Husker Big Red Daily: Nebraska O-line hasn’t met preseason expectations, Husker volleyball preview

Welcome to Husker Big Red Daily, your daily stop for the latest Nebraska football news, recruiting buzz, transfer portal updates, and Huskers headlines. Here’s a quick look at the latest storylines surrounding Nebraska athletics.

There are plenty of things to muse about during the Nebraska football bye week. However, one interesting topic is the play of the offensive line.

After the hiring of Geep Wade and the addition of three starting-caliber players from the transfer portal, it felt like the offensive line would be a strength for Nebraska football.

The problem is that it hasn’t worked out that way.

Nebraska’s offensive line played well against the lighter part of the schedule. However, in Big Ten play, the Huskers are ranked 17th out of 18 teams in sacks allowed, with 11.

The Huskers have surrendered nine sacks in the past two games. Five of those were against Indiana, and some of them were on quarterback Anthony Colandrea. Yet Oregon had four more, and it’s clear that there are some issues in pass protection.

Paul Mubenga whiffed on one protection. The defender ran right by him on a third-down stunt. It led to a sack and a punt.

Making matters worse is that the running game has fallen off a cliff. The Huskers are eighth in the Big Ten in rushing yards per game but are averaging 3.8 yards per attempt. That number drops to 3.2 per attempt when you take out Colandrea’s runs.

The Nebraska football running backs have 99 attempts for 322 yards (3.25 per carry), for a paltry 80.5 rushing yards per game. That’s simply not good enough from the running backs, who are banged up, or the offensive line, which hasn’t met preseason expectations.

Nebraska football O-line hasn’t met preseason expectations

“I thought the offensive line was going to be a strength (for Nebraska). I was wrong. You can’t say the offensive line’s a strength of this team. You could say that more about the defensive line. The narrative is flipped,” Steve Sipple said on the radio Wednesday.

While the offensive line has struggled in Big Ten play, the defensive line, really the front seven as a whole, has been exceptional. After getting run over last season in conference play, the Blackshirts are surrendering just 93 yards per game on the ground and 3.2 yards per attempt.

The Huskers are one of five teams to average fewer than 100 yards rushing allowed in Big Ten play. The other four teams are Indiana, Michigan, Ohio State and UCLA. It’s not a shock that the worst record among the teams on that list is Michigan at 4-2.

Nebraska also ranks third in Big Ten play with 10 sacks in four games. Only Indiana (17) and Iowa (11) have more.

So Sipple’s point about the offensive line not meeting expectations while the defensive line is exceeding them holds up.

Husker volleyball is hosting UCLA/USC this week

The top-ranked Nebraska volleyball team is seeking its 10th 20-0 start in program history Thursday night as the red-hot UCLA Bruins invade the Bob Devaney Sports Center.

The Bruins dropped their first two Big Ten matches but have won six in a row since then, including a win over ranked Penn State last week, as well as Ohio State.

Last season, the Bruins were the only Big Ten team to take a set off Nebraska volleyball, so there is some memory of success against the Huskers. That was in Los Angeles, though.

Marianna Singletary ranks seventh in the nation with 1.57 blocks per set and fourth nationally in total blocks, with 108 on the year. Singletary leads the Big Ten in both blocks per set (1.68) and total blocks (99).

Cheridyn Leverette is another hitter to watch out for. She was selected No. 31 overall in the Major League Volleyball draft and posted 28 kills earlier this season in a win over Michigan.

Nebraska’s Andi Jackson is closing in on a milestone. She’s 24 kills away from 1,000 and would become the fourth Husker in the rally-scoring era with at least 1,000 kills and 400 blocks. Senior Bergen Reilly recorded 44 assists, 15 digs and five blocks in Nebraska’s 3-1 win against No. 13 Purdue on Saturday for her fifth double-double of the season. She was only the second Husker ever to do that in the rally-scoring era.

Nebraska volleyball will host UCLA Thursday at 6 p.m., followed by a match on Saturday against USC (8-10, 2-6) at 8 p.m. CST. The UCLA match will be on FS1. Nebraska vs. USC will be on the Big Ten Network.

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