If a single play could sum up the one-step-forward, one-step-back frustration of Nebraska’s 2020 football season, it might just be the Huskers’ first snap from scrimmage against Illinois in mid-November.
The Huskers started with the ball, but gave away 8 yards of field position before the offense even trotted onto the field by needlessly running the opening kickoff out of the end zone and getting tackled at the 17-yard line.
Then redshirt freshman Luke McCaffrey, making his second start at quarterback, inexplicably pulled the ball on an outside zone run to the right, dashed to his left and threw a pass deemed live and, somewhat surprisingly upheld upon review, to be a lateral to Wan’Dale Robinson, who was draped by a defender.
Illinois pounced on the ball, scored three plays later and never trailed in an emphatic 41-23 victory.
Three factors that have been problematic for each of Scott Frost’s three seasons at Nebraska, though — turnovers, penalties and field position — all came to the forefront against the Illini on that day.
They did in 2019, too, when Nebraska came from behind to eek out a 42-38 win in Champaign despite an overwhelming 674-299 advantage in yardage and 37 minutes time of possession.
In those two games, one win and one loss, Nebraska turned the ball over nine times and took it away just once, committed 17 penalties for 136 yards (75 more yards than Illinois) and started with worse field position by an average of 7 yards last year and 15 in 2019.
So, how much progress have the Huskers made in areas that have cost them several games the past three years and that have been particularly exploited by the Illini?
The answers are coming very quickly.
