Nebraska
A Look at Nebraska’s Best-in-Nation Numbers on Pass Defense
Not only is Nebraska leading the nation in pass defense, it’s not even close.
The Huskers are No. 1 by a mile, allowing only 91.8 passing yards per game. Alabama is second, 26.6 yards behind, with 118.4 yards per game.
Yards allowed per game is how the NCAA pass-defense rankings are determined.
Another impressive Nebraska stat: The Huskers have allowed only one touchdown pass all season — the same number of touchdown passes thrown by Nebraska backup quarterback TJ Lateef. Michigan State backup quarterback Alessio Milivojevic completed a 2-yard TD pass to tight end Jack Veiling to cut Nebraska’s lead to 14-7 in the second quarter of a 38-27 Huskers win.
Huskers cornerback Ceyair Wright talked about what makes Nebraska’s pass defense click: “I think it’s just every week, being intentional about development.
“I think we’re a very tight-knit group. We always make sure to get extra work in whenever we can, go over film, concepts, stuff like that. It’s just about trying to get better every week.”
In addition to Nebraska’s imposing numbers, its secondary saved the Huskers in Week One when Malcolm Hartzog Jr. intercepted a likely game-winning pass in the end zone with less than a minute to play to hold off Cincinnati, 20-15.
Nebraska (4-1) ranks 11th in total defense with 247.4 yards allowed per game. The Huskers have allowed 10 offensive touchdowns in five games. Oklahoma leads the nation at 193 yards per game.
Nebraska also is 11th in yards allowed per play with 4.25. Oklahoma leads the nation at 3.50 yards per play.
The Huskers have intercepted seven passes, tied for 73rd nationally, a low number of picks for a team ranked No. 1 in pass defense.
Nebraska is fourth in the nation in third-down conversion rate, holding opponents to 14 first downs in 64 attempts, a .219 percentage. Again, Oklahoma is No. 1 at .174.
Nebraska, stung by three long Michigan touchdown runs in September, is tied for 88th in rushing defense at 115.6 yards per game. Missouri leads the nation at 62.4 yards per game.
Excellent pass defense doesn’t happen in a vacuum. The stronger a team’s pass rush, generally, the better the pass defense. If a defense corners an opponent into obvious passing downs, that sometimes plays into the hands of a good, opportunistic pass defense.
Nebraska’s defensive schemes obviously are causing problems for offenses.
Another factor: Quarterbacks don’t like being hit. After taking a few shots, many quarterbacks get happy feet, look to bail out on plays and sometimes fling the ball haphazardly.
On rattling the quarterback, Nebraska redshirt freshman defensive lineman Williams Nwaneri said: “You can really just tell by the energy on the field. By their language. How he’s reacting in the pocket. How he’s moving and how the ball’s coming off his hand.
“You know we’ve affected him just by those things. After the first drive, we got to him [Michigan State’s Aiden Chiles]. I feel like that’s really all it takes. Get to him and keep getting to him as much as we can.”
The Huskers have 10 sacks for 89 yards on the season. Nwaneri has 1.5 sacks, second on the team, and 15 tackles, seventh on the team.
On the pass rush, Nwaneri said: “Really just focusing on it in the bye week we had. Focusing on getting to the passer, getting off the ball, and affecting the quarterback.
“We really just emphasized it in practice. I feel like it translated to the game.”
Nebraska defensive coordinator John Butler came to Lincoln in 2024 after six seasons as the Buffalo Bills’ defensive backs coach. Before Buffalo, Butler was the Houston Texans’ secondary coach from 2014-17.
He knows ball. He knows a dominant defensive line can help the entire defense to flourish.
“I think they continue to improve,” Butler said about the Huskers’ defensive line.
“Obviously the results show that we hit the quarterback. We created more havoc and made more plays. So, from a results standpoint, you can see that we got some rewards there.”
Butler last week said three of his defensive backs were “our better players on defense.” Butler specifically cited Wright, Andrew Marshall and Donovan Jones.
Against Michigan State, DeShon Singleton had two interceptions, earning the East-West Shrine Bowl Defensive Player of the Week, and Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week.
