ervin gained nothing and was hurt on second down. He was grabbing his knee before he even finished spinning around. Ouch. If that injury is even 1/10 as bad as it looks on replay, we won’t see Ervin on the field again for a while. Heal fast young man.

ANOTHER offensive line penalty (Sichterman) changes third and three to third and eight. Adrian scrambles for seven.

Fourth and one, just past midfield. That was a BAD spot. Adrian looked like he had the distance. And, after review, Adrian was awarded the first down.

WIDE OPEN TRAVIS VOKOLEK!!!! 39 yard game. Welcome to the 2021 season #83!

First and goal.

Second and goal. ADRIAN!!

Touchdown Nebraska!!!

But then the extra point was blocked and returned by the Sooners for two. Kelen Meyer came in for the obviously snakebit Culp and kicks too low.

Oklahoma 16 Nebraska 9

Cam Taylor-Britt broke up a pass and was hurt on the play (the landing actually). He did walk off the field under his own power. It looks like he will be fine.

Fourth Quarter

The Blackshirts forced a third and 10, but the Sooner converted at midfield. Braxton Clark knocked away the home run ball. I think he is in for CTB.

Another third down converted by Spencer Rattler. Sooner ball at the Husker 22.

First and goal.

Second and goal. Touchdown Sooners.

Oklahoma 23 Nebraska 9

Once again, we are watching a Husker team that is capable of playing with very good teams. Once again, we are watching a team lose a game rather than try to win one.

This is certainly better than the beating I expected, but at some point this coaching staff needs to find a way to fix this Groundhog Day.

Rahmir Johnson did not fair catch the kickoff and was dropped at the 13 yard line.

Adrian found Zavier Betts deep but a flag was thrown. SIDELINE INTERFERENCE OKLAHOMA. The Huskers get the play PLUS 10 yards.

Husker first down at the Oklahoma 17.

First down no gain.

Second down trickeration. Incomplete (overthrew Austin Allen).

Third down sack at the 25.

Fourth and 18. We are not kicking a field goal. Interception. Adrian had a receiver, but double coverage was there too.

With 7:50 left in the game, the Sooners take over near their own end zone.

The Blackshirts forced a three and out punt and the offense should have some nice field position. Samori Toure is back to return.

Nebraska has the ball on the Oklahoma side of the field. The Huskers need 38 yards to make this game exciting.

Austin Allen registers another catch. The dude has to be in pain and just keeps balling.

Adrian scramble to the red zone. That looked like a sack, but Martinez did a serious Houdini thing. He has been playing a great game despite the mistakes around him.

ADRIAN TO OMAR MANNING TOUCHDOWN!!!!!!!!!

I’ve dogged on the o-line, but they protected Adrian incredibly well there.

Connor Culp kicks the PAT. Good. The deep interception on fourth down came back to help Nebraska. If that pass had been incomplete, the Sooners would have had 25+ more yards of field position and likely wouldn’t have turtled that series to give Nebraska the short field.

Oklahoma 23 Nebraska 16

Oklahoma made a special teams mistake and took the kickoff out of bounds at the eight.

GO BLACKSHIRTS!!!!

Delay of game Oklahoma?!? What is this? Other teams can implode?

The Sooners run for 16 and get away from their own end zone. First down.

Another Oklahoma first down. The clock goes under three and a half minutes and Nebraska has two timeouts. If the Blackshirts can get the Sooners into a third down situation, Frost will need to use them.

False start Oklahoma. That stops the clock.

Rattler scrambles for a first down near midfield. It’s getting to be crunch down. Another first down and that is ball game.

Scott Frost begins using his timeouts with 1:52 left.

Second and five. One yard gain (Damion Daniels)

Third and four. Timeout.

THIS IS THE BALL GAME. A FIRST DOWN SEALS THE WIN FOR OKLAHOMA.

Ben Stille gobbles up the shovel pass. The Huskers have a chance.

Husker ball at the 16 yard line. No timeouts. 57 seconds.

First down. Sack.

Second down. Complete for six yards. Clock running.

Third down. Sack.

Fourth down. Game over.

So, how do you feel about this one Husker nation? A good loss? More of the same? Coulda, woulda, shoulda?