I said before the game that North Dakota would be the best team Nebraska faced in the non-conference. And I wasn’t the only one, head coach Matt Rhule talked the Fighting Hawks up, saying, “I think the football team we’re playing against is as well coached, disciplined, well playing, and executing of a team that I’ve seen in a while.

With that in mind I fully expected North Dakota to challenge the Huskers, not to the point of winning, but perhaps seeing a score like 49-24. So, am I wrong for being disappointed in a 34-7 score. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy with the win, but I would have liked to see the Huskers tested before traveling to Michigan State. Too many times, we’ve seen them travel to East Lansing with expectations of winning only to see victory snatched away at the last instant.

I needed them to be on point after North Dakota, and now, I’m not sure they will be. It all looked too easy.

OFFENSE

Nebraska started the game with a 10 play, 75-yard drive for a touchdown and never looked back. They finished the first half with 43 plays for 269 yards and 17 points. Meanwhile, North Dakota ran 21 plays picking up 63 total yards and no points in the first half.

By games end the Huskers totaled 493 yards and 34 points while controlling the ball for over 35 minutes. Offensively, 45 players saw the field for the Huskers.

After being named the Big Ten offensive Player of the Week last week, Anthony Colandrea continued to be on point against the Hawks, completing 15-of-21 passes for 195 yards and 1 touchdown while rushing 19 yards on 4 carries with 1 TD. He had a 71% completion rating, and it would’ve been better, but receivers dropped balls twice. But even then, 11 different offensive players had a reception.

In week one Jamal Rule was named Big Ten Freshman Player of the week and continues to impress. He’s starting to pull away as the number one running back, playing 32 snaps compared to Nelson’s 16 and Mozee’s 15. In those 32 plays Rule had 15 carries for 119 yards, a 7.9 yards per carry average, and 2 TDs with 2 receptions for 35 yards. Rule ended up with 154 all-purpose yards and a 55-yard TD run.

In Mekhi Nelson’s 16 snaps he had 9 carries for 54 yards, a 6.0 yards per carry average, with 1 reception for 7 yards. Isiah Mozee ended the game with 10 carries for 40 yards, a 4.0 yards per carry average with 1 reception for 13 yards. It’s clear heading into Big Ten play Rule is number one with Nelson number two and Mozee at number three.

The Huskers have rushed for over 240 yards in three straight games for the first time since 2014.

Kwazi Gilmer, Jacory Barney, and Isiah Hunter are clearly the top three wide receivers. Against North Dakota the trio saw 54, 49, and 33 snaps. Gilmer continues to be Colandrea’s favorite, targeting him 3 times with 3 receptions for 42 yards. Barney was targeted 3 times with 2 catches for 35 yards, and Hunter 6 times with 3 catches for 24 yards. He also had a drop, his third in three games.

Quinn Clark continues to see action as the number four receiver and was targeted 2 times with 2 catches for 13 yards and a TD.

Lindenmeyer saw 47 snaps and was targeted 2 times with 1 reception for 33 yards and 1 drop. In his defense, Colandrea’s pass was slightly behind him making it difficult to catch. Bonner played 19 snaps, was targeted once with 1 reception. Eric Ingwerson played 19 snaps and was never targeted. He is, however, one of the better blockers at tight end.

Carter Nelson played 14 snaps, was targeted once with 1 reception for 6 yards. Nelson left the game in the second half with what appeared to be a knee injury. He was unable to put weight on the leg, was fitted with a brace and left on crutches. Coach Rhule reported today there didn’t appear to be any ACL damage but the timeline for his return was unclear.

We saw the offensive line rotate players throughout the game with different variations at tackle. Pritchett started the game at left tackle and Gottula at right. But later in the game Gottula moved to left and Tree Babalade came in. Snap count, Evans 56, Gottula 56, Black 56, Mubenga 56, Pritchett 46, and Babalade 19. Babalade had the only penalty for the offensive linemen. Nebraska averaged over 6 yards per rush and protection was at its best, with no sacks, pressures, or hits. Black graded best at run blocking, Pritchett at pass blocking, and Gottula best overall (69.9). Evans was a hair behind him at (69.3).

DEFENSE

The Blackshirts had their best game of the season thus far, playing fast and looking like the players Rob Aurich was talking about when suggesting he wanted guys that were eager for violence.

North Dakota came to Lincoln averaging 50.3 points and 540 yards over three games.

But in this one QB Jerry Kaminski was held to 9-of-19 passing for 106 yards and 1 TD. He had 14 carries for a total of 4 yards and was sacked 5 times. The Hawk runners picked up 99 yards rushing on 36 attempts for a 2.8 yard per carry average.

At games end North Dakota finished with 205 total yards and was 1-of-12 on third down.

Last week against Bowling Green the Huskers played 20 defensive linemen. Against North Dakota they played 14 as they continue to get young players in the rotation. Leading the snap count was Anthony Jones with 35, Williams Nwaneri-31, Jahsear Whittington-29, Riley Van Poppel-28, Owen Stoudmire-28, Kade Pietrzak-16, Cameron Lenhardt-14, Tyson Terry-10, Jeremiah Jones-9, Mason Goldman-9, David Hoffken-6, Dylan Berrymon-4, Dylan Parrott-4, and Sua Lefotu-1.

Jahsear Whittington graded out the highest with 1 sack, a hurry and 2 STOP tackles. Van Poppel and Stoudmire each recorded a sack as well.

There are a clearly three top backers with Owen Chambliss playing 44 snaps, Vincent Shavers Jr.-29, Dexter Foster-28, Dawson Merritt-8, and Derek Wacker-6. Chambliss scored the highest overall grade recording a sack, a QB hurry, and 5 of his 7 tackles were STOPs. The linebackers were much more active and were responsible for 5 of the defense’s 13 pressures and had 2 of the 5 sacks. When Chambliss is on the field he seems to make a real difference as players are more confident in alignment and play much faster.

14 defensive backs saw action with 7 seeing double digit snap counts. Andrew Marshall led the way with 49, Jahmir Conn-49, Donovan Jones-46, Dewayne McDougle-39, Victor Evans-25, true freshman Danny Odem-25, and Caleb Benning with 12. McDougle graded highest in run defense and tackling while Donovan Jones graded highest in coverage. McDougle had his best game as a Husker thus far.

“Good win against a good team,” Rhule said after the game. “I’ve been here a couple years now, and this is one of the hardest teams preparation-wise. Very difficult schematically. We did a nice job on third down, offensively there were some moments not as good as we would have liked, but any time you rush for 200 yards, we’ll be pleased with that.”

The Huskers start Big Ten play against Michigan State next Satrday.

GO BIG RED!! SIMPLE, FAST, VIOLENT!!

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