Huskers and Purdue scoreless after dreadful first half

Well, that was 30 minutes of something. The Nebraska Huskers and Purdue Boilermakers head into the locker room tied 0-0 at halftime.

In a flag-filled first half that also included numerous mistakes by both teams, Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola still managed to throw for 161 yards, 72 more yards than Purdue gained in total in the first half.

Meanwhile, Nebraska ran for just 49 yards on 13 carries (3.8 per attempt) against a Purdue defense that gave up over 700 yards in its past two games.

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Yet, thanks to one field goal miss and two blocked attempts, the Huskers have zero points to show.

The kicking game is obviously a huge issue that won’t be solved Saturday with Tristan Alvano still sidelined by injury but the fact that the Huskers aren’t running wild on Purdue is not a good sign. The Big Red also went 0-for-6 on third downs, another area that needs to be addressed.

Nebraska’s defense has given up two plays of at least 10 yards on the ground and one of over 15 yards through the air but has otherwise been OK.

There have also been several baffling calls by the referees, including one that wiped out a Nebraska touchdown, but Nebraska has to be better. Purdue was also flagged seven times for 90 yards, again, more yards than Purdue even generated on offense.

Let’s see what the Huskers can fix during halftime because this is a game that should already be lopsided in the Big Red’s favor if they weren’t so sloppy.