For many outside the Nebraska football program, Saturday’s game at Memorial Stadium against 21st-ranked Michigan will be something of a defining moment.
Are you among them?
A Husker victory would reinforce the belief Matt Rhule definitely has things moving in the right direction. A loss? Well, maybe it’s, “Here we go again, same Nebraska we’ve come to expect.”
“The competition level is going to increase, we understand that,” defensive coordinator John Butler said during Tuesday’s media availability.
However, the “true opponent is ourselves,” Rhule said Monday.
Have the Huskers improved the past three weeks?
Offensive guard Henry Lutovsky is convinced they have. They’re a “completely different team than we were three weeks ago,” he said Tuesday. Translate “different” as better.
Nebraska needs to be because in the Big Ten “no game is an easy one,” said Lutovsky.
Michigan is 2-1, its loss to now 11th-ranked Oklahoma in Norman, 24-13. But that doesn’t diminish the challenge the Wolverines pose, including a subplot, you might say, a matchup of quarterbacks, the Huskers’ Dylan Raiola and the Wolverines’ true freshman Bryce Underwood.
Underwood was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week for his play in a 63-3 victory against Central Michigan. He passed for 235 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 114 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries, though only two of the carries appeared to be “designed runs,” Butler said.
Even so, that might be a concern for some, given that Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby ran for 96 yards on 13 carries against the Huskers in week one. But that issue has been addressed, said Butler.
The 6-foot-4, 230-pound Underwood’s talent is such, “I have a Labrador Retriever who could coach that guy,” ESPN quoted Michigan interim head coach Biff Poggi, filling in for Sherrone Moore, who is serving the first of a two-game (this season) suspension as a result of the Wolverines’ sign-stealing during the 2023 national championship season.
Moore will also miss the 2026 opener.
Underwood, like Raiola, was a five-star recruit out of high school in Belleville, Michigan. He was rated the top overall recruit in the country. He doesn’t have Raiola’s collegiate experience, though. “This is game 17 (at Nebraska),” Rhule said. “Dylan will just get better and better and better.”
Raiola is tied for 14th nationally in passing touchdowns (eight), 17th in pass efficiency (178.76) and 22nd in passing yards (829). He’s “more than ready” for Saturday’s game, said Rhule.
Raiola’s “working at a high level, but he’ll be the first to tell you it’s the five guys up-front, it’s the tight ends, it’s the backs, it’s everybody being where they’re supposed to be that allows him … to go up there with two plays most of the time and check plays,” Rhule said.
“Everyone has to be unbelievably locked in,” so when he gets to the line of scrimmage, if he sees something, he “gives a hand signal, (and) they all go to a second play,” said Rhule.
That’s especially important for Michigan’s defense, under former NFL coordinator Wink Martindale. He brings “elite pressure,” Rhule said. “He can do that multiple ways. Part of the pressure is also painting pictures for the quarterback and showing him different things.”
Michigan’s running game, which ranks 15th nationally (averaging 242.7 yards per game), is led by Alabama transfer Justice Haynes, the Big Ten’s leading rusher with 388 yards and five touchdowns. Nebraska transfer Ernest Hausmann, the middle linebacker, leads the Wolverines with 20 tackles.
Nebraska ranks first nationally in completion percentage (.793), fifth in passing offense (366.3), ninth in scoring offense (49.0) and 10th in total offense (545.0). The Huskers are sixth in total defense (202.0 yards per game) and seventh in scoring defense (8.0 per game). But you have to consider the competition.
“I think our guys have worked hard the last three weeks to prepare. They’ve been mature about this, what we need to improve on each week,” Rhule said.
Big Ten play “is a whole other animal,” he said. “But I think our guys have worked.”
Again, for some outside the program, it could be this season’s defining moment.
