Nebraska Football: 3 takeaways from home loss to No.5 Ohio State
By Dante Pryor
3. When does it stop being tough luck?
Athletic college football writer Ari Wasserman told a story on the Andy Staple Show last week. When Wasserman was a teenager, he would get into minor car accidents. Wasserman would leave his parents’ car scraped and dinged.
“When does it stop being a coincidence,” Wasserman was asked by his father. We can ask the same question about the Nebraska Cornhuskers. When are these close losses more than tough luck?
In Nebraska’s opening season loss to Illinois, the Cornhuskers had costly special teams miscues and could not overcome a team that could not throw the football. Quarterback Adrian Martinez fumbled late to set up the game-winning field goal in their three-point loss to Michigan.
Today, it was two missed field goals and the inability to sustain drives. These close losses are not the opposition taking the game; Nebraska football has lapses in concentration, drive-killing penalties, or inopportune turnovers.
These issues cannot be just tough luck; at some point, these miscues reflect the coaching and weekly preparation. Bill Parcels said it best, “You are what your record says you are.” Nebraska is 3-7; that’s who they are.