Nebraska vs Ohio: 49-21, and a Freshman Named Jamal Rule
Thee plays into Nebraska vs Ohio, I was ready to throw the whole season in the ditch. Ohio’s first snap was a 68-yard catch and run. Seventy-one seconds later the Bobcats led 7-0. They scored on their next two possessions as well, and the sun was cooking Memorial Stadium, and I was asking myself what exactly I had been waiting all summer for.
Then Nebraska scored touchdowns on its final five drives and won 49-21.
Maybe we’re a second-half team. We put up 14 in the third and 21 in the fourth. Last year
we let games get away from us after halftime. This time it went the other direction, and Nebraska covered a 23.5-point spread it had no business being anywhere near at the break.
What Nebraska vs Ohio actually told us
Start with the freshman. Jamal Rule carried it 15 times for 122 yards, averaged 8.1, scored twice on the ground and caught a 24-yard touchdown. He is shifty, he is patient, and he broke a fair number of tackles. No Nebraska freshman back had rushed for 100 in an opener since 2004.
Mekhi Nelson gave us the second piece. He ran one in from 29 and caught a 51-yard touchdown where he shed two defenders on the way. They aren’t quite thunder and lightning. They’re a good mix, and I would much rather split carries than ride one kid into November. Emmett Johnson was roughly 40% of our offense a year ago. That’s a lot of mileage on one guy.
Anthony Colandrea was the other headline. Eighteen of 32, 275 yards, three touchdown throws, and a 13-yard scramble for a fourth. What I liked wasn’t the numbers. It was the speed of the decisions. He doesn’t sit in the pocket like a rock and absorb a sack. When it’s gone, he throws it away and we play the next down. By my count six passes hit his receivers’ hands and came out.
Somebody in the Corn Nation live thread asked about a nick name for Colandrea. Give it a few weeks and we may end up with Good AC and Bad AC, the way Packers fans lived with Good Brett and Bad Brett. Good Brett won a Super Bowl. Bad Brett threw an interception when the Vikings were playing against the Saints in the 2009 NFC Championship Game. That’s the deal you take with a quarterback who plays fast.
The line, and the run-pass split
Nebraska ran for 248 yards. That’s our best total since 2023 and the most in an opener since 2018. The Bobcats brought stunts and twists all afternoon, and a few of those twists looked like they took a week to develop, but the line held up.
Forty-two runs, 32 pass attempts. I’ve been asked whether that’s a good ratio. Nebraska fans would run it 95% of the time if you let them. I think this team throws it better than that, and one third-down play where Colandrea reached around a defender to get the ball out suggests we’ll see more of it.
The Blackshirts, eventually
Ohio spread us out early and I don’t think we were prepared for it. Owen Chambliss being unavailable disrupted things. After three straight scoring drives, though, the defense calmed down and did its job. Final line: 303 total yards, 164 through the air, 139 on the ground. That’s a decent day.
Rob Aurich didn’t blitz much from what I saw and still generated pressure with four. Sometimes he dropped one of those four into coverage. It’s a different look than what we’ve been watching, and I want to see it against somebody real before I get excited. Rex Guthrie’s late interception was the one takeaway, and takeaways are on my list of season-long numbers.
One game at a time
I know the complaints are coming. A MAC team scored 21 on us. We were nearly behind at halftime. Fine — get it out of your system.
But there are eleven more of these. By November we could have an alien invasion, a world war and another pandemic. Tomorrow isn’t guaranteed to anybody. I had a stroke in May and spent Memorial Day weekend in a Las Vegas hospital, and our dog — who got me out of bed after the heart attack and again after the stroke — died in August. It’s been a lousy summer, and I am thrilled to be complaining about football again.
Nebraska is 1-0. Tell me what you didn’t like.
Go Big Red.
