Honestly, I thought the contact on that play was fairly minimal. Now that's not to say flags haven't ever been thrown for that level of contact, but I think expecting a flag there is more wishful thinking or "boy it would be a nice break for us to get a flag here" than one you're going to get most of the time. If we want to talk blown calls, I think the defensive holding call on your guy was non-existent and we got a lucky break there. I also think we probably should have gotten DPI on another play that was a no call. I see the Huskers fans are angry about the 4th and 1 spot that went in Illinois' favor and I agree he looked short. That said, Nebraska also had an almost identical down and distance in the first half go in their favor where they looked short as well and got a favorable spot. On the other side there was a clear facemask on that 4th and 8 play for Illinois that should've been called. All of these plays would have an effect on the game, but there is one thing I'll say that you can bring home to the Husker boards if you want.
The Huskers shouldn't be blaming the refs for this loss, they should be blaming the really undisciplined play, both their o and d lines, and just the defense in general. They had 4 really clear and obvious facemasks or hands to the face- that stuff loses games right there. Both the o-line and d-line of Nebraska rightfully should have dominated us with the talent they have. Either the players didn't show up with the necessary effort or the coaches were terribly outschemed. It was a really tight and even game in my opinion and it would just come down to who could get the final stop. This time it wound up being Illinois.
Overall, Nebraska had some Frostian type issues rear the head today and that's why they lost. But thankfully he's not the coach for you anymore, so my guess is that after a very long week of film and practices, this game will only help you the rest of the season as Rhule will make sure what happened is known to be unacceptable. Losses never feel good but you're on the upswing, just lost a game to a team that played better on this night. Have a good one, and thanks for joining us in the pre and postgame threads