First, I should probably apologize as i’ve been working my main job and then helping out with a family job as well and i’ve been extremely busy. So my apologies on the lighter content.
What a way to start the season. First win since 2019 to start a season, and how far are we from losing to directional Georgia schools or struggling against Louisiana Tech and teams like that? Nebraska did what we were supposed to do, starters were basically out midway through the 3rd quarter (more on that later), and Nebraska played over 100 players in the game. What a way to improve depth. Not many people talk about that, if you aren’t playing your reserves in some of these easier games like we haven’t been able to do because we were fighting for wins, how do you create experience for when guys graduate?
Let’s get into each position and give them a grade.
QUARTERBACKS – A+
Raiola is everything you heard he was, and the media/fans were finally able to see what all the fuss was about. Sure, his accuracy was something to witness, but I really liked how he had complete control of the offense. You saw him on one play (and Rhule mentioned it), where he checked 3 times to get us in the right play. He didn’t just concede to running what was called. Further, he was putting balls exactly where they needed to be. We have a superstar for years to come.
Haarberg came in and played better than I remember him being last year. He is at least serviceable if he would be needed for a series or two, or even a game or two. Where it got interesting, is I think they are trying to make darn sure they don’t lose Kaelin’s redshirt to create some separation between he and Raiola. If DR keeps doing what he is doing, he may be gone after three years, and having Kaelin as a RS Junior with two years would be ideal. That is why you saw the kid from Northwestern (IA) come in 3rd string. Keep Haarberg and Raiola healthy, preserve a redshirt.
RUNNINGBACKS – B
This may be a harsher grade considering how well we ran the ball, but we should have against UTEP. I’ve been telling people i’m not overly sold on EJohnson, Dowdell came in overweight and was 4th on the depth chart, and the RJohnson and Ervin Jr needed to stay healthy. They basically had an even amount of carries, and i’d argue that if you have 4 guys splitting snaps you don’t have really have a workhorse. Glass is half full, maybe they are giving each guy an opportunity to assert themselves?
And I think that’s what we saw Dowdell doing… until he fumbled. You just can’t do that, because against UTEP it doesn’t hurt you. Against Colorado or B1G opponents, that can lose you a game. EJohnson on the play I referenced from Raiola broke through the line but didn’t have the breakaway speed to get to the house. Ervin is more your bruiser back. And RJohnson can do most everything. We need someone to really become dominant, I think we see that against Colorado.
WIDE RECEIVERS – B+
This would be an A if not for Neyor letting that one go through his hands and a couple other minor things. But the good thing I saw was we seem to be very far removed from guys like Bullock or Warner being our main wideouts. That makes it really tough on a QB, OC, and a team. Banks and Neyor proved they are legit, and Barney seems to be the real deal. Bonner was someone that was completely not talked about to me, but caught every ball thrown his way. Our top 3/4 guys are formidable. What a luxury that our 4th and 5th guys are people like Bullock and Lloyd who have been there and done that. You also have to remember that hopefully Coleman will get healthy and play, but i’m not sure who we are putting him in for.
TIGHTEND – C-
I was pretty disappointed here. What I thought was one of our deepest spots, proved to be average at best. I took the overs on Fidone’s yards at 26.5 and he was catching balls for negative yards. We struggled blocking from them, and we just didn’t get anything going with them. I expect them to have a HUGE game next week.
OFFENSIVE LINE – B+
Our offensive line is one of the oldest in the country, and you could see Corcoran, Scott, and Benhart instill their dominance. Mazzccua filled in amicably, and the improvement of Evans-Jenkins is crazy.
Our OL dominated an overmatched UTEP team, and there’s no reduction in score for that. However, we did have some communication issues on some rather simple plays. For example, this Raiola touchdown, it’s pretty clear that on this 3 man line Benhart is expecting help from the RG, but when it doesn’t come Raiola is hit with the Miners dropping 7 and as another defender came. Raiola shouldn’t have been touched here.
Quite frankly, minor stuff was issues that they needed a game to work through. I like what I saw.
DEFENSIVE LINE – A+
This unit had the best game of anyone in my opinion, if I could give a higher grade I would. Nebraska held UTEP to only 56 yards rushing and that was due to our front line. What’s even crazier, is Ty Robinson only played 21 snaps, Hutmacher only 15, Butler and Lendhardt with 16 and 14 respectively. Our ability to control the clock, but also not play many of our starters for that long is crazy.
Davis, Van Poppel, Goldman all looked more than capable if needed. We are 7-10 guys deep there which is crazy. It will be up to this unit to stop the run again against the Buffaloes who has a line not much better than UTEP, and get pressure on Sanders. We did struggle with getting sacks, but we played in the backfield the whole time.
LINEBACKERS – B
Bullock was the captain out there, but a guy like Sherman played great that I wasn’t expecting. Gbayor played awesome with Wright out, and he will be much needed with Colorado’s speedy outside skill players. Thompson and Shavers Jr got valuable snaps to try and get them ready to go when they are needed in season.
