HALFWAY THROUGH A MATT RHULE PRESS CONFERENCE A MONTH AGO — The Nebraska coach was holding court in advance to the Huskers’ game vs. Cincinnati when yours truly asked a question that almost seemed at odds with the entire preseason vibe.
In other words, it was a question about the product on the field. Not culture or branding or social media or sport psychology. Just boring old football.
Specifically, whether Rhule felt like he had the offensive line and the backs to consistently run downhill against a power conference team.
“Yeah,” Rhule started. “I think when we have to run the football.” He continued with a story about watching tapes of last year’s games on vacation when he couldn’t sleep, and hearing a comment about how often NU’s offense had been blitzed last season.
“It was probably the lack of balance,” Rhule said. “We were really running the football a ton and not throwing it, so you invited a lot of pressure. So the biggest difference for us now is, you’re going to bring a ton of pressure, we have some runs we like vs. that, but we’re not going to run the ball into unknown boxes all the time. We can attack that in the passing game.”
Through four games, NU has, indeed, attacked with its passing game.
It leads the Big Ten in pass yards and pass attempts per game, plus completion rate.
The Huskers lead the Big Ten in pass yards allowed per game, opponent completion rate and pass efficiency defense, too.
Rush offense and rush defense? That’s different.
Nebraska ranks 12th among Big Ten teams in rush yards per game, 13th in yards per carry and 14th in rush attempts per game. The Huskers’ run defense ranks 17th in rush yards allowed per game and 16th in yards per carry allowed.
Numbers don’t lie in this case.
You can see where NU got a lot better this offseason — Dylan Raiola’s growth, better receivers, better defensive backs, better coverage schemes. Nebraska has three defensive coordinator-level coaches (John Butler, Phil Snow and Addison Williams) with expertise in secondary play, while offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen is an expert in receiver play.
So iron has sharpened iron for nine months, and you have the result. When the ball’s in the air, Nebraska’s pretty great.
When the ball’s still in Raiola’s hands, or the hands of a back for either team, you have Nebraska 30-27 loss to Michigan.
Michigan ran into unknown boxes. Michigan invited Nebraska defenders into the box, in fact, compressing its formations and running shortside zone plays for 75 and 54-yard touchdowns.
On the latter, NU had nine men within five yards on the line of scrimmage. The Huskers blitzed, too, off the edge. The Wolverines ran away from the blitzer and the blocked the other ten guys — including two Huskers who were blocked into their teammates — as the back, Jordan Marshall, glided untouched to the end zone. UM play like this with the intent of popping a big run.
Nebraska hit a Hail Mary. And it was a cool play — Jacory Barney may be NU’s best overall player right now. He’s fearless, he’s athletic, he plays through any amount of pain, he was born for this.
But if you thought that play, great as it was, would turn the tide for Nebraska, you forgot your Big Ten fundamentals.
Go to your backyard and find a five-yard patch of grass between two trees. Imagine the backs, offensive line and tight ends of Nebraska and the defensive front seven of the opponent, and vice versa, crashing into each other.
Who wins those battles? That’s who wins Big Ten games.
Which is how Michigan interim coach Biff Poggi could say this to his team at halftime, after the Hail Mary.
“I called them up before we went onto the field and said, I know it’s 17-17, but physically we’re beating the snot out of them,” Poggi said. “And we’re turning this into a heavyweight fight, and that’s going to be to our big advantage in the second half. And I think it was.”
If you’re a Nebraska fan, you want your coach to be the one saying that.
Michigan had 132 rushing yards in the second half. Including sacks, NU had zero rushing yards.
Nebraska had the better quarterback. Raiola is spinning it, and he has a strong receiver corps. And surely offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen — who scripted and called a great opening drive Saturday — is using passes to tight end Luke Lindenmeyer wisely, like an extended handoff that occasionally turns into 12 yards. NU controls the ball this way, squeaking out a win over Cincinnati. It should beat more than enough Big Ten teams to make a bowl, too.
