5 things to watch for Nebraska football vs. Ohio State

It’s been a busy week so I’m a little behind schedule with the five things to watch, but after last weekend’s loss, just about every Nebraska football fan has been having a tough week.

We have been debating whether Marcus Satterfield should be retained, or what the future looks like for Matt Rhule. The bottom line is that the program is at a crossroads.

When you are building, you reach a point. It either works or it falls apart. We saw that with Scott Frost. It felt like he was building a winner, but then, after 2021, you realized he was incapable of it.

Hopefully, Rhule will go the other way. There are reasons to believe that it will and reasons to believe that it won’t. Regardless of all that, the task is the same on Saturday. Nebraska football needs a win and even though they are a 25.5-point underdog, I’m not a huge believer in moral victories.

Here are five things to watch.

Play to win the game

Nebraska football can’t go into this hoping to keep it close. If that’s the mindset of the Huskers, they are going to get beat just as badly in Columbus as they did in Bloomington.

Ohio State is a juggernaut. But they aren’t superhuman. Matt Rhule has to instill some belief in this team and it wasn’t that long ago that some of us thought this could at least be competitive in this game.

Where is that Nebraska football team? It wasn’t the one I saw last week and I hope that team in Bloomington is one I never see again.

Will the running game work at all?

Ohio State doesn’t just have a great offense. The Buckeyes are tremendous defensively. They are allowing just 2.7 yards per rushing attempt to opponents, which lines up with the 2.7 yards per attempt Nebraska football has been averaging on the ground during Big Ten play.

Nebraska only has 17 runs this season that have gone beyond 10 yards. That’s hard to believe. There is just nothing effective or explosive about the running game.

It will be a tall task, but if Nebraska is going to have any chance, it has to rush for over 100 yards in this game and keep some of the pressure off Dylan Raiola.

Will the Blackshirts show some pride?

Yes, the score matters. But in some ways, it doesn’t. Losing is one thing but the way Nebraska football lost and the way it played on defense was embarrassing.

Indiana scored five rushing touchdowns on a defense that hadn’t surrendered one all season. They ran at will. The Pass rush was non-existent and it felt like there was an open receiver on every play.

I think we all thought much more of the Blackshirts. Maybe last week was a fluke, but more than anything I want to see some fight out of the defense.

I’d also love to see them hold Ohio State under 30.

Can the Huskers get Dylan Raiola going?

Over the past two weeks and really during Big Ten play, Dylan Raiola has struggled. Last week was the first multi-interception game of his career but in four Big Ten games, he’s got four touchdowns and five interceptions. He’s also averaging 230 passing yards per game.

Over the past two weeks, things have really fallen off. He’s got zero touchdown passes and four interceptions. Last week, Raiola forced some things as Nebraska football was behind.

So I’m not that worried about the interceptions. I am worried about the lack of explosive plays. The offense seems stuck in neutral. Raiola seems to have lost a little confidence and whether it’s through some easy throws early or getting the running game going, the Huskers have to get his confidence back.

Gut check time

I’ve said this before but if Nebraska football has another outing like the Indiana game, the Huskers might not recover. They can’t get beat 52-10 or something similar.

The mental makeup of this team is fragile. We have seen that already. Are they going to bounce back from back-to-back humiliating losses on national TV?

I’m not so sure. That’s why even though I said moral victories are crap, Nebraska kind of needs one. But you only get that if you believe you can win.

The goal should be to get the game to the fourth quarter within striking distance. Then, anything can happen. A few weeks ago, that seemed possible.

Now, I’m wondering if the game will be over by halftime, and if it is, that will be a troublesome sign.

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