Sunday Morning Thoughts--Post Ohio

[Doc Fumble]

32 Minutes of Slop Ball. I won’t belabor the obvious. We played sloppy, error-prone football in the first half—and (frustratingly) the first offensive drive of the second half too. Our coaches might disagree but what disappointed me the most was a lack of a push in either side of the ball. But I’m not going to dwell on it more than this opening thought because ‘when push came to shove,’ we went on to a 35 to 8 run the rest of the game.

We’ve got Us a Field General! I expect the headlines this morning are gonna be about Jamal Rule’s 100 yards-plus day, but my personal Player-of-the-Game was Anthony Colandrea. Since he signed last January, we’ve heard he’s a gunslinger and we’ve watched his UNLV gunslinger highlights. But his “gunslinging” wasn’t the most impressive thing I saw from him yesterday. It was the way he managed the offense. He looked mature, in control, and a quick “blinker” in command of his teammates. To me, he looked like a field general out there, the same way I would’ve described Turner Gill or Zac Taylor.

More on Colandrea. I loved the way he used his legs for critical first downs and to extend plays. One play in particular stood out to me: AC escaped the pocket and showed patience while waiting for his safety value (Nelson) to get free over the middle. Once he did, Colandrea hit him with a perfect pass. Mikhi went on to break multiple tackles for a ‘highlight reel’ TD. Last year this exact same play would've been a Raiola sack. And for a guy we were told ‘never throws the ball away,’ he listened to his coaches and got rid of the ball when nobody was open.

The Blackshirts. Okay, I won’t lie, I expected more from our DL given Ohio had five new offensive linemen starting. I also expected to see high-level intensity hits and tackles right-off-the-bat. But Ohio’s early ‘kick-in-the-butt’ TD had everybody off their game, including the fans. I did feel the defense got into a groove and played fairly well after the first two drives of the game—and hit with more ‘pop’ in the second half.

Explosive Plays. Yay! Finally, they’re back! I realize this is probably an exaggeration, but I think we had more explosive plays against Ohio than we had the whole last half of last season. Frankly, this is the kind of offense I expected to see last year. It was obvious yesterday what an impact a mobile QB who is a quick decision-maker has on an offense loaded with playmakers. AC involved ALL of them.

RUUUUUUUULE. All of our three RBs looked damn good but there was something about Jamal Rule that felt different. I don’t want to get too hyperbolic about our freshman after only one game, but I was reminded of Ahman Green’s debut back-in-the-day. Something about them both gave me tingles I was looking at a kid who was destined to be special. I wasn’t the only one because by the third quarter, the entire stadium was already chanting “Ruuuuuuuuuule” after each of his big runs.

More on Rule. Everyone will see his highlight runs yesterday but there was one particular play he ran up-the-middle that brought a “Holy Crap!” out of me. He hit the line and did a pirouette that turned a one yard gain into a six or seven yard one.

Red Zone Success. One of my biggest frustrations last year was our lack of scoring success inside the Red Zone. FWIW, we were 5 for 5 yesterday (5 TDs, no FGs.)

Surprise No-Shows. I was surprised to see that #0, Owen Chambliss wasn’t suited up. By all accounts, he’s our best player on defense. Everybody should keep that in mind when looking at yesterday’s performance. Even without him, our run defense was solid—except for the Ohio QB’s scrambles. And who knows? He might’ve made a difference on that front. Also, I was expecting a big day out of Quinn Clark but he only had one catch. But that said, I fully expect him to have break out games the next couple of weeks.

Running Back #13. I liked the jersey number change Mikhi Nelson made. He went from 35 to 13. For some reason, 35 never felt right to me for Mekhi. For me, that number has always been reserved for up-the-gut bruisers like Jeff Kinney and Rick Burns—not a little speedster. Number 13 fits him better. And Mikhi had a great game!

All in all, not a bad First Game--except for the damn heat. Ugh. What did you guys think?

 

[Righteous Red]

It was a Clint Eastwood “Spaghetti Western” - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly afternoon.

* The Good - Rule Runs, AC manages and runs the offense, started a little slow but really got into a groove in 2nd half, the RB’s had a nice day rushing but they were effective in receiving, opposing D’s will have to account for that, Big plays

* The Bad - Careless penalties, penalties are a minor form of a turnover, you run out of downs and have to punt. Could have caught some of those dropped passes and AC misfired on a few, our pass % could have been better. Wish we could have seen TJ come in for QB when game was in control.

