What Matters this week - Week 1 vs. Ohio | Saturday, 11 a.m., FS1, Memorial Stadium
Week 1 vs. Ohio — Saturday, 11 a.m. CT, FS1, Memorial Stadium
Camp is done. The depth chart is as settled as it is going to get. Saturday is not Indiana. It is not Oregon. It is Ohio, a MAC program with a new full-time coach and a quarterback who has one career start.
That is exactly why this week matters. Nebraska is supposed to win. The line is sitting in the mid-20s. If the Huskers look like last November for three hours, the score will not save the conversation.
And there is a personal wrinkle nobody should skip: Anthony Colandrea already played this Ohio team. Last winter, John Hauser — then the interim in Athens — beat UNLV 17-10 in the Frisco Bowl. Colandrea was the quarterback on the other sideline. Saturday is a rematch, just in a different jersey.
Where the roster sits
Colandrea is the starter. Rhule made it official after the second scrimmage. Nobody in Lincoln was shocked. The UNLV transfer is the one who can throw it down the field and still move when the pocket dies. TJ Lateef and Daniel Kaelin are the next two. Lateef has the live-game reps from last year. That is the whole quarterback story until someone gets hurt.
The running back job is not as clean. Isaiah Mozee has been the name most of camp. Mekhi Nelson still looks like the best pure runner. Freshman Jamal Rule is going to play — Dana Holgorsen already said so. First carry, third down, kickoff return: those are the things to watch, not the final score.
Up front, Justin Evans is the constant. Gunnar Gottula is in the mix as one of the five best linemen on the roster even if the tackle-guard labels keep shifting. Tree Babalade missed a scrimmage and was expected back. If he plays, the right side looks a lot more like what Geep Wade has been selling.
On defense, Rob Aurich finally gets live snaps in the 4-2-5. Vincent Shavers and Dexter Foster at Mike, Owen Chambliss and Dawson Merritt at Will. Chambliss missed a chunk of camp. Rhule still had him on the Week 1 list. Corner Kahmir Prescott is done for the year with a knee. That is the one confirmed hole. Jacob Bower has been out since spring.
Janiran Bonner is back after the ACL. He will not play 70 snaps. He will be on the field enough to mess with personnel.
Ohio, without the scouting-report fluff
Hauser is in his first full season. He was already on staff. He won that Frisco Bowl as the interim, 17-10 over UNLV — Colandrea’s Rebels. That is the good news in Athens. The rest is turnover. Five returning starters. Parker Navarro is gone. The offense is Scott Isphording’s again. The defense has a new coordinator in Kurt Mattix.
Nick Poulos got the quarterback job last week. He is 6-foot-6, listed 243, and his career passing numbers are ugly: 45 percent, 290 yards, two touchdowns. He can run. That is the part Aurich has to answer. Victor Rosa (UConn) and Duncan Brune give them a real backfield. Dom Dorwart is the one returning starter on offense.
Ohio was 9-4 last year. They are picked fourth in the MAC. They are not a cupcake in the old sense. They are also not built to survive a hot afternoon in Lincoln if Nebraska plays clean for four quarters.
For Colandrea, this is not a mystery opponent. Ohio already saw him for a full bowl game. They know the scramble, the deep ball, the checks. The question is whether a year in Rhule and Dana Holgorsen’s system looks any different than the one they beat in Frisco.
What to actually watch
The first 15 offensive plays. If Colandrea is checking to runs, hitting the easy throw, and not forcing the deep ball on first down, the afternoon gets simple. If he is hunting highlight tape in the first series, Ohio hangs around.
Run fits. Last year’s defense could not stop the run. Ohio will try to make this a two-back, play-action game. If the new front seven is still guessing in the second quarter, that is the story, not the final margin.
The backfield rotation. Three guys should touch it. If one of them disappears after the first series, the committee talk was just camp noise.
Poulos on third-and-medium. Make him throw. Do not let a 6-6 quarterback with a 45 percent completion rate beat you with his legs on a third-and-6.
Colandrea vs. the tape Ohio already has. He does not need 300 yards. He needs to look like a Big Ten quarterback against a staff that already beat him once.
The scoreboard at 6:00 left in the third. If Nebraska is up two scores and still playing starters at full speed, fine. If it is 17-10 and the crowd is restless, that is the November version of this team showing up early — and a scoreline Colandrea has already lived.
“Looking different”
That line has been everywhere this morning, and it is the right one. Beating Ohio 35-13 does not prove a thing by itself. Nebraska should beat Ohio. The Huskers have more talent, a home stadium, and three weeks of camp with a settled starter.
Looking different means this:
The offense does not stall for an entire quarter.
Colandrea uses his legs as a plan, not a panic button.
The line wins first down.
The 4-2-5 does not get gashed on inside zone.
Special teams do not donate a short field.
The quarterback who lost 17-10 in Frisco does not play like that quarterback again.
Rhule has two bowls and a 7-6 last year. He also has a November problem. Ohio will not solve that. Ohio will tell you whether the new quarterback, the new coordinator, and the new line can play a complete game when the other sideline is not Ohio State.
Win the game. That is the floor. The tape is the point. For Colandrea, so is the rematch.
Kickoff is 11 a.m. Saturday. The season starts whether they look different or not.