Blue White Illustrated

N O V E M B E R 1 5 , 2 0 1 7 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 3 on blitzes and rushes, so they get pressure. I thought he hung in there and made some beautiful throws and appeared to have a lot of poise as he played, so I was impressed with that. I think everybody can see he's got a big-time arm and can make good throws. He actually showed good mobility getting out of the pocket for a first down or two. I was proud of him in that way." Nebraska's quarterback issues were the biggest storyline coming out of the Min- nesota game, but another concern this weekend is the state of its defense. The Cornhuskers haven't been effective against either the run or the pass, ranking last in the Big Ten in rush defense (200.1 yards per game) and eighth in pass defense (211.9). Opponents are averaging 412.0 yards and 32.5 points per game. In its lopsided victory over Nebraska last week, Minnesota barely bothered trying to keep the Cornhuskers' defense honest. The Gophers attempted only 16 passes, prefer- ring to simply to pound the ball at an over- matched Nebraska defensive front. The result: 409 rushing yards on 45 attempts for an average of 9.1 yards per carry. "We missed some plays," Riley said. "We had opportunities to sometimes make a tackle and didn't make the tackle. Then on some of them, we were committed with a lot of people to stop the short-yardage [run] for instance. One guy misses a tackle, and there's not much left. You've got to make plays." Of course, last week Penn State faced a Rutgers defensive front that was seemingly ripe for plunder and couldn't move it off the ball, settling for 90 yards rushing. But Riley is wary of Saquon Barkley, saying he's "certainly in that conversation" about the best players in the country. He's also wary of Trace McSorley. The formula for beating Penn State has been to load up the box to shut down Barkley and hope that McSorley is having a bad day. It worked for Michigan State, which inter- cepted three passes. But it didn't work for Rutgers last weekend, as McSorley threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score. "I think McSorley is really a versatile, competitive guy who makes plays on his feet, on the run and throwing," Riley said. "Their comeback in the [conference] championship game a year ago is interest- ing, and I thought his play was outstanding in that game, so I have a lot of admiration for how he plays." This won't be Riley's first visit to Beaver Stadium. He was head coach at Oregon State in 2008 when the Beavers traveled to Penn State and came away with a season- opening 45-14 loss. A similar result this weekend will intensify the pressure on Ne- braska's administration to make a change, and a loss of any kind will eliminate the Huskers from bowl contention. Riley said he understands the frustration of fans who aren't accustomed to seeing the sort of struggles the program has been enduring for the past year. "Everybody is disappointed in what is going on," he said. "This place has main- tained their passion for their teams and Husker football for a long time, and I'm certain that they will continue to do that, and they should. I love this team, I love their approach every week. We have had very few issues except for the games, and I appreciate that."

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