3 keys for Nebraska football to beat UCLA and become bowl eligible

Regardless of last week’s loss, Nebraska football has a golden opportunity to become bowl-eligible as the 2-5 UCLA Bruins come to Lincoln Memorial Stadium.

The final four games are all winnable for the Huskers. This team could easily go 4-0. But Nebraska football could also go 0-4 in November, as it did last season.

That would be devastating—much more devastating than losing to the fourth-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes last week, a game that the Huskers had every intention of winning.

UCLA has been one of the worst teams in the Big Ten this season, but the Bruins are hoping to turn their season around, too, and started with a road win at Rutgers before the bye week. QB Ethan Garbers threw for 389 yards and four touchdowns.

So the Bruins won’t be a pushover. They need to essentially win out to play in a bowl game too and if Nebraska isn’t ready, well, we all know the Huskers could lose this game as easily as they could win it.

But here are three keys in order to avoid that and get win No. 6.

Blackshirts need that Ohio State Energy

After giving up 56 points and five rushing touchdowns against Indiana, the Blackshirts were eager to prove a point last week. You could see it from the first drive. Nebraska football owned the line of scrimmage. Anytime Ohio State tried to run in short yardage, it got stuffed.

Ohio State was the more talented team, but Nebraska was tougher, and out-toughing the Buckeyes in the shoe isn’t easy. Yet, that energy and effort needs to carry over to this week.

UCLA has a dangerous pass offense but the Bruins struggle to run the ball. Ethan Garbers hasn’t been great under pressure — no quarterback is — and if Nebraska’s defensive line plays the way it did against Ohio State, the Huskers will win this game.

I guarantee it.

Run the damn ball

UCLA isn’t very good at defending the pass allowing 268 yards per game. The Bruins are much better at stopping the run and have allowed just 98 yards per game, plus 3.4 yards per attempt, although they give up 1.6 rushing touchdowns per game.

As tempting as it will be to air it out, Nebraska needs to stay committed to the run. Dylan Raiola hasn’t been all that productive in recent weeks and it’s still important to keep him in manageable situations.

It would be great to have the chance to take some shots down the field but to play action, you need to run the ball first. The Huskers ran for 121 yards against Ohio State last week and the Buckeyes were allowing just 2.7 yards per attempt prior to that.

The offensive line did the job last week. Nebraska probably would have run for 200 yards if the running backs hadn’t missed a few holes or cutbacks.

This week is the time to correct that. It feels like the Huskers have been close to a huge day on the ground and if they commit to it, I think there’s a good chance the backs have a breakout performance.

And most weeks in college football, the team that runs the ball better will likely win the game.

Win the turnover battle

Nebraska was even in the turnover battle last week with Ohio State. That was a big reason why they were able to hang around as they did.

The Huskers didn’t play perfect football. There were plenty of mistakes but they avoided the big turnovers that put you in a hole early.

It should be easier against UCLA, which forces just one turnover per game (four interceptions) but the Huskers need to avoid those mistakes again. Raiola, who has thrown an interception in three straight games, and four of five in conference play, has to protect the football.

The Huskers are forcing 1.5 takeaways per game. UCLA is averaging 1.7 giveaways per game and Garbers, the UCLA quarterback, leads the Big Ten in interceptions (9).

If Nebraska stuffs the run and the pass rush can get home, it’s easy to see Garbers winding up with a turnover or two. But will the Huskers follow suit?

If so, it will be a four-quarter battle. But if Nebraska football can win the turnover battle by one or two, they will be celebrating bowl eligibility as the sun sets in Lincoln Saturday night.

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