Coming off an ugly and inexcusable 24-6 loss to Minnesota last Friday night in Minneapolis, the Huskers would love nothing more than to have an easy conference team at home ahead of them, but that will not be the case this weekend against a 5-2 Northwestern Wildcats team who is riding a four game winning streak.
Nebraska looked out of it from the jump against the Gophers and they carried that weight with them for the remainder of the game.
The Gophers sacked quarterback Dylan Raiola nine times, two more than the previous amount given up by the Huskers offensive line against Michigan back in September and now sit in a tie at 131st in the country in sacks allowed (25).
Head coach Matt Rhule mentioned in a press conference earlier in the week that the Huskers basically overlooked the Gophers and if the Huskers fail to get that sickening loss out of their heads, Northwestern will leave Memorial Stadium with a win.
The Wildcats, led by third year head coach David Braun have won four straight games since their 34-14 loss to #6 Oregon, including a league shaking 22-21 upset win over Penn State, a win in which resulted the Nittany Lions to fire head coach James Franklin after starting the season ranked #2 in the AP poll.
The Wildcats are a similar team to Minnesota, they love to run the ball with a duo of running backs in Caleb Komolafe and Joseph Himon II and they have a very solid defense that will create problems for an offensive line that is giving up 4.2 sacks per game to FBS opponents.
Key #1: Offensive Line:
Simply put, this offensive line is struggling right now and what was expected by many to be a positive for the Huskers offense is, as of now, a glaring negative.
The Wildcats have a solid defense, ranking 56th in rushing defense, 18th in pass defense and the 22nd overall ranked total defense in the country, but struggle to rush the passer, ranking 98th in the country in sacks, which is tied with Nebraska.
Aidan Hubbard and Anto Saka are the names to watch in pass rush, Saka leads the team with three sacks.
Protecting Raiola has to be the entire focus of this offensive gameplan and offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen has to scheme a way for Raiola to get the ball out of his hands quickly.
Key #2: Create Turnovers:
The blackshirts have gone two straight games without producing a turnover, but luckily for them, the Wildcats have been one of the worst teams in the country this season at committing turnovers, ranking 105th in the country in turnovers lost with 11.
Transfer quarterback Preston Stone has been responsible for eight of those turnovers, seven of which have come on interceptions.
This will come down to the Huskers secondary, which ranks #1 in the nation in pass defense and #3 in defensive pass efficiency.
It may only take one turnover for this Wildcats offense to get thrown out of rhythm, if you are the blackshirts and defensive coordinator John Butler, you want to force an offense that runs the ball over 70% of the time, to throw the ball.
This has breakout game potential written all over it for huskers edge rusher Williams Nwaneri, who was the conference’s leader in pressures in the Huskers weeks six and seven victories.
Key #3: Early Momentum:
This Wildcats team wants to grind you down and control the clock, they are not the type of team that is built to come from behind and given that this Saturday’s game will kick off at 11 AM, this may lean in the Wildcats favor.
We all know that this Huskers home crowd will have very little patience if they see a slow start offensively or defensively.
The Huskers need to come out with some juice and create some early momentum that this home crowd can feed off of.
A first quarter touchdown followed by a three and out, or vice versa, will have Memorial Stadium rocking early Saturday and that is the last thing Northwestern wants.
Prediction:
By no means do I think this will be an easy game for the Huskers, but I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if Nebraska covers the 7.5 point spread given by Vegas.
Last Friday night was a wake up call for this fanbase and this team, nothing is going to come easy in the Big Ten and you simply can’t “overlook” any team.
This has potential to be a slow and low scoring game, but this Nebraska team knows they can’t lose a third straight game.
Bowl Eligibility is on the line for both teams this Saturday and in classic Nebraska-Northwestern fashion, I think we are in for a one score ending.
Nebraska: 26 Northwestern: 20