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Welcome to the mad ravings of an absolute idiot . Like last year Nebraska is 5-1 at the mid season mark but hopefully unlike last season we don't blow it in the back half like we're Ray J in the Kim Kardashian sex tape. Now let's take stock of where we're at.
1. Dane Key and Nzyiah Hunter. Nebraska allegedly spent $1.6 million to bring these dudes in last off-season. Raiola needs studs to maximize his development and Nebraska went shopping in the portal to go get them. And uhhhh yeah they are everything we expected them to be. Hunter is electric. Key shows up big when you need him. Both block their nuts off and don't bitch when they don't get the ball. Love these guys.
2. Dylan Raiola. I'm not going to tell you that he's been perfect or that you should book your tickets to NYC, but Dylan has been what I expected him to be. He's at 73%, 1591 yds, 8.5 YPA, 16 TDs and 5 ints. Again, not perfect, but again exactly what you'd hope for out of your true sophomore QB.
3. Mike Ekeler. He has taken Nebraska special teams from bad special to good special. He's been a high dollar ST coordinator in the SEC for a long while and for good reason.
4. Ceyair Wright, Andrew Marshall, and Deshon Singleton. The hope was that an experience secondary + another high dollar transfer would make it hard to throw against Nebraska and so far it seems like this has panned out.
5. Emmett Johnson. He's last in my stream of conscious thoughts, but first in my heart. He's had to be take a lion share of the reps and has handled it very well.
1. The DL. It was no secret that the DL was likely to take a step back replacing Ty, Nash, and Jimari and uhhhh yeah. They've done that. The optimist might point to the inexperience of RVP, Williams, and Kade and note the future is bright, but right now we gotta focus on the near term and they're going to have to get a hell of a lot more disruptive in the back half to avoid a let down.
2. The OL. I don't think they've been as bad as some people think, but there is a consistency issue. Too many sacks, not enough movement in the run game, and two high dollar transfers that haven't come close to living up to their price tag. Can they mesh down the stretch?
3. Substitution patterns. Look I understand that you gotta rotate dudes to keep them locked in and out of the portal. And I do like Cortez Mills, Isaiah Mozee, Keelan Smith, Quinn Clark, etc, but when games are on the line and you've got a top 20 or so top line skill position group, why are they out there with the game on the line over Key, Hunter and EJ?
4. Game management. Rhule had a great moment against Michigan with an end of half Hail Mary but he goes for it at bizarre times and still takes some weird timeouts Shit like that matters at the margins and with most games being slugfests you can't be leaving points on the field every week.
5. Run defense. We've covered the DL, but behind them are talented and experienced dudes and they are not doing a great job of cleaning up the mess. Maryland was more effective than they've been all season, Michigan ran several in basically untouched, and USC who is way up there in YPC is coming to town soon. Can they get ok enough to get to 10 wins?
This is less clear than the rest of the categories, but let's highlight some surprises
1. Williams Nwaneri. He left Mizzou to join the KC crew in Lincoln and has walked into big opportunity and for the most part he's made the most of them. Still gotta get home more, but he's been active and looked the part for it being his first season of college football
2. Jacorey Barney. He's here instead of in with Hunter and Key because we knew about his WR game, but dude is the best punt returner we've had in a great long while and whenever he's back there we've got a chance to flip the field.
3. Gunner Gottula. He's played left tackle. He's played right tackle. He's still pretty green, needs to grow, but that versatility has been big for the Big Red.
4. Javin Wright. He's turned into a monster in the middle and leaving Lincoln with his health, his best season, and hopefully a PhD is poised to be a great story to end his career.
5. Grit. The Scrote era taught Nebraska football to be losers who lose and fold when they face adversity. Frankly I've never bought into this team being as mentally broken as many seem to, but this group of guys battles every single game and so far have made the plays they've needed to more often than not to run out to 5 wins in 6.
1. Dane Key and Nzyiah Hunter. Nebraska allegedly spent $1.6 million to bring these dudes in last off-season. Raiola needs studs to maximize his development and Nebraska went shopping in the portal to go get them. And uhhhh yeah they are everything we expected them to be. Hunter is electric. Key shows up big when you need him. Both block their nuts off and don't bitch when they don't get the ball. Love these guys.
2. Dylan Raiola. I'm not going to tell you that he's been perfect or that you should book your tickets to NYC, but Dylan has been what I expected him to be. He's at 73%, 1591 yds, 8.5 YPA, 16 TDs and 5 ints. Again, not perfect, but again exactly what you'd hope for out of your true sophomore QB.
3. Mike Ekeler. He has taken Nebraska special teams from bad special to good special. He's been a high dollar ST coordinator in the SEC for a long while and for good reason.
4. Ceyair Wright, Andrew Marshall, and Deshon Singleton. The hope was that an experience secondary + another high dollar transfer would make it hard to throw against Nebraska and so far it seems like this has panned out.
5. Emmett Johnson. He's last in my stream of conscious thoughts, but first in my heart. He's had to be take a lion share of the reps and has handled it very well.
1. The DL. It was no secret that the DL was likely to take a step back replacing Ty, Nash, and Jimari and uhhhh yeah. They've done that. The optimist might point to the inexperience of RVP, Williams, and Kade and note the future is bright, but right now we gotta focus on the near term and they're going to have to get a hell of a lot more disruptive in the back half to avoid a let down.
2. The OL. I don't think they've been as bad as some people think, but there is a consistency issue. Too many sacks, not enough movement in the run game, and two high dollar transfers that haven't come close to living up to their price tag. Can they mesh down the stretch?
3. Substitution patterns. Look I understand that you gotta rotate dudes to keep them locked in and out of the portal. And I do like Cortez Mills, Isaiah Mozee, Keelan Smith, Quinn Clark, etc, but when games are on the line and you've got a top 20 or so top line skill position group, why are they out there with the game on the line over Key, Hunter and EJ?
4. Game management. Rhule had a great moment against Michigan with an end of half Hail Mary but he goes for it at bizarre times and still takes some weird timeouts Shit like that matters at the margins and with most games being slugfests you can't be leaving points on the field every week.
5. Run defense. We've covered the DL, but behind them are talented and experienced dudes and they are not doing a great job of cleaning up the mess. Maryland was more effective than they've been all season, Michigan ran several in basically untouched, and USC who is way up there in YPC is coming to town soon. Can they get ok enough to get to 10 wins?
This is less clear than the rest of the categories, but let's highlight some surprises
1. Williams Nwaneri. He left Mizzou to join the KC crew in Lincoln and has walked into big opportunity and for the most part he's made the most of them. Still gotta get home more, but he's been active and looked the part for it being his first season of college football
2. Jacorey Barney. He's here instead of in with Hunter and Key because we knew about his WR game, but dude is the best punt returner we've had in a great long while and whenever he's back there we've got a chance to flip the field.
3. Gunner Gottula. He's played left tackle. He's played right tackle. He's still pretty green, needs to grow, but that versatility has been big for the Big Red.
4. Javin Wright. He's turned into a monster in the middle and leaving Lincoln with his health, his best season, and hopefully a PhD is poised to be a great story to end his career.
5. Grit. The Scrote era taught Nebraska football to be losers who lose and fold when they face adversity. Frankly I've never bought into this team being as mentally broken as many seem to, but this group of guys battles every single game and so far have made the plays they've needed to more often than not to run out to 5 wins in 6.
