3 takeaways from Nebraska football’s win over North Dakota

Good teams win; Great teams cover the spread. So far this season, by that measurement at least, Nebraska football looks like a great team.

Facing a pesky North Dakota squad to close out nonconference play, the Huskers earned a 34-7 win over the Fighting Hawks on Saturday night.

There were some sloppy moments. There were some special teams mistakes. Nebraska could have executed better with the ball on the plus side of the field.

Still, it was an ass-kicking. Nebraska had over 200 yards rushing and 200 passing. Anthony Colandrea was 16-of-21 for 195 yards passing. He added 19 on the ground for 214 yards and two touchdowns.

Jamal Rule went over 100 yards. The defense looked elite against an underrated team and an underrated quarterback. Here are three takeaways from a 27-point win.

Rule keeps proving it

Thanks to a 55-yard touchdown run, Jamal Rule went over 100 yards for the second time in three games. He has rushed for at least 88 yards in all three.

So far, Rule has 38 carries for 329 yards. He has scored five rushing touchdowns and has a run of at least 39 yards in all three games.

The three-star freshman has been better than anyone could have anticipated. The offensive line deserves its flowers, but for a program that was in dire need of offensive stars, it found two this offseason, one at quarterback and one at running back.

Frankly, it feels like the Huskers struck gold.

Defense won the day

Even though the offense rolled up 493 yards, the most impressive thing about the win was the defense.

North Dakota was averaging 52 points per game coming in. The Fighting Hawks were averaging over 500 yards of total offense. Jerry Kaminsky, a QB good enough to be playing in the Power 4, completed just 9-of-18 passes for 106 yards. He was sacked five times.

The Blackshirts limited North Dakota to 1-for-12 on third downs. A team rushing for over 250 yards per game failed to reach 100. It was an impressive effort all around.

We have seen the Huskers start 3-0 before, but this defense, just like the offense, seems night-and-day compared to a season ago.

Explosive is the name of the day

Nebraska football players talked about how explosive their offense was going to be. Saturday night, the Huskers had eight plays of 20 yards or more. Five different receivers got a pass for 20 yards or more.

Nebraska also had three different runners pick up at least one run of 20 yards or more. Anthony Colandrea is a huge part of that. Dana Holgorsen finally has a quarterback who can run his offense.

Nebraska also has an offensive line capable of protecting the quarterback and controlling the line of scrimmage. We’ll see how it looks during Big Ten play, but this offense is the best of the Rhule era. It’s not even close.

Hopefully, we will say the same about this team at the end of the season. Through three games, it feels like Matt Rhule was right.

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