LINCOLN — Ten days after Nebraska’s 30-27 loss to Michigan, offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen — already locked in on NU’s upcoming game vs. Michigan State — needed a second to recall his team’s previous struggles.
He offered a blunt assessment.
“They showed us what it needs to look like, quite frankly,” Holgorsen said of the Wolverines “That’s a team thing. We made some of the offensive guys watch what they were doing on on offense and how they were playing on offense. Looking at what it’s supposed to look like, that taught us something.”
Holgorsen praised Nebraska’s two physical bye week workouts and said he’s “thrilled” to see how it looks Saturday. Offensive guard Rocco Spindler called the bye week workouts “violent” and “physical” in nature.
“We got after it,” Spindler said. “Plain and simple as that.”
Following the lead of head coach Matt Rhule, Holgorsen declined to elaborate on who NU’s No. 2 running back might be or what the Huskers will do at offensive tackle after it officially allowed seven sacks, which brought its rush total down to 43 yards — the lowest total of the Rhule era and the lowest total since the 2018 game at Michigan.
NU’s run game “didn’t look the way it needs to look” against Michigan, Holgorsen said.
“We weren’t finishing blocks,” Holgorsen said. “That’s not a shot at our o-line, that’s a shot at our offense, because there’s so many people that are involved in it.”
Nebraska’s first run of the game, an Emmett Johnson inside zone, was its best run of the game, Holgorsen said. Production went downhill from there.
“We’ve got to do a better job of scheming things up, we’ve got to do a better job sustaining blocks — that’s everybody,” Holgorsen said. “And then we’ve got to run harder. I know a lot’s been said about who No. 2 is and all that stuff. We have options, and it’s our job to get them there. When we put them in there, it needs to look better.
“If you want more rushes, when I call it, it’s got to look better. I’m not going to just keep calling things that aren’t working. We have a very diverse offense and we can do a lot of different things. We can get the ball to a lot of different people. That, to me, is balance. That’s balance. My job is to call the plays that are working.”
Sam McKewon
Sports Editor
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