Bullock and Gbayor were blowing things up and we looked great here. Again, let’s see what happens when we play a slightly better team this week.
SECONDARY – C+
Full disclosure, I like our secondary. But i’m a bit worried what’s going to happen when we play Colorado’s wideouts with Sanders throwing to them. I’m not worried about Hill or Gifford, but Hartzog and Buford both struggled at times against UTEP. There were a few plays the looked like the moment was a bit too big.
This week, what will we do with Hill, will we have him follow Hunter around? Or will he stay in his normal corner spot? Can Hartzog and Buford cover guys like Horn Jr and others that are much better than what they faced this past Saturday?
I’ll see if I can get out a preview for Colorado but things are pretty busy right now.
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Welcome back! My thoughts are similar to yours but a few callouts.
OL – May be Corcoran’s best game as a Husker. If either tackle gets hurt I will be extremely nervous so glad we got a lot of guys reps
RB – Dowdell runs way too high. Most talented physically in the room but if he can’t get lower his PT will go down.
DL – owned the point of attack but beware the lack of contain. Sanders can run a bit next week. There was a 3rd and long conversion where we had 3 DL, sent a 4th from LB and Butler made an inside move to open half the field up for the QB. We have to be disciplined in our rush next week.
Secondary – love what we are doing in terms of long term building here. Very nervous for this season and next week in particular. It feels to me like we have a lot of youngsters who are super athletic and just need time then we have a few upperclassmen who get it but lack the skill set of the young guys. Buffs can expose this.
Kicking game – very nervous. We got called for a blind side hit on a kickoff out of the end zone then proceeded to kick our first kickoff out of bounds. Only FG was a 20 yd kick. We lost to CU in 2019 bc we didnt have a kicker…
The sequence where we turned it over on downs was infuriating. 3rd and 2 and we throw a pass to the TE for -3. Then inexplicably go for it on 4th and 5 while running a route short of the sticks. The game was 7-7 I believe at this point with UTEP having just scored in a 3 play drive. Under Frost, the opponent goes and gets the lead and carries momentum. White’s unit held strong but this was a completely avoidable sequence we can’t afford against better competition. Its also the easiest thing to clean up.
Corcoran played really well, good call there
True on Dowdell, doesn’t help him when trying to push the pile. Maybe why we saw Ervin Jr in goalline situations? (or his fumbling)
Sanders isn’t as mobile as these UTEP guys but you’re right, I actually expect us to spy a bit just in case
DB/WR worries me (both ways) but i’ll go into that on Thursday
A few throws from Raiola that were a little iffy into traffic that could’ve been picked off, but all in all can’t ask for much more for true freshman QB.
RB – ever since last year when E. Johnson came in, he’s always been my favorite. Doesn’t have breakaway speed or big size, but he runs hard, is shifty, and has decent acceleration. He’s far from a bell cow superstar, but I like what I see from him the best going back to last year. I don’t think from a talent standpoint anyone is going to just wow, but should be serviceable.
Hard to really judge the DBs, but that’s what worries me the most. I know giving up one long TD isn’t the end of the world, but just didn’t look good from the eye test. Not going to claim some official analysis here, but my eye test seems to say we have some good experienced guys but lacking top tier athleticism and if we don’t get pressure against teams, it could get ugly.
That’s my major concern this year on defense, hopefully it won’t be a big issue.
I like EJohnson, might be our most complete guy. He just isn’t a gamebreaker unfortunately.
Same with the DB/WR situation.
I know the carries were balanced amongst the RBs at the end of the day, but I don’t recall Dowdell coming back into the game after his fumble.
I think he did for a bit, but you may be right I would have to go back and see.
I understand having IGC as the punt return guy being he is a vet that gives them the best chance to “catch all the balls” but he doesn’t look very explosive at all back there. I was glad to see punts actually returned, but I’m wondering why some of these other guys couldn’t get back there and do it? Barney, Loyd to name a couple. Otherwise special teams looked better but I’m still not sold on the fg kicking or the return game.
I’d agree but 3 returns for 25 yards isn’t terrible. Even had one for about 15 yards. It’s really tough to get punt returns nowadays with 7 gunners coming down. But maybe they are just letting Barney get his feet wet with kick return duties right now.
Barney definitely looked great and explosive built, but punt returns are a different beast than kick returns.
Not sure if Barney returned punts in high school or not, but there’s a lot that go into the feel and catching the ball before the return starts that doesn’t exist in kickoffs.
I have no insight about what went into the decision for punt returner, but not surprised when I see someone back there who has more experience or isn’t as much of a ‘game changer’ but is a safer option than someone else, because fumbling a punt return or making a poor choice can be one of the most demoralizing and game changing events.
Ya, even last year when Kemp tore his MCL they still put him back there just to catch the thing. Which is kind of weird, throwing up the white flag a bit. But better than a turnover I suppose if guys have been dropping them.