The Journal Star's Luke Mullin gives his instant takeaways from the Huskers' 38-27 win against Michigan State on Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, at Memorial Stadium.
Disjointed. Uninspiring. Lethargic.
Exciting. Exhilarating. Electric.
All six words could be used to describe Nebraska's game against Michigan State. All six, depending on the moment you're describing, would be apt.
"There's a ton of things we have to clean up," coach Matt Rhule said. "There's a ton of things we have to get better at. We are not a perfect team. We have to play around all of our things. But I also say, we show up every week, even when it's not perfect, our guys show up."
Parts of Nebraska's 38-27 victory over Michigan State were good. Parts of the win were bad. Parts were downright ugly.
The good: Running back Emmett Johnson's three rushing touchdowns. The bad: The Blackshirts' two pass interference penalties early in the second quarter that helped lead to Michigan State's first touchdown. The ugly: the 77 total yards of offense Nebraska had amassed through the first 42 minutes.
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The good: Defensive back DeShon Singleton's two interceptions in the second quarter were as if Michigan State quarterback Aidan Chiles threw the ball directly to him. The bad: quarterback Dylan Raiola's interception in the third quarter. The ugly: the trainwreck of a four-play drive with 8:28 remaining in the first half that featured back-to-back sacks on Raiola for losses of 7 and 5 yards, followed by a false start from Gunnar Gottula, followed by a botched snap that flew past Raiola that resulted in another loss of 15 yards, followed by a punt into the wind from Archie Wilson that only sailed 18 yards.
The good: the blocked punt by Jamir Conn that led to a touchdown for Carter Nelson. The bad: Nelson getting flagged for a block in the back that negated an 80-plus yard punt return touchdown for Jacory Barney Jr. The ugly: The 10-yard sack that Raiola took on fourth-and-4.
The good: Nyziah Hunter's SportsCenter-worthy play, where he caught a screen pass, broke a tackle, lost his shoe and ran in for 59 yards for the game-sealing touchdown. The bad: The failed fake punt. The ugly: The unsportsmanlike conduct flag on Justin Evans.
So, who is this team?
That's a good question. I don't know. I don't know if they themselves know.
There's a lot that can be said about this game.
How does a Dana Holgorsen offense fail to eclipse the century mark in yards with three minutes remaining in the third quarter? Well, some of that's all the yards lost on the nightmare drive. Some of that's due to how Nebraska's offense didn't touch the ball from the 9:09 mark in the first quarter to the 12:52 mark in the second quarter. Some of that's, well, inefficiency.
Nebraska's offense ultimately finished the game with 261 yards of offense -- still far and away the season low, but not as dire as the situation looked early in the third quarter.
Where'd the extra, late-game juice come from? Barney -- a player who, at halftime, wanted to find a way to win by "taking their soul and take all the hope out of" Michigan State.
With 2:28 left in the third quarter, Nebraska dialed up a double-post wheel route to Barney on third-and-long from the Nebraska 25-yard line. A wide-open Barney reeled in Raiola's cross-field pass near the 50-yard line and scampered down the far sideline for the 45-yard gain.
"I thought that's the play that kind of ignited us and gave us a shot," coach Matt Rhule said.
Two plays later, Johnson found the end zone on a 23-yard run to tie the game up at 21-21. Three drives later, the should-have-gone-viral Hunter play gave Nebraska the lead. On the next drive, another touchdown for Johnson.
"They," Rhule said, banging the lectern for emphasis, "went after it. They didn't just sit back. We just kept battling and fighting and battling and fighting. That's been my challenge for our guys. Sixty minutes of us playing hard, it's gonna be hard for teams to withstand in the end. It's basically a 17-point win.
"Think about that. We're losing at the end of the third quarter, and we win by (11)."
Did Nebraska win Saturday? Yes.
Did Nebraska's offense seem to figure things out by the end of the game? Yes.
Does that negate all the other issues that cropped up for Nebraska's offense -- like with the five sacks? Nope.
Nebraska did tweak the offensive line lineup this week, promoting Elijah Pritchett to starting left tackle and flipping Gunnar Gottula to the right tackle spot.
Rhule declined to comment on the overall play from the offensive tackles after the game because he wanted to review the film before making judgments. He did, though, offer a reason as to why Nebraska opted to start Pritchett at left tackle.
"We need Pritchett's size and strength," Rhule said. "He's been getting better and better and better. We have not played him to get him to grow, and he's grown, so we felt like he's earned the right to play."
Now, those sacks don't all appear to be on the offensive line. Some of it is, sure. Some of it is due to Raiola taking more than four or five seconds in the pocket. Some of it is due to missed assignments from those picking up blocks.
Either way, that problem doesn't appear to be solved yet. And it needs to be solved soon.
The Huskers know that.
"We were struggling," Raiola said. "Hats off to them. But, also, we were killing ourselves. We don't know what that is, but we'll go in tomorrow and figure it out. A lot of games like that in the past have not gone our way.
"For us to make the plays toward the end, down the stretch, to win the football game is encouraging for us. We're proud of that."
Winning is always something to be proud of.
Even if it doesn't look very pretty at times.
Photos: The sights from Nebraska football's game against Michigan State, Oct. 4, 2025 0 Comments Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
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Husker sports reporter/columnist
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