Nebraska
A look at IU football’s 2024 opponents: Week 7 — Nebraska
With college football season starting to creep up, we’re running down Indiana’s schedule to preview all 12 opponents for 2024.
The Hoosiers start the second half of the season with a key game against Nebraska in Bloomington. The Cornhuskers are looking to get things going in Matt Rhule’s second year in Lincoln, just as Indiana is in Curt Cignetti’s first year. Nebraska is aiming for its first bowl game appearance and its first winning season since 2016.
- Opponent: Nebraska
- Date/Time/TV: Saturday, October 19, TBA
- Location: Memorial Stadium, Bloomington, Ind.
- 2023 record/postseason result: 5-7, 3-6 Big Ten
Returning production, offense: 72 percent (per Bill Connelly/ESPN) (32nd in the country)
Offensive outlook: Rhule’s biggest win since taking over in Lincoln was getting Dylan Raiola, ranked the No. 7 overall player in the class of 2024 and the No. 2 quarterback in the class, to flip from Georgia to Nebraska. The Cornhuskers will likely turn to the five-star to run the offense right away and they’re hoping he can take them to the next level. Per 247Sports, he threw just one interception in 250 pass attempts in his final season at Buford (Ga.) High, and he possesses a big arm that can transform an offense.
Nebraska will need Railoa to live up to the hype. The Cornhuskers had one of the worst passing offenses in the country last year, with just 135.9 yards per game to rank 129th out of 133. They also bolstered their receiving corps in the transfer portal to help turn things around. UNL added Wake Forest leading receiver Jahmal Banks (59 receptions, 653 yards, four touchdowns) and former Texas and Wyoming receiver Isaiah Neyor, who earned second-team All-Mountain West Honors in 2021 with 878 yards on 44 receptions with 12 touchdowns.
The Huskers’ rushing offense was stronger last year, ranking 39th in the nation with 176.8 yards per game. And they have three of their four leading rushers from last year back this season, in redshirt junior quarterback Heinrich Haarberg (120 carries, 477 yards, five touchdowns), sophomore running back Emmett Johnson (90 carries, 411 yards, two touchdowns), and redshirt junior running back Gabe Ervin Jr. (38 carries, 196 yards, one touchdown). Haarberg is unlikely to be that heavy a factor in the run game this year with a revamped offense.
Nebraska’s offensive line had the 49th-best run-blocking grade in PFF last season and the 75th-best passing grade in the country. And the Huskers have nearly the entire offensive line back from last year.
Returning production, defense: 64 percent (per Bill Connelly/ESPN) (50th in the country)
Defensive outlook: Nebraska leaned on a strong defense in 2023, ranking 11th in the country and fifth in the Big Ten in total defense with 303.5 yards per game allowed. The Cornhuskers run defense was especially stout, as they ranked ninth in the nation and third in the Big Ten at 92.9 yards per game allowed.
Senior Isaac Gifford led the Huskers in tackles last season at their hybrid linebacker/defensive back spot, and he’s back this year. UNL’s third and fourth-leading tacklers from 2023, linebackers Javin Wright and John Bullock, both also return in 2024. Redshirt junior defensive end Jimari Butler is back as well after leading Nebraska with 8.5 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks last year. He, redshirt senior defensive end Ty Robinson, and senior nose tackle Nash Hutmacher form an experienced front three.
Nebraska’s pass defense was solid, but not as strong as the run defense last season. The team has cornerback Tommi Hill back after he led the team with four interceptions last season. Hill also earned high grades from PFF, ranking 29th in the nation among cornerbacks overall, and he ranked 17th in coverage.
Special teams outlook: Nebraska had only 14 kickoff returns as a team all season last year, but Hill averaged a solid 24 yards over his six returns and could feasibly be the primary kick returner again. Main punt returner Billy Kemp IV is gone, and sophomore defensive back Ethan Nation may be poised to take over. Sophomore kicker Tristan Alvano will look to bounce back from a tough debut season, when he converted a Big Ten-worst 60 percent of his field-goal attempts. He went 27 for 27 on extra points. Senior punter Brian Buschini also returns after he finished 10th in the conference with 40.7 yards per punt last season.
Overall Outlook: Rhule’s team certainly has the potential to end Nebraska’s drought this year. Much will depend on how quickly Raiola adapts to college football, but players of that caliber can often figure it out quickly. Nebraska has a lot of key pieces back around him and strengthened the roster in some other needed areas. It would be a disappointing season in Lincoln if the Huskers don’t get to a bowl game, and if things break right, they could be one of the better teams in the Big Ten. This could be a measuring-stick type of game for Cignetti’s Hoosiers.
Previous opponent outlooks:
Florida International
Western Illinois
UCLA
Charlotte
Maryland
Northwestern
For complete coverage of IU football, GO HERE.
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Nebraska
Tad Stryker: Goal Line Gumption by Nebraska’s Defense vs. Rutgers
In Nebraska, where no one-score win is ugly, getting a stop when you absolutely need to get one is a reason to celebrate.
