On a scorching hot Saturday in Memorial Stadium, the Nebraska Cornhuskers outscored the Ohio Bobcats 35-8 in the second half to prevail 49-21, marking their 100 th win in a season opener. The temperature at kickoff was 91 degrees, but field temperatures exceeded 130 degrees in the second half. This was the first meeting between two schools coached by Frank Solich. The Hall of Fame coach was the head man at Nebraska for 6 years before leading the Bobcats for 16 seasons and compiling a 173-101 career record.

Season openers begin with high hopes and sometimes unrealistic expectations. Nebraska appeared to sleepwalk through much of the first half making multiple miscues and plentiful penalties. On Ohio’s first play of the game, Ohio receiver Riley Neer was uncovered and his catch and run for 68 yards led to the Bobcats’ first score. At halftime, Coach Rhule admitted that the secondary was in man-to-man except one defender who was in a zone defense. How does that even happen in big boy football?

When Ohio kicked their second field goal with 10:38 left in the 2 nd quarter, they led 13-7 yet were 0 for 4 on 3rd down conversions. At that point the Bobcats had totaled 172 yards of the 303 they would gain for the entire game. They would execute a 70-yard scoring drive in the 4 th quarter along with a suspect two-point conversion to trail just 28-21 with 12:05 left. The rest of the game Ohio netted just 61 yards with zero passing yards in the third quarter.

It was a somewhat up and down inauspicious start for new D-coordinator Rob Aurich and his slate of portal laden defenders. Early on, the defense looked slow and generated virtually no pass rush. Nick Poulos, Ohio’s signal caller repeatedly scrambled for big gains and had 70 of the Bobcats 139-yard rushing total. Once the Blackshirts started to win on first down, the tide turned significantly and except for the aforementioned 4 th quarter drive, they shut the door and quenched the threat.

It didn’t hurt that the Nebraska offense scored touchdowns on their final five possessions of the game, including 21 points in the last 12 minutes of the 4 th quarter. They finished with a reasonably balanced 275 yards passing and 248 yards on the ground. It was an enjoyable turnaround from the Huskers’ last possession of the first half and first drive after intermission. On the former, a 57-yard TD by Nyziah Hunter was negated by a “block in the back” penalty by Jacory Barney (more like a touch in the back). Then Rhule risks going for it on 4 th down from the Nebraska 43 and turns the ball over on downs. The first drive of the second half was even worse, losing 14 yards on a three and out.

You could begin to tell midway through the second quarter that if the Huskers managed to get out of their own way, superior talent would ultimately prevail. It was the first game of the season and Nebraska faced considerable adversity, albeit some self-imposed, and they rallied to ultimately dominate their MAC opponent.

There were some enjoyable findings along the way. Transfer quarterback Anthony Colandrea demonstrated what a mobile QB can bring to the field as he repeatedly evaded pressure and was 18-of-32 passing for 275 yards and three touchdowns in his Nebraska debut. He also rushed for 23 yards including a nifty move on the sideline for a 13-yard TD scramble. With his 298 yards of total offense, Colandrea increased his career total offense total to 8,991.

Freshman running back Jamal Rule led a trio of Husker backs with 15 carries for 122 yards and two touchdowns. He is the first freshman running back to surpass the century mark in a season opener since Tierre Green, who ran for 112 yards against Western Illinois in 2004. Rule accounted for 56 of the 92 yards in a second quarter scoring drive which put the Huskers up for the first time 14-13. He then began a 4 th quarter drive with a 39-yard romp and accounted for 50 of the 70 yards on the five-play all runs possession that put Nebraska up 42-21. Rule also caught two passes for 47 yards, including a 24-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter. In his rookie debut, Rule finished with 169 yards from scrimmage on just 17 touches (a not too shabby 9.9 yd average). Mekhi Nelson netted 64 yards on 10 carries including a 29-yard sideline scamper for a score and Isaiah Mozee added 31 yards on just 6 carries with 24 of them coming on the Huskers first play from scrimmage.

Colandrea has a number of capable receiving targets with Mekhi Nelson leading the group with 65 yards on just two receptions highlighted by a 51-yard catch and run breaking three tackles on his way to the end zone. When Colandrea found his checkdown receivers the offense flourished. Jacory Barney had 60 receiving yards on 5 receptions. Barney increased his career all-purpose yards to 1,993. UCLA transfer Kwazi Gilmer seemed to be a Colandrea favorite target as he totaled 58 yards on five catches including a 21-yard TD reception. Tight end Luke Lindenmeyer wasn’t targeted until the second half and finished with two catches for 22 yards including a crucial 3 rd down conversion. The new #8 needs to be a bigger part of the game plan.

The offensive line is supposed to be a strength with their size and experience, but the results were mixed in the opener as a number of the power pull plays were blown up by the Bobcat’s defensive front. The pass protection was adequate only because Colandrea is elusive and they only began to dominate as the Ohio defenders wore down in the heat of the second half.

The defense was led by defensive back Jamir Conn who finished with 8 tackles and a pass breakup and also laid the wood on a 3 rd down stop in the first half. Oregon State transfer linebacker Dexter Foster had five tackles in the game, along with a pass breakup and three QB hurries. Vincent Shavers, Jr and Rx Guthrie also had five stops a piece with Guthrie adding a 4 th quarter pick on a tip drill that he returned 35 yards to the Ohio 17. Donovan Jones had 4 tackles along with 2 PBUs and Victor Evans, a transfer from FIU, had two very nice PBUs late in the game. Nebraska had eight pass breakups in the game, its most since the Huskers had nine breakups against Rutgers on Oct. 5, 2024. Riley Van Poppel had one sack and David Hoffken and Jahsear Whittington shared the other defensive sack. With all the newcomers as well as a new DC, this game was an important test with live snaps to see what players can do. The Blackshirts were also missing a leader in linebacker Owen Chambliss, the San Diego State transfer, who is still recovering from a hamstring injury.

Special teams were an adventure all their own. Former Husker kicker Brett Maher is the new ST coordinator, and he has plenty to work on this week. The most egregious plays were two offsides on kickoffs and Nyziah Hunter on his way to the 30 before backtracking to the 10 on a kickoff return. Archie Wilson averaged 40 yards on three punts and John Hohl had touchbacks on 3 of his 8 kickoffs. At least Kyle Cunanan was 7 for 7 on extra points.

As I mentioned in the outset, the challenge in a new season is to try to be realistic in one’s expectations. With the schedule appearing much tougher than last year, Vegas set the win total at 6.5 games and yet that would still be a disappointment for most of the Husker faithful. The prevailing wisdom is that we really need to win the first five and then we will see what kind of advances the team can make from there. Most of us would love to see the Huskers win the games in which they will be favored and pull an upset along the way to show real improvement in Matt Rhule’s year four. Next week’s opponent, Bowling Green, lost on Saturday 20-13 to the Tarleton State Texans. Ouch! It should be a game where reserves can get some needed experience if the starters diminish the mistakes and dominate early. It’s a long season that always seems to go so quickly. Take a breath and enjoy the ride. Go Big Red!!

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