Scott Frost knows the view from the top of mountain at Nebraska, having led the Cornhuskers to a national title just over two decades ago. Unfortunately for the team’s current head coach, he also knows what it looks like at the program’s lowest point too.
Purdue racked 516 yards of offense in a 42-28 win and embarrassed many of the Big Red faithful who showed up to Memorial Stadium on Saturday as their team lost eight games in a row for the first time in the 129 year history of the school playing football.
David Blough continued his hot streak under center for the Boilermakers, throwing for 328 yards and a touchdown in mistake-free football for the team as they averaged over seven yards a play and scored on all six trips to the red zone. His arm helped open things up for the speedy playmakers with D.J. Knox running for 87 yards and two scores while freshman Rondale Moore managed 85 yards receiving. Brycen Hopkins also impressed against the Blackshirts with 103 yards on five catches with a score as well.
As for Nebraska, signal-caller Adrian Martinez showed flashes of greatness at times in trying to rally his team (especially coming out of halftime) but it just wasn’t enough in the end as they managed to record over 500 yards of offense (562 to be exact) for the second time in 2018. The true freshman still threw for 323 yards and two touchdowns (one interception) while rushing for another 91 more but seemed to press a bit more as the deficit grew early in the first half. Tailback Devine Ozigbo was also a nice bright spot with two scores and 170 yards rushing but there was only a single red zone trip for the offense to even feature him as they spent most of the day between the 20’s.
Things don’t get any easier for Frost’s team either as they’ll travel to face Big Ten West behemoth Wisconsin next and follow that up with another long road trip at Northwestern. The worst start to a season for the school was an 0-5 mark back in 1945 and it wouldn’t be out of the question to see that mark equalled (or exceeded) soon for the Cornhuskers.
That’s of no concern to opposite number Jeff Brohm, who helped Purdue win their first game ever in Lincoln and evened his record at the school to 9-9 overall. The team has certainly regained momentum with two in a row on the right side of the ledger after three close losses to open their 2018 campaign. While it might not be enough to make things interesting in the division, they’ll at least have a fighting chance at making another bowl game thanks in part to the victory on Saturday against the Huskers.