Michigan doesn’t have the luxury of Raiola. Bryce Underwood is talented, but young. So UM packed its lunch, invited Nebraska in close and punched through anyway. We’ve seen it a lot in the Big Ten. It’s the Big Ten.
“This is a game that’s not played on a blackboard,” Poggi said. “This game is played on the field between men.”
Hey — Nebraska hits, too, and is plenty tough. You’ll take Vincent Shavers and Justin Evans in any scrap. And a quarterback like Raiola inevitably changes your trajectory on offense. With Raiola, Nebraska is not going to be Iowa or even what Michigan currently is — nor should it be. Raiola is a NFL-style passer. He’s going to get a modern NFL offense.
But as NU goes into its bye week, there’s an edge missing.
I wonder if it’s been missing all season, just a little bit, sparking Rhule’s fierce halftime speech of the Akron game, when he was trying to kick up a killer instinct in his young team.
The pass protection is poor. The tackle Nebraska paid well to protect Raiola’s backside, Alabama transfer Elijah Pritchett, got six snaps Saturday. He had a false start, too.
The red zone run game is averaging 2.78 yards per carry. Nebraska has no reliable second back, with Emmett Johnson taking 65% of the backs’ carries this year and 82% across the Cincy and Michigan games. The Huskers did not land former Creighton Prep back Marty Brown out of the portal; the North Dakota State transfer went to Miami, where he has 49 carries for 206 yards and four touchdowns.
On defense, Nebraska is young and learning, especially up front, using run stunts and other calls to make up for inexperience. Every team will go to school on what Cincinnati and Michigan did; NU will simply have to improve in the lesson.
Can the Huskers provide the necessary look in practice? Two guys Nebraska counted on to be big-time blockers, Mac Markway and Janiran Bonner, are out for the season. Carter Nelson didn’t play Saturday. Perhaps he’s headed for a redshirt.
Naturally, you’ll hear talk of “identity.” Does Nebraska have one?
Well, yes, NU does — and it’s centered on Raiola, those receivers, and those defensive backs. If college football had an offseason 7-on-7 sport — let’s do it! — Nebraska might have a top 10 team.
In the fall, there are 11 to each side, with Big Ten teams preferring to turn the field into a phone booth. Nebraska cracked around pretty good in that phone booth in 2023 and 2024. This year? We’ll see.
NU projects well on TV. Memorial Stadium looked great on CBS. Sports media celebrities like Huskers and Rhule. Raiola has a deal with Adidas. The program is routinely packing recruits onto the sidelines, including five-star offensive linemen who might see Nebraska’s struggles on Saturday as a need for their services.
The Husker brand has been burnished.
The football needs to be a little more burly.
On with the Rewind.
I SEE YOU
Receiver Jacory Barney: You could – and I would – argue he’s the top recruit of the Rhule era, because, unlike Raiola, he had no ties to Nebraska and turned down his hometown team, Miami, to play at NU. Barney is an electric competitor.
Linebacker Vincent Shavers: Appeared to move ahead of Marques Watson-Trent for this particular game that may be the case for the rest of the Big Ten season. Shaver makes a lot of plays, Including one or two splash plays per game.
Punter Archie Wilson: He’s averaging 43.1 yards per net punt, which is among the nation’s best. Apparently disappointed with his work Saturday, Wilson will get used to appreciating a 40-yard-plus net punt average. It’s excellent.
Quarterback Dylan Raiola: Elite mastery of Michigan’s defense led to NU’s first touchdown pass. His toughness is unquestioned after a game where he got smacked around pretty good; he’s started 16 straight games in a major spotlight.
Defensive tackle Elijah Jeudy: His best game, and not just because of the forced fumble. Jeudy held his own against Michigan’s interior offensive line. The stunt calls that took him out of position a few times were not his decisions to make.
Safety DeShon Singleton: Strong performance for the most part in a secondary that missed too many tackles or couldn’t get off blocks. It was notable to see Rex Guthrie, redshirt freshman, playing 38 snaps, nearly double that of Marques Buford.