Against Michigan State, here are Nebraska’s snap counts for the secondary:
* Andrew Marshall: 72
* Donovan Jones: 68
* DeShon Singleton: 64
* Ceyair Wright: 61
* Rex Guthrie: 58
* Marques Buford: 22
* Justyn Rhett: 15
* Jamir Conn: 4
Here’s how each starting quarterback has fared against Nebraska this season:
Brendan Sorsby, Cincinnati:
13-of-25 for 69 yards, 1 interception, 0 sacks
Ben Finley, Akron:
7-of-21 for 54 yards, 1 interception, 0 sacks
Jake Weir, Houston Christian:
11-of-18 for 67 yards, 0 interceptions, 3 sacks
Bryce Underwood, Michigan:
11-of-22 for 105 yards, 0 interceptions, 1 sack
Aidan Chiles, Michigan State:
9-of-23 for 85 yards, 2 interceptions, 4 sacks
Chiles’ backup, Alessio Milivojevic, was 6-of-7 for 71 yards, 0 interceptions, 0 sacks and 1 touchdown pass.
The Huskers next face Maryland (4-1) and talented freshman quarterback Malik Washington.
Washington leads the Big Ten in pass attempts with 183. His stats: 110-of-183 passes (60.1 percent) for 1,257 yards, nine touchdowns and only two interceptions.
“He looks like he’s very well coached,” Butler said. “He obviously hasn’t been sacked and he really hasn’t made many mistakes on tape so he knows where to go with the ball based on what the coverage looks like pre-snap and what the coverage looks like post-snap.
“Looks like he has some really good blitz answers. He’s a decisive kid and makes the throws. You just look at the numbers through the year. Every game he’s throwing for over 200 yards.
“He throws a nice ball. I think it’s definitely a challenge. And then he has some skill around him at receiver, some skill guys that can run. A tight end that can get open and catch the ball.
“So, it’s definitely a challenge for us. Probably one of our biggest challenges at this point in terms of the overall passing game, the operation of the passing game, how well he’s coached by their offensive staff. It’s definitely a huge challenge.”
Stay up to date on all things Huskers by bookmarking Nebraska Cornhuskers On SI, subscribing to HuskerMax on YouTube, and visiting HuskerMax.com daily.
The future of data centers in Nebraska took center stage at a North Omaha town hall Thursday evening.
The event was hosted by State Sens. Terrell McKinney and Ashlei Spivey, who alongside Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh sponsored a bill in the Nebraska Legislature that looked to help regulate data centers.
Parts of their bill were adopted and passed in LB1010, which requires reports on annual power usage, water usage and ownership.
“Having this passed in a package showed a lot of bipartisan work,” Spivey told a crowd of attendees at Nelson Mandela Elementary School.
The proposed regulations were shaped in part by Bold Nebraska, an advocacy group focused on eminent domain and clean energy. Jane Kleeb, chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party and founder of Bold Nebraska, said before the bill passed there were “zero laws on the books” to address a boom in data centers.
“If one is coming into the community, we wanted to make sure that there were some basic transparency things in place,” Kleeb said.
Political discussions around data centers heated up in recent months following reporting by the Flatwater Free Press that showed Google is considering a data center in Nebraska that could require more than three times the amount of power the entire city of Lincoln uses at peak demand in the summer.
The Nebraska Legislature recently passed another bill, LB1261, that allows private developers to build and own power plants to serve a large industrial customer, including data centers. That bill was proposed by the governor’s office and celebrated by Gov. Jim Pillen.
“Our state is once again taking a bold and strategic step – one that will create an environment that attracts business and multibillion dollar investment, while legally preserving Nebraska’s unique and consumer-friendly public power model,” Pillen said at the time.
At Thursday’s town hall, McKinney called LB1261 “the bogeyman bill.”
“It’s a bill that the governor pushed through the legislature to allow for data centers to create their own power,” McKinney said. “It’s a bill that I stood on the floor and said this is going to harm our communities.”
LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) – Hundreds of people are without power in southeast Nebraska after a severe storm passed through Thursday morning.
The Lincoln Electric System outage map showed 115 customers without power across the city at 11:36 a.m.
Norris Public Power District’s outage map also shows 45 customers affected by the storm. As of 11:36 a.m., there were nine active outages.
According to the Nebraska Public Power District outage map, 657 customers were affected by the storm. Most of the affected customers were near Plattsmouth in southeast Nebraska. As of 11:37 a.m., 27 customers remain without power.
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Mandatory evacuations have been ordered near Crawford, including Fort Robinson State Park, as the South Fork Fire continues to spread in western Nebraska.
According to the City of Crawford, evacuations are currently underway for an area north of Crawford that includes the area south of Dodd Road, west of Dodd Road, and FF Street.
Fort Robinson has also been evacuated.
The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission said Fort Robinson State Park and Peterson Wildlife Management Area have been temporarily closed due to the fire.
The fire has burned approximately 9,000 acres and is currently 0% contained, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
Nebraska Game and Parks said the park and the WMA will remain closed until further notice to support firefighting operations and protect public safety.
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