Worst Loss of the Riley Era

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Purdue was running it up on us and I felt like someone should have put the hurt to one of theirs for the lack of respect they were showing...  I don't believe that happened.  As one who follows the Irish as well, I've long been familiar with the no-win situation it is playing Purdue (because it's exceedingly rare for them to put together a great season such that all they can do is spoil yours) but this wasn't even a good Boilermakers team.

 
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beorach said:
Purdue was running it up on us and I felt like someone should have put the hurt to one of theirs for the lack of respect they were showing...  I don't believe itha happened.  As one who follows the Irish as well, I've long been familiar with the no-win situation it is playing Purdue (because it's exceedingly rare for them to put together a great season such that all they can do is spoil yours) but this wasn't even a good Boilermakers team.
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I was an awful Purdue team.  They didn't get another win against FBS competition in 2015.  It was just pure ineptitude by Riley and his staff.

 
Saunders said:
IMO, it's Purdue, and it's not close. That was a horrible football team, who only beat one FBS team (Nebraska). Hazell's teams were so bad, that the 2017 team under Brohm beat more FBS (and B1G) teams in one season, than Hazell's teams did in FOUR.

When you look at the quality of the team, it's the worst opponent Nebraska has lost to since Hawaii in the 1950's.
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That loss was everything about the Riley tenure in a nutshell.

Terrible game plan.  Terrible execution.  And it leads to a terrible opponent beating us.

Go on the road on a cool windy day and call 50+ pass plays for your walk-on QB in his first start.  Nice.

 
Illinois.  I think at least NIU was a better team than Illinois.  First glimpse of a 60+year old coach that has poor game management skills.  Also Horrible OL play showed up which would plague the MR era. 

 
swmohusker said:
Illinois.  I think at least NIU was a better team than Illinois.  First glimpse of a 60+year old coach that has poor game management skills.  Also Horrible OL play showed up which would plague the MR era. 
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You mean it's not a good idea to throw the ball all over the place with the lead in the 2nd half with the weather turning cold, rainy, and windy?

 
ColoradoHusk said:
You mean it's not a good idea to throw the ball all over the place with the lead in the 2nd half with the weather turning cold, rainy, and windy?
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Yep.  That and just run the ball and you win.  Instead the old mildly throw TA under the bus for throwing the ball to stop the clock late in the game.  It can be a good idea to throw the ball all over the yard with a lead in poor conditions if you are any good at it,  which unfortunately we were not.  

 
This was actually a tough vote for me. I think Purdue was the worst loss in terms of performance, game planning, decision making, etc. I also think last year's NIU team would've beaten that 2015 Purdue team because the latter was that bad. But, I gave NIU the vote because that one was about perception and the lack of progression as a team in its third year under a coach. It had no business happening.

 
Nebfanatic said:
For me it was Minnesota this season. Their offense was atrocious but we clearly didn't get that memo. That was a painful game to watch, as was 63-3.
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I was looking for the Minni game on the list - that was my first thought when I saw the thread title. Purdue - yes very bad but also a transitional year for us and players still had not bought in. Supposedly some of the hold outs decided it was time to play and MSU upset soon followed.

Northern Ill - I agree wt Knapp - that was a great thing - opened the door wide open to the 'get rid of MR' campaign. No more SE and the writing was on the wall and the Scott Frost thread became the hottest item since sliced bread.

Getting back to Minni - No excuses to have been clobbered like we were by a subpar, below 500 team during year 3 of the MR fiasco.  MR, Diaco, etc had no answer, no passion and no desire. And the team reflected it.  There was no sense of honor - personal or for the team and school.  Losing to OSU by multiple TDs is bad enough but understandable wt our recent history, but losing to Minni in that way was inexcusable.  The game wasn't as close as the 54-21 outcome.  But it did seal MRs fate. 

 
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62-3 Ohio State at home or the 56-14 loss against Iowa.

Both teams could have dropped a hundred burger on the huskers if they kept the foot on the gas pedal. It was like we'd traded places with the 90's huskers and some of their opponents they throttled in the day. It wasn't how good they were, just how ill prepared we were the last couple of years.

Those were the worst because it was the first time my grandfather, ( an 80 year old lifelong husker fan), and parents had stopped watching the game long before it was over because you knew the outcome very early on. I watched every single game of the Riley era all the way through and Scott Frost is an answered prayer.
 

 
TGHusker said:
Purdue - yes very bad but also a transitional year for us and players still had not bought in.
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Did they ever?  The guys who were on the team for that Purdue game, particularly - if they hadn't bought in by that point, do you think they ever really did? I suspect that a lot of the defense never really bought into either coordinator. I'm sure some players bought into individual position coaches like K. Williams. As for Riley and opinions of the staff as a whole? I think for a lot of the players, their buy-in was tenuous at best. Feeling good after a win, sure, but not enough to keep the faith long-term. And it had nothing to do with Bo and everything to do with Riley's complete failure to take control of his team after three years.

 
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