First-year coach Matt Rhule was almost ready to wrap up a feel-good storyline in which the third-string quarterback came in from the bullpen and led his team on an improbable 90-yard march to set up the game-winning field goal, putting Nebraska in strong position for its first bowl appearance in seven seasons.
Instead, Rhule crumpled the script and tossed it away, almost as erraticly as his quarterbacks threw the ball all afternoon. Defensive coordinator Tony White and the Blackshirts stepped in to try their hand at it, but their alternate plot delivered a crushing punch to Husker Nation. It went something like this: the Big Ten’s best rushing defense crumbles in the final minutes, allowing Maryland to run the ball six times for 38 yards and convert two third downs on a 75-yard drive, resulting in a walk-off chip shot field goal and the Big Red’s third one-score loss of the season. The storyline had the Huskers’ finest defense in a decade playing brilliantly for most of the day, only to unravel when it mattered most
With the score deadlocked at 10 in the dying minutes, Nebraska supporters were all too acquainted with how things turned against them. A Husker quarterback throws a devastating end zone interception, which is followed by the opponent’s game-winning drive. With apologies to Scott Frost, we have seen this film before.
But this one isn’t about Frost. It’s on Matt Rhule. How did Rhule so dramatically alter the script? By neglecting to make an executive choice for which he is paid millions of dollars a year, he places the burden on Chubba Purdy, his third-string quarterback, to make a critical play at the end of the game.
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