* The Ugly - I’m worried about the strength of our front. We really didn’t show a great pass rush. Whenever there was a Scrum, we were pushed back. I see problems when we see better OL in the B1G. Many times we had people in position to make plays in the backfield but we couldn’t execute, overall our run defense was OK, but we really could have shut them down if we could knock them down on first contact. We got caught several times on lane responsibilities, we pinched in, they went around us. The physicality of our D concerns me in B1G play.

 

[Doc Fumble]

It was a Clint Eastwood “Spaghetti Western” - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly afternoon.

Perfect Description.

The physicality of our D concerns me in B1G play.

Me too, RR. But to be fair, I heard after the game that our big man up front (Whittingham) got sick and was throwing up before the game. They said he finally got his legs under him in the second half.

Also, MAC teams are notorious for scaring the crap (if not outright beating) B1G teams in the non-con. Ask a Michigan fan this morning.

 

[MadRat]

Barney gave up an obvious touchdown opportunity in the left corner of the endzone when he broke the ankles of the two opponents but doubled back into the pursuit. He could have pushed 3 yards back upfield instead of cutting into tacklers. The guy has a poor sense of space and opportunity. I always cringe when he gets the ball because he does so much negative that goes with his positives, it tends to leave me feeling lukewarm. He doesn't seem to improve if I am being honest.

Rule has to be feeling pretty good about his performance. Don't break our freshman by depending on him every play. Mozzee needs to step up because he was dancing early way too much. He shows he can get upfield, so quit dancing. Rule will steal your job as a football player and then you will have to fall back on your mediocre dance moves. While the other two did okay, they are ridiculously undersized for B1G play.

Hunter needs to get the ball. Stop forcing balls to Barney, please. Colundrea has poor grip on the ball. He is too much like Mickey Joseph hands. I would like to see our starter from last year get reps, because he in my opinion was better. I just do not see the field general that others do. So far he is a liability and I can see why he was in the portal. That won't cut it in B1G play.

We found some DTs. Our DEs have concrete shoes. Move linebackers to DE if you have to because the lack of movement is not going to work against B1G passing offenses. Clearly our DC came from the WAC.

 

[Doc Fumble]

Barney ... has a poor sense of space and opportunity. I always cringe when he gets the ball because he does so much negative that goes with his positives, it tends to leave me feeling lukewarm. He doesn't seem to improve if I am being honest.

I have to disagree, Madrat. Barney's abilities in open space are what make him special IMO. He had 60 yards on 5 receptions and 1 carry for 8 yards. That's an okay day in my book.

Also the so-called 'block in the back' he was flagged for that negated what would've been a game-changing TD by Hunter was bull crap.

 

[Chris]

My One Word Reaction of The Week:

Conditioning.

This team is clearly in better shape than we have been in some time. The starters were out there all day when the temp on the field was 130°.

 

[redfred]

Perfect Description.
Me too, RR. But to be fair, I heard after the game that our big man up front (Whittingham) got sick and was throwing up before the game. They said he finally got his legs under him in the second half.

Also, MAC teams are notorious for scaring the crap (if not outright beating) B1G teams in the non-con. Ask a Michigan fan this morning.

I have to go back and look again, but who was the guy that was visibly puking early in the game?

 

[Doc Fumble]

I have to go back and look again, but who was the guy that was visibly puking early in the game?

DT Whittingham #1

 

[Nebraska99]

My One Word Reaction of The Week:

Conditioning.

This team is clearly in better shape than we have been in some time. The starters were out there all day when the temp on the field was 130°.

Agree. I posted this in another thread:

In his post-game comments the Ohio HC said "all credit to Nebraska...they wore us down".

It's been a long time since I can remember anyone making that comment.

 

[Uenth]

Agree. I posted this in another thread:

In his post-game comments the Ohio HC said "all credit to Nebraska...they wore us down".

It's been a long time since I can remember anyone making that comment.

It's my favorite descriptive heard this weekend!!!

 

[HuskersNC949597]

I'll say it, because I hope it makes him mad and want to murder footballs with his feet: Archie Wilson is not that great. 39-40 yard punts are great if you're standing between the 45-50 yard line. But he seems completely incapable of booming one.

