San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
Buckeyes too much for Huskers
The Big Ten is back. Too bad Big Red isn't. College football misses one of its most-storied programs being part of the national discussion.
Nebraska opened the season — in Week 8!?! — at No. 5 Ohio State, getting pasted 52-17 by the Buckeyes.
The opening matchup may have been conference payback for all the criticism the Cornhuskers leveled toward Big Ten leadership when the original decision was made to postpone the season.
Ohio State piling on the points — the Buckeyes scored their last TD with 18 seconds remaining — that was just gravy.
The day began well enough.
Nebraska backup quarterback Luke Mccaffrey, the younger brother of Carolina running back Christian Mccaffrey, was in at running back on the game's second play and took a handoff 47 yards to the Ohio State 10-yard line.
Nebraska quarterback Adrian Martinez scored on the next play and the Cornhuskers had a 7-0 lead.
The game was still 14-14 with just more than five minutes left in the first half.
Then Ohio State went on a 24-point run that eliminated any thoughts Nebraska may have held about an upset.
Nebraska didn't do itself any favors with two fumbles, one of them returned 55 yards for an Ohio State touchdown.
Then there was Buckeyes quarterback Justin Fields. The 2019 Heisman finalist passed for 276 yards and two touchdowns.
Average statistics, except for this one: 20-for-21. His only incompletion was a second-and-7 attempt with 1:52 remaining in the second quarter.
Even with eight weeks getting accustomed to seeing few fans in the stands because of health and safety restrictions, it looked weird seeing Ohio Stadium (capacity 102,780) with more than 100,000 empty seats.
Fields was just one of perhaps a dozen — more? — pro prospects on the field for Ohio State. It used to be the Huskers producing countless NFL prospects.
This is regarded as a rebuilding year at Nebraska, a thought that would have gotten you abruptly led out of Lincoln during the days when the program was annually competing for national titles.
It is going on three decades now since the onceproud program's pinnacle, when coaching legend Tom Osborne guided the Cornhuskers to three national championships in four years (1994-95, 1997).
Incredibly, Nebraska has not beaten a top-10 team on the road since that 1997 season, when the Cornhuskers won at No. 2 Washington.
Scott Frost was Nebraska's quarterback in that game. Now he's their coach. As beloved as he is in the state, Frost's record is now 9-16 in two years and a game.
It's no secret that patience is the thinnest thing in Nebraska.
The schedule isn't much easier the first half of the season, with Wisconsin and Penn State coming up in two of the next three weeks.
The Cornhuskers are staring at not going to a postseason bowl for the fourth straight year. They missed out on bowl berths only four times in the previous 55 years.
It could be a long, cold winter in Lincoln. Again.
It doesn’t get any easier
Nebraska's home debut comes next week against No. 14 Wisconsin, which opened the season Friday night with a 45-7 win over Illinois.
Get this: Wisconsin QB Graham Mertz had the same passing line against the Illini as Fields did against Nebraska — 20for-21. Mertz didn't throw for a lot of yards (248), but his five touchdown passes were impressive.
Mertz, a redshirt freshman making his first career start, set a school record for single-game passing percentage (95.2) and tied the record for TD passes.
Among those who noticed Mertz's performance was Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes, who tweeted: “That man @Grahammertz5 going crazy tonight!”
Lopsided rivalry
They call it the Sunflower Showdown when Kansas State and Kansas meet each year.
Sunflower, OK. But Showdown? When one team has won 12 straight meetings — in this case Kansas State, which extended its streak with Saturday's 55-14 win — someone needs to Show Up.
K-state had a 20-0 lead in this one before its offense even produced a TD, scoring on a punt return and an interception return for touchdowns and a pair of field goals in the first 11⁄2 quarters.
“No matter who KU is playing, we're the most important game on the schedule for them every single year,” K-state defensive end Wyatt Hubert told media members earlier in the week. “When they play us, that's their Super Bowl.”
Now that the Super Bowl is over, Kansas fans can get back to counting down the days to when basketball season begins.
Quick hits
Oklahoma State running back Chuba Hubbard, who had regained some standing in recent weeks as one of the top prospects at his position, was overshadowed against Iowa State by Cyclones running back Breece Hall.
Midway through the third quarter, both players had carried 16 times.
Hubbard had 87 yards (5.4 ypc) and one touchdown. Hall had 184 yards (11.5 ypc) and one TD.
Rutgers ended a 21game Big Ten losing streak with a 38-27 win over Michigan State.
Army, which is off to a 6-1 start, has the distinction of getting the season's first bowl bid. The Black Knights have accepted an invitation to the Independence Bowl. A date has not yet been announced for the bowl.