Offensive line key for Huskers in high stakes tilt with Purdue

LINCOLN - After a win on Friday at Rutgers, Nebraska in the midst of a three-way tie atop the Big Ten West with Illinois, and this weekend's opponent, Purdue.

Mickey Joseph and members of Huskers met with the media Tuesday, and Joseph says one of the key areas Nebraska needs to focus on is the O-Line. That also boils down to protecting Casey Thompson.

"Casey's a tough dude," Joseph said. "He's going to take shots. He plays quarterback, I played option quarterback, I took shots. He was on the ground, said he was hit in the left shoulder, I said 'you throw with your right shoulder, right?' okay, get up."

Senior offensive lineman, and Norfolk native, Ethan Piper talked with Thompson after the win on Friday and explained the offensive line needs to be better.

"We had too many QB hits on Friday," Piper said. "My message to him was, he [Thompson] stuck in there. He made a lot of throws under pressure, did a great job handling the pocket... Kind of, my message to him was we're going to be better."

When it comes to the offensive line, Mickey Joseph eluded to his time at LSU in 2019, saying they'd often have a brand new front five every game. While that's an option for Nebraska, Joseph says they need their best offensive line group on the field at all times.

"We got to get them some help. We have to get them some help with the play calling, with protection," Joseph said. "We got to make sure we have our best, our right five, on the field."

Nebraska and Purdue kick off at 6:30 Saturday night.... Purdue enters with a record of 4-2 (2-1) with close loses to #10 Penn State 35-31 in the season opener and to #18 Syracuse 32-29. The All-Time series is currently tied up at 5-5. The road team has found success in the Husker-Boilermaker series with the visitor winning four of the past five meetings, most recently Purdue knocking off the Huskers 28-23 at Memorial Stadium last season.

Bielema, surging Illini collect AP Big Ten midseason honors

By: The Associated Press

A 5-1 start has netted No. 24 Illinois three Big Ten midseason awards from The Associated Press.

Bret Bielema is the conference's top coach, quarterback Tommy DeVito is the most surprising player of the first half of the season and the Illini are the most surprising team. The Illini are ranked for the first time since 2011 and off to their best start since 2011.

Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud is the top offensive player of the first half of the season. Penn State cornerback Joey Porter Jr. is the top defensive player. Michigan State is the most disappointing team.