Other than that, I have not much to add that hasn't already been said.

 

[valiantsailor]

There was lots of mistakes made on both sides of the ball. Plenty to work on this coming week. In particular what I liked the best was the score. What I liked the least was the opening pass by Ohio and that tight end.

 

[Doc Fumble]

I'll say it, because I hope it makes him mad and want to murder footballs with his feet: Archie Wilson is not that great. 39-40 yard punts are great if you're standing between the 45-50 yard line.

You're right--kicking the ball 40 yards is good but not great considering the leg on some punters who sail boomers which send some punt returners backwards.

But all of Archie's punts were hit so high that yesterday's punt returner had to fair catch all of them. In college football, my trusty ChatGPT says that a 43 net average is considered elite. That tells me Arch isn't too far off that mark for a sophomore.

 

[Chris]

You're right--kicking the ball 40 yards is good but not great considering the leg on some punters who sail boomers which send some punt returners backwards.

But all of Archie's punts were hit so high that yesterday's punt returner had to fair catch all of them. In college football, my trusty ChatGPT says that a 43 net average is considered elite. That tells me Arch isn't too far off that mark for a sophomore.

agreed. I think the game plan is to kick for hang time.

 

[Doc Fumble]

agreed. I think the game plan is to kick for hang time.

When a punt returner is forced to fair catch (or not) a high hanging punt with a crowd of defenders bearing down on him, only two things can happen and one of them is really bad.

 

[Pavlov's Dog]

I think better than hang time as a judge of effective punting, the time from the snap until the receiving team catches the ball would work.
If it takes 1 second for a punter to catch the snap and have the ball leave his feet, adding 3.5 seconds of hangtime means defenders have 4.5 seconds to get downfield.
If it takes 2.5 seconds for the punter to take the snap, roll out left or right, and kick the ball with 2.5 seconds of hangtime, defenders have 5 seconds to get downfield.
Assuming both punts went 40 yards, gimme option 2.
I used round numbers to make a point. I don't know how accurate I am.

 

[Crusader Husker]

I wonder if the first play of the game was covered correctly, and how the rest of the game would have gone? Dropped momentum fast. AH, here we go again for returners.

 

[Husker99]

Reading comments from people (here on BHF and other sites like YouTube) where they're saying things like the defense didn't play well, the team didn't play well, or Nebraska is going 4-8, etc...leaves me wondering: What game did you watch?

Disclaimer #1: I realize the opponent was Ohio and while they're a solid team for the conference they play in, they're not B1G caliber competition.

Disclaimer #2: I don't know how Nebraska is going to fare once they get into B1G play.

You all know that prior to the season, I mentioned often that I think Nebraska was headed for 6-6. While I acknowledge that is still possible, after the game was over, I was actually encouraged by what I saw.

* The Defensive Line: I saw so many instances where the DL negatively affected the QB, which is a huge change from last season. Again, I note that it was against Ohio and not B1G level competition. I saw from the DL very good pad level, technique, and they were solid against the run. From Ohio's RB position, they averaged ~2 yards per carry which is an exponential improvement over 2025.

Note: One negative thing was our defense allowed Ohio's QB to rush for 70 yards on 10 carries. Matt Rhule, in his post game presser specifically mentioned that the defense needs to get better at stopping opposing QBs when they run.

Rushing Defense: Yes, Nebraska's rush defense gave up 139 yards. However, 70 of those yards came from Ohio's QB. As I mentioned previously, Matt Rhule addressed the Ohio QB running in his post game presser so he is aware that moving forward they cannot continue to allow opposing QBs to run like that. Stopping the opponent's QB from running the ball (and continuing to be solid in rushing defense) is a crucial metric.

Pass Defense: I think we play a little too much man to man--which is what often allows opposing QBs to take off and run especially if the DL gets out of position and allows a lane for the QB to escape through--which happened several times during the game.

Disclaimer #3: The opposing QB will, from time to time, make plays with his legs, whether on called QB runs or scrambles when the play breaks down--that's just the nature of the game. The key is to not let opponents have designed / called QB run plays as a staple of their gameplan.

