Nebraska gave itself a chance but didn't have enough in the tank to pull off an upset in Ohio Stadium Saturday afternoon.
"Credit to Ohio State," Cornhuskers head coach Matt Rhule said to conclude his postgame press conference. "They made plays. They made the drive to go down there and win and their defense made one more play than we did."
The end of his presser was much like the first 20 minutes, though. Rhule praised the Buckeyes while also making it clear that he was proud of his Nebraska team even though they didn't quite do enough to pull off a shocking win over Ohio State.
In addition to praising Ohio State on the field, he also shouted out Buckeye Nation, complimenting the environment in Ohio Stadium throughout the game.
“When you're on the road, in this environment, with the noise and all the things that are happening. Credit to the Ohio State fans. What a great environment. I mean, the redcoats, from the minute you get here they're nice and friendly to you but when the game starts, they're here to make that hard.”
Going into Saturday's matchup, Ohio State's three-headed rushing attack – Quinshon Judkins, TreVeyon Henderson and Will Howard – were a trio the Buckeyes could lean on. Against Nebraska, OSU struggled to find any success on the ground, combining to rush for just 64 yards on 31 carries as a team, a dismal 2.1 yards per carry.
While much of that was due to Ohio State's offensive line struggles in its first game this season without Josh Simmons at left tackle, Rhule believes the Buckeyes' struggles on the ground were also created by Nebraska's physicality and how well his defense played.
“They have a great run game. They have great players, a great coach. I think our guys just played really well. Played physical. Played hard. Got off of blocks.”
Ohio State's pass rush, or lack thereof, was a major focal point following its loss at Oregon two weeks ago. So much so that Ryan Day spent much of the last two weeks, including the bye week, on the defensive side of the ball.
After the Buckeyes had just two tackles for loss in Eugene, the Silver Bullets racked up 13 tackles for loss against Nebraska, their most since Oct. 23, 2021, when OSU had 15 tackles for loss in a 54-7 win at Indiana.
Jim Knowles and Co. were more creative schematically with twists along the defensive line and simulated pressure, and Nebraska was prepared for the Buckeyes to run a different scheme on defense. Rhule quickly switched up the Cornhuskers' game plan once he realized that Ohio State was bringing different pressures than previous games.
“They've got quite a pass rush. They've got great players on defense. ... They've typically been a four-man rush team with Larry Johnson but they brought a lot more pressures today.”
