In a game in which many people thought it was going to be a dogfight until the end, Nebraska came out ready to put that type of talk to rest immediately. Nebraska won the coin toss and elected to receive the opening kick, showing everyone they not only could but would move the ball however they wanted against this stout Fighting Hawk defense. On the ground, the Cornhuskers did basically whatever they wanted throughout all four quarters, with only a few attempts being shut down. Nebraska ran the ball 45 times for 277 yards; that’s 6.2 yards per rush. In doing so, I think it's safe to say there is enough separation between the backs to remove any “or” from the depth chart. Jamal Rule is clearly RB1, with Mekhi Nelson not far behind, leaving Isaiah Mozee RB3.
In the passing game, Colandrea once again balled out, going 15/21 for 195 yards and 1 TD. That one touchdown pass could very easily have been 3 or 4 if Nebraska didn’t want to make a clear statement with their rushing attack. Speaking of which, Colandrea really didn’t run the ball a lot this game, outside of an epic 10-yard TD scramble.
Earlier this week, Dana Holgorsen mentioned the screen plays were hitting so well that he probably needed to call more, and that’s exactly what he did, including calling three straight screens at one point. While most of them didn’t hit for anything special, there were a few that led to explosive plays. Overall, the offense played a solid three to three and a half quarters against North Dakota. The only real question mark is whether the offensive line can find consistency and play well for a full four quarters.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Blackshirts seemed to have shut up a lot of the doubters. The game likely would have ended in a shutout if North Dakota hadn’t been gifted a mysterious personal foul, which gave them the first down and later led to their only score. Nebraska held a well-balanced North Dakota offense to under 100 yards rushing and just 106 passing yards from a quarterback many expect to spend time in some NFL camps. This was the first game in which Aurich did more than just be vanilla, and it clearly showed in the number of sacks, pressures, and hurries the Blackshirts got last night. People should have a lot more confidence in Aurich and this defense now, but many are waiting to assign a final grade until they see what they do against Michigan State.
Special Teams was once again average at best. More penalty problems, even though what was called a penalty was bad at best. Regardless, it cost Barney a big return. Jacory Barney is still not fair catching some questionable punts and getting lit up. It’s only a matter of time until he fumbles because of this, or worse, he gets injured.
Last week, Cunanan attempted a 55-yard field goal and was close to being 8 yards short. This week, Rhule decided to go for it on a 54-yard attempt, and who could have guessed it? He was once again short. Nebraska needs to either figure out why he isn’t making these kicks, let one of the other kickers attempt them, or punt the ball. Stop overcomplicating things. Archie Wilson was once again basically just another 40-yard punter. When Wilson was brought in, we were told about all these special kicks he can do and how he'd be such a weapon. What happened to that? Every time he attempts a punt, it’s going to average around the 40-yard mark, and that’s it. Maybe we are being overly conservative against a weak non-conference schedule and are waiting for the right moment in B1G play? All I know is that average-at-best special teams play isn’t going to win us any games.
Overall, Nebraska is 3-0 and played about as well as you could ask them to. Nebraska didn’t become a national embarrassment like Michigan or Rutgers, so let's be thankful for that. We can all sit here and over-analyze every little thing Nebraska does, but all that matters at the end of the day is that Nebraska wins.
