One thing stopped Trey Palmer in Huskers’ loss, and it wasn’t Purdue

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Only one thing managed to stop Trey Palmer on Saturday.

Yes, Nebraska lost Saturday to Purdue, 43-37, but a major reason as to why the score was as close as it was? Palmer.

It’s evident to anyone who even loosely pays attention to Big Ten football that Nebraska’s passing offense runs through No. 3. Coming into Saturday’s game, the LSU transfer was third among all Big Ten wideouts in yards receiving with 544 and No. 16 among all FBS receivers.

You’d imagine the top priority for opposing defenses would be to stop that guy, right?

Well, if that was the plan for Purdue’s defense on Saturday, they woefully fell short of their objective.

Palmer — the LSU transfer who followed receivers coach-turned-interim head coach Mickey Joseph to a school 912 miles from his hometown — broke Nebraska’s single-game record for yards receiving with 237 yards and added two touchdowns.

Let me say that again. Two hundred and thirty-seven yards receiving. That’s bananas.

“We knew they’d have trouble running with Trey,” Joseph said.

One can only wonder just how many more yards he’d have if not for Purdue’s offense staying on the field for a whopping 101 plays — a near-Nebraska record for an opponent. 250 yards? 300? I’d believe just about anything at this point.

So too did Casey Thompson, the quarterback throwing Palmer all those passes.

Thompson, who threw for a near-season-high 354 yards, said after the game that he believes that if Nebraska had gotten the ball back for one final drive that Palmer would have scored again.

Of course it would have worked. Nothing Purdue did slowed Palmer down in the slightest.

“Unfortunately we just ran out of time,” Thompson said. “Trey’s playing amazing. He’s been doing a great job.”

How Palmer reached 237: First quarter: 3-yard reception. 10-yard catch. Second quarter: 39-yard reception. Third quarter: 37-yard touchdown catch. 12-yard reception. 72-yard touchdown catch. Fourth quarter: 64-yard catch.

With those 237 yards, Palmer dethroned the efforts of J.D. Spielman when he racked up 209 yards in a loss to Wisconsin in 2018.

So now, Nebraska’s top four outings for a receiver in program history: Palmer, Spielman, Spielman’s 200-yard game against Ohio State in 2017 and Stanley Morgan’s 185-yard game against Penn State in 2017. Pretty good company, pretty good performances in games that were all losses.

But it’s not just that. Palmer added 60 yards rushing on one carry — a beautiful play-call at that on a reverse in the third quarter.

In total, Palmer had 297 all-purpose yards in Nebraska’s loss to Purdue. That’s the fifth-most in school history for a single game.

To put it another way: Those 297 yards of offense equate to 62.4% of Nebraska’s entire offense against Purdue.

No one’s shocked by what Palmer can do. Not opposing defenses. Not fans. Not his team. Not his coaches.

“He’s getting comfortable with this conference,” Joseph said. “He knows who can run and who can’t run. I’m not surprised he had this game.”

Through seven games, Palmer has 781 yards receiving on the season. That’s an average of 111.6 yards receiving per game.

I can’t wait to see what Nebraska, Thompson and Palmer have dialed up for after the bye week.

NU’s opponents know he’s the Huskers’ top threat, but so far, he’s made everyone look silly.

And at this rate, I don’t know if anyone left on NU’s schedule — other than Michigan, maybe — is up to that challenge.