Michigan running back Justice Haynes: Love his game. Runs hard. Has an elite top gear. And when he had to make a guy, on a third down screen pass, he made Dasan McCullough whiff.
Michigan linebacker Ernest Hausmann: Played one of the better games of his career, finishing with nine tackles and a sack. His physicality in the box is something Nebraska could have used. Notably, Husker freshman linebacker Dawson Merritt has it.
Michigan edge rushers Derek Moore, Rayshaun Benny, Cameron Brandt and Jaishawn Barham: A bunch of guys built like the Broncos’ Nik Bonitto, the former Sooner who wrecked Nebraska’s pocket back in the 2021 game. These Wolverines did the same, hulking NU’s tackles all over the place
Michigan kicker Dominic Zvada: Made all three field goals, including a 56-yarder that would have been good from 66.
FIVE STATS
12: One score losses vs. ranked teams since the Huskers’ last ranked win over Oregon in 2016. This Michigan loss is hardly the biggest crusher — that, for my money, goes to 2021 Michigan State or 2023 Iowa — but it belongs in the pantheon “you can see why Nebraska lost while seeing a victory just off the shore” games where, had one or two variables been different, the outcome flips.
257.6: Michigan’s average rush yards per game in the last five contests — all wins — vs. Nebraska. The Wolverines cleared 200 rushing yards in all five games, and the 286 gained Saturday is the most of those five games. It’s also the most yards per carry at 8.7 yards per tote. In eight games since NU joined the Big Ten, the Huskers are 0-6 vs. Michigan when allowing 200 rushing yards.
Further, by my count, Nebraska is 6-36 in Big Ten games when allowing 200 yards rushing. I’m not down for the whole “one or two plays” thing with long runs. A 75-yard gash is a 75-yard gash. A three-run homer beats three doubles that score two runs.
+16.75: That’s how many more plays per game Nebraska’s offense is running compared to what the defense is seeing. The Huskers are running 72.5 plays per game, almost three plays above last year’s pace, while facing just 55.75 plays per game, about four plays fewer than last year’s pace. I’d expect those numbers to even out a bit but context is important: Against power conference teams, Nebraska is allowing 5.96 yards per play.
38.3: The Nebraska record, in the Big Ten era, for passes per game, achieved by the 2017 team that finished 4-8. NU currently averages 38 passes per game, including 40 and 29 passes in games where the Huskers won 68-0 and 59-7. In 2017, the Huskers’ run game basically disappeared after the first month. The NU season record for passes per game came in 2007, with 40.1 during Nebraska’s 5-7 campaign. The Huskers reached the 50 attempt plateau three times that season.
1,257: Barney’s current trajectory for all purpose yards, combining receiving, rushing and return yards. If he stays on that pace, he’d be in the best season since Devine Ozigbo had 1,285 all-purpose yards back in 2018. Note: Emmett Johnson is on pace for 1,392 yards, for now, but it’s hard to see him sustaining that unless Nebraska rushes the ball better.
OPPONENT WATCH
»Maryland continued its strong defensive start to the season with a 27-10 domination of Wisconsin that had Badger students calling for UW coach Luke Fickell to be fired. The Terrapins sacked Wisconsin quarterbacks six times, picked off a pass and got 265 passing yards from true freshman quarterback Malik Washington.
The Terps get a bye week before hosting Washington, which itself will be coming off a game with Ohio State. Maryland could be 5-0 when NU comes to town; that was not on the Bingo card.
»USC’s offense toyed with Michigan State’s defense in a 42-31 win. The Trojans had 355 yards and 24 points at halftime. Backs Waymond Jordan and Eli Sanders combined for 241 yards on the ground.
Coach Lincoln Riley has a neat scheme this season with more runs, more RPOs to backs and tight ends in the flat and the right amount of deep shots. Quarterback Jayden Maiava (1,223 yards this season and nine touchdowns) is a major beneficiary.
FORECAST
Two weeks cloudier skies than anyone wanted.
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Sam McKewon
Sports Editor
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