Getty Image / Erica Denhoff
Coming off of their first win since the firing of Scott Frost, the Nebraska Cornhuskers headed to New Jersey to take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in front what was billed as a sellout crowd.
Nebraska put together a second consecutive win for the first time this season, barely escaping with a 14-13 victory.
This week, they find themselves heading back out on the road as they head to Indiana to take on the Purdue Boilermakers. In the lead up to that matchup, Nebraska interim head coach Mickey Joseph questioned whether or not that game against Rutgers was actually sold out and pointed out that his team would be facing a greater challenge in front of Purdue’s crowd.
Nebraska interim head coach Mickey Joseph called the “sellout” crowd at Rutgers into question
Nebraska is expecting a more hostile environment this week at Purdue than it faced at Rutgers on Friday. "I think the boys did a great job at Rutgers with the so-called sellout crowd." It wasn’t a sellout, Joseph said. "Let’s be real about it."
— Mitch Sherman (@mitchsherman) October 11, 2022
Rutgers not actually selling out a football game shouldn’t be much of a surprise to anybody who is familiar with the program. They have a history of struggling to sell tickets and their disappointing offense isn’t exactly a draw for fans.
Attendance has been way up for the Boilermakers this season in the midst of a strong year for the team. Their only losses this season have come against Penn State and Syracuse, who both remain undefeated. Both of those were closely-contested matchups.
Meanwhile, they’ve put together impressive road wins against Minnesota, who had yet to lose at the time, and Maryland.
The trip to Indiana should certainly be a more difficult challenge for the Cornhuskers between Purdue’s ability to draw a crowd and a much more talented roster than what Nebraska faced last week.