The Nebraska football team won its first game of the season, and coach Matt Rhule is proud of new quarterback Anthony Colandrea’s performance.
Nebraska beat Ohio 49-21 at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, and Colandrea did well in his debut. The senior quarterback went 18-for-32 for 275 yards and three scores. The Saint Petersburg, Fla., native added 10 carries for 23 yards and another touchdown, totaling 298 all-purpose yards.
“I thought he showed a lot of maturity, and he’s my type of quarterback,” Rhule said. “I like the way he plays. I like, also, his ability to adjust in game, and he’ll have to continue to do that.”
As far as adjustments made, Rhule said Colandrea’s teammates willingness to take check downs pleased him.
“As much as you want to come out and push the ball down the field, if people are playing off or they’re not in your face, then if you have an athletic quarterback and you’re running four verticals or something, if they’re covering them deep, they have to account for you, then there’s really no one on the back, so just that,” Rhule said. “I think anytime we play with our quarterback and he doesn’t turn the ball over, we’re going to be happy with it though.”
One group Rhule was especially happy with was the running backs. The position was a question mark coming into the season, but they had a strong showing. Junior Mekhi Nelson had 10 carries for 64 yards and one touchdown. He added two receptions for 65 yards and one more score.
The real star of the show was freshman running back Jamal Rule, however. Named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week for his efforts, Rule had an outstanding Husker debut. He totaled 169 yards from scrimmage, rushing for 122 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries while catching two passes for 47 yards and another score. The Salisbury, N.C., native’s 122 rushing yards marked the first 100-yard rushing game by a Nebraska freshman running back in a season opener since 2004. More impressive, is that Rule became the sixth Big Ten freshman since 1995 to have two rushing touchdowns and one receiving touchdown in the same game.
“I like the explosive nature he had,” Rhule said of Rule in his post-game press conference. “I like the way he carried the football. I challenged the guys at halftime, ‘We should take it to the house,’ and then all of the sudden you follow that up with he has a long run, Mekhi has a long run, so I like those things …
“I like the backs, so it’s a good start for them. Now, we’ll just have to build off of it with them and keep chipping away.”
As for the defense, Rhule said the tackling will need to improve. The Blackshirts gave up a 68-yard touchdown reception to the Bobcats on the opening drive. Ohio senior quarterback Nick Poulos went 10-for-19 for 128 yards and one touchdown. He also led Ohio in rushing yards with 38, on six carries.
Now, the Huskers are turning their attention to Bowling Green. Rhule said Nebraska will need to do a better job tackling the quarterback.
“The Bowling Green quarterback, Jay Kastantin, he’s also a mover as well,” Rhule said. “So we’ll have to take great angles and try to keep him in the pocket while continuing to improve assaulting the pocket as well.”
The Falcons will head into Saturday’s game with a 0-1 record after falling 20-13 to Tarleton State in week one. Kastantin went 24-for-30 for 262 yards in the loss.
Rhule will look to experienced players such as senior defensive back Jamir Conn to help lead the defense. Conn received a single-digit jersey ahead of the season and also led the Huskers in tackles against Ohio. He made his first start for Nebraska, totaling eight tackles (one for loss) and one pass breakup.
“The guy’s just an absolute lion,” Rhule said. “If you could put his heart into every other player, you’d never, ever, ever think twice. He just competes in everything.”
The Huskers will compete this weekend while holding one another accountable. That includes Colandrea, the offense and the defense.
“If you’re going to lead, you also have to be willing to be led,” Rhule said. “If you want to hold people accountable, you also have to be willing to be held accountable. There’s no status of, ‘Hey, I’m the leader, it’s just me,’ and you say, ‘Hey, pick it up.’ You pick it up.”
Nebraska will look to pick up where it left off against Ohio. It began preparation this week with hopes of limiting mistakes.
“We gave up too many big plays to the quarterback, just dropping back to throw it then running, so I know we will continue to improve that,” Rhule said. “And then the penalties: we have officials at every practice, we have officials at every scrimmage; we haven’t had those penalties called, yet in the game they happened. But they’re unacceptable; there’s no excuse for them.”
The Huskers welcome Bowling Green into Memorial Stadium on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. CT, on FS1 and the Huskers Radio Network.