* Defense Overall: Aside from Ohio's first offensive possession, which was quite the kick to the groin, the defense actually played extremely well because, as (sorry can't remember who) someone from right here on BHF pointed out, Ohio had ~170 yards and 13 points on their first 3 possessions and ~140 yards and 8 points on their last 9 possessions. In total, Nebraska's defense only gave up 303 yards.

* Offensive Line: After a sluggish start, the OL exerted their physical dominance as Nebraska rushed the football for 248 yards on 42 attempts. That's a 5.9 yard per carry average. I'll take that every day of the week and 10x on Taco Tuesday.

* Wide Receivers: This group had way too many dropped passes. As the season progresses, starting with Bowling Green, the WRs need to exponentially step up their game. And I would be completely remiss if I didn't, once again, mention what utter horsesh^^ that penalty on Jacory Barney was, which negated Nyziah Hunter's catch and subsequent TD run.

* Running Backs: The Nebraska RB depth chart should be #1 Rule, #2 Nelson, #3 Mozee, and sharing the #4 spot, Booth and Ives. As a true freshman, Rule played exceptionally well. We all saw it in the Spring Game, but of course we needed to temper our expectations because, well, it was the Spring Game. Did Rule look so good in the Spring Game because he was that good, or did he look so good because our defense was just bad? It appears that question has been answered: He's really good and is going to be a special player for us.

* The Answer TD: One thing I haven't read anyone mentioning was the answer touchdown. Ohio drove the ball down the field, scored a TD and got the 2 point conversion which made the score (if I correctly recall) Nebraska 28 Ohio 21. On the following Nebraska possession, they scored an answering TD. I cannot stress enough how crucial this series for Nebraska's offense was. How many times over the past 15+ years have we seen Nebraska have a lead, the opponent scores a TD, and is now only trailing by one score, they tie the game, or take the lead and Nebraska crumbles? Answer: Way too many. However, this time, Nebraska's offense responds by marching right down the field and answers Ohio's TD with a TD of their own. To me, this was the series that broke Ohio's spirit.

* Almost: Ohio came oh so close to blocking a punt. I don't want to make too much out of this but the fact that Ohio almost blocked a punt should be a fed flag. Punt protection is another metric we'll have to keep an eye on moving forward. Blocking and opponent's punt is often a game changing, momentum shifting occurrence. Nebraska cannot allow any opponent to block a punt--thanks Captain Obvious.

* Overall Impression: Nebraska, on both sides of the ball, played exceptionally well as indicated by the final score. After that sluggish start, which I will chalk up to first game jitters, they settled in a played, for the most part, sound, fundamental football. We ran the football very well, the defense got better as the game progressed, and aside from the one almost punt block Ohio nearly had, overall the Special Teams units were solid.

* Final Thought: I don't know if what we saw from Nebraska against Ohio will translate to B1G opponents. I'd like to think (and hope) it will / does, but until the games are played there is no way to predict how our 9 conference games will go. I want to acknowledge that an overall 2026 record of 6-6 is still possible. However, I am very much encouraged by what I saw yesterday. I saw a Nebraska team that once they settled in, got those first game jitters out of the way, played tough, physical, and fundamentally sound football and that's a winning recipe in the B1G.

 

[innmc]

what disappointed me the most was a lack of a push in either side of the ball.

yeah, that was tough. We will see how much progress they make between the first and second game of the season

 

[Removed Spleen of Jordan]

Day after thoughts:

Ohio is a pretty decent team. Their QB is good. They'll probably in the conversation for the MAC crown.

Aurich played base almost all the time. I thought I'd see more quarters instead of man coverage since they talked about that in the off season but maybe that was just an Ohio matchup thing. I don't know if Jeremiah Charles has an issue with actually being in a game but that 1st play brain freeze that led to the long gain was inexcusable. Give me Vic Evans. He looked solid. The D line looks average and hopefully the guys with higher potential, RVP & Nwaneri, can step it up a lot. It will be interesting to see what it looks like with Chambliss playing.

Colandrea had a solid debut. 3 TD's and no INT's and lot's of creativity. He's like a more athletic Joe Ganz which is not a bad thing. Jamal Rule looks like a cross between Clinton Childs and Brandon Jackson which is also not a bad thing. I think the offense is going to have to carry the team against better competition so hopefully they're up to it.

Rhule had one WTF game management moment when he decided to go for it on 4th and 3 and unnecessarily gave Ohio another opportunity. I guess we're in for one per game at least.