The Cornhusker defense did that in the final two minutes to nail down a 14-7 win over Rutgers in a classic brutal November-style Big Ten slugfest that occurred on possibly the hottest day in the history of Memorial Stadium, where it was 97 degrees at kickoff on the first Saturday of October with a blast furnace wind blowing through the old ballpark.
Upperclassmen like Ty Robinson, Nash Hutmacher, Marques Buford and DeShon Singleton made the big plays for Nebraska when they needed them, and so did youngsters like James Williams, who had five tackles, including two sacks for the Big Red.
The 5-1 Huskers proved they still aren’t capable of stringing four solid quarters of adequate offensive football together, but the Blackshirts held the conference’s best running back in check, still haven’t given up a rushing touchdown this season and staged a heroic goal line stand in the third quarter that swung the game in Nebraska’s favor.
Leading 14-0 at halftime despite allowing 65 rushing yards to Kyle Monangai gave the Huskers a world of good when their Dylan Raiola and the offense swooned in the second half. But handing Rutgers its first Big Ten loss wasn’t easy.
The Blackshirts found themselves in a precarious position when the latest in a depressing series of special-teams gaffes — the Scarlet Knights’ second blocked punt of the game — gave Rutgers the ball at the Husker 2-yard line with 7:50 remaining in the third quarter. But the Huskers gang-tackled Monangai for a three-yard loss, which seemed to set the tone for the rest of the series. Although a holding penalty in the end zone on Singleton gave the Knights new life at the 2-yard line, the Blackshirts stopped Monangai twice more and Singleton tackled Kenny Fletcher for a one-yard loss on a quick pass before Buford slammed the door by knocking down a fourth-down pass near the goal line.
Red zone tenacity and third-down stoutness (Rutgers converted only two of 14) were vital in this tussle that very likely had more than one Husker fan thinking that his team had just won an Iowa-style victory as he wearily trudged toward his vehicle at dusk.
It was probably even uglier than an Iowa win (but possibly not as ugly as an Alabama loss to Vanderbilt) when you consider that Rutgers wideout Ben Black, who caught an 11-yard scoring pass with 3:40 remaining in the game, really should have had two touchdowns. He dropped a surefire six points earlier in the fourth quarter when Buford fell down in coverage on Black’s deep pass route. But Big Ten games sometimes turn on things like that, or on possibly coach Matt Rhule’s best decision of the day, taking the wind in the fourth quarter instead of the third.
Then there was Brian Buschini, who unleashed a critically important, wind-aided 69-yard punt with 2:28 to go that forced Rutgers to start its final drive at its own 11-yard line. And then it was up to the Blackshirts, who remembered that they allowed quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis to lead Minnesota to a game-winning touchdown on the final drive in the 2023 season opener. This time, they shut him down on four consecutive misfires, with Williams making a hit on Kaliakmanis to force an incompletion on the Knights’ last-gasp fourth-down play.
Kaliakmanis had a rough time of it for most of the day, completing just 15 of 37 passes for 186 yards with one TD and two interceptions (by Buford and Ceyair Wright). Raiola did no better. In easily his worst effort of his young career, the true freshman completed 13 of 27 passes for 134 yards and no touchdowns, with one interception, and got very little help from a Husker running game that disappeared completely in the fourth quarter and netted less than 100 yards for the game.
After his excellent first half, Monangai got just 13 more rushing yards on nine second-half carries and finished with 78.
Buschini, who had two punts blocked and for a moment looked seriously injured after the Scarlet Knights roughed him up on the first one, singlehandedly lifted an otherwise spotty Nebraska special teams performance out of the doldrums. He pinned Rutgers at its own 5-yard line with a well-placed 41-yard punt that rolled out of bounds. The senior even completed a 30-yard pass to Jalen Lloyd on a fake punt, but not even that could jumpstart the Husker offense in the second half.
Nebraska had only four first downs the entire second half as Raiola and his offensive line looked completely baffled by the Rutgers defense.
If you called Buschini the game’s hero, you wouldn’t have gotten much of an argument from Rhule.
“I’m proud of the guys, proud of the team, and Buschini was an all-star again today,” Rhule said.
Buschini needs some help on special teams. The upcoming bye week would be a good time to figure it out.
At midseason, special teams coordinator Ed Foley is playing “whack-a-mole.” Whether it’s poor snaps on field goals, poor coverage by his punt gunners or getting punts blocked, something new comes up almost each week. Nebraska’s kicking game is a net drag on the team, although Nebraska’s steady plus-one performance in turnover margin has usually been enough to offset it.
On offense, the most surprising stat of the season’s first half is that tight end Thomas Fidone doesn’t have a single touchdown catch. Fidone caught three passes for just 15 yards and no big plays Saturday. He and Raiola had an awkward exchange on the second of Nebraska’s three consecutive three-and-outs in the fourth quarter. Fidone was open for the first down on a third-and-six play from deep in his own territory, but the usually accurate Raiola delivered the ball at about knee level to the lanky Council Bluffs native, who stooped over but couldn’t get a grip on a ball that probably should be considered catchable. It’s October, and the two really haven’t developed a good rhythm, which is costing the offense a lot of consistency.
