1 week Ago By AMIE JUST Lincoln Journal Star
All eyes have been on Nebraska’s offense lately. For good reason. The on-field regression in the lead-up to the second bye week.
Bringing in Dana Holgorsen to be an offensive consultant. Then, after a few days, promoting him to playcaller and offensive coordinator while simultaneously demoting — not firing — Marcus Satterfield from the position to “only” coach the tight ends. Yeah, the offensive spotlight over the past two weeks has been warranted — especially with quarterback Dylan Raiola previously being a question mark before Rhule publicly gave him the green light on Thursday.
Through the chaos, Rhule used an interesting word on Thursday to describe it all. “It’s a little bit of a challenge, but I see a tremendous opportunity here,” Rhule said. “I have to be flexible.
(Holgorsen) has to be flexible. And it’s been fun, to be quite honest.” People are also reading.
.. Michael J's to reopen At the courthouse, Nov.
9, 2024 Laughter as medicine: 'St. Denis Medical' enters the field Robert L. Epp Beatrice High School first-quarter honor roll Norris captures state title; ends Omaha Skutt's streak at 9 Dr.
Duane G Koenig Meyn pleads not guilty in death of infant Freeman falls to Thayer Central at state City holds open house to discuss Dempsters cleanup Filley residents speak out against proposed telecom tower At the courthouse, Nov. 2, 2024 2024 election results for Beatrice and Nebraska Beatrice, Filley, Wymore received grant funds for projects Nebraska advocacy groups brace for Donald Trump's deportation promise Fun! That’s maybe not the word I’d choose, but, hey, no one can say that Rhule doesn’t like a challenge. After all, the man did sign up to coach at Temple, Baylor and Carolina before coming here.
But enough has been made of the offensive woes and the drastic and unprecedented efforts to fix them. Ahead of the USC game, let’s focus on the consistently inconsistent Blackshirts. The last few weeks have been a roller-coaster for the defense.
A blowout loss against then-No. 16 Indiana where the Hoosiers racked up 495 yards of total offense and 56 points in a game where they could have named their number even higher if they so chose. A close loss against then-No.
4 Ohio State where the Buckeye faithful were in shambles after OSU’s explosive offense only amassed 285 yards of total offense — with 137 of those coming on three plays. A loss to Big Ten cellar squad UCLA where the Bruins held the ball for more than 13 minutes in the first quarter alone and racked up 358 yards of total offense by the game’s end. And all but 15 of those said yards came in the first three quarters.
Who will the Blackshirts be this week? Will they be the version that came out in the first quarter of the UCLA game? Or will they be the version that ended the game against UCLA? Will they be the timid team that they were against Indiana? Or will they be fearless and undeterred like they were against Ohio State? “We’re (going to) make sure that doesn’t happen, that ‘Here we go again’ mentality,” Nebraska defensive lineman Ty Robinson said after the loss to UCLA. “I know I’m not going to stand for it. (You) come here to win.
It’s the reason why I came back. If I start hearing that around, I’m just going to nip it right in the bud. I know the older guys will as well.
“I know how bad us older guys want to go out there and win. To fall short like that and not? It really stings and really hurts. I know as a team, we’re disappointed.
” How’d they step up in the idle week? Well, with everything that happened offensively, the players weren’t made available to the media this week. (Which, that happens in times of turmoil. The players weren’t available in the weeks after Scott Frost was fired, either.
) But the mindset heading into the break from competition? “Now you get to find out who’s willing to step up for the challenge in the locker room,” Robinson said. “We’ve got a great group. We’re going to face the challenge head-on.
Just gotta finally start getting those pieces to click faster, find that flow state a little bit faster, start getting going.” That fast start this week will absolutely be needed, considering the offense the Huskers are going up against. USC’s a high-scoring outfit — ranking 48th with an average of 30.
6 points per game compared to Nebraska’s 23.6. The Trojans’ passing offense ranks No.
13 nationally, throwing for an average of 291.2 yards per game, which helps boost their total offense to an average of 437.8 over their last nine games — which is good enough for No.
31 nationally. Their run game, also respectable, at 146.6 yards per game to sit in the middle of the FBS pack.
But that doesn’t paint a great picture this week because — in a confounding decision, based on those metrics — one-time Heisman hopeful Miller Moss has been benched in favor of UNLV transfer Jayden Maiava. “Any time you play against Coach Riley — one of the great, great offensive masterminds in football — you have to first stop the run,” Rhule said Thursday. “Woody Marks is one of the best backs I’ve seen in a long time.
Tremendous run system that they have. And, both with Miller and I’m sure with Jayden as well, they’ve added in the ability to pull the ball and run what amounts to triple-option. “They’re running power and counter and gap-type schemes to one side and pulling the ball and the quarterback can run it or throw to a guy on the perimeter.
Very akin to when they had Jalen Hurts when we competed against him at Oklahoma. We went back and watched the quarterback at UNLV and did a lot of the same things in that go-go offense there — triple-option type plays. Throws an elite deep ball.
He’s really, really talented. There’s a reason why everybody wanted him when he went into the portal last year.” So, in summation, Nebraska will have its hands full this week.
It’s too early to know exactly what Maiava will look like in USC’s offense considering he’s played all of one game for the Trojans this season where he’s thrown at least one pass, but a quick skim through his time at UNLV shows that he can air things out. He had six games last year where he threw for more than 250 yards, including one game against Colorado State where he threw for 353 yards and completed 75% of his passes. But no matter who is in at quarterback and no matter that USC is somehow 4-5 this season, one thing remains true.
This is still a Lincoln Riley-coached offense. So the Blackshirts are going to need to bring their A-game. Get local news delivered to your inbox!.
