Nebraska undoubtedly looked good against UTEP and as the Huskers continue to prepare for Colorado, we have learned one thing and that is that if the game plan last week was a cake, it would be a vanilla cake with vanilla frosting made by someone hiding the ingredient list from you. The offense only cracked open the first three pages of a thirty page playbook and the defense only blitzed on fifteen of the fifty-eight plays that UTEP had possession of the football. Matt Rhule and company will never be a staff that leans heavily on trick plays, but they do have wrinkles that we have not seen.
Midway through the game we saw Heinrich Haarberg take a snap from inside the redzone as Raiola was split out wide as a receiver. This play may have some use to it but I do believe it is more misdirection than anything, the likelihood of Raiola being used as a receiver is miniscule due to the likelihood of injury. Reversing the roles however opens up a whole new bag of goodies for coaches Satterfield and Thomas. Look to see Haarberg used this Saturday in a situation in which gives him a run or pass opportunity on the edge.
According to coach Rhule we came out of game one “healthy” and we “learned a lot that we can change to be better this week”. Freshman tight end Carter Nelson is a weapon that has the ability to be huge for Nebraska in the screen game against Colorado as the slot position will get alot of use as Deion Sanders tried to rattle a young Dylan Raiola. Learning that Nebraska showed the bare minimum and still played a very solid game against UTEP was not the only good news that came out of Rhule’s most recent press conference. Nebraska will be getting back important pieces when it comes to the depth on both offense and defense. Gunner Gottula and Henry Lutovsky will be back and available this week providing much needed depth in the offensive line room. Javin Wright received good news and is expected to return to the field soon and Blye Hill seems to be 100% after his knee injury. Blye Hill will have an immediate impact upon his return as the cornerback position is still not on sure footing yet and Colorado is going to try to expose any weakness they can with the talent they have on the outside.
One thing we can learn from Husker volleyball’s unexpected loss this week in Dallas to an unranked SMU group is that mindset is everything. If you are overlooking an opponent or just not able to get up for the situation, the hard work and effort of the opposing team can surprise you leading to a 3-0 sweep. Cornhusker football does not seem to be at risk of that this weekend as all eyes will be on them as they take on the most polarizing coach in college football today. The Huskers may have shown us what we wanted to see this past week against an overwhelmed UTEP program, but I do expect Husker nation to be even more surprised when the metaphorical cat is let out of the bag this Saturday as Ralphie is tamed and the Huskers prove to be just too much to handle.
