The time we have all been waiting for has arrived, Husker football kicks off this week against the University of Texas El Paso. Overall this Saturday should hold no surprises for Husker fans but may end up giving hope throughout a very complete game with limited hiccups. UTEP is led by first year coach Scotty Walden. Walden comes over from Austin Peay where he went 9-3 overall and 6-0 in conference games. Walden is a very offensive minded coach and is hoping to get UTEP on the right path this year, but unfortunately for them, they have to come to Lincoln to kick things off.
In Raiola’s first game as a Husker he will be facing a defense in which lost most of its defensive backfield to the transfer portal. As Rhule will for sure lean heavily on the run game to counterbalance UTEP’s strong suit in their pass rush, I do still see Raiola passing for three hundred yards in his first game under center. Breaking down the defensive backfield and in reality the whole team may be a tough task for Rhule and company since most of their key contributors are coming from the transfer portal, but understanding how Scotty Walden fared at Austin Peay last year can give them some insight. We may expect to see a good pass rush with a fair amount of blitzing to try and unstabilize a young quarterback in Dylan Raiola. As UTEP focuses on their strong suit, Nebraska will utilize dump passes and a strong run game to put the Miners back into a base defense.
In the run game expect to see a strong performance from all four backs. Rahmir is set to have a great performance due to his speed and ability to get to the edge on a much slower much smaller defense. A day where we see a combination of all four backs sharing carries, I do see Nebraska gaining over two hundred yards on the ground.
The UTEP offense will be led by Cade McConnel who came in late last year and had a decent showing to close out the season. With Cade being a fairly immobile quarterback Nebraska’s “Death Row” should be able to flex their muscles, collecting six sacks on the day. At running back UTEP will lean on Austin Peay transfer running back, Javon Jackson who had 1,373 rushing yards in 2023 and is hoping to continue that trend this year, which will be a fairly tough task to do since the turnover on offensive line for UTEP is immense. Look for UTEP to come out on offense as a slightly pass heavy offense allowing the Blackshirts plenty of opportunities for takeaways to kick off the season.
The UTEP Miners will be a fantastic way for the Huskers to start their season before Colorado comes to town in week two. Expect to see a very bland and basic offense from Nebraska, hiding all of their bells and whistles for the week two matchup. Even so expect the Cornhuskers to win in a very convincing fashion.
