Nebraska Head Coach Matt Rhule spoke to the press last week during the Huskers bye week and emphasized that he wanted to get the ground game going in the second half of the season. The goal? – He stated he wanted to see 175 rushing yards per game. How have the Huskers done so far this year and how can they get there through the rest of the season. Let’s dive into some numbers:
Nebraska has played “running back by committee” a fair bit through its first six games, but we really saw that trend down in the latter half with most of the carries being between Dante Dowdell, and Emmett Johson. In the six games played so far, Johnson has been the leading rusher once, and Dowdell has been 4 times. In one game, true freshman wide receiver Jacory Barney Jr. was the leading rusher. That should stick out to you – when a true freshman wide receiver is your leading back in a game, even just one, you might have issues.
Emmett Johnson has had 35 carries for 207 yards, averaging 5.9 yards per carry and has had one touchdown. His best game came against UTEP, where he had 71 yards on 8 carries. Dante Dowdell has had 334 yards on 74 carries, averaging 4.5 yards a carry. He also has 5 touchdowns on the year. His best game was against Illinois, where he had 20 carries for 72 yards. Rhamir Johnson and Gabe Ervin Junior have also played some snaps this year, but I want to highlight Emmett Johnson and Dowdell because to me there’s no question, they should be the one-two punch moving forward.
Through six games, the Cornhuskers are averaging 136 rushing yards a game. How do they take it up a notch in the last half of the season? Well, to start, some folks would say offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield doesn’t put enough commitment to the run game in his play calling. I would tend to disagree there. I think he does try to show commitment to the run, but the issue is the run plays are not gaining yards on first or second down. You can only try so many times and get 1-2 yards before you must move to something else to open things up. Last year, Nebraska played dual threat (or really running quarterback) Heinrich Haarberg. The threat of a mobile QB not only gained more yards last year but opened it up more for the half backs. This year Nebraska does not have that threat, with Dylan Raiola, who is more of a traditional pocket passer. The Huskers challenge is how to generate a more traditional run game to go with that. The issue has not been the play calling, it’s been the push from the offensive line and at times the vision of the half backs. The run blocking has just not been there. Even when it is, there has been a lack of vision between the running backs to find and burst through the holes. This is where the problem lies. You have seen Satterfield have to get “cute” in the run game, with sweeps, reverses, etc. just to try to generate some yardage. If you want to run the ball 175 yards a game, it starts with the offensive line. I am just not sure they can fix that mid-season but would love to be wrong there. It also requires elite level running backs, and while I am not saying Johnson or Dowdell can not become that – they aren’t that right now.
For the Huskers to get the running game going against the loaded back half of a schedule, they will need more push from their offensive line and better vision from their running backs. Can it be done? Remains to be seen. One thing I do know is it would benefit this team to take the constant pressure off true freshman QB Raiola if the Huskers could get a more formidable ground game going. Go big red.