agreed, if Purdue receivers merely catch 2 or 3 of the 10 or 11 balls that hit them in the hands its a win for the Boilers
Boilers outplayed and outcoached the Huskers for 3 quarters or more
I don't think the better team won this one
Yeah, 2 weeks in a row that catching passes that are on the money would have resulted in wins. Purdue needs some WR talent badly.
That said, this game looks a LOT different if Purdue hadn't stiffened up their defense incredibly on the goal line. Nebraska twice had first and goal inside the 10 and only got 6 points out of it. They later had a 1st down inside the red zone but turned it over on downs. Nebraska moved the ball well on a lot of drives (5 drives >60 yards) and it didn't show up on the scoreboard. Oh, and listening on the radio I recall an easy TD catch by Nebraska that the receiver dropped, and that would have replaced one of the FG drives.
The real killer for Purdue was losing Hunte. Once that happened, we couldn't stop Nebraska on defense at all. Both touchdowns game after the Hunte injury, and Nebraska was simply relentlessly attacking his backup, Kamal Hardy.
So IMHO Nebraska tended to be the better statistical team on the back of Tanner Lee and the passing game. Their score didn't really reflect their statistical output [much like Purdue last week]. I wouldn't say one would call Purdue the "better team" over the course of the game, but they managed to bend and not break, until the Hunte injury.
Neither team clearly differentiated themselves from the other, but Nebraska ended up putting it together when it mattered.
