I wasn't talking about you. I'm talking about the multiple posts that say if he plays, we lose, worst QB in 40 years, stuff like that. As far as YPC, it is what it is. You could caveat many statistics like incompletions due to bad throws vice drops; penalties due to mental lapses vice aggression; etc. Anyway, I agree, it was insane to bail in the running game in that game.
Once again, we see the false idea that we just abandoned the running game in that Purdue game last year for no apparent reason and started passing. Here's a good analysis of that game, posted on here before:
At the end of the first half, the score was 21-9 Purdue. 14 of Purdue's 21 points came off of turnovers, one fumble by Ryker Fyfe and an interception. There was also one other interception thrown in the first half. The first interception came on a 2nd and 11 play, after a false start penalty moved us back 5 yards, after a 4 yard rush on 1st down. Not really all that strange to be throwing the ball when you have 11 yards to go. The other interception came late in the half, when Nebraska got the ball with 1:19 left, so again, not all that strange to be throwing the ball there.
At the end of the first half, Nebraska had run the ball 19 times and thrown it 18 times, so clearly this idea that Nebraska abandoned the run early on and started slinging the ball all over the field is incorrect. Those 19 runs netted 55 yards, or a 2.9 yard average, so it's not as if the run game was hugely successful. I would also point out 4 of those 18 passes came on that drive that started at 1:19, when you are obviously going to be exclusively passing the ball; and another 5 by my count came on plays where 10 or more yards were needed for a 1st down, on 2nd or 3rd down, also situations where you are more likely to pass.
To be fair, on the net yards gained rushing, those are drug down significantly by Ryker Fyfe officially having negative 22 yards rushing that half. Most of that came from the fumble play, it officially went down as a negative 24 yard rush, which does skew the statistics a little. Take out his negative 22 yards and 4 rushes, and you have 15 rushes for 77 yards, and a much more respectable 5.1 yards per carry.
There is, however, another big factor that often seems to be overlooked. Of those 15 rushes for 77 yards, 10 for 56 of that came from Terrell Newby. He was by far the most successful running back for Nebraska that first half. 3 of the other 5 rushes were by Imani Cross, for 6 yards and a 2.0 ypc average. 1 of those was for 20 yards on a reverse by Brandon Reilly and another was for negative 5 yards on a reverse by DPE. Newby was easily the most successful RB going that game, and he got injured in the first half, and didn't play the rest of the game. In fact, his last play was a 22 yard run on the second play of Nebraska's first drive of the second quarter; and from then on, the running game went downhill. Prior to that play, other than reverses by Reilly and DPE and Fyfe's negative 24 yard "rush", the only other run play was a 3 yard run by Cross, who was probably spelling Newby after he ran the ball 3 times and caught a pass in a 6 play span.
It's pretty clear the gameplan was to run all over them with Terrell Newby, and early on it was working. Nebraska's first drive they went right down the field, with a number of runs from Newby, and if not for the hiccup of a 5 yard loss on a DPE reverse, may have scored a TD but instead settled for a field goal. Then on Nebraska's next drive, they were moving right down the field, methodical like the first drive which was 12 plays and took 5:34 off the clock. Newby had a number of runs again, and after 8 plays and just over 4 minutes, Nebraska had the ball at the Purdue 33 yard line. Then came the Ryker Fyfe fumble. There was only 23 seconds left in the quarter after that play, if not for that fumble, Nebraska probably continues the drive and scores. Two drives in the first quarter, both very successful with many runs by Newby. Nebraska's first drive of the second quarter they also scored their one TD of the first half, Newby had a big 22 yard run, and than didn't play the rest of the game.
The start of the second half, without Newby, Nebraska drove right down the field and scored a TD on a 8 play, 75 yard drive, which only consisted of one run play. Without Newby, you had Cross, who was good in situations but not quite a feature back; Ozigbo, who was a true freshman and had played sparingly up to that point; and Wilbon, who had his own issues that kept him from playing. From what I remember, Purdue was also stacking the box against the run, trying to force more throwing because of an inexperienced QB playing. Passing worked just fine early in the second half, and early on, it was the defense who didn't do their job. After scoring on the first drive, to make it a 21-16 game, Purdue turned right around and went on a 13 play, 80 yard drive and scored a TD to make it 28-16.
Then on Nebraska's next drive, after gaining 19 yards on the first two plays (one run, one pass) an incomplete pass on first down, and a dropped pass on second down, and an incomplete pass on 3rd down led to a punt. A great punt by Sam Foltz pinned Purdue fairly deep, at their own 16; but two plays later, Purdue scored on an 83 yard TD pass. Now it's just over 5 minutes left in the third quarter, and Nebraska is down by 3 scores, and their best running back for the game is out. Then on the very first play of the next drive, Fyfe throws an INT, and Purdue gets the ball, up by 3 scores, at Nebraska's 19 yard line. 5 plays later, Purdue scores another TD, and now it's 2:34 left in the 3rd quarter, and Nebraska is down by 4 scores.
From then on, Nebraska is obviously going to be mostly throwing the ball. All but one drive (not counting the last 2 play drive after recovering an onside kick) saw Nebraska score a TD, and that one that didn't was a first play interception again, which was returned to the Nebraska 6, and Purdue scored on the next play. At that point, Nebraska had closed to within 11 points with just over 6 minutes left in the game, and still plenty of opportunity to finish an amazing comeback, but still needing to score fairly quick with passing. That INT pretty much eliminated any chance of a comeback.
All of that was to say, the notion that Nebraska just went into that game, slinging the ball all over the field, is just plain wrong. There was an apparent plan to run the ball, and when the only back who the coaches had confidence could carry that workload was injured early on, and out of the game; the game plan had to be changed up.
