Gary Sharp of the Omaha World Hearld appeared on the Average Joe Sports Show Wednesday and posed the question, “If Nebraska plays the best they can play, and Indiana does too, what does that look like?”

That’s an important question, even for Husker fans who don’t believe Nebraska is ready to beat the defending Big Ten and National Champions. Indiana is talented in the trenches, and this game will tell us just how much Nebraska has improved on both the offensive and defensive lines.

The Huskers cannot let the Hoosiers push them around, if they do, it’ll be the 56-7 beat down we witnessed at Bloomington in 2024. In that game Nebraska rushed for 70 total yards while Indiana had 215 at a 6.5 yard per carry clip and 5 touchdowns.

If Aurich’s Blackshirts don’t step up, this Indiana team has the offensive line and the running backs to do that again. Nebraska has talent on the D-Line, and I believe Cory Brown, Roy Manning, and Rob Aurich are by far the best front seven coaches Nebraska has had in years.

The Blackshirts will need to come from that dark place Aurich was talking about before the season and they’ll need to be “eager for violence” and match Indiana’s intensity. Because Indiana won’t be looking ahead to Ohio State like some Husker fans are hoping for.

That won’t happen, this is Curt Cignetti we’re talking about. Teams take on the personality of their coaches and Cignetti is one of the most even-keeled coaches out there. His consistent behavior and confidence filters throughout his program, working its way from his AD down to his waterboy.

If Nebraska wins this one, they’ll have to do it by playing a cleaner game and be the harder hitting, more aggressive team across the board.

Hoover the Hoosier

After what Indiana coach Curt Cignetti did with transfers Curtis Rourke and Fernando Mendoza, quarterbacks were lined up to go to Indiana. Everybody wanted to be the next Superman. So, When Josh Hoover transferred from TCU there were some sour grapes comments made by coach Sonny Dykes, who suggested Hoover leaving wasn’t a big deal since he was a turnover machine.

As only Curt Cignetti could, he stated it wouldn’t be an issue because Hoover had two things he didn’t have at TCU, a running game and a defense.

Yes, Hoover leads the nation in interceptions with 33. However, those all occurred at TCU. He has yet to throw a pick as a Hoosier. And Hoover may have thrown 33 picks, but in those same three years at TCU he passed for 9,627 yards and 71 touchdowns. In his 5 games this season he has passed for 1,101 yards and 15 TDs with a 71% completion rate. Evidently Cignetti knew what he was talking about.

Superman’s Kryptonite

But here’s an interesting tid-bit Matt Rhule reminded us of Monday at his press conference. He mentioned Dana Holgorsen’s time at TCU as a defensive consultant and Holgorsen being familiar with Josh Hoover. Does Holgorsen have insight into what Hoover struggled with or what ghosts he saw when playing giveaway? If so, don’t think he hasn’t already discussed it with Nebraska defensive coordinator Rob Aurich.

Aurich commented Tuesday on Hoover’s play and operating the offense.

“He’s operating their system,” Aurich said. “There’s a lot of stealing going on in the perimeter right now and he hasn’t forced a ton of throws…But yeah, he just hasn’t put the ball in harm’s way yet.”

In listening to Aurich, I thought it was interesting that he ended the sentence with “yet.” Believe me, he is going to test Hoover. Whatever ghosts there were, they’re still around. Like old crime scene evidence, stained and bloody, they’re hanging around in the back of Hoover’s mind.

Remember last week when Maryland’s Chris Durr made a short reception and then went 65 yards to the house. If you remember right Nebraska’s Calaeb Benning broke on that pass looking to intercept it. He missed and Durr was gone. Later in the game, out of the same formation Maryland ran the play again. This time Nebraska safety Dewayne McDougle broke on the ball and returned it 81 yards for a touchdown.

My point is Aurich’s secondary saw something. They’ve studied enough film on Hoover to be ready again, taking advantage of what he’s used to stealing on the perimeter. The Blackshirts know if forced, Hoover will try to squeeze the ball in somewhere to make a play. He’s shown it in the past. They just need to put enough pressure on him to resurrect those ghosts.

Superman’s Best Friends

So, what is the first step to getting to Hoover. Shut down Indiana’s running game. That’ll be no easy task with the offensive line averaging 6’4”, 310-pounds and four of the five being 5th year players. The one 3rd year player, 6’4”, 305-pound RT Adedamola Ajani. If there is a weak link in pass protection, it’s Ajani.

It doesn’t help either that two of the top running backs in the Big Ten suit up in Indiana uniforms. Those two backs are 5’9”, 207-pound Turbo Richard and 5’10”, 215-pound Lee Beebe.

Richard has rushed for 587 yards on 63 carries for a 9.3 yard per carry average and 5 TDs. Beebe has rushed for 520 yards on 89 carries for a 5.8 yard per carry average and 4 TDs. As a team Indiana rushes for 252.6 yards per game (9th FBS) with a 6.4 yard per carry average.