With one major stumble against Illinois, it’s been the defense which has carried Nebraska through the first half of the season and to a win over previously unbeaten Rutgers, which although ugly, has the Huskers tied for fifth in the Big Ten, and will no doubt will be a valuable possession as the season winds down.
MORE: Adam Carriker Gut Reaction: Nebraska’s One-Score Win Over Rutgers
MORE: Gallery: Huskers Hand Rutgers Its First Loss of the Season
MORE: The Turning Point: Nebraska vs. Rutgers
WATCH: Matt Rhule and Players, Rutgers Postgame Press Conference
MORE: I-80 Club: Nebraska Wins a One-Score Game, Moves to 5-1
Stay up to date on all things Huskers by bookmarking Nebraska Cornhuskers On SI, subscribing to HuskerMax on YouTube, and visiting HuskerMax.com daily.
Nebraska
Final injury report for Nebraska vs. Rutgers revealed
The final injury report for a contest between Nebraska and Rutgers is out on Saturday, and one team will be dealing with a significantly larger number of injuries.
Nebraska enters the game relatively healthy, sporting just two on the injury report, though both will be out for the game.
Rutgers has nearly a dozen players on the injury report, on the other hand, including a pair of season-ending injuries. One of those injuries was revealed on Saturday shortly before the game, with offensive lineman Bryan Felter out for the game. More on that below.
You can view the complete injury report for both teams below.
Nebraska Cornhuskers:
Tristan Alvano – Out
Turner Corcoran – Out
Rutgers Scarlet Knights:
Mohamed Toure – Out (season)
Emir Stinette – Out
Bryan Felter – Out (season)
Chris Long – Questionable
Robert Longerbeam – Questionable
Ian Strong – Questionable
AJ Surace – Questionable
Michael Dixon – Questionable
Naseim Brantley – Questionable
Shedrick Rhodes – Questionable
Rutgers OL Bryan Felter out for season
Without Felter, the Rutgers offensive line will have to regroup ahead of the biggest game of the season. Head coach Greg Schiano knows going to Lincoln to try and stay undefeated is a monumental task.
Especially for his offensive line to provide running lanes and pass protection.
“Defensively, I think their defensive line is stout,” Schiano said Monday. “Robinson, 9, and then 0 and 1, I think it’s Butler and I don’t know if I’ll say this right, Hutmacher, those three guys, as physical as you’re going to see. The linebackers, we kind of know one of them, he’s an Irvington kid that we recruited, really good player in Gbayor, and then I think the secondary is really well-coached. I mean, they play together. They play — you can see they know what they are doing with the scheme.
“So I think their defense is one of the better ones in America, and they certainly understand what their defensive coordinator wants them to do. Tony is a heck of a coach, and I think that it’s a well-coached team. It’s a talented team and we are going to play them in a very, very tough place to play.”
On3’s Nick Kosko also contributed to this report.
Nebraska
Everything Rutgers fans need to know ahead of Nebraska matchup
LINCOLN, Neb. — Rutgers faces Nebraska at Memorial Stadium on Saturday.
The Scarlet Knights (4-0, 1-0) are seeking their first win over the Cornhuskers (4-1, 1-1) after falling in their first six meetings. They came close in their last matchup, falling 14-13 on a Friday night in Piscataway.
Now, in the midst of their best start to a season in 12 years, there is more reason than ever to believe they could knock off one of the sports’ blue bloods.
Here is what Rutgers fans need to know ahead of the first Big Ten road trip of the season:
On the field
Rutgers-Nebraska preview: Keys to victory, x-factor and more with 5-0 start at stake
Rutgers-Nebraska forecast calls for record-setting heat that may feel ‘like a blowtorch’
Rutgers-Nebraska picks, prediction: Will Scarlet Knights make history in tough Big Ten road game?
Rutgers Rant: Previewing massive road game vs. Nebraska
Off the field
ESPN’s College Gameday at Rutgers? Aaron Rodgers says, ‘This could be the year’ | Here’s what it would take
With Rutgers rolling again, N.J.’s HS coaches double down on endorsing Greg Schiano
Rutgers’ Aaron Lewis: ‘Defense needs to turn it up’ amid early struggles
Proud moment in store for former N.J. coach when Rutgers faces Nebraska
Player
Q&A with Rutgers OL Gus Zilinskas, who knows Nebraska football better than any Scarlet Knight
What Rutgers’ Greg Schiano said about Nebraska’s Patrick Mahomes-esque QB Dylan Raiola
Why Nebraska coach Matt Rhule compared this Rutgers star to ‘The Matrix’
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Patrick Lanni may be reached at planni@njadvancemedia.com.
Brian Fonseca may be reached at bfonseca@njadvancemedia.com.
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