Evaluating Nebraska’s offense, defense and special teams in its 20-15 win in the Pinstripe Bowl

It wasn’t pretty and it got closer late than it needed to be, but Nebraska finishes the season at 7-6 after a 20-15 Pinstripe Bowl win over Boston College, the Huskers’ first winning season since 2016. The win was filled with greatness Performances by the usual suspects: Jahmal Banks, Ty Robinson and Emmett Johnson. A few young Huskers flashed, most notably Vincent Shavers Jr., who saved his best performance of his freshman season for the final game of the year.

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Despite the weather conditions, Dylan Raiola was efficient and fairly accurate, although he missed a few shots in the first half. A rash throw on the first drive resulted in an interception, but the freshman recovered from the early mistake to help Nebraska win the bowl game. He finished the day completing 74% of his passes for 238 yards and a touchdown. His consistency on deep balls needs to improve, as does his awareness running the ball, as he slipped too early and put Nebraska in a fourth-and-short situation late. All in all, a successful freshman season for the former five-star who broke Nebraska’s freshman passing yards record.

Rahmir Johnson led the Huskers in rushing in the first half in his final game in a Nebraska jersey, finishing the day with 60 rushing yards and a touchdown. It was a fitting ending for New York native Johnson to end his career in his hometown as family and friends watched from the stands. After an early fumble, Emmett Johnson returned to the form he had shown throughout the year, combining for 96 all-purpose yards and a touchdown. Redshirt freshman Kwinten Ives scored his first career touchdown on the goal line. It wasn’t the most effective day on the ground, especially given the field conditions, but when it mattered most, Johnson and Johnson proved effective.

Jahmal Banks led the way with four balls for 79 yards in his final game in a Nebraska jersey. Thomas Fidone put in an impressive performance and proved to be a reliable target in the middle with five balls over 50 yards. After Nate Boerkircher transferred to Texas A&M, Luke Lindenmeyer was the second tight end for the Huskers and had two critical balls of 22 yards to move the chains. Raiola couldn’t hit Jaylen Lloyd or Jacory Barney deep, but Nebraska did enough in the passing game to come away with the win despite the chaotic field conditions.

Nebraska’s experienced offensive line kept Dylan Raiola relatively clean, allowing just one sack and no extra hurries on the day. Hiles wasn’t there consistently for Emmett Johnson and Rahmir Johnson in the run game, but Nebraska’s line did enough to keep the offense on schedule and showed fight on a chaotic day. A big offseason lies ahead for a unit that needs to replace Bryce Benhart and Ben Scott.

In his final game at Nebraska, Ty Robinson made an impact in the first half with a sack, 1.5 tackles for loss and a pass batted at the line of scrimmage. Robinson, Nash Hutmacher and the Nebraska defensive line led the way in keeping the Boston College offense from reaching the end zone until the end of the fourth quarter. They had four turnovers on downs and two forced fumbles, one of which was recovered by Elijah Jeudy. The future of the line: Keona Davis, Riley Van Poppel and Cam Lenhardt combined for five tackles and two rushes against Grayson James. As a unit, the Huskers limited Boston College to just 47 rushing yards and 1.8 yards per carry.

Consider the Pinstripe Bowl to be Vincent Shavers Jr.’s breakout game, as the freshman linebacker had a standout performance while playing a larger role. He had two tackles for loss, a critical tackle on third down late in the first half and five total tackles all over the field. Javin Wright and Willis McGahee IV had productive days, combining for 12 tackles, while John Bullock recovered a forced fumble in the third quarter that gave the offense the ball at midfield. A productive day from Rob Dvoracek’s team and highlights from Shavers and McGahee should give the fan base hope for the future.

Nebraska’s secondary had trouble containing Lewis Bond and Boston College’s wide receivers, as Grayson James threw for over 300 yards on just five receptions, 82 of which went to Bond. Nebraska’s veterans in particular struggled. The pass defense stooped but didn’t collapse, allowing just two offensive points, one of them on a turnover deep in Nebraska territory, but it’s clear the secondary needs some work this offseason. On the positive side, freshman defensive back Donovan Jones was called into action and kept in coverage due to a lack of depth. The young defensive backs Amare Sanders and Caleb Benning also arrived late.

Nebraska’s special teams showed some improvement over the course of the 2024 season, but the unit fell apart in the season finale. A bad snap on Nebraska’s second PAT attempt was low and resulted in a blocked kick that Boston College returned for the first two points of the game. The Eagles blocked a punt late in the fourth quarter, leaving the game at just one score with just over four minutes to play. The only positive was a successful fake punt attempt that extended a drive, but a rejected fake field goal attempt on the same drive essentially made the previous fake irrelevant.