They are a pair of hard aggressive runners. They do not shy away from contact and refuse to run out of bounds. It’ll be imperative that the Blackshirts match that aggressiveness and swarm to the ball.

“The backs have a high break tackle ratio,” Aurich said. “We’ve got to tackle their backs at an elite level.”

If the name Turbo Richard sounds familiar, the Huskers played against him in the Pinstripe Bowl when he was with Boston College. He is not that same guy. He’s matured and refined his game since joining Indiana.

Hoover shouldn’t be a concern when it comes to running the ball, however he must be contained. He’s mobile enough to make first downs with his feet if allowed to. But he only has 18 rushing yards in five games this season.

The scary part of Indiana’s offense is that the run is so effective that if you bring the safeties up in run support then you turn wide receivers Nick Marsh and Charlie Becker loose. Both are lethal threats in the passing game and have the height and skill to make 50/50 balls difficult for defensive backs to cover.

The 6’3”, 210-pound Marsh has 23 receptions for 243 yards and 4 TDS. He averages 14.8 yards per reception.

The 6’4”, 208-pound Becker has 27 receptions for 417 yards and 8 TDs with a 16.8 yard per catch average. Indiana averages 237 yards per game passing (64th FBS).

Blackshirts

There is a new defensive coordinator in town, and his name is Rob Aurich. With Aurich driving the defense he’s switched to a 4-2-5 and from what we’ve seen thus far it fits Nebraska and its players like a glove. 

After the 2025 season and watching what Penn State, Iowa, and Utah did to the Blackshirts, fans couldn’t stop talking about hitting the transfer portal and adding big bodies on the defensive line.

The Huskers brought in Anthony Jones, Jahsear Whittington, and Owen Stoudmire. All three have become starters. Adding them with Williams Nwaneri, Riley Van Poppel, and Kade Pietrzak gave Nebraska a strong six-man rotation on the front line that has racked up 49 tackles, 7 tackles for a loss, 7 sacks, 1 pass defended, 2 forced fumbles, and 1 interception in the first five games.

This group will need to control the line of scrimmage and either keep the linebackers clean or make the plays.

Nebraska also added linebackers, bringing in 6’4”, 240-pound Owen Chambliss and 6’3”, 235-pound Dexter Foster to go with 6’1”, 225-pound Vincent Shavers Jr. and 6’3”, 230-pound Dawson Merrit.

Like Colandrea on offense, Chambliss is the spark that fires this defense. Nicknamed the “General” he knows Aurich’s defense inside out and is a coach on the field. You can see a deference in the body language of the defense when he’s playing

The four linebackers have made 70 tackles, 11 tackles for a loss, 3.5 sacks, 2 passes defended, 1 forced fumble and 1 interception. They’ll need to be difference makers defending the run for the Huskers to have a shot.

Nebraska has a shutdown corner in Andrew Marshall. At the opposite corner we’ve seen a rotation between Victor Evans and true freshman Danny Odem. The safety positions have been Dwayne McDougle and Jahmir Conn with Donavan Jones playing nickel. The defensive backfield was the defense’s strong point last season and this year it isn’t far behind. We’ve seen multiple big plays from this group, whether it’s passes defended, sacks, forced fumbles or interceptions.

They will however have their work cut out for them in run support and covering Marsh and Becker. Andrew Marshall will be assigned to one, but it’ll be interesting to see who draws the other. 

The biggest difference in this Blackshirt unit is coaching, confidence, and an eagerness for violence.

Aurich said in his Tuesday press conference that the game would be decided by his players tackling at a high level and making sure they are doing their jobs.

“Play style, speed, physicality,” Aurich said. “Run to the ball. I thought two weeks ago we ran to the ball harder than we did last week. I was disappointed in that. I want people to talk about our defense as the hardest-playing group in the country. So, we’ve got to play extremely hard.”

Much of the Blackshirts success will fall on McDougle, Conn, and Jones. They must come up and make STOP tackles when needed. With these running backs sure tackling will be the difference between seven-yard gains and thirty-yard gains. If there are misses it will result in big plays.

Nebraska will need to steal possessions, whether that is on fourth down stops or turnovers. One thing I’m encouraged by is that we’ve seen Aurich make in-game adjustments this season. That was evident against Maryland, and it’s something that was lacking in the past.

Earlier I referred to Nebraska’s 56-7 loss to Indiana the last time they met, but here’s the sweet thing about that. Of Nebraska’s current 22 starters on offense and defense, 18 weren’t part of that team. They have no memory of it, and they don’t care what happened in the past. Their thought process, that was somebody else. This is Nebraska.

Numbers to Know

Indiana Offense

Overall: 489.6 yards per game (14th in FBS)

Passing: 237 yards per game (64th)

Rushing: 252.6 yards per game (9th)

Scoring: 44.2 points per game (8th)

Nebraska Defense

Overall: 265.8 yards per game (17th in FBS)

Passing: 165.2 yards per game (23rd)

Rushing: 100.6 yards per game (30th)

Scoring: 14.2 points per game